Continue of day 1

There are two ways to show up to a hotel in the civilized world.

The first way pull up to the rounded street in front of the hotel, get your bags, put it on a trolley, get the bellhop to take your bags to your room where you will find nice clean linen and soft fluffy white towels. You then tip the bellhop 2 dollars unless you are not Jewish and then it’s probably a ten dollar tip.

The second way to show up to a hotel is to get off a bus rummage through all the luggage till you find your bag. Then you flip it the right way because someone has thrown it down while looking for their own bag. You take that bag along with your backpack, your Tefilin and anything else that you were too lazy to pack away whilst you were still on the bus. You walk up a half sandy road and then start going down slimy cobblestone stairs. After approx 10 flights of those, you take your now broken suitcase and head up the block to the hotel. Walking up the stairs to the hotel we are greeted by the beautiful and tantalizing smell of stale cigarette smoke, torn couches, grumpy hotel staff and of course some cats.

Once we get our key, we look for an elevator or lack thereof. Make our way upstairs into a luscious heaven. Beautiful, clean, comfortable beds, decorative lamps, and furniture, oops. I forgot. I was meant to be describing the other kind of hotel. Well yes. Pretty shitty is what it was, but no one was going to throw a tantrum bout it would they? I mean after all it’s a free trip.
Downstairs for Minyan Mincha, then we wash our hands while standing in a pool of water for bread which was to be a large and sustainable part of dinner.

After dinner, it was Maariv and then we sat down and announced ourselves to each other. I have never in my life heard before so many ways to say Ohalai Torah without actually saying the words "Ohalai Torah"
After such a long and tiresome day it was bed for all of us.
Sweeeeeet dreamZZZ

Day 1 Part 2

First stop was Caesarea.
The beach was beautiful, which is more then I can say about the packed lunch. With Yossi Mochkin getting roasted in the water and sand in our shoes, Jonty tell us about the aqueduct. And the ancient sin city.



And it’s back on the bus just in time for Avi to throw his first fit at us for getting the bus dirty.
Once we are on the bus we discover that we do not have the ability to do a countdown like normal humans and that we can only do it backwards.
As the countdown finishes, we make our way to Tzipori. Tzipori is where our smokers learn that in South Africa their butts are called stompies (cigarette butts that is). Tzipori featured strong sunny heat, interesting historical site, and possibly inappropriate murals.

Continue of day 1

And back to the bus to head out for lunch in Teveriya. After getting a bite to eat, walking the streets and scouting the local stores we all head to the meeting point. The countdown begins, 12 and 35 are missing. After a few minutes we track down number 12. However it takes longer to track down 35. 35 has a cell phone, but he doesn't answer it. So everyone waits while Laibel goes to look for him. When 35 eventually shows up, and Laibel returns we get our first serious/disciplinary speech from Laibel. Now a short walk up the road to the Rambams KEVER to Daven by the numerous Kevorim and So Eli (our guard) can get ripped off buying his hat.

Continue of day 1

Up the windy hill to Rabbi Akivas KEVER. And a beautiful view of Teveriya.




Now not having slept since the previous morning, we head longingly to our great hotel in Tsfas.

Day 1 Part 1

Soccer.
Soccer?? Isn't this meant to be about a birthright trip? Well it is.
For some unknown reason we were told to be at the airport 4 hours before the flight. Which meant that by the time we had our bags scanned, got questioned by El Al security, checked-in, went thru airport security and DAVENED, we had 2 hours to spare before our flight took off. We would have had about 3 hours spare had Yos showed up on time. At the same time, England and Germany we're kicking off their world cup round of 16 match. Fly Emirates were kind enough to have a screen up at the airport so that 40 bored birthright participants can pretend to care about England's soccer team. Unfortunately though, none of the bars were open at that time of the morning. This was also the time that we got our first taste of number 9. We did not know he was going to be number 9 - all we knew was that he was a little crazy and quite apparently an English fan. (I use the word fan and not supporter simply because fan happens to be short for fanatic.) The game was quite exciting until England got embarrassed by Germany.
Here is where I write about the flight.
Here is where I write about landing in Israel. (If you thought that I forgot to write about the plane ride I didn't. It was pretty uneventful aside for one of "members" polishing off the airlines wine supply. (Hello Laibel!)


So we land, do the passport thing, and the luggage thing, and the waiting around thing, and of course a little more waiting around until we get led out to our bus.
We are met by our bus driver Avi, our medic/guard (with a gun that looks about as outdated as "MALON MERKAZI"), and our tour guide Jonty (Pronounced Jawn ti.) After loading the buses badly, and getting our talk and steal phones, we proceed to get ripped off by the money changers. We then go DAVEN in the airport SHUL, this process takes 15 minutes, if you DON'T include the 30 minutes it takes for everyone to BENCH HAGOMEL. It’s back to the bus to get our numbers, and we’re off to see Israel.