Countdown...

Continuing to "make the best of it" I had dinner two nights ago with Rafi's cousin Avi, Roy, Hamutal and Simon. Danielle was quite awake this time and I realized how much she had grown in these past three months since I first met her. 

Oops, I forgot to take photos at dinner, so here is an older one with Danielle (she does look bigger now)

Same Oops, with Jenn, without Avi

We went to a restaurant that serves Asian food, Giraffe, where pretty much the whole continent is reflected on the menu, which I guess is a way to ease me back into life at home (I look forward to the world's best curry chicken and the world's best sushi). Simon was on a break from his annual  3 week Miluim service where he is an officer, and I kept asking him questions not so much about what he does there (I gave up trying to dig, imagining that he isn't supposed to tell me and not that I was boring him with my dumb questions) but about the impact miluim has on his job and his family. The answers to the latter are obvious.

Not sure if this is the Israeli thing or if it is them as people, but as we sat into the evening, talking and telling stories, I realized how much like family they feel. I will miss them.

On Saturday earlier in the morning I went to the beach with Emanuela. She usually likes to go to a small beach close to the Carlton hotel but I prefer a bigger beach, where they bring you chairs and umbrellas and side tables and diet cokes and... (how do you spell "princess" again?). She agreed, as long as we sat on the front row, close to the water, so we would not see the hordes of people that would arrive in the next couple of hours. 

Emanuela

While the waves were lapping at our feet, it turned out to be a good idea. This is the Shavuot weekend, so it is a holiday both Saturday and Sunday, and Hilton beach (and I am sure all others) got to be packed. Emanuela is a lot of fun and high-energy, and she told me at least 100 stories, none to be repeated. I am usually the chatty one but with her it is fun just to sit back (on a sun chair, at the beach) and listen to the rapid-fire. This was probably my last beach day on this trip, and it was the best.

Leaving Hilton beach...

We left the beach at around 3 pm as Emanuela had invited me for a late lunch to her place (ever the unanswered question, "When do people here eat?"). We walked over to her apartment and she served a wonderful Israeli lunch with salads and home-made tehina and home-made bourekas and... Later, sitting by the window in her apartment, feeling the cool breeze and looking at the palm trees outside, I thought the two glasses of Gewurtztraminer I had had fit perfectly. 

At her place I got to meet her teenage daughter as well as her older son and one of his friends, both in in their mid-twenties.  One thing I have noticed here is that kids don't seem to run away from conversations with adults as fast as they do back home. The young people at Emanuela's stayed at the table long past we were done eating. Our conversation was pretty intense and open. While there is no need to repeat what we talked about, I cannot imagine such a personal conversation would easily happen at home, especially not with strangers who are a lot younger. I enjoyed that.

I left Emanuela's beautiful apartment at around 5:30 pm and walked home, where I showered and got ready for... dinner!

Last night was Erev Shavuot and Rafi's mother's lifelong friends Louis and Klara (I have blogged about them before here and here), invited me to celebrate at their daughter's home. It was also a day before Louis' 90th birthday.

Louis & Klara, his 90th birthday

First, a detour: Shavuot is "the Festival of Weeks," the second of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are Passover and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple, so it is also known as Hag ha-Bikkurim (the Festival of the First Fruits). Historically, it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, so it is also known as Hag Matan Torateinu (the Festival of the Giving of Our Torah). For a funnier explanation of the names of this major festival, click here.

Billboard promoting dairy products

The traditional foods for Shavuot (there are *always* traditional foods) are dairy foods. Why is that? Let's see. Some derive the practice directly from scripture, saying we eat dairy to symbolize the "land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8) promised to the Israelites, or that "milk and honey are under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11).   Regardless, to the question of "Why dairy on Shavuot?" Google returned 181,000 results.

I cabbed to Louis and Klara's home in lovely Ramat Gan, about 15 minutes east of Tel Aviv, where they have lived for the last 50 years. The cabbie wasn't sure about the precise street so he asked me for the phone number of the people where I was going. I asked him if he didn't have a GPS (I could see it on the dashboard) and he said he did, but "calling was better." So Louis provided the cabbie with turn-by-turn directions to his house for the last few km's. Louis thought this was a "real chutzpah" -- I thought it was very "authentic."

Their son Roni drove us to the home of their daughter Orli and her husband Uri. Orli, a biochemist, and her husband Uri, a cinematographer and multiple Emmy Awards winner for the show "The Amazing Race," live in a beautiful and spacious house in Shohan.   

Shohan is a pretty new town located close to the airport, so midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Its population is around 20,000 people. At 7:30 in the evening, on the Erev of a Chag, the roads were pretty empty and we were there in about 20 minutes.  

Orli and Uri and "friends" (Two Emmys for Outstanding Cinematography; I insisted he go find them so I could take this photo

In writing this post, I also learned that in the 2009-2010 school year, Shoham ranked top in the country in percentage of high school students passing the Bagrut matriculation exams.  Which leads me to their two smart and good looking kids, Gilli and Nir (Hey! No pressure!).   

Orli and Uri's kids are teens and, again, I was struck by how engaging they are and how much they actively participated in the conversation.  For example, at one point we were all talking about the iPads, as Orli is unconvinced about getting one but her whole family thinks she must get one (ulterior motives? I wonder...) so I pulled out mine and showed her a few apps and proceeded, as it is my tendency, to oversell something I like (no, I have not changed in three months). 

While I was doing this, Nir noticed I have OMGPOP and I am trilled to say he took my iPad, signed himself up to be my Facebook friend and is now a real challenger in the game.  I love it and cannot imagine a 15 year old back home would be so confident to do this -- or as interested. (Note to self: must buy a few bombs to stay ahead here)

Dairy dinner round the table

Since it was Shavuot, we had a great traditional dairy dinner. The table was set beautifully and we also celebrated Louis's 90th birthday with a great chocolate roll cake and a trifle (more dairy foods).

With Uri, Orli, Klara, and Louis

We did not leave until close to midnight. It was a great evening, and I could so sense how much they love each other as a family and how welcoming they are of visitors and friends - and why Inge has been close to them all these years.

Orli, Gilli and Louis

Klara and Orli

 This morning I went to the synagogue a block away from my place. Since it does not cater to English speakers I kept getting lost in the Siddur as, unlike bi-lingual prayer books, it was only in Hebrew. No one around me offered to help. I am thinking it would have been different in Jerusalem.

Well, what I am really thinking is that my last three months would have been completely different had I chosen to spend them in Jerusalem. And so would have been my complete perception of this country. 

But I digress.

One more cup of coffee...with Natania

Post Script: Natania came from Jerusalem to meet me and say good bye. Sweet. I was able to rationalize delaying starting to pack for another few hours.