Ode to Tel Aviv

Today I'm checking out of the David InterContinental after a 18 nights stay.

First thing I saw in the mornings is the sea. Then I get out of bed, overlooking the beach from the 17th floor.

It's such a nice beach - you know, a proper aqua blue color, with proper yellow/white sand, and huge waves crashing on the rocks (where there are rocks, of course).



It's so different from Sandymount beach that I got to know quite well while in Dublin! And even though I really enjoyed Sandymount beach, I have to say that the Tel Aviv beach is just so much more beachie - so much more the right kind of beach... What can I say, I'm biased!

Donkey vs. Cinema

Here's a story I heard from a friend yesterday:

"You know my grandfather and his family used to live in Jaffa in the 1930s. They had a donkey back then.

However, when the riots started (mid 1930s), they had to run for their lives, and left their donkey behind. They went to seek refuge in the North of Tel Aviv. Can you imagine - seeking refuge in North Tel Aviv? Hilarious!

Anyway, when the riots had calmed, my grandfather and his family went back to Jaffa. They started looking for the donkey they left behind and someone told them he saw a donkey in the mayor's garden.

They then went to see the mayor's donkey and realized it was indeed theirs. They asked the donkey back. The mayor was reluctant to give the donkey back, since he grew fond of it.

After reflecting for a while, the mayor said: 'I want to keep the donkey. I am willing to give you Noga Cinema in exchange.'

Her grandfather was thinking of the mayor's offer for a moment, then made up his mind: 'Thank you for your generous offer, Mr. mayor. However, we want our donkey back'.

This is the story on how my family inherited donkey leftovers rather than a cinema that had become a successful, famous theatre (Gesher)."

Goodbyes...

Goodbye gloomy weather and loads of rain (yeah, just had to start with the weather!)
Goodbye Saturday-Sunday weekends...
Goodbye bus-driver who greet the passengers
Goodbye Foosball tables
Goodbye huge, extremely comfortable bin bags
Goodbye free gym
Goodbye Sky news at the gym
Goodbye Grand Canal and Forbes Quay
Goodbye stupid drivers. Now I'll have to handle predictable Israeli drivers, then Aussies
Goodbye ATM machines that were fed with noodles and Veggies overnight.
Goodbye fresh blackberries straight from the bushes
Goodbye Sky news at the gym
Goodbye rogue police cars
Goodbye my private Blogger help (yeah, Pezzin, you!)
Goodbye my secret admirers
Goodbye drunk scumbags who threten to sue me
Goodbye DART
Goodbye urban foxes
Goodbye Dutchman and his jacket
Goodbye stupid Christmas parties and silly drunken people
Goodbye Region 4, you really are the best (one may think its a fraternity. he he)

And of course, goodbye Ryanair. Even though it's not fun travelling in Europe anymore, having the new baggage allowance restrictions...

Modern City Living

This is what I see when I look out of the window:



in the evenings we can both see everything that's happening in the other side of the street. If you pity us, then don't! We have a river view as well, which makes things nicer when we do bother to look out of the window.

There are several neighbours we can tell you about and it feels like we know them and their routine so well (they probably recognize us as well). We sometimes spend our alone time together, which makes it feel pretty strange to leave Ireland without any other type of communication.

Here's the story of one of the neighbours, we call her "our friend":
From the beginning we notice there's a lady in her 30s, who's living in a one bedroom apartment on her own. How do we know it's a 1 bedroom? Just because we can see everything!

And how do we know she's living on her own? Every evening she's sitting on her red leather sofa (she has 2 of them, by the way), dimmed lights and watching TV. We've noticed she has guests from time to time. However, sometimes the curtains in her living room are closed, and then we assume she has a date. Yet, we can say for sure she's not in any kind of relationship with anyone.

We live in this apartment for 8 months now, but only lately (right after the holidays) have we noticed she's using a crutch (we're not quite sure whether she's using two or just one). We are unable to say whether she had it before or had she some kind of accident...

It might seem like we are watching at our neighbours all the time but we're actually so aware of them and their habits just from quick glances here and there, now and then.

Waiting for an Ending to Come to an End

I hate endings. I hate that it sometimes lasts forever

Here's a quick glance on how my life looks like these days, and will probably last for the next 2 months:

Too much bureaucracy and filling in all kinds of documents I had to fill in over the last 1.5 years, in less than one month (my bad)

Selling, giving away and donating too many personal belongings (a great way to know new people at work!)

Packing and shipping the rest of my stuff

Trying to see as many friends as possible because I know I won't see them for a very very long while. This includes having lunch dates with so many people, can't keep up with my calendar (and my calendar cannot keep up with me)

There are still several more places in Dublin that I want to see since I never got the chance to

Still going to the gym coz I need to maintain some healthy habits, moaning all day about it, feeling great right after, though

Reading 2 books at the same time so I'll be able to sell them over the next 2 weekend I have left in Dublin

Did I mention that in the next couple of months I'll be living in and leaving 3 different apartment:
3 weeks left in my Dublin apartment
3 weeks in a company housing in Tel Aviv
2 weeks in Rehovot

After that, by the way, I'll be moving to Perth (yay!!!), so that's the 4th city in 2 months.

I'm so tired of living on suitcases, accumulating, selling and most importantly, leaving friends behind...

The Big Hummus Experiment - the Results

As promised, that's what happens to hummus after being 54 hrs outside of the fridge. The pics are courtesy of me, whereas the state of the Hummus - Lufthansa...



Can you see the amount of oil in the product? This experience (experiment) convinced me not to consume industrialized Hummus anymore. If possible...

In case you are not quite aware of the texture of an industrialized Hummus, you have to know how Hummus looks like before the 54 hrs adventure.

The Big Hummus Experiment

Have you ever wondered how long can frozen Hummus last?

I might have an answer soon enough!
Yesterday I was flying back to Dublin with Lufthansa, via Frankfurt. Due to the stormy weather in Frankfort, there was 1 hour delay in my flight. That leaves me with 30 minutes between my flights and when we landed I had to walk (couldn't run with the heavy carry on I was carrying) to another terminal. Luckily, few minutes later, when I found the nearest departures list, I discovered that the flight to Dublin was delayed by 20 minutes.

After boarding was completed, the captain announced that we are waiting for another passenger, whose flight was delayed and she was making her way to the aircraft. It should take another 20 minutes.

After she arrived, the captain announces that now we have to wait until the airport's snowplows (there were about 40 of those) will clear the snow from the runway and this should take another 15 minutes. After sleeping for half an hour I woke and realized we are still at the gate.

Eventually we left Frankfurt 1.5 hours later than scheduled. We landed in Dublin airport just after midnight.

I felt pretty lucky after queuing for 1 minute at the immigration and I was happily heading to the luggage belt, presuming my luggage will turn out first, since it probably was amongst the last ones to be loaded.

But I was so wrong... 30 minutes later I discovered that my luggage wasn't even on the plane. After a quick and not so thorough investigation by the airline agent, I was told it will arrive in Dublin in the next morning flight.
At this moment, almost 24 hrs later, it still didn't arrive.

What does it have to do with Hummus Experiment?

My flatmate just loves good Hummus. Can I think of a better Christmas present? Yes I can. But I thought to myself why not taking with me a whole kilogram of Frozen Hummus? By the time I arrive in Dublin, it will stay cold. If only I knew...

So... Have you ever wondered what it looks like when Hummus is out of the fridge for 2 days (hopefully) or more?
Thanks to Lufthansa, who were even worse than Ryanair yesterday, I might be able to tell.

Stay tuned to find out about the finding of this experiment.