Day 20 – 23

On Saturday we had a party up at Kaddarim for the kids birthday / barmitzvah. Because only close family came to the temple for the bar mitzvah more extended family and friends were invited to come and bbq with us. It was fun – it was the last chance for me to spend time with the kids before I leave. We played poker and chess and rode around the kibbutz on bikes.

After the party Herbie drove us back to Tel Aviv and we stayed the night in a place Called Bat Yam – which by night is a bit dodgy but by day is really nice. Its right on the beach and theres lots of cafes and restaurants.

At about 11 Einav came again and together we went to some crazy bar cafe place where one of her friends were celebrating her 21st birthday. First you had to take off your shoes then you walk in and theres many low tables and nooks and crannys and lots of pillows and cushions to laze on. Next theres almost no white light except for a few candles here and there the whole place is dimly lit with black light so everything white glows! The tables are all painted so they glow neon and the menu’s are glowing too. I had a good time – unlike some occasions when the Israeli’s I meet in groups prefer to just talk hebrew with themselves I had a bit of conversation and it was a nice way to wind down the hectic day! We all left at a decent hour and Einav set off to the airport at 3am that morning for a flight to Barcelona for a vacation.

The next morning Mum and I had brekfast at a cafe on the beach then waited for Avi to come. After dropping mum in shiller I went back to Tel Aviv and just chilled. At about 4 I met up with Yoav and together we went to an awesome Hummous place that played non stop reggae music and sat and ate hummous and full. Yum. After eating we wandered over to a rally that was being held in a public square in Tel Aviv by Sudanese refugees to Israel to highlight the genocide that has been taking place in Darfur for a long time with little to none international coverage of the issue. We hung out there for a while and enjoyed the atmosphere and sat in solidarity and listened to music. After that we took a tour of Sheinken which is a street roughly comparable to Krd in Auckland or Brunswick St in Melbourne. Once the cultural hub of the city and now dotted with Nike Town and McDonalds – although interestingly enough I disovered that Starbucks opened here a few years ago and actually didnt survive!! Thats a first. The tiki tour took us to a pool hall where we met with Michal and played pool – I won some lost some then Michal and I paired up and kicked Yoav and Matzi’s asses. Very satisfying. After some investigation of gig guides we went to a bar nearby and saw a band play which was actually lots of fun. A hot chocolate later and I was so tired I crawled home and slept like a baby.

This morning I went out to get a Jerusalem Post (a newspaper in english) and boy it was hot! And it was only 9.30 in the morning. After a coffee Avi and I went for a swim at a beach in Tel Aviv – water was actually quite cold but very nice on such a hot day. After an hour we moved down the road a bit to another beach where some friends of Avi’s were sitting – Yossi is the son of Beni the Fisherman and is a hilarious kind of character – he insited we drink much vokda with red bll and forced a few shots on us too. I was downing the water as fast as I could or else I’d really be toast in the middle of the sun. Every 20 minutes or so you need to jump in the water and get yourself wet or else you die of heat stroke pretty much.

Later that night I visted Shuki and the kids one last time and helped them shower (which was a very wet affair I must add!) and then played guitar for them while they fell asleep. I can’t wait to be back to see these kids again I really love them with everything I got. Shuki, Tali and I sat and talked for awhile about how the journey was for me and what feelings came up. After a quick supermarket visit I came back and fell asleep.

This morning on the last day after the obligitory coffee in the morning Avi and I set of on what would be a 3 hour sivuv (tiki tour) to find shoes for me – I originally wanted some replacement chucks for my tatty pair but found some other ones instead. Also went round one of the markets and had a squizz. We ended up in another food joint (avi definately knows the best) and had Sabich which is hard boiled egg and potato and eggplant and salad all in a pita pocket.

Now we’re sitting around on Shiller soon to go to airport to leave this place for two days in Thailand!

Lehitraot!

(Click for big photo + caption)

On Monday my Dad took me down to his home town Sderot where his brother and his family still live. Sderot is one of the closest towns to Gaza city so is constantly under attack from Qassam rockets. There are little settlements even closer to Gaza but too close for rocket fire so poor Sderot cops the heat most of the time. There is a military spotter blimp high up in the air that watches for rockets and sounds an alarm when this happens. Nothing happened when I was there. We ate a nice lunch and I played ping pong with my cousin.

When we got back to Tel Aviv I had a little snooze then I met up with Einav again and we went for a drink at an Irish Pub in Ramat Hahayim. It was so good to talk with someone my age in Israel and ask any questions I have. Also funny an Irish pub is exactly the same anywhere in the world!

Tuesday we had lunch in Rishon with Herb and Chuck and Safta came and gave us a ride up to Kaddarim – after we did some tractor moving we ate and slept.

Wednesday was just chilling on Kaddarim.

Thursday we got up at 4.30am :/ to go the temple for Itimar and Yotum’s bar mitzvah. All the men get to go in and the woman have to sit out in the back (I know) and we all had to have the prayer shawl and Tefillin put on at least for a bit. The boys went up to the Torah and each read the aliyah then read a small verse from their portion then that was it! – After some more sleeping we went for a mission for food and newspapers and books and other such things.

Today we went to Carmiel again to buy Itimar a bike – then Herb and his kids came up for lunch – everyones starting to gather for a bit of a party tomorrow.

(Click for big photo + caption)

We hung in Be’er Sheva for a few hours yesterday and I just played with the kids and took Yaam for a bike ride around the block. After a yummy lunch we set off back to Tel Aviv. I got dropped off in Derech HaShalom where mum was staying because the daughter of Mum’s friend Sharon, Dana, who had stayed with us when traveling in NZ, was having her 26th Birthday party that night. It was fun – I was feeling a bit tired so it was quite hard meeting people that didn’t speak English very well but Dana and Inbal looked after me well. Then some random kooky guy just walked in off the street and I didnt know that he was a stranger and he started talking to me and he would always stand really close to you with some bizarre lack of personal space and he told me his conspiracy theories about the ’secret biological army base’ across the road. After a few hours of this my dad came and picked me up and we just went home and crashed.

This morning we went to Beni’s house in Herzliya and went for a swim in the pool there which was great – and then one of the lifeguards got his guitar out and we played for a while and he taught me a thing or two – about music, life in Israel and Hebrew – he was an awesome guy! After the swim we ate a bit of food at Beni’s restaurant then we tried to fish in the Marina with no luck and eventually a cheeky fish stealing the whole hook!

When we got back to Dizengoff we went and saw No Country for Old Men – which is bloody intense by the way – and then came home afterwards and watched Forest Gump – such a great movie!

(Click for big photo + caption)

Today we parted ways with the Rental car – not without a last tiny bit of grief (I filled up the night before and only drove 5 minutes to the rental place and they claimed it wasn’t full) then an old friend of Mum’s Amos picked us up and took us to Jaffa to have lunch with his family. Amos has a two kids – Mor who is 18 – and Einav who is my age and there are photos of us together as babies!

You really need to come and eat in a hummus place in Jaffa one day to get a taste of not only REALLY FUCKING GOOD hummus but the intense culture of the area. These hummus places every morning make one gigantic batch of hummus and basically they are open until it runs out. There is no official closing time. These places are so popular that at lunch time theres a line of people going out the door and people are always waiting for a table – when you finally get one you have to eat with the pressure of at lease 30 people watching you and waiting – its like the hot seat!

Anyway we sat and ate and enjoyed and afterward we went for a walk around the Jaffa shuk. Mum got a chicken and I got a wall hanging. We went to get ice cream and after that we got a photo of Einav and I sitting on mums knee because apparently there is a photo of us as babies doing the same thing (although I don’t remember it – I’m gonna dig it up when I get home and scan it and put it with the “20 year later” version).

Later that afternoon I got a ride to Bet Oved which is the Moshav Shuki and his family live on. It was so good to see Yamm and Shefa – although they had almost forgotten me!! It didn’t take long with them at the playground for them to remember and enjoying being with me! We drove down towards Be’er Sheva to have shabbat dinner with Tali’s parents then we slept the night in Be’er Sheva at Shuki’s mums.

(Click for big photo + caption)

This morning after a better hotel breakfast than the the last one we set out with our suitcases down to the parking garage where we had left our car the night before. En route we passed my mums great aunt’s old house which is kinda in ruins now but that was quite amazing for her because she used to stay there when she lived in Israel 20 years ago.

We drove and parked under the council buildings and then made our way to Alatefer The Museum on the Seam which is a gallery of art about coexisitance and promoting peace and justice. The exhibit we saw was called Bare Life and has some really awesome pieces – mostly multimedia.

After the museum we made our way into the heart of the shuk (market) in the old city of Jerusalem via the Jaffa gate and soon got buried deep inside the myriad of cobblestoned lanes and alleys. Theres no real way to describe this shuk but its world famous and there are many people roaming around and many slick salespeople calling you their friend and asking where your from and what your looking for. Mum loves a good haggle and we roamed around abit looking at scarfs and other bits and pieces. You really need hours to search this place its just awesome. For lunch we eventually found a hummus place we were recommended and sat down to eat. I can’t explain how good it was. Actually. It was amazing. Best hummus I think I’ve had in Israel so far (and I’ve had alot.) I basically died.

On the way out we bought a few things and did a bit of haggling to get prices down then we went back to our car and started our drive back to Rekhovot. We got stuck in traffic and it took hours then I got lost trying to find Rekhovot. It was bad.

(Click for big photo + caption)