CouchSurfing!

I don't feel inspired to write about my trip right now, but I'll tell you a bit about the people I stayed with and how that all came about.

This fall, I learned about something called CouchSurfing.com through a visitor to Cairo. The basic premise is that if you have an extra bed/couch in your home and want to host a tourist, you register with a profile and people can email you. So, being the adventurous sort that I am, I decided to try it for my Israel/Palestine trip. I already had a place to stay in Palestine, so what I needed to do was find somewhere in Israel. I mostly looked at Jerusalem b/c that's where I was going to spend most of my time.

I found a few people and exchanged emails. The best option looked like Shahar and Roni. I told them my possible dates and then called a couple of times once I got to Israel. They told me that by chance, they were going to have 3 other people there at the same time but said I could still come if I wanted!

Around midnight, after coming back from Tel Aviv and then finding their place, I met Shahar. At first, we were going to bring up an extra mattress from their downstairs neighbors, but then I suggested that I literally "surf their couch", so we moved the couch cushions to the floor of Shahar's room. That's where I slept for a total of 5 nights.

Amazing, amazing guys. Both Israeli, but not practicing Jews. It turned out that one of the other visitors was a Mormon, and the guys didn't have a problem with us having lots of religion-related discussions.

The link I put in before are to pictures of Sharar, Roni, and their friends. We all hung out in one way or another most of the nights I was there. One day, Roni carried the 35" TV downstairs to watch World Cup with his friends b/c people went to sleep early in the place I was staying. Another night, we went to a coffee house with live music, performed by friends of Roni/Shahar.

More soon about my adventures with this crew and the rest of my time around Israel/Palestine.