out from sleep-encrusted eyes

sunday cont'd:

the farewell party was in the irish pub in cinema city - well designed enough that when you leave you're shocked to find yourself in a mall-type place. the evening was alright.

monday:

woke up super-early, fetched my mum, and went to the base. we visited the section, and the welfare office (most amusing), mongoose's section, and had some coffee.

and then went to my place to pack, and pick up my pc. dropped it off at the computer store, with instructions to provide a breath of life.
and then... we went... to haifa!

when we got there, we meandered up and down the streets at random, and that was simply awesome. i felt totally at home there, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. we had a look at the stunning view from above the bahai gardens, and then moved on to lunch, at a coffee shop in the general vicinity of the university.

man, it's pretty.

we then drove on, in fits and bursts (constantly stopping for one thing or another), to the cousin's ex-kibbutz, metzuba. it's pretty much on the lebanese border, and it's simply beautiful.

around 10pm, we went to a bed & breakfast village called nofesh achziv. very nice little place. slept like a log.

tuesday:

we were served a giant breakfast in the morning - very "traditional" israeli breakfast (lies!!), so it was actually very good.

we spent the morning in akko (acre), which started off nicely, but i began to get agitated at some point. i think it may have been a combination of the millions of israeli kids, and all the arabs. it took me until haifa to start relaxing again.

i am completely, and utterly, head-over-heels in love with haifa. it's just a modified version of cape town. absolutely stunning, very much more relaxed than the rest of the country. we stopped off for a serious lunch of brownies and coffee, then began the journey back to herzliya.

we took road 4... and finally found dor! with only a couple of minor details! and then nachshalim! a beautiful kibbutz! and then tel dor! with lots of signs! with lots of exclamation marks! warning us not to fall in the big holes!

it's a lovely place, and the harbour excavations did look interesting. my mom seemed well satisfied to see the place in real life, as opposed to studying it in books (which she did for her degree). so we ambled about, and then went back to herzeliya.

later on i met up with the dog, and we played an hour's worth of pool. because he'd brought *just* enough money, and i'm not paying for any more pool until he doesn't owe me anymore.

afterwards we went to bazel for coffee. DAMN, but we spent a lot of time and petrol looking for parking. very frustrating.

i had watermelon and bulgarian cheese, which was great, and then went home.

yesterday:

i didn't get up too early :) picked up my mom, went to the bank, then to the computer store - my baby's looking FINE. left it at the cousins', then drove off to jerusalem.

crap map, and a lack of signage, makes for very frustrating journeys. but we got to yad vashem in the end.

it's quite breath-taking, but there were LOTS of people, everyone pushing and shoving, lots of loud children, so it's hard to focus at first.

the material is incredible, the layout is well done, and the items, pictures, videos, and writings are very powerful. the hardest thing to conceive - every time i'm exposed to holocaust material - is that that's us they're talking about. amazing that people can hate so easily, and so quickly, and that 60 years later so many people STILL hate the jews.

we stopped by the memorial to all the fighters, then began our way home.

rush hour. but not too bad, and we made it back to herzeliya in excellent time. had ice-cream in cinema city (nothing interesting to buy, and the one movie i want to see is hebrew only), then went shopping in the centre of herzeliya. bought stuff. had supper. had coffee at the cousins'. came home.

today:

i'm having difficulty waking up. we're going to a house of mourning, for SSSO's grandmother, and in the afternoon - our graduation ceremony. can't say i'm not excited. and nervous... and i don't own a white shirt. great.

i'm probably going to go back to bed.