Okay.. so we went to Nadav's house in Ra'anana. The neighborhood they live in is beautiful and looks exactly like a Southern California suburb. When we got to the house, Gal, Nadav, Jen, Sage, Seth, and I hung out on the patio in their back yard and attempted to fill them in on our experiences up to that point, but we kept getting sidetracked and never actually finished the story. They are both finishing their high school finals right now and will be going into the army in about 5 months. Gal is going into intelligence and Nadav is trying to get into a special forces unit, both of which are very competitive.
The girls settled in at Nadav's house, and Gal brought Seth and I back to his apartment where we would be staying. We got a taxi into Tel Aviv and walked down the small, lively streets. It was a lot like the Village, except a lot hotter and more confusing. We made our way down to the tayelet (promenade on the beach) to meet up with Jason, and we spent the evening at a bar on the sand next to the Mediterranean. On the way back (we were all passed out in the cab) there was a checkpoint where the police were searching every car for a terrorist that they knew would be passing through, and it took about an hour to get through the search. It was pretty invasive; I can't imagine living like that in the US, but it seemed completely normal for Israel. The girls went to Nadav's and we went back to Gal's. Seth passed out and Gal and I hung out on the roof philosophizing about life.
We woke up really late the next morning and headed to the beach in Herzliya, where we spent most of the afternoon. We had sushi in the mall by the marina and then went back to get ready to go to Tel Aviv for the night again. We had dinner in Nadav's dad's restaurant, which is the Tel Aviv branch of Sushi Samba in New York. Great food.. and 50% off! We walked around the city and ended up in a couple bars before heading back home. One of Gal's friends came over and they, Seth, and I sat out on the roof again, overlooking Tel Aviv and the countryside. It's a pretty great spot.
We said our goodbyes in the morning and caught a train to Be'er Sheva, where we caught a bus to Eilat. The bus ride to Eilat was one of the worst traveling experiences I've ever had. It's a 3 hour ride at least, through the desert (110 degrees that day), and to top it all off, it was completely full and we had to stand/sit/curl up in the aisle for the entire trip. After a night without sleep, it was torture.
We settled into our hostel and went to the promenade to get some dinner and meet up with Inbal (a girl that stayed in Sage's room for 6 months during a program) and her boyfriend Segi.
Back at the hostel, Seth and I acquired two new room mates. Even though it was a youth hostel, they were easily 45-50. Over the next couple nights, they made our hostel experience pretty unbearable. They were both huge and smelled horrible. One couldn't sleep without his radio playing loud Israeli music, and the other refused to wear clothes and was unnaturally flatulent. One of them ate sunflower seeds one night, and must have finished off 3 bags or so because in the morning there was a pile of shells oll over the table and floor next to his bed. The seeds got on everything over the course of our stay. I have no idea how, but one of them managed to cover the bathroom floor with mud. It was pretty disgusting.
We went to the beach next to the tayelet the next day and went out again at night. It was much sleazier than I expected it to be. They have guido equivalents here called the "arzim", who seemed to own Eilat. It was way too Seaside-like for me. I'm not a big fan of downtown Eilat.
The next day we went to a much nicer beach down by the Egyptian border, where we lounged on Club Med chairs and watched the windsurfers on the Red Sea. Merav and her boyfriend Yoni met us there and Yoni and I went scuba diving. While we did that, the girls when "snuba" diving (you are attached to a hose that runs to the surface rather than having a tank.. you don't need to be certified), and Seth went snorkeling. The dive was great. The reef was beautiful and the visibility was perfect. We went through caves and then went down to the Syrian-African Rift underwater cliff, which was very cool.
Yesterday, we took a bus up to Jerusalem and spent the evening out at Ben Yehuda street. We stayed at the Hebrew Union College hostel, which was MUCH nicer than our last hostel experience. Seth left at like 5 o'clock this morning, and the girls and I headed into the old city today to visit the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount. We wandered through the Christian Quarter and Arab markets. We ended up at the Western Wall and waited there for Jason to meet up with us before we went up to the Dome of the Rock.
Gal had told us, when we were staying with him, that two huge events were taking place in Israel this summer. One was that famous musicians were finally starting to come back.. the Intifada scared most of them away for the past 5 years, but now groups like the Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, and others were coming to tour again.. very exciting for the Israelis. The second event was the first ever professional sumo wrestling tour was coming to Israel. I didn't really think anything of it until today while we were at the Western Wall, where I ran into the sumo wrestlers. There were about 10 of them decked out in kimonos, surrounded by press, security, and Japanese tourists, visiting the wall as part of their trip to Israel. None of them could figure our how to put on the mandatory yarmulkes at the entrance to the wall. It was definitely a sight to see.
Jason eventually showed up and we got lunch, but when we went to see the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock, we found out they had closed just 15 minutes before. It was really too bad, but it leaves us a reason to come back.
After the Old City, Jen, Sage, and I walked over to Ben Yehuda street (where I am at an internet cafe typing this right now). I met a girl at the computer next to me who's traveling around Israel and Europe for the next couple weeks. It turns out that she's on the same flight as me to Greece tomorrow! It really is a small world.
To be continued...
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