Tel Aviv sea during storm

Friday at work everyone was talking about "The Storm." It rained for 5 minutes and we thought "Hm...typical."  On Saturday the skies were cloudy (which is odd for us) and in the afternoon it started to get darker.  We would have walked to our friend's apartment by the beach around 7pm had we not been running late - but we were, so we jumped in a cab.  

My picture from same spot in May.

The driver was hesitant to drive down by the water - the obvious route.  We understood why when the sea came into view and the biggest waves I have ever seen were crashing over the stone walls that usually protect the beach.  As we paid the cabby and stepped out of the cab we were hit by much stronger winds than we were feeling 1 mile in from the shore.  Our friends like on the 17th floor with a balcony looking over the water and from there you could see (and feel) that this really was a storm.  

Leaving their apartment that night we were hit immediately by the 60mph winds!  Before bed we brought in our plants, stacked our furniture and closed all of the protective shields on the windows...just in case.

Sunday morning worse.  We unclogged the drains outside a few times to let the water drain down and re-staked our poor little fruit trees that were right at the end of wind tunnel. (Two of them were uprooted and quickly replanted.)  Sunday was consistently rainy and windy and one set of friends opted to not have us drive over to their place by the sea because it was "too dangerous to drive."  We didn't understand.  It wasn't THAT bad by us.  

So we went North to a co-workers for dinner.  The horrific traffic on the way was due to a few downed branches (very small) and blinking traffic lights. (Side note: Israel is one country where blinking yellow lights are not okay as all of the drivers are pushy and impatient - myself included - so we ALL push our way into the center of the intersection and one by one weave through...oh so inefficient!)

Anyway, getting there was bad but doable. The way home...another story.  The wind was blowing the rain almost horizontally and the slight flooding on the highways made the lines invisible (the lines here aren't straight...so you can't guess where your lane is!).  It was only the third time in my life that I have pulled over on the side of the road because the conditions were so bad.  We made it to a circle in the city only to find that part of it we had to go through was flooded.  (I later went to get a picture of this and the water was halfway to my knees!) 

The real surprise was when we got home.  I went straight to the front to check the patio drains which were flooded.  I put on a coat and some flip flops and ran out the side door (the water was up to the front door) to clear the drain.  I pushed away the debris (and nothing happened) and I ran around to the back to clear the other drain.  The water was deeper in back (above my ankles..on our 6th floor balcony!), it was dark and I couldn't find the drain.  Enter the hail.  I am getting pelted with little hail balls, standing in 4 inches of water in my flip flops...and I locked myself out. 

Paul came to the rescue and as I slipped into the house (literally slipping, not sneaking...falling) he ran to the back room to turn on the lights.  "Jen...come look at this!"  Not only was the light not working, but the room was flooded.  Water was coming in from under the door to the patio in the back where I couldn't find the drain.  Begin the frantic soaking-up, wringing out, clearing debris, calling for help, heaving buckets of water off the balcony.

Two hours later (midnight), after the government services guy left, the floor was drying and at least the back drain was working.  This is when I grabbed my camera and ran to get pictures of the flood (which I'll post later).  

The drive to work took an hour the next morning as the roads were flooded and many lights were out.  The beach was...and still is...a mess.

Oh, my poor car!

The light turns green…verrrmmmmmm…buh buh buuuuh. We jerk forward, jump 2 or 3 times, and stop. “It’s okay. Just start the car and we’ll try again.”

Verrrmmmmmmmmmm…buh buh buuuh. (Sigh…count to three.) “Okay, maybe a little less gas this time, and let off the clutch slowly.” Verrrmmmmm…buuuuh. (Oh, my poor car!)

The first driving lesson went VERY well! We woke up at 630am on Saturday morning, and because it is shabbot the religious can’t work – and driving a car is work. Luckily we aren’t that kind of religious so it was the perfect time for us to work on learning how to drive our new manual car. After three rounds of explanation on how to start the car, how to start moving forward and how to shift into second gear Paul repeated the directions back to Jen and they were off. Perfect start! You would have though Paul had been driving stick for years! Honestly.

We went one block, hit traffic and Jen drove back to a quiet street. The second start was a little rougher, but after just one stall we were moving! Paul gracefully stopped and started at the stoplight, turning left onto the four-lane road to Hertzalia (the suburbs to the north) and making it into 4th gear successfully. Paul was doing a great job…until the stop light. We sat through four reds, or more so, we didn’t make it through four reds. Verrmmmmm…buh buh buuuuh. I was starting to think this might be enough damage to the car for one day when someone knocked on the window…with a badge! Oh no!!! I don’t speak Hebrew well enough to talk my way out of a ticket! Is this illegal?!?!

“Roving patrol, is everything okay?.” (Roving patrol is like our own personal security, not Israeli. Their job is to protect us as opposed to society at large. We’ve had a few embarrassing encounters like this one where they think we need to be saved from some danger like us blowing our own fuses while cooking dinner.) Anyway, roving patrol was passing by and noticed us stopped in the middle of the road, sitting through 4 green lights and just wanted to make sure we weren’t having car problems. Nope…just learning how to drive. Thanks!

We made it through the light on the next try, drove through downtown Hertzalia, stopped at a red light on a hill with traffic, went around a circle and headed back home. The hour-long lesson was much more successful than expected and as a result we were out driving for about an hour! At this rate, Paul will be driving us to work very soon! US. Yes, US to work. Jen started work on Monday!!!

(We found out two days later that you have to have a special license to drive stick here! We are pretty sure that we are good on that though until we get the Isreali/international driver's licenses...we hope.)