Tel Aviv and Yaffo

Monday August 28, 2011

Today we had our first adventure into Tel Aviv.  We took a short drive in Lior's car to the train station.  Brian had his first lesson of buying train tickets and how the Israeli train system works.  The main thing is to remember not to throw away your ticket.  When you arrive at your stop you must use your card to exit the station.  Not to say you are trapped if you lose the ticket.  It just becomes more effort involved.

We had some time to sit and talk more about the program.  Mostly we just asked Lior as many questions that we could think of... still trying to get an understanding of what the year might look like.  Once our train arrived, we boarded and sat on the second level.  Trains have two levels, top is better.  The air conditioning on the train is always nice and refreshing.

The plan was to jump off at Bet Yehoshua and meet Yael the program director.  When we approached the station, we pressed the button to open the door.  To our surprise the door did not open.  We quickly ran to the next car to press the button again on another door.
 Again... the doors did not open.  All of a sudden the train began to move, and we were still inside.  It was quite amusing.  You know in movies when people stand there awe struck as the train pulls away.  That was us!  Since we are on our more open schedule, with just the three of us together.  The change in schedule was not a big deal.  We were quite amused by the whole ordeal.  We continued along to Azrieli station in Tel Aviv.

I was quite happy that was the station we chose, because I knew there is an Aroma in the mall.  For any of those who do not know.  Aroma is similar to Starbucks...but SO MUCH TASTIER!  Lior said that he doesn't understand Americans' obsession with it.  Even though he doesn't understand, he decided we should begin with a nice coffee.  We were off in search of Aroma!  To my surprise we could not find it.  We decided to go to the very top level and enjoy a nice coffee from the random coffee place located there.  It was nice...not Aroma standards, but it was fun.  And obviously with our luck of the day we passed Aroma on our way out of the mall.

Then we took a taxi to HaBima (the Israeli National Theater).  From there we walked down Rotschild Boulevard, through tent city.  I experienced a bit of culture shock.  Several nights before the beginnging of our program I joined my aunt and uncle at the social justice demonstration in Jerusalem.  I was in quite awe of the numbers of people ranging in age joined together to stand up for the unfair conditions.  People had brought couches, tents, beds, everything.  It is really a true tent city.  There are signs all over with different slogans discussing different unjust issues.  As we walked along we had a very nice conversation about the Israeli government and people's concerns and issues at the moment.

Then we walked into where Israel became a state.  We are going to go on a study tour at some point this year, so we just stopped in for a quick look.  Then we continued to walk to the neighborhood Neve Tzedek. It is amazing how quickly the loud hustle of Tel Aviv life dissapastes when you walk into Neve Tzedek.  It is a neighborhood that has been restored and is quite snobby.  Nice expensive cafes, quiet streets, a nice world inside of Tel Aviv.

We found our way to the Suzan Dalal center.  It was nice to read the information and take a short break from the wonderful sun and heat.  Then we went to the tahana center, and saw a cool architectural exhibit of seniors in college. Finally we walked into yaffo to have some tasty lunch.

 One very important thing Lior has taught us....water water water. You don't need to be thirsty, Lior says drink and you begin to drink. Let me explain that we do not walk around with small bottles of water. No our bottles carry 1.5 liters each. We didn't drink enough in the beginning, but we definitely made up for it! We even stopped along the coastline to take pictures of our water drinking skills!

After we were rehydrated we went to meet Lior's older brother. He works in a very interesting building. 300 years ago it was a "hamam" a Turkish bath house. Now it is a wedding hall. The architecture is very beautiful.

At last we took a nice quiet cab ride back to the train station. Before our stop we jumped off quick and met Yael the program director and Michal the leader of the group that will live in Akko.  We spoke for a short while and then jumped back on the train to venture back to beautiful Quessaria.

We had some nice time to relax, ate some dinner, and began to be more productive toward our program.  We worked on making a to do list of things before we move to our house in Rehovot on Thursday.  It was a fun evening and pretty productive.  It's nice that we are here already and can create some fun things for everyone who has yet to arrive.  The best part is that neither Lior, Brian, or myself consider ourselves  artistically inclined.  However, I'm sure it's the intention that counts.

Finally we decided to get some sleep.  I didn't realize how much we saw and walked until sitting to write it all down.  We still have to teach Brian how to play shesh besh, it's on our list for tomorrow.