....To Eilat

These past few days have been a blast. I made it down to Eilat after a few logistical errors. I was to fly here and to get to the airport I had to ride the train. Silly me, I ended up getting on the wrong train to Ben Gurion University instead of Ben Gurion airport. Realizing that I diddn't have enough time to get back to the airport I decided to take the bus from Be'er Sheva to Eilat. The bus finally arrived after waiting for an hour and a half as my bladder slowly grew larger and larger. I wasn't sure what time the bus was to arrive so I diddn't want to risk missing it just for a little pee pee. Finally the bus arrives and 30 min into the trip i REALLY have to go pee. It was a 3 hour bus ride but seemed like much longer because of the urinal agony I was experiencing. Finally the bus stopped at a gas station for 15 min and I RAN (very carefully) to the bathroom. Feeling relieved I sat back down on the bus and relaxed myself. On the ride to Eilat I talked with an old lady named Samantha from Eilat. She was real nice and kept offering me apples. After a while I diddn't feel like squeazing any more hebrew out of my very tired brain so I gave her one of my headphones and we listened to John Zorn's classical Mesada album. She seemed to like it and I passed right out.

Finally, we arrive at Eilat. I hop off the bus and grab my bags and try to find my hotel in the skyline. Right then my cousin calls me to make sure I made it to Eilat in one piece. She then tells me that Be'er Sheva was hit by missles only hours after I left, but luckily they hit an empty field and anj empty school. What good timing that was. Having given up on finding the hotel by food I hailed a taxi and asked him to take me to the holiday inn. He drives half a block down the street and around the roundabout and then stops.
"12 shekels" he said with a grin on his face.
That Ben Zona (son of a bitch) could have at least told me that the hotel was a 30 second walk from where he had picked me up. Back in the hotel I finally meet up with all my jew friends again and another familiar face from Thornhill. Later that night we walked throughout the town and ended up eating dinner at the soon to be famous "beatles bar". It was "just okay".


The next day we awoke and Immedietly hit up the beach for some sun and snorkeling. There were many brightly coloured fish in the area and I even met a few friendly jellyfish too. Not the ones with the tentacles, but the little bulb shaped ones with the christmas lights that run up and down the sides of themselves. Really neat stuff. We had lunch on the beach and then headed back to the hotel to prepare for sylvester (new years in israel). For Sylvester* we went to some really shitty overpriced club that wasn't that good, but at least we had fun all bieng there together to celebrate whatever Sylvester* is. Alot of money later we head off to find some shawarma and then back to the other friend's hotel where we ended up passing out very quickly. Eventually we kicked ourselves out to our OWN hotel where we once again passed out, but this time quicklier.

Today was a rather laid back day in Eilat. We walked the beach, went coffee shop hopping and generally lazed around all day. I think tonight a few more of us Taglitists are meeting us in Eilat and a few more are leaving perhaps? As for tomorrow, that will be the first day of the scuba course. I hope my cold gets better by then, otherwise I may have to put the course on hold untill I become less congested.


Happy Jew Year.




*Wikipedia to the rescue... heres what INTERNET has to say about Sylvester...
Germans call New Year's Eve Silvester. Since 1972, each New Year's Eve, several German television stations broadcast a short English theatrical performance titled Dinner for One. A punch line from the comedy sketch, "same procedure as every year", has become a catch phrase in Germany. [1] Every year Berlin hosts one of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations in all of Europe which is attended by over a million people. The focal point is the Brandenburg Gate and the fireworks at midnight centered around that location. Germans have a reputation of spending large amounts of money on firecrackers and fireworks.

Somehow Israelies also celebrate this Holiday instead of new years, and Saint Sylvester himself is said to be one of the biggest jew haters of all time.