Day 26 - TAKE!

I hit the snooze a few times today, and made my morning preparation quick enough to still get in to work around 9.  Again, more image processing, blah blah blah.

I met Tanmay and Tamara in the square for lunch, and on our way to Jubilee we ran into Jordan, who convinced us to accompany him to San Martin.  Now, the thing to know about this place is that it is meat and all you can fit on your plate, which I don't think I ever take full advantage of.  Today, therefore, I got a pita, with the same meat stuff in it, for almost half the price, and I think I will repeat this in the future.

After lunch I returned to the lab and continued my processing.  Around 5 I found out that climbing was happening, and called Jonathan to tell him.  Soon after, when I left, I ran into Jonathan and Ari walking home, but had to let them go when Nitzan asked me to talk to his friend, who's starting a post doc at Penn in the fall, about apartment hunting in Philadelphia.   Ben called me towards the end  of this conversation, so I left and walked to an ATM as I talked to him.  I got some moolah and walked back, and finished off my conversation before going looking for Alissa.  I couldn't find her, but found Yoni and called Asaf (as Nitzan requested). This was all rather stressful for me, as the plan had changed a few times, but it all ended up ok, even though I'm sad we never located Alissa.  I knew Nitzan would be disappointed as well, as bringing some sort of "hot girl" was the condition for me being allowed to ride IN the car (as opposed to riding a skateboard off the back.  Oh that Nitzan, what a joker).   Anyway, we met Nitzan around 7:30 at the gate, and were off.

We went to the big climbing gym.  I led (and finished!) the green route that had been giving me trouble towards the end of last time, and started two new lead routes (an orange one and a yellow one).  The orange one was slightly too challenging and I couldn't get past the first 5 moves, but the yellow one was really interesting and not too bad, and I made it to the third to last move on the first try.  The second to last hold, though, gave me troubles.  I tried it about a dozen times and then decided to save it for next time.  Asaf got a brief belaying course, and he and Jonathan tried various top-roping routes.  I somehow dislodged a contact, and was advised not to put it back in my eye, so I was half-blind for the remainder of the evening, during which Nitzan obviously attempted to show me how to lead belay.  It was educational, but I want to try it much more when I can actually see and have depth perception.  

Eventually we moved over to bouldering.  This place doesn't have routes marked, so you just try stuff, or point with a big broom handle to the next hold to challenge your climbing buddies.  Nitzan kept giving me routes that were....well, challenging would be a major understatement.  It was almost torture, and I kept failing.  This combined with my earlier troubles on the yellow climb made me really frustrated.  We took a break for ice cream, then continued, and I came off the wall and sort of twisted my ankle.  This seemed to be a sign that we were finished, so we packed up and left.

When we got back, I hung out with Ari and Stephen, and tried to play guitar a bit.  Verdict: guitar experimentation is not the best idea after an exhausting night of climbing (and therefore finger exercise).  Thought you all needed to know this.

Anyway, enjoy some pictures of various signs.  The first three are from Jerusalem, the last two from Rehovot.

This is an electrical box...

A shop on Ben Yehuda Street (a very touristy area)

Sbarro in Israel

This is for Joe Coyne.  I hope he's reading this.

If you took out that dot, this could say LOL.

This is for Marje, who I also hope is reading this.

It says "Puzzland;" it's a puzzle shop.