First Shabbat

Friday was the first day I didn’t have to do anything. I didn’t go to Tel Aviv (except to take a sheruit, which is a sort of mini-bus that runs all the time, even on Shabbat), but spent the day in Yafo. Sam and I went to Super Shuk, a two-part supermarket. I was in the produce market, paying, which she went back to the regular market to get the ingredients we had forgotten. The woman in front of me was purchasing enough veggies to feed an army. It’s Ramadan and people have large family gatherings to break the fast. A man came around her (from the outside!?!?) and got in front of me. He said something and motioned to her. I couldn’t respond, but the woman behind me started yelling at him. There was a shouting match for a while, and the cashier didn’t really know what to do. She started to ring the man up because he was getting on everyone’s nerves. The purse of the woman buying the whole store was touching the scale and he went off on the casher for ringing him up because it was effecting the weight/price of his veggies. After he finished, I paid for my stuff and got out of there. We realized we should have gone shopping earlier in the day. We had waited until three and everyone was out shopping before Shabbat started and the stores closed down.

For Shabbat we went to an apartment in Ramat Gan. A girl from Tufts, Jackie, lives there with five other people. The six of them work for a Zionist movement. They run programs for kids and other educational events. Everything in their apartment is communal and they’ve made aliyah (they’ve become Israeli citizens). Our dinner was delicious. They had made roasted potatoes and beets, squash soup, an eggplant pastry (I didn’t eat that), grape leaves and challah. Sam and I made a salad of tomatoes, watermelon, basil and balsamic vinegar with feta cheese on top. After dinner, Sam and I went to meet up with her Israeli friend and his friends. They were hanging out at one guy’s house. His mom is Yemenite and he made us the best hummus we’d ever eaten. There were so many spices on it. The family keeps Shabbat, which was really interesting. There was a hot-water dispenser (like for tea at a catered event) in the kitchen and the hall lights were left on. The bathroom lights were not on and could not actually be turned on. We spent the rest of Shabbat (Saturday) by sleeping late and going to the beach. The beaches here are nice, but they allow dogs to run around on them, which is annoying. The dogs run around in packs getting wet and shaking water everywhere. I got stepped on at least two times and had sand thrown at me from all angles.

Beginning of Orientation/Apartment Searching

On the first day of orientation I saw two apartments. One was on the ground floor, so I pretty much ruled that out. Two American girls were moving out and there were two Aussie guys staying. The rental period was only for two months with the possibility of extending. One of the girls was actually taking the stove and the guys were way too much of partiers for my taste. After that I saw a place where a 40 year-old Russian woman was the roommate staying (a 20-something was moving out to study in Jerusalem). She seemed nice, but we would have had nothing in common and it would have been a pretty lonely experience. I had trouble finding the bus back to Yafo because apparently the 25 had stopped running. After a full day of apartment hunting, I was beginning to feel nauseous. I had purchased a single-serving of hummus, but had no way of eating it. I tried using the cereal bar I had in my bag, but that was gross and the bar fell apart. Finally I wound up going into a 24-hour market and picking up a bag of potato chips, which was disgusting, but potato chips only have three ingredients (potatoes, oil and salt), so I knew that they would be safe for me. I ate the hummus and threw out the rest of the disgusting chips as I got onto the number 18 bus.

Day two I saw another apartment, which I really liked. The guy was kind of quiet, but the place was awesome. The kitchen had everything I could want, there was air conditioning and internet. Later on, I was sitting on a bench reading from my Kindle and a woman started talking to me in Hebrew. I smiled and said (in English) that I didn’t understand Hebrew. She was older, walking with a nurse/aid, and wanted to know how the Kindle didn’t hurt my eyes. She wound up to be American; her children live in New Jersey. Those first few nights, I slept on the roof of Sam’s apartment (there are mattresses up there). I really only lasted two or three nights because the squeaking noises from the bats finally drove me nuts. I was afraid they were going to attack me or something, so I started sleeping inside on the couch, which is leather and really sticky from the heat.

On Thursday I saw another apartment near Dizzengoff center, which is a very central location. The roommates seemed like they could be cool people, but there was no a/c or washer, it was on a busy street and they had a dog. That night I met Sam and her roommate, Yonni, at pushpeshuk, a nighttime street festival in Yafo. There’s a market (shuk – hence the name) and lots of live music. I had a “fruit shake” for dinner and watched the bands perform. Sam went out, so Yonni and I walked back to the apartment and he made shakshuka, which is essentially scrambled eggs with veggies and tomato sauce. We went up to the roof to eat it and the shakshuka fell off the edge of the roof! It was hilarious and convenient because I wasn’t that hungry and he was adamant about feeding me.

Arriving in Israel

My flight to Israel left Sunday afternoon. I few Czech Air and thought I would be one of the only people flying through Prague to Tel Aviv. Boy, was I wrong. My flight was full of orthodox Jews, both Israeli and American. Every other person was carrying a hatbox, many were also wearing tallit. Our flight arrived in Prague at 6 am local time. To fly to Isarel you have to pass through special security at the gate, which was not yet open. So I sat around as all the other Jews prayed, washed their hands and ate their kosher snacks from New York.

The other funny thing about the flight was the number of kosher meals served. I had ordered a gluten-free meal. The flight attendants came around with the “special meal” lists and kept trying to serve me a kosher meal. I had to keep correcting them and request my gluten-free meal. They figured it out, but it took a while. When they cleaned up, the kosher meals had to be collected separately which meant other passengers were really confused as to why their meal trays were still on their tables. I understood what was going on, and chuckled to myself.

When I arrived, the airport was insanely busy. I took a train to Tel Aviv and then a taxi to Sam’s apartment. The taxi drivers were trying to convince me to pay them a flat-fee instead of using the meter, which Sam had explicitly told me to do. I fought the taxi drivers and wound up walking to another area to take a taxi with a meter.

Sam showed me around her amazing apartment, which has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room/dining room/kitchen area, a covered patio, balcony and rooftop balcony. She lives with two Israeli guys: Yonni, who is 21 and just got out of the army, and Shay, who is in his late 20s-early 30s and works at a restaurant at night. The apartment is in Jaffa (Yafo in Hebrew) which is considered a southern part of Tel Aviv and is much older than Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was founded by people who moved out of Yafo.

Sam and I walked up to Tel Aviv to the beach. Her friend Daniela came and met us there. She took us back to here apartment which she’s leaving. It’s a one room place – practically a dorm room – on the ground floor. It had a kitchenette and bathroom, but I didn’t think the door was very secure and I don’t really want to live by myself. Then Sam and I went for hummus, which was delicious. Here you can eat hummus with a pita (not for me!) or people dip onion in it.

Last days at home

After Cape Cod, I went home for a few days, one of which was spent in the city. I saw Jess for the first time after our Euro-trip. I also went to the Museum of Natural History and saw the big whale and the dinosaurs. I hadn’t actually been to the museum since I was seven years old and I was surprised at how nice some of the sections were. The tired diorama cases hadn’t changed much, but the newer space and animal exhibitions were modern. Joe and I went out for sushi and then back to NJ.

Cape Cod

I had to get up to Cape Cod while I was home: after having spent last summer there, I missed it terribly. Steve drove down from where he lives with his family (north of Boston). I was glad he was able to come because it was the only time I got to see him.

I had already gone to the beach before he arrived. We went to another beach for a while and then went to dinner at Squire. I hadn’t realized that Steve had never tasted raw oysters or clams, so we ordered some. He determined he liked the oyster better, but I don’t think he’ll be ordering either one soon.

The next day we went on a walk up in Eastham. It had looked cloudy, so we weren’t going to do it, but the sun stayed out for our entire, two-mile walk. Our destination was Coast Guard Beach. On the way, we were eaten alive by bugs. They weren’t mosquitoes, rather triangular-shaped giant, biting flies. It got to be so annoying that we wound up walking the bike path where there were far fewer bugs. The beach was really crowded, but we managed to find a space to hang out for a while.

Our last day on the cape, we went on a walk through the nature reserve. I had been there with my mom, but we had never walked the entire path. It’s not actually a long path and it cuts through the wooded/marshy area. Steve and I missed that turn-off and wound up walking around the entire mini-peninsula. When we realized we were way off the course of the path, we tried to take another path, but that one led up to someone’s house. Instead, we had to cross the dune area. We finally made it back to the marked path, nearly two hours after we set out. As we were walking back up the beach to get to the parking area, Steve, who was barefooted, stubbed his toe on a rock. We went back to the house, he iced and taped it, but it had swelled pretty badly. He went to the doctor’s when he got home and it was broken. The doctor told him to ice it, tape it and rest, which was the same treatment I had prescribed!

I’m really glad I went to the cape because I got to see people from last year. It was nice to go back to the beaches I had hung out at last year. I also went on a run/walk along my old route. Chatham is probably my favorite place on earth.

High Line

As soon as I connect my dad's digital camera to my computer, I'll upload the pictures, but yesterday he and I went to the High Line in NYC. Let me say this: I'm quite impressed by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. This is a very cool space.

For those of you not from NY...or those who missed out on the exhibits about this space at the New York Architectural Center/Museum down by Washington Square Park, the High Line is a park on the old el tracks. The tracks have been "hanging out" (aka rusting away) downtown for many years. My dad said he was on them before he could drive - so back in the stone age.

So the city decided to do something about them, and that something was to turn it into a public space. There are tons of flower growing wildly in these strange cement planter-like things.

Gozo

On Malta, I stayed with Jessica, her brother Ben who is 20, her parents, whom I had met separately on previous occasions, and their friends, Susan and John. We spent Friday lounging by the pool. At night we went to Sannat to see the Santa Margarita festival. We ate dinner at a pizza place on the main street and then got ice cream. We didn’t stay long enough to see the midnight procession or fireworks (there weren’t actually that many). The town was decorated with banners and lights. Statues of Santa Margarita, with pliers, a book, and other objects, were displayed around the square.

On Saturday we went into Victoria, the biggest city on the island. Jess, her mom, brother and I climbed up a hill to the citadel. We went to the cathedral which had a tromp l’oeil dome. It was flat, but painted to look like a dome when the viewer stands in the nave of the church. From other angles, it looks really strange. From the citadel walls we could see almost the entire island. Afterwards, we walked through a market, went to the grocery store and then came back to the villa for the afternoon. We ate risotto and barbeque for dinner.

Sunday morning we drove down to Xlendi (pronounced Shlendie), a small town built on a cove. There was almost no beach down there, so we grabbed some tables at a café. Jess and her parents stayed at the tables while Susan, John, Ben and I rented a paddleboat with a slide. We paddled around the cove, Ben and I taking turns sliding into the salty water below. It was strange to slide into salt water because I had always associated pool slides with chlorinated water. I had to remember to keep my mouth shut as I slid down. The water here seems to have a higher salt content than the water off of Cape Cod (aka what I’m used to). Even after I had dried, I noticed that my hair had tons of salt in it.

Monday we went to see the temples at Ggantija. They’re actually the world’s oldest free-standing structures, built between 3800 and 2500 BC. We couldn’t really see much because there was some scaffolding up. The view from the air would actually have been much better (I saw it on a postcard). After the temple, we went to Calypso’s Cave, where we checked out a nice viewpoint rather than climbing around the hill and into the cave below us. Then we had lunch at Xlendi where the restaurant had gluten-free pasta and pizzas!!!! I had a pasta dish with fruitti di mare (mixed shellfish), which was delicious. They even served me brusceta on gluten-free toast instead of normal bread. It was the first time a restaurant was well-stocked and educated in this manner. I was impressed for such a small island.

After lunch we had to take turns getting back to the house because the car can’t make it up the hill with everyone in it. I stayed behind with Jess’s dad and John because I wanted to climb up the cliff which runs along the side of the cove at Xlendi. It actually goes up and then down and around into a cavern in the rock. From the top I had great views of the cove/bay and inside the cavern there were nice views as well.

Tuesday we took a boat around the island. From the boat we could see different rock formations, and the cliffs which surround the island. We took the boat into some inlets and a few caves to see what the water had done to the rocks (and coral) over time. We could also see fish and jelly fish. The boat stopped at a few places so people could get off, or jump from the top deck, and swim. I stayed on board because I didn’t feel like being wet. I’m really glad we got to see the island from the water because it is really pretty. The towns aren’t that nice because they’re a bit run-down and they’re island towns. For lunch we stopped in a blue lagoon on Comino, a small island between Gozo and Malta. There were tons of tourists there, and we didn’t stay long because we couldn’t swim (too many jelly fish).