Monday, Tel Aviv

We had to get up at 4:45am to get to the airport. Uch!
The arrival in Israel was very emotional for me--I began to cry as we touched down and i saw the sign saying "Ben Gurion Airport." Ok, so I set myself up with a soundtrack for landing, too-one of those wonderful nationalistic pop songs from the 70s, "Eretz Eretz"--you know, of the sweet soprano, Shuli Natan variety--and she is singing about the "sun of milk and honey" ETC...and I'm feeling like I have personally been airlifted out of the ghetto...I swear it had something to do with bringing those souls along with me. The heaviness of the first part of the trip was somehow mediated by this landing. landing home.
The first thing I did was RUN to get into my bathing suit and race to the beach for a walk and a swim...sun of milk and honey indeed! It's really my beach-after three summers in the opera program and walking this stretch of the Mediterranean every morning or evening- it's home. I got a good dose of sun, salt and sand, and then we went to Kibbutz palmachim to witness an unbelievable sunset and be together for dinner. More healing.
And from there to an air force base next door where we heard some amazing speeches from soldiers, learned of a trip they had taken to Auschwitz and watched a film about it , "Risen from the Ashes," and THEN got to hear a short concert with Shiri Maimon, Israel's hottest pop star. It's not my genre, but she was GREAT. She was runner up on the Israeli version of American Idol, Kochav Nolad (A star is born), and was also sent as a representative from israel to the Eurovision contest. She was fantastic. Totally a star.
Tomorrow...another concert!! Long day ahead.