I hope someday that Rivka visits New Hampshire or Boston, or that she's somehow in desperate need of a novelist's particular skills, or that she's just dying to know a thing or two about premodern Japanese history, so that I begin to show her the kindness that she has shown me :).
We went to the "British Park", so named because it's preserved by funding from British Jews. Everything in Israel has a name like that, basically every square inch of the country is sponsored by someone. It's so green in the winter! There were really pretty ruins of... something.
Family portrait!
Awwwww <3 Best couple ever.
Tuna in a little sweater!
We looked at the different flowers, this is a rare Israeli iris.
And Rivka's brother, sister-in-law, niece, and their friends showed up and we all had tea and enjoyed the view
It was a very lovely view
Tuna had a wardrobe change.
Then we went to a beautiful monastery. I don't think it's particularly significant but that's kind of what struck me about the day, how many beautiful places there are in Israel that most people don't even know are there.
It was really lovely.
Then today, Rivka had a class in Tel Aviv so she came a bit early and we had coffee together, and she told me that the outlet mall I walk pass every time I go to the train station is actually a renovated Templer village! I had no idea!
The Templers were German christians who came to Eretz Israel in the 1800s. They're called Templars because they believe you don't really need a house of worship, because we human beings are each a temple for God. Anyway they set up this village in the place where Tel Aviv now is, and they hung out there until WWII, when the British were in control and booted them to Australia (since they were German). I was just reading about it and apparently Israel paid reparations for the nationalized property which I just find kind of hilarious in the grand scheme of things (the grand scheme including that a portion of the Templers were members of the nazi party). It just amazes me how many times Israel takes the high road and how few times the world seems to notice.
Anyway now the houses have been turned into a really nice outlet mall. Only in Israel!
This used to be a Templer community center, and now it's an Adidas outlet!
The old blacksmith's shop in the foreground, and the old school house in the background
This little figure on the shutter swings, and they say that if a woman was having an affair, she'd flip it up to let her lover know her husband was home.
The first bowling alley in Israel. For serious. It's built next to the old beer garden... you get two chances, and if you knock down all the pins you get your beer for free, otherwise you have to pay for it. I went on a date in that beer garden (well, the renovated one) back in August! It's nice. It reminded me of Boston. You can't bowl anymore, though.
An old laundry station, with laundry detergent they found left behind by the Templers. I just found it so funny how you can go to the GAP and then you can see these bits of museum scattered around the place.
And then in this men's clothing store you can see the original painting on the border of the wall
Bits of the original wallpaper along with the restoration
Well, now I have a lot more to think about when I pass through there on my way to the train :). I think I want to spend a lot of the spring hiring guides to show me around every single place, haha. Every place has such an interesting story.
Also, here's a song that's been stuck in my head because it mentions the road that the train station is on (HaShalom), so every time I go there I start singing it:
Rivka translated it for me in the car the other day and the words are really dumb, just about how it's so hot in Tel Aviv and this girl invites him back to her place and they don't sleep and it's hot. And it's humid, and did he mention it's humid? Because it's humid. And hot.
But it's catchy! And you can hear a Yemenite accent in Hebrew.
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