zaichikarky

I have to finish this off before I start writing about my NYC trip. I'm going to hold off on writing on my birthright trip for a while. It's kind of daunting for me. Writing about NYC is also daunting, but for other reasons. I feel up for the challenge, though.

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One of the nights, we went to this "White Night" event because UNESCO declared Tel Aviv to be a "White City" partially because some of its original architecture was white. We saw part of a concert, then I insisted we go see some folk dancing, which Dana thought was very dorky, but appeased me.

I believe it was the next day when Dana, Yulia, Nachman and I went to the Dead Sea. The water felt very nice on my skin and Dana described it best when she said it was like swimming in oil. It was very hot in the desert on that day, and somehow swimming in the water was HOTTER, so I didn't stay in terribly long, but it was definitely an experience. I should say instead that we "floated" in the Dead Sea because you're so buoyant in it due to the salt.

Also before we got to the Dead Sea, we stopped somewhere and some people were offering camel rides in the parking lot! I did get to ride Shushu the camel! He was kind of cranky but overall he was well-behaved. And also, I took this pic, which I find pretty hilarious for obvious reasons XDD

Me & Soldiers at Desert Convenience Store

Those pants were my favorite pants and they kind of exploded in Israel ;_;. Sadness. I remember when I got them back in 2006. Yulia was actually visiting me. heh.

ANYWAY

Unfortunately , the Dead Sea had some kind of reaction on my feet and they swelled up twice their size making it too difficlt to walk much the rest of the time I was there : (. I had a couple of meetings with Dana & her friends. One of which I missed the last bus back to Yulia's so a very kind Russian woman offered to help get me home & I took the bus with her until she showed me where to take a taxi back to Yulia's that was near her place. The night before I left, we met with Dana's friends to play this fun game that included charades & guessing famous people we all write down (Ptakim).

The day I left, the weirdest thing happened. Yulia, her mom, & I were standing around outside taking pictures when a bunch of plainclothesmen come out of nowhere demanding to see our papers. They were very rude. My aunt was very indignant and refused to show them until they flashed their badges. She also told them that she was a speech therapist and couldn't understand their poor Hebrew. HAHA! I had my passport upstairs so they demanded to see itand asked "How many months I was in Israel?" MONTHS? I told them I've been there a week and a half. They waltzed in like they owned the place until they saw my passport, which indeed said I had been there for a short time when they left. Even though it was a strange experience, it wrapped up a great trip.

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YAAAY! Glad I'm done with this. You guys can see more pics here if you want - http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/Israel%20July%202011/