Spring Break

This weekend was my first weekend I spent with my Uncles since I have been here, and I anticipate it being one of the last.  So, me and my Uncles spent a delightful Saturday around Tel Aviv.  First was the obligatory walk on the beach which led to the Tel Aviv pier, a hopping place full of some really cool shops and restaurants.  We had fish and chips in a place that boasted of being "fast food gourmet", which I found funny.  From there we went to go see a movie in Azrieli center, a giant and very famous mall in Tel Aviv.  The movie we saw was called In a Better World - it's Danish (Hebrew and English subtitles) and was really heavy, but really good.

By the Tel Aviv pier there's an enormous electrical plant, so while you're on the beach, there's a good chance that if your head is turned in the direction of Tel Aviv, you're going to see a giant, ugly, disgusting plant that has to be by the water so it can cool down the generators.  If your head is turned to the other side, however, towards the North, you can see nothing but the gorgeous beach and the gorgeous shore and gorgeous towns beyond it.

It occured to me that much of everywhere we live in in this world has views like these.  At first I attributed it to Israel alone: that it was a One-Way kind of country, that there was a gorgeous view on one side but annoying reality on the other.  Then I figured it wasn't fair to limit this to just Israel alone - it's the same everywhere.  Whetstone Park is gorgeous, but no matter where you are, you can hear the highway just beyond it.

I feel like I should be sad after realizing this, but I'm not.  Every place has its' good and its' bad and the trick is to find a balance between the two when you're living there.  The same goes for political situations.  I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but one of the things I keep coming back to is something that my dad's friend Roni said.  He said "People are people and they change their minds all the time."  It's a very contemplative statement to make, but it fits pretty much every situation.

This is a pretty short journal entry.  The country is getting ready to go on Spring Break.  Next week is Passover.  It's almost quieter here in the city, even though I know that in reality it's probably not, but the feeling is in the air, the feeling of pretty soon everyone will be with family and friend's celebrating.

I've spent the entire day lounging around the apartment, making food, eating food, doing laundry, writing (I've finished a project I was working on - very exciting).  I spoke to my brother today for the first time in about three weeks, which is awesome.  All in all, this weekend was a really good, quiet weekend for me, as I had been running around for the past three weeks doing work all over the place.


I am definitely having an amazing experience here, but I can't wait until I see everyone at home.  I realize that most of the month of May is going to be me finishing up the newsletter for Sadaka-Reut from Columbus, so at least I'll have something to do.  Everyone's wrapping up their walkabouts, and with their Walkabouts their high school lives, which is both exciting and incredibly depressing.  I have the unforeseen challenge of going to college with not one but TWO of my best friends (check back with me this time next year to see how I feel about that), but for right now, I'm excited to see all of my friends and my family again, and to focus on SENIOR RETREAT PART TWO (it's happening, right??????), PROM (woooo!), and GRADUATION!  (I can say that word now!!!)