Birthday, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem

This year I celebrated the last birthday of my twenties in Israel. It fell on a Thursday and in Israel Thursday is the beginning of the weekend and Sunday is the beginning of the work week (in other words, it’s “thank God it’s Thursday” and “it looks like someone has a case of the soon-days”). So on this special Thursday I woke up at 5:30 AM to enjoy some coffee and breakfast while studying Hebrew. When the time came, I packed my notes, pens and books in my backpack and headed out the door to catch the city bus that runs to the university. At school we had some lessons as usual then took our midterm exam. I finished up the exam and walked out of the class with a feeling I hadn’t had in a long time. I felt post-exam relief. It’s a special feeling of freedom. It felt like society expected me to refrain from studying for at least 24 hours (instead, society expected me to consume many a cold beers). So it was with this feeling and on the bus ride back home that I started thinking about what was to come for the weekend of my birthday. I thought, “I wonder what Sheer has planned for me.” I knew that Sheer had made some plans for my birthday but she kept a tight lid on the all the details (which, if you don’t know, is really difficult for her to do). I got off at my stop and walked up the hill and stairs till I arrived at the door of Sheer’s parents' apartment, as usual. This time, though, taped on the door to greet me was a picture of a bulldog with a cone-shaped hat, “Happy Birthday!” the translation said. I walked in the apartment with a smile. We had a nice lunch and good cake. As gifts, I was presented with pajamas, slippers, peanuts and a note.

New pajamas for my birthday

The jammies and slippers were great gifts (the nights get colder than I expected in Haifa!), the peanuts were worthy of kings and the note said, “You and me. One weekend in Tel Aviv. Let’s take the next train!”

So Sheer and I packed up and took the next train to Tel Aviv!

In Tel Aviv we were overcome as usual by our affection for the city. The relationship between beach and city is much like it is in Rio de Janeiro where you can enjoy beautiful sand and sea and within moments walk to home, work or café. The beach is part of many people’s daily routine and the people bear the celebration for what they have and make as home behind their eyes and in their step.

Partly cloudy day at Tel Aviv's beach

Pedestrian and bike friendly Tel Aviv

Cafe culture, dogs, babies... Tel Aviv

Sheer's plans for us in Tel Aviv included a two night stay at an artsy-fartsy hotel,

Artsy-fartsy hotel

dinner at a Thai restaurant (first Thai in over six months!),

I was very happy with my Thai dishSheer's soup

wine, walks, electric car test drive at Better Place,

Sheer's electric car test drive

movies and we got to see Sheer’s hipster cousin rock and subsequently roll at a dimly lit music venue.

Sheer's cousin, Gal, performing in Tel Aviv

We had a nice weekend in Tel Aviv and returned to Haifa to continue the remaining two weeks of my Hebrew classes.

During the week and on the weekends, Sheer and I (and often her parents) would explore and revisit areas in and around Haifa.

Here are some shots around Haifa.

Older Haifa buildings

The Baha'i Gardens

A couple of cats

Fish building, port and old couple walking in the park

Shameless cat

Sheer walking down Haifa's paths

Sheer and I visited Jerusalem too.

We walked the Old City of Jerusalem

Arabic spices for sale in the Old City

We hiked up Mount of Olives.

View of Jerusalem from Mount of Olives

We went to the Israel Museum which, among many other notable items, is home to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Here’s a model of the Old City at the museum.

We passed the Knesset on the way to the museum

We were lucky enough to enjoy Jerusalem's Tree Festival for Tu Bishvat too!

The Tree Festival on Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem

Tree Festival elves discussing elvish matters

Band at the Tree Festival

And of course, according to our tradition, we smoked shisha and ate popcorn at our favorite hookah bar.

This is a very beautiful country. I love its cities, hills, beaches, history and culture. I wanted to spend more time exploring but my classes kept me at bay. Soon, however, my classes would end, my brother would arrive from Texas and we'd set off on a week-long tour of Israel.