But I'm here now, being super cool on a Friday night and instead of going out I'm going to sit outside of this other cafe and jack the internet without buying anything just to catch you all up on my life as an Israeli. :)
So.. last time I left off I had just gone on that cool field trip with my kids...
That night our big group of Career Israelis decided to go out and hit up the port where all of the cool clubs are here in Telly.. and like VIPs we made our way into Galina, one of the nicest clubs on the port. I should mention that a few of the guys on our trip are REALLY into clubbing.. so when it comes to this kind of thing, they are champs. They made sure to get us our own table (which is awesome because you have your own leather couches for dancing on, table for your drinks, and all in all enough space to not be grabbed by every guy in the club... woo!), they ordered drinks like professionals, ending with multiple rounds of champagne, you know, just to lock in our level of classiness. All in all, the night was really really fun, with only a few bumps along the way which for the sake of my friends I won't mention here.. and by the time I walked through the door around 4 am I was thoroughly beat and ready to sleep! (Does that kind of rhyme?)
Friday Ashley and I somehow managed to wake up and make our way to Jerusalem in time for Shabbat... we were hosted in the Old City by a few incredibly generous, beautiful, Orthodox families who taught us what it means to truly keep and honor the Sabbath.. we began on Friday night at the Kotel (where else?) and were escorted to a gorgeous home in the Jewish quarter where we enjoyed an amazing (and HUGE) Shabbat dinner, filled with some major Judaic learning.. it was honestly so amazing. We didn't get back to our hostel until 1 am (the curfew of this place) but we didn't want to leave! The family was so inspiring in their love for Judaism and Torah and G-d.. it was really beautiful to see.
Saturday we woke up and (SHOCKER) headed back to the Kotel for some services and then made our way to a second beautiful home where we once again rejoiced in the Sabbath day by eating an unprecedented amount of delicious, kosher food and then enjoyed the tranquility of our self induced food comas... basically, for those of you who haven't figured this out, Jews really REALLY like to eat. I mean think about it, on Shabbat there are many laws about what we can't do in order to honor the day, but there are no laws against eating and that is exactly what we do!
After attempting to take a walk around the Old City in our modest clothes and the hot sun, Ashley and I ended up taking shelter under a shady tree where we befriended three little Orthodox boys who were delighted by speaking Hebrew with us and hearing us answer them in American accents...and just like everyone else in Israel, they just HAD to know for sure if these two blonde, American girls were in fact Jewish. Seriously, if it weren't against the religion we would invest in tattooing "JEWISH GIRLS" across our foreheads. (Well probably not, but you get the point.)
The rest of the day was filled with more learning, more food (duh), and more inspiration from even just the walls that surrounded us in the Old City. After the sun went down and we lit the Havdala candles, Ashley and I were finally free to go back to our more secular way of life here in Tel Aviv. The whole experience left me reeling... everything we did was just so meaningful and special and beautiful, I felt so proud to be Jewish and take part in something so unique, holy, and all around just amazing! :)
This week was relatively standard, minus the shopping expedition that brought me back to Jerusalem on Monday (bad idea, I am an embarassingly compulsive shopper), singing and playing my gweetar at an awards ceremony in Kfar Saba on Tuesday
(and afterwards hanging out in Janine's gorgeous home, as well as a tour of Columbus' influences on Kfar Saba)
and our group expedition to Zichron Yaakov and the surrounding areas on Thursday. Here's a basic run down: We got on the bus around 8 am, arrived close to 10, did a quick tour of the Aliyah museum in the town, and booked it over to the Binyamina winery where we took part in a delightfully EDUCATIONAL wine tasting.
I in particular REALLY enjoyed the experience, which left me woozy and breathlessly man-laughing for no particular reason.. essentially drunk, and all in the name of education! :) We then did a little tour du force of some Roman built aqueducts where we got very wet and slimy,
and then made our way to an authentic Druze home/restaurant where we got to gorge ourselves on Druze food while learning about where the Druze people fit into Israeli society. It was AWESOME and DELISH.
That evening when we got back Aksel and I went for a barefoot beach run, and afterwards we all headed back to the port for some table dancing and champagne drinking.. but unfortunately the line for Galina was CRAZAYYY and we ended up at a lounge a few bars down which was definitley much more relaxed but of course still so much fun... oh PS have any of you ever tried salty bulgarian cheese combined with watermelon?! The BEST taste combination ever. It is my new passion. So good.
So today Ashley and I headed over to Kfar Saba to attend a POOL PARTY we were so graciously invited to where we mingled with gorgeous Israeli men and lounged on rafts in a luxurious, deep blue pool. Yummy.
Tonight for Shabbat we were invited for dinner over to Ashley's family friends' home where we were hosted like the queens we are learning to be (kidding).. but seriously we have been treated to some amazing Shabbat experiences and we are SO thrilled to be wined and dined like this.
Tomorrow I'm thinking the beach? Yeah sounds pretty good.
Heart you all!
It sounds like your having an amazing time! I'm so jeal. Love you miss you <3 xoxo Sam
ReplyDelete