Pesach

I guess in this case, it's better late than never...

Happy Pesach!! Two weeks ago! If you’re Jewish!

Pesach, "Passover" in English, celebrates Moses freeing the slaves from Egypt and their journey to the promise land.

We had Monday and Tuesday off then the following Friday-Monday. Let me start out by saying it sucks that we can only go places on Shabbat (when the country pretty much shuts down) and on holidays. (when the country pretty much shuts down) So, we took a day trip to Akko, which is a old Arab town on the coast. We walked around, window shopped, partook in the Shuk, and ate hummus with mushrooms and 'hummus with hummus' ('hummus with hummus' is how they explained we could order plain hummus. Love Israeli English. Similar, but not as cute, as my American Hebrew.

I experienced my first Seder with a host family on the kibbutz. I didn't know what to expect and I have to say I loved my first Seder. Everyone took turns reading out of the Haggadot (stories and blessing special to Pesach) It felt like no one was listening but everyone would shout 'amen'! and pour another glass of wine. All of the family took turns explaining what was going on and made jokes the whole time. As always the food was epic and never ending. By the end of dinner the family was telling me the benefits of dating a man who has been circumcised. I was dying of laughter. I told them that most men are circumcised in the states and not to worry. It then led into what kind of Jewish man I should marry so I can stay in Israel. We aren't picky: Jewish, doctor (preferably plastic surgeon to work on my host family's grandma;) her words not mine, 'McDreamy' status, non religious, non kibbutznik, Israeli AND American humor. (good luck with that) As you can see, men like this are everywhere, so if I don't come home, it's because my host family is pimp'n me out. Dinner lasted four hours and I stayed and talked for a fifth. It was my favorite holiday so far.

Side note:

I have had my first set of allergies this spring (this will come full circle, back to Pesach in a second) Hali and I have been DYING in our room! A tree is pollinating right outside our window and makes both of us a sneezing, dripping, itchy MESS!!! After dinner at my host family's, I walked in my room and in about .5 seconds my eyes were so swollen I could barely see. In retrospect, if Roni had seen me, she probably would have taken me to the hospital. I walked outside and grabbed two cucumbers from my neighbor, and stood with them on my eyes for half an hour. The swelling went down, and after one long night, my eyes were back to their normal, red, itchy, allergic selves. It's been a fun few weeks in the Chali house hold.

We decided to rent a car for the four days we had off and see some things we hadn't seen. We started with a trip to a artist colony called Zefat. It is one of the four cities in Israel that is considered holy by the Jewish. It was so beautiful. All made of cobble stones, alley ways, art galleries around every corner.  We beat the rain and only got a little wet as we walking to our car.


Our "student midget" car



Singing to the Hebrew radio




Entrance to Zefat

Northern Israel is so beautiful and lush this time of year. We drove past the Sea of Galilee on our way to Nazareth.

Let me tell ya folks, there ain't a lot to see in Nazareth. We thought it would be like Jerusalem, full of ruins, churches, and history...Not so. It looked like a ghetto. Nothing was kept up on, the signs were horrible, and very few sites to see. After driving in circles looking for the churches, we decided to pursue on foot and shortly realized we were going to get nowhere this way. We finally found a pack of tourist and followed them in our tiny car. We tried to park several times in an alley way that was only inches wider then our car with no luck. After maneuvering around a parked car in the middle of the road, we turn a corner and end up in the middle of Shuk. Literally. We start hysterically laughing as a man comes running at us waving his arms. I had to get out of the car and direct as Marissa did a 72 point turn in the alley way. She rocked! We decided to get out of Nazareth as fast as we could. We saw one Greek Orthodox Church, snapped a picture and tried to avoid the senior citizens as we maneuvered our way out.

We stopped in Nahariyya for a lovely dinner at our favorite restaurant, Penguin, and spent the rest of the night enjoying dinner and each other. I'll say so I remember in years to come, several secrets came out this night and waiter witnessed one well timed "why didn't you tell me?!" slap. Priceless.

It rained the next day so our plans for hiking and a possible rafting excursion was cancelled but we got some great food shopping done, and sight-seeing trip to Rosh Hanikra. It's a cliff on the border of Lebanon that was drilled into during World War II for the potential transport of goods, and people into Europe. Now, it's beautiful caves and wild-ish life surrounding them. We finished off the night with a sushi rolling session, and ate wonderful meal all together.

Sushi night

 

The rest of the weekend was chill with sun bathing, beach, and rehearsals. I realized that I will have celebrated every Jewish holiday in Israel by the time I leave. Pretty cool:)