It was the summer of 5769! (In October...)

The other night some friends and I were driving downtown, when we turned the corner and saw this. For a second, I thought that it was the beginning of Tel Aviv's first, serious downpour...

...turned out to be just a water pipe that broke in the area. I digress...


Sundown last Monday brought along with it Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), meaning everything here in Israel essentially came to a halt until nightfall Wednesday. The streets were empty, which is as rare a sight in Tel Aviv as the silence that accompanied it.

Most Jews here spend Rosh Hashana with their family, friends and loved ones. Since I am practically alone here, I was blown away by the amount of invitations I received from friends to spend Monday evening at their house for dinner: I ended up going to a dinner hosted by the aunt of a friend of mine from the master's program, and had a really great time. I wish I had brought my camera, as the set up was gorgeous. I guess all I can say is I'm really glad that I went, as it brought me closer to two people from the master's program and I got to know a friend's family better.

The next day, a girl my roommate is currently seeing picked us both up in her car and took us up north for a typically Israeli afternoon. First we went to a secluded park and hung out watching the clouds, then we took a relaxing drive to Poleg - a beautiful beach town near Netanya -
where we had a delicious, couscous-filled lunch on the beach, ending the night by hanging out in a spectacular apartment on the water.


Aside from that, the holiday was spent very much like any other time in Israel. Early last month, during the first academic orientation meeting for the master's students, our teaching assistants told us to enjoy our time off and get all of the partying we want to do in Tel Aviv out of our system. (The logic being that once the semester starts up, the work load for this program is so intense that there really isn't time to do much else.) Being the obedient student I am, I did as I was told: so this past week I headed out to clubs & pubs with other like-minded and serious students, then proceeded to spend the days either on the beach, or at home with the guitar.


Seriously though, it has gotten to a point here where I really just want the course to start (October 26th).
Having said that, I'm sure the next couple of weeks will fly by, as I will be traveling a fair bit - first to experience Yom Kippur in Jerusalem, then to experience the musical genius of Victor Wooten, Stanley Clarke, and Marcus Miller together at an ancient Shoni Fortress near Binyamina.

Oh, and since it's October and the sun is still 25*C every day, I decided to shave my head. A moment for our fallen comrades:


Love and miss you all!

Next Up: Either aforementioned future travels, or my first post of a new mini-series typed in עִבְרִית (Hebrew)!