Tira (again), Kiryat Ono, Orot, Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Haifa, Eyn Hawd, Zichron Yaacov

So, the past few days have been quite eventful, and full of seeing family and friends.

On thursday, I spent the day at Tira again. This time it was only us international volunteers and the drivers- the banot shirut had some course and didn’t come in that day. I spent most of the day chilling out with Shlomy the driver, who practiced his English and helicopter simulation games, at the station in Tira. I worked on the computer and relaxed. We had one call- an old lady fell in her bathroom and sliced her ear open. I believe she suffered from dementia, seeing she didn’t talk much. Her husband and daughter did most of the talking. I took her blood pressure and read her blood sugar, and then we transfered her onto the wheel chair, and we carried her down the stairs and into the ambulance. This was my first time lifting the portable wheel chair while I’ve been here.. it’s quite heavy! Anyways. We brought her to the Lynn clinic- a private clinic rather than the hospital ER. And that was the most excitement of my day at Tira.

After our last shift of the week, I came back to the apartment, packed my bags, and took the train to Tel Aviv, where I met Maya waiting for me. I spent the night in Kiryat Ono with Maya, Shira and Spino. We ordered pizza and watched the action movie “The Inside Man”. Boy, what a bad movie. This was the first time I ate pizza since I felt sick in Ashkelon- but it was ok.

The next morning, I slept in until 8, then showered, and headed to Orot to see the family. One of the neighbors on the moshav passed away, so Maya and Avital had to go see the family sitting shiva. Ronit was in a fluster ( I think she didn’t know we were all coming!), and was getting ready to go out with Uncle Joe to their friend’s birthday party. Once everything settled, they left, and we stayed at the house. We had a lovely breakfast all together, then Maya and Avital headed over to the neighbor’s house as Michael, Shira, and I just hung out outside. It was really nice. When they came back from the shiva, Maya and Shira brought me to Tel Aviv, where I dropped off my bags at Sharon’s store on Bugrashov street. We had a nice lunch, and then I returned back to Sharon’s store to go get ready for Shabbat dinner in Ashdod with Eran’s family.

Sharon and I went back to his apartment, where I met his lovely fiance Karine, and got to play with little Camilla again. (I think I have found Tooky a girlfriend ). We got ready, then went in their friend’s taxi to Ashdod. Once we dropped off Karine at her family, we went to Sharon’s parents ( ie Eran’s grandparents) where I saw some of his family members- His grandparents, Shula, Yoram, Itamar, and some other cousins. It was really nice. We had a real moroccan shabbat dinner, with real moroccan home made cooking- so different to the cooking I’m used to, but it was delicious! After spending the night chatting and relaxing, I took the cab back to Tel Aviv, where I spent the night at Michael and Vered’s in Ramat Aviv. I was so pooped, I fell asleep quite quickly.

The next morning I woke up and took a great shower. I have really come to appreciate good showers and bathrooms since our bathroom in Haifa seems to be constantly flooded  ( I forgot to mention that I also had a great shower at Maya’s). Vered cooked breakfast for Moriah and I, and we sat together as we ate the delicious pancakes together. Niv joined us mid eating- he just came back from cycling. He won a huge race this week, so congrats cuzzy!!  I am trying to convice Vered to come with Michael to Montreal in May to see Simon and Garfunkel perform, and for Niv to do this big race in June. I hope it all works out, and I can return some hospitality to them, seeing that they’ve been so nice to me while I’ve been here..

After breakfast, we hit the road and headed north. We picked up one of Vered’s friends, Batya, at Binyamina. We actually drove all the way back to Haifa, where there was a huge international mountain biking race, where some of Niv’s friends were competing, as was Moriah’s older sister. We came around the end when cyclists were finishing up their last laps, and we cheered them on until all the people we came to see passed the finished line. It was nice to be a part of the cycling world for a few minutes, seeing it’s such a big part of my family’s life.

We then got back on the road, and went a bit south from Haifa to an artists village called Eyn Hod. We went to the Janco museum there which was all about his art and the DADA movement. It was really interesting. There was a cool distorted camera video which taped us and made us all wavy on a big screen. We then walked around the village and went into different little stores and galleries. It was really nice. Apparently, the village used to be an Arab village, but the state decided to make it an Arts village and basically forced them to move further on in the mountain ( the area where we went for lunch). For lunch, we had a typical Arab lunch, with lots of salads, humus, and some meats. It was super delicious.

We then went for ice cream in a beautiful Jewish village called Zichron Yaacov. There was a square full of little shops, restaurants, and ice cream stores. It was really nice. I was too full from lunch, so I passed on the ice cream, but Vered Batya and Moriah all got some. They looked very happy.

Once we returned back to Tel Aviv, I arranged all my things, and then got picked up by Oly and Brandi. This was my second time seeing Oly, and the first time I’ve seen Brandi in almost 6 years. We went for some frozen yogurt (halva + bananas= best toppings), and caught up. They then dropped me at the train station where I caught the train back to Haifa, where I am now, back in our stinky dirty apartment. Home sweet home.

Tomorrow we’re back on the ambulances!

Lots of love

Sjjt xo