Sunday, December 28, 2008

i will lay in grass, in the grass, all day

woke up early, freaking out because i knew my dad would be flying in. i tried to get money from al, both in our sleepy states, but ended up just falling back asleep, only to be woken up by my dad's call from the airport. i called my bro to wire money so i could get a cab there. it worked. i finally got to the airport driving in pouring rain. the cab driver assured me that it was his job to get me there safely. i finally found dad and joan upstairs near the car rental place. we had a big big hug, but i knew they were beat from traveling. so we looked everywhere for the car. found the damn thing. drove to tel aviv straight from the airport because joan wanted to check out the contemporary galleries there. i was really surprised at how well i navigated the area considering i don't drive here. we visited a few galleries within walking distance of each other. it's always cool, because joan asks to see artists' work for possible opportunities at her palce in dallas, so we got to see some portfolios of some neat photographers, painters, and sculpters (aged 25-35... i got time). my favorite was this photographer that uses her transvestite brother and herself as her subjects. she also did a series about pippy longstocking. we stopped by max brenner for some chocolate chai tea and hot cocoa, and posed for some photos before finding some sucariot (hanukkah donuts) and another contemporary photography gallery. then we got lost driving back to ramla. my dad gets super frustrated when he drives in foreign countries apparently. its kinda funny. we got back to the house and met alli. i showed them the house and we scrounged around to get them directions to their kibbutz near jerusalem.

dad and joan went on their way and zvi called to say that he would be picking us up to speak to a birthright group at a kibbutz in jerusalem later that evening. we got ready, kinda nervous, and went on out way. zvi thinks he's telepathic, which is pretty fantastic. anyway, we arrived to the hotel and walked in the back while momo was speaking. there was about 200 fucking people in that room. nervous. we sat through the whole thing of course, trying not to get a laugh attack. i'm terrified of mom0 yelling at me in front of 200 people. so it came time for us to speak and i grabbed the mic knowing that i'd need it. i ended up speaking too quietly anyway, and momo told me so. i just need to talk to the crowd like i'm talking on the phone. because i'm fucking loud there, as alice keeps telling me. i must get that from my mom. afterwards, we grabbed some food in the dining room and todd dropped us at home first, to pick up the vid cam, before driving us to tel aviv. sub kuch, of course. it was a good directions day for me. we spent that night hanging out with daniel, etan, and sagi, before i swiftly passed out from a long day in daniel's room. alice woke me up in time to walk to the sheruit station in the freezing rain so i could then pass back out in the sheruit while we waited, so i could wake up just in time to arrive home and pass the fuck back out in my own bed. go al. good call.

we woke up the next morning and just hung around watching movies and being lazy assholes until al had to get ready to attend a candle lighting with the prime minister and i got ready to meet my dad and joan in jerusalem. it's christmas, remember that. i finally got to the bus station and ran to catch a bus that was leaving just as i arrived. well i finally got to the central station and waited for a while. i bought a thingy-tapestry. waited more. dad and joan FINALLY got there and we sat through 40,000 car strong traffic going down the hill. we also passed 10 dead cars on the way, so that had something to do with it, coupled with the fact that i'm told there was 40,000 people going to bethlehem for ole' jesus's b-day. by the time we had escaped form the automotive stronghold, i had convinced dad and joan to drive to tel aviv for some grub at the sub kuch, and to show them where i hang my party hat. we arrived and had a lovely meal enhanced by lovely daniel's generosity in the form of fried veggies. they were tired and anxious to head home so they did, but not before i got to introduce dad and joan to some friends. it was really nice. after they left, al arrived on their heels. we had a couple drinks and al decided to go home. i had some really nice chats with my new friend and we tried to pass out in the bunk. didn't really work and i hung out with sagi before deciding to pass out on the couch. woke up the next morning and headed home alone. i like walking and listening to music alone. its nice. arrived home and al and i just relaxed and hung out, watching movies and talking.

the next day we vegged out as well, just watching movies and chilling. it was beautiful. we even just passed out until yesterday, when we woke up with enough time to get ready to meet my dad for dinner. we were walking to the bus station when he called and embarrassingly admitted that they only had room for three. we assured him it was no big deal. plus, that meant we were free to go to natanya and hang with the boys. i thought about the quote that "a girld even knows what she looks like crying over the death of her father". so we caught some sheruits out there, getting picked up by roni and lior. it was a lovely gesture. we spent the whole night making fires, sitting by them, i fell again off a bench. we ate some grub, played some guitars, worked on making up words and explaining. i lost al at one point and decided to pass right out in roni's bed, thinking about jeremy and dave. i sent a leonard cohen lyric. woke up nicely and al and i booked it back to ramla in time to get to our activity at y-shai school. we basically had to make up these activites for these random kids. we figured out a pin-the-tail on the donkey thing with balloons and popping and menorahs (actually called hanukiot). it was a hit, then we played pictionary. they're good kids. got photos. THEN WE WENT BOWLING AND ATE PIZZA AND PLAYED GAMES!!!! i suck at bowling, but it was so much fun. i had to con the bus driver to let us off, but we made it home and now we're getting ready to go to dad's kibbutz to sleep before driving to mesada, dead sea and then eilot on the way to PETRA!!!! that's why this post is so choppy and not grammatically correct or even that interesting. i can do better. promith. OH, the gaza attacks are happening right now, but not anywhere close to me so don't worry. i'm fine and will be fine. "ok, a guy could get it up for a fucking air-conditioner." al just said that right now and it made me laugh so i typed it. i'll leave you with that sentiment.

more soon about petra and LOTS of pics.

love,

sally

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