Tuesday = Jerusalem!
Today was my day to travel to Jerusalem ("J'lem"). I had to meet a couple friends that were only there, so after I woke up at 1015am or so, I hailed a cab to a major bus depot so that I could take the bus to J'lem, and it occurred to me on the road that if I was going to J'lem, I should make sure to visit the Kotel too...
Elana S met me at the bus station around 11am. I got in touch with Elana B, who only had an hour for lunch to spare, and so S and I walked to meet B at the Angel Bakery. Mmmmmmm. There is no smell like that on earth.
We ended up walking down the street and got lunch together. We caught up with each other (I forgot how much fun she is), I got a picture with B, and then she headed back to Nefesh B'Nefesh, where she works. Elana S and I headed back to Angel, where I bought a couple pastries. Mmmmmm....
The rest of the day (til 4p or so), Elana S and I walked around town (including Mahane Yehuda), shopping for stuff (including a few souvenirs) and eating frozen yogurt. Mmmmm... A day for good food. Surprisingly, I didn't run into anyone I know (which has happened each of the past six times I've been here)...
Elana had to meet her mom at the CBS (Central Bus Station) by 415pm, so that's when I hopped a bus for the Kotel. I ended up waiting about a half hour for the bus to show up, then the bus ride was another 30 min. It was crazy, and ended up taking way longer than I anticipated. I called Hillary to keep her updated, but traffic threw me off a bit.
After going back to the CBS after the Kotel, I finally hopped a bus to the Tel Aviv CBS. There, I asked which platform (to Herzliya) was mine and headed over. If you've never been to Israel - here's a friendly hint. Nothing runs on time, except trains and busses (and busses get leeway with when they show up but can leave whenever they want, especially if they think there's no one waiting for them :)). Anyway, I went to my platform and finally saw, at one of those kiosks, a phone card!! Finally! Only took 4 1/2 days to find one!
I had to go around one of the kiosks to buy it (after going to the ATM again), and was out of sight of the bus driver. My bus was supposed to leave at 8:00p, but the guy showed up, picked up whomever was there, and left. At 7:56pm.
I got back to my platform, being gone for literally 3 minutes, and saw my bus was gone. The next one wasn't until 8:20pm. A little frustrating since I was trying to meet up with Hillary. Fortunately, the 502 showed up at 8:02pm and I got on that one. He left at 8:06pm.
I had an interesting conversation with him. Sitting behind him gave me the freedom to talk to him during the ride. By this point in the day I was tired, and my Hebrew was suffering slightly. I asked him if he could help me with my bus stop, but asked with the female version of the verb "help," when I very clearly know better. He laughed, said he couldn't help me (female), but he could help me (male). I chuckled and said, yes, I know. He then told me a story about an American guy who once asked him (here comes the hebrew), "Nahag, atah holech l'herzliya?" - literally asking the driver if he walked to Herzliya (apparently he didn't know the word for drive). The driver said, no. The guy said (in hebrew), but you're the 502. The driver said, yes, but I don't "walk" to Herzliya. Walking (holech) is with your feet, Driving (noseh) is with the bus. I laughed, said exactly (in Hebrew) and we continued on our way.
I finally got back to the apartment around 8:30-8:45pm. Hil and I went to the mall to buy some floss and stuff and headed back. She had told me earlier that we had plans with some of her new classmates, so we got ready and went out, meeting them at the Arena Mall (you know, the one I walked 45 minutes to...), but this time we took a cab.
This is where it got interesting. I was the oldest of the bunch, Hil and this guy, Rob, were 24, and the rest were between 20-22. Another classmate of theirs, a girl, wanted to celebrate her birthday at this supposedly posh club. They got in, but I guess Israel has this thing now where clubs tend to choose what ages they want to let in. This one was 25+ and the guys started giving them sh*t. Never a good idea with Israelis because they'll give back 100x what you can dish out.
Needless to say, they wouldn't be let in. Those of us who could get in refused to go in without our friends, and Hil and I decided to wander the mall (though the stores were closed) since it was heated. No kidding, the song playing was the muppets' Mana Mana. I started cracking up hysterically (as did Hillary) after eating at Mana Mana the other day, getting the song stuck in my head, and telling Hillary about it earlier today.
Anyway, long story just a little shorter, we ended up hitting up a different bar/club (Karbel - more bar than club) and just hanging out there. We didn't dance, just kinda chatted and drank. It was a lot of fun, and apparently a cameraman from one of the nightclub websites liked our look and took some pics. So apparently our pics are on some website. Hehe.
The night ended with us getting burgers at 4am and going home... Quite a day! And again - lots of good pictures!