My Weekend Thoughts

The Beach


On Friday, I returned to the beach, this time with my friend Lisa. We had great weather and an awesome time. The water was wild and I lost my sunglasses trying to ride a wave… slick. I also played matcot – paddle ball – on the beach with a man named Emanuel who was originally from Italy but had been in Israel from before the States independence in 1948. He was pretty good, but that can be expected of a man who has lived near the beach for so many years. Lisa and I also flew my kite but got in trouble with a guy in an orange shirt for flying the kite in a place where people were sitting – that put an end to our kiting session… and of course, we had Tim Tams and coffee… yum.

Efrat

I left the beach Friday afternoon and took a bus back to Jerusalem where I met Rachel and Itay. We boarded a second bus, this one with bullet proof windows, and headed to our cousins in Efrat. Efrat is technically classified as a settlement since it is in the area that was captured in 1967 during the 6 Day War. The “settlement” has almost 10,000 people, and our cousins have been living there for over 15 years.

A view from Efrat

Efrat is situated on top of a mountain (everywhere around Jerusalem is mountainous), and the views from just about everywhere are very picturesque. Although it was only founded 30 years ago, the community has grown rapidly. My time in Efrat was very real – when we got to my cousins home, I saw my cousin Gilad who was on leave for the weekend from the army. Gilad is 18 and is a soldier in the army’s tank division. While I know in Israel that all males are drafted into the army at 18, it still has a strong impression on me when I speak to an 18 year old who is in the service. I recall when I was studying abroad in Israel, my cousin Nadav, Gilad’s older brother was in an infantry unit, learning to be a field medic.

When we go to synagogue on Friday evening for services, I had one of my first “whoa I’m in Israel” moments. I looked out the window overlooking the rolling mountains in the distance, closed my eyes and took it all in. it was a really special moment.

I don’t want to make this blog post too long, but I want to briefly elaborate further on how my time in Efrat was very real. My cousins neighbors have what is arguably the cutest dog alive. My sister, brother in law and I went over to play with it, and as we were petting it over the fence, their owners came home. We got to talking to the mom of the household. It turns out that her son was one of the students murdered 2 years ago in the attack on Mercaz HaRav, a yeshiva school. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercaz_HaRav_massacre Her son was 16 years old at the time. My cousin Rachel also told us that she had helped prepare food for the widow of one of the four Jews murdered in last week’s roadside shooting attack that I mentioned in my last post. It was stark to see how small and connected everyone here is – everyone is affected by the tragedies that happen here.

Getting Ramat Gan/Tel Aviv in Before It’s Too Far

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been staying with my sister and brother-in-law for the past three weeks during the middle of the week when I am working. Their apartment is in Ramat Gan, which is the same city as the office. The commute from Rachel and Itay’s was 25 minutes instead of about and hour and a half. Alas and hooray, they are moving to Jerusalem on Sunday. On Monday night, Rachel, Itay and I set out to take advantage of the benefits of their apartments location before they moved. I left work at 6:30, walked 2 blocks and hoped on the 66 bus. 25 minutes later I de-bused at Allenby Street in Tel Aviv… across the street from the famous and beautiful Tel Aviv beach.


I arrived as the sun was setting over the water – it was nice, but unfortunately the clouds blocked out a good chunk of the Sun.

Clouds or no clouds, it was about 27 – 30 C (80-86 F for you American readers out there). I changed into my bathing suit and just then Chel and Itay arrived to the beach. We went for a swim and the water was amazingly warm. It felt warmer in the water than outside. Once the sun was gone and it was getting dark, we dried off and Itay broke out his Pakal Cafe (camping stove) which he uses to make coffee. The Pakal was a huge hit on our family hike last year when my siblings and I hiked across the northern part of Israel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kineret while on vacation. It was a great time.

We made coffee on the beach and enjoyed it with the best cookies known to man kind, Tim Tams. Tim Tams deserve a blog post of their own and I probably will make one. I’ll wait for a point where I have nothing worth writing about. The short on Tim Tams is that they are these imported Australian cookies, as far as I know they are not yet in the States, on their own, they are a formidable, delicious chocolaty treat. But pair them with coffee and eat them the “proper” way, as I was taught by Rachel and Itay, and you have hands down one of the best baked goods that has ever graced this planet. After we finished coffee, we headed home to shower, but our night did not stop there…

Rachel had for months from her friends at Bar Ilan (www.biu.ac.il) about a really cool brewery near school that she had not had a chance to try out. So after showering, off we went to Jems Beer Factory (www.jems.co.il). Jems was quite the gem (yes I just did that). The brewery was opened about a year and a half ago by an American from DC who moved to Israel.

Israel’s beer market leaves what to be desired; however, slowly but surely, pubs and breweries have been opening up (www.dancingcamel.com) that have added variety and quality to the traditional options of Maccabbi, Carlsberg and Tuborg. Jems was located in an industrial area and was housed in converted warehouse. Outside in the courtyard, there was a basketball court where patrons can shoot around, as well as some tables for enjoying a beer in the warm Givat Shmuel (across the road from Ramat Gan) night. Inside the place was really cool as well – awesome decor, lighting and music. The food was really cool with a unique menu; we had spicy sausage and smoked chicken wings. Oh and the beer, really good too. We had their stout and their special Belgian Ale (my favorite kind of beer). The Stout was okay – felt like it could have used a bit more, but it was very smooth and surprisingly light for such a dark beer. The Belgian Ale was really good, right on the money. It really brought me back to the time I spent in Brussels (two weeks earlier). All in all, Jems was really cool and good. If you are in the neighborhood, you should check it out. Sorry for turning this part of my blog into Yelp.com.

On our way out the bar, in classic Israel form, Itay ran into a friend from high school, Adam, who was living in the area. Adam was leaving the same time as we were and he gave us a ride home. After a day at work, a swim at the beach, coffee, a shower, dinner and beers, Yoel was a tired little kid. I fell asleep on the short ride home. Itay carried me upstairs, okay not really, and my siblings tucked me into bed. I’d say we made the most of one of the last nights we had access to Chel and Itay’s apartment in Ramat Gan.

I wrote the post above on the bus home tonight. As I am posting this I just heard news of a terrorist attack in Israel and want to put it here to share with you. It is stark - here I am having a great time, having just come back from dinner with my cousin and we heard the news in the article below. There is happiness and tragedy here all at once. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3947089,00.html