Riding the bus in Jerusalem is always interesting. The orthodox man sitting behind me just wished me a happy Chanukah and then gave me 5 shekels, an orange, and a banana! Sababa!!
Channukah break
Thus begins my Channukah break as well as my first solo adventure in Israel. I’m currently on a bus heading to Tel Aviv. I’m staying the night with a fraternity brother, Michael Shachter. Tomorrow I’ll be hanging put in Tel Aviv then taking the train to Jerusalem with Hanoch. Thursday morning I’ll be at HUC sitting in on a couple classes. Friday and Saturday I’ll be wandering the city. It’s very much a solo adventure. I’m very excited. Wish me luck!
He great sufganiyot at the kibbutz Hannukah party don’t even begin to heal the wounds of not being home for the Gellman Hannukah party!
Sufganiyot do not take the place of: Homemade Linguine with Black “Winter” Truffles and Homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli with parmesan cheese and white chocolate mouse with chunks of white chocolate and raspberry sauce!
Update on life thus far…
Its been a little over a month that I’ve been on the kibbutz. Its still going great.
Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday I work in Mivrag. (the factory you can see in the video on my facebook page or downloaded from the link in a previous post)
Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have ulpan, the reason I’m here. Its going very well. class is from 8am to 3pm. I got into the advanced class so I’m feeling very good about the level I will be at when I leave. Its great to be able to communicate in hebrew. Im not yet good enough to have good deep conversations but talking with co-workers and kibbutznicks is a skill that is coming along.
The other people on the ulpan are great. There is a wide-ranging mix of people. From all over the world as well as all diffrent ages. Surprisingly, as a 23 year old I am in the top 10% of ages. Many are just out of high school. Just coming out of a high school youth advisor job Its an interesting role. They are so young and sometimes so dumb.
The weather has been absolutely beautiful. Highs in the 70s and clear almost every day. Of course being in Israel I’m supposed to be praying for rain!
Shabbats are wonderful. Having just the one day off a week really makes you appreciate it. Today a couple friends and I were thinking about hiking to the sea. From just outside of the kibbutz you can see the Mediterranean. It should probably be a 2-3 hour hike each way.
Shabbat Shalom!
Happy (delayed) Thanksgiving. Besides the Sounds of Americans wishing each other Happy Thanksgiving the only other sign it was thanksgiving was that most of us had turkey sandwiches for dinner. This was mine. Mmmmmm.
Great news!!! My Hebrew teacher told me that I have beautiful Hebrew handwritting. She then saw my English and said that wasn’t so beautiful. But my Hebrew is. I told her no one has EVER told me my handwritting was beautiful.
Tiyul l’Haifa
(Trip to Haifa)
Today we went on the first of our trips with the Ulpan. Which first means that we had a half day of work. WOOOOOO! We headed out on a bus to Haifa. Our first stop was to the site where Elijah conquered some other god’s. Im not quite sure what happened there. The tour guide was very sub-par and spoke sub-par English (I miss Sandy). Well there was a beautiful monestary at the top of this hill that marked the southern range around the Jezreel Valley. It was a beautiful lookout spot.
We then headed to Mount Carmel . We were dropped off at the top of the Baha’i Gardens. They were so beautiful. I have seen them before, but never went in. It is incredibly symmetrical. Everything is perfectly symmetrical, Detective Monk would’ve loved it! We walked down, what we were told was, 700 steps. The serene sound of falling water (and Russians talking loudly) following you everywhere.
Cat Nap
I had spent all my free time this morning at work learning about the Baha’i faith. Its rather interesting. The religion is only about 150 years old, but had followers all over the world. It stands as an interesting intersection between all the large world religions, acknowledging each’s main prophet; Moses, Jesus, Buddha, etc. It’s main tenets are to be a good person, to do social action, and to erase prejudice because they believe the world will at some time come together in a state where there are no countries but everyone is a child of the One God and of one people.
After the gardens we walked around the German colony of Haifa which is particularly beautiful, but not German at all (for they were no longer there after about 1938 (I wonder what happened around then???)). Then we walked through an Arab neighborhood to what we were told was the best falafel in Israel. By the way, everyone says they have the best falafel in Israel. This was great, but I kinda doubt it was THE best. After that was a quick stop into a bakery and we were on our way home.
Finally some random pictures from this past week (mostly a walk to another kibbutz down the road):
Joseph Karo
I just had my feat of the day! I’m sitting on break with the other factory workers. It’s always a test of my Hebrew here. They are doing a crossword in Hebrew and I was trying to follow. I hear them talking about who wrote the shulchan aruch. I then pop up with the right answer, Joseph Karo. Thank you IU Jewish Studies! I’m uber proud of myself, not only did I know the answer but I understood their Hebrew enough to know what they were talking about (the slightly bigger feat).
About Me
Follow the adventures of Scott in the Holy Land. Based out of Kibbutz Ein Hashofet, I'll be updating regularly to keep you updated about all the things you wouldn't care much about if I was in Florida.
Kibbutz Ein HaShofet
