Once Upon a Time

The title of this post is part inspired by the new Sara Bareilles song "Once Upon Another Time" (unfortunately I cannot post it on here due to lack of access to the YouTube) which is currently stuck in my head...and part inspired by the fairy tale I feel like I'm living! (....coincidentally also the name of a Sara Bareilles song but not currently stuck in my head)

Field trips on Mondays - this one was at Neot Kedumim

We learned about the agriculture and economy of ancient Israel. So we got to herd sheep, plow wheat, crush olives, make pitas and much more! (I also got to draw some water from a real live well!! Fulfilling a life long dream of mine...sadly, no documentation...)

Go out to a movie Friday before Shabbat (this was at some kind of West J, hipster theater...Moonrise Kingdom...pretty good movie! Narrator def the best part...)

Then welcome in Shabbat by going to Synagogue 

These two rascals are my Israel teacher's kids Yemima and Mitzhel (who for some reason was dressed up like a pirate or lost boy or something) that came with us on our Friday night field trip to a local synagogue. This was one of my favorite experiences so far...LOVE going to synagogue...so much singing!

And Tel Aviv on the weekends! (We've gone the past two Sundays which brings me to an even three on my Tel Aviv count)

Eating at Moses

Eating on the seaside

Kickin' it at Banana Beach...no there was no Banana Stand for those Arrested Development-ers who were wondering...

Fairytale right?! Am I dreaming?! If I am...don't wake me up...I LOVE this place!!!

Dominus Flevit

...like for reals one of my top favorite experiences in the Holy Land so far! So there were some who had visited a week before and made friends with the pastor Father Sebastian...

...he invited them to come back for lunch the following week in return for help with their entrance garden. So I tagged along and this is what we did:

Hard Core!! My first time using a Jack-Hammer

We had lunch after as promised....SOOOO GOOD!! Father Sebastian? More like CHEF Sebastian! He is originally from Iraq so we got some authentic Iraqi cuisine! The veggies were fresh from his garden, fruit was from Jericho and the olive oil in the pasta was made from olives of The Garden of Gethsemane (which sits right below the Dominus Flevit church)...can you say culture?!

We cleared away the food, Father brought out a violin and a flute and we sang and danced and fiddled and fluted(?) until the mid afternoon.

...And the garden never looked better!!

Before:

After:

 (I promise there is a BIG difference...)

City of David

Field Trip to the City of David. 

It is still largely an excavation site but it was a blast!

We walked through Hezekiah's water tunnel which is a winding, narrow (like no more than 2.5 feet across) 175 foot tunnel with no lighting and water up to your mid-calf.

Beginning

Middle

End

At the bottom of the hill are the actual steps of the Pool of Siloam (which is a big deal because almost every actual site of Christ's ministry is buried below the Old City.) This is from John chapter 9 where Christ healed the blind man on the Sabbath and it was a big deal. Said the blind man "Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25)

My fashion for the week...socks with sandals!

 Curse my dry, cracked heals!!

The End....

Happy Birthday Beka!!

So this is my friend Beka...

She likes to do magic tricks...

...and dance the night away...

...and it was her birthday a few days ago!!

 

...and we went out to celebrate...

...and she got an AJ Birthday SMOOCH!!

...and the end!

We love you Beks!!!

Happy Birthday!

Passover Seder

So even though it isn't Passover, the JC still likes to show the students a genuine Passover Seder program!

The set up was beautiful (note the beautiful napkin display I helped with yet again...)

I signed up to read a part of the telling of the passover so I sat at the head table. Our Israel teacher Ophir Yarden lead the Seder and recited some of the sections in Hebrew. We filled our glasses with grape juice and blessed Israel again and again and broke the matzot (or unleavened bread) and dipped our leaves in bitter herbs and listened to the many singing groups from the Hebrew class perform their songs...or rap...

And just for the sake of another picture, here are two beautiful people enjoying Passover Seder!

 תודה שלום

 

Old City.... of Lights

The other night, we got permission to venture into the Old City after dark (usually we can only be in West Jerusalem after dark) so that we could attend the 4th Annual Festival of Lights....(as you can clearly discern from the sign)

They had different trails winding in and out of the Old City walls with displays of lights periodically throughout like such...

That face in the middle was the creepiest thing! They had a big screen face hanging over Zion's Gate and projected different facial features making all sorts of faces most of which looked like they belonged in a horror film! Someone please explain to me why this was made a part of the Light Show?

"Goin to the chapel and we're gonna get married..."

Beautiful dome outside Jaffa gate - they had 'festive' music playing and I made friends with some little Muslim boys that agreed to dance with me!

A game of Pinball displayed onto Damascus Gate....it was still kind of early in the evening so its hard to make out....

The Old City at night...

the picture on the right is trying to capture the 30 minutes we spent in a human clog! There were so many people trying to squeeze through the little aisles of the Christian Quarter that we got into a huge traffic jam and were at a stand still - fights started to break out, children were crying, men were yelling in Hebrew...it was one of the scariest experiences of my life!!

But we made it out OK...

Eilat

The Red Sea....

Not so "Red" after all eh? But look at those beautiful, pink mountains of Jordan in the back though!

We rented out a little beach for our free day at Eilat and partied on the beach for the afternoon.

Our little Oasis...

 We rented some snorkeling gear and saw some coral, fish and a lone sting ray... (hopefully I can get some of the underwater pics later)

Note my rockin farmers tan!

And we played plenty of football...

Robin showing us her Tebow stance

Eilat = 'a lot' of fun!!