Eretz Yisrael

The first thing I must say is that I am SOOO disappointed in the far too few pictures we took while Jesse was in Israel. What a shame!!! Oh well, we've got the memories, we just can't share them visually.
This past month in Israel was incredible for me. I have spent 10 years of my life living here but with Jesse, I was experiencing it all for the first time all over. I was so anxious when we first arrived because I wanted to show him EVERYTHING in a week and a half. We travelled for that first week and a half and then I convinced him to stay longer with me... :) I was not ready to go back to India at that point and apparently neither was he. Well, it's really hard to sum up this trip but I will try to touch on some highlights.
We stayed with my friends Ron and Efrat near the kinneret (sea of galilee) and relaxed for a few days. Jesse and Ron hit it off and played tabla hours on end just as I had expected.
We went to Tel Aviv and Jesse met my dad. And also, as expected, they got along great. My dad broke the ice by doing some good old fashion jazz name-dropping while we ate falafel. Then we went back to his place and burned half of his CDs into Jesse's computer. Later they actually played a couple blues tunes together(ish) at a jam session and that was just krrrrazzzy :)
We went to Jerusalem and saw all the sights in the old city. Oddly, it was the ONLY place we took pictures the whole time. That first day in Jerusalem was really emotional for me. I hadn't been to the Kotel (Western Wall) in a few years and it was powerful. We also explored the Church of the Holy Seplechure and shopped in the Muslim market. By the end of the day we were drained.
We went to my friend Ori's wedding where I had a little reunion with all my kibbutz buddies. I sang for the bride and groom and Jesse drank a lot. It was a good time. Next day we went up to the kibbutz and I got to show Jesse the place, go swimming in the pool, eat in the dining hall, and go for a scenic drive...(with a very memorable view ;) That was the point when I decided to stay in Israel a month in order to cash in on some money from the army that is coming my way.
We came back to Tel Aviv and spent the next two weeks here practicing, meeting friends, hearing music, and going to the beach, and tearing up the city in a much too literal sense. We also took one more day trip to Jerusalem with my friend Yoav and went in some amazing water tunnels from hundreds of years ago.
This past week we spent in my friend Moran's mom's apartment with her 16 yr old brother. (I'm sitting in his room right now typing this). We got tickets from her dad, David Broza, to his show with Mayumana (the Israeli version of Stomp).
I have been giving out my CD to all my friends and today David called and told me he wants to sit down and talk about how to move this thing forward...!!!!! Jesse is not here with me to celebrate but just hearing those kind of words from David means so much to me. So we will see where that goes. Last night I dreamt that I met with some music agent and he handed me a check for $20,000. Maybe it was a premonition?!? :)
I'll be in Israel until the 14th of July. It feels a bit less like home without Jesse but it's nice to have some quality time with myself.
Love and misses,
Shalom!