yesterday

yesterday i went to tel aviv to reunite with a long lost bbyo friend, hilla. i took the sheirut with my friendly roommate jon and when we reached the bus station we went our separate ways. i then got on a city bus (sorry dad), bus 5, to get to dizengof center. arriving at dizengof center was a bit eerie, since i walked in, took one look around the mall, realized it's the mall i'd been to with birthright, and knew my way around far better than i know the back of my hand. who knows the back of their hand, anyway? whatever. i visit a mall once, i know it for life. sick. it's just a thing i've always had.

ok, so i was going to meet hilla at castro, which is a trendy clothing store and i figured i'd do some browsing since they have GREAT accessories. this castro is different than all others, as it's 3 stories (women, men, kids) and is absolutely beautiful! it kinda reminds me of express actually, a lot. so i'm browsing... of course a little t-shirt catches my eye and i fall in lust. i pick it up, decide to try it on and before i know it, lust turns into love. clothes in israel are pretty gosh darn expensive. i mean it probably doesn't seem like much, but this little black shirt cost 125 shekel, which is like $30ish. i have a shopping problem. i LOVE buying stuff, but generally ONLY if it's on sale. this is to rationalize with myself that it's okay to buy something cause if i'd paid full price for it, i'd be out way more money.. soooo if it costs more than $20, i generally walk away. if i'm still thinking about the item a week later, i'll go back to the store, and if they have my size, i try it on again and see how i feel. if they don't have my size, then i know we just weren't meant to be. sigh. i have such serious issues. anyway... back to castro. sadly, i knew what i had to do and folded up the precious lil tshirt and moved onto the shoes. 

hilla calls and we embrace in the middle of the store. she says "you look the exact same!" and i'm like... so do you.. and then we leave and go on our way. 

we head toward the arts and crafts fair, which is every tuesday and friday morning in tel aviv. as we walk, we're talking and catching up, and all of a sudden some girl goes, heyyyy! and i look closely and am thinking, gee, this face looks awfully familiar. then i pick up a bit of hebrew and hear hilla say, lachazor meeshell? m'bbg? and i realize DAMN it's INBAR! i went to iltc with this girl, too, she was in my dorm, hadn't seen her in 8 years, either... Inbar is very tall and has a perfect figure and pretty blue eyes, and at iltc she had really short hair and seemed very attitudey.. i was kinda scared to talk to her back then. anyway, now she's got really long hair and is in med school and as hilla said, "she's just one of those perfect people.. she's supersmart, but she's like a barbie doll." I could not belieeeeeve we ran into her!   

we keep walking. i tell hilla i really want to decorate my apt. and she's like oooh i know a place. it's at the shuk here, you can get pictures/art for the walls so cheap! they're like 5 for 50 shekel. and i'm like, PERFECT! then she asks me about where i've been living, and before i can explain the whole subletting story, another girl stops hilla and says HEY! and hilla's like omg. and i look at this girl, who's with her mom, and immediately i'm like holy shit.. it's Inbal.. another girl from my dorm at iltc that year. so weird. if i hadn't been with hilla, there's no way i would've recognized these girls... crrrazy!!

then we go to the shuk.. it's a lot like jerusalem but i feel like it's a tad (not much, but a tiny, tiny, tiny bit) more organized.