The Weekly Update

Okay, so it seems that no matter how hard I try (okay, to be perfectly honest, I am not trying that hard!), I only seem to get out one blog a week. It's just that I have pretty much settled into a routine here and everything is starting to feel somewhat normal and ordinary. Trips to the grocery stores are not nearly as traumatic or interesting as they once were. I've learned enough Hebrew to be able to start reading labels and try to figure out what things are, which is a relief from having to just flat out guess and take a chance. And I can now usually ask (although sometimes I have to point at it) for what I want in the deli case or at the Shuk and tell them the amount I want. Yes, learning the numbers was the most useful thing I have learned thus far! It's been incredibly satisfying to be able to take even the tiniest bit of Hebrew that I have learned and use it out in the real world. And it makes me feel just a little less ignorant and makes the whole shopping experience that much more enjoyable. However, it does not do much for interesting blog writing material.

We did, however, have a somewhat interesting weekend. We awoke on Friday morning to some loud bits of music and unintelligible speaking (yes, it was unintelligible of course because it was in Hebrew) coming from a large sound system close to our apartment. A little later we heard more music playing so we decided that there must be something going on out in Dizengoff Square and decided to check it out. I had seen a few small stages being set-up the night before as well but didn't have any luck figuring out what might be going on. So we walked out of our apartment to find this.....

As you can see, the entire main street (Dizengoff--a major thoroughfare in the middle of the city) was completely blocked off to traffic and turned into a pedestrian street with swarms of people walking around. There were several stages set up with bands performing as well as various other forms of entertainment. There was a three on three basketball game, a break dancing stage and a skateboarding exhibition (with really, really, really bad skateboarding going on). Aren't you supposed to stay on the skateboard when you do your tricks? Seriously, we watched for 5 or ten minutes and I think maybe one person managed to stay on their board. Apparently the exhibition was open to any wayward teenager that happened to have a skateboard handy.

We walked up and down the street for a while and checked out all the entertainment while we tried to figure out exactly what kind of festival this was. It turned out to be the 2008 Urban Motomusic Festival which we found out after we returned home and did a quick internet search. Gotta love Google. The crowd was quite young, mostly teenagers, many of them wannabe punk rockers with a wide array of hair colors, tattoos and piercings. It was a fabulous place to people watch for sure. The music wasn't necessarily our type but it was interesting to see none-the-less. And I think that if there is anyone out there that still does not believe that Israel is no longer a third world country and that Tel Aviv is a fairly modern city (well, except for all the old cracking and falling down buildings), that this video just might convince them that we do not live in such a scary place, and that it is actually very normal here.....


Well, except maybe for this...............
Because of Shabbat the festival only lasted until about 6 pm and as soon as the last band rapped up the streets began to rapidly clear out. And we sure felt really bad for the people that had to clean up afterwards....... The rest of the weekend we spent relaxing at home and on the beach. No sunburn this time! Woo-hoo! The past couple days I have been busy preparing for our very first over night guests. Phil's friend Chris is arriving this evening and Phil's cousin Dan will be here at the end of the week. I suppose I am wasting my time cleaning though.....they are guys after all! Better to spend my time baking something yummy instead....at least they would appreciate that. Guess the banana bread I made the other day will have to suffice. We are planning on heading up North for the weekend and spending some time near the Sea of Galilee. It's our first road trip thus far and we are excited to get out and see some other parts of the country. Hopefully I'll have some great pictures and good stories (hopefully not about getting lost for hours or accidentally ending up in Lebanon) to share with you upon our return. So until next week I suppose........