A little awkward, but it could have been worse

Ulpan is progressing well - my vocabulary is better than some in the class, my conversation is as good as I expected, and my grammar doesn't exist. A solid C average, overall. The fun of Ulpan is in the people, though, and today I got to meet someone new, as we began our electives. I chose Israeli History. At the outset of class, we did the obligatory state-your-name-and-place-of-origin game (not actually a game, though. More of a dull droning sigh.), and I was surprised to hear someone say that they were from Toronto - my first compatriot! After class I went up to him, to ask him more specific questions, but found him to be approaching me first. He stuck out his hand, and with a smile on his face said,
"You don't remember me, do you?"
Now, unfortunately, this question is asked of me almost daily, and the answer is almost always no. Sometimes I can get away with a "you look familiar..." or "yeah, you were at that thing with the stuff, right?" but not this time. How many 18 year-olds not from Or Chaim do I know? Then, noting my blank look, he said, "I'm Disenhouse."
Ah yes, of course. Why shouldn't I be in school with my former camper?

After Ulpan, I had my first Melton meeting, which went well. Even though my grammar is ridiculous, everyone laughed at my joke about the cats that have nightly deathmatches in our backyard. Or they laughed at me. Either way, we all got along fine, and it turns out that of the five of us here for Ulpan, most live in the same neighbourhood, so we can get together, which means I can pretend to have friends, at long last. And, even better, they're all older than me, and none has ever been my student, my camper, that kid I used to babysit, or anything else that makes me feel that all of my 27 years have suddenly become 72.