Note: More pictures up! Check’m out! Also, I fixed the Day-to-Day link in my previous post. And lastly, I’m sorry for the text-only blogs lately but most of the free wi-fi connections I find won’t allow me to upload large files (like a blog post with pictures), even though they WILL allow me to upload pictures to my albums. Strange.
After a week of working with Sar El at the medical supply factory, it was time for a relaxing weekend. On Thursday, we were all bussed back to the Tel Aviv Central Bus station. I, along with seven other women and a small group of men from my volunteer group, made our way to Beit Oded, a soldier’s hostel in Yaffo. When there’s room, Sar El volunteers can stay there for free in dorm-style rooms, with bedding, three meals, shared showers and towels provided. It’s a five minute walk from the beach and there are cafes and stores all around. Old Yaffo is a ten minute walk away, while central Tel Aviv is about twenty minutes, depending on where you want to go.
In short… a great deal!
Thursday afternoon we checked in to the hostel, and then Diane, a fellow Floridian volunteer, and I went to a nearby café for a snack and free wi-fi. Our snack turned out to be a round, nut-and-chocolate covered mouse, which was quite tasty. We gabbed and sipped coffee and tea, checked our e-mails and in general just chilled out. Later on, we met up to retrieve my phone from Beny’s apartment, where I’d couchsurfed the weekend before. On the way, we stopped to have dinner and ended up having a fantastic meal. For me, shrimp with a delicious salad and white wine; for Diane, a grilled fish over grilled eggplant, which was even more delicious, and Macabi beer. And a dessert whose name neither of us can recall but whose taste was terrific: something a bit lighter than flan, but the same general consistency.
After a brief visit with Beny, during which I retrieved my phone and unknowingly left my Sar El ID card, we ran down to the beach to meet up with Beth (Canada), Vitali (Ukraine/Canada) and Frank (Germany), who were enjoying drinks at La La Land, a bar and restaurant on the beach. Literally… we took off our shoes and dug our toes into the sand. The girls had froo-froo arak drinks, the men had beer. At 11:30pm, we all trooped up to Beny’s, retrieved my ID, and then caught cabs back to the hostel, whose curfew is midnight.
On Friday I did next to nothing, which suited me perfectly! A late, long breakfast at a nearby café, catching up on e-mails and all sorts of online stuff; a few hours at the beach, sunning and swimming and snoozing; a nap at the hostel; and lovely pistachio and fruit salads for dinner; all capped with Shabbat services, which were unfortunately very boring and uninspiring. Then a quick dinner out with some of the ladies, a jaunt around Old Yaffo at night, and then to bed.
Saturday was much a repeat of Friday, except that I went out to walk on my own for a bit. I did meet up with Beny, who walked me through several interesting neighborhoods and provided me with fun, light conversation and company. In the evening, Diane returned from a family visit to Lod, and along with Beth we walked through Old Yaffo again and then smoked some hookah, cherry flavored. On Sunday, our entire 33-member group met back up at the Tel Aviv Central Bus station and were bussed back to base! We worked for the afternoon, trying to get back the coordination and mojo we’d developed last week.
Today, however, was not a work day. Today we got a full-day trip organized by our madrichot, or Sar El leaders, and we were accompanied by two additional madrichot and two armed guards. We were bussed an hour north to Zikron Yakov, which literally means “In Memory of Jacob.” The Jacob in memory was Rothschild’s father. Rothschild was a baron who funded one of the first settlements of Jews in Palestine, way back when, on the condition that he have things named after him. The town is sweet and very pretty, with the first “pioneer’s bank” and a very comfortable and arty main street. We walked around the small town for a bit, learning about Sarah Abrahmson, a female Jewish martyr, and Rothschild himself.
Then it was off to Tishbi Winery, where we had an amazing tasting. The staff paired wine and chocolate, six of each, and I ended up buying a gift for a friend who enjoys port. Needless to say, we all got a bit tipsy and had some good laughs. Beth, forty years old and claiming that she’s “an inexpensive drunk… but never cheap,” did cartwheels inside the tasting room. Some of the male seniors went around kissing all the ladies. Our armed escort watched with amusement, staying away from the wine but chowing down on the chocolate, M-16s hanging at their sides.
Finally, we stopped by a Crusader fort in Hertzeliya, which was pretty interesting. Of course it was just the remains, but learning about the history was fascinating: Apollonia, an important port settlement of Phoenicians, was taken over by the Turks, who were beaten by the Crusaders, who were in turn beaten by the Turks, who were then overthrown by the Marmalukes, who eventually disappeared. Then this once important port, where purple dye was harvested from sea creatures, fell into ruin and was only re-discovered in 1994! Today there are just outlines of ruins, excavated and displayed carefully on a cliff overlooking what used to be the port.
We arrived back at base an hour before dinner and had a lazy evening. Tomorrow we start back up with the factory work, and Wednesday we’re to have a long workday again. But Thursday we leave for Tel Aviv in the morning, and so really it’s just a two-and-a-half-day work week this week!
I continue to enjoy my group of people, although I’m getting especially friendly with Diane, who is in a similar situation to mine: unemployed, unsure where to devote her energies, strong desire to travel. We’re plotting post-Sar El adventures together, possibly including a visit to Petra, Jordan. Also, we would like to travel together in the future… perhaps to South Africa, where we now know two people (women volunteers) who are more than willing to host us and show us around!
It’s been a good weekend and beginning of the week, that’s for sure!
--Z
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