Exiting (part 2)

 

So, here's a photo of me with, wait for it, a falafel sandwich which I got with Efi in his town. And, a delightful surprise: my landlord offered to take me to the airport (like I was going to say no).  Efi and Orit wanted me to see some exhibits in Tel Aviv,  but I was too tired, so the lift to the airport was great. I sat next to a mechanical engineer who is traveling to the US for a vacation,  and we geeked out for while. 

So now I am at Laguardia awaiting the flight to Kansas City. I got to have some NY pizza for breakfast (mmm).

Exiting

 

Today is the journey home. I am able to store my suitcase in an empty apartment,  but only until 1600. I'm traveling a little north to visit with my Hebrew teacher in person, and then head back to get out of the way. Heading to the airport at 1600 is fine. I'll probably be able to check-in around 1800. And then check-in for my Southwest flight in the morning (figuring that out is always a time zone challenge).

A New Friend

 I went to Jerusalem to have lunch with Sam's brother Uri. We went to his favorite hummus place (entrance was under the umbrella). Uri runs the biggest security firm in Israel,  including the security at the Kotel (Western Wall). One of his sons is currently in the IDF. 

After lunch, I went to Mahane Yehuda and bought a kilogram of great Israeli peanuts from this place.

Volunteering again

 Well, I wasn't going to be late today. I got up at 0500, had one cup of coffee,  and was out the door by 0530. First stop was buying some almond croissants for me and the other two volunteers in our little group.  Always a good idea. Then a bus to the train station.  The train to Ashkelon went through Rehovot instead of due south,  but I had time, and it was interesting. I got a cappuccino in the Ashkelon station and enjoyed my croissant.  Efi arrived around 0815 and Ron arrived at 0845. Efi drove us to the IDF refreshment station. Honestly, I didn't work too hard (cut some peppers and chopped some carrots), so outside of putting some clean dishes away and taking out some trash, I stood around a lot  and said hello to the soldiers.

Ron is third from left in the back row, then Efi, then me. This was all of today's volunteers.

We picked up nice leftover food from Kibbutz Yad Mordechi again and brought it back to the IDF station.  Then, on our way home, we brought some food from the station to a squad at the gate to Be'eri.

Everything was late today

 

I was late for my lunch with Margalit. But we had a nice long lunch and I got to hear stories of when she first moved to Israel. I had hoped to go to Mahane Yehuda, which I did, but the nut place had already closed. Then I headed back to Tel Aviv by bus, but it took forever because of rush hour traffic.  Why didn't I take the train? So I was exhausted when I got home.

Busy Sunday

 

I went to the beginner's dance again. It was great. I wasn't. On the way back I bought a big poppyseed cake to take to my friend's house later. I showered, ate a little and jumped on a bus to the train station. 

I met with another student who will be at Rockhurst this fall. He's another volleyball player (6'6" - easy to find). He will be in the business school, but I assured him that he is welcome in my office any time.  Then I zipped home and picked up the cake and took the #82 bus to Petach Tikvah.

I visited friends who made aliyah a few years ago (I helped with their wedding in Lenexa). In the past three years, they have been in three different apartment buildings. It was a lovely visit, as usual. 

Friday recap

(Bon appetit)

 As usual, I met friends in Jerusalem. I got there fairly early and went to the Mahane Yehuda market to get peanuts.  I didn't need anything else, but the shuk wasn't crowded so I walked around and looked at everything. 

When I returned to Tel Aviv,  I went to the wonderful Nachalot Binyamin craft market that's open on Tuesdays and Fridays. Since I was, and will be, volunteering on Tuesdays,  this was my chance to get a cool pair of earrings. Then I went back and prepped for Shabbat. But, oh dear, I forgot to buy flowers! The clock is ticking. I headed back to the shuk, which was full of people walking too slow, and a number of vendors were closing for the weekend.  And the flower vendors are on the other side of the shuk. But I got there in time and bought a small bouquet of peach-colored roses. My walk back through the shuk was more relaxed.

Addendum to Gaza Envelope

When we were at the car memorial, we met two Beduin men that lost a friend in the 10/7/23 disaster. Efi talked with them a bit in Hebrew and translated for us.

Recovery from volunteering

I am tired today. To use a great American idiom, I feel like I was ridden hard and put away wet. I'm glad I had an unstructured day. I did some light shopping, which included some nice poppyseed cake from a bakery near the bus stop.  I made a snappy tomato-avocado-garlic salad for shabbat (it's marinating).

Tour of Gaza Envelope

For someone who said, "I've never been to Gaza, I've never been near Gaza," I got pretty close today.  Efi took us on a tour of the communities devastated on 10/7/23.

We went to the car memorial. Many of the cars had been hit by RPGs.

We then went to the gate of the deserted Kibbutz Be'eri.

Then onto the Nova music festival site.  We met the mother of one of the hostages who had been working security that night. She and her sister (?) were very kind and told us about her son. They had women's siddurim that are dedicated to some of the hostages that they gave us and we promised to pray for their safe return. My person's name is Arbel Yehud.

L>R: sister, Rome, mother, NYC, me. Photo of son on the van.

 

Then we went to a couple of bomb shelters that don't have doors, but people from the festival tried to hide in them. We met two survivors of that night and heard their stories.

L>R:Efi, NYC,  survivor, survivor,  Rome, me.

On the way home, Efi took a turn that is usually closed to public traffic because it leads to an IDF base. We saw eighteen-wheelers unloading tanks, and then saw a staging area with tanks and military bulldozers. We weren't hustled out of there but we left fairly quickly. We were near Re'im. Interesting night.

Volunteering at IDF refreshment station

Laundry and shower facilities for soldiers

Dry storage (shipping container)

Kitchen (gas range not in photo)

Dining room

General layout-dining room on left and kitchen on right

Main entrance

Efi Kamara (retired colonel) drove me and the two young women (one from NYC and one from Rome) that volunteered yesterday to the Mavkiim location where there's a refreshment station for the IDF soldiers heading in and out of Gaza.  Everything at this place is donated: the tents, appliances, the food, and, of course, volunteers. A lady, Anat, is in charge and supervises all the food prep.  She's there every day. We served a couple hundred soldiers while we were there and talked with a few. They are able to take food with them or to their buddies. They eat off real plates with real forks. The Hebrew means "Who lives" and it's the logo for the station.  There was a hot lunch with soup and Israeli salads, as well as prepped sandwiches and coffee. And of course,  everything was kosher. It's amazing.

Effie and I stepped out during a lull, and went to Kibbutz Zikim to pick hot peppers. The greenhouses there are not glass, but mesh (to reduce the intense sunshine?) so it wasn't terribly hot in there. I worked a row with a retired Israeli police officer. I practiced my Hebrew and we got to know each other. We picked peppers for a couple hours and returned to the refreshment station. 

Volunteering at a farm

Today was a real volunteering day. I got up early and took the train from Tel Aviv to Ashkelon. I was early so I bought a coffee and waited for my friends. We drove down to the moshav on the map (little red rectangle) and joined another group in packing cantaloupe.

That's me in the yellow shirt. The exhausting part wasn't carrying the boxes or reaching into the bins, but choosing 4 or 5 or 6 melons of roughly equal size to put in a carton. Then the cartons were stacked on palettes by number of melons. They were stacked to 9 layers high then saran-wrapped for transport and moved by one of the two forklifts. Big operation. We quit about 13:00 and this is what was packed by all the volunteers today:

The farmer insisted that we all take home cantaloupes. He wouldn't let us take any of the rejects (which were just cosmetic) and I found one the smaller ones that he was happy about. It's still a lot for me by myself.

Running and resting

The volunteer thing didn't work out so I decided to take a run by the beach. I did leave the apartment at 0700 to avoid the heat, and there was a lot of shade from the big hotels. I'm always pooped after running so I took it easy the rest of the day.

This morning I again attended the beginner's Israeli dance class (see also last year). I wasn't great, but I didn't have to be. It was great. After cleaning up, I met with a new engineering student of mine who lives here.

Jerusalem

I went to Jerusalem to meet some friends. While I was there, I went to Mahane Yehuda and purchased more real food: roasted peanuts (Israeli peanuts are not to be missed), stuffed grape leaves, and a beet salad. I picked up some pretty flowers at the bus station. So I went off program a little and bought some malabi for dessert tonight. I'm going to Friday night services with my neighbor Leah.

Shopping day

This day is always dedicated to buying REAL food. So I went to the shuk and acquired kleenex (OK, that's not food), cheese, eggs, scallions, parsley, lemons, olives, olive oil, cauliflower, fresh apricots, tomatoes and cucumbers. All in one trip. Sat down for a bit, then headed over to the grocery store to get grapefruit juice, soup, and pesto. On the way back, I went to the bakery across the street and got a Beduin bread, a zaatar pita, and an almond croissant.

Returning

I headed back to Israel. I thought it would be better to arrive during the day (instead of dusk) which meant an earlier set of flights, which required an airport hotel in Kansas City to make the 0630 flight. BTW, I had no idea how busy the airport is at 0600. Well, the downside to arriving in the late morning is that the apartment wasn't ready until 3:00. I hung out at the airport because there's a little food, drinks, chairs and toilets. It turned out that there was a problem with my SIM card, so I was able to get that straightened out while I was there. I'm staying at the same apartment as last year because it was nice.