Ofer to Tel Aviv-->Jerusalem + Hineni!

I guess it's been a while since I updated-- when I went to put up the title, I started with Hineni (here I am! Biblical style) and began working backwards.... so here it goes....

Took the last train from Ashdod in the evening on Monday, got off at Tel Aviv HaShalom and explored the book store at the mall until the book store closed, then sat at the coffee shop that wouldn't give me tea because it closed-- but they let me sit at the tables and read. When it seemed I was the second to last person to leave, I walked downstairs to the SuperSol (<3) and bought a bottle of peach water, sheets for my soon-to-be bed, and 2 fluffy towels. I got kids sheets, too. I'll post a pic later...

Ofer picked me up around the corner, dropped his friend off, and went back to his apartment. We watched How High (what a weird yet hilarious movie) and I cuddled with Tigger.

In the morning, took a bus into Tel Aviv to meet Manda. Tons of confusion, ended up back at the mall I was at the day before (Asrieli center) instead of Arlosorov; she met me there, we took the bus the wrong way, and were back at TACB yet again. This time we took the 4, dropped off our stuff at the very tricky hostel whose name escapes me at the moment, had a delicious falafel lunch, and walked along the Carmel market, the artists street (on Tuesdays!), and Sheinkin street. Pictures to come... I promise... my computer's still locked in David's office....

Ended the day with a walk to the beach; stayed until a little bit before sundown, so we got to watch the sunset on the beach. There was an old French man on a bicycle who made aliyah many years ago that said if we were looking for a place to stay he has a hostel for very cheap price. I asked him why he was riding on his bicycle, letting people know about it as his form of advertising. His reply: I am French. (Imagine: He speaks very little English and is fluent in French, Russian and probably five other languages; I speak a little Hebrew.... This is the currency of our conversation)

While on the beach I did manage to take some pictures of some Israeli-mafioso types with the dark sunglasses and beers scattered on the table, as well as some beautiful pictures of the beach. I was scanning with my zoom to find some interesting people-shots when I came across this marvelous phenomenon: a disc in the air! I snapped some shots of the entertainers with the sun behind them, so they've got really neat silouette-effect going on, and then walked close to them in the water... A puppy ran up to me that was too adorable for me not to show my affection, and when I walked it back to the owners, one of the guys with the frisbee asked if it was my dog. I said, "I wish" and he said "Oh, but you looked so natural with the guy". (PS THIS MAKES ME WANT A DOG EVEN MORE!!!!!)

We started tossing a little bit, and he told me there group doesn't play ultimate frisbee (it's hard! it's not fun! we have real fun) they fool around and catch and throw but you do whatever you want with it-- catching behind the back, under the leg, underhand... we talked about the chicken-wing, the thumber; and he taught me how to throw a hammer. He also said he invented the Dragonfly catch, but when I tried googling it, it didn't show... probably something known more to the Israeli frisbee community. I'll look into it more at some point..

Picked up our stuff from the hostel, cut back to the Central Bus Station, back to Jerusalem, and back to the Yeshiva... Dropped stuff off at the DavidBenjaminHillary hotel and off to din-ah, drinks and nargila. Jerusalem Mixed Grill=hearts, livers, spleen, etc.; Gella is a fan.

Attempted to watch Princess Bride b'ivrit, except Manda fell asleep 30 seconds into the deal and I wasn't too much better. However, I got to cuddle with Paco and the Greek one, so it was great.

Thought I would have the day free on Wednesday to do more nonsense like going to the Golan or Ein Gedi; nope, nope, that was not to be. For as I found out in my phone calls on our adventure to pick up pants at Pardes, I was supposed to be at the Kibbutz on Wednesday, not Friday as I'd assumed. So, picked up my shit, and began my 4 hour voyage to the center of my next five months: Kibbutz Barkai.

The train to Haifa which I would normally take as it stops at Binyamina, a very convenient station, had the tracks undergoing repairs, so I had a horrible time trying to figure out my buses. From Central Bus of Jeru I went to Ra'anana, where I found there wasn't a direct to Pardes Hanna (Pardasiyya, yes, but not Pardes Hanna), and followed a lady to Hadera, and from there to Pardes Hanna. She was very sweet; I was kind of lucky she was there to guide me, because she normally takes the train...

Once in Pardes Hanna, got off at the 5th and last stop and walked to find a place to sit and wait. China Bar was the place I ended up at, and I had delicious soup and read my book... I am very proud to say I ordered everything in Hebrew too.

Efrat picked me up, I met the gang, we went to David's house and then a bar for dinner. Everything was delicious, the people are wonderful; we had an introduction and a class today, and I couldn't be more excited about it.

However, they are waiting for me for dinner downstairs right now, so I must be you ado.
Tata.

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Okay, back from dinner. For Julia and organisation's sake, I'm going to attempt to keep one day together, and I've got a few hours yet before this one hits the end.

Dinner was pretty amazing. Not actually as a matter of creative food items only heard of in the middle east, blah-di-blah, but how we all chipped in to make it happen.

There are five people in my program; genius-girl dropped out. Remind me to tell the story sometime, but I won't post it here. However, 1-on-1 details will be permitted to be indulged. It's quite hilarious.

So, back to the program. David is the Deerector, Efrat is the mama bear, Adena's my roomie, Rachel's the other girl, and the two guys are Josh and Mark, from the UK. They're all incredibly enthusiastic about this program and I love sitting around and listening to the stories they have to tell. Adena and I have formed a decent bond over shared small-Jewish-world history and similar general pasts. Rachel is a ridiculous conflict-photographer who has all the wartime stories you could ever want.

You'll get more of a great update as the semester continues....

Ashdod

It is Monday today... I think... the days are flowing together more than I would like, but at least now I have a camera. Pictures will be uploaded once I get back to my kibbutz--I wanted to travel light, so I have enough close for a few days, my teeth-kit, and the camera. Yay.

So, I have missed two major smile moments while I was at Nitzan's place:

Saturday we went to yad2.co.il (i think that's the site? yad=hand, 2=2, so secondhand... cute, eh?) and we checked and then refreshed the page and there was this... camera! 900 shek, really really nice, and they lived 20 minutes away! It was shabbos, but we called and went anyway, and it was beautiful. It kind of looked like a drug deal going down. The kid looked 5 years old (more like 15, but young...), but it was fully functional, basically brand new. Very nice indeed. Ps bought with my own money.

From there, we continued on our shabbat adventure to Aboulafiyah in Yafo of Tel Aviv. I love Aboulafiyah, let me tell you now. They have very delicious food, some of the best I have had, so you can be assured I took a thousand pictures of everything we ate. Actually, we ate at the place called Aboulafiyah across the street from the place I know as Aboulafiyah, but it was all delicious--just more of a meal quality than a dessert-like quality.

We watched 3 episodes of 24 (I am now addicted...oyy....) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. My vote: watch it. Good movie!

Yesterday (Sunday) we woke up early, packed up all my stuff, and took off for the Magen David blood donation center. Nitzan had her three yellow cards, I had my one card, but I passed! Unfortunately, Nitzan did not have high enough iron, so it was up to me to be weak and feable. I got free coffee... ;)

Out to the train station, up to Binyamina on the express to Haifa, where Deerector picked me up. He shall now be called Deerector for the duration of this blog. He's way too cool. And hilarious. And speaks about 5 different languages.

One of the girls showed up while I was there; she's 17 and speaks 8/9 different languages. She is going to get another two under her belt while she is here... whoa. However, she is not stuck up at all and I believe she really loves to learn. And she loves books. Basically like a Julia, except she's a young(er) genius. I think (hope) we'll really like each other. She's pretty cool.

Spent the afternoon chilling with the Deerector and the girl and her dad, then took the train from Herziliya down to Ashdod.

And here I am! Watching Israeli kids tv shows with the smaller of my cousins. I love being with the fam... but I think I'm going to head up later today or early tomorrow. Who knows....