We stayed at a hostel near the Shouk al-Carmel (Carmel Market). One of the staff there was this Canadian guy named Oren whose father is Israeli. Oren is a Jewish chef and works at the Vatican! He's in Israel because he was working on a tourist visa and had to leave Italy temporarily after 90 days, but he'll return soon to marry his Italian sweetheart. Oren is in his early 50s and cursed a lot just like us young folks in our 20s, and gave us advice about the best parties.
I haven't gotten this little sleep in a long time. The streets were absolutely packed with people of all different ages and in all kinds of costumes. The street scene reminded me a lot of San Francisco.
I also met up with Milena, a new friend who is the granddaughter of a woman who is friends with my mom and dad. Milena's dad is American (the son of my Milena's grandma) and her mom is German. She grew up in Germany and is a medical student, but she's studying for two months in Israel. She told me all about her recent trip to Jordan, and we caught up over a drink at this cute cafe called the Biyalik Street Cafe.
Today, I came back to the kibbutz super early with my classmates, and from about 4pm until 10pm I was with my classmates Arielle and Jacqui, and we went with a guy named Yossi to the home of his friend Udayy. (Yossi is Israeli and did our program last year at Givat Haviva. He is now getting a degree in Islamic Studies at university.) Udayy and his sisters were so welcoming! He recited poetry from the Qur'an for us, which was absolutely beautiful, and he and his sisters joked around a lot. I didn't understand everything, of course, but I am trying to tell myself it's okay that I don't get every word, which is impossible anyway. I try to focus on the atmosphere and on the people I'm conversing with, because I want to get to know them as much as learn the language.
Ready to be a Pastafarian!
A wall in our room at the hostel.
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