2024-03 Israel

Israel 16,

March 28, 2o24,

Hi Everyone,

I was up late last night writing my blog and studying Hebrew. Everyone seems to go to bed around 9:30 leaving me alone to study Hebrew by internet in the common room until 11:30. This morning we were up as usual at 6:30 to wash up and then at 7:00 for breakfast. We had a short day of work until 10:30 to finish off the emergency packs. We then had to clean up the base, have lunch at 12:00 and then catch the bus to Tel Aviv at 12:30. We took pictures with our hosts and had a nice speech from our commander. He thanked us profusely, and invited us all to his house next week for a ‘cocktail’. He realized the time and financial sacrifices that we all have made to be in Israel now. He is very handsome and all the ‘girls’ wanted to have their pictures taken with him.

On arrival at the train station-bus station in Tel Aviv, 4 of us elected to walk for 47 minutes to our hotel. It was hot and we arrived rather sweaty as it was 28C. We have heard that it is 10C in Montreal with 32 cm of snow. I took a quick shower, had a cappuccino and headed to the beach across the street. The beach is beautiful, as I have said before. It stretches for miles with a board walk and has a beautiful sandy area stretching 200 m to the sea. The sun was shining and the sea was calm. Although there were ‘no swimming signs’ as there were no life guards present, everyone was in the water swimming. I dropped my towel on the beach and swam out to the breakwater. The water was calm and refreshing. The swim took me 20 minutes to the breakwater and back, not bad for a first swim since Sept.

I then walked along the beach for an hour. The beach was full but not backed like in the summer on the Riviera. The guys wear short type bathing suits; there are no speedos. The girls all wear bikinis varying from the French style to the Brazilian style bathing suits. There are very few blonds here; most of the Israelis on the beach appeared to be Sephardic in origin. Even with my tan, I am very light skinned here. Everyone was playing volley ball or soccer in a group without allowing the ball to touch the sand. Impossible…

At 6:00 in the hotel we have a 5-7 with wine and refreshments. Our 5-7 lasted until 8:30 with the appropriate amount of wine as I was with a French couple and a Norwegian girl. The Americans seem to drink less wine than us. Afterwards I went to a beach front restaurant-bar-cafe with a French couple. He lives in Versailles and has a secondary residence in Cassis, near Marseilles. He did not know the JB family.

I am enclosing a picture of a German-Israeli girl that won ‘picture of the year’. She is lying on an SUV with a bunch or Palestinian ‘hero’s’ celebrating with their guns in the air. In the video a Palestinian woman comes up and spits on the poor girls body. One day I would like to meet that woman and ask her why she spit on that girl. Would she like to spit now? If you ask me one reason why I am in Israel now, that is the reason.

Love,

Brian