Like wings on water...

As always, strong Elisa won out.
After taking a class with the famous Ohad Naharin, two friends and I decided to brave Tel Aviv. It was decided that we were going to do this about an hour or so before we left and I assigned myself the task of figuring out where we would stay/how we would get back. Sadly, I (maybe unsurprisingly) got distracted after writing down a bus number and a few names of hostels. Thus, we ended up wandering around using my handy-dandy touristy Israel! book. After finding some delicious food (I ate shakshuka, a totally Israeli dish. Basically is sunny-side-up eggs cooked in tomato sauce. With a cute little loaf of bread on the side (lachmania in Hebrew!). Unfortunately, I have been abstaining from eating eggs while here, as they still freak me out. Thus, the meal was delicious, but a little strange. For dessert, I ordered vanilla gelato in a cup of espresso. YUM!), we attempted to find a hostel. We realized this morning that we walked the majority of Tel Aviv in our search! Finally we found one, paid and went to bed. Mission one accomplished. I have never in my entire life done something like that. Wandered around with no notion of where I am going to sleep. We contemplated sleeping on the beach, which would have been fabulous. Next time. But, like always, situations that could be problematic seem to put me in a state of complete calm and I was not at all worried about what would happen.
We woke up, ate breakfast and walked the two blocks to the beach. DE-Licious. The Mediterranean is beautiful, a deep blue, green. Walk in and take a close look at the bottom. You see little gray fishes swimming calmly around your feet. We floated for so long, rolled in the sand, floated some more. It was lovely. Then we began our adventure to try to get back. Once again, we had little to go off of but a map and the number of a bus. After sitting outside a vacant bus station, I reread the sign and realized that it said "lila" (it also said some other words, however, I could not read them!). We quickly deduced that that bus was probably not going to come any time soon, wandered around a bit more and made it onto the next bus to Jerusalem.
Sitting on the bus thinking, I felt very proud of myself. I have never been the type of person who really looks up to other people in the way that I feel most do. I always find the most strength and courage by reflecting on the things that I have been able to do in my past. This night was a true beginning to actually immersing myself in the world of Israel. It only makes me feel like I can do more, see more, learn more.

Tel Aviv is very different than Jerusalem. Walking around Jerusalem in shorts that would be considered a moderate length in the US can be rather uncomfortable. I simply feel disrespectful and very aware of the Hasidic, Orthodox and Muslim people around me. But in Tel Aviv, things are much more like what I am used to. Everything stays open late at night, there are many young people, there are dogs instead of the ridiculous number of cats that wander around Jerusalem. In our journey, we saw many parts of Tel Aviv. To be honesty, it felt a bit like Boston, but all the buildings are built with white stone. We walked past the tent cities, which look rather homey now, full living room sets placed outside of some. We wandered past beautiful gardens, many cute cafes, and stores that are oft seen in the US.

Traveling simply made me feel like I COULD accomplish all that I want to. We were hungrily attempting to read all the signs and trying to figure out what they said. We were listening to people talk and getting really excited when we recognized words or even phrases ("Yesh hadash?" "Ken": Do you have new (bread)? Yes.). It was a fabulous reality check.

Now I am back in Jerusalem with great plans to travel and sight see as much as I can during Rosh Hashana break. It is, after all the new year. Time to set the pace for the next one!

To you all, Shana Tova!