Week 2: Laurachka

Week 2 was a lot more relaxing. I took my mom to the airport on Sunday Nov 23 and returned the car to the rental office. It was the weirdest feeling leaving the airport by myself in Israel. At that moment I realized that I was staying here for a while, and that I wasn't going back to Toronto yet, as I'm so used to doing. This was my home for the next 4 months, yikes! I felt excited but also unsettled and nervous.
I walked to Laura's house from the train station, this is one of the coolest things about this city, you can walk absolutely anywhere and it won't take you more than 40 minutes. I love it, it's convenient and fun. The streets are really interesting - they wind, turn and slope in all directions, they have old, beautiful and awful buildings as well as brand new buildings and stylish homes.
















I am constantly smelling fresh bakeries and middle-eastern spices in the air. There are always tons of people out - sometimes I wonder if anyone works in this country.
What I'm trying to say is that walking in Tel Aviv is a real treat!

I stayed with Laura for 8 days and that was really nice. I made sure to be a non-disruptive guest and tried to be as helpful as possible since she really helped me out. It was pretty painless, we shared a room for a few days and then her roommate went away, so I had my own room, which was great. We hung out a lot, I cleaned her house and cooked which gave me a chance to settle down a bit. I think that I was still dealing with jet lag because I was waking up very late every day and still feeling exhausted. For about 4 mornings I was also feeling an emptiness for the first 10 minutes when I woke up, and then it would go away. It was weird, but I think it's because I'm in a new place, new people, new life, it's kinda scary.

I started work this week, it's a pretty sweet deal working online in Tel Aviv. This city is so well connected, I can log on to an unsecured wireless connection from just about anywhere in the city. On Friday Nov 28th, I was on the Tayelet (boardwalk), found myself a nice cafe on the beach and worked on my laptop with the view of the sea, sun on my face and sand in between my toes... yup! it's pretty.... pretty.... pretty... pretty good! For those of you who don't know, this saying comes from Larry David's show Curb Your Enthusiasm, I've become a very big fan, I've spent the last 2 weeks watching seasons 1-5. I'm kinda hooked and Larry is rubbing off on me :-)
Yeah so, the beach is one of my favourite office locations.

































I also decided that 2-3 times a week, I will close my eyes and randomly choose a spot on the map and spend the day working in that area of Tel Aviv. This will give me a chance to hang out in different areas and be productive at the same time. I'd also like to make an effort to spend one day a week at the beach, whether it be working or relaxing. Those are my goals, we'll see what happens.