I'm staying with two friends i met in costa rica at UPeace. They have a nice spot just outside of the city. Thursday night (the weekend here is friday and saturday, meaning, yes, they go to work on sunday) they took me to the boardwalk along the beach to some nice outdoor bars. I was a little slow to recognize people were just being nice to me by speaking to each other in english. On Saturday after a delicious brunch at a really good local spot, we spent the day at boaz' beautiful family home mostly in the pool and playing ping pong. In the evening after dominoes pizza (?) we made a bonfire and a sweat lodge with a bunch of his friends... Today we went out to eat in Jaffo, the older, historically Arabic town neighboring Tel Aviv, at an eclectic little spot that could have easily been in brooklyn. Here's ligad, noam, boaz, michal and me. schnitzel is good.
Everyone goes the beach on saturday. People were densely packed for miles to the north. there were also many people surfing today. behind me was a big outdoor party with a dj and all.
interesting also was along the way to the beach my hosts, in passing, pointed out numerous sites where suicide bombings had taken place (LINK). While the memory of these events from just a few years ago have not deterred people from returning to this area, Israelis are not desensitized. For example, one of the people I was with wondered, while the rest of us were swimming, what we would say at her memorial if she were to be killed on shore. I have also heard stories of shock and intense fear or pain from events that have occur ed regularly in this country since its inception. I don't know if I was expecting a war hardened populace, but it is interesting (and amazing) how they process and experience life here.
