Genuine Israeli Experiences

Shauly and Sruli had this great idea. Let's get up early on our vacation without Rikki to wake us up early, and watch the sunrise over the Yam Hamelech. In theory, this is a great idea. However, life doesn't always go by theory. We all got up at 5:45am. You have to realize that we've been tired because Rikki was getting up at 5 or 6 in the morning. What did we do? The one chance to sleep late, we wake up literally at the crack of dawn. Here's the kicker... There was no sunrise. Yes, the sun came up, we didn't see it. There was such heavy cloud cover that basically we saw the area gradually become a little lighter. Whoop-dee-doo!  Can do that in any room with a dimmer switch.
We headed down to the hotel's breakfast. Sruli and Shauly had a ball. They ate so much. They are adventurous and tried new things. Sruli was enjoying a cute little cake until I told him he was eating cheese cake. Then he stopped eating it.
Before we packed up, we hung around on the deck for a long while. I sat in the hot tub until my feet were so pruned I got nervous. I had kept adding hot water. Lol! It was so relaxing to have no responsibility and no worries.
We then had to say goodbye, and head back.

(I never know where to look in a selfie.)
OH. My. Gosh!  I've read stories of Israeli drivers speeding on the highway and taking curves to fast. It's one thing to read about it, and another to experience it. Our bus came a little late, which surprised me. I had thought Zahava had said the busses are really punctual. (They aren't.) We had skipped the first Jerusalem bus because it had come from Eilat and it was packed. This second bus was empty. Good call, right? It was a new bus, with wider seats and more leg room. It's sounding awesome, right? Who knows where this guy has to be, because he FLEW around the corners. And of course, I was on the side over looking the steep drops. I had to look away because it was actually terrifying to see this in reality. After a long while, I started to feel sick. When we pulled into Yerushalayim, I really thought I was going to lose my breakfast. And I have never, ever, ever gotten car sick before. We started talking about it, and it turns out everyone was scared of those turns. Shauly and Zahava also felt a little queasy. Then Zahava says, the bus is 45 minutes early! Can you imagine cutting 45 minutes off a two and a half hour trip. Yikes!
Today was exciting for another reason. My mom and step-dad arrived. It's my mom's first time also. I thought she would have been tired. She left Phoenix motzai shabbos, drove to LA, flew to Toronto, and flew to Israel. Nope, her first question was, "When are we going shopping!!!" Ha! Now you know where I get it from. She asks me if there are any shlock stores (cheap stores with junk). I laughed and said the whole country is one big shlock store. (I didn't mean it in a bad way, in a fun way.) We didn't make it to any stores today, but we did go to the most important place, the Kosel. First of all, thanks to all the incredible tour guides I have had, I was able to tell my mom a lot about the drive there. It's really hard for me to tell how my mom felt. I saw awe in her face as we approached the Wall. She said some tehillim.

I had been waiting all day to get to the Kosel. I have a friend whose husband is having testing done. I called her, and asked her if she also wanted to say tehillim. She told me later that as she said the kapital, they came to take her husband for some tests! It was amazing that it was right at that moment. Do you see how Hashem mamash orchestrates every moment of our lives. I had tried to get to the wall earlier, but I got there exactly when my friend needed me there. Hashem is amazing! (Moshe Zev ben Esther for tehilllim.)
Dinner was another fantastic lamb burger from Burgers  Bar. I probably can't show my face in there again, though. First, I made them nuts with our order. We ordered enough food to feed six picky eaters, and it was to go. Each burger had something different and they were trying very hard to get every one of them right. They had all the hamburgers lined up, and they were following the order ticket. I then saw them cutting each one in half. Except that my lamb burger was next to a hamburger with ketchup on it. When he cut that one, the knife was dirty with ketchup. I do not like ketchup. So I started fusing. Of course these guys had no idea what I was talking about, so I gave up trying to explain. Then I saw them cutting open buns for another order. The guy was holding the bun in his hand like a cutting board. We've all done this, right? I have a friend who was cutting an avocado like this. The knife slipped and she severed a tendon in her hand. Lesson learned, I freak at my kids if they use their hands as cutting boards. I bit my tongue, but not hard enough. I couldn't take it, and tried to explain why they shouldn't. A girl standing next to me tried to translate. Man, she let loose with rapid fire Hebrew. One guy tells me, "We are chefs". Uh, no you're not. You're boys working in a fast food joint playing with fire. Again, I gave up. Took my bag of food and left. I am really too embarrassed to even think of going back there!
Time to go home and eat. My app to get a Jewish taxi couldn't find my location. I met the five Israelis who don't speak English. Or maybe they just didn't want to help, who knows. It was too far to walk with my mom and step-dad. I had no idea what bus to take. I wasn't sure on which taxi was safe for us to take. And add to all this confusion that half of Jerusalem must have been visiting the Kotel right then. It was utter chaos going on there. We climbed into a taxi and hoped it was a good choice. Thankfully, he got us here in one peace.
I'm very tired and have no desire to ride with Israelis on steep curves or watch guys cut rolls.
Don't get me wrong. Today was another great day. I think I like the tourist side of Israel a little more than the real life Israel.