blue jellyfish

spent all day yesterday at the beach playing paddle ball, drinking mochiatto, eating hummus, and chilling. It was nice, the water was bath-warm and clear enough to see the freaking monsterous blue jellyfish floating about. Cool but scary. I wouldn't go in past my ankles because of it. Anyway, nice, nice, very nice. They have these cafes on the beach with chairs and tables facing the water, if you order something there, even a cup of coffee, you can sit there all day lounging under an umbrella staring at the sea. We played a game which appparantly is indigenous to this area which is basically hitting a little rubber ball back and forth between 2 paddles on the beach. fun :)

Today my father took the kids for the day to visit with his sister and parents, and my cousins and brother and I went to Tel Aviv, the biggest city in Israel, to walk around, shop, drink coffees, meet friends (of thiers) eat, etc. It was fun but I am getting a sore throat and my brother is also somewhat sick now. So, we walked, talked, I brushed up on my hebrew skills which are suprisingly passable, by which I mean, I can basically communicate although I probably sound like a stupid foreigner. Luckily they all speak English more or less too, so if I have to substitute a word here or there I'm still understood. They also have menus in english if you ask. The lady working at a popular clothing store, Castro, said she was shocked to hear me speak in english because I look just like an Israeli, from the clothes down to the tattoos. I mean she acted really suprised. I am wearing my new clothes which I bought at Castro so, that prob had something to do with it.

Here's what I learned today: There are less rules here. You can do a lot of stuff without fear of the cops getting on you, for example people were riding their motorcycles on the sidewalk, between cars, etc., my cousin parked on the sidewalk while waiting for my brother to run into a store, etc. Also, people here are friendlier. My cousin says she would never move to America because people there are kind of - cold, and polite, and distant, often not even knowing their next door neighbors, whereas here, people are warmer, its easier to make friends, you can just call someone and drop by, you don't have to call ahead and make an appointment, or before 8:30 pm or whatever. They also said its the best for raising kids, they are super social here, running around the streets, 5 friends dropping by and asking if they can stay the night, and of course they can, none of this calling and making arangements days in advance, you take your kids to your friends house if you have to go somewhere, and vice versa, anyway I don't know if they are or not but it sounded like they were trying to coerce me into moving here! I ate a new fruit today, leechee? when you peel it it looks like an eyeball. but is good! I think its an asian fruit. Also at a cafe ate cut up watermelon with Bulgarian cheese. wack! Anyway, must go to bed now, I am exhausted from all of the walking and eating and meeting people. Must wake up at 6:30 am to go to the Dead Sea tomorrow, we rented a minibus so everyone could ride together, how wierd is that! Anyway, lehitraot!