The Flight over and Our first day in Tel Aviv

Well we made it to our flights throughout the day on Saturday.  We made it into Tel Aviv about 2:30 in the afternoon their time and about 3 a.m. Arizona time.  The Long flight over wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Todd had made fun of me for buying a sleep mask and ear plugs, like my mom said I should, but when it came down to it, he nudged me from across the isle, (no, we didn't get to sit by eachother, but at least we were across from one another) and sheepishly asked for the 'goods' to help him sleep.  I had gone to the instacare the night before we left thinking I had strep throat or a sinus infection, and the doc said I didn't have either of those, but because I had been fighting something for over seven days, I needed and antibiotic and some cough syrup with codine.  I didn't complain, and was glad to have gotten a once over by a doc, before going to a foreign country.  And let me tell, you people out there, cough medicine with codine is a gift, on a 11 hr flight!  I had to get up after sleeping for about four hours cause my behing felt buised.  as I was shuffling down long isles, I found a place at the back of the plane to stand for a while.  A guy sat down in one of those folding jumper seats (I think that is what they are called, they just fold up against the wall of the plane)and since he looked a slight bit gay and it was dark, I slurred the phrase out at him, "are you a stewardess?"  he shook his head while crossing his leggs and asked, "do I look like one?"  I slurred an apology and found another dark corner to stand and feel stupid.  When we got off the plane and were standing in line to have our passports stamped, I tried to take a picture of the 'foreign passport' booth and the young lady inside waved her finger at me in a no-no fashion and yelled something in whatever language they speak here and I got the impression, they didn't want me to take a picture of that.  so i hung my camera around my neck, and took a picture instead of bringing it to my face.  Still got the shot but that cranky young chic,(she looked 20) will never know.
I'm telling you, you know you are in a foriegn country when; nothing is in English, obviously, and even the converstaions you hear off to your side, are in several different languages other than the one you thought was spoken there.
We called the number we were given to get out taxi service to come get us at the airport.  they said to look for a guy in a white shirt with a blue tie.  We saw one and approached him, and he waved us away, and said' I not da guy youd want'  well, 15 min latter, yes he was and he just didn't know that!  He was from a company that was call Limo service, or something with the word LImo in it.  Well, how excited was I to think we were finially gonna ride in a limo!  Of course as you may have guessed, it was just a long van with a tall box added to the top for headroom.  You know the one that you sometimes see people getting out of that have someone else in a wheechair.  So, that was strange.  Our hotel is just off the beach of the Mediterain.  As Todd is checking us in, I look around the lobby and notice the pool area just outside a glass door and there waiting to have her picture taken, was a women in a nice thong swim suit.  Yes I took a picture of her through the door.  He butt didn't look that great my friends.  No one will ever look great with that small piece of fabric
riding up their butt crack. Ever.
So we got to our room and took a strange nap, you know the one where you can still hear everything, so you know you aren't really sleeping great.  People here honk continually, everywhere, for no apparent reason it seems.  We got on our swimsuits and took our white bodies, yes we are not tanned even though we live in Arizona, and stolled along the beach.  The water was very clear, and there was enough naked babies, and scantily clad men and women there to have started a small porn shop of sorts.  So we did that quickly and got outta there. 
They were playing a great looking game on the beach with what looked like ping pong paddles only bigger and the ball looked bigger and sounded like it was a harder plastic.  I will have to look around and see if I can find some.
We came back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.  I noticed that there must have been a women with long black hair who stayed in our room before us because some of her hair was still in the bathtub.  Ah, America is way cleaner than this place!
Our taxi driver, I"m sure was trying to get us all killed.  I had to stop looking out the front window so I wouldn't start screaming!  The lines down the middle of the road to seperate the lanes are apparently only suggestions here.  People on bikes and cars and you name it were driving around like batts out of you know where! 
We made it there in one piece and where able to enjoy and interesting dinner with our group.  Now, I'm glad to be here, don't get me wrong, but that uncomfortable feeling I would get when I'm around Todd's co workers, still came with me over the ocean.  It isn't anything they are doing, it's like being the third wheel on a date.  The converstation isn't about anything you know about.  So imagine that with six men at the table and four wives who were trying to make weird small talk about something else.
I orderd crab soup, and yes , just like you I thought it would come to me with chunks of crab meat in a thick bisque of some kind, but no.  It came in a huge bowl with the entire body of not one but two crabs lying in a pool of creamy white liquid.  I did the best that I could, but got little to no meat out of it.  I realized, us Americans must be super lazy and expect the crab already out of the body, or that is the way they do it here.  I took lots of pictures thus far, but Todd's computer isn't ready my memory card for some reason, so I will try another method latter. I better go get ready for the day.  Maybe I will find more long black hairs somewhere else in the bathroom.  Wow, are we spoiled there in America!