Wow, I've been soooo tired and unable to think straight by 9:30, when we finish dinner, to write anything!
On Monday, I spent the whole day in Tel Aviv. I caught the 501 bus out to Azrielli Center, where Air Canada's office was located. I had to give the security my passport for official ID (my student ID was no good, much to my protest that Air Canada might want to see my passport) and a security tag to actually get in. The receptionist was so incredibly nice to help me out. She asked for my booking number and I gave it to her out of my head- it was easy to remember because the first three letters spelled my uncle's name with the vowel missing, the next two were 10 point letters in a Scrabble game, and the last one just reminded me of the A as in Andrew. I really surprised myself! So anyway, she told me that the flights were very full and it would be very difficult to get on but Wednesday night had some empty seats. She said to call her on Wednesday morning to check on the status.
I went exploring the Azrielli mall, supposedly Tel Aviv's fanciest mall. It was quite upscale in its design and some of the stores and food offerings. Then I decided to walk on Kaplan Street which changed into Dizengoff, thankfully given that I knew it would lead me to Dizengoff mall. It intersected with King Goerge so I knew where I was immediately. I stopped in the Dizengoff mall for more air-conditioning time and bought Dubliners, a collection of short stories by James Joyce (later a framework for his masterpiece, Ulysses). I just needed a short and light book to tide me over for a week.
Then I browsed through clothing stores along King George and Shenkin. On Shenkin, I found an amazing designer, The Third Eye, that had incredible, great, bohemian style clothes. This designer is definitely on my list for must-go-back. I bought a green cotton dress that's going to be very easy to wear for anything and in all seasons except for winter. Afterwards, I headed off to the beach for the afternoon. The waves were so ridiculously strong that I didn't even go back in after only 10 minutes of playing in it (and getting wiped out).
After the beach, I thought I'd get some ice coffee but felt the craving for pizza so I bought a slice off the street from a guy who thought it was wonderful that I was from America. It's really true that Israelis love Americans but too bad he wouldn't let me have a free slice! :) Then I decided that if I really wasn't going to be in Israel after Wednesday, I ought to visit the little Russian market down further on Allenby. After the visit and a couple of Russian chocolates, I realized that this was really a pseudo Russian market in comparison to the one in Haifa and not really go back there again. I also found my "3 DVDs for 100 shekels" guy but didn't really see any DVDs that I wanted to get.
To get my excerise, I walked all the way back to where I was dropped off this morning.
To pacify my little homesickness for pizza, Yasmin decided that we'd order pizza for dinner as Linda was working late at her nursing job. I knew that she or somebody would want olives (it's treated like pepperoni in Israel- super popular topping) so just as she asked if I liked olives or mushrooms, I told her to make it half and half because I didn't like olives.
Tuesday, I took my time and decided that I would stop in Tel Aviv's Carmel Market first just to see if there was anything and then go to Jerusalem. I took the 48 bus which dropped me off right near the market. I found nothing and began walking towards the bus station (where I was yesterday). On the way, I found a cute red dress but decided that I really, really didn't need it and would get it if I was still in Israel on Thursday. Then I saw Iceberg, a gelato place highly recommended by Einut, my Israeli roommate in Haifa. Although I just had the Druze pita snack, I hadn't had any gelato.... so I got half dark chocolate and half tiramusu. That was quite worthwhile and delicious- I could really taste the flavors! Then I got right to the bus station and caught the bus on time.
When I got to Jerusalem, I stopped by the shuk to pick up Syrah from Yarden (2003) that I liked so much from last Friday, some olive oil for Mom, and some mangos and breakfast pastries from Marizpan. Since my processor still wasn't working properly, I decided to try out lip-reading in Hebrew. When I discovered that I could, I smiled when I gave them the correct change! Slowly, but surely, I'm getting that down pat too. I'd like to meet some deaf Israelis though so they can tell me what to watch out for when lipreading in Hebrew.
I made my way down to Rehavia to visit the Pollacks. I used my Hebrew to find the street since Rehavia wasn't all neatly and organized in terms of its streets. I also used my memory from when I walked there on Shabbat with Grandma and Zev. But the first people I asked didn't really quite know where Hanassi was so I gave them another street- Palmach. Then a young guy on Palmach knew where to go and he gave me the directions. I wanted to bring them flowers but I couldn't find any good flower shops along the way.
Moshe and Phyllis were doing great and finishing up preparing a dairy dinner for their daughter, Danna and her family, including her three children and in-laws. Phyllis listened to me explain what was happening with my processor since she works in occupational therapy with a lot of children who have cochlear implants. She offered to set up an appointment with her friend who does cochlear implant but I told her the main problem was getting insurance to cover the appointment. Then we talked about my trip thus far and my graduate school plans. When her family asked about my plans on returning to the US, I said that I wasn't one-hundred percent sure yet and Phyllis looked at me and insisted that I was on stand-by for my flight Wednesday night.
During the dinner, a lot of the conversation was in Hebrew. I could pick up words here and there and really paid attention to the children since they're harder to understand. But from my experience with children, it's a great way to learn a language because they're also learning it and figuring out how to express themselves. They all said that they liked to speak in Hebrew better, especially the seven year old girl with soooo many gaps in her mouth because she lost a lot of teeth recently. One boy told Moshe (his grandfather) that he could also read in English too! Just as I was missing salmon, Phyllis served it! So I was happy having the salmon, some tuna patties, humuus from the shuk (yes, it's really that much better than the ones in the stores), and pita. Then I began wondering why do I need to back to the US.
That's just the most difficult part. As I began thinking about going back to the US while my processor was holding steady, I asked, why do I need to leave Israel? But when I turn it off and then back on, then I wished that I was back in America. These past few days have been a real emotional rollercoaster just trying to deal with the worst hearing aid problem I've ever had. I asked Phyllis before I left what she meant by saying that I was brave (Course, I knew I was always brave to be in Israel and dealing with Hebrew), she said exactly what I thought she meant. Then I asked her about my speech. She bluntly said that "it could be better" and felt that she really needed to ask me to slow down and speak clearer. I sort of felt that punch that I should really try to do the stand-by tomorrow night as much I didn't really want to leave the country, only for my own good.
Moshe gave me a ride to the CBS, thankfully. We quickly talked about the shekel value against the dollar and real estate in Jerusalem (he's in real estate). He thought on the long run, the dollar would be better to use for real estate than the shekel. he predicted that the real estate bubble in Jerusalem will collapse because of the bad economy in the US and affect investment in Israel. It's always a risk to invest in real estate in Israel because of the security concerns, he said.
I quietly said shalom to Jerusalem and tried hard not to think much about the next twenty-four hours.
On Wednesday morning, I decided to stay in Herzliya. I didn't feel any need to go into Tel Aviv and I just wanted a quiet day. I eventually called Air Canada around 10:30 AM to break the suspense. First, it took me, what felt like ages to turn on the processor, and I just hit the boiling point. I held on as I called Air Canada around 10:30 AM to find out the story. The woman told me that the flight tonight was full and absolutely no seats left unless I wanted to pay over a thousand dollars for a first-class seat. After I hang up, I broke down in tears as I called my parents, waking them up at 3 AM. I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to stay so much but I was just so tired of dealing with the processor and just go home and not have to wear it ever again.
Finally, I calmed down a bit and decided that I would go to the beach just for the sake of being the last time. Ahout a third of the way, I kept thinking that I really should go for a run. It had been a week because A) It was so hot out and B) I wanted to try giving my knee a little break. But I needed someone to tell me to go for a run.... eventually I turned around, bought a bottle of cold water, and threw on my running clothes and went out. I ran out to the beach and back (though actually walked the last mile because the heat was really getting to me). I did 5 miles in 48 minutes, very good for 93 degree heat index! I did feel much more relaxed when I came back.
I took a shower and went to the mall for some Cafe Aroma. When I got up to get a cookie, some idiotic employee cleared away my table of my Ice Aroma, a Sudoku puzzle that I was working on, and everything else I had, along with my trash. I got pissed off and turned around when I saw my cleared table and met the employee's eyes immediately. She realized that she had done something wrong and dashed back to get my stuff. I glared at her as i took my stuff from her and set the stuff on the table. Then I realized that I hadn't finished my Ice Aroma so I went over and explained to other employees who were standing about and one of them referred me to the manager. The manager dutifully went over and got me another Ice Aroma, free of charge. Now that's what I call customer service!!!!
I told Linda of this little incident when she came home and was shocked. I said that I knew that you're not really supposed to leave bags around in Israel but I went past the security and I had my stuff spread out so it wasn't like.... I intentionally left it behind to create a bomb attack. She agreed.
Shiri, one of my cousins, finally called to say that she was back in Herzliya and we made a time for me to go over to her place. I finished up packing, which wasn't any more difficult than when I left Haifa. My main concern was the bottles of wine and olive oil. I wrapped the olive oil in the bubble wrap that my mother gave me and my blue bath towel. For the wine, first, I wrapped it in my white-and-yellow beach towel, then my long green skirt, and finally, my black Colgate stadium blanket. We'll just have to see if this can make it.
Shiri was so happy to see me that she held on longer than I expected when we hugged in greeting. Her sister, Olga, was also home along with Rahel. As we ate a light dinner, everyone updated me about their family, including Steven, who recently had a baby. Zev, no wedding date yet..... Then Rahel showed me her documentary about her travel with a group and Shiri to the birth place of her family in Ukraine. It was very interesting in a way that it's almost like a "birthright trip." As I watched it, I could imagine what my experience might be like when I have a chance to visit Lithuania and Belorussia, where my dad's family emigrated from. Although the setting have changed as the Germans destroyed a lot of the towns, it barely changed. It was still largely a peasant town, relying mostly on agriculture, horse and buggy, and simple life. Although very little of Jewish life survived, the memory remained as evident by memorials, either in a large statue form or a cemetery. It seemed like visiting Russia's former Soviet states and Poland would be quite bit like visiting Prague and Germany, where people just move on without the Jews and have memorials in place to remember them by. It was a good film overall and I told Rahel that I think it would have success in the US since American Jews are interested in their roots and probably will feel the kinship more so than the Israelis because so many of us were Ashkenzai and grew up in a Yiddish-Eastern European dominated culture. (And I was craving for my Eastern European food.)
Now it's time to head off to the airport to see what happens... I could feel that I really wanted to stay but the volume was definitely not holding up as much as it should as everyone's voices around me began to get softer and softer.
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