4 יומ

Some of you may have imagined my first Shabbat as being a quiet evening. Shabbat dinner followed by cute, quiet, wholesome activities activities. Something like youth activities at church. So here's how my first sabbath here actually went.

After a short, relaxed dinner, we all went upstairs and started to plan our evening out with the help of Guy. We decided we wanted to go all out. We took about an hour nap and then got ready. Around 11:30, we made our way to Shalvata, an outdoor bar on the beach. IT took a while to get there as we're still learning this city. I definitely need to sit down with a map one day and study. We had a round with the sand under our feet and palm tree umbrellas above our heads. After a chill warm up, about half of us who had gone out (12 went down to 6) walked around the port to find a club. Tons had huge lines. We found one with no line so we wouldn't have to wait so long. Upon arriving, the patted us down / checked the girls purses (standard Israeli practice) and asked for 50 Shekels to get in. One girl with us, Becky (who goes to University of Oregon), haggles like an Israeli. She got it down to 2 of us for free and 25 Shekels for the rest of us. Love this girl. Luckily, she went in before the rest of us and said not to come in since no one was there. We decided to go back to this place we had passed while trying to find Shalvata that had like 100 people in front of it. We got there and Becky again worked her magic. We all got in immediately ahead of all the Israelis there. We had to pay full price, but this place was packed! It would appear that it was more of a bar with loud music that people sort of dance to occasionally. It was great. The DJ was awesome and it appears Israelis are more into singing along, as they all know every song (half American, half Israeli). They also occasionally shot off napkins like over sized confetti and lit sparklers. We had a good time, but want to find a place that's more dance-oriented next time.

The next day, we slept in and headed off to the beach. The Mediterranean is INCREDIBLE! The water is a gorgeous blue-green and warm - like actually warm, unlike US beach water. We had a nice day relaxing watching all the beautiful people play paddle ball and enjoy their Shabbat on the beach.

Today we went to Tel Aviv University, which is where we can get library access and then had my first schnitzel for lunch. Delicious, huge and only $5. From there we went to Jaffa (or Yafo in Hebrew). It's a city just below Tel Aviv that got absorbed into the city Tel Aviv expanded. It is historically an Arab port, although some of you may know it as the place Jonah got on a boat to flee from God asking him to preach. We took the bus all the way down. There is a marked difference in wealth as you go south. I'm interested to get to know the south for real soon. When we got to Jaffa, we went to a mosque where we were given a short lecture on Ramadan, which if you don't know is a holy month in Islam in which Muslims fast while the sun is up to commemorate the revelation of the Quran to Mohammed. We then went on a tour of the old city with 2 guides - one Jewish and the other Arab. They each gave us the narrative of Jaffa's history from each perspective. It was very interesting to hear the parallel accounts of the same city being told so differently. For Jews, the last century has been one of growth and success while for Arabs it has been full of decline and loss. Afterwards, we discussed to differences in the narratives and issues of perspective, which I think was great, especially for a lot of the students who don't really know much about the conflict. I think it showed a quick introduction as to just how complicated this issue is. After that, we had an amazing dinner at a restaurant in Jaffa with most of the professors we'll be learning from.

Tonight, after several days without a full night's sleep, I am staying in. I need a night off so I can return to the madness that is this city.

לילה טוב (Laila Tov/Good night)