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!!