Weekend Report

I realize that there really is no such thing as the weekend here in Israel, since we work on Sundays, so this weekend report is really an Erev Shabbos/Shabbos report. Today's report will be in the next post.

I woke up Friday morning in time to throw shabbos clothes into my backpack, dress somewhat presentably, and run down the street a couple of blocks to meet up with fellow bloggers Steg and Treppenwitz. 'Trep' picked us up in his minivan, with adorable mini-Trep in the backseat, and drove us to his home for a lovely brunch with the entire Mishpachat Treppenwitz. This was my first visit to Gush Etzion, and I'm definitely going to be back. (Next shabbos, actually. I really like Mishpachat Treppenwitz, and they're not sick of me yet.) Gush Etzion, for those not used to the real names of places in this part of the world, is sometimes referred to as the West Bank or the Occupied Territories.

I'm going to interject here with a comment of Trep's, which more people should hear. At one point, we were driving on a road through their town, which was bordered by Arab vineyards on the left and Arab vineyards on the right. Yes, that's right, folks. Arab-owned land in the middle of a Jewish "settlement". If, as Trep so rightly says, we Jews were really just interested in a land-grab, don't you think we'd have seized those vineyards, rather than let the Arabs border a frequently used road that runs through a Jewish town?

Back to Erev shabbos. After an extremely enjoyable brunch, Trep was kind enough to drive me back to J'lem, so I could catch a bus to Tel Aviv. I spent my shabbos with Eli and Miryam, which is always fantastic. I've been there enough times that I'm comfortable with their friends. I'll probably go to them for Purim, since these are very funny, entertaining people and Purim is a funny, entertaining chag. Miryam and I caught up on a lot of girl talk, which was wonderful. I don't have any really close female friends here in J'lem. The closest I get is my employer, and that's kind of sad (even though she's fantastic and treats me like a friend, rather than her household help).

I got back to J'lem around midnight, motzei shabbos. Just in time to find another irritant about this apartment (French girl is in Ashdod with her family for the night. So what the devil is her boyfriend doing sleeping on our sofa?!), and go to bed.