Today was a great day. I woke up in Tel Aviv and packed my bags and caught the bus to Netanya to meet up with my good friend Ron from college. Ron was one of the first people I met at University of Florida freshman year.
Zach and I got off the bus and walked to his Safta's (Grandmother's) house. She was there with two of her siblings. She made an amazing lunch for us. It was really nice seeing her hang out with her siblings at such an old age. They all live within walking distance of each other and hang out a lot. **That is one thing I value a lot about the Israeli lifestyle, family over everything.**
She made mafrum, which had meat in the middle of cooked potatoes and dbecha, a meat stew with cus cus on the bottom. I said it was my favorite part of the trip so far because it was so special. She didn't speak English but she welcomed us like her own.
She and her brother were born in Tripoli Libya. There were programs there where the government said there is a free for all to kill Jews. Also after the holocaust ashkenazi Jews would kidnap sefardic Jews since they did not have any kids. Her and her brother were kidnapped and eventually rescued by their parents.
It was so cool to spend time with Ron and his family. Ron Zach and I then went to the beach to throw frisbee and kick the soccer ball around. It was nice and relaxing. A few hours went by and Zach and I got spaghetti for dinner. Netanya is known for a lot of French people so it was cool seeing all the various restaurants in the street.
After dinner Zach and I met Ron and his father on the beach for his dad's birthday. He was really cool and we talked about surfing. We closed the night by going to a city wide concert that was taking place right outside our Airbnb. It was a band called Akiva. We finished the night by philosophizing about love on the beach while looking up at the stars and hearing the waves crash.
