Looking up recipes online.

Ezra, Ben and Hannah preparing food

Jacki cracking eggs

Ezra making burgers

The vegetarians playing with meat

our american feast...baked macaroni and cheese, CHEESE burgers, eggs benedict and dessert pasta (butter sugar and cinnamon)

happiest kids ever



I am so happy here. Beyond just loving Israel, and being someplace new, learning something new, and seeing, learning, knowing so many little new things everyday, I have also found a wonderful group of people that I dont know what I would do with out here. It will be so nice to have a network of people around the US who all had the same wonderful experience together when we get back. It is also amazing to know that anytime that I return to Israel I will have a whole group of olim chadashim (new immigrants...well old immigrants by then) that I love who live here. Anyway, we were all missing American food hardcore (you can only eat hummus, falafel and shnitzel so many times). We decided that an American feast was the best solution. We spent all day saturday cooking and listening to music and hanging around and it was one of the best days I have had in a while. We refused to eat all day while we cooked, so when it was finally done we all gorged on our smorgusbourg of delicious food. (note the giant smiles as we hold our food). We titled the day "LO OD CHUMUS" ---NO MORE HUMMUS :)

The Sukkah!!!



inside the Sukkah

Lulav and Etrog

Ben, Ezra, Jeramias in the Sukkah


Jacki, Hannah, me before Chag Ha-Mayim.

Dancing on stage in front of the pool.

dancing on platforms over pool

again

dancing with jugs


children singing

fire on the water


fire being put out by "rain"

adorable little girl that kept coming over and picking leaves off, saying "i love you, i dont love you, i love you, i dont love you" as she pulled each leaf off.

Its raining!!! It is officially the rainy season here. It has rained every day for the last few days. So far I have really enjoyed it, it's a nice change from all the very hot weather, and Israel needs it, it has been a very hot dry year, but I think I will get sick of it soon. We were given winter coats today (we all look like a little homeless-they are hand me downs from kibbutzniks, so they are all ripped, and too big, especially on the girls.) The rain actually started two days after the Chag Ha-Mayim (water holiday). The Kibbutz puts on a beautiful festival the night of Chag Ha-mayim. The original kibbutzniks composed a show of songs and dances to celebrate the harvest and pray for rain. They have done the same performance every year since this was created in the first few years of the kibbutz. When the dancers get too old or dont want to do it again, they teach the dances to the new generation. It's beautiful. The whole performance is on top of the swimming pool and at the end they light a fire and float it in the middle of the pool.

After that there was a big party at the Kibbutz pub a "disco" party, so there was lots of dancing and drinking and everyone was there. It was great to be able to hang out with all the kibbutzniks that I see when I am working in the dining hall.

The kibbutz is so secular that generally the ulpanists are much more excited about the holidays than the kibbutzniks. For sukkot we requested a sukkah for the Ulpan and decorated it. My friend Hannah and I were chief decorators.

Enjoy the pictures :)

L'shana Tova! So, it's a little late, but I want to wish everyone a happy new year full of love and success and goodness. I enjoyed my holiday, even though I missed going to services at the Temple I know, with all the people I love, and really really missed having the whole family at my house for dinner (well, they were there, I just wasn't). I spent Rosh Hashanah at the Hecht's, who invited me to their family lunch/dinner. It turns out that Jewish family events are basically the same, no matter what continent you are on: loving family, good conversations and chopped liver. :) I really appreciate how welcoming they have been, I feel like I have family here, which is beyond life saving.
We had a Rosh Hashanah party at the Ulpan...it was pretty much the cutest thing ever. Our teachers arranged it, and the three classes each sang different songs and prayers, and our class (kittah alef, aka first grade) put on a little play. I was one of the two stars of the play...the pot of honey! I wish I had pictures, but unfortunately I don't. Use your imagination...I was adorable :)
I spent Yom Kippur in Jerusalem with 5 of my friends from the Ulpan. We spent the day walking around the Old City. The Jewish Quarter was completely closed, but the Arab Quarter was open, and we shopped in the huge shuk, where I bought two beautiful scarves and some earings (I know you all care about the details of my life :)...). We prayed at the Western Wall in the morning, but towards the afternoon were incredibly bored, and since everything was closed, we just hung out and lay around on the lawn of the YMCA. We went to services in the King David Hotel and then went to THE BEST bar in Jerusalem, Mike's Place, where we were able to break our fast with burgers and cheese fries and calzones (turns out I reeaalllyyy miss american food!). The best part of the whole trip was the hostel we stayed at. For 30 shekels (like 10 dollars) we got to sleep on the roof. I slept under the stars and woke up to a gorgeous panoramic view of Jerusalem.

The City of Akko

City walls


Ben, Hannah, Rachel walking up the ramp to the top of the city walls


View from top of ramp...cannons on the right and the consistently gorgeous blue sky above (I LOVE this country)



more walls and the Haifa bay


Akko from the walls


Walls surrounding the bay


Bay


Shuk (market)

So many beautiful spices...I couldn't name any of them..except the paprika


Fish


More fish


pretty shiny things


Hannah eating the HUGE mango we bought at the Shuk.

The Shuk was so huge and overwhelming, we couldn't manage to buy anything but that mango. It was actually a fraction of its normal size because it is Ramadan. There were many winding corridors that were empty of stands. We are planning to go back when it is its full size, but I can't imagine being able to do anything but stare. I really enjoyed it, for the most part. It went back and forth between smelling deliciously like spices and shisha and incense, and FISH. Luckily there was enough fruit, spices, candy, clothing, hookas, random shiny things and hand carved instruments to make up for the fresh fish and raw meat stands (I couldnt bring myself to take pictures of those...take my word for it..they were gross).
After the Shuk, we went to the beach. Like always, it was lovely and warm and the weather and sky were picture perfect.
More to come later, Love Love Love!