Tel Aviv, yet again

Minus the Simchat Torah disaster, the time in Tel Aviv was lovely. Friday afternoon was spent doing a bit of shopping, Friday night by far the highlight.

After eating some dinner on the beach, I remained there, just thinking and relaxing and watching the ocean and the stars, when suddenly a man rode by on a horse. I immediately called Hayley, who reacted with surprise. She and I discussed ways we could convince the man to give me his horse, wondering if I would need to trade myself for it, in old Middle Eastern fashion. When he rode by again, I asked him where the horse came from. This man spoke no English, so I had to manage with my very minimal Hebrew. As it turns out, the horse was his own. After a bit more conversation, shockingly enough, he asked me if I wanted to ride! um...YES.

He dismounted, assisted me in mounting the steed, Anta, (a bit harder because of the soft sand and the hornless english saddle) and hung out by the gazebo as I rode up and down the beach for about 10 minutes.
Called Hayley back immediately after saying good night to the man--she was impressed.

Saturday was to be a total beach day, possibly one of the last good ones of the season. I arrived at 11 am, and left at 6pm, having spent the majority of the day with a few other American girls who had been sitting near me, all in various stages of Aliyah.

In the evening, I met up with an old NFTY-GER friend whom I hadn't seen in 7 years. Josh, less infrequently, I think :).

Sunday was to be a reunion day-- long lost Anna was back in Tel Aviv with her new friend, and after not seeing one of my partners in crime for nearly two and a half weeks, I went to the apartment she was staying at at 11 in the morning for a session of catch up, followed by lunch at the wonderful sandwich kiosk and an unplanned shopping spree, where we badly influenced one another. Then our trio was completed by the arrival of Hayley from Haifa! The three of us returned once more to the beach for the afternoon, before Hayley and I bid once more farewell to our musketeer and trekked back to the bus station to return to Yerushalayim.