sat 27.06.

What a lovely view, I love Mediterranean sea. Saturday morning is quiet. People are jogging on beach bulevard and some of them stop to have breakfast with their friends.

We were disappointed with restaurant next to white restaurant Honey Beach, cant remember what was the name of that place, maybe Marina something. Waiter was horrible and her sister was no better. Walking around with her sunglasses on, did not know how to be polite or smile. We read the menu, try to order, and every time she said: no we dont have that. Only coffee and sort of an omelet. Poor one. Even the orange juice tasted bitter. We never go there again.

Honey Beach restaurant was much better, service was good:
Looks nice:
I could live here:
Restaurant manager was sweet darling:

We went to the beach and forget the time. I was all red. It was too much for my pale Scandinavian skin.

Evening we had 40 minutes walk from Yafo to Tel Aviv:

Facing Yafo:

Hare Krishna in Tel Aviv beach, what a happy people they are LOL:

Dinner and beer at Mike's Place near US embassy. Live music and drunken men.

Nice sunburn. It really hurts.

fri 26.06.

It is shopping time before shabbat begins! We walk from our hostel to Jerusalem bulevard to get some money from ATM. I almost lost my faith, it was the fourth ATM which finally gave me some money! We wandered somewhere to Eilat street and had quite odd breakfast. It was fatty pastry, with spinach and cheese filling, boiled egg on top of it. Very filling indeed, no need to eat for the rest of the day. From Jerusalem bulevard near the sea we took a bus number 25 and went to Dizengof centre. This is King George, near Dizengof:

Dizengof centre is big shopping mall, two buildings, both of them have many many many floors. So much places to spend your money on...

While walking on Dizengof street I found this very tired man:

Post office closes by 13 on fridays. Remember that if you need to buy stamps... Finally we had enough of shopping and drag ourselves back to our hostel. Off to the beach where we met our fellow volunteer. Man without shoes - cause he is afraid someone might steal them while he is swimming. We did try to assure him no one would take his stinky shoes but he likes to travel light...

Aaww, poor man. ATM took his card, he has no money or shoes. I did not know should I laugh or cry.

thu 25.06.

It is thursday! Volunteers' weekend starts from thursday afternoon!

During the flag raising I was wondering how hard can making a line be for a group of adult people. Sure we are not in the army, but maybe we can stood up straight, form a nice lines and keep our mouths shut for couple of minutes. But no.

Again work work work HARD. I did my own job while keeping an eye what other people do, so they dont make mistakes. I almost scream and shout them to pay attention what they are doing. If we pack medical kits and something is missing, someone might die because of our mistake.

Ah, as a strong woman, I also did some men's work, moving and lifting big boxes. Our boss is funny, he always says to us when it is time to quit working: "please, five more minutes and then you can go". Note! It is five Israeli minutes, in Finland it would be like 20-30 minutes. They have their own time in Israel.

After lunch and shower bus takes us to Tel Aviv central bus station. Now we are on our own for the weekend. Free Sar-El hostel, Beitoded, on Jerusalem bulevard in Yafo, is under serious repair works and we can not go there. We will see if the nickname Betteroffdead is history when it opens again some day. So we go to Old Jaffa Hostel again. There has been some sort of mixup with the dates we booked, and we have to wait till the evening to get our room. Atleast we get the first night free! That is very good news.

Warm stuffed bread from the clock tower, walk to the beach. Then I wander around Yafo alone, eat fruits, peanuts, chocolate cookies and have some wine. These birds made really weird noise:

Hostel's roof:

Market place in the evening. Lots of people, stuff, noise till 01:

Our tiny room. It was so small I kept on bumbing on the walls and furniture. Bathroom was so little I had to take my clothes off in the shower cabinet. I could not move if I shut the bathroom door. Yes I know, I really must loose some weight.

wed 24.06.

We are having day off! All soldiers and workmen are rewarded and having fun at swimming pool. First we had opportunity to go on a trip to Tel Aviv, but since not every volunteer wanted to go, so no one could go. How fun is that.

We woke up before six in the morning. Turns up one elder lady had fall and hurt herself during the night as she went to bathroom. For some odd reason poor lady went back to bed, where other people found her covered in blood. Madrich took her to hospital, whole full day experience with lots of waiting, test and scans. Apparently she took sleeping pill and forgot to mention about it to doctors...

Anyways, we are all by ourselves this day. Raise the flag, do some cleaning. Fellow volunteers are getting cranky with each other. I see lots of bitching and rolling eyes. Whispering and making secret alliances. Like we were in primary school. *sigh*

Madrich left us some papers to learn hebrew. One of the hebrew speaking volunteers offered us a lesson but not all wanted to hear her. I tried to learn but hebrew is so hard. I know only few words and phrases. We went to shekem to spend some time.

Shekem is the place to meet soldiers. And we sure did. My roommate was gorgeous hot Italian chick. Do I need to say more. Men went crazy about her. I'm not familiar with this jewish custom to set up couples and be so awfully direct on these dating issues. Live and learn. We sit on the bench, having icecream and men start to gather around. Man who is in charge for catering food in five army bases wanted to take us into his office and have a cup of coffee. I wanted to say few words about breakfast and dinner but I could not, cause he was so nice person and really proud of his work.

Since we are alone and half of us is French, we had French speaking madricha for a while:

This man is responsible of keeping our dining room kosher:

Look at the cats! They know there is food. But do not feed them or you will be kicked out from the base! I will tell you more about cats later.

It is really hot and my shirt smells terrible. In the eveving we saw a movie named Defiance. Daniel Graig as Tuvia Bielski and Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski. Very good movie about jewish partisans in the Belarussia forests. Based on a true story.

tue 23.06.

Meeting the big boss:

Again sorting out medical bags outside, packing bags inside. We did work hard. I see some people rather talk and laugh than work. I think we are here to work, not to have a holiday. You can be lazy on the beach if you want.

Special guest tonight! We are meeting ex-navy commander, here on the back, having a sip of water:

He told us really interesting, long story about war operations - incredible scouting and fighting in Red sea, Eilat gulf and Suez canal. I was ashamed some volunteers did sleep! Not only one or two, but atleast four! Snoring here and there, heads nodding, drool dripping. It was their loss. Poor man said: "let's put lights on, so I can see who are sleeping and who are awake"...

Mon 22.06.

At this base we raise a flag with soldiers on mondays and thursdays. Other mornings we do it by ourselves. You dont get to see soldiers so often here in this medical base. There is only few of them in our work stations. Lunch time they come to eat, but during breakfast and dinner there is only couple of soldiers. If you want to meet them, go to shekem. It is small shop/kiosk inside the base where you can buy food, snacks, soda, juice, icecream etc. Usually soldiers are very friendly and curious about you, they ask where do you come from, and why do you want to help Israel.

This morning we get to hear safety rules and had to sign paper we understand these rules. I got my army boots, they are pretty warm and sweaty...

This day's work is outdoors! Sounds bizarre but we are "cutting water" - fun fun fun! Actually we open medical kits, take out expired hemohes bag and slash it open with a scalpel. Toss bag into huge box and other equipment into other box. After that we opened really old medical bags and sort them out. Cleaning. We get more new people joining us. Here we are packing new stuff:

After lunch we had visitor. General Aharon Davidi, founder of Sar-El came to tell us a story. It was the same story as I heard last year, about young French volunteer who's legs was cut off in accident, but that did not stop her. Davidi wanted us to know how he admires her determination and percistence. He is a busy old man, meeting hundreds of volunteers and telling stories for them.

Special dinner tonight with soldiers! They are rewarded - and we are invited. Usually when you eat with soldiers, especially when officers are present, you should dress up in your uniform. Apparently some volunteers dont know this. Other thing is taking photos. You should not take pics of officers without asking permission. Speeches, promotion, speeches. Soldiers got backbags and volunteers got small led-lights. Dinner was good!

Evening meeting was about IDF history, how it all started. And how IDF is today. What it is like to join in the army. What can you do in the army. What if someone is not suitable for service. We learn many things. Our madrich is very good, he did not tell a story about IDF but he made it sound interesting by telling his own story - how he did join the army and how he experience it.

Sun 21.06.

Meeting Sar-El people in the morning at Ben-Gurion airport. Interesting to sit and wait in arrivals hall and guess who else might come to Sar-El. Sign up and line up is such a chaos! Cant belive how people dont realize they have to have three sets of papers, ready and stapled together and wait in line. How hard can it be. Program coordinator Pamela Lazarus had her hands full with papers and disorganised crowd. If arriving groups continue to grow this method will not work for long. Hmm, maybe it is just me, like to keep things strictly in order.

This year my base was medical base near Tel Aviv. Accommodation, showers and tv-room was better than last year's communication base had, but food wasnt so great this time. They dont prepare food in the base anymore, they have catering. Lunch was good though!

Shared my room with four other ladies. Privacy? Dream on!

We arrived just in time for lunch. Then we got our fancy army uniforms. If you think you will find shirt or pants that would fit you perfectly, you are wrong. They are all wrong size! And have everlasting stains or repair patches on them. Pants will propably fall down if you dont find belt to go with them. One lady brought her own uniform, you can buy them online - I was so jealous, her uniform was new, clean and right size.

After that it was unclear what we should do. So we went to work. I had only sandals on me so I could not do anything. I thought I did not need workshoes last year, so why now. Eventually I was putting little string on paper labels. Oh how exciting. It was my bad, cause it says on the Sar-El packing list page: "you have to have closed shoes with you, workshoes, sneakers or whatever". Then it appears we were not suppose to work before safety instructions.

In the evening meeting we had introducings and time tables. After we finished more people arrived. After three hours of sleep and 20 hours long day I was ready for bed!

First week in Israel - with kids

We were in Yafo first 5 days and then in Jerusalem for 3 days. I escort my kids and my finnish friend back to airport early on sunday morning (actually it was night), wait, wait, wait and meet Sar-El crew over there.

Old ruins of first and second temple, Old City, Jewish quarter in Jerusalem:

My daughter. She had tears in her eyes when we arrived in Israel, she was so happy to be there:
Yafo beach. There is everything, running dogs playing around, horses, kids, garbage and waste. Swimming is not allowed cause of strong currant. Or meduzas, jellyfish. This is totally different from near by Tel Aviv beach:
Alga shoe, looks funky and funny:
Israeli electrical work is quite interesting:
Yafo, facing Tel Aviv:
Excellent land mark in Yafo, old clock tower where everything is near by:
My son does not like travelling so much:
Except sea is fun even if sand gets in your pants:
Apple pie and vanilla icecream. Honey Beach restaurant, Yafo:
At Kotel, Jerusalem:
Supermarket is always open, Jerusalem bulevard, Yafo - and there is also several ATMs. (Cheap whitewine 20,90 NIS /bottle) And if you want to go from Yafo to central bus station take bus number 44 or 46 from Jerusalem bulevard. Or from Yafo to Dizengof shopping centre take bus number 25 from Jerusalem bulevard:
Our hostel in Yafo was Old Jaffa Hostel, 13 Amiad street. From central bus station (floor 4.) take bus number 44 or 46 to the old clock tower. Small cosy rooms, cheap, not fancy but clean enough. Always hot water in showers and toiletpaper in toilets. Roof top is excellent! Water fountain, lots of big green plants, shades, places to rest, meet people around the world. This hostel has many different kind of room options. Some rooms have own bathroom, aircondition (some have only fans), some have TV or fridge or own balcony. You can even sleep on the roof if you want. Communal kitchen, internet, nice service. No panic, you might bump into small mice in your room. Kids under 10 yo dont have to pay. I like Yafo more than Tel Aviv. Yafo has more character! Taxi from Ben-Gurion airport to Tel-Aviv/Yafo is 120-150 NIS.

Our hotel in Jerusalem was Hotel Habira, 4 Havat Zelet street (near 40 Jaffa street). Breakfast included from 8 till 10, if the receptionist is awake LOL. Rooms and beds are bigger and better than in Old Jaffa Hostel, all rooms have TV and fridge, some rooms have own balcony. Room for one is 250 NIS, for two 350 NIS, for three 450 NIS and for four it is 600 NIS. I really like this place because of excellent location - right next to Kikar Zion. Sherut, shared taxi, from Tel Aviv (you can find them on Tzemach David street, next to Tel Aviv central bus station) costs only 22 NIS and it takes you right to Kikar Zion. But right now Jaffa street is under construction work so all sheruts go to Harav Kook (it is very near by). From Kikar Zion there is good shopping street Ben Yehuda, ATM, pharmacy, post office on Jaffa street, four supermarkets and some of them are open on shabbath too, so as McDonalds. And few bars too, like Dublin. Or Putin (Russian bar) and Old Friend (heavy metal) on Jaffa street. Short walk to the old city and religious area Mea Shearim. Sherut at night from Jerusalem to Ben-Gurion airport is 50NIS.