ישראל

When I arrived back from Duke's Spring Break trip to East Turkey, my parents had arrived in town. I dropped off my stuff at the Superdorm and turned around immediately to go downtown to see them.

I spent the next week showing them around Istanbul. I would go to class, then hop a bus and head downtown to meet them wherever they were. A few times, they came up to campus. It was 94% enjoyable (points deducted for my resulting lack of sleep and relative lack of University social life I participated in while I was with them).

Come their first friday in Istanbul, however, we boarded a plane for the Holy Land.

Apparently there was some business opportunity that had arisen, and the Israeli entrepreneur wanted to meet with my dad to discuss it. What it meant for me, however, was a family trip to Israel to see our extended family.

The last time we were in Israel was 2003, when my cousin Avi married Oryan; we attended the wedding. But I was twelve years old, and what I wanted out of the trip was definitely different.

Our first trip, we were tourists. Sure, we went to the wedding and stayed with our family outside Haifa in Kiryat Bialik, but we saw all the touristy things, from the wailing wall to Mediterranean Sea, and traveled all over the country, from Jerusalem to the border with Lebanon.

This time, however, we just came to live. Granted, it was only for a few days, but there's a massive difference when you aren't running around to different museums and cities all the time. The only thing I really wanted to see, which I still haven't seen, is the Dead Sea. But I like to say that I always fail to do at least one thing in a country I visit; it gives me a reason to go back.

Instead of staying in Haifa, we stayed in Tel Aviv. My parents got a hotel room on the beach in the heart of the city, and I crashed on a couch at Avi and Oryan's place, which sits just on the outskirts of the city. We spent friday and saturday in Tel Aviv, half of Sunday in Kiryat Bialik for dinner with my cousin Tova and the rest of our extended family in Israel, and left on monday afternoon on the 15:56 back to Istanbul.

It was exactly what I needed. Before I say what I want to say here, though, I should mention that despite the fact that I had just come back from a week of vacation, it was nothing but schlep, schlep, schlep. I enjoyed it immensely, but we were always moving; and then in Istanbul with my parents, I was constantly moving. And juggling that with school - though I don't have much work this semester I do at least have to go to class - just compounded the issue to make me need a break. So here's what I want to say: I felt truly relaxed for the first time in a long time.

No sites to see. Nowhere to go. We just relaxed on the beach with a beer, or sat out by the pool at the hotel. I spent an entire morning/early afternoon on Avi's couch watching the second season of Sherlock, a fantastic new updated take on the classic detective stories. I met up with Maya, a friend I met years ago in Beijing, and we had a couple of beers and wandered the town. It was really, really relaxing.

I didn't even take pictures. Actually, I lied. Over 4 days in Israel, I took two photos. One of a cool looking building on the beach. One of my little cousin, Avi's son, Ofek, when he was looking too adorable in a full-body swimming suit wielding an inflatable hammer with the Israeli flag on the side (The Hebrew Hammer). But those were the only two.

Anyways, it was pretty glorious, and I had a great time. I tried to meet up with a few more friends, but one, Ayala, is in the army right now and the other, Brittany, had a schedule that seemed to conflict with mine too much that it didn't work out.

Clearly I need to go back. Hopefully for free, on Birthright - but until then, I have the memories of three completely lovely unmemorable days relaxing in Israel.