After my last post I ended up walking across the street and getting Dominoes pizza. I really like dominoes in the states so I was hoping it would be equally enjoyable here. They didn't have chicken breast, bacon, or hamburger, so I wasn't going to get my usual with olives. I got a mix of Pastrami (they said it was thin slices of chicken but google says differently - a language and cultural mixup even though I did make chicken noises, respectfully), pepperoni, pineapple, and sausage (not like american sausage). It was so good. There was barely any pizza sauce and the cheese was delicious - it worked out well. I ate four pieces and then felt terrible so I went for a run. What a beautiful run!! Night time running through the park, at 930pm the tennis courts were full and the trail on the river was packed (I think it's a river, it says Nahal HaYarkon - google will tell you Nahal has some meaning to the defense force - I thought Nahal might mean "river" and Yarkon is the name of the park).
I ran over the river and through the woods. I ended up at a basketball court and had to stop. This is actually a compliment and politically correct: those jews could play. I now know how massively out of shape I am. I've been talking about it, I know, but basketball is a good measure for me since I have played for so long... I was about 60% and we lost both games. I had opportunities to win them but I just didn't do well, it always bums me out when I could have won the game and my team could have had more fun / kept playing. The guys on my team were extremely nice, a lot of the people here are very nice, it's easily spotted and felt. I had discussions about it, surely I thought there were some deterrents such as major punishments or something, but then I thought people face life in prison in the USA but they still kill people or themselves. It might be something else. Women walk by themselves late at night here, unafraid it seems. It makes me feel comfortable, the city feels safe.
I gave some info to a guy on my team that was going to San Francisco for his honeymoon (road tripping through California), and congratulated the other guy on his newborn son. He was 38 and had his first kid, which of course made me feel very comfortable to talk to him about having kids later in life. I've always thought I would have kids by now but it just didn't work out that way. After the games we parted ways and that was that, see you when I see you. If I was staying I am sure I would have exchanged contact information but I was leaving in just a couple days. I ran back to the house to get showered up and ready for bed. Once I got back to WiFi I had decided to grab a taxi and meet a friend for a quick beer while also checking out some of the city at night. I ended up forgetting my phone in the taxi, and spending a lot of time trying to track it down.
The phone was gone. I could not track down how to find it or where it was. I wasn't 100% sure it was in the taxi or if it had fallen out... I had to face a decision of how to get a new one, when, and where. The tour was also pushed back to the 14th and while I got a refund I can't say I was very excited to hear that, what a bummer... So there I was thinking of whether or not I even needed a phone and looking up prices via craigslist and the iDigital store (their authorized Apple dealer). I went to bed at some point and slept in, I needed some sleep. Back to finding a phone.
I thought it through, my phone was three years old, buttons weren't working and it was 16gb - I ran out of memory from photos all the time which was annoying. Long story short I needed a phone anyway at some point, I wanted to upgrade, and I was traveling so an iPad wasn't easy to carry around everywhere. I did the conversions and I would pay an extra $300-400 here but I would have it right away and didn't have to deal with worrying if it was a real iPhone or not if I bought from the authorized dealer and paid a little extra. I looked up the location of the store and went to the mall, I got the 64gb iPhone 6Plus and called it a day.
Leaving the mall, or Dizengoff Center to be exact, I saw an American Eagle and have been looking for some shorts - might as well take advantage of the coincidence. I went in to see the prices expecting them to be higher abroad, they were cheaper than I thought they would be.
After grabbing some shorts I asked for a local family owned Israeli restaurant for some traditional food, I had heard about Abu Hassan's famous hummus but I just wanted something small and not famous, low key. The restaurant I found was a short walk from the mall and I was very happy with the quality and kindness extended from the waitress. She was older, but so nice, spoke great english, and knew exactly what I was trying to order even though I simply expressed I wanted local food. I got my hummus with chick peas and freshly baked bread, it came with some pickle looking veggies, some veggies I was unfamiliar with, falafel, an onion, and a fork. I asked how to eat it and she said if I'm like a local I break a slice off the onion and scoop out the peas and hummus with it. Reluctantly I tried it (yes mom I ate large chunks of onion, I know, crazy) - surprisingly I really didn't taste the onion. I didn't finish the onion either... not my cup of tea but not horrible. I tried to take a picture but my phone would not let me since it was brand new and I didn't have my sim or WIFI (both at the house). It was all vegetarian, no meat, which is unusual for me and she said welcome to Israel and told me it is normal after the meal to drink coffee and tea... I said I do not drink coffee or tea, and she was curious why not, I said I thought it would be addictive and bad for me. She said we all do things that will kill us, and all the locals drink tea or coffee. Makes sense, she was very comfortable to talk to and very kindhearted. When I was leaving I told her to put service on the card and she refused, she said: "No tip, enjoy Israel."
I drove back to the apartment and started setting up my iPhone. I got a text from a friend I had made locally (Ilon) who said he was meeting some friends at "secret Garden" (sp?), a local hidden gem - how could I not go. I took another taxi (half tempted to leave my phone at home) and met him in what I consider the center of the beach between Jaffa and Old Port. We walked through the old city and he explained some of the history, really doing a good job explaining things. He seemed like a truly quality person who was also into Eckhart Tolle, a recurring name lately between my friends and an author of a book I'm reading about enlightenment. We walked through some pretty areas and I said I had not seen this before, it was really nice - he said it used to be very run down and the conditions have improved. It was an old abandoned train station, the first in Tel Aviv (you could see the old tracks). We walked by some of the places he was looking to open up a business and ended up at the secret garden, or whatever it was called. It turned out to be a nice, very relaxed outdoor bar similar to what I would expect in California. We met a lot of his friends and had a good time. We ended up calling it a night and I woke up early for my trip to Haifa, Nazareth and Tiberius.
Thursday June 11th
Hitting snooze a few times I woke up to Jack texting me saying he was close by (coming from Jerusalem). I had added two females that wanted to go with us from the hostel and everyone was up and ready to go. I got ready and met them at the hostel - with two tickets on my car. Parking here is horrible, and I don't know how to pay for street parking. I took my chances and didn't think it was possible to get two tickets without moving... Wrong. They were politely set right next to each other, thanks, I now had three. They were the same price as the parking lot unfortunately so it isn't the end of the world. Parking is just expensive here, I'm not sure I would do it again - I might just take the tours, it's really 50/50 because I did have a good time driving, the few days I drove. Once at the hostel I used the WiFi to contact my Uncle Fred's family who are near nazareth. Doris, my Aunt, had said if the mom answers be patient she didn't speak english, and to ask for the brothers. I tried, however only the mom was home and I told her I would try to call back earlier.
It was my first time meeting the two people from the hostel that had responded to my offer of opening up seats to anyone who wanted to go with. One was Haley, someone from San Fran coincidentally, and the other was my old roommate Jess from London. We all introduced ourselves and headed to Haifa, I was excited to see the garden there from the Pictures.
What a great, simple day. We walked and drove through Haifa, Nazareth and Tiberius, eventually ending up at Mount Arbel for some incredible views. Ilon had recommended to grab Schwarma in Haifa and he was SPOT on, that was delicious! We got all our pictures in, and we had a really good conversation about some personal stuff. There is something about traveling that makes sharing things easy, you are in a learning environment and with like minded people - truly a good thing to find when traveling alone. I felt very good about the people I was traveling with. They were significantly younger at 23, 20, and 19 though well educated and well traveled already. I had also met some women from Harvard a few nights earlier, and MIT. There were some healthy discussions and I was happy for the exposure to different people in general on this Israel trip. I was sad I was not able to see Fred's family, but the day was moving very quickly and I had no way of contacting them without taking a lot of time to find WiFi. I wish I would have been able to coordinate with them before I left when I was on steady WiFi. Perhaps I will be back.
Israel was great. It quickly became expensive even though it really seemed quite affordable at first. Everyone said it was expensive, but it wasn't obviously expensive, it was subtly expensive. Parking, occasional drinks, laundry, nice restaurants, gas, insurance, the new phone, and clothes.
I am currently sitting in the apartment writing emails to the different people for Istanbul, this apartment, friends back home and abroad, as well as this blog. I will include a picture of Mount Arbel and maybe some day you can ask me about a story of an upset park ranger. If you notice in the pictures no one else is around, it's just us. Surely a bad sign. I'm still not fully sure all the rules we broke because I don't read hebrew and the only english speaking guy just kept saying he was going to fine us $400. But I know after the fact, that he had to close the gate and our car was there for an extra 40 minutes.
In closing at this moment, I am thinking back on Israel but also still have Africa on my mind. I think Africa may have made a bigger impact on me than just the poor nutrition. Going to get ready for my flight and take a nap.
I ran over the river and through the woods. I ended up at a basketball court and had to stop. This is actually a compliment and politically correct: those jews could play. I now know how massively out of shape I am. I've been talking about it, I know, but basketball is a good measure for me since I have played for so long... I was about 60% and we lost both games. I had opportunities to win them but I just didn't do well, it always bums me out when I could have won the game and my team could have had more fun / kept playing. The guys on my team were extremely nice, a lot of the people here are very nice, it's easily spotted and felt. I had discussions about it, surely I thought there were some deterrents such as major punishments or something, but then I thought people face life in prison in the USA but they still kill people or themselves. It might be something else. Women walk by themselves late at night here, unafraid it seems. It makes me feel comfortable, the city feels safe.
I gave some info to a guy on my team that was going to San Francisco for his honeymoon (road tripping through California), and congratulated the other guy on his newborn son. He was 38 and had his first kid, which of course made me feel very comfortable to talk to him about having kids later in life. I've always thought I would have kids by now but it just didn't work out that way. After the games we parted ways and that was that, see you when I see you. If I was staying I am sure I would have exchanged contact information but I was leaving in just a couple days. I ran back to the house to get showered up and ready for bed. Once I got back to WiFi I had decided to grab a taxi and meet a friend for a quick beer while also checking out some of the city at night. I ended up forgetting my phone in the taxi, and spending a lot of time trying to track it down.
The phone was gone. I could not track down how to find it or where it was. I wasn't 100% sure it was in the taxi or if it had fallen out... I had to face a decision of how to get a new one, when, and where. The tour was also pushed back to the 14th and while I got a refund I can't say I was very excited to hear that, what a bummer... So there I was thinking of whether or not I even needed a phone and looking up prices via craigslist and the iDigital store (their authorized Apple dealer). I went to bed at some point and slept in, I needed some sleep. Back to finding a phone.
I thought it through, my phone was three years old, buttons weren't working and it was 16gb - I ran out of memory from photos all the time which was annoying. Long story short I needed a phone anyway at some point, I wanted to upgrade, and I was traveling so an iPad wasn't easy to carry around everywhere. I did the conversions and I would pay an extra $300-400 here but I would have it right away and didn't have to deal with worrying if it was a real iPhone or not if I bought from the authorized dealer and paid a little extra. I looked up the location of the store and went to the mall, I got the 64gb iPhone 6Plus and called it a day.
Leaving the mall, or Dizengoff Center to be exact, I saw an American Eagle and have been looking for some shorts - might as well take advantage of the coincidence. I went in to see the prices expecting them to be higher abroad, they were cheaper than I thought they would be.
After grabbing some shorts I asked for a local family owned Israeli restaurant for some traditional food, I had heard about Abu Hassan's famous hummus but I just wanted something small and not famous, low key. The restaurant I found was a short walk from the mall and I was very happy with the quality and kindness extended from the waitress. She was older, but so nice, spoke great english, and knew exactly what I was trying to order even though I simply expressed I wanted local food. I got my hummus with chick peas and freshly baked bread, it came with some pickle looking veggies, some veggies I was unfamiliar with, falafel, an onion, and a fork. I asked how to eat it and she said if I'm like a local I break a slice off the onion and scoop out the peas and hummus with it. Reluctantly I tried it (yes mom I ate large chunks of onion, I know, crazy) - surprisingly I really didn't taste the onion. I didn't finish the onion either... not my cup of tea but not horrible. I tried to take a picture but my phone would not let me since it was brand new and I didn't have my sim or WIFI (both at the house). It was all vegetarian, no meat, which is unusual for me and she said welcome to Israel and told me it is normal after the meal to drink coffee and tea... I said I do not drink coffee or tea, and she was curious why not, I said I thought it would be addictive and bad for me. She said we all do things that will kill us, and all the locals drink tea or coffee. Makes sense, she was very comfortable to talk to and very kindhearted. When I was leaving I told her to put service on the card and she refused, she said: "No tip, enjoy Israel."
I drove back to the apartment and started setting up my iPhone. I got a text from a friend I had made locally (Ilon) who said he was meeting some friends at "secret Garden" (sp?), a local hidden gem - how could I not go. I took another taxi (half tempted to leave my phone at home) and met him in what I consider the center of the beach between Jaffa and Old Port. We walked through the old city and he explained some of the history, really doing a good job explaining things. He seemed like a truly quality person who was also into Eckhart Tolle, a recurring name lately between my friends and an author of a book I'm reading about enlightenment. We walked through some pretty areas and I said I had not seen this before, it was really nice - he said it used to be very run down and the conditions have improved. It was an old abandoned train station, the first in Tel Aviv (you could see the old tracks). We walked by some of the places he was looking to open up a business and ended up at the secret garden, or whatever it was called. It turned out to be a nice, very relaxed outdoor bar similar to what I would expect in California. We met a lot of his friends and had a good time. We ended up calling it a night and I woke up early for my trip to Haifa, Nazareth and Tiberius.
Thursday June 11th
Hitting snooze a few times I woke up to Jack texting me saying he was close by (coming from Jerusalem). I had added two females that wanted to go with us from the hostel and everyone was up and ready to go. I got ready and met them at the hostel - with two tickets on my car. Parking here is horrible, and I don't know how to pay for street parking. I took my chances and didn't think it was possible to get two tickets without moving... Wrong. They were politely set right next to each other, thanks, I now had three. They were the same price as the parking lot unfortunately so it isn't the end of the world. Parking is just expensive here, I'm not sure I would do it again - I might just take the tours, it's really 50/50 because I did have a good time driving, the few days I drove. Once at the hostel I used the WiFi to contact my Uncle Fred's family who are near nazareth. Doris, my Aunt, had said if the mom answers be patient she didn't speak english, and to ask for the brothers. I tried, however only the mom was home and I told her I would try to call back earlier.
It was my first time meeting the two people from the hostel that had responded to my offer of opening up seats to anyone who wanted to go with. One was Haley, someone from San Fran coincidentally, and the other was my old roommate Jess from London. We all introduced ourselves and headed to Haifa, I was excited to see the garden there from the Pictures.
What a great, simple day. We walked and drove through Haifa, Nazareth and Tiberius, eventually ending up at Mount Arbel for some incredible views. Ilon had recommended to grab Schwarma in Haifa and he was SPOT on, that was delicious! We got all our pictures in, and we had a really good conversation about some personal stuff. There is something about traveling that makes sharing things easy, you are in a learning environment and with like minded people - truly a good thing to find when traveling alone. I felt very good about the people I was traveling with. They were significantly younger at 23, 20, and 19 though well educated and well traveled already. I had also met some women from Harvard a few nights earlier, and MIT. There were some healthy discussions and I was happy for the exposure to different people in general on this Israel trip. I was sad I was not able to see Fred's family, but the day was moving very quickly and I had no way of contacting them without taking a lot of time to find WiFi. I wish I would have been able to coordinate with them before I left when I was on steady WiFi. Perhaps I will be back.
Israel was great. It quickly became expensive even though it really seemed quite affordable at first. Everyone said it was expensive, but it wasn't obviously expensive, it was subtly expensive. Parking, occasional drinks, laundry, nice restaurants, gas, insurance, the new phone, and clothes.
I am currently sitting in the apartment writing emails to the different people for Istanbul, this apartment, friends back home and abroad, as well as this blog. I will include a picture of Mount Arbel and maybe some day you can ask me about a story of an upset park ranger. If you notice in the pictures no one else is around, it's just us. Surely a bad sign. I'm still not fully sure all the rules we broke because I don't read hebrew and the only english speaking guy just kept saying he was going to fine us $400. But I know after the fact, that he had to close the gate and our car was there for an extra 40 minutes.
In closing at this moment, I am thinking back on Israel but also still have Africa on my mind. I think Africa may have made a bigger impact on me than just the poor nutrition. Going to get ready for my flight and take a nap.
A picture of me trying to pose for a picture on a rock.
A picture I snagged of Jack. I would like to come back here some day.
At the gardens in Haifa
Snagged this photo. Actually reminded me a little of Duluth / Lake Superior.
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