I turned 18 recently, and so I reflected upon the legal significance of such an occurrence. That’s right – it meant I can now vote, drink, and drive (I feel that the Oxford comma is very important there) and yet my main worry was whether or not I am still allowed to behave like a child. Whilst deciding to seek out that dusty, old VCR of Aladdin on that celebratory morning might have been construed as a deliberate denial of my supposed maturity, I didn’t really care. In an effort to refrain from the more conventional methods of celebrating legal adulthood, the first over 18s event I legally attended was a late-night showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
I have also now finished school forever. Exams are over – I am free! The thrill lasted precisely 5 days, and then I spent hours desperately looking for something to occupy the remaining weeks until my gap year.
And so I sought employment – and got it! However, trying to teach Jewish kids to play football on a 2 week day-camp has proved harder than I would have predicted. Aside from their obviously predominant interest in snack breaks and lunchtime, my work is made even more difficult by boys putting their boots on the wrong feet and asking, “What game are we playing today?” One particularly experienced footballer ran up to me to ask for help doing up the straps on his shin-pads. I wouldn’t have minded so much if it wasn’t for the fact that he had them protecting his forearms.
The short video below, featuring a Jewish pre-school, is a good indication of my experiences...
In just one month's time, I will be on my gap year in Israel. Being the youngest child and having seen my two siblings go on gap years, I am not particularly anxious. Indeed, the personal journey they experienced didn’t seem to be too strenuous, seeing as they remained as bossy and interfering as ever. I remain skeptical about the guarantee offered by all gap year schemes that I will ‘find’ myself over the coming year, but I do still hope that I will obtain the perfect profile picture, ideally hugging a tropical animal or an underprivileged child. However, I suppose my infrequent and unrevealing blog posts will accurately document the personal journey on which I shall travel, so hopefully I shall keep you updated.
Anyway, I’m off now to listen to some Eminem to prepare myself for the upcoming spiritual edification. Goodbye.
