Our last day in Israel

July 9th

Okay faithful readers, can any believe I've finally reached my last day of Israel. Goodness gracious, thank you for being so patient.

We woke up and got ready for the day before heading to the beach first thing. It was really nice to spend our first and last days in Israel both in Yafo, soaking up the sun and relaxing. Goodness knows we needed it since we were about to come back to Germany to work 10 days in a row.

We laid on the hot white sand and played in the warm waters of the Mediterranean for several hours I'd guess. Oh gosh I almost forgot that on the way to the beach we did make a pit stop. We stopped at the oldest bakery in Jaffa and bought A LOT including some pita bread we brought back with us for a few days later as a treat. It was all really good and they even threw in a few things on the house. I guess we can't stay away from bakeries no matter where we are. :)

After the beach we went to lunch at the same place we did with Ari on that first day. I had falafel and Ryan had shwarma and we each stuffed ourselves silly with the free "salad" bar items. Oh it was so good. I still miss these types of places.

Then it was shopping time. We went into the covered market area for the first time. I got a cool tapestry similar to ones I got in India. Now it is hanging over my bed from the ceiling and looks really cool. I also got a couple pairs of loose baggy pants like I'm a big fan of, so I was a happy camper. Ryan also bought me a scull and cross bones bracelet made of burnt bone and leather that I love. Ryan bought huka... you can smoke fruit flavored tobacco out of it (well you can smoke an assortment of things out of it but that is what his plan is). And I can't really remember if we picked up anything else. But we were happy with our purchases and felt satisfied with how we spent our last day.

We went back and packed our bags to travel home and then said goodbye to our last hostel. We walked from there back to our first hostel in Tel Aviv because Ryan forgot a shirt he put outside to dry and thankfully it was in the exact place he left it because it was his favorite shirt and he'd been thinking about it all week. Then we walked to the main road and caught a bus to the train station where we took the train to the airport. Everything at the airport went pretty smoothly. We did give ourselves plenty of time just in case. They questioned the two of us A TON about how we knew each other, if we lived together, how often we saw each other, what we had done in Israel, etc etc. And kept looking at our passports and our faces very intently. After awhile they asked me for another ID, I guess I looked different to them in person compared to my passport. But eventually we went through. Then only I had to have my bag inspected my an agent but the thing she questioned me on most was where I got my books which were all library books. Who knows why? But I didn't mind it, better safe than sorry and I understand why they do it. Then at customs the gal Ryan went up to actually had someone else come and look at him and his passport because she wasn't sure she thought it was him. But we both got through.

At our gate a German sports team showed up and was all together. Ryan thought it could be the German Fussball team (soccer team) since they had just lost in the world cup, but I knew they had a game to play yet to decide 3rd and 4th places and these boys were too skinny to be professional soccer players if you asked me. As it turned out they were the German cycling team. Interesting.

We made it to Garmisch. The flight was thankfully uneventful. We almost had to sit surrounded my a bunch of loud and obnoxious high school age Israeli kids, but there were two open seats in the emergency exit row that we moved to which was good two fold because it also allowed Ryan to have a lot of leg room.

There you have it folks. It was a great trip, and incredible adventure, and truly a blessing to have such an opportunity. We were thankfully praising God the whole trip for how smoothly everything went and I do believe He played a big role in all of that. I do hope to someday return to Israel, so if anyone wants to go just let me know.