Recording from the second year of college - 1972
Why can Debbie not sleep on a free Friday in college?
Now this is the second time I'm recording for you, I started first, it was not bad but I listened to her and did not like, so I'm going to try again. Today is Friday, January 19, at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday I'm going to Horowitz, so maybe on the way to Toby I can mail the tape, if I'm done.
Now Friday morning, I'm a little angry because Friday is the only day here that you can sleep late. We have classes every day of the week and on Friday mornings you just want to ... I do not want to sleep until really late, I have things to do, but I do not want to know I have to get up at a certain time to be ready, but Friday is when the person in charge comes to check The room, and it is impossible to know when she will come and she starts complaining, so we always have to be ready by 9:00 and there are 37 apartments. Chances are she will not come to us first, but of course, the last two times she has come to us first and she will continue to come to us first until we are ready in time. I do not know. She's so dumb.
I went to bed late last night because we had to clean the apartment and now I'm pretty tired. I just had a crazy week. Wait until you hear my week. I'm going to tell you about this on tape, but before I tell you that, there were a few more things I wanted to tell you. I got all your recordings. In other words, I got these from California and got the one you sent me just around New Year. It was nice. I got it just a few days ago, yesterday I think. And yes, that was nice.
I'm chilled, that's why I can not sleep, but I feel like I'm getting back to myself now. she came! The only good thing about her coming in at nine is that she's gone by 9:30, so I can go back to sleep. ...
The letter to Bryan, Debbie's brother, who got lost
Oh, the funniest thing. You say you received the letters. The letter I sent to Brian, did it arrive ?! I do not believe!!! I wrote a 20-page letter, wrote him a book, and finally said, "All right, I'm going to mail it" and took it with me and lost it. It fell out of my book. It can be anywhere in Jerusalem. I lost it everywhere from here in the home and garden to the opposite end of town. It could have been anywhere in Jerusalem. It could have been in the Home Office, it could have been downtown, it could have been in a number of stores, in college, anywhere, I do not know. It disappeared.
I thought if anyone found it, he would not mail it to America because it did not have a stamp on it. I have not even received one stamp yet and need much more than one stamp, need maybe three stamps, so if someone was really nice and intended to spend 95 pennies on a stamp for me - it would be nice, but to spend three times 95 ?! No, I did not think anyone would be so nice. I thought someone would take it and send it back to me, but no one did, so I thought I lost the letter. I was wondering if anyone found it and enjoyed reading it, I do not know .. it's really nice. Did he have any stamps? Maybe someone just stuck it in the mailbox. It probably opened because of security. They open a lot of mail. All my packages I received were opened from the boxes. I do not know. It's probably just for security. ...
Correction or naivety at customs
New immigrants in Israel get a huge amount of rights, especially if you are from America. Get so many rights. It's nice, but the other people in the country are resentful, so now all rights are being curtailed. Not drastically, not completely, but doing it where it used to be heaven, now not everything is free. This means that if I had registered as a student, I would have had more rights than as a temporary resident. I did not have more brand new great rights, but more than someone who is on his way to becoming a new immigrant.
You can send anything by mail - food, cosmetics, appliances, I think even movies. And there was no need to pay customs for it. Some things had to be paid a reduced tax, but the new law from next week says you have to pay for everything. The new law is in effect from the time you mailed my packages or something. I do not know. Anyway, there is a situation I could have known about it then, but now it's the law and you have to pay customs on all these things.
When I got my packages, with some I had no trouble, some were just closed, but there were one or two packages that contained food and cosmetics, and when I went to pick them up, I was told I had to pay £ 58. I said, "Forget it, it's ridiculous." 58 pounds is crazy, it's 58 pounds, it's a lot of money. It's $ 15. The things in the package were not worth even $ 15. It's like I'm paying three times what it's worth. It's crazy. I was really angry with them and filed an appeal, which means I had to wait longer, and they had to re-evaluate the package. I wrote to them that 58 pounds of taxes, that's more than worth the contents of the package, it's not fair, and that in America they said I would not have to pay customs and last year I did not have to pay.
In the meantime, I went again, I was thinking of trying my luck, maybe I'll get a nicer guy, I really thought the first guy who said I had to pay 58 pounds was wrong, so I went to another guy who said, 'You have to pay 11 pounds.' So I paid. I did not ask any question. I did not want to make a big noise at 11 pounds. As I was about to leave, I said to him, "By the way, what is this ..." because I thought the other guy had made a mistake and I wanted to understand.
I'm going to shut up from now on. I will never say anything again. The guy looks at me and says, 'What? wait a second. Are you a tourist? I thought you were a student. He made me come back and said, "You have to pay £ 58." I was so angry. I had it in my hand. I was really angry. It was such an innocent mistake, because I did not know he made a mistake. I thought to myself that if I'm already at customs, I'll just peek to see what's inside, so I know what to do.
When I filed the appeal documents, they lowered it from £ 50 to £ 20, so I said: 'All right. magnificent". I paid £ 20 for this package and another £ 30 for another package I had to take out of customs. It was not worth it. But I was just frustrated already that I could get everything in the mail. Other than food and cosmetics, I think I can get duty free, there is no reason I will ever ship cosmetics. In Israel I think I can not get food and I can not get a movie, and I can not get appliances, but everything else That I can get, that is, clothes, also material and all sorts of things that just do not say it is brand new and then I will not have to pay anything. Should not be a problem. So that's the story with my customs. Anyway, everything's fine and I have everything.
Why was Debbie not registered as a new immigrant when she was in college?
You must be wondering why I pay as a tourist? Why not change status to female student? Well, if I'm a 'student' now I'll have more 'tourist' rights, but what's going to happen is that when I become an 'immigrant' and I do not work, I am wasting the benefit of immigrants who do not have to pay income tax for three years.
If I was a "student" I would have to pay income tax, at least partial income tax. I think even everything. As a "tourist" it is now worth it for me not to receive things in the mail that have to be taxed, and someday I will have that extra time to take advantage of the income tax exemption benefit for new immigrants. There is also an advantage to being a "tourist". I renewed the visa, and after this year I can renew it again for a year. So no problem and I'm tidy and everything's tidy.
The snow in Jerusalem and the company that Debbie accompanied to the airport
This week it snowed in Jerusalem, it was the first big snow. I think it was the first snow they had here, but it was really a lot of snow. It's more snow than I've seen in a long time, because last year it snowed twice, once it snowed half an inch it was the big snow, but this time it really snowed. It was stunning. Dropped about five or six inches at least. Depends on where you were.
The weather this year has been really crazy. They are really worried and there were a lot of crop failures because it did not rain. Now it's winter and we have entered the rainy season and it has not rained and it was really cold, then it got really hot. It's bad weather for the crop. This weekend it rained. It was terribly disgusting. It rained every Saturday night and Saturday. On Saturday night I did not sleep much, could not fall asleep, stayed awake and read a book all night. I went to bed at 5:30 in the morning and had to get up at 8:00. So I slept for two and a half hours and then on Monday Joy [girlfriend] was supposed to go back to America. Poor Joy, I told you, she was alone and she was sick, so I told her I would go with her to the airport, because she's coming back to America, and she's coming back forever and it's like that ... hey, you do not want to go alone. I would not want to go alone. I would ask someone to come with me. So I told her I would go with her to the airport. She leaves at 6:00 in the morning, and she should have been at the airport at 4:30 in the morning, so that means we'll leave Jerusalem at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday night, Monday morning.
I told her I would bring a blanket so she could sleep at the airport or something. This is what I planned to do before I crashed on Sunday. Then I was supposed to meet Isul and walk around with his car for all sorts of arrangements. I thought we would hang out and instead of him dropping me off here in my apartment, he would drop me off where Joy was staying, in her cousin's apartment in Kiryat Moshe, another neighborhood in Jerusalem. From there the Nesher taxi will take us to the airport. I planned that at 6:00 on Monday morning, after Joy left, I would take a bus back and arrive on time for my class on Monday and after that I would go to bed. This is what I thought I would do.
On Sunday it rained, and after class I did not feel like walking around with Isul, I just wanted to go to sleep. I was so tired and went back to my apartment and just took some blankets and Wisol was waiting for me, so I got in the car with him and he was also upset, so we decided we were going to cheer on each other. He took me to dinner. We finally found the place we were looking for and it was really nice. The food was tasty. I had cabbage, stuffed, chicken, potatoes and soup. It was really bad weather, but was very very nice. So it was nice and I felt better.
From there we drove to the house of one of Isol's friends and listened to your tape, because he had not heard it yet. We left quite late a little after 11pm, he wanted to watch TV, which is fine because Joy did not expect me early. Anyway I was going to arrive late because we had to stay up all night. We left the house of Yesul's friends and it was snowing. It was just starting to snow, but it was heavy, it was really snowing. It was so beautiful. It was very exciting. We got in the car and he drove me to Joy's cousin's apartment, but I could not find the apartment and walked all over the street until I finally found it. We played a bit outside in the snow, but then we got in and waited until 3:30 for the taxi to pick us up at the airport. When the time came, we looked outside and it was actually snowing. We called Nesher and they said they were not coming. They said, "We are not going to come because of the snow."
Joy became a little hysterical and she did not know what to do. We made all kinds of phone calls and tried to think what to do because we could not get to the airport and she was going to miss her flight. Flights take off in Tel Aviv, no one could enter or leave Jerusalem. So she canceled her flight. She arrived at the exact same time the next day.
By now it was already Monday morning and I had not slept last night. And on Sunday we walked around and wasted time. Then until maybe about 12:00 on Monday afternoon we tried to think how Joy would get to the airport the next day when she saw the situation on the road? Because it did not look better and it was still snowing. So still it was really stunning. The whole town was, I tell you, beautiful. It was white. You know they say "Jerusalem of gold", but it was like a white blanket it was so beautiful and the kids went crazy. Israeli children have never seen snow before. Some saw a little, but not like that. They're really going crazy. Everyone - old women, old people, everyone, in all the streets, threw snowballs and made snowmen and everywhere you went families went for a walk. Israeli families going for walks in the snow with umbrellas it was so funny, the wind blows everything and they carry an umbrella.
Anyway, the first thing that stopped was the buses, so it was impossible to travel anywhere and I was stuck in her uncles apartment, I could not go to class or anything. It turned out we did not have a school that day, but I did not know it. Anyway, so we started wondering how Joy would get to the stray field Here, because there were no buses and Nesher had not yet returned to work, and no taxis were traveling and she had no way to travel. There was a train, but there was no way to get to the train station because there were no buses and it was too far to walk. We did not know what to do. I was already tired. I thought, "Just cancel it again and drive the next day and then you'll be sure how to get there and not have to worry." Obviously there is no transportation now, it is not the best conditions for driving, so why take risks. Wait another day. Joy had already called home and they knew not to expect her. So that's what I thought she would do
Joy was very nervous and she said, "I want to go to Central Station, if I can." I thought that was the worst idea. The last thing I wanted to do was go out into the street, and I did not have warm boots and did not want to walk. Joy could not carry the luggage herself, so when she said she was leaving, I said, "All right." We walked to the central station and there were no buses to Tel Aviv and no train in Tel Aviv. And I realized we'll go home now and just go to sleep, but just then a taxi stopped and Joy's cousin asked the taxi driver, 'Are you ready to take us to the airport?' And he said, 'What? what? of course not. I'm not going to go there! I've risked my life now. you see? I went to get milk for the children and my wife and they are waiting for me in this cold weather and I have to bring them milk. ' So Carol says, "How much do you want?" So the taxi driver says, "80 pounds, come in." So we said, "What about your wife and kids?" He replied, "My wife understands. She knows what it means to be the wife of a taxi driver. ' £ 80 is very cheap for a round trip trip for three people to the airport. It really is. He could have charged us much more. So it was the funniest thing he has milk for his wife and kids and he takes us to the airport.
Then when we drove, the roads were not bad at all. I do not know why they made it such a big thing. When we got in we told the taxi driver: 'You have to be careful and see how you drive in the snow. It takes a lot of experience with snow. ' The driver was so angry with us and said: "I have no experience with snow ?! What are you talking about? Five years ago I came to Israel as a new immigrant from Georgia and I know what snow is. You do not know what snow is. I know what snow is." Oh, that was the funniest thing. It was so funny. He was such a character.
The roads were empty and not bad at all. I tell you it was beautiful. I'm so glad we went at the end because that's how Joy would get to the airport and it was so beautiful outside. It was dark, but you could still see and all the mountains around Jerusalem were all covered in snow. It was so beautiful and it's a once in a lifetime look. It was really nice and the taxi was hot, it was hotter than the apartment. So I was completely satisfied and admitted I was wrong. It's much better and easier that way. So good, we were glad we got there okay. We arrived at about 8pm at night and left Joy there. I did not stay with her all night, even though my original plan was to stay, because I was not sure how I would ever return to Jerusalem after that, and she understood and said she could stay alone. The main thing is that she was there. We had to come with her to help her with the luggage because she is not allowed to carry heavy things.
The experiences on the way back to Jerusalem
On our way back to Jerusalem the taxi driver picked up some old lady who had just arrived from New York and her husband Arnold and her son-in-law. The groom was Israeli and he told us in Hebrew, he did not want to scare her, but he told us he heard on the radio that the roads to Jerusalem were being closed. In other words, no one can enter Jerusalem. They closed all traffic to Jerusalem at 19:00 and we have to stay in Tel Aviv.
The thing is they're still inexperienced here when it comes to snow, it's so funny. They know nothing about it. They do not know that roads are much worse to drive when it rains heavily sometimes. They are inconsistent. If they closed the roads for that, the road would be completely clean. They just know the snow is dangerous, so it's best to close the road. I do not know. It was pretty stupid because it's not even far.
Anyway, we were worried and our driver said, 'No, no matter what, I'll pass. Leave it to me, do not worry. We'll get through. ' So I did not care. I fell asleep. I just wanted to go back to Jerusalem. Then, when we arrived a little before Jerusalem, at a place called Sha'ar HaGai, a policeman stopped us and said, "You can go no further." So our taxi driver started crying: 'But I have to get to Jerusalem. I have milk for my wife and my children and they are waiting for me and my children are sick and here I went all the way to buy them milk and I have to come back, and now I have tourists and she just came from America. ' That was the funniest thing. And no, the cop was stubborn and he would not let us pass. And we were not the only ones. There was a bus full of people, and a few more cars, and there were open army trucks full of 25 soldiers.
And the policeman said, "No, I will not let you pass." And there were cars coming from Jerusalem and they told the policeman: 'The road is not bad at all. It's okay to drive, but the policeman said, "No, I'm not letting anyone in yet." So we told him, "Call Jerusalem." The policeman called Jerusalem and was told he would decide. He was so disgusting. Everyone had to get to Jerusalem and he did not let anyone pass. We felt like getting out of this thing, grabbing it, and then moving on. It was so ridiculous that he would not let us pass.
So I did not care. At this point, when I heard that, I just wanted to stay in the hot cab. I did not care, but all I knew was that the last thing I wanted to do all over the world was get out of this cab. It was pouring rain outside, and cold, and hail, and frozen, and in the middle of nowhere, and stormy. And inside it was warm and comfortable. Karl, Joy's cousin, is excited about everything: 'Oh, that's great. Is not that exciting? That's the biggest thing. Alas, how much fun. ' She's really crazy about this girl. She went out and heard the soldiers in the truck say that even if the policeman would not let them pass, they would pass anyway, because they came all the way from Mani does not know where, to get to Jerusalem. They were about to pass. Nothing could stop them.
When Carl heard them Saying that, she too was very eager to return to Jerusalem and she asked them if we could travel with them. The soldiers said, "Sure." She got back in the cab and said to me, "Come on, we're going with the army in the truck." And I said, "Oh, no, I do not want to get out of this open truck, it's cold." And she: "No, I decided to go with them." "All right," I said, it's only half an hour and I'll be back in Jerusalem. I did not know how they were going to break in and get there, but okay.
So we went to get on the truck. It was a commotion. I wore my tightest skirt, I could not move my legs. I struggled to climb the stairs with this skirt. I could never do that. I was so embarrassed. One soldier took one arm and another soldier took another arm and they held and dragged me into the truck. My stomach was on the floor, I fell into the truck. Everyone laughed. I was so embarrassed and it was cold. I just sat down with all the soldiers.
They cheated on the policeman. They did not cheat him to cross the main road to Jerusalem, they pretended to turn around, but then they made some progress and drove another way. The police chased them, but they drove another way. Now, the way we went to get back to Jerusalem, I tell you .. I'm not kidding, it was the scariest thing I've ever seen. The road is only in the mountains. This winding road passes through the sides of the mountains, on top of the mountains completely filled with nothing but rock and cliff, curved. And there are places we could not even evacuate, had to go in reverse several times, to get through the bend. This road was so narrow. I did not see any traffic there. Crazy whoever drives on this road when he can use the main road, because the side of the road was a cliff.
It was the scariest thing in the whole world. It was so stressful. And they have no snow tires in Israel and it was ice. I have said the road prayer at least 20,000 times. It was so funny. And everyone was scared. No one thought we were going to succeed. No one expected mercy and peace to crash or something or overturn, but no one thought we were going to do it and got stuck. I did not know what to do. I was with these soldiers in the middle of nowhere at night. It was so experiential.
Anyway, somehow, about four hours later, we succeeded. We arrived in Jerusalem. I have never been so happy to come to Jerusalem. They dropped us off in the middle of the city and we had to walk back to Kiryat Moshe, the place where Karl lived. It was a walking piece and was frozen. Anyway, it was pretty exciting. Oh, and the soldiers, of course, they had this political discussion and they obviously had to talk to us about religion when they found out we were religious. Then we had to talk about immigrants and Russians and I do not know what we did not talk about. It was pretty nice.
Anyway, we came back really late on Monday night. I guess Joy came out fine because she was going to call us and she did not call.
On Tuesday public transport was back on, so I drove to my apartment and went for one lesson, but I fell off my feet because I was so tired that on Monday we came back very very late. I did not tell anyone the story. No one will believe it. When I came back here, I just slept all day and all night.
It was so exciting. I did not describe it well. I'm losing touch. I wanted you to really feel what it's like. It really was something. Now that it's over I can laugh about it and everything. What an experience with the truck and taxi driver. I wonder if he ever passed, our taxi driver. We just abandoned it in the middle. But I tell you, it was beautiful. The whole town was so beautiful. Now, you will never know in 1,000 years that it will snow here. Hot outside, it's really something, it's hard to imagine that just two days ago, everything was covered, really covered. At home and garden, I was not here, but it was higher here, and it was so stormy that there was so much snow, it was really beautiful. Every house had a snowman with a whole scarf, and raisins and carrots, because they'm so excited about it, so they build snowmen or something. Anyway, this was my crazy week. And I wonder, have you heard of snow in America? I was wondering if you would hear about it or not.
Anyway, I gave Joy a letter to give you. It's not such a good letter, but I just wanted to take advantage of the fact that she would see you so soon. I gave her some pictures. I forgot, I did not take so many pictures here, because what to take? Last year everything was new, so I photographed everything, and this year it's like the same thing as what I took last year, but I took some pictures in the Judea camp, where my lady lives. If the images come out nicely in development, send them back to me.
Oh, oh, I'm so shocked to hear that Aunt Lee is coming !! I do not believe. That's really, really nice. So she did not come with David Sydney, she came alone? She's coming for 40 days? If you want to send something, I do not currently have winter clothes to sit on. The dress I made, I do not know, is not good. I have nothing. I've had one dress since I came here and I wear it every week.
The trip to Sinai
Hello, now it's much later. What happened is that when I finished all this tape and wanted to send it to you, I wanted to listen to the last part and put it back, and something happened with the battery and I do not know what, but my voice sounded chilling. You can probably hear it at the beginning of the tape as well.
Time has passed and I want to tell you about our trip to Sinai. Today is Tuesday, February 5, something like that. And I have a lot of work to do, but we came back from the trip to Sinai last week. We were there from Monday to last Thursday. I told you about Sinai from the trip there last year, we were about the same route. They do not have so many roads, you can walk in so many different ways. It was pretty much the same except last year we went three days and this year we went for four so the other day was that we went to Santa Katrina.
I have to explain. Imagine you are sitting there like a triangle with the dots at the bottom. We walked around the left end of the triangle, then you go down to a point at the bottom and you come to a place called Sharm el-Sheikh. About half way down is a town called Rosa, where we slept the first night. In the second corner of the triangle, the marking on the right, it's Eilat and in the middle of the triangle, tap in the middle, like the center of the triangle, it's called The Katrina. I'm not so in the mood to sit down and describe it and everything, because that's all I talked about. It was really beautiful. Really stunning and I took 1,100 photos I will post tomorrow so you can see them all soon and really see how amazing it was. Really really beautiful. I will ask you please send back the pictures as soon as possible, so that I can see them, and if they come out well in development, send them back, also the film, so that I can make copies for other people because I took a lot of my friends and things.
But anyway, it was a lot of fun. We left very early in the morning and it was a lot of bus ride. We climbed mountains here and there, whatever. We slept there, we really enjoyed it. We all gathered and sang, there is such a thing that wherever you go you must sanctify the place. How do we do it? We do it in poetry. I can not explain it. At night we all sat in a circle and sang the college songs so we could make a record with about 10 songs or something. We sang 170 girls, we sang the chorus, I felt like a singer or something. Everywhere we go, we think, 'We're great. Admittedly, we're fantastic. ' We not only sing just a few songs, we sing complicated harmonies and melodies and all that stuff, it's really good.
The freezing cold and sleeping with skeletons
So that's what we did. Then, I do not know, we went to bed and got up the next day, on our way to Santa Katrina, who have no road. The whole road was like a milkshake. We arrived there was frozen. It was frozen. And all that was there was rocks and earth and blue skies and it was dark, and we thought we would have to sleep outside, because part of the plan was that we were going to sleep out there. I tell you, it was cold. Was frozen. Freezing cold and wind as strong and it's a monastery, it was the scariest thing. Before we left I was told that there was this room in a convent with skulls and ... I know. This is true. He did not laugh. He told me that skeletons are whole, what they do is they have broken the skeletons so they have different piles in the room. The collar, the right shoulder bones, the left ankle, and all the skulls in another pile. Attribution.
Anyway, that's the scary thing and all the monks are there and they told us it was completely isolated. To our surprise the beds were made for the Egged Tour group, our guide said we could use the beds, it has sheets and everything on them. But if we want to be careful with our cleanliness, then they suggest we sleep on the floor or in our sleeping bags because there are fleas, or mice, or rats, or I do not know. You can imagine how adorable it was. It sucks so much. And the light bulb, and the wind is roaring, and there are cats everywhere, crawling in and out, and the windows are not left closed, and it was awful. So we had to go to bed very early because we got up at three in the morning.
The climb to Santa Catherine - the tradition that this is Mount Sinai
Santa Katrina is a really high, high, really high mountain. Look at the pictures. According to Christian tradition, it is Mount Sinai. Do not think it really can be, because if you read the Bible, it is not possible that the children of Israel could get there in three days and all that. But anyway, over the years it has become a tradition that it is Mount Sinai. It is so high. We were ready to go out. Oh, I have to tell you. My impression is 'climbing and toilets.' restrooms.
Anyway, and we climbed up this mountain in one long chain, we had to be completely quiet, I felt like I was in the army or something. There was this whole system if someone was hurt, how to get to the doctor. There was one doctor at one end of the line and one at the other end of the line. We climbed, and we climbed, and we climbed, it was frozen. It was so cold I wore eight coats and I was still cold. As we walked we saw the sunrise, the sky getting brighter and brighter. I tell you we have reached heaven. We walked, walked and walked. We climbed for three hours. It was beautiful. I do not have to tell you how amazing everything was because you will see in the pictures. I could not take too many pictures because when we got to a certain point, we were so high and it was so cold. There was snow all around. It was so cold and I felt breathless, and I felt so tired, and I just died that I just did not have the strength to hold my camera.
Until we reached a point at the top of the mountain, we just climbed the stairs. Some of them are untidy. We climbed, and we climbed, and we climbed, and the wind was so strong. really. I felt like I was about to fall off the mountain. Toby and I held hands. Everyone held hands so we would not fall, but we fell, climbed and it was ... some people collapsed, some people failed, it was really cold. It was really tiring. We reached the summit, there was no satisfaction in reaching the summit. First of all, we were right at the end. So when we got to the top, we just wanted to go. "God, we just wanted to get out of there" and the guide started telling us how much harder it was to get off, and all that. I do not know what he was trying to prove. It was so cold. I could not even see well because my eyes were in tears.
We started going downhill, we did not go the same way we went up. On the way down we went down the stairs. There were over 3,000 steps. When we got to the bottom, I could not even stand still. I stood and my legs shook. I thought they were going to shut up. It was the funniest feeling. Somehow we managed to get off and on, the time was a little after 10:00 in the morning. The rest of the day we spent riding and we were supposed to get to Sharm el-Sheikh and spend time there. Last year I told you we got there in the afternoon and went swimming and played with other things. But what happened now, three buses out of four got stuck in the sand. They sank in the sand. And we had to wait years for a tow truck to come and take them out or something. I do not really know what happened and why, because I was on a bus that did not sink in the sand, which means we did not even have any excitement, or fun to be immersed in the sand with all the other girls. We were stuck on some road somewhere, waiting for the other three buses. But we really enjoyed it a lot because someone who is a comedian did to us like Moe Many talents. Girls played the flute, told jokes, wrote things, went out and sang and it was really fun.
We arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh at night and slept in these little cheapies ... and again, we had the part of sanctifying the place and singing. It was fantastic. And we slept in these little trailers, last year we slept on the beach, but this year we had these little trailer-like trailers. But from the window I had a perfect view of the beach and the whole thing. And I stayed up all night and looked out the window and saw the sunrise. We saw the sunrise and sat on the beach and it was really beautiful. Then we returned home via Eilat, and of course we had the section of "Temple" there, and we arrived back in Jerusalem very late at night.
The hot tub at the Horwitz
The full week was so beautiful, it was fantastic. We came back very very late, and Toby and I decided to go back to her house instead of sleeping here, because we just wanted to take a hot bath, and here all the girls in the apartment came back and everyone fought for the bath. We decided to go to Horwitz and go to sleep in comfortable and clean beds. We arrived in Toby very late, at about 12, there was no hot water. It was all an unsuccessful coincidence.
I did the Sabbath with them and Eli came home. He never comes on Saturdays. So I had a great Saturday, great, great, great and it was very fantastic.
The invitation for parents to come to Israel for the summer
What I wanted to tell you is that I've been thinking for a long time, and it's a complete change of subject, but I have a good idea. I'm not even talking to you, Mom and Dad. If anyone else listens to this tape, Uncle Sydney, or Aunt Dotty, or Uncle Teddy, or Brian, or Stanley, anyone else, that's what I want. You do not think it would be a good idea if mom and dad come to visit around the summer, or Rosh Hashanah? You do not think it will be the best thing? And I know Dad can get out of work because he always does, and I think he should think about coming here at about the same time.
And I'll write to you about that later. And make reservations now and you should come because you must see all these places. I really think it will be a nice thing, because this is the best time for you to come, at the end of the summer. And so beautiful here. And the Horwitzes are already sending you an invitation to be with them on Rosh Hashanah, and you can go to all these places. You keep saying you want to come, so you have to come already and you can plan a vacation and think about it. I'm not talking to you, Mom and Dad, I'm talking to everyone. So if you guys will work from this end and I will work from the other end and we are officially starting the campaign now. Then we'll make them come. Okay? But you have to work really hard, you know Dad, he's never going to do it, so be determined about it and start working.
And what else did I want to tell you? Oh, I'm really excited that Lil is coming and I'll check all the things you wrote to me about David Sydney and all this business, and everyone here is fine and fine and I hope to see you guys pretty soon but I have a lot of tests this week, and I wish the tape would end because I'm crazy about blazing it. I'm sure this tape is going to end now, but if I'm cut off in the middle, come to Israel and be happy and greet everyone and that's about it.
I received another package in the mail today, I do not know what it is. I guess it's my clothes and I'm glad I already got them. I no longer know what to say. It's ridiculous. Okay, I have to go study. The tape should end now. It must be now. Bye.