What I did on Sunday
I tried to book a tour to the Dead Sea but to no avail. I thought I would go alone but decided that since I have to be back in Jeru by 6:30, it wouldn't work too well and I wouldn't get to see all I wanted to. I had a chat with Mr. Busdriverman and discussed going to Tel Aviv instead to go the beach and have a look around. (BTW, I had the volunteers' cell phone yesterday). On my way to the bus station, Mr. Busdriverman called me and asked if I wanted to go to Haifa instead. Haifa is about 2 hours away while Tel Aviv is only 30 minutes away. I said 'what the hey' and ended up in Haifa two hours later.
Haifa is cool. It's a very nice, clean, modern city. It has the Baha'i Gardens and the International House of Justice, again a Baha'i Institution. The weather was very nice - not too hot. We drove around and he showed me the sights. Then we went to the beach...
Whoa, man! I have NEVER been swimming in waves like that before. Actually, it wasn't really swimming. It was diving into wave after wave and basically mucking about in the oh-so warm and lovely salt water. The waves were so strong, I was constantly aware that the bathing suit I was wearing was in constant peril of creating an inappropriate scene... not quite tight enough.
It was just the day-off that I needed. This week, I'm going to try again for the Dead Sea. And then maybe Tel Aviv on the weekend.
-------------
Now I'm starting to think about what I'm going to do when I'm done here. I have already to mentioned to the sisters that I want to leave ealier. I'm just unhappy and bored here. I don't want to prolong the sensation anymore than I have to. So I definitely want to make the rounds of cities in this country that I haven't made yet, hopefully getting the hook-up with local families from Mr. Busdriverman who obviously knows lots of people since he's from these parts. Then, on to Petra and Amman, Jordan for about 5 days. I'm still contemplating going to Istanbul for a few days to pay The Turk a visit, to see if things are still sparking for us, or if it was a one-time thing. But I gotta start watching my pennies, either way.