Time Flies

So here I am, two days before my departure. BOO! Haven't been in contact with the telecommunicating world in the past few days, so everyone seems to think I am dead, but not true! I have just been relaxing...Daddy took a 3-day weekend like he was supposed to (shocker!). Friday we went to the crafts market on Nechalat Binyamin, and bought some stuffs, but mostly walked around sweating. Heard a fantastic string quartet of olderly israeli men in the market, a nice sort of surprise. They were very good. We went and roasted at the pool and then went down to sheinken street and had drinks.

Daddy is now in love with the israeli version of "ice coffee." It is this wonderful little slushee thing that you get out of one of those slushee-twirly machines, and it is ice coffee, a smoothie, and a milkshake all in one. Divine! We went to our coffee shop the past three days straight, and I am being told (in not so many words) to learn how to make them at home. Sister: teach him how to make smoothies, he is obsessed.

Saturday, while the world was quiet in the shadow of shabbat, Daddy and I trekked out to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. This is one of the best museums I have ever been to. It needs some new curators for the permanent collection, but hey, no one is perfect. They have about 15 picassos all in a row...it is overwhelming. AND there is a huge Lichtenstein mural on the way, painted right on for the museum. Whoa. It is HUGE. I mean, who would think, in a country the size of israel, a "war-torn" country, they have a collectino to compete with those of the major capitals in the world?Plus, they have amazing Jewish and Israeli artists that you've never heard of, but should be sorry you haven't. It is so much in such a small space, and all so wonderful, it is amazing and awesome(to be interpreted with the most literal of definitions).

Yesterday we tried to go see some wineries, but alas, they were all either closed (vacation, now? how goes on vacation in July?!), or apparently non-existent(don't ask). So instead we got a nice little sight-seeing trip around the Israeli country-side...saw some huge cities, and some smaller towns, and got to know Habib, the uncle (sort of?) of one of daddy's colleagues, and our taxi driver. He was a very sweet older man who turned to taxi driving three years ago, after having run his own garage for decades. He was an expert on Citroen and Peugot, and knew Hydrolics like the back of his hand. We spoke a lot in French because he was fluent, as opposed to his english, which I thought was very good, but he felt very uncomfortable with.Learned all about his five kids, and the their lives. Hightlight of the trip: we drove past (a couple times) a huge garbage dump that had gotten too big and smelly, and so had been covered with dirt. Story is that they are going to sod over the large hill-like mounds, which the government will then turn into some sort of tourist site or monument. Ha. Ha. Ha. Too funny. Talk about one man's trash as another man's treasure!

So now I've caught you up, minus all the sunning and shopping, but I'm sure you will see proof soon enough, since I return late wednesday night. Not sure I want to get on that plane....

Anyway, besides