Lovin' this country.

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One month ago today I left for Israel. Time really does fly when you're having the greatest adventure of your life!!! I heard someone at the hostel say something along the lines of the shock of visiting somewhere so far away from home doesn't really wear off until you actually get back home and I have a feeling that will be so true in 5 months when I go back. I'm loving this experience that I'm having more and more every day.

On February 15th I decided to go on a little day trip by myself to Yafo. About a 30 minute walk along the beach just south of Tel Aviv. It's an old port city believed to be one of the oldest cities in the world.
It was such a beautiful walk (there and back) I had not done any research on the city prior to visiting which, now that I have, I will go back just to see what I missed out on. But, it was so much fun exploring the streets and discovering sights on my own without knowing anything! I took a lot of pictures, to see them, visit this link:

The last couple of weeks, weather wise, has been not quite ideal... it's been rainy, windy and thunder stormy. But the Israeli's love it because it doesn't rain that often and it's good for the country. I'm not complaining at all, I'd rather have this than snow, ice, hail and all that other stupid Canadian weather.

I've been going out to some bars with Amanda & Erin from the hostel and having such a fun time with those girls. We have a little sisterhood which is pretty cool!!! I've met some really amazing people here... especially Elad 😊 I've been staying at his place which is in a little town called Shoham (about a 25 minute drive from Tel Aviv)... it's so nice here, when I get a chance, I will take some pics from the neighbourhood. Elad has been making sure my experience in Israel is quite memorable and he's doing a fantastic job, I have not been let down. We've gone to many places to eat (food here is exceptional, I don't think I'll ever get sick of pita & hummus!!!) We went to a place called 2C, it's on the top (49th) floor of a building in Tel Aviv. The view from that place was phenomenal and the food was delicious! There was a bat mizvah going on in the other half of the restaurant which was closed for the party but we snuck in so we could take some pictures (the view was better on that side!!) and I got to see what a real Jewish bat mizvah was all about. Loud music, everyone dancing, lots of people, lots of food and lots of 13 year old girls having a wonderful time!!!! That was definitely a high light for me! We also went to the movies... we saw Yes Man with Jim Carey... HILARIOUS movie. And the theatre was huge.. something like 23 screens. The popcorn was also superb. lol. If you know me, you know I can't live without popcorn so I was pretty happy.

Last night, we went for a really long drive... all the way to Ashdod. If you look at a map, it's actually pretty close to Gaza... I think that's as close as I want to get, lol! But it was a really nice drive... today we went to a Lebanese restaurant which was really good, I'm still pretty full from the chicken breast and rice I had. Oh and can't forget about the pita & hummus (pretty sure it's a staple food here)

So, Michelle comes tomorrow morning... I'm SO excited. Elad & I are going to meet her at the airport. I'm going to hide and get Elad to hold up a sign with her name on it and when she comes to him, he's going to tell her that me and his other wives are waiting for her back at his place. haha. Michelle and I went to elementary school together and have been friends for about 13 years. We always have the funniest experiences together so this should be interesting and awesome. We're planning on going to Jerusalem, Yafo, The Dead Sea and probably some other things so I can't wait to update the blog on the stuff we do.

Yay 😊 I also can't wait to get down to Eilat and finally meet those dolphins at the reef... soon enough.

Talk to you guys soon!!!!!!! peaaaace. J

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