We arrived in Tel Aviv about 1 week ago into the open arms of JJ’s cousin, Michael and his fiancé, Juan. We were so happy to be there, especially because we were supposed to have arrived the day before! Yep, we majorly screwed up and missed our original flight to Israel because of a silly little thing, called a 24 hour clock. In the rest of the world, there is no AM and PM. Only hours listed as 11, 12, 13, 14, etc. So JJ and I looked at the time of our flight at 2:15 and automatically assumed that it was in the afternoon. Well, it wasn’t. Oops! Yes, 2:15 in the morning. Strange time for flying? Apparently not to Israel. So after that blunder and getting many people worried about us, we finally made it!
We made it back to Michael and Juan’s home in Old Yafo, the South part of Tel Aviv, just to be in bed by dawn. But before getting any rest, we met their adorable new puppy, GaGa. She is so cute and sweet and teething! We slept most of the day, until it was time to eat dinner at Michael’s friend, Adi’s home for Erev Rosh Hashanah. We got as squeaky clean as possible and arrived at her mother’s home. There were amazing paintings and sculptures everywhere, all created by our hostess (Adi’s mom), Sarit. We sat down to a beautiful meal, with great conversations, an education about some new traditions, and incredible food! We had many sweet foods for the New Year including fresh dates, sweet salads, and the most delicious honey cake. JJ and I had such a nice time visiting with everyone and getting to know our new friends.
The next day we woke up and went to the beach, which is so close to Michael and Juan’s home! You can see the ocean from their windows and it is really gorgeous! Combined with their amazing hospitality, I am pretty sure this is better than any five star resort. At the beach, we jumped in the refreshing water and took a nice walk. We decided to get some lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking the beach and had a wonderful meal. My favorite part was all of the Israeli salads that were brought out before the main course. I did not mean to fill up on them, but there were all so different and fantastic! For dinner that night (Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year), we were invited to the home of Michael’s friend Aliza’s sister. This was a huge family feast and after dinner JJ, Juan, Michael, and I joined in with the family children for a new and exciting card game! The game involved calling out words that fell into various random categories as quickly as possible. Because some people playing were faster in Hebrew than English, there were an unidentifiable number of words from 2 languages being yelled out at any moment! We had a blast and the game is really fun and I am definitely going to have to play again soon.
The next day was Shabbat and we had an extremely relaxing day of playing with the puppy and sitting by the pool. That evening, we visited more friends of Michael and Juan and attended 2 very nice parties at amazing apartments in Tel Aviv. We really enjoyed the atmosphere and being able to visit with Michael and Juan even more. The next day, JJ and I ventured out on a long walk to explore Old Yafo. We walked along the sea for a while, admiring this amazing beach path that stretched for miles along the coast of Tel Aviv with its beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean Sea. We stopped to have some falafel and shwarma sandwiches, then to buy groceries for the Cajun Creole dinner we were making that evening.
The next day, JJ and I woke up and headed to Jordan for a quick trip of sightseeing in Petra and a national preserve.
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