Sunday, November 10 - L'hitra'ot Chaverim (Till we meet again)

Sunday, November 10: L’Hitra’ot to the Group

Though it was our day to check out of the hotel, our check out time was very late. Which was nice – we didn’t have to frantically pack up and be ready before breakfast.

First activity of the day: gleaning food for the poor at a beet farm in Rehovot. The bus heads south while Gila explains how the beet farm leaves a certain amount of the crop unpicked, so that it can be donated to those who do not have enough to eat. I defer out of this activity to avoid agony in my back and knees. I’m not alone in the bus, since our friends Ed and Carol are also opting out.

Note: I am not in this photo

The group picked 1000 lbs of beets, enough to feed 100 families. Great job!

One of our troops decides to bring a beet to lunch with us. It’s huge. He walks around with it like it’s a light saber.

Our last activity together before lunch is a visit to Weissman Institute and the house that is preserved as a museum. Chaim Weissman was a chemist, a Zionist, and a founding father of the state of Israel, a contemporary of David Ben Gurion, and Israel’s first President.

The institute has an entertaining interactive/geeky display showing what the scientists at the institute are researching.

The house is really nice – rather upscale, as a matter of fact. Interesting layout, beautiful furnishings. I could see living there. Except for the spiral staircase:

Thank you to Andy for climbing all the way up to the top to take this photo.

I also liked the 1930’s vintage fridge:

For our farewell lunch, we go to a restaurant that is just a couple of blocks from the Carmel market. Endless excellent food, we all realize that this is in fact the last time we will all be together, as some of us are going home that night, others are off to Eilat and Petra, and Andy and I are off to visit our friends, the Resnicks, in Modi’in.

What an adventure we’ve had together! All in all, everything has worked out very well. L’hitra’ot, everybody! Till we meet again!

Andy and I opt not to take the bus back to the hotel to give us the opportunity to walk through the Carmel market. Where we manage to find a way to continue to stimulate the Israeli economy.

We shared a cab with another couple, after hailing down a shirut (van-bus) proves to be fruitless.

We pack up our now bulging suitcases and carry-on bag. We had told the Resnicks that we were aiming to be on the 5:26 train from Tel Aviv Mercaz (a/k/a the Arlozorov or central station) to Modi’in. Grabbing a cab was no problem. Traffic was a problem. We didn’t arrive at the station till almost 5:30. 

Ok, so we’ll be on the 5:48 train. No problem.

Though one would think that since one can take the train to Ben Gurion airport that seeing people with suitcases on the train should be a common experience, the guards at the station entrance look at us like we each have 3 heads and 9 arms. AND, to make things more fun, each bag has to go through the scanner! Our suitcases are big. And bulging. Mostly with dirty laundry.

It takes two people (Andy and a soldier) to heave each suitcase onto the scanner bed, and amazingly enough, they bags don’t get stuck. I was convinced this was the next thing to go wrong, but I was wrong about the next thing to go wrong.

Next – how do we buy tickets? Well of course the automated machines are 100% Hebrew, so forget that. So of course we get to stand in the long line at the windows. And lastly, of course this is Sunday night, which has its own rush hour.

No problem, no problem! I have my credit card ready. I know the words I need to say as I get to the window and see the grumpy-looking ticket agent:

“Two tickets to Modi’in Center, please”.

Stare.

Pause.

I could have sworn her response was (barely into her microphone behind the Plexiglas), “Two shekels.”

Really? Only 2 shekels to Modi'in? That makes no sense. But I give her my credit card anyway. She looks at me like the soldiers did – I seriously wondered that I must have 3 heads and 9 arms, but maybe I have even more heads now? Her expression said, why are you giving me a credit card for 2 shekels? So I ask Andy to give me 2 shekels and I pass it through to her under the Plexiglas.

I definitely now have 4 heads and 10 arms and maybe wings, because the look of disbelief on her face is astounding. Again, it sounds like she’s saying, “TWO SHEKELS”. I mean, it’s noisy in the station, but don’t have to shout.

It’s obvious we are not communicating, and her grumpiness combined with my frustration (as I glance at the clock to see 5:48 rapidly approaching) is not helping.

Finally, she takes out a piece of paper and writes: “32”.

She was saying “32 shekels”? really? Wow, ok, I was NOT hearing that. So I wondered what the problem was with me giving her a credit card, and I try passing it to her again.

She swipes the card and flings it back to me. Glares at me (if looks could kill…), because I’m wasting her time.

What? How about some explanation here? Which she gave me – in Hebrew. G0d bless some guy behind me who said, “Your card is not working.” Oh no! what’s wrong with the card? It worked not that long ago in the Carmel Market, what’s going on here? Is it locked? Did the credit card company pick up on a fraudulent purchase? Been there done that a year ago in Jamaica.

So, I gave her another card. She swipes it, and flings it back at me with a look of total disgust. You stupid American.

My guardian angel, whispers, “It’s your American card. The machine won’t take your American card.”

Oh for crying out loud. Why didn’t she just say so. My frustration is off the scale. Andy has a 50 shekel bill, I buy the two tickets and FINALLY we head to the platform. But guess what? It’s 5:50, and we missed the 5:48 by literally 2 minutes.

O.

M.

G.

I figure out how to text Shula from my American phone to let her and Reuven know yey, now we’re on the 6:26 train. And thank goodness the stop we need is the very last stop on the line, making it really hard to mess up. Though if we tried I’m sure we could have (more on that later).

At long last we are at Modi’in Mercaz and – there’s Reuven bounding down the stairs to greet us! Woot! And we manage to squish our giant suitcases into his teensy car, and the guard at the shopping mall entrance managed to not reject us because one suitcase completely fills the trunk.

We find the food court  to have dinner and then – there’s Shula, and eventually all the boys!

The next part of our Excellent Adventure has begun!