Looking for Home, Herzlia, Israel 07/03/06

The first day in Israel, when watching the Germany-Argentina game, I ordered something I shouldn't have. I was hungry, but I didn't want to miss the game. So I asked for the menu, but there wasn't much to eat. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did. I ordered chilli with meat. It was very hot spicy, and I didn't eat the whole thing. However, it was enough to mess up my health a little. I fought getting sick for the two next days. Well, last night when I got home, my body was very weak. I covered myself with the blanket, but was still cold. (Remember that it's July and hot.) I grabbed another blanket and soon fell asleep. The next day, I woke up sweating, but I felt great. The only thing is that I was suppose to be in school at 9:30am to meet some people to go see some excavations called Apollonia. It was already 10:30am. Oh well, Ma-lasot! (Nothing can be done about it now!) So I decided to do my own tour of Herzlia and Apollonia.

Herzlia has changed a lot. My main mission was to find the place where I used to live. As I drove there, the streets were familiar, but somehow things didn't connect. Yet, my eyes got watery and I was happy to be back. The main street (Sokolov) was the same, but all the roads that fed to it looked different. The road constructions didn't help. I started cruising down one road to see if it would lead me to a familiar place, but I started feeling like a rodent in one of those lab experiences. Herzlia had grown, and it had grown a lot! I tried this street and the other one and the next. Nothing! I drove back to the Sokolov to start again, by taking a different street in hopes that it would lead me "home". Nothing! After a while, I gave up and decided to go up Sokolov to Ramat Hasharon, which is where we also lived. Ramat Hasharon is the next town from Herzlia less than a minute away. That was worse and I didn't find our house there either. After trying a couple of streets, I gave up, mainly because I had seen a Fellafel-Shawarma restaurant that had triggered my hunger. I didn't hold back any more and went to enjoy a delicious Israeli Shawarma. I had been craving one for a while. After eating more than half of my Shawarma, I had to go to the bathroom and I couldn't wait. I was afraid that if I just got up, the waiter would come up and take the remainder of my Israeli sandwich. I was not going to leave my bag because that's where I have all my important stuff, including my cameras. So I took a magazine that I had and opened it and left it on the table. My Shawarma and my grape drink next to it. Surely he'll know I'm still around and I'm not finished. When I came back, he had just finished picking up everything, including the magazine. He felt so bad that he had me sit down and got me half a Shawarma with more fries and salad. The man had blessed me in such a big way!

On the way out to Apollonia, I recognized one of the streets. So I decided to give it one last try in finding my home in Herzlia. I found the road that I would take by bike on my way to school in Kfar Shmaryahu. I took the road in the opposite direction away from the school. After trying several streets, I found a building that could've been, but I'm not 100% sure. I took a picture and left with the satisfaction that I had done my best and that I had seen Herzlia pretty well.

I got back to the "bike" road, which is now a busy street. I crossed over the railway tracks. That brought back some memories. Many years ago, the train had hit a school bus full of children that had not been able to cross in time. That was a sad page in the history of Herzlia. I drove on to Kfar Shmaryahu to the school for one last picture of the front of AIS, my high school.

AIS had some field trips where we would go an be a part of some excavations. Apollonia was the site. I wanted to see what it looked like nowadays. I founded fairly easily. Excavations have stopped. They dug up what used to be a Crusader fort, which lies up in a cliff by the Mediterranean Sea just outside of Herzlia Pituach. Although it was very hot, it was a nice walk around the ruins. There was a pleasant breeze that would blow very frequently. The view from up there was amazing.

I got back to Tel Aviv and went to hang out with Charlie Charbel and Raed. They are the cameramen that were shooting all of the High School reunion. We ended up talking and found out that they are Christian from Southern Lebanon. They had to flee from the terrorist groups when Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon. They have been granted political asylum by Israel. I found out that they know some Lebanese people that work at CBN and so invited me to their house. They live in south of Tel Aviv, in a neighborhood that is very Bohemian looking. This is where many of the wanna-be artists, musicians, etc live because it used to be a cheap place to live. Now, it's a very upscale and popular neighborhood, where many of the nice restaurants and dance clubs are located.