first shabbat in Kiryat Shalom

The first Shabbat in my new home was fantastic. Friday night the apartment had a lovely Shabbat dinner together. I strangely did not contribute to cooking the meal because my roommates wanted a shot at cooking this times. We had delicious sweet potatoes, baked eggplant, and salads which were from one of our roommates work. We then had some people from the program over to have drinks and hang out on our roof. It was a great time with great people and great music. Today was very relaxed. I did not set an alarm and it felt great to get up when I wanted to. For the past week, I have been on a schedule with volunteering visits and ulpan classes so not having to set an alarm was a breath of fresh air. Some of my roommates and I decided to head to the beach for the day. Since the buses do not run on Shabbat and the city bike sharing system was too complicated, we walked to the beach. It took us about a half an hour to get to the beach, but it was well worth it. On our way to the beach we say a chameleon which was awesome to see.We met up with some of the other people in the program from Jaffa. The beach was gorgeous. The water was the perfect warm temperature. Hanging out on the beach is a very popular thing to do in Tel Aviv for Shabbat. Since there is nothing open and nothing else to do, going to the beach makes perfect sense. For lunch some friends and I went to a little beach cafe where they serve fish and chips, schnitzel, hamburgers, and salads. I found it interesting though that the menu had shrimp and calamari which are not kosher, yet Tel Aviv is a secular city so it is to be expected. the fish and chips were good, but it was just the act of eating at the beach which made the experience. To cap of a great day at the beach some friends and I stopped for some frozen yogurt. It was pretty good with fresh mangos, pomegranate seeds, and passion fruit.It was a great time and a good way of recharging the batteries for the coming week. Tomorrow is Erev Rosh Hashanah and I am heading north to Pardesiya to visit our family friends Gordon and Ahuva. I have not seen them in quite some time so it will be a great time by all. Here are some pictures from the beach and around Tel Aviv-Yafo. Enjoy and Lehitraot!