Well. I don’t know about ya’ll, but my perfect vacation is the kind where you don’t really do much. So Cabo was pretty much perfect. Getting there was a bit of a challenge though. Flew from TLV to London and was told my flight on American Airlines to Chicago was cancelled. Naturally, I started to hyperventilate thinking I’d be stuck sleeping on a bench at Heathrow instead of eating my beloved Chipotle and “partying” with my friends in Andersonville. (By partying I mean take ridiculous staged photos and receive copius amounts of long overdue hugs.) But luckily, they managed to find me a United flight that took me SPRINTING to the terminal busses and running up to the gate just in time to hear my name be called one last final time. So, I actually got to the Chi a few hours earlier than expected, but without my luggage. See, I had my backpack and carry on bag with pretty much everything I needed for Cabo and then a HUGE suitcase filled with all my winter stuff (jackets, sweaters, hats, scarves etc.) to drop off at Vicki’s in Palatine. The baggage people scanned my luggage ticket and informed me that my bag was already enroute to Cabo. Oh well. No biggie.
Anyhow, Alex, Greg and my mom were at O’Hare to pick me and lots of hugs all around. Got home and was going to take a little nap (I could not for the life of me sleep on the plane) but instead starting trying on clothes I had forgotten I even had. So I actually came back to Israel with some “new” stuff. And Alex gave me a super cool 1983 White Sox hat equipped with a Dr. Steve Brule pin. Best hat ever. Then Marina came over and just like how it is with any pair of best friends, it felt like 7 days as opposed to 7 months had gone by since our last meeting. Then Alex, Marina and myself went to Mecca (Chipotle) and I got my usual barbacoa fajita burrito (onions and peppers instead of beans) with rice, cheese, lettuce, medium salsa, sour cream and guac on the side so I can evenly distribute it to each and every delicious bite. Had Marina take a picture for all my homies back in Ramle. You’re welcome and I’m sorry all at the same time. Then off to the city for fun filled times.
Thank you to everyone who came out to see me for just a few short hours. It was just amazing to see you all. I had an amazing time and thank you Marina and Ryan for hosting a party. And thank you especially to Marina who drove me to the airport on 3 hours of sleep. I love you so much. Just a little over 2 more months. : )
Once I was back at O’Hare, I found out my flights were all messed up so while the lady at the check-in was fixing that, she was also trying to figure out what had happened to my luggage because she didn’t see anywhere where it said it was on its’ way to Cabo. That took a very long time and nothing about my luggage was figured out so I just sort of hoped for the best. After Dallas/Ft. Worth, I was finally in Cabo but guess what wasn’t? The man at the airport could not have been nicer trying to figure out where (literally) in the world my luggage could have been. He finally did and told me it would be driven to my hotel when it came in. So then I had to find Steph and her parents who I knew were probably very worried about me since the whole suit case mystery took about 45 minutes to be taken care of. I went out one exit which was very very wrong and had to wait for someone else to go through the automatic doors before I could go back in. FINALLY saw my wife and we were all very relieved to be together.
Let me just first of all say how incredibly generous and kind Steph’s parents are. I had to practically beg her dad to let me buy icecream one night since paying for dinner was totally out of the question. After I was picked up, we went to Costco (yes. Costco in Cabo. Lots of tourists.) and stocked up on delicious meats and drinks and foods. Then, we got to the Fiesta Americana and it was heaven on earth. The lobby, smells like mint. They just continuously pump mint infused air and for the remainder of the time there, I would walk into the lobby just to smell the air. But this place was incredible. It was huge and had like 8 pools and jacuzzis and was right on the beach and you had to take a GOLF CART to get to your room from the lobby. !!!!! I got to ride on the back of a golf cart too many times to count and it was awesome. Apparently, the place was at full capacity but you would have no idea. It felt empty. It was awesome. Steph and I had our own condo basically the size of our apt. in Ramle equipped with 2 flat screen tvs, 2 bathrooms, hers and hers sinks, a California king sized bed, a kitchen, AND a HUGE bath tub with bubble jets with a view of the flat screen in our room. It was amazing. Everyday was wake up around 8 or 9, eat a muffin, put on bathing suit, and lay out at the pool for a few hours. Had the same spot every morning.
So after a few days, my luggage did finally arrive. I came back to the room after lunch to find it there and also 2 messages from Emelio at the front desk. Message #1 at 11:27 AM: “Hello, Mrs…Vakselis. Uh, your luggage is in the front lobby so you can pick it up whenever you get this message. Thank you, have a nice day.” Message #2 at 11:31 AM: “Hello. Your luggage is being brought to your room so it will probably be there…when you listen to this message. Have a nice day.” : )
Good thing that came out of the missing luggage is the $100 I got to spend on things I didn’t neccessarily need that will be reimbursed. Got a new bikini top. A really good one. Like, with an underwire. Also some lavendar baby oil, spray on tanning oil, Olay moisturizer, and 2 pairs of sunglasses. Woot woot!
Cabo wasn’t entirely sunning and eating though. We also went to Cabo Wabo which is owned by Sammy Hagar and danced to a Cabo cover band. Highlight? I think yes. Also went to the actual Hotel California and ate lunch. So, I guess it was just a lot of eating. Which is perfect.
Coming home was much easier than getting to Cabo. I was sat next to an older Australian gentleman in the flight from Dallas to London who was not a very big fan of America in general or Bush in particular. He was very drunk. Talked to me a lot and was a big toucher. Not like, in a creepy way. More in just like a drunk guy way. Like, “Bush is the worst American president of all time and I’m going to emphasize this point by grabbing your arm and squeezing it for a few seconds periodically.” He eventually took a sleeping pill and passed the fuck out. London to TLV was better. Sat next to a British guy who was on his way to Jerusalem for business. He was a much better flight companion mainly due to the fact that he didn’t use physical contact to reiterate a point and didn’t reek of cheap airport bloody marys. As soon as the plane landed, Nosa Nosa was playing on the International Hits station in my El Al seat console. It was almost as if Israel knew I was back and played it just for me. “Nosa, Nosa. Asim voce me mata!” If I go more than a few days without hearing that song, I begin to doubt everything I ever knew about myself and the world.
Getting back on a regular sleep schedule has taken all week though. Got home around midnight Sunday night and couldn’t fall asleep til 7. The renewed discovery of internet had a major effect on my not trying to go to bed til this very late (early?) hour. Stupid internet. I finally had to pull an all nighter Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon to get back on track. In the meantime, I bought a whole lot of food including some awesome chicken marinades. Like woah. Where have these jars of sticky goo been all my life? My meals have really been kicked up a notch. I bought 4 different kinds since I wasn’t entirely sure what they all were. On the upper left hand corner of each jar is a handy little picture indicating the flavor and so far, so, so, SO good. Even roasted some potatoes and carrots with onions a few times. Like an actual cook.
Going back to school was not as difficult as I had thought it might be. Mainly because Tuesday was a special “sports” day and by “sports”, I do mean bouncee gyms and throwing a ball at a wooden board of fake grafitti and other things of that nature. Thursday was Yom Ha’Shoah so there was a ceremony in the morning with the alarm going off for about a minute. That day, everyone had to wear white which I only knew because Nir had mentioned it in an email. So Steph and I have on white shirts and so does everyone else except for 3 or 4 kids who are taken into a classroom while everyone else is outside on the court watching and participating in the service. I think that there are extra white t-shirts for these kids to wear and that they’ll be coming back soon but they never did and I realized that they were punished for not wearing white. So I asked Emma about it and she said that it’s true, they weren’t allowed to participate. I was confused. “Isn’t it strange to punish these kids for being different on Holocaust Day of all days?” “But, Jordan. It is the law.” Um. Ok. Steph had to pretty much drag me away cuz I was about to get really real. On an entirely different note, that same day one of my 6th graders, Daniel, who just has a way of popping up everywhere I am (“Hey Jordan! WhatCHA dooooin?”) informed me that my face looks fatter. “Uh. Daniel. That’s not a very nice thing to say.” “Yeah. Well, I don’t know. You just look fatter than before.” Oh. Ok, thanks.
This Tuesday, we will be going to Latrun for Yom Ha’Zikaron (Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day…I totally just wiki’d that). It’s supposed to be a very somber day so I am very interested in experiencing it. Sirens go off and everyone in the country stops whatever they’re doing and stand and listen. Like, if they’re driving, they stop and get out of the car. We then have the rest of the week off so hopefully the weather ill be nice and we can go to the beach or something.
That’s all I got for now. I have reconnected with some friends from my past which makes me very very happy. Super stoked to have Pedo and Chris Christopherson back to make me laugh til I cry. I’m gonna go continue my random marathon of Revenge. Guilty pleasure like woah. Oh, I also got 2 issues of my personal bible, Entertainment Weekly, and read them cover to cover (special summer movie review double issue!!!) and am sooo excited for some new tv shows. I really liked “Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23” and of course “Girls”. “Best Friends Forever” is pretty cute too. Def reminds me of Marina, Ryan and myself. Also looking very forward to “Veep”. On a totally different topic, putting your ipod on shuffle for a few hours while you’re tanning and pretty much asleep is awesome because then you have a great new playlist of Recently Played songs you don’t often hear like Dear Diary by Spears, Adia by MacLachlan, and Back in Baby’s Arms by Cline. Byeeeeeee.
jordiblythe7 