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Published: June 12th 2007
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It is important to note, for my American readers, that Israel has an odd sense of "weekend". The weekend lasts from the middle of Friday until sundown on Saturday. So Sunday, in Israel, is really the same thing as Monday in the states. So that's why everything is open on Sundays here.
Sunday, I amazed my grandmother my declining her offer to take me to the mall. Instead, I requested that we go to the Diaspora Museum located on Tel Aviv University's campus. The Diaspora Museum is one of the largest museums in the world related to the Jewish people and their history around the world in various communities in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures while I was in there (a security guard admonished me loudly), but I did manage to get a picture of the gate to Tel Aviv University. After a bombing on the Hebrew University campus in 2002, all campuses in Israel have become closed campuses, so you have to show ID and submit to bag searches to get on to campus. It certainly cuts down on the problem with homeless bums that we have at UF and at
Path to the Sea
The arches at Sharon were the common meeting place for everybody in high school. Tulane. Anyway, the museum was very interesting and certainly comprehensive, though I have to say that they haven't quite got down the "historical narrative" concept of organizing a museum the way some museums in the US work. The museum would be greatly improved if there were more artifacts rather than just a few diaramas and reproductions. Also the museum was a little bit text heavy, but still really great. I heard more English and European languages in the museum than I did Hebrew, which I suppose makes sense.
Sunday night I went out to dinner at a restaurant called "Spaghettim" with my father's friend (and my travel agent) Havi and her two daughters, Danielle and Mor. Spaghettim is a restaurant in a newer part of town that is trying to be very cosmopolitan. The funny thing about that is that when Israelis try to be cosmopolitan, it comes across as hilarious, because Israelis, as much as I love them, are crass and Middle Eastern. Also, hearing the translation of Italian-sounding menu items into Hebrew was amusing, since the words REALLY don't work in a semitic language. At least English has some roots with Italian. It was still a really
Sharon Beach
Keep walking... nice time, though.
Yesterday, my plans with my grandmother fell by the wayside after my cousin called her from school to tell her that she wasn't feeling well. So my grandmother went to pick her up and take care of her for the day, and I set off for the beach. This was my first time using the public transportation system in Israel since I've been back, and I was slightly nervous that I wasn't going to remember how to do it, but from the first rude shout of the bus driver at me to "pay already", I knew what I was doing. I went to Sharon Beach, which was a favorite hangout of all the AIS-ers back in my high school days, and after seeing a few american adolescents, I knew that it still was the AIS place to be. The weather was perfect; it was hot, but there was the breeze coming in off the Mediterranean. The beach wasn't too crowded as it was a work day, so it was mostly middle and high school students and a few mothers and their children. And the lifeguards, who are certainly nice to look at. I laid my towel
The Mediterranean
Yaaay we made it! out in a prime spot, and for a few hours I dozed, listened to music, and took a couple of swims in the ocean. The water is much warmer in the Mediterranean than it is in the Atlantic, there's less seaweed and garbage, and no jellyfish! The water was a little rough, so the lifeguards kept shouting at all of us to "come back", but true to Israeli form, nobody listened. My favorite part was all the cute puppies that were playing on the beach.
Last night, I went out for a little while with some more of my parents friends, and then I met up with my friends Leeza and Jessica from high school. Leeza is getting ready to start her psychology program at TAU, and Jessica is in Medical School here. We went to a sushi restaurant in Herzliya, shared a bottle of wine, and gossiped about a lot of people from high school. It was nice to see them, but we realized how old we were when at midnight, we were all ready for bed.
Today, I'm finishing up some errands and then it's off to AFRICA!
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laura
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i love that you put pictures up again... they're great to see.. and i'll admit, i definitely enlarged the ones of the guys and esp the one of the puppy!!! =) eee. anyway.. back to hw but i'm always excited when you put up a new post! xo