Happy Birthday to me :)

Thanks a lot for the lovely wishes from all of you lovely people. It was so wonderful to open my email account and have it flooded with love from you all. I feel very loved...both on hotmail and facebook :) So, here is my story now...

I arrived in Italy in the most roundabout way as possible. 5 countries and 24 hours later, I arrived in Florence to find myself in a rainy and cold night. Needless to say I was more than a little disappointed coz the optimist in me hadn't even allowed me to pack a fleece thinking Italy in august had to be hot! The taxi driver took me to the ashram and showed me my residence....a nice little tent that I was to share with another girl. It was windy, rainy, cold, and pitch dark. He put my suitcase in the tent, gave me a hug and off he went. I was left feeling real sorry for myself...with questions like "what the fuck am I doing here","why did I leave the luxury of a warm bed", "why can't I be normal and live like normal people" and blah blah blah. I even called Eran to tell him that I might just come to Israel earlier than I had planned coz I didn't like Italy. That feeling lasted for...oh, 1 day. I had the best time of my life after the initial panic. I joined a group which was beautiful...dancing, a lot of meditation, a lot of love. Every evening was some sort of a party and there were some really beautiful people from all over Europe. We had beautiful concerts by Prem Joshua and some new band from Chile. There was a lot of dancing and I even met a beautiful Italian man. He took me on his motorcycle to the lovely city of Sienna. It was the most beautiful drive ever, through the rolling hills of Tuscany. Everywhere you looked, you could see vineyards, castles, quaint little Italian villages. Thanks Gabrielle for showing me such a good time. I will remember the Toscana sunset for ever!

Saying goodbye to the ashram was as usual very hard. It felt like I was leaving home, my family. But, I go back in June again so it's all good and plus I was really looking forward to seeing beautiful Eran. I arrived in Tel Aviv at 4 am local time. I was surprised to see a very modern airport and not too much security. I was expecting army people with machine guns everywhere...but it was relatively normal. Eran was there waiting for me. It was lovely to see him again...such a beautiful man he is!!! We spent the night at his brother's apartment. Next morning, we decided to go to Jerusalem. So I spent my 34th birthday in the holy city of Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is beautiful from what I've seen so far...kind of a mix of Rio and New York. The beaches are beautiful and the night life is an all night affair. We've rented an apartment right in the middle of the city, 5 mins from the beach and 5 mins from the East Village kind of ambience. It's a studio apartment but has a large terrace overlooking the sea.

Jerusalem was interesting....far from what I'd expected. Such a strange mix of old and new. Not just old...5000 years old!! You enter the old city and it's like going back in the past. People live like they did 5000 years ago. People wear black and are obviously very religious. I went to visit the place that is the root cause of all the wars in the western world right now...THE WALL!!! That's all it is really ....a mere wall called the "Cotel" where all the orthodox Jews come to pray. Just behind the wall is the Muslim mosque and the most sacred place for Muslims coz they believe that Mohammad rose to heaven from there. So, now they pray right next to each other, hating each other. The hatred and tension between these two cultures is palpable in this area. There is so much fuel and anger and hatred that a tiny little spark can just cause everything to go up in flames any minute!

You step out of the old city and you are right in the middle of a modern 21st century fun-loving city. There are streets lined with bars, cafes, night clubs. There is no particular closing time for these bars...i heard it starts to wind down as the sun comes up. Me and Eran had a great time, sipping on some Israeli wine, chatting and catching up in one of the lovely wine bars in the area. After spending 3 days in Jerusalem, we've arrived in Tel Aviv today. I am going out with a lovely Israeli friend I met in Italy. Looking forward to seeing her again.

So far I am really surprised at the Israel I've seen. People are really friendly, welcoming and fun-loving. Thank God I met Eran or I would've missed out on visiting such a beautiful and rich country.