Home for the summer in T -10 days!

I’ve been very busy lately with teaching, studying, tutoring, working out, waiting for the bus, and laying on the beach. Ok, so that last one doesn’t sound so bad…
This past weekend, my camp friend Jen was in Tel Aviv for the weekend with a few of her friends. They are from Canada and in med school. They had been in Eilat, observing and helping in a hospital and touring around the south through some Canadian Jewish organization. Jen extended her trip to visit Idan and me in Tel Aviv, so her friend Ashley and her stayed at my apartment. Friday, we met up with Idan and took a mini-walking tour of Tel Aviv. He was a great little tour guide. I was surprised by how much he knew about the histories of the streets and the different architectures. After Idan went to work, Jen, Ashley and I found a new (to me) shwarma place. It was one of the best I’ve had so far! That night, while he was working, we walked around the port and ate an Israeli dinner of lafa (huge pita), hummus and salads. Then we went to one of my favorite bars. Ashley got hit on by a 45 year old so we moved to a different side of the bar to “meet some friends”. Then, some very trusting random dude that had been eyeing us asked us to watch his wallet, phone and keys while he went to the bathroom. We left as soon as we finished our beers! I don’t know if it’s my favorite place anymore.
Saturday morning we had a huge, delicious, cheap Israeli breakfast at “Sandwich Place”. (It’s really called Bar Gurion & they definitely have more than just sandwiches there, but that’s what it’s called around my program.) Then we went to the beach, which Jen and Ashley both said was better than Eilat. Our friend Gal came...with popsicles! We waded out to a natural rock levee and found some cool looking crabs. Good day. That night, we met up with another one of Jen and Ashley’s from their trip and went to a club that has a pool in the middle. The bartenders actually stand in it and serve drinks from there! Allie, Ali and I know the guys that promote the party line there on Saturday nights, so we got in easily and had a ton of fun!
Sunday (my last day of class!), Idan was already at the apartment with Jen when I got home from class and Doron came over soon after. Nice surprise! After hanging out for a while and taking some fun pictures on the couch, we met up with some other camp friends (Gal, Kelly and Heather) for dinner at an Italian restaurant. Noam had told me about it months and months ago, so I was glad to finally try it out! Jen and Ashley left super early in the morning to travel around Europe for a few weeks. They’re coming to Tel Aviv on the 29th, so we get another day to hang out before we all fly out on the 30th (them back to Canada, me to Texas). Their flight is only an hour after mine, which means we get to share the cab fare!
Wednesday, Cohort 11 went on our end of the year trip. Well, 8 out of the 18 of us went. 2 have already gone back to the States and 2 had previous engagements. The other 6? Yeah...they had no excuses! Lame. Those that went, had a GREAT time, though. We took a hike around Ramat HaNadiv, which is a nature preserve on the Rothchild estate. We did a 3.5-4 hour hike in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Probably best that we had a smaller group! Afterwards, we got to spend some time in the gardens before we went to a little town called Zichron Ya’acov for lunch and free time. It reminded me of Salado or Fredricksburg in Texas, with the little restaurants/cafes and shops. And it wouldn’t be a Cohort 11 trip without a visit to a winery. We went to the Carmel winery down the road from Zichron. I’m becoming an expert on the wine making and tasting process. Ask me anything!
My pictures have been updated: http://picasaweb.google.com/cpasses