Ashdod

This weekend was pretty fun as I was able to catch up with a good friend of mine from back home in Mexico. She invited me to spend Shabbat with her and her family in Ashdod, a port city south of Tel Aviv. It is a large industrial city and the port receives about 60% of Israel's imports. Even so, it is also a very well planned city with beautiful beaches, a great port and a huge French community. I met my friend and together we took the train down to Ashdod. After we arrived we spent most of the day at the beach where I was finally able to relax after two busy weeks I have had.

That night, we were invited to Shabbat dinner at her family's home. The funny thing is that I had a Shabbat dinner with the exact same part of the family in the same place the first time I visited Israel almost 10 years ago! It is weird to think how quickly time has gone by, but how many things have changed during this period.  

It was nice to spend the weekend with people I have known for a while. I really enjoyed catching up with them and just disconnecting from what my life has been for the past months.

The next morning was amazing, my friend's cousins invited us to join them on their boat for lunch. We spent the morning sailing up the coast of Israel. Due to the season, the sea was filled with jellyfish. I have never seen anything like it. As we moved we could see a line a jellyfish swimming one after the other. They were all different sizes and colors. Here is a short video I took.

Once we were docked back at the port, we had a really nice lunch with the family on the boat. After a while we returned home to get our things ready to take the train back to Tel Aviv. This weekend was exactly what I needed. This past year abroad has been filled with many exciting and new experiences, but sometimes getting to reconnect to home is important and that is exactly how I felt. As I start the new week, I am ready to keep on meeting new people and experiencing new things.