Half of us ended up going back home, but as for the other half that stayed... well... most of us ended up trying to go to a Tel Aviv disco. We had hopped from one bar/club to another and no one seemed to want to stay put at any of them. After about an hour of hopping around we finally made it to some fancy club that seemed to close shortly after we got there. Even though it was only a brief time, it was fun times. Some of the Israpals ended up sneaking into the hostel and sleeping on the floor of the other guys's room only to get chased out by the management in the early morning.. I wish I was around to see that.
I met up with my cousin Tom around noon and he took me to a really nice, tiny, Yemen resturaunt where we had some sort of beefy soup with pita and hummous. It was soo very delicious and new to me. Then we strolled down the market and to a coffee shop where we enjoyed our beverages while we talked for a while. From there he took me to Moshav Ein Vered where I met up with the rest of the familiy and had a massive BBQ dinner. It was soo good, but theres only so much I can eat in one sitting. *drool*
The next day I joined Tom and his friends on a hike up Mt. Karmel. It was one of the more challenging of the hikes that I've done since I got here. We ate some Melowa (a VERY GOOD yemenite dish) and enjoyed some funky coffee on the peak of the mountain. On our way down we came across a cave. Armed with only cell phones , lighters and a single headlamp we ventured into the darkness that was before us. It was a really eerie feeling crawling our way through a cave when you cant even see your own hand in front of your face. After about 5 minutes in the darkness with only a single candle burning I was able to make out the shape of the cavern. I'll just say it was bigger than I had thought... pictures to come. After the cave we went wine tasting and got very drunk. Also, the wine diddn't taste that bad at all. From there we went to his friends where we ate some couscous with other homemade things from morocco (i have no idea what they were but it was damn tasty!).
The following day I went to the mall with Metzada. It was a MADHOSE. The kids had the day off school so EVERYONE was at the mall. I shopped a bit, ate some high quality Burger Kings (its actually good here!) I also bought a syringe full of fountain chocolate which I injected into my face throughout the day...mmmm.... Later that night we went to a Yemen Henna party, some sort of pre wedding ceramony with Henna and more great food, funky clothes and borderline irritating music. In all though, it was really neat and I would surly love to go see more.
Yesterday was laundry day.
And now that brings us to today... I'm getting ready to go to Eilat to meet some more of us Canadians where we will attempt to spend our new years in style on the beach. Hopefully it wont be too cold there and I hope that finding my hotel wont pose any problems. The person at the front desk said that he will hide a key for my room for me to find since they will be closed once I arrive.
Its going to be tough leaving behind my sweet digs that I got here, thanks to my cousin Dor who is in Thailand right now. Eventually I shall return and maybe sleep on his couch.
shalom (goodbye)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Isreal, Still in
I've been here in Israel for about 2 weeks or so and theres so much to write about, I don't even know where to begin... so I'll just start at the begining.
Instead of going into detail about the birthright trip I will briefly go over the events.
We land at Ben Gurion airport after a very long, bumpy flight and were greeted by an organizer that immedietly made us feel welcome and somewhat proud to be jewish. From then we went to a nice Mexican? resturant in Tiberias and then to our nice little kibbutz where we stayed for 3 nights, right on the coast of the Sea of Gallelie (kineret). Over the next few days we hiked up and down a few mountains whos names escape me right now. We also wandered through the mystical city if Tzfat, which was pretty amazing. Thats the first 3 days in a nutshell, and I'm definetly forgetting ALOT.
Later on we headed off to Jerusalem and met up with our new Isreali friends on the street. We played a few icebreaking games in the middle of the road and occasionally had to break for groups of people to walk through and the odd car or two. After that we headed into the old city, where we were rushed around and diddn't really get much info on what we were seeing but it was still nice to look at. At one point we were told to blindfold our eyes and hold hands with each other. I had no idea what was going on at this point, but being blindfolded is usually a good time so I went along with it. As we stubmled blindfolded up and down stairs, around blind corners and into walls, I was told to remove the blindfold. And low and behold, right in front of us was a spectacular view of the Western Wall (kotel). There were people praying all over the place and sacraficing lambs and chickens as far as the eye can see... well, maybe not sacraficing lambs and chickens, but they were preying. I thought the whole blindfold thing was a really neat way of introducing us to the Kotel, especially those of us who have never seen it before.
The next day we went to the holocaust memorial museam, which was one of the nicer of the holocaust museams that I've been to. They really put alot of thought behind everything they do. Even the arcitecture is a symbol of the jewish people and our future. Sometime after the holocaust museam we went back to the Kotel for Shabbat services, which was pretty wild in terms of more people running all over the place and sacraficing bigger animals like elephants and dragons (okay, I lied about that again too). From there we walked back to the Hotel, it was a nice, but VERY slow walk. Later that night we ventured around the kibbutz compound and got word that there was a local bar nearby. We eventually found what was a bomb shelter with loud beats blasting out of it. After a few drinks we attempted to stumble back to the hotel only to be cut off by fences everywhere we turned. Luckily we found some more sober birthrighters heading back to the hotel and they seemed to know the way, so we followed.
Eventually, somehow, we made it to the bedouin tents where we learned about their history, culture, heard their music and ate their food. They have some neat set of rules that they use when someone comes to stay, for example you must cough 3 times before entering a tent and if you overstay your welcome they won't directly ask you to leave, they simply fill up your next cup of tea to the top (as a sign that one should leave). We took part in fake military drills and I may have broken Emma's shoulder.. sorry emma :( Then we drank, smoked narghilla and had fun by the fire all night long.
Next stop was... uhh.... the dead sea I think. After hiking a few moutains earlier that day (cant remember the names, but they sure were beautiful) we finally make it to the dead sea. As we raced the sun to the beach we barely made it just in time. We only had a few minutes of salting before the sun had dissapeared behind the mountains. It was tons of fun to float around and pretend to defy gravity before we were quickly rushed out. On a sadder note, just before heading into the Sea we had to say goodbye to our new Israeli friends. I had tons of fun hanging out with them and learned lots of new things. It was also interesting to get a different perspective on life in Israel from someone closer to my own age. It was also fun listening to them talk openly about us canadians and them forgetting that I mostly understand what they are saying... but at least they didd't say anything too bad.
Whith the soldiers now gone, we headed to tel aviv on our own. Tel Aviv was mostly raining and there isn't much to see there. So we just had a good time on our own, going to some local pub and attempting to check out other scenes while avoiding the rain. We also got a very brief and soggy glimpse of Jaffa, but then retreated to the dry cover of some mall where I tried McDonalds here for the fist time (since I was last here)... it wasn't so good.
So theres the very vuage, rushed, and broken synopsis of the Birthright trip. I know I'm definetly missing out on alot and there are some great details that are too much to recall right now. Maybe someone can fill me in if i missed something big and important.
oh yes, and we went up Mt Arbel.
END
Instead of going into detail about the birthright trip I will briefly go over the events.
We land at Ben Gurion airport after a very long, bumpy flight and were greeted by an organizer that immedietly made us feel welcome and somewhat proud to be jewish. From then we went to a nice Mexican? resturant in Tiberias and then to our nice little kibbutz where we stayed for 3 nights, right on the coast of the Sea of Gallelie (kineret). Over the next few days we hiked up and down a few mountains whos names escape me right now. We also wandered through the mystical city if Tzfat, which was pretty amazing. Thats the first 3 days in a nutshell, and I'm definetly forgetting ALOT.
Later on we headed off to Jerusalem and met up with our new Isreali friends on the street. We played a few icebreaking games in the middle of the road and occasionally had to break for groups of people to walk through and the odd car or two. After that we headed into the old city, where we were rushed around and diddn't really get much info on what we were seeing but it was still nice to look at. At one point we were told to blindfold our eyes and hold hands with each other. I had no idea what was going on at this point, but being blindfolded is usually a good time so I went along with it. As we stubmled blindfolded up and down stairs, around blind corners and into walls, I was told to remove the blindfold. And low and behold, right in front of us was a spectacular view of the Western Wall (kotel). There were people praying all over the place and sacraficing lambs and chickens as far as the eye can see... well, maybe not sacraficing lambs and chickens, but they were preying. I thought the whole blindfold thing was a really neat way of introducing us to the Kotel, especially those of us who have never seen it before.
The next day we went to the holocaust memorial museam, which was one of the nicer of the holocaust museams that I've been to. They really put alot of thought behind everything they do. Even the arcitecture is a symbol of the jewish people and our future. Sometime after the holocaust museam we went back to the Kotel for Shabbat services, which was pretty wild in terms of more people running all over the place and sacraficing bigger animals like elephants and dragons (okay, I lied about that again too). From there we walked back to the Hotel, it was a nice, but VERY slow walk. Later that night we ventured around the kibbutz compound and got word that there was a local bar nearby. We eventually found what was a bomb shelter with loud beats blasting out of it. After a few drinks we attempted to stumble back to the hotel only to be cut off by fences everywhere we turned. Luckily we found some more sober birthrighters heading back to the hotel and they seemed to know the way, so we followed.
Eventually, somehow, we made it to the bedouin tents where we learned about their history, culture, heard their music and ate their food. They have some neat set of rules that they use when someone comes to stay, for example you must cough 3 times before entering a tent and if you overstay your welcome they won't directly ask you to leave, they simply fill up your next cup of tea to the top (as a sign that one should leave). We took part in fake military drills and I may have broken Emma's shoulder.. sorry emma :( Then we drank, smoked narghilla and had fun by the fire all night long.
Next stop was... uhh.... the dead sea I think. After hiking a few moutains earlier that day (cant remember the names, but they sure were beautiful) we finally make it to the dead sea. As we raced the sun to the beach we barely made it just in time. We only had a few minutes of salting before the sun had dissapeared behind the mountains. It was tons of fun to float around and pretend to defy gravity before we were quickly rushed out. On a sadder note, just before heading into the Sea we had to say goodbye to our new Israeli friends. I had tons of fun hanging out with them and learned lots of new things. It was also interesting to get a different perspective on life in Israel from someone closer to my own age. It was also fun listening to them talk openly about us canadians and them forgetting that I mostly understand what they are saying... but at least they didd't say anything too bad.
Whith the soldiers now gone, we headed to tel aviv on our own. Tel Aviv was mostly raining and there isn't much to see there. So we just had a good time on our own, going to some local pub and attempting to check out other scenes while avoiding the rain. We also got a very brief and soggy glimpse of Jaffa, but then retreated to the dry cover of some mall where I tried McDonalds here for the fist time (since I was last here)... it wasn't so good.
So theres the very vuage, rushed, and broken synopsis of the Birthright trip. I know I'm definetly missing out on alot and there are some great details that are too much to recall right now. Maybe someone can fill me in if i missed something big and important.
oh yes, and we went up Mt Arbel.
END
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Straight Forward
Well I might as well make a habit of keeping this travelblog updated, so here it goes.
I ended up in San Francisco rather spontaneously and so far its been great, except for a few blunders, but thats almost expected at this point.
After a slight delay at the airport I was soon on BART heading towards downtown SF, I was surprised at how easily it was to find a train and take it to the right destination. I must be used too used to figuring out foreign logistics in any language but English. The BART trains here are real comfy and big... I could easily have a great nights sleep on their "couches".
A short while later I arrive at my stop, powell street station. I am immediately bombarded by flashing lights and trendy restaurants. Having dodged the flashing lights, I start to make my way to my hostel following the very vague directions I got from INTERNET. The directions lead me to an alleyway and the hostel is behind the dumpster at the end of the alley. As i enter the hostel I notice that its mostly under construction. When I get to the front desk I ring to check in.... No response (i can hear the bell ringing in a room upstairs) I ring again, no response. I man walks out of the shower and asks me if im checking in.
"yes" i said,
but he didn't work there, he was a traveler like myself. He tells me that they guys that run the hostel are "fucking lazy" and hits the ringer a few more times... no response. Being the helpful person he was, he went up to the hostel-keepers room and says that theres someone to check in.
"fuck off" he says, "its past check in time"
It was 11:30, 30 min past check in.... I blame the delay at the airport.
I ring the bell a few more times, then go up to the guys room to try to get him to check me in (i already had reservations at this point i should add). He doesn't respond, but i can hear him watching TV very loudly. I go back to ring the bell again (which was actually the page button on a wireless telephone) and i hear him throw the phone across the hall upstairs. At this point I was very tired and jet lagged and just wanted to drop my bags and take a nap. Feeling like I diddn't want to waste my $8 deposit on this craphole, I go upstairs and see the phone battery and cartridge on the floor.
"this must be worth at least $8 i thought" , so I took it in spite and tossed it in the dumpster down the street... I immediately felt better.
Now I was stuck trying to find a new hostel at 12am, and having no map or internet would prove to be very difficult. Luckily right at that time a local walked by me and said "hello", I responded with a "hello" aswell, at which point he turned around and asked me if i needed anything. I thought he was trying to sell me drugs, which he might have been, but I told him that I need a cheap hostel to stay in for the night because those jerks down the road were too busy watching the simple life, or some other crap. He tells me he knows EVERRYTHING about the city, and that I can trust him. He takes off his shirt and shows me his chest, which looked like a microwaved strech armstrong figure with bellybuttons everywhere.
"ive been shot here, here, here, here, stabbed here and here..." he says
If thats not a sign of a trust worthy guy then I don't know what is. He then goes off listing off all the hostels in the area and their prices per night. I was pretty impressed with his hostel knowledge of the area, and the fact that hes still alive after being shot in the stomach 4 times.
"wow" I said, "you're one helpful guy"
He tells me about how most people rob and stab people for a living, but he helps people instead for money to feed his kids. What an honest guy. He walks me to a nice hostel, which is fully booked up and then he takes me to a different hostel down the street telling me about all the places we pass along the way. I felt like I had my own personal midnight tour guide. I get a room at the next hostel and give him some money for his help. I asked him about what cool things there are to do in the city and he goes off for 30 minutes about all the "cool shit" in the city and how much he loves the place. He told me where to go, how to get there, what to aviod and all sorts of goodies that the lonely planet wouldn't be able to tell me (if i had one).
Afterwards we parted ways. I went to my room and he went home down the street. He tells me his name is Canada, maybe I will run into him again on my journeys around town.
The next day (today) I awoke to the sounds of construction.
"ahhh, the big city"
I roll off the top bunk and hop into the shower (after running to 7-11 to buy shampoo and soap). I stroll down a main street and grab a coffee and croissant, then park myself by some really neat looking buildings and art galleries while I enjoy the sights and warm dry air. I head down the street a little more and stumble across some sort of outdoor music festival / oracle business party / i'm not sure what. They were giving out blankets, which will come in handy im sure. I sit on a grass hill, enjoying the band and reading a mad magazine that I aquired along the way.
From there I head for the water... I get to the bay bridge... It looks like a long brige, kinda neat against the mountains in the background. I stroll northwards along the waterfront untill I finally hit pier 39, fishermans wharf, tourist city. Having blended in I walk around taking a look at all the sights in the area. I can see Alcatraz, the golden gate bridge and a pile of sea lions barking at boats. It really did smell like a sea lions ass (thanks for the warning Lisa).
At this point I felt that walking was way to slow for my liking so rented a bike-ing. I biked all the way down the beach, up and down a few crazy hills and happened to end up at ILM by chance. I took a detour to their grounds to find master yoda. Eventually I find him, he tells me nothing important, so I leave. This is the point that I realize that I really havent eaten anything since that croissant and that I was thirsty as hell. I grabbed myself an amazing taco and chips and ate them in less than 3 min flat.
From there I rode closer to the golden gate bridge .
"oh, a red bridge" I thought, took some pictures and then rode back to the wharf.
When I returned the bike I was greeted by the bike staff.
"how was your ride" she says.
"it was great, except my ass is killing me" (he bike seat was at a weird, extreme forward angle)
She points to the sign of the biking company... "blazing saddles"
I laugh
she laughs
I leave.
I leave to go back to my hostel, or the area that it is, when I realize... I have no idea what my hostel is called or what street its on. All I know is that its around the corner from an Indian restaurant and down the street from 711. I hop on the cable car free of charge because some lady gave me a ride all day free transit pass... thanks lady! I think I live at the end of the line, so thats where I will ride. This is my first time driving on the streets of SF and its goes like this: upppp.... downnnnn...upppppp....downnnnn....uuuupppppppp......downnnnn....etc,,,, END OF THE LINE. It was a less than exciting ride, as I was expecting a loop or corkscrew or something. When I get off the cable car I see my 711.
"how convenient" I thought.
And this is when I walked by this internet cafe.
Using my clairvoyance, this is what I did tomorrow.
After waking up I jump into the shower again to start my day. Theres no hot water so I shower in ICE cold water... kind of refreshing. Then I go down the street and hop on a bus to take me to Berkley. Right at the next stop Keanu Reeves gets on and screams "if this bus goes under 50 mph we all get blown up"
Everyone on the bus cheers.
As we plow through the streets up and down all these crazy hills we get to a gap in the bridge.
"im gonna jump the bridge" yells Keanu
at which point I hop off the bus and onto the roof of a cab.... oh shit, my internet time here is up.
I'll finish this later.
I ended up in San Francisco rather spontaneously and so far its been great, except for a few blunders, but thats almost expected at this point.
After a slight delay at the airport I was soon on BART heading towards downtown SF, I was surprised at how easily it was to find a train and take it to the right destination. I must be used too used to figuring out foreign logistics in any language but English. The BART trains here are real comfy and big... I could easily have a great nights sleep on their "couches".
A short while later I arrive at my stop, powell street station. I am immediately bombarded by flashing lights and trendy restaurants. Having dodged the flashing lights, I start to make my way to my hostel following the very vague directions I got from INTERNET. The directions lead me to an alleyway and the hostel is behind the dumpster at the end of the alley. As i enter the hostel I notice that its mostly under construction. When I get to the front desk I ring to check in.... No response (i can hear the bell ringing in a room upstairs) I ring again, no response. I man walks out of the shower and asks me if im checking in.
"yes" i said,
but he didn't work there, he was a traveler like myself. He tells me that they guys that run the hostel are "fucking lazy" and hits the ringer a few more times... no response. Being the helpful person he was, he went up to the hostel-keepers room and says that theres someone to check in.
"fuck off" he says, "its past check in time"
It was 11:30, 30 min past check in.... I blame the delay at the airport.
I ring the bell a few more times, then go up to the guys room to try to get him to check me in (i already had reservations at this point i should add). He doesn't respond, but i can hear him watching TV very loudly. I go back to ring the bell again (which was actually the page button on a wireless telephone) and i hear him throw the phone across the hall upstairs. At this point I was very tired and jet lagged and just wanted to drop my bags and take a nap. Feeling like I diddn't want to waste my $8 deposit on this craphole, I go upstairs and see the phone battery and cartridge on the floor.
"this must be worth at least $8 i thought" , so I took it in spite and tossed it in the dumpster down the street... I immediately felt better.
Now I was stuck trying to find a new hostel at 12am, and having no map or internet would prove to be very difficult. Luckily right at that time a local walked by me and said "hello", I responded with a "hello" aswell, at which point he turned around and asked me if i needed anything. I thought he was trying to sell me drugs, which he might have been, but I told him that I need a cheap hostel to stay in for the night because those jerks down the road were too busy watching the simple life, or some other crap. He tells me he knows EVERRYTHING about the city, and that I can trust him. He takes off his shirt and shows me his chest, which looked like a microwaved strech armstrong figure with bellybuttons everywhere.
"ive been shot here, here, here, here, stabbed here and here..." he says
If thats not a sign of a trust worthy guy then I don't know what is. He then goes off listing off all the hostels in the area and their prices per night. I was pretty impressed with his hostel knowledge of the area, and the fact that hes still alive after being shot in the stomach 4 times.
"wow" I said, "you're one helpful guy"
He tells me about how most people rob and stab people for a living, but he helps people instead for money to feed his kids. What an honest guy. He walks me to a nice hostel, which is fully booked up and then he takes me to a different hostel down the street telling me about all the places we pass along the way. I felt like I had my own personal midnight tour guide. I get a room at the next hostel and give him some money for his help. I asked him about what cool things there are to do in the city and he goes off for 30 minutes about all the "cool shit" in the city and how much he loves the place. He told me where to go, how to get there, what to aviod and all sorts of goodies that the lonely planet wouldn't be able to tell me (if i had one).
Afterwards we parted ways. I went to my room and he went home down the street. He tells me his name is Canada, maybe I will run into him again on my journeys around town.
The next day (today) I awoke to the sounds of construction.
"ahhh, the big city"
I roll off the top bunk and hop into the shower (after running to 7-11 to buy shampoo and soap). I stroll down a main street and grab a coffee and croissant, then park myself by some really neat looking buildings and art galleries while I enjoy the sights and warm dry air. I head down the street a little more and stumble across some sort of outdoor music festival / oracle business party / i'm not sure what. They were giving out blankets, which will come in handy im sure. I sit on a grass hill, enjoying the band and reading a mad magazine that I aquired along the way.
From there I head for the water... I get to the bay bridge... It looks like a long brige, kinda neat against the mountains in the background. I stroll northwards along the waterfront untill I finally hit pier 39, fishermans wharf, tourist city. Having blended in I walk around taking a look at all the sights in the area. I can see Alcatraz, the golden gate bridge and a pile of sea lions barking at boats. It really did smell like a sea lions ass (thanks for the warning Lisa).
At this point I felt that walking was way to slow for my liking so rented a bike-ing. I biked all the way down the beach, up and down a few crazy hills and happened to end up at ILM by chance. I took a detour to their grounds to find master yoda. Eventually I find him, he tells me nothing important, so I leave. This is the point that I realize that I really havent eaten anything since that croissant and that I was thirsty as hell. I grabbed myself an amazing taco and chips and ate them in less than 3 min flat.
From there I rode closer to the golden gate bridge .
"oh, a red bridge" I thought, took some pictures and then rode back to the wharf.
When I returned the bike I was greeted by the bike staff.
"how was your ride" she says.
"it was great, except my ass is killing me" (he bike seat was at a weird, extreme forward angle)
She points to the sign of the biking company... "blazing saddles"
I laugh
she laughs
I leave.
I leave to go back to my hostel, or the area that it is, when I realize... I have no idea what my hostel is called or what street its on. All I know is that its around the corner from an Indian restaurant and down the street from 711. I hop on the cable car free of charge because some lady gave me a ride all day free transit pass... thanks lady! I think I live at the end of the line, so thats where I will ride. This is my first time driving on the streets of SF and its goes like this: upppp.... downnnnn...upppppp....downnnnn....uuuupppppppp......downnnnn....etc,,,, END OF THE LINE. It was a less than exciting ride, as I was expecting a loop or corkscrew or something. When I get off the cable car I see my 711.
"how convenient" I thought.
And this is when I walked by this internet cafe.
Using my clairvoyance, this is what I did tomorrow.
After waking up I jump into the shower again to start my day. Theres no hot water so I shower in ICE cold water... kind of refreshing. Then I go down the street and hop on a bus to take me to Berkley. Right at the next stop Keanu Reeves gets on and screams "if this bus goes under 50 mph we all get blown up"
Everyone on the bus cheers.
As we plow through the streets up and down all these crazy hills we get to a gap in the bridge.
"im gonna jump the bridge" yells Keanu
at which point I hop off the bus and onto the roof of a cab.... oh shit, my internet time here is up.
I'll finish this later.
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