sof shavua ragua (relaxing weekend)...maybe

well, the last few days have been quite busy. Or maybe it's been less than a few days. who knows. but anyway...yesterday was a LONG day. Worked in the morning per usual and then spent the hour and a half between work and class mourning my lack of sleep. after an hour of class we set out for our "tiul" (trip) to Kisarea (they spell it differently in English but I forget). We walked along this river that supposidly once had crocodiles and then along the beach. There is a 17 km aquaduct (sp?) that we walked along fora good while which was fun but it was also really hot and so by the time we got to Kisarea we were all pretty tired -- mostly because we got up at 5:30 in the morning...

Kisarea - the old city part -- is so beautiful. It definitely looks like an old Roman city. I'll post pictures sometime soon so you get the idea. We took many pictures of the sunset on the water...the sunset on the Mediterranean never ceases to amaze me despite the fact that I've seen it most days since my arrival at the kibbutz. After our guide told us tidbits of history about the place we headed back to the kibbutz in time for dinner. After dinner and a few quick emails, my roomates and I headed to bed for a nap -- well for me it was a nap and for Iris and Aviva it was just an early end to a long day. I on the other hand stayed out and bummed around the Pub of the kibbutz with some of the Ulpanists and bombachim buddies of ours. They played fun random songs for most of the night and i found hearing Alanis Morrisette in the context of a Pub quite amusing. by 2am I was more than my share of exhausted and walked the three meters from the pub to my room and into bed. Poor Aviva is sick with a bad cold and after making sure she had some Advil Cold & Sinus and some water, we went to sleep.

This morning I got up at 8:30 and felt like it was years since I went to bed (at 2am), ate a leisurely breakfast from 9:00 - 9:45 and then packed up my stuff and headed to Tel Aviv/Petach Tikva. I finally got to Michaela and Dov's around 1ish and had a really amazing lunch with family. As much as I think the kibbutz food is good and for the most part enjoy it (despite the lack of fruit available considering it's growing RIGHT OUTSIDE), it is still really nice to sit down with family and eat on a plate that is NOT on a tray and that was not obtained by swiping a card and that has interesting sauces and non-mass-produced tastes. The afternoon nap soon followed and then to my grandmother's apt. in Tel Aviv for a few hours. My aunt and uncle, Aliza and Baruch, came over for a bit and it was nice to see them since it hadn't worked out to meet since I got to Israel. I also spoke briefly with Adi, one of my cute little cousins who I can't wait to see one of these weekends. She and her family came to visit us last year in the states and she named a little stuffed animal of hers "Rider" after this sea lion we saw at Mystic Aquarium. Very cute.

I'm now hanging out at my cousins' apt (Tsachi & Nomi) in Kiryat Shmone. Their baby girl Neta is adorable and it's fun to see her often because even every few weeks you can see how she grows. Very cute. Mmmm...shabbat. I hope to have a relaxing day tomorrow as Sunday begins the start of a new and probably long week. I love how you can really feel that it's Shabbat here. Even though the religious part of it doesn't really attract me, I really enjoy the feeling of the whole world around you just slowing down for a little bit. Sure, it no longer comes to a complete stop as it probably once did. But nevertheless, things are closed, people just hang out and spend time with family and friends and for the most part don't even think to be productive since everything is closed. It's nice.

Overall things at the kibbutz are going really well. I'm excited to meet a friend of Amitai's, Roee, that's coming to work on the kibbutz as a bombach. Maybe he'll live in the "ghetto," as they call it. :-P Hopefully we'll play some beach volleyball this week, it's been a while.

Today marks the one month anniversary of my departure from the states and while it feels like so much has happened between when I left and now, so many new people, new place, etc, etc, and yet it went by soooo fast. It's hard to believe it's already been a month. Especially since with Iris it feels like we already know each other really well, facial expressions, stupid quirks, etc...but that's probably just because we are together all day every day. But it's in a really good way and I feel so lucky to get along so well with her and some of the other people on the program. I'll post pictures soon so that those who read and want to see have some idea who I'm talking about when I refer to people and I can stop being so vague. It's entertaining to already have ridiculous personal jokes with people here: Sylvia and I pretend to speak sign language and greet each other with a hand motion from this Red Bull commercial for some unknown reason; i've carried on the "wellllll...hello" torch (courtesy of my lovely Raquelita) and some people around here have since picked it up; Iris and I say "lila tov" (good night) about 17 times a day since we take naps every time we have at least a 10 minute break; my buddy Eduardo from Brazil knows the lyrics to sooo many random songs and I'll walk around humming something and he'll break into the chorus of the songs without me even realizing he's standing there...yeah, and lots of other random nonesense that becomes the "stuff of life."

I miss people. I wish I could just have everyone in one place!!! but i will be home in a month more or less and will hopefully get to see people and spend some quality time with y'all :-P in the meantime, write me and what not. keep me posted and I'll do the same...yay for blogging. My mom calls me today and actually comments on the fact that I haven't written a blog in a few days...oh how the world has changed in the last 10 years. My grandmother is 93 and everytime I talk to her I think, holy crap. you have seen SOOO MUCH in your lifetime. It's crazy to imagine that the world might change just as much between now and the end of my life, but it's possible and highly probable. We all know that it's only a matter of time before "google" becomes a verb/noun in the English dictionary since we all already use it all the time.

oh yeah, and let me just comment on the fact that there is now a reality show in Israel with a "bachelor" type theme where this guy, Ari, from NYC comes to Israel to "find his match" --- blech. but it IS funny to me that they have you "meet" all the girls that he is picking from in the commercial for the show, and there is one American chick but the rest of them are Israelis -- most not really born and raised here -- but from all over. Yeah, "reality" tv just needs to go. GO! Although there is this new show that looks cool where famous actors are part of this series where they go to therapy sessions or something and you just see their lives through their therapy or something...i don't know, but there's one guy in it who's extremely good looking (Lior Ashkenazi from Walk on Water for those who know him) and probably enough of a reason to at least watch the first episode on Sunday night. I'll let you know how that goes.

Lila tov,
Ler