This year, I finally celebrated Sukkot! Technically I did not celebrate it in a sukkah like it is “traditionally celebrated” but I did celebrate it the Israeli way-with family and friends! And the best kind of friends and family-my Camp Harlam ones! Stef and I took a wonderful journey to Haifa to visit Guy Koren, Tal Perlman, and Tom David along with a special visit from Nati Mor, Adi Haring, and Elior! It was a camp-tastic few days! As soon as we arrived on Tuesday, we went to Guy’s house, which is AMAZING!!!! It is so beautifully designed inside-very modern and simple. Guy has the entire bottom floor to himself, which included a little living room, bathroom, office, and bedroom. It is a perfect little bachelor pad (except for the small fact that he still lives with his parents…)!
After we settled in, we went for Thai food for dinner. It was absolutely delicious and luckily there were leftovers (aka lunch for the next day!). From there, we went to an Irish Pub that had an amazing overlook. Because Haifa is built on Mt. Carmel, there is not a bad view! I thought that it was pretty ironic that in one day we went to a Thai restaurant and an Irish Pub in Israel, but oh well! We met a bunch of Guy’s friends who spent most of the rest of the days with us. One of them was Dani, who is Ariel’s (the ’08 security guard at camp) twin brother. Unfortunately Ariel wasn’t there but it was awesome being with Dani. The next day, we went directly to the beach as soon as we woke up. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. The beach in Haifa that we went to was really interesting because it wasn’t an official beach. Instead, ice cream trucks set up umbrellas and chairs for the visitors without charge in hopes that you’ll get hot and buy something from them. Which is exactly what happened! After a lot of tanning and playing this silly paddleball game, we all treated ourselves to a delicious watermelon ice-pop! Tal came and joined us and we brought Guy up to date on all of the camp gossip from the summer.
That night, Ms. Koren made us an amazing dinner, which one of Guy’s sisters and brother-in-laws joined us for. There was so much food it could have easily fed an army and then some! We started our meal with Mr. Koren’s famous mushroom soup, which was absolutely delicious! Then we had chicken, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, salad, rice, steak patties, and other things that I can’t even remember. For dessert, we had cheesecake and ice cream. I was so stuffed by the end of the meal that all I wanted to do was go to bed. So that was exactly what I did (after we had a quick visit to Tom’s apartment). The next day we went back to the beach (of course!) and I took my chair down to the water to read. It was so relaxing I could have stayed there all day. Later that afternoon, Guy and Stef went to play soccer, while I chilled at the house.
When they finally came home a million hours later, they brought Nati and Adi with them! I was so excited to see them. Elior then met us and we went to Tom’s and ordered delicious sandwiches for dinner. I had a turkey and cheese thing that was very yummy! After we ate, we headed to the Carmel Center to a club called “The Loft”, which was ironic because it was in the basement of some place. On our walk there, we walked through a HUGE festival that was going on in the center. There was a huge movie projector and about 50 different booths selling EVERYTHING! A few of us got in easily but the rest of the crowd had a hard time so we dance for a little and then joined the rest of the group. We were all pretty exhausted so we headed home. For our last day, we headed to the beach one last time before getting on the train home. It was a sad goodbye but I am sure that I will be back soon!
After we settled in, we went for Thai food for dinner. It was absolutely delicious and luckily there were leftovers (aka lunch for the next day!). From there, we went to an Irish Pub that had an amazing overlook. Because Haifa is built on Mt. Carmel, there is not a bad view! I thought that it was pretty ironic that in one day we went to a Thai restaurant and an Irish Pub in Israel, but oh well! We met a bunch of Guy’s friends who spent most of the rest of the days with us. One of them was Dani, who is Ariel’s (the ’08 security guard at camp) twin brother. Unfortunately Ariel wasn’t there but it was awesome being with Dani. The next day, we went directly to the beach as soon as we woke up. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. The beach in Haifa that we went to was really interesting because it wasn’t an official beach. Instead, ice cream trucks set up umbrellas and chairs for the visitors without charge in hopes that you’ll get hot and buy something from them. Which is exactly what happened! After a lot of tanning and playing this silly paddleball game, we all treated ourselves to a delicious watermelon ice-pop! Tal came and joined us and we brought Guy up to date on all of the camp gossip from the summer.
That night, Ms. Koren made us an amazing dinner, which one of Guy’s sisters and brother-in-laws joined us for. There was so much food it could have easily fed an army and then some! We started our meal with Mr. Koren’s famous mushroom soup, which was absolutely delicious! Then we had chicken, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, salad, rice, steak patties, and other things that I can’t even remember. For dessert, we had cheesecake and ice cream. I was so stuffed by the end of the meal that all I wanted to do was go to bed. So that was exactly what I did (after we had a quick visit to Tom’s apartment). The next day we went back to the beach (of course!) and I took my chair down to the water to read. It was so relaxing I could have stayed there all day. Later that afternoon, Guy and Stef went to play soccer, while I chilled at the house.
When they finally came home a million hours later, they brought Nati and Adi with them! I was so excited to see them. Elior then met us and we went to Tom’s and ordered delicious sandwiches for dinner. I had a turkey and cheese thing that was very yummy! After we ate, we headed to the Carmel Center to a club called “The Loft”, which was ironic because it was in the basement of some place. On our walk there, we walked through a HUGE festival that was going on in the center. There was a huge movie projector and about 50 different booths selling EVERYTHING! A few of us got in easily but the rest of the crowd had a hard time so we dance for a little and then joined the rest of the group. We were all pretty exhausted so we headed home. For our last day, we headed to the beach one last time before getting on the train home. It was a sad goodbye but I am sure that I will be back soon!
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