This weekend I'm staying with my 3rd cousins, Assaf and Omer, and their Mum Sabrina. I've also been seeing Jacob and Pussy, Sabrina's parents (Jacob is Nono's 1st cousin), who live just across the street from them in Givat Shmuel.
I'll briefly describe the chaotic events of this morning. I got up, brought down all my luggage, checked out of the hotel, and had breakfast. I was meant to get picked up from the hotel in Tel Aviv (by Sabrina) at 7:30am. I waited 1/2 an hour. At 8am, Marissa asked me to call and check where my family was.
I got on to Sabrina, and she said that she was waiting for me at Herzliya. Herzliya! WTF?? For some reason, I'd been told I was getting picked up at Tel Aviv, and she'd been told to pick me up at Herzliya.
Anyway, I put her on to Nimrod, and he told her to drive to Ramat Aviv shopping mall in Tel Aviv, and to pick me up there. So I got the bus to Ramat Aviv. It was cold and windy as hell when we got there: but I found Omer, who had come with his mum to pick me up; and I took my backpack, got in the car, and Sabrina drove off.
Notice that I said I took my backpack. Only my backpack. Anyway, about 15 mins after we'd driven off, I get a call from Nimrod: "Jeremy, you left your suitcase on the bus". My response: "Oh Shit! Sabrina, turn around!" So we had to drive all the way back, get my luggage, and then continue on to our destination.
All the family - Sabrina, Assaf, Omer, Jacob, and Pussy - speak good English. My first impression of Omer - with his long hair and American accent - was 'total hippie'. During the car ride, all he wanted to talk about was music.
The guy knows every artist ever to grace this planet, and his favourite is a comedian / musician called Frank Zappa. He's got a poster in his room (apparently a very popular one too) of Zappa taking a dump on the toilet. He also loves guitars: he plays it pretty well, and he's building one of his own soon.
Our first stop in Tel Aviv was a shop that sells "the best falafels in the world". We had to wait a while for it, but I must admit it was pretty damn nice, as falafels go. While we were waiting, I discovered that both Omer, and Assaf (who I hadn't yet met), were Python fans, as well as South Park fans. This led to many enjoyable hours of quoting throughout the weekend.
Champ looking very cute on her chairAfter that, we went straight home to their apartment in Givat Shmuel. They've got a nice place, and a really nice dog: a boxer (female) called "Champ", who jumps up on you and licks you all over; not quite as cute as Toto, and nowhere near Boo, but still totally adorable.
I also met Assaf, who showed me his room, his comics, and his saxophone. He has a box about 1/2 a metre long, filled purely with comics: the guy is positively obsessed with them. Omer's room, on the other hand, is filled with CDs, guitars, and music posters.
A kosher lunch of roast porkI hung out with Assaf and Omer for a few hours, down in their bedrooms. Omer showed me his guitar skills; Assaf showed me his comics; and all three of us showed each other funny crap on the internet.
This was the first time during the entire trip I had the internet! It felt so good! Ah, the joy of being online. They showed me some cool stuff, including "eye candy" (kinda like Itchy and Scratchy), and "Matrix Fart": "pfffftttt... You think that's air you're breathing?". I showed them the "toilet game", and the "interview with Osama".
Me with Jacob and PussyWe went across the road to the grandparents for lunch (they live literally one building away), and there I met Jacob and Pussy for the first time in 13 years. They were extremely happy to see me. Jacob is 85, and Pussy is 78, but they're both in very good health.
They put on a beautiful spread, with rice and vegies and cake; and although I couldn't eat the meat because it was all pork, I got very well fed nonetheless. Over lunch, Jacob explained to me my family tree, which Dad has probably told me many times before, but which I can never properly remember.
After lunch at Givat ShmuelWe took many photos, ate and drank a great deal, and caught up on family doings a little bit. Then me, Omer, Assaf and Sabrina said goodbye to Jacob and Pussy, and went back across the road.
I spent all of Friday afternoon just chilling downstairs (in Sabrina's apartment) with Assaf and Omer. Assaf showed me the PC game Spiderman, and we spent a while playing that. Assaf's also really good with Nunchuckers: he showed off his skills, and explained how he always twirls them around when he's walking in downtown Tel Aviv at night, to scare off petty thieves.
After dinner, we went into Assaf's room, and watched a really crappy movie, called "Embrace of the Vampire": meant to be some gothic flick [but does a really bad job of it]. The movie was so bad, I almost fell asleep watching it, and we turned it off before it was even half through.