...and now they're gone, and it's terribly depressing. We had a wonderful two weeks traveling the country: exploring Jerusalem, hiking the Negev and Masada, floating in the Dead Sea, wandering through Tsfat, and taking the Sarah-led tour of Tel Aviv.
Highlights included:
-watching my family experience their first Israeli falafel in 5 years (or 30 years, in my Aunt Debbie's case)
-getting a free tour of the Western Wall tunnels from an adorable little man who gave us a speech about coexistence and the true meaning of the Temple
-getting totally lost in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City
-going up on the Temple Mount and seeing the Al-Aqsa mosque up close
-exploring Shuk Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem (and eating the figs!)
-having family dinner with my mom, my dad, my sister, my aunt, my cousin, and my best friend all at one table
-seeing a herd of camels on the side of the road while driving through the desert
-getting to hang out with my baby sister!
Anyway, my family flew out on Wednesday night, and now I'm alone again in Tel Aviv. Aardvark is still officially on winter break, so there's almost no one around. Last night I watched a pirated version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows online, which I enjoyed quite a lot, although I'll admit that it was not the best of the Potter movies.
So it's New Years, obviously, which, for some reason, is called "Sylvester" in this country. Every time someone says happy new year to me I picture Tweety Bird saying "I tawt I taw a putty tat." Totally bizarre. The other bizarre thing is that Santa hats here are not associated with Christmas, but with Sylvester. There are people wearing them everywhere! At first I thought they were mocking Christmas (a week late), but then I learned that it's actually a Sylvester thing! Crazy! Anyway, there's a street party going on in Florentin, so my roommates and I went down to check it out. It was about equal parts 14-16 year olds looking for a good time, and cops/soldiers looking to ruin their good time. There wasn't really anything happening and it was sort of raining, so we came home, popped open a bottle of champagne, and yelled the countdown from our roof. Now we're just hanging out in the apartment, sipping champagne and watching the action (or lack thereof) happen below us from the window. Sort of an anti-climactic New Years.
Wait, no, I just saw some fireworks! There's a relic of Boston New Years! Yay!
Anyway, winter break ends on Monday, and then we're in a frenzy of exams and packing and preparing to move to Jerusalem in two weeks! I'm so excited!
Happy Sylvester everyone!
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