Shalom Y'all

So I'm here, in Tel-Aviv.

The flight was uneventful, except for zero sleep caused by freezing temperatures on the plane and the lack of blankets of pillows. Which I excuse, it was a so-called cheap flight. I'd brought my own little pillow with me, but it got pinched as soon as I left my seat to visit the bathroom. Oh and there was a little screamer two rows ahead of me wailing on top of his/her lungs for the two thirds of the trip. I tried to read the first page of my book for the eighth time, while darkly fantasizing about a world with no such little kids in it.

Yesterday I was resting a lot, as my birthday rolled in and out, thankfully sparing me the burdens of painful reflections on where my life is going. My family blessed me with sweet messages. The highlights were: the first swim in the Mediterranean, the delicious if way too big meal in a lively eatery in Old Jaffa; the evening walk through the street market - the narrow path between sleeping stalls overflowing with rotting food leftovers and other soot from the day. "If I weren't so sure we're in Israel, I'd say we're in India" said Shai brightly as we hopped over this pile or that. The fishy smell intoxicated, not in a nice way. Shai didn't seem to mind gorging on his Vanil Halva all the same. I stumbled and slipped on a heap of fish heads. I was mortified; my brand new shoes were soiled.

We had a ball and I learnt two new Hebrew words: eshkolit for grapefruit and rimon for pomegranate. Or was it the other way round?

I clearly can't write very coherently as I'm overwhelmed by the new; the smells, sights, sounds of Tel-Aviv, the crazy driving, people arguing vehemently on buses and streets, everyone minding other people's business. Yasss, delightful. I've just broken a chair by merely sitting on it (one leg collapsed under me, then I was on the floor, dazed and confused and with a sore bum), which is just a perfect illustration of how excited I am to be here.