We went for a three day trip to Eilat. The first day was very busy. We watched "The West Wing" on the way down. We got to our hotel and decided to spend the first day sitting by the pool, going in and reading in our chairs. We had dinner at a place called Ginger an Asian Indonesian fusion restaurant. Very tasty food. We went to sleep early because we had a big day ahead of us.
Day 2:
We woke up at 6:00 to have breakfast in order to be ready for the 6:30 AM pickup. Off to Petra. Petra is located in Jordan. While Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, we were still a little bit nervous. They take you through passport control and have you walk through a no man's land to get to Jordan. 1 Jordanian Dinar = $1.5 USD. Nonsense. We took a 2 hour ride to Petra. Along the way our guide told us that there were 6 million people in Jordan, 2 million in Aman. UNREAL!! Petra is hidden among the mountains. We got to Petra and took a 1 Kilometer walk to the main attraction the Hizna. Along the walk, you see idols carved into the walls, and a water system that allowed the Nabateans, a Pagan civilization which became powerful by controlling trade routes through the middle east, to have water throughout the dry season (all year long basically). The ceramic pipes and dams the Nabateans built were sensitive to water pressure which had the propensity to break the ceramic pipes. They also built their treasury (Hizna) away from the wind. The Hizna is carved from the sandstone, right into the mountain. It was later found to be the burial site for rich Nabateans. Their are other caves and tombs, but the Hizna is the biggest and most well preserved. It was amazing.
Day 3:
We got up and went to the underwater observatory to see the sharks get fed and to watch them feed the anacondas. 1) Sharks in the wild eat once a week. Sharks there get fed 2x a day, so they are not usually hungry. We missed that. 2) They have 1 snake. We did not stay to see that. 3) some things are more interesting as a kid. This is one of them. But we spent the rest of the day by and in the pool and went home later that night.
Conclusion: Eilat is relatively boring. It is nofesh (vacation for the soul) Petra was amazing. One of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Eilat and bathing suits.
It has been a long time since I last blogged. The reason is because I had promised our loyal blog readers that I wouldn't blog again until Yuval did. Well, I am happy to say that this will be a joint blog post.
Yuval will blog about our trip to Eilat and Petra, and I will now tell you a story about how I just bought 2 bathing suits. Now, it seems to me that my bathing suits have shrunk (or something...) and I needed ones with a little more coverage. There are a few bathing suit stores, right next to each other near our house. We went into one the other day, and it was the smelliest store I have ever stepped foot into, so we left promptly. We went to go try another store this afternoon, after a lunch of pizza bagels at a cafe we basically go to every day. --At the cafe, I poured an entire ice coffee on Yuval, but he recovered-- Back to the bathing suit story. So, we went into a smallish store, that looked like a tornado had ripped through it and immediately the owner starts handing me styles that he thinks will look good on me. I really did not even have a chance to look at the racks, because he was just handing me bathing suits that were basically Kineret's size. I decide to go with the flow (I know, a big feat) and try on the tops he had handed me. The first two were itty bitty. Then the 3rd, I thought looked OK, so I called to Yuval to come and see. Now, Yuval opens the curtain only so his head can pop through and the guy who owns the store is looking over Yuval and starts going on and on about how perfect the bathing suit is. Now, this guy was very nice. He wanted to help me find a bathing suit that looked good on me and he wanted to sell me something. So, again I decide to go with the flow and let this guy tell me what he thinks. Finally I pick 2 bathing suits and the best part is--he makes them especially for me. So, I picked out the styles of the tops and the bottoms that I wanted and the color that I wanted, and he is making them for me to pick up tomorrow! And then he gave me a pair of flip flops. What a day. Now, for Yuval...
Well, I have to write about quite a few things. Let's start off with the day that Safta, Eytan and Niva went to the Opera. So, we met them afterwards so that we could have dinner together. We all ordered and Safta asked for her soup very warm "burning not she said". "I understand what you mean" the waiter said. As I assured him that he did not understand he left. He brought back soup which was steaming, but not scalding, which was sent back. As we ate Safta asked how our food was. We all told her it was very tasty. When she got her soup back she said "Now it is warm enough. So what do I add for taste?" That was an interesting start to the dinner. Then we asked how the opera was, and that we had not ever been to the opera. Two days later,we were going the following week.
Yom Hazikarom and Yom Ha'atzmaut were both amazing days. We went to a memorial service in Rabin Square. The square was filled with thousands of people. The MC read poems of fallen soldiers. Famous artists such as Idan Raichel sang songs, some were self written, others which were written by fallen soldiers. In between these poems and songs were short movies, with interview of parents, friends and families of fallen soldiers. Some of the stories have stuck with me. ONe father of 2 was called back for reserve duty. He was a ground soldier commander. One day a grenade was thrown into the bunker he was in. He immediately jumped on it in order to save his soldiers. Between 5-10 were saved. This hero's son, who was 4 at the time was teased by his classmates who told him that if his father was really a hero, he would not have died, he would have survived. The second story was about a boy who as a kid said he would not serve as a field soldier because he did not want to fight. As a soldier, he decided to serve as a ground soldier. His father told him that his son said "I am going to fight for peace". In the middle of his service, his great grandmother passed away. His father suggested that he come home to be with the family. His son said that if he left the base, someone else would have to fill in his spot, so he did not return home. He was killed two days later. The family sat Shiva in the middle of their Shiva. We hear these stories in the states, but to see these interviews reminds you that these soldiers are just kids. They are just children. So when we hear that women and children were killed on the Palestinian side, we MUST remember that these soldiers are kids. One of the most amazing parts of Yom Hazikaron is that every store closes. Walking to Rabin square, we wanted to get a bottle of water, but EVERY store was closed, even though this could have been one of their busiest days. We were inspired by the respect shown. Also, the whole country stood still as a a siren sounded.
Yom Ha'atzmaut. What a celebration. A great ceremony on TV which took place in Jerusalem. Then we went back to Rabin Square for singing and dancing. First there were speeches by government officials and the mayor of Tel Aviv. Next, a group called Groovatron (like Givatron, but not as good) sang. They took perfectly amazing Israeli songs and killed them. Then they stabbed them repeatedly to make sure that you would never want to hear them again. But the ceremony was filled with other musicians and fireworks and ice cream. One of us, even had two ice creams (not Sarah). We left to find the place that Niva said had Israeli dancing at around 11:00. We had been at Rabin Square for 2 hours. WE got lost and nobody knew where we really were supposed to go. So, we decided to go home. But we did so via Rabin Square, were Anat Saroof was singing. 3 Hours of Shira Be'tziboor with dancing b'ma'agalim. We were exhausted at the end but what a day. Kids running around the streets with shaving cream, spraying shops, cars that did not belong to them and random strangers. I took pictures of one girl defacing a car. He mother asked me why I was shooting photos of her. I explained not wanting her to be offended, that was taking pictures for my mother. She said I should send it to the Tel Aviv newspaper. Not exactly what I thought she would say.
The opera was great. The main tenor had an amazing voice. Still don't like sopranos. We saw Tosca. The average age in the theater was about 2000 years old. We thought the first act was a little too long, but it was overall (to be read in a Borat voice) VERY NICE!!
Yuval will blog about our trip to Eilat and Petra, and I will now tell you a story about how I just bought 2 bathing suits. Now, it seems to me that my bathing suits have shrunk (or something...) and I needed ones with a little more coverage. There are a few bathing suit stores, right next to each other near our house. We went into one the other day, and it was the smelliest store I have ever stepped foot into, so we left promptly. We went to go try another store this afternoon, after a lunch of pizza bagels at a cafe we basically go to every day. --At the cafe, I poured an entire ice coffee on Yuval, but he recovered-- Back to the bathing suit story. So, we went into a smallish store, that looked like a tornado had ripped through it and immediately the owner starts handing me styles that he thinks will look good on me. I really did not even have a chance to look at the racks, because he was just handing me bathing suits that were basically Kineret's size. I decide to go with the flow (I know, a big feat) and try on the tops he had handed me. The first two were itty bitty. Then the 3rd, I thought looked OK, so I called to Yuval to come and see. Now, Yuval opens the curtain only so his head can pop through and the guy who owns the store is looking over Yuval and starts going on and on about how perfect the bathing suit is. Now, this guy was very nice. He wanted to help me find a bathing suit that looked good on me and he wanted to sell me something. So, again I decide to go with the flow and let this guy tell me what he thinks. Finally I pick 2 bathing suits and the best part is--he makes them especially for me. So, I picked out the styles of the tops and the bottoms that I wanted and the color that I wanted, and he is making them for me to pick up tomorrow! And then he gave me a pair of flip flops. What a day. Now, for Yuval...
Well, I have to write about quite a few things. Let's start off with the day that Safta, Eytan and Niva went to the Opera. So, we met them afterwards so that we could have dinner together. We all ordered and Safta asked for her soup very warm "burning not she said". "I understand what you mean" the waiter said. As I assured him that he did not understand he left. He brought back soup which was steaming, but not scalding, which was sent back. As we ate Safta asked how our food was. We all told her it was very tasty. When she got her soup back she said "Now it is warm enough. So what do I add for taste?" That was an interesting start to the dinner. Then we asked how the opera was, and that we had not ever been to the opera. Two days later,we were going the following week.
Yom Hazikarom and Yom Ha'atzmaut were both amazing days. We went to a memorial service in Rabin Square. The square was filled with thousands of people. The MC read poems of fallen soldiers. Famous artists such as Idan Raichel sang songs, some were self written, others which were written by fallen soldiers. In between these poems and songs were short movies, with interview of parents, friends and families of fallen soldiers. Some of the stories have stuck with me. ONe father of 2 was called back for reserve duty. He was a ground soldier commander. One day a grenade was thrown into the bunker he was in. He immediately jumped on it in order to save his soldiers. Between 5-10 were saved. This hero's son, who was 4 at the time was teased by his classmates who told him that if his father was really a hero, he would not have died, he would have survived. The second story was about a boy who as a kid said he would not serve as a field soldier because he did not want to fight. As a soldier, he decided to serve as a ground soldier. His father told him that his son said "I am going to fight for peace". In the middle of his service, his great grandmother passed away. His father suggested that he come home to be with the family. His son said that if he left the base, someone else would have to fill in his spot, so he did not return home. He was killed two days later. The family sat Shiva in the middle of their Shiva. We hear these stories in the states, but to see these interviews reminds you that these soldiers are just kids. They are just children. So when we hear that women and children were killed on the Palestinian side, we MUST remember that these soldiers are kids. One of the most amazing parts of Yom Hazikaron is that every store closes. Walking to Rabin square, we wanted to get a bottle of water, but EVERY store was closed, even though this could have been one of their busiest days. We were inspired by the respect shown. Also, the whole country stood still as a a siren sounded.
Yom Ha'atzmaut. What a celebration. A great ceremony on TV which took place in Jerusalem. Then we went back to Rabin Square for singing and dancing. First there were speeches by government officials and the mayor of Tel Aviv. Next, a group called Groovatron (like Givatron, but not as good) sang. They took perfectly amazing Israeli songs and killed them. Then they stabbed them repeatedly to make sure that you would never want to hear them again. But the ceremony was filled with other musicians and fireworks and ice cream. One of us, even had two ice creams (not Sarah). We left to find the place that Niva said had Israeli dancing at around 11:00. We had been at Rabin Square for 2 hours. WE got lost and nobody knew where we really were supposed to go. So, we decided to go home. But we did so via Rabin Square, were Anat Saroof was singing. 3 Hours of Shira Be'tziboor with dancing b'ma'agalim. We were exhausted at the end but what a day. Kids running around the streets with shaving cream, spraying shops, cars that did not belong to them and random strangers. I took pictures of one girl defacing a car. He mother asked me why I was shooting photos of her. I explained not wanting her to be offended, that was taking pictures for my mother. She said I should send it to the Tel Aviv newspaper. Not exactly what I thought she would say.
The opera was great. The main tenor had an amazing voice. Still don't like sopranos. We saw Tosca. The average age in the theater was about 2000 years old. We thought the first act was a little too long, but it was overall (to be read in a Borat voice) VERY NICE!!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
CRAZY
I promise not to post anymore about the negative things here, at least until Yuval posts a funny post. So, I have a cold, ok no big deal. I spent a couple of hours in bed this afternoon reading/napping, while Yuval made some fruit salad and cabbage salad. It is now 9:30pm and we were cleaning the floor before getting ready to go out to eat something. I am changing my clothes in our bedroom when someone starts pounding on our door. Well, we have a new neighbor who is an older man, I would say in his 60's, who told us he just made aliyah after being a lawyer in Canada for the past 25 years. He was forced to retire after his 2nd bypass surgery. Now, we open the door and he starts screaming. No introduction, just full on screaming, asking us if we are doing construction in our apartment. Now, I have been on and off sleeping for the past few hours, so if there was banging in our apartment, I didn't notice! He wouldn't even let Yuval get one word in. 2 minutes into his tirade, our other neighbor (there are 3 apartments on our floor), opens his door to see what all the ruckus is about. I am standing behind Yuval and the other neighbor is looking at me like, "is this guy insane?" Well, clearly! Anyway, so the guy continues to scream that we have been banging for 1.5 hours, and the other neighbor starts to try and diffuse the situation, saying he heard nothing, we are good neighbors, blah blah blah. Yuval did not get excited and did not yell back at this lunatic, and the guy basically yelled himself out and slammed his door. We were all left standing there in total shock. Now, this guy had knocked on our door politely a few days before to introduce himself and tell us that he had just made aliyah and that there were obstacles at every corner. If you act like a lunatic, like he did, EVERYTHING will be hard. Especially in this country, where people love to yell at each other. It also seemed clear, that he has some serious anger problems, and no wonder that he was forced to retire from his stressful lawyer job because of heart problems. This totally freaked me out, because this guy is clearly unstable. Our other neighbor said that he would talk to the landlord--but I don't really know what that will do, because this guy is just a lunatic. Anyway, hopefully, he will move out soon-these apartments are short-term, so if he is making aliyah, he's probably not staying here forever.
Love,
Sarah
Love,
Sarah
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