Saving the Shekels

So my mom left this morning :(. Now I'm back on my own money and no more fancy dinners or private hotel rooms with a view. After luxuriating in a clean shower and laying about in bed for most of the morning, I finished packing my things and left the fancy hotel. The 7 block trek to my hostel seemed much longer than it had when mom and I'd passed it the other day. But I guess that's the difference between carrying nothing and carrying all your supplies for an entire year.

The hostel seems really friendly and is surprisingly clean. It costs about $16 a night, so that's a pretty decent deal. I'm in a six bed dorm style room, although when I arrived, it appeared that only 2 people had claimed beds. Perhaps this will be the case or perhaps more people will arrive. Either way, I'm not concerned. The showers and toilet are remarkably clean and the staff are really friendly. Plus, breakfast is included! I've budgeted to stay under about $40 per day or 160 shekels. The room was 67, so that means I have 90 to spend for food and activities. There's a grocery store next door, and you can buy falafel for cheap, so that's good. Plus, the beach here is free. So I plan to lay out on the beach for the next 4 days and take a break from the hectic sightseeing I've been doing. I'm pretty excited about it. I have to say I don't envy all my friends trudging through snow and cold wind to class right now. I just keep imagining where I'd be if I'd stayed at CMU and though I miss all my friends very much, I'd still choose a beach in Tel Aviv over class at CMU.

That being said, I'm a little bummed that I'll be all alone for Thanksgiving this year. I mean... it won't even exist here. I'm going to have a Thanksgiving-less year entirely! Maybe I'll seek out some other Americans and we can all chip in to make cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes... mmmmm.... Speaking of which, I'm starving. I'm going to go spend a few meager shekels on the cheapest falafel I can find and then I'll head to the beach! Shalom y'all!