Roz arrives

In Ulpan this morning we translated a song by Hanoch Levine. He was a very angrry writer who was not afraid to use sarcasm. The lyrics bitterly described a non-caring Israeli society. Ironically the music, sung by Chava Alberstein, were very upbeat.
I left Ulpan a little early and cut my afternoon classes for an Egged experience. I took a cab to the central bus station and a bus to Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem station, similar to the one in Tel Aviv but a little cleaner and newer, is within an enormous shopping mall. Shopping malls in Israel are called kanyon. A combination of the word for to buy and "canyon." At the Tel Aviv station I met up with Shlomo Cohen. He is now retired from teaching High School Hebrew and dividing his time between his coffee business and chazzanut. He is also learning to sing opera and sang Granada for me in his living room.
The reason I went to Tel Aviv was to meet Roz who arrived 2 and a half hours late but none the worse for wear. She took a cab to Shlomo's apartment and then we all went out for a walk and a little dinner. Shlomo showed us around his neighborhood and drove us back to Jerusalem. He pointed out the German-style architechture of Tel Aviv that was brought here by pre-WW II immigrants to Israel. We also drove along the beach and through the old city of Jaffa.
I never really enjoyed Tel Aviv as it seems more like any European city and not particularly Israeli. Shlomo said it was very hard to find kosher restaurants. He does like the town, though. He walks early in the morning to the beach and excercises on the gym equipment that is there for anyone to use. He has his coffee roasting business in the Tel Aviv shuk. He sells custom roasted and ground coffees. Now that he is retired from teaching, he is considering opening up a coffee shop too.