Thursday, the 17th of Feb.
Tonight I’m meeting up with most of the exchange students. We’re organizing our own informal welcome dinner for ourselves.
Because I didn’t know how to get there I left my place really early, about two hours before dinner, with plans to find the restaurant and then go to the beach and wait until dinner. Turned out to be a great plan, it took me about 15 minutes to find the place then I just spent the next hour and a half at the beach. Got in some good time with God and just enjoyed the waves crashing while the sun went down. Heard the Muslim call to evening prayers for the first time, which was a different experience to say the least.
When I got back to the restaurant I was a couple minutes early and the hostess told me that no one else from the group was there so I just walked back outside to wait. Pretty soon a group strolls up and starts speaking English asking where some guy was. So I walk up and introduce myself. Yah, turns out they weren’t from the exchange program. In my defense, what are the odds that another group of English speaking college age kids would be at this exact restaurant in Tel Aviv? Apparently fairly high.
Once my group actually arrived they were a ton of fun. The food was incredible. I had an entrée with pulled lamb over a bed of rice that was fantastic. The lamb was seasoned with a bunch of spices that included cinnamon, and it was unreal. We split appetizers, each got our own entrées, then split desserts and also shared several bottles of wine for the table. All that, including tax and tip, was 130 INS (about $35). It was unreal. You would definitely pay at least double that for anything comparable in Birmingham and probably three times that once you factor in tax and tip.
After dinner we went to meet up some of the business school students at this bar near the beach. Our group decided to walk instead of taking a taxi since it was along the beach. It was an incredible walk and I got “in” the Mediterranean for the first time (I walked in about up to my knees). However, by the time we got there the bar was packed and we thought we couldn’t get in. (Turns out the doorman was supposed to be looking for us to let us in since we roll VIP style but since we didn’t speak Hebrew we didn’t know that haha.) Anyways, we went to the apartment of one the exchange student’s friend and hung out there for a while before making our way to an Israeli dance bar.
Now would probably be a good time to explain the hierarchy of “evening establishments” in Tel Aviv. There are “bars” which is what you’d think of in the US. Then there are “dance bars” which are bars with a dance area and the entire facility is bumping dance music. Then there are “dance clubs” or just “clubs” which are what you would probably imagine if you think dance club. Haha. Interestingly, although the legal drinking age is 18 here, most clubs don't allow people under 25 into the club. I'm not sure why, but it has something to do with the military. (I'll try to figure that out and update.)
All in all, it was a fantastic night and I’m really pumped about this new group of people I’m going to be spending the next few months with.
No comments:
Post a Comment