FieldTrip!

We all go to Tel Aviv every chance we get so as a place for a fieldtrip, many of us were questioning what exactly we were going to be doing that we hadn’t already done a million times. We left early in the morning and they took us to Independence Hall, which was actually interesting. A rather plain building with a white, simple façade on the beginning of Rothschild Street, Independence Hall housed the conference where Ben-Gurion declared the Israeli state into being. We listened to a lengthy, emotional presentation and then sang the national anthem, HaTikva (The Hope) at the end. It was quite moving. The house, however, was not in the shape I would’ve expected out of a building with such importance. We ate an al fresco lunch and then journeyed to the first neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Beautiful and full of alleyways with houses that each tell their own story, walking down the roads was like hearing whispers of history at every block. Love stories, war stories, and stories of mothers, brothers, daughters and grandparents witnessing new generations build a state that was fought so hard for. We walked from there to the shook (the outdoor market) and I gathered up the last minute things I needed before I left. Leaving my friends to catch a bus at the opposite end of the shook, I ran back up to the other side of the market to catch the bus with the rest of my Ulpan. My director left, knowing I was right there, and I, needless to say was particularly irked. Thankfully, it all worked out and I met with a friend where we plopped down at this stir-fry stand and devoured some good Moroccan cuisine. I made my way back to Rehovot around 6 and had to take a sherut, a bus, and taxi to get home.