There he is! I hadn't seen Ari in probably 6 months, and I hadn't seen anyone related to me since I left for Italy, so it was really great to see him.
We went back to his little neighborhood/dorm area and he introduced me to Angelina and Anna, who so graciously allowed me to crash in their room. When I got there, Angelina had made me pasta! and drew me a map of their neighborhood. I was so appreciative of their hospitality.
There's really not much to Ramat Ef'Al. The closest thing was the hospital, so Ari and I went for a walk and he showed me around the area and the hospital. He does volunteer EMT type stuff so he's familiar with the area and was able to tell me about his job. I also got an avocado sandwich, which I was super pleased about.
I did try to photograph the Kosher McDonalds sign, for those of you who don't believe me, but I wasn't able to get a good photograph. It is there though!
The next morning, we took the bus into Tel Aviv. I wanted to walk around the Hacarmel Market, because that's a very Israeli thing to do. It was really interesting because even though Siena has a huge market on Wednesdays, this one was completely different.
They have spices out in bins!
Also I got falafel, which I was super pleased about. I love Italian food, but it was so nice to mix it up. Also, this particular falafel was only 7 shekels as some of you may be able to read on the sign. Seven shekels, is equivalent to about two dollars, so that seemed like a good price to me.
After that, we went over to the beach. Christine, Monique, and I had been to a couple of beaches in Santorini, but the Tel Aviv beach is pretty different. After Ari went back for class, I decided to sit on the beach for a while and catch up a little bit with my journal. It seemed like 10 days was a long time to not write anything down. I have a hard enough time remembering everything that happens on one weekend trip!
I took a lovely walk down the coast to the Old city of Jaffa. There were lots of people selling various things outside, and the shop owners are very persuasive and pushy. I did end up buying a couple of necklaces for pretty cheap, but if they had had their way, I would have bought the whole store. That's not really in my budget though...
Not really sure what this fountain is for, but it's pretty so...
Also, I found a really nice view of the city of Tel Aviv from a little bit outside the center. It really is a city on the sea.
And then I watched the sunset. This vacation was full of a lot of sunset watching, but it's amazing how different each on could be. The Mediterranean sea was a completely unobstructed sky line, and the sky was completely clear, so I could literally see the sun dip below the horizon. I couldn't actually stare at it, obviously, but it was really beautiful to witness.
Friday, Ari had a meeting in Jerusalem, so I got on a bus in the morning to go meet him there. Apparently, Thursday night was daylight savings time, so I was already an hour behind where I thought I would be, and getting there was a huge process, but I made it. I met Ari on Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem and we got bagels. It was the best decision. I missed bagels. A lot.
Next we took a short walking tour to the old city. I hadn't been in 4 years, since the last time I was in Israel, and while some parts looked mildly familiar, it was pretty much a new experience. We went to to the Kotel, which actually proved to be a really powerful experience.
Judaism is a highly communal religion, but this was the first time I had been asked to do anything personally Jewish in a long time. It sparked a lot of thought about what I actually believe and what my relationship is to Judaism right now, and it's still something that I'm thinking about, but it was an amazing experience.
We had to head back relatively early in the day to prepare for Shabbos. We went to the Program Director's house for dinner and had a big Shabbat dinner with some of the other students on Ari's program, and Saturday lunch was at the Rabbi's house. It was a peaceful Shabbat, which I appreciated, because then I had to get in a cab to go back to the airport. It was a lot of airport/airplane time, but I am becoming a lot more comfortable with the process, which I think is a really important part of study abroad.
Next time I'm on an airplane, I'll be heading to Barcelona with Hannah Sugarman!
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