Today, I met up with Shiri and we took a bus to Tel Aviv. All day, we spoke both in Hebrew and English- she was so patient in teaching me Hebrew and I did with her English. We found things in common and we just had a lot of fun. First, we went to the beach but it wasn't that great since it was soooo windy. The waves were back but not as high as they used to be. The lifeguards wouldn't anyone wander in too far- bummer. Nevertheless, we laid out for about an hour and half before packing to find some food for lunch. We just went across the street to Cafe Aroma. Afterwards, we decided that we'd walked over to the Dizgenoff Mall to see if Harry Potter was playing because we both had no real interest in going back on the beach with all the wind. So we walked all the way over there only to find that the movies didn't have Harry Potter! We shrugged and just walked up King George towards the Carmel Market to do some shopping. We browsed for a while and Shiri ended up buying these bamboo sticks with some crafts on them. She was exhausted but I certainly wasn't! I felt really, really good and had a lot of energy- she couldn't believe what a bundle of energy I was! So anyway, the hot weather forced us to slip into a cafe and ordered some ice coffee. We really began talking at that point.
Then, she wanted to head back to the beach and we walked there while talking about the recent news by the IDF that only 25% of eligible draftees did not sign up to be in the Army. She told me it's a real problem in Tel Aviv as much in Jerusalem. I was surprised and she explained that it's not really part of the people's minds- Tel Aviv's very urban and people just don't really think about going out and protecting Israel's borders in the desert and mountains. I could see why- Tel Aviv was certainly an Israeli bubble, the bubble of what the rest of Israel could be like if it keeps developing and really grow as an actual city. The main reason why drafting is currently a problem in Jerusalem is because of the large haredim population. Shiri's going into the Army in January- already has a job! She's very, very excited even though by that point, most of her friends will have finished . She started a year and half late because she wanted to participate in this program up North that gave her a deeper understanding of Israel. No regrets.
We took some pictures and just walked along the beach, in the water. I was so tempted to jump back in the water but I didn't have a chance of dry underwear... We found a nice sandcastle! It felt very peaceful as the air cooled off, people coming to relax after a long day at work/camp, and the sun slowly setting.
The idea of leaving Israel began to sink in a little. I wouldn't exchange this day for anything else- being with Shiri (and Ronnie and his friends from Friday) made me realize how lucky I was to be making connections with the Israelis that I could choose to spend my last few days with them. They just made me feel that I would be welcomed back and it wouldn't really be much of a farewell. With the Americans, I think, it would have been more of saying farewell to Israel because most will not come back for a long time and didn't have deep connections as I did (well, they do connect but mostly with the land of Israel). So we'd probably just run around all day, trying to do things one more time, and be talking about memories and leaving Israel. I never would have wanted to this because A) It's too depressing and B) I connected with the people and it's much more important to me that I made this my priority.
To me, Israel is more than the land, the ideology, and the history to me. To be consumnated with Israel means talking with its people, finding connections, and picking up the behavioral influence and the modern language. Instead of only hugging the land, I want to be hugging with the Israelis and marching step for step with them.
Here's a picture of me saying Shalom, Shalom by my flight's gate... I couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad... it's just a tacky picture, that's all. *smiles*
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