Welcome Back!

Welcome back to my blog everyone. Passover vacation is now over, and I had a wonderful time. I went to my cousins' for the beginning of break and the Seder. Most of the time was spent cleaning, eating, and resting, but on Wednesday we went to the beach in Ashkelon. It was a beautiful day, the Sun was hot, the sand smooth, and the water cold. The beach was in a park that also had a lot of archaeological stuff, so I spent some time looking at the ruins as well. On Thursday I left my cousins' house and headed to Tel Aviv to do some tourist stuff.

Thursday evening I walked around the neighborhood where my hostel was, but there wasn't much happening. The hostel was not in the center of the city where all the tourists usually go, but farther south in a quieter area and closer to Jaffa. I also spent some time that night hanging out with the other guests on the roof. Most everyone was drinking beer, but I couldn't join them because of Passover. On Friday I went on the Free Tour of Jaffa. Like all tours it was heavily oriented to ignorant tourists and the like, but the tour guide himself was entertaining and very knowledgeable about other things in addition to the history and tourist attractions of Jaffa. For example, when he talked about the archaeology taking place in the town he genuinely seemed to know proper archaeological methods. He also added in some humor to the tour, which is always a plus. After the tour I did some more exploring of Jaffa, walked along the promenade next to the beaches, and then hung out at the hostel. The hostel also prepared a Shabbat meal, so the dinner was better than going out and trying to find somewhere that was kosher for Pesach.

Saturday I spent most of the day at the beach. The weather wasn't perfect, but it was comfortable. It was windy and overcast, and at one point it very lightly rained. I still had fun lying on the sand and wading in the water. That night I again hung out on the roof of the hostel. There was a group of Indians that were staying, and I learned that they were a contingent of officers from the Indian army that were serving in the United Nations peacekeeping taskforce in the Golan Heights. They had a short vacation, which is why they weren't working. One of them joined the group I was hanging out with and we talked for a long time. It was really cool and interesting to learn his background and history, and about the job that he does in the Golan.

Sunday I left Tel Aviv and headed back to Akko. I met one of the other participants on the train, so the ride wasn't completely boring. We had Monday off as well since it was still holiday, so the resting continued. Stay tuned at the end of the week for my post about what we did once work started up again!