Best time of my life

My life is too good to be true right now. Last night was one of the best nights of my life - in all honesty, it might have been the best night of my life. I went to my first "monsoon party" which is like a massive rave out in nature, usually in a forest or the desert. The selected location for this party was Kibbutz Beit Oren, a kibbutz situated at the top of the tallest mountain in the Carmel. To get there we had to drive up a slightly terrifying, twisting road on the edge of a cliff up the mountain. Mount Carmel national park is there, it looks beautiful. We made it to the top in one piece, parked and hiked up to the entrance. The sight took my breath away. A glimmering swimming pool on one side overlooks a magnificent view of the mountains and the sea in the distance; hundreds of people are having picnics and basking in the sun; one tent sells food and drinks and another tent opens up to the entrance to the dance floor. 'Dance floor' isn't even the right term - it was simply a massive, open space with hundreds of people dancing. The thing I loved the most about the place was that everyone came there to dance. Not like a dance bar where people are concerned with how they look and socializing, but a place where everyone completely lets go, does their own thing and dances freely and naturally and happily. I loved it immediately. I loved the energy; it was impossible to keep your body still. After a short dip in the pool and a food break, my friends and I danced for six hours!!! I was completely absorbed into the music. It felt amazing and so freeing -- these exciting trance beats building to intense crescendos that you just throw your body into, the wind blowing across your face, everyone around me smiling and dancing like they don't have a care in the world - and thinking that I'm here in Israel, surrounded by Jews, in the place that I finally always wanted to be, dancing openly to the wind and the sky and the mountains, with the sweet fresh air and the distant smell of horses from the kibbutz, and the creak of crickets and other animals in the underbrush - I almost cried I felt so happy.
I could have danced all night.

The one downside was that I wanted so badly to dance barefoot; I felt I could have felt even freer barefoot! but the dance area was covered with pieces of hay and dirt and pebbles that were quite painful. I ended up getting one painful splinter for which I had to enlist the lifeguard's help in removing, and after that I put my shoes back on :)
The other amazing thing about the party was the diversity of the crowd - whole families came to dance, even with babies! Children and dogs ran loose through the dance floor and they loved it. I couldn't believe it at the end of the night when I was leaving and I saw two boys, about 8 or 9 years old, still playing and dancing together. I hope I could be that cool of a mom to bring my future family to a party like that! I also saw a mom with a body better than mine holding her child and I was stunned - I simply don't understand how you can give birth and have a body like that. (it's easy if you're a celebrity and have personal chefs and trainers - but how do these Israeli women do it?!?) ah the mysteries of life.

My Tel Aviv apartment hunt continues - no luck yet but I'm staying optimistic! :-)
and spent another beautiful afternoon today on the Tel Aviv beach... it's getting hotter every day :-)
Even though I have yet to find a home and master the language and all the other tasks that lay before me, I feel absolutely content, so completely happy and fortunate, that I can do nothing but smile :-)