From Tel Aviv to Zefad

Yesterday began inauspiciously, but that quickly turned around, in the most conspicuous of ways.  By way of background, we crammed 4 people into a beautiful room (with balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea) at the luxurious David Intercontinental in Tel Aviv. After realizing we could only bring 2 people to breakfast for free, my soon-to-be travel partner Keith and I sneaked into the eating area seemingly scot-free.  After eating a measly challah roll with heavily salted cream cheese, the overly rude maitre d slapped down a bill and briskly walked away.  The $70 tab and the fashion in which it was handed to us upset my compadres to put it lightly.  Long story short, Sergei, the manager came over and had to deal with a certain Argentinian friend of mine at the table berating Russia and their 'programs' which Sergei took right in stride saying "not only do they deal weapons, but tanks, RGB's as well." Here's where the day took a turn for the better as the manager politely offered us a bottle of champagne which we nearly talked him out of.

After some hours of napping, we decided it was time to head to the holy city of Zefad.  It was not without some hiccups however.  For starters, the cab driver announced a fee of 40 shekels, before retorting, asking for 50, then saying it was Shabbat and we have bags and that it would instead be 60.  He denied our request to turn on the meter, and being that we were in a rush we had no choice but to cough up the extra coin. After arriving quicker than expected to the bus terminal, we had twenty minutes to spare to find the bus.  After asking many English speakers where the bus was, a man speaking no English finally pointed us in the right direction and we caught the bus with 30 seconds to spare.  A transfer and 3 hours later, we arrived in Zefad at ~9PM.  Having not a plan or a place to stay, two Orthodox men helped carry our bags to a hostel where we decided we would post up.  Here's where the fun kicked in, we got to spend about 30 minutes with a troupe of women commanding soldiers who drove Humvees who were on a spiritual retreat to Zefad.  There were several I would have loved to run away with or for whom it would have been worth joining the IDF.

After deciding not to stay at the hostel - for a lack of clean sheets and for the soldiers all departing - we trekked the three blocks to Livnot where we would begin our month long program the next day.  They were very welcoming and put us up with no problems.  We ended the night with some 1 AM zza for what was a very rewarding day.

Big shout out to Hashem for making this all possible ;)