A Lazy Weekend

Aside from reading scientific articles and writing the occasional computer program, last week was a rather uneventful one. Without any seminars to attend the days dragged on rather slowly. However, once Thursday night rolled around things began to spice up…at least a bit.

After having a quick coffee and cake around 7:00pm, Zvonimer, Tanmay, and I went back to Clore house to meet up with the rest of the summer students. We'd made 9:00 reservations for fifteen people at an Indian restaurant called Indira in Tel Aviv and were planning on an exciting evening out on the town. Indira was amazing; the owner gave us our own room on the second floor of the restaurant which consisted of really comfortable couches set in a circle around wooden coffee tables. Because there were so many of us, we decided to order food in groups and then share amongst ourselves. Fortunately for Zvonimer and me, we had the expert on our side. For the three of us, Tanmay ordered some delicious lentils, vegetables, naan, and butter chicken. The curry that the butter chicken came in was really tasty and not so overwhelmingly spicy. I'm beginning to realize that Indian food as not as unbearable as it's so often depicted to be in the movies. I'm not sure why I had to come all the way to Israel to realize this! In addition to the food, we shared a bottle of cabernet sauvignon and also tried this yogurt drink mixed with rum. We are quite the eclectic group.

When dinner came to an end, everyone was suddenly very tired. At least half of the group had drowsily sprawled themselves comfortably over the plush couches. Given our sudden lack of enthusiasm, we decided to catch taxis back to Rehovot and go to a club there, rather than stay up late partying in Tel Aviv. In Rehovot we found a 25+ club and snuck in with our Weizmann ID cards which don't give a birth date. The club was fun, loud, and a bit smoky. After tearing up the dance floor for an hour or so, we decided to go back to the dorm and get some sleep.

On Friday morning, I woke up at 8:30am and met Iris and Daniela in the Clore lobby. We fetched a sherut into Tel Aviv and went to the Carmel Market and the weekly arts and craft fair. Because Iris speaks Hebrew and with an Israeli accent nonetheless (even though she's Canadian), she was very helpful when it came to bartering at the market. The arts and crafts fair was remarkably similar to any that I've been to back in the states, except for the fact that a lot of the artists were selling clay/metal designs depicting Jewish imagery. After returning to Clore House around 2:00, I worked for the rest of the evening, only taking a break to go to dinner on Herzl Street with Tanmay, Zvonimer, Alisa, and Rachel.

Yesterday I decided to catch up on sleep and take another slow day. I made a trip to the grocery store in the morning and then hung out with Zvonimer in the lobby until 3:00 at which time he, Tanmay, Michael, and I went to lunch at Hummus Weizmann, one of the few restaurants open in Rehovot on the Sabbath. After eating a tasty lunch of lamb, onion, hummus, and pita, Tanmay, Zvonimer and I decided to go to the gym before it closed at 6:00. (For those of you cringing at the thought of eating lamb and hummus, just be glad that I was brave enough to send back the chicken liver that the waitress originally brought me when she accidentally misplaced my order!). After lifting some weights, the three of us took a short swim in the pool before heading back to the dorms. As a medical student back in Croatia, Zvonimer has been coaching Tanmay and me on proper weight training techniques. We're all gonna be mighty buff!

With the remainder of the evening, we all sat in the lobby while I read my book and Tanmay and Zvonimer watched you-tube videos on their computers. At 9:00 we went to dinner at a nearby Asian restaurant where Tanmay and I split chicken kebabs with fried rice. We all practiced using our chopsticks, something which Zvonimer had not often done before. He was quite pleased with himself when he mastered the technique well enough to pick up the bottle of soy sauce. As the night came to a close, the three of us recruited Oner for a game of Settlers of Catan. While I did miserably the entire game, Tanmay and Zvonimer played a close race—with Zvonimer winning in the end and Tanmay coming up one point short.

Now that I'm well acquainted with Rehovot and things have settled into a routine, I'm beginning to count down the days until I head back to America. With less than three weeks off, this is not very far off. Though I still hope to make a couple trips (specifically to Bethlehem and Jerusalem), I'm eager to get home as well! I've learned a lot so far about Israeli culture, but am now ready to get back to the United States, start work in the lab again, and eat some good ol' homemade bar-b-que!