Another Tuesday, Another Day of Fun

Tuesday, time to explore and walk around and maybe some errands. I needed to get my Rav Kav as I've been putting off getting one for way too long and just decided to finally do it in the morning. The Rav Kav is essentially a metro card for the buses. You can get unlimited ones, or ones with discounts for certain groups like senior citizens and students. As a student my Rav Kav gives me 30% off on the buses I normally take. Lots of different bus companies, lots of different rav kavs. You can also add money onto the card when you get on the bus so it's very convenient, to use. To get it you need to go to one the major bus stations. One of which is very sketchy and you don't want to go to at night at all. I went to the other one. I had all my paperwork and they took my picture. Serious face. I decided to walk from there down to the Shuk and hope to find some cool places and food on the way there. One of the first places I saw was called

Cake Art, it had my curiosity and attention immediately. Initially however I knew I had to get falafel from the shuk and kept walking but then I thought about how hungry I was at the moment and decided to at least cross the street and check it out. From the outside it looked like a restaurant but was really just a glorified bakery with so many options to choose from. I found a "single" serving eggplant quiche and ate the whole thing. I considered it a "single" serving because I ate it all on my walk without putting it down. It was so good. I need to go back.

I walk over to Ibn Gabirol St and just follow the path of the bus I would otherwise normally take. This gives me a chance to really take in my surroundings as opposed to trying to soak in all the details on a bus going 50kph. I also am given the chance to go into any store or park I please, something which I take advantage of. I find this little park with a really awesome swing. Instead of the boring strip of plastic

 it's basically a concave disc (think satellite dish) and made out of rope. I swing on that for a good ten minutes. Nothing wrong with a 21 year old American tourist on a children's swing in the middle of the day. Nothing. I continue on my walk and come across two more pretty awesome places. A really cool but way too expensive clothing store, with tons of awesome/weird stuff, and an awesome coffee/book shop. Both of these stores were super easy to just walk past without notice, luckily I walked past and took notice. I have a feeling I'll be coming back to the book/coffee shop for when I need to actually start studying for finals/do work.

 

Eventually I make my way to the Shuk, with supermarket prices in mind to see what's cheaper and where. I just get a few things, and can barely fit them all in my backpack, luckily I came with some extra plastic bags. I get a kilo of this, half a kilo of that. Then  two beers. Because I met someone last week I feel like this is a good place to meet strangers and have good conversation. Oh, and drink beer too. I met some Americans working in Tel Aviv, one of whom graduated Brandeis in 2010 but we weren't about to start playing Jewish geography. I had a pomegranate cider that was amazing, as alcoholic as a very dry cider but without the dryness, and a Belgian Tripel(9.2%), both brewed in Israel, as is every drink at Beer Bazar. As soon as I know it I gotta run back to campus for class. I will admit, I was a bit past tipsy when I finished. I also got the drunk munchies and although I couldn't find the fabled falafel place I found another highly recommended place that I couldn't find last time. Fresh made laffa stuffed with hummus, salad and charif (hot sauce). Picture break...

I stumble back to the bus stop, okay that might have been an exxageration, and wait for what seems like forever for it to come. I finally get to use my newly obtained Rav Kav and fill that up with some money. After a few stops the woman sitting next to me gets off and an American girl sits next to me and starts talking to her friend all about her relationship woes. At first I'm debating on whether or not I should interject and then I'm just wondering at what moment do I chime in. My opportunity arrives and I grab it with a buzzed glee. We talk for the rest of the ride, turns out they are graduate students at TAU, one from France, one from America., both studying conflict resolution. I get back with about half an hour before class. By the time class starts I still feel a bit buzzed but it ends up being the best class so far. I'm killing it. Answering every question, I feel completely in the zone. Everyone else in the class seems pretty much dead. After class I talk to the teacher about Israel and agriculture and I find out a bunch of stuff, companies and kibbutzes that are very into the whole sustainable thing. So I have my research and contacting to do now. I see exciting experiences in my future!!!!