Israel and Whatnot
Israel was fantastic. I stayed with family in Kfar Saba at their beautiful house. Food-wise, Israel is THE place to be over Pesach. Pretty much every restaurant is Kosher for Passover and the KOP pasta is actually good! Hung out with the son, Shachar, who is 19. He and his girlfriend, Kim, invited me to go out with them and their friends. I couldn't really talk with them much (the friends) because most of them didn't really speak English and my Hebrew is much worse than my Italian. It's been years since fifth grade, give me a break. It took me forever to read Hebrew signs (I was getting better by the end of the trip) and when I would try to think up words I'd think in Italian first, then English, then I'd remember a bit of a song from my Jewish Day School days that had the Hebrew I needed and THEN I could speak. Of course, quite a bit of time would have passed for this process to occur so I stuck with English. Had it been necessary, of course, I do know the Hebrew for "I speak English" and "Where is the bathroom?" Very useful sentences.
Anyway, the Silberts (cousins) took me to an amazing art market in Tel Aviv and we explore it thoroughly. Shachar, their son, and I walked ahead and had fun looking at all the fabulous work. And I got to pet a really cute puppy. Just sayin'. From there Shachar and his mom, Michelle, and I went to Jaffa to check out the flea markets. It was quite cool. We had been in one of the older areas of Tel Aviv that is now becoming more bohemian and trendy according to Norman (the father) and Jaffa is this amazing old area. I may have photos...which will be posted later.
The days kind of blurred together. I went to the beach with Shachar and his friends where they smoked hookah on the beach and it was windy and too cold to swim. Later we went to his aunt's house for dinner where Lauren, a friend from home, met up with me. We soon returned to the house and decided to have a night of catch-up and movies, which lasted to about 5 AM. The next day we woke up late and Michelle took us to the mall. We arranged to meet up with another friend in Tel Aviv later that day. I hadn't seen this guy in years. David and I used to be best friends when we were little (and when I say little, I mean like four or five...we told the Rabbi we would get married, a story my mother loves to tell me) but haven't really spoken since I left elementary school. It was nice to catch up, however briefly. He and his friend needed to get to Israeli dancing and Lauren and I had to get to Netanya to stay at her cousin's house. Sleepover part II!
Sleepover part II involved lots of food (that house smelled amazing with all the food Lauren's cousin Sharon was cooking) and movies about teenagers getting syphilis (I looked it up on IMDB, it's called "She's Too Young") and again going to bed around 4-5 AM. The next day was also a lazy day and we went to the beach. I did go into the water this time but it was freezing so staying in said water didn't seem exactly appealing. The water was so clear and there were no shells to hurt my feet when I walked into the ocean. The sand was smooth and perfect. I loved being able to see one or two tiny fish as I walked farther into the ocean. I wonder what it's like when the water is actually warm.
Tuesday was supposed to be my last day in Israel. I went with Norman to Jerusalem to meet up with one of my mother's oldest friends, Liora. He took me through one of the markets along the way to the meeting spot. From there Liora and I went to have lunch and I told her about the family and what I'd been up to, asked her a few questions about my mother. Sadly she didn't have any embarrassing stories to tell. We got a quick coffee and then Norman and I were on our way to the airport.
At the airport we find out that my flight has been canceled. No, they hadn't seen fit to inform anyone. Let's just say that there were a few choice words I wanted to say to them but didn't. Another dude did it for me, anyway, and in Italian so I know they understood it. Honestly, I wasn't terribly pissed off. Norman had come into the airport with me so it wasn't like I was abandoned at the airport and would need to call him to come back and get me. He ensured that they had booked me an alternate flight (they had) and got all of the information I would need: get to the airport by 2:30 AM for my 5 AM flight to Rome. From Rome I would head to Milan with a little under and hour in between to get to the next gate.
Norman's exact words to Michelle on the subject were: Good news: Adrienne is staying for dinner!"
My family is absolutely wonderful.
At the house I decided to just stay up until Shachar came home to drive me to the airport. Shoval, his older brother (Norman and Michelle have three kids: Shoval, Shirley and Shachar, Shirley is married and lives elsewhere in Israel), taught me how to play Backgammon and probably let me win the two times we played. Michelle stayed up to watch some TV with me before retiring. As soon as I discovered Beast Master was on, Shachar was back and we headed out.
Ben Gurion Airport is very confusing. Apparently it goes security check, then check in, then going through passport/security again, then customs and THEN I get to my gate. That said, it's one of the nicer looking airports I've been to. Rome's airport is both confusing and ugly. I was on a transfer flight with very little time to get from the plane to my gate (at least I thought so) and had to go through security AND customs again before going to my gate, which was farther than I thought it'd be. Then I stood in line at the gate waiting to board for at least 15-20 minutes. Then the plane was delayed (at this point I was in my seat so I just slept through it). At this point I'm running on a few hours of sleep from the plane rides, one tiny cup of coffee, tiny biscuits and some KOP potato chips. As soon as I got to Cadorna I got myself a cab home.
And then I slept. Well, showered, briefly browsed the internet and then I slept. Slept until about 12:30 this morning (with a few bathroom breaks in between). Was supposed to go to class at 9 AM but FUCK THAT. I woke up and felt like I was half-dead so I emailed a girl in my class and went back to bed. Italian prof's don't give out an email to reach 'em at...what's up with that?
Still not 100% but that might be lack of proper meals in the past few days. Anyway, I don't have class tomorrow (at least that's what the website says so I'm going to assume it's true) so I'm going to sleep in some more. 'night ya'll. Photos will be uploaded and posted eventually.
Anyway, the Silberts (cousins) took me to an amazing art market in Tel Aviv and we explore it thoroughly. Shachar, their son, and I walked ahead and had fun looking at all the fabulous work. And I got to pet a really cute puppy. Just sayin'. From there Shachar and his mom, Michelle, and I went to Jaffa to check out the flea markets. It was quite cool. We had been in one of the older areas of Tel Aviv that is now becoming more bohemian and trendy according to Norman (the father) and Jaffa is this amazing old area. I may have photos...which will be posted later.
The days kind of blurred together. I went to the beach with Shachar and his friends where they smoked hookah on the beach and it was windy and too cold to swim. Later we went to his aunt's house for dinner where Lauren, a friend from home, met up with me. We soon returned to the house and decided to have a night of catch-up and movies, which lasted to about 5 AM. The next day we woke up late and Michelle took us to the mall. We arranged to meet up with another friend in Tel Aviv later that day. I hadn't seen this guy in years. David and I used to be best friends when we were little (and when I say little, I mean like four or five...we told the Rabbi we would get married, a story my mother loves to tell me) but haven't really spoken since I left elementary school. It was nice to catch up, however briefly. He and his friend needed to get to Israeli dancing and Lauren and I had to get to Netanya to stay at her cousin's house. Sleepover part II!
Sleepover part II involved lots of food (that house smelled amazing with all the food Lauren's cousin Sharon was cooking) and movies about teenagers getting syphilis (I looked it up on IMDB, it's called "She's Too Young") and again going to bed around 4-5 AM. The next day was also a lazy day and we went to the beach. I did go into the water this time but it was freezing so staying in said water didn't seem exactly appealing. The water was so clear and there were no shells to hurt my feet when I walked into the ocean. The sand was smooth and perfect. I loved being able to see one or two tiny fish as I walked farther into the ocean. I wonder what it's like when the water is actually warm.
Tuesday was supposed to be my last day in Israel. I went with Norman to Jerusalem to meet up with one of my mother's oldest friends, Liora. He took me through one of the markets along the way to the meeting spot. From there Liora and I went to have lunch and I told her about the family and what I'd been up to, asked her a few questions about my mother. Sadly she didn't have any embarrassing stories to tell. We got a quick coffee and then Norman and I were on our way to the airport.
At the airport we find out that my flight has been canceled. No, they hadn't seen fit to inform anyone. Let's just say that there were a few choice words I wanted to say to them but didn't. Another dude did it for me, anyway, and in Italian so I know they understood it. Honestly, I wasn't terribly pissed off. Norman had come into the airport with me so it wasn't like I was abandoned at the airport and would need to call him to come back and get me. He ensured that they had booked me an alternate flight (they had) and got all of the information I would need: get to the airport by 2:30 AM for my 5 AM flight to Rome. From Rome I would head to Milan with a little under and hour in between to get to the next gate.
Norman's exact words to Michelle on the subject were: Good news: Adrienne is staying for dinner!"
My family is absolutely wonderful.
At the house I decided to just stay up until Shachar came home to drive me to the airport. Shoval, his older brother (Norman and Michelle have three kids: Shoval, Shirley and Shachar, Shirley is married and lives elsewhere in Israel), taught me how to play Backgammon and probably let me win the two times we played. Michelle stayed up to watch some TV with me before retiring. As soon as I discovered Beast Master was on, Shachar was back and we headed out.
Ben Gurion Airport is very confusing. Apparently it goes security check, then check in, then going through passport/security again, then customs and THEN I get to my gate. That said, it's one of the nicer looking airports I've been to. Rome's airport is both confusing and ugly. I was on a transfer flight with very little time to get from the plane to my gate (at least I thought so) and had to go through security AND customs again before going to my gate, which was farther than I thought it'd be. Then I stood in line at the gate waiting to board for at least 15-20 minutes. Then the plane was delayed (at this point I was in my seat so I just slept through it). At this point I'm running on a few hours of sleep from the plane rides, one tiny cup of coffee, tiny biscuits and some KOP potato chips. As soon as I got to Cadorna I got myself a cab home.
And then I slept. Well, showered, briefly browsed the internet and then I slept. Slept until about 12:30 this morning (with a few bathroom breaks in between). Was supposed to go to class at 9 AM but FUCK THAT. I woke up and felt like I was half-dead so I emailed a girl in my class and went back to bed. Italian prof's don't give out an email to reach 'em at...what's up with that?
Still not 100% but that might be lack of proper meals in the past few days. Anyway, I don't have class tomorrow (at least that's what the website says so I'm going to assume it's true) so I'm going to sleep in some more. 'night ya'll. Photos will be uploaded and posted eventually.