Omer torturing ChampyMe and Omer (whose room I slept in) didn't get up til after 11am this morning. Ahh, 12 hours of sleep! It felt so good! Unfortunately, when Omer got up and unlocked the door, Champ ran in and tried to jump onto my bed. The only way I could stop her was to stand up on the mattress: but when I stood up, I heard a loud "Crack!"; and the wooden slat I was standing on split in half under me.
Very soon after we woke up, Sabrina's ex-husband Opi turned up: he always takes the boys out on Shabbat, and spends the day with them. So me, Omer and Assaf quickly got ready, and then we left with Opi. We didn't have breakfast, because we were going to a place where we'd get a breakfast that would last all day.
Opi took us to an Arab village, and in the pouring rain, we ran in to a little bar-café. We didn't need to give the waiter our order, because they only serve one thing: "Hommus Full", a really yummy mixture of hommus, beans, and olive oil, served with pita and vegetables.
Hommus-Full is really tasty, but I know what Assaf means when he says: "it joins you in the morning, and it stays with you all day long". The stuff is really heavy on your stomach! I wasn't very good at getting it onto the pita, but I got better when Assaf explained that I have to wrap the pita around my fingers.
We finished off the Hommus-Full, and my stomach felt like a brick. I should mention that the entire time (the entire weekend, for that matter!), Omer was going on and on about obscure music that I'd never heard of; and Assaf was going on about books and comics.
Following the Hommus-Full, we went in to a kind of bar, where a bunch of old Arab men were sitting playing cards and smoking. I think that's all they do, all day long. Opi said that everyone's related in this village, and that if you ask someone where a certain shop is, they'll direct you to a place that their relative owns.
The bar had a pool table, and so we played two games of pool. The first game was Me vs. Omer (Omer won); and the second game was Omer vs. Assaf (Omer won again). All of us were really crap - just that Omer had a bit of good luck.
Me and Omer developed a very funny custom: we worked out that every time we told each other "you suck", we did well and sank the balls. So "you suck" became a good luck chant! We started chanting "you suck, you suck"; and it really did seem to bring us good luck. We kept telling each other we sucked all weekend after that. We'll probably greet each other with "you suck" 20 years from now!
Having finished the two games of pool, Opi paid the shopkeeper, and we departed, leaving the Arabs to continue playing their card games, as they'd been doing all day. We went round the corner to a bakery, where we bought a few slices of some really sweet cake: kind of like Baclava, only much sweeter. They soak the damn stuff in sugary water all day long.
We took the sweet cakes, and Opi drove us out of the Arab village and to his apartment in Petah Tikva. Myself, Assaf, and Omer ate the sweet cakes; Opi sat and talked with us, but he has diabetes, and if he ate that cake I hate to imagine how his sugar levels would shoot up.
We stayed and relaxed at Opi's apartment for a little while, talking about various things. Omer and Assaf were still making fun of me for saying "rubbish bin": they seem to think it hilarious that I don't call it a trash can. Bloody Americans: oh well, at least I can get them back by reminding them that they come from Kansas!
When we got back to Givat Shmuel, Jacob saw us arrive from his window; and he came out and insisted that we come up for a visit. We went up and had a drink, and I made an arrangement to come back at 10:30pm, so that I would call Dad and Jacob could speak to him.
Assaf looking very astute, as he stares intently at the computer screenThe evening was spent, as with the previous one, hanging out in Assaf's bedroom. We watched a really disgusting South Park episode: it's called "Scott Tetterman must die", and after I finished watching the "you just ate your parents" (literally) scene, I very nearly vomited on Assaf's bed. We also watched a funny South Park version of the Python Dead Parrot sketch, and part of Baseketball.
Later in the evening, Assaf - who is quite handy - was very nice and polished my rusty bugle from the schuck in Yaffo. I told him I paid 120 NIS for it, and he laughed his head off, claiming he could have easily got it for 10 NIS!
At 10:30pm, I went across to Jacob and Pussy's, and I rang Dad back home. We all talked to him. Then I said my farewells to Jacob and Pussy, who I hope to see again.
Omer and I rock Tel Aviv with our musical prowessI got back to Sabrina's apartment, and spent a while mucking around on the piano, with Assaf next to me "doing a gig" on his guitar. At about 1am in the morning, Sabrina told us both to shut up and go to bed.
Some other things happened this evening, such as me giving my cousins some souvenirs from Australia as presents. They really liked the boomerangs! Also, as a souvenir in return, Assaf gave me an Israeli phone plug.
It was an absolutely wonderful weekend, and I hope to see Assaf and Omer again next time I come to Israel.