Israel is wonderful. Really wonderful. But I want to quickly recap my time in NYC which was really the first time I have been able to explore the city on my own!

I arrived Thursday night to beautiful weather and a long ride on the subway to my best friend Avi Spielman's apartment in the upper west side. If you don't know the story about Avi and I, briefly, we met four years ago. That was brief, right? Anyway, we met up with an old friend Jon Schwartz for dinner before Avi's girlfriend Hanna Ritt and others came over. It was a nice night that included seeing a cover band dressed up as chasidic rabbis (picture black hat, long pais--taped on in this case!, and drawn-on beards), discovering you can't wear shorts into a club, and bumping into an old friend of mine from Kansas, Lauren Rabinowitz. Like almost everyone else I met during my time in NY, Lauren is working there for the summer. Friday, I had lunch with another east-coast friend Dana Etra before going down to Times Square and exploring for a bit on my own. In my search for inexpensive broadway tickets, a person working at the 50% off same day shows area (one block off Broadway and 5th Ave) gave me great piece of info, student tickets are usually LESS THAN even the 50% off tickets! I of course failed to take advantage of the great deal, but for everyone else, who is or wants to be a student, please go for it.

After Shabbat, I met up with some friends from when I worked at Ramah three summers ago. Jen Horowitz is working in NY for the summer at Cosmo--she's a big shot :-D, and Michal Wachs is in Philly after being abroad for six months in China and learning how to be a bar tender! It was really nice to see both of them and meet some of their friends along the way. The next morning Jen, Michal, and I walked around the Union Square area--where almost all the NYU students live. There was a huge street fair and lots of crafts and music.... and I didn't have my camera! Oh well. ANOTHER beautiful day, for the fans at home, I'm batting 1.000. After an excellent sushi dinner with Avi's roommates, I met up with Lauren and her friend Jessica Shaw, who knows some of my friends at Wisconsin, before going out with Michal, Jen and some of Michal's friends from her time in China. Good people, good places, good night!

Sunday was Father's Day. Sadly none of the Zellman boys were home to celebrate with Dad--so we celebrated a week early when I was home! I did get to call and say hi, and turns out Mom and Dad will be staying not too far from where Avi lives when they come to take Jody to university in August. Anyway, later that afternoon was possibly the highlight of my time in NYC. In Central Park (about three blocks from Avi's apartment) during the summer there are free concerts at their SummerStage. Idan Raichel and his group were playing that Sunday! For the uninitiated, Idan Raichel is one of my favorite Israeli artists. They play kind of an afro-israeli-fusion sort of deal, VERY cool :-D They also came to the UWashington during my first year there and I got to meet them! Lauren and Jess met me there (an adventure in its own right). A guesstimate put the number of people there around 8,000. PACKED. Of course I ran into people from everywhere--and got messages later from friends who were there but we missed each other! Marley Blonsky, who is from Spokane and also goes to school with me, is in NYC for work this summer and apparently had just gotten to the east coast the day before! Shir Lerman is also in NYC working this summer and she was with Jason Segal who is a friend from UW but has been in Africa for the last year! It was great to bump into them--have a wonderful summer you guys!

After the concert I walked around Central Park until really late. With such nice weather, I'm not sure who would want to go inside?!? While I was walking around, I saw a couple getting married and then on a gondola ride, a dance-party of sorts with lots of people on roller skates (at first I thought it was some sort of marathon dance thing... but no... people were just dancing because dancing is fun :-D), AND I bumped into.... IDAN RAICHEL! He had stayed after the concert and was playing soccer with seven other guys. Awesome.

That night Avi got back from his cousin's bat mitzvah and we chilled with Jon. Very laid back, great change of pace. Monday was my last full day in NYC. I got in touch with the cell phone company who had my Israel cell for the summer. Their office is in Brooklyn--sounds like another good day trip! Before heading south, I met up with Jen for lunch at Columbus Circle. Such is my luck, the sun was out so walking outside was more of a pleasure than a burden (although, my feet may disagree). After lunch I followed the directions to the subway stop in Brooklyn and got out. Hmmm. Run-down residential area, lots of graffiti, ZERO people walking around. Was I wrong to feel like I had entered some movie where I was about to be dropped and forgotten about? Well, I walked past tire yards and a few abandoned warehouses (read: broken windows, graffiti, sign saying NO TRESPASSING) before I found the cellphone company's address. Third floor, back room in the middle of another office I found two guys surrounded by little cellphone boxes and electronics. wow. He gave me a small unmarked package that looked like I could be making a drug drop and I left. Of course, I wanted to explore Brooklyn a bit so I just picked a direction and started walking. Saw a few more people around and then finally ran into Broadway in ....downtown?... Brooklyn. LOTS of people there. Most people were just milling around, it's hard to do much when it's so hot out! But, I also got to watch a woman throw a fit at a hotdog stand for having to pay $1.50 even though she didn't want all the toppings. That was fairly entertaining.

A grabbed a subway from there planning to go to the financial district in Manhattan. One of the stops said "Brooklyn Bridge" though, so I decided "why not?" Got off there and I walked the Brooklyn Bridge! Very touristy, I know. But it was cool! Many thanks to the guys selling water on either side of the bridge, you will make millions if every day is as hot as it was when I was there! Got to City Hall on the other side and made my way to the World Trade Center site. I was there in 2004 and really, it looks very similar--a big construction site. I wish I had seen the towers before 9/11, it would definately give me better benchmark. Then I just started wandering. I walked into the World Financial Center, down to Wall St (which was SWARMING with interns who looked way too perky for 6pm after a workday and 90 degrees outside, and eventually to the eastern shore of Manhattan. Before heading back to Avi's place, I had one more stop to make--Katz's Deli. Expensive? maybe. Delicious? ABSOLUTELY. A great meal to finish NYC with.

After a relaxing evening in Jon's apartment with Avi, Hanna, our friend Hal Belok, and a few guys who go to school with Avi, I crashed. The next morning I got all my stuff together for Israel, said goodbyes, and (in true Avi fashion) was the last person to get to the airport and board the flight from my group. Nothing like a little anxiety to get you going in the morning.

The flight to Israel was long but easy with good company and lots of things to look forward to. So, we're caught up. Kinda.

ISRAEL! Basically, I've spent time at the beach, met up with my friend Amir Cahn, gone to a great festival in Yafo, spent time at the beach, made Shabbos with Sarah, Talya, Benji and Aviva (Sarah's roommates), and ...yea... spent time at the beach. Hard life.

So, I hope you all are doing well, I apologize for the long entry. Now I'm off... to the beach. :-D

Col tuv,
AVI