Tel Aviv airport...

Here I am, sitting at a bar at the Tel Aviv airport (aka Natbag), Ben Gurion Airport. It's nearly 3 a.m. local time, and I have four hours to my flight.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I'll be traveling to Athens for the next four-ish days. I get back to Israel at 4 a.m. local time on the 21st, Thursday, the day before the start of Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year). That flight sounds like fun too.

Anyway, my mom will be traveling in Greece for the next couple weeks and aside from getting a chance to see her and spend some time after a number of months...she made me an offer I couldn't refuse, so I got a ticket and, despite the horrible flight times, decided to shove off at the last minute.

Ah yes, anyway, Shabbat in Be'er Sheva was really nice, and it was especially good seeing Diana--it's been a while. The poor girl broke her nose this past week and was sleep-deprived for days when I saw her, as well as moving into a new apartment and dealing with the usual loads of med school work. Anyway, my presence could not have helped, but I tried to limit the burden I presented by providing whatever moral (morale) support and physical strenght I could.

It was so nice being able to chill out and cook a meal together (we made do with limited resources for Friday night because most everything was closed by the time we set out to make something)...then, on Saturday we went over to her friend's house for lunch with some of the other students in her program. It was very lovely.

In the afternoon we hung out at a cafe and I worked on my Spanish while she did studied. Then we got some (great) Indian food before I left for the bus station.

A couple thoughts--1) I love how almost everything here is kosher, or otherwise very easy to get kosher. I mean, for example, at the bus station the other day on the way down to Be'er Sheva from Jerusalem, I was able to get a hot dog at a stand there that was kosher, just like that! No where else in the world...2) For all the worry some people have about coming to Israel...life here is really very normal. You feel safe, you feel regular...I ride buses, I go to shopping centers and malls (incredibly safe), you eat out, go to cafes...life is normal. The security is excellent and very competent. Of course, it's not full-proof. But nothing in life is.

Anyway, the buses out of Be'er Sheva tonight were crammed with people leaving post-Shabbat. Buses don't run during Shabbat--they stop early afternoon Friday, depending on the season earlier or later, and they start again Saturday evening/night. The buses were so busy that I had to push my way onto a bus and then sit on the floor during the entire ride. It was still better than some other bus rides I've experienced (oh damn, I still have to update my reflections on Morocco and Egypt! Sorry, due to the moving situation in Be'er Sheva, there was no continuous Internet access). Almost everyone on the buses was under 30, and it was pretty cool, like some field trip or something, all full of young people/army people.

Here the youngsters in the army are like any other young kids, except they carry guns, which makes them very different. Maybe because they are so close to that edge of life and death, they live life in a more exagerrated, aggressive and extreme (not in a bad/political connotation) way. Partying is crazy, there is a tendency for drug and alcohol abuse (escapsim, so I hear)...but at the same time, I believe friendships and family are possibly tighter and more highly valued than elsewhere--I haven't been here long enough to give my full thoughts on the issue, but this is my conjecture.

Okay, anyway, one interesting observation on the bus. The only really white-haired man I saw on the bus was a late(r) arrival and ended up not having a seat and standing. So this Israeli girl gives up her seat for him, but like a stubborn Israeli, he doesn't take it, so some young guy standing takes her seat, and she sits on the floor. About 20 minutes later, the girl sitting next to the young guy gets out of her seat to try and offer the older man her seat. But he won't take it. (Gah!) And the young guy makes a bland offer as well, but he won't take it still. Another 10 minutes go by, and the girl on the other aisle seat gets up and argues with the man until he takes her seat, and then stands the rest of the trip (about 1.5 hours total trip time).

Now, everyone here was so considerate (well the girls at least) to the older man; however, the first girl who had to sit on the floor was so stretched out and leaning against my bag so much so that my leg fell asleep-ish and got cramped, and the other girl who finally forced the man to sit down was not able to sit because the other girl had her legs all the way out. I found it amusingly ironic that the consideracy (is this a word?--getting tired...) only extended so far, and otherwise the girl was clueless and sort of self-serving. Anyway, this isn't a generalization I make about Israelis based on this sole experience or observation (I mean, she did say thank you at the end, and I'm sure she was probably puzzled by my reaction since I just use a "thumbs up" sign a lot of the time when I don't know a language)...and anyway, this isn't really a generalization...just a thought, but I thought it funny nevertheless.

Well, in any case, despite all of this, and the really hot bus floor that I was sitting on (yuck), I got the Tel Aviv train station around 11:20 p.m., and had an hour to kill before I got on the train to get to the airport--where I am now. It's nearly 3:20 a.m. now, and I think I'll go pick up my ticket at the counter...Olympic Airlines, the main Greek airline could be the subject of another post. I'd specify more about it's ineptitudes, etc...but I'd rather stay optimistic, especially since I need to fly on it quite soon.

Last thing, the airport music is just awesome here! "Creep" by Radiohead, "I Swear" (ah, memories), and now that theme song "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" from "Eternal Sunshine"...Can't wait to come back home...

Off to the ticket booth I think...cheerio!