Tel Aviv, Israel--- We are on the last leg of our journey in Israel, and man is the time going fast! After saying goodbye to the Lowengrubs, we hopped on the train southeast to Be'er Sheva, home of Ben Gurion Medical School, and Deb Bloch, one of my best friends from Barnard. It was both Ben's and my first time in Be'er Sheva besides a bus transfer, and you can see from the link just how much of a desert oasis the city is. Deb was an excellent hostess and guide, and explained that Be'er Sheva has a huge immigrant community (Russians, Africans) as well as a large Bedouin population. We trekked all around the city in the hot, dry climate, and I think really got a flavor of this interesting, extensive area.
Besides catching up with Deb and getting a tour of her life, another highlight of our visit was our day at the Be'er Sheva Zoological Park. Located on the outskirts of town, the zoo was very informal but really awesome, with animals ranging from guinea pigs, seagulls, and the "common cat," to leopards, falcons, and even some that we had never seen before (coati and nandus). The zoo had a surprising abundance of animals, most in chain-link fence enclosures, but some behind little more than a wooden fence. We ignored the cautionary signs on the cages and pet and fed some of the tame animals, but only with our left hands just to be safe, haha. My favorite moment of the day was watching a hyrax escape from his enclosure. He carefully crept out of a hole in the chain-link, looked both ways, and then made a run for it into the bushes across the path! We eventually notified an employee (not wearing a uniform, just riding his bike around the place), but he assured us that somebody already knew about it and that he was sure the hyrax would return home when he got hungry.
The next day we headed to Tel Aviv, and though I was a little under the weather managed to have a nice walk all over the city that evening. Our hostel is just ok--a far cry from the 94% approval rating we saw online--and is in a neighborhood to the south of the city center. The downside is that it is a little far from the beach, but the upside is that we are discovering different, less-touristy areas of the city. Last night we got a drink in Neve Tzedek, an artsy/boutiquey/hip neighborhood that reminded me of Lawrenceville in Pittsburgh (sorry to those of you who won't get that reference). In any case, it was a lot of fun, and echoed a feeling I had in Jerusalem of appreciating these places in a different, more mature way nearly three years after our Birthright trip in 2007. Today we just lounged on the beach, though, which we did plenty last time and I hope to do many times in the future as well!
Thanks for reading and pictures coming soon!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Some Loose Ends
Ok. There were definitely a lot of loose ends from our last post and the last week in general that we didn't get to write because Shabbat was coming. I also want to apologize for any poor grammar and hurried spelling!
1. Daniel had to walk Jasper, the neighbor's wiener-dog mutt
2. On the first day of Passover, Ben came back from behind to beat Yosef, the youngest Goldstein, in Battleship. This meant that Yosef had to be quiet for the rest of the day, a difficult task for such a verbose clown. If he failed, he would have to pick up Jasper's poop--he chickened out
3. The Lowengrubs made Ruth's Brisket for the seder and it was delish
4. The South Africans made their own Mayo which was really good.
5. We made little pyramid placecards with English, Hebrew and hieroglyphics for the seder, an activity which took several hours.
We finally added new pictures to the facebook album of France and we added captions describing everything. (The new pictures start at #91) See them here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=5726231&aid=2522250&s=80&hash=cebef3564626eca8978eb60b13cceb08
We also made a new album of our trip here in Israel (in Jerusalem and Rehovot). See the link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2529445&id=5726231
Tonight, we saw Alice in Wonderland. Betsy's first time seeing a 3D movie. It was strange to do an activity that is a normal recreational thing-- we haven't even watched tv in a month. So, our time here in Rehovot is ending. It was a really nice break. The Lowengrubs spoiled us a lot and we have to get ready for the "real" world again. We will miss being around such a wonderful family.
1. Daniel had to walk Jasper, the neighbor's wiener-dog mutt
2. On the first day of Passover, Ben came back from behind to beat Yosef, the youngest Goldstein, in Battleship. This meant that Yosef had to be quiet for the rest of the day, a difficult task for such a verbose clown. If he failed, he would have to pick up Jasper's poop--he chickened out
3. The Lowengrubs made Ruth's Brisket for the seder and it was delish
4. The South Africans made their own Mayo which was really good.
5. We made little pyramid placecards with English, Hebrew and hieroglyphics for the seder, an activity which took several hours.
We finally added new pictures to the facebook album of France and we added captions describing everything. (The new pictures start at #91) See them here!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=5726231&aid=2522250&s=80&hash=cebef3564626eca8978eb60b13cceb08
We also made a new album of our trip here in Israel (in Jerusalem and Rehovot). See the link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2529445&id=5726231
Tonight, we saw Alice in Wonderland. Betsy's first time seeing a 3D movie. It was strange to do an activity that is a normal recreational thing-- we haven't even watched tv in a month. So, our time here in Rehovot is ending. It was a really nice break. The Lowengrubs spoiled us a lot and we have to get ready for the "real" world again. We will miss being around such a wonderful family.
Friday, April 2, 2010
A Pascal Offering
Rehovot, Israel-- The weather has finally blossomed here and it is true what they say about it being the most beautiful time of year here in Israel. As our Birthright trip leader, Yinon, would say, "The sun is shining, the bird are singing, what a beautiful day." Ben and I are enjoying every minute in the sun, but don't worry Mom, we are drinking lots of water and I am diligent about sunscreen.
The Lowengrubs, dear friends of the Samson family, have been taking excellent care of us--we are so lucky that they were able to host us! Our seder with them was great, filled with love, meaning, delicious food, and a lot of joy. We were a total of fifteen people: seven Lowengrubs, Ben, me, and six Goldsteins (cousins from a nearby city). The Goldsteins are a crazy bunch who spontaneously burst into songs (often songs that they have written) It is very powerful to be in Israel for Passover, and everyone we've encountered has really relished the holiday.
Then there was the second Seder...For those of you who don't know, Passover began on Monday night, March 29. For Orthodox Jews not living in Israel, it is customary to have two days of Yom Tov at the beginning of the week and two days at the end of the week (actually the seventh and eighth day of Passover). Yom Tov, which literally translates to "Day Good," applies to holidays that do not take place on Shabbat, but for which many of the same Shabbat customs are observed. This means no electricity, driving, writing, etc. This discrepancy I believe stems from a time when it was impossible to be certain what day the new month began (Judaism follows a lunar calendar) and not wanting to celebrate a holiday on the wrong day. Now, even though we don't rely an Israeli high court to spread the message of which day is correct, we still uphold the tradition of two days. (This is my attempt at an abridged version.)
As Jews who are from the good ole USA, we personally hold the tradition of having a second day even though we are in Israel. That's all fine and good except it is REALLY hard to find other people who need to/want to observe a second Seder on the second night. The Lowengrubs spread the word, but as the first day drew to a close, we still had no seder to attend. Then, just in the nick of time, we got a message that the Shulls. a South African family from down the street. was having a seder for their son visiting from NYC. The son Gabi and his fiancée, Chaya, were a really nice, but we were joined by Gabi's daughter, Chani, who was a terror. She yelled about the seating, refused to ask her questions/ sing her songs and yelled about why the "chocolate frogs don't have tails." Then she downed three cups of grapejuice after dipping her whole hand in one and swirling it around. As we were leaving, she came in from the bathroom where she had been taking a bath and ran around naked, yelling "Tushy Tushy Tushy" and forcing everyone to look at her naked bum.
Thursday, Daniel and two of his friends took us on a really nice hike in the Ein Gedi region of Israel, towards the south. We thought it would be 14K in the hot sun, but one friend was not so keen on nature, so we cut it a bit short. It ended up being a sort of relaxing tour of some interesting Israeli topography, except for the loooong rope bridge across a river, a la Indiana Jones. We ended the day with a yummy barbeque on a "mangal," or disposable grill kit, and an extended session of good old American baseball...well, catch.
Other than that, we've been reading, drawing (Ben), playing tennis, lots of walking, and just enjoying the company. Our time has flown by and we are using every last minute before Shabbos to write this post. Hope to fill in any details and links soon.
Love to all!
P.S. We must admit that we are a little disappointed with the lack of comments on our Bob Marley reference. We just like to know that people are listening.
The Lowengrubs, dear friends of the Samson family, have been taking excellent care of us--we are so lucky that they were able to host us! Our seder with them was great, filled with love, meaning, delicious food, and a lot of joy. We were a total of fifteen people: seven Lowengrubs, Ben, me, and six Goldsteins (cousins from a nearby city). The Goldsteins are a crazy bunch who spontaneously burst into songs (often songs that they have written) It is very powerful to be in Israel for Passover, and everyone we've encountered has really relished the holiday.
Then there was the second Seder...For those of you who don't know, Passover began on Monday night, March 29. For Orthodox Jews not living in Israel, it is customary to have two days of Yom Tov at the beginning of the week and two days at the end of the week (actually the seventh and eighth day of Passover). Yom Tov, which literally translates to "Day Good," applies to holidays that do not take place on Shabbat, but for which many of the same Shabbat customs are observed. This means no electricity, driving, writing, etc. This discrepancy I believe stems from a time when it was impossible to be certain what day the new month began (Judaism follows a lunar calendar) and not wanting to celebrate a holiday on the wrong day. Now, even though we don't rely an Israeli high court to spread the message of which day is correct, we still uphold the tradition of two days. (This is my attempt at an abridged version.)
As Jews who are from the good ole USA, we personally hold the tradition of having a second day even though we are in Israel. That's all fine and good except it is REALLY hard to find other people who need to/want to observe a second Seder on the second night. The Lowengrubs spread the word, but as the first day drew to a close, we still had no seder to attend. Then, just in the nick of time, we got a message that the Shulls. a South African family from down the street. was having a seder for their son visiting from NYC. The son Gabi and his fiancée, Chaya, were a really nice, but we were joined by Gabi's daughter, Chani, who was a terror. She yelled about the seating, refused to ask her questions/ sing her songs and yelled about why the "chocolate frogs don't have tails." Then she downed three cups of grapejuice after dipping her whole hand in one and swirling it around. As we were leaving, she came in from the bathroom where she had been taking a bath and ran around naked, yelling "Tushy Tushy Tushy" and forcing everyone to look at her naked bum.
Thursday, Daniel and two of his friends took us on a really nice hike in the Ein Gedi region of Israel, towards the south. We thought it would be 14K in the hot sun, but one friend was not so keen on nature, so we cut it a bit short. It ended up being a sort of relaxing tour of some interesting Israeli topography, except for the loooong rope bridge across a river, a la Indiana Jones. We ended the day with a yummy barbeque on a "mangal," or disposable grill kit, and an extended session of good old American baseball...well, catch.
Other than that, we've been reading, drawing (Ben), playing tennis, lots of walking, and just enjoying the company. Our time has flown by and we are using every last minute before Shabbos to write this post. Hope to fill in any details and links soon.
Love to all!
P.S. We must admit that we are a little disappointed with the lack of comments on our Bob Marley reference. We just like to know that people are listening.
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