Mommy Rides a Camel!!!

Helloooooooo- I'm back in tel aviv just for the night and want to give everyone an update about what mommy lane has been doing here in israel. first things first, we are eating ALOT - as i have said before israelis love salads and so does ellen lane so this has worked out veryvery well. aside from salads we are having lots of hummus and falafel! so what have we done:
friday-shabbat at arielles. delicious food and good people. saturday we had brunch at the hotel with our cousins in jerusalem and we saw invanka trump and her husband!!! and we talked to them! very pleasing. sunday we drove down to masada and the dead sea! mom floated and we got all covered in mud (and salt!). on the way back mom rode a camel on the side of the road!! unlike in petra, this camel was veryy friendly and we had a lot of fun and as you can see, mom was fearless!

monday we toured the old city which included a tunnel tour, falafel in the muslim quarter, and lots of walking throughout the city. tuesday i returned to school (i do actually have classes haha what) and mommy and arielle went to the south for the day. wednesday we were in jerusalem at the shuk and also visited mea shearim. this is a veryy ultra orthodox community that is very isolated, very conservtive, and they dont have tvs!! there is a history of violence in the area actually from the orthodox throwing rocks/harassing non-orthodox people that come to the area to see it...like tourists..like us...so its best to dress very conservatively. see my very frum mother and sister below (i wore pants...):
thursday mom and i went to the temple mount and i finally got to see the dome of the rock (see below). it is absolultey beautiful. the colors and the size are really unbelievable to conceptualize except for when standing right there. it is really amazing looking. after, we drove to yad vashem, the holocaust museum in jerusalem. i had been to yad vashem on birthright but i dont think one can go too many times. it is such an extensive museum that is a real indepth look at the history of the holocaust with real personal and individual focus. the museum has done an unbelievable job identifying the names of people lost in the holocaust and continues to work to piece together the history of all people lost. definitely one of my highest recommendations to all- you cant visit israel without going.

friday we woke up and drove up the coast to akko- the old port city of haifa. it is a mostly arab village and still very genuine in its representation of the old city despite being built up. the day was so gorgeous and you could see right across the water to haifa. of course we had yummmmy falafel and hung out at the port.

after akko, we drove to haifa to have shabbat dinner at the mellers. again, we had a feast that im still having stomach pains over! we spent the night at the mellers and then today we drove up to the druze village in haifa to visit with arielles friend from seeds and her husband. the druze religion is so interesing and raya took us around the village, to the shuk, and to her parents home. we had a delicious/huge meal at raya's and then we drove back to the mellers for more food. so much food!!! heres haifa from the bahai gardens!

now im in tel aviv for the night and tomorrow ill be back in jerusalem for some more relaxing days with mommy and then seder with our cousins.

more updates to come!

xoxoxo

ima sheli biyisrael :)

Thats right! The eagle has landed- and this is the view from her hotel room so i dont think shes ever leaving!

Mom arrived tuesday night and we had a nice dinner with arielle and ethan. yesterday (weds) we toured around the city and jaffa with my cousin Jay and then mom took me and a few friends out to dinner. today, i showed mom all the cool spots i always talk about like the nemal and the popular roads of the city as well as my shuk. we had lunch right at the port and then hung out on her balcony overlooking the water. tonight we are off to dinner with arielle and ethan again and then tomorrow we will head to jerusalem for the weekend. there, we will have shabbat at arielles, lunch with cousins, and on sunday go to the dead sea and masada. we'll tour jerusalem on monday and have dindin with emma's fam. next week mom's doing lots of things around the country and thursday we had up north to stay with the mellers in haifa. after the weekend we return to jerusalem for pesach with our cousins. its going to be an amazing two weeks!
heres a pic of me and mommy!

XOXOXO

well right now i'm in israel but i just spent the day in jordan

shalom! so eilat and petra. thursday after class the 6 of us "scampered" over to the bus station- scampered? lies. actually what happened is the bus took forever to get to our bus stop, we hit TONS of traffic, and all desperately looked at our watches as we arrived to the central bus station with 5 minutes to retrieve our tickets and find and board our bus. 5 minutes wasnt enough...2 girls missed the bus. Thankfully there was a 2nd bus going at the same time and they managed to stowe away on that bus until we met up at the first rest stop. adventures already.
we stayed at the eilat youth hostel and guest house..my first first hostel and it was a success. once we arrived (around 830pmish) we strolled the boardwalk for a place to eat- boardwalk was sooooo jersey shore. we had dinner at a kinda shanty place but it was good and then we all passed out and went to bed! we woke up promptly at 830am and headed to the beach for a full day of mid 90s weather on the beach! it was amazingggg but sososo hot. instead of lounge chairs we went to the beach that has mattresses its like being in bed on the beach they were amazing and the only reason we moved all day was to cool off in the RED SEA and reluctantly to get food. then we went banana boating around 430- large mistake. the guys running the "ship" were young beach bum israelis who spent the entire time trying to make us fall into the water- thankfully they failed- but my arms and legs are still sore from fighting to stay on. then we returned to our hostel and got ready for emma's bday dinner! we went to this amazing tapas restaurant where we ate an insane amount and variety of food and i got a delicious passion fruit margarita. after, we got emma her first legal shot at midnight and went to a club for a little bit- sounds lame but were quite exhausted from the heat and also anticipating our 630am wake up the next morning for petra!

petra: we arose at 630. hurts. we got our boxed lunches and were picked up in a van by our tour company. our group was only 20 and consisted of a american/japanese fam with little girls and grandparents, travelling alone man with camera, three ppl in israel for a conference, and two kibbutzy type girls that left the group half way into jordan...and never came back...20 in total very nice. we got to the border of jordan at 7am...it opens at 8am. but it was all in the name of being the first at the border and the first to cross. and first we were! once inside the border (seems not make sense but there is an inside) we made friends with the jordanian shop ppl and one specifically who made the sand in the bottle stuff (ya know what i mean? designs made by colored sand in bottles?) i got one that says my name in arabic and has camels. once the company processed our passports and stuff we crossed the border into jordan. here is a picture of the 6 of us at the border:

next we drove for 2 hours through "jordan" aka mountains and desert. it was absoutely beautiful. there were tiny villages perched so high into the mountains with the most beautiful views and random "flocks" of sheep and goats everywhere. eventually we made it to the center of petra and began our tour. our walk was three hours through the silica quarries. essentially it is a bunch of rocks but a longlong time ago used to be a booming civilization. there are lots of tombs and distorted rocks that were clearly columns or houses. everything is HUGE and minerals in the rocks have brought out some gorgeous colors. naturally things have changed over time and some of the rocks have even taken on new shapes like this elephant below:

this big site of petra is at the very end and is called the treasury. it is the most well preserved piece in petra, is enormous, and gorgeous. when looking at pictures u must notice the size of people compared to the treasury but its really impossible to see. heres another pic of the 6 of us hanging during the walk

at the end of the tour there were two camels chillin. obvs we needed pictures. unfortunately this fly started attacking my camel and the camel got really angry and tried to eat the fly/me. this is the picture that was captured during my near death experience with the camel:

after our three hour tour we had a few options of how to return to the beginning and opted to go on a donkey ride through a benduoin "village". lies we went up lots of hills and mountains but didnt see a village. but thats ok. our donkeys were sweeeet and their cushions were made from kids blankets so they had spiderman and barbie on them. loved it. our guides were two young benduoin boys who were hilarious and everytime they got tired they awkwardly jumped on our donkeys and rode along with one of us. heres me on my donkey :

*note spiderman blanket on the nose

after the donkey ride we went to back to the bus and got lunch with the group. i also bought a tapestry- its gorgeous and a good jordanian souvenir! then we started our 2 hour drive back to the border, went through again and said bybye to the sand man, and returned to eilat. in sum: petra was amazing. its really hard to explain but the whole place is sooo beautiful and such a surreal site. i guess its why its one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. being in jordan was a cool experience as well- theres arabic all over israel but theres also hebrew with it and there was certainly no hebrew in jordan but it was a different feeling than being in turkey. i would definitely be curious to travel further into jordan to amman and other cities but i dont think i'll be doing that anytime soon.

back to eilat: we returned to eilat and went to dinner at this chic japanese place. then we passed out. we once again arose early in the am put our packed bags away in the storage room of the hostel and headed to the beach. thankfully there was a breeze on sunday so less getting up. we even had lunch on the beach to maximize our time. wanting no more adventures we left the beach early, got fro yo, and headed to the bus station with plenty of time to spare. we boarded our bus and finally arrived back in tel aviv around 1030pm. it was exhausting!

so thats about it! it was such an amazing weekend- i loved travelling to a new place in israel and getting to soak up the sun in 90 degree weather. travelling in and out of a different country in one day was a cool thing as well and getting to be at an ancient wonder of the world was a really cool experience. it was so relaxing just to travel with us 6 girls and i really couldnt have asked for a better weekend!

next up on the agenda: mommy comes to israel!!! tomorrow!!!! i cant wait! i'm so excited to show mom around her first time in israel (probs not her last since im never leaving...oops did i say that out loud!) and after mommy i will be "going to greece" as long the whole country isnt on strike- dont they know i booked my flights already! rude!

p.s. if you want to see all my pictures from petra (gorgeous) email me and i can send you the link

xoxo

off to eilat!!

shalom! we are off to eilat for the weekend - finally! i feel like i have been looking forward to this trip for so long! it is just 6 of us girls which will be lots of fun and relaxing. this week has been soso hot so i think im prepared for the weekend of low 90s temperatures before me. the beaches in eilat are gorgeous and there are lots of snorkeling places and also a place to swim with dolphins! of course, it wont be all beaches since on saturday we will be sweating the day out in petra but that will be amazing too! never thought i'd go to jordan!! also emma's birthday is saturday so we will get be celebrating all weekend in the beautiful weather!

back on sunday and my mommy comes tuesday! the greece trip is shaping up well and i went to the travel agent this week to get more details on egypt...officially happening the last weekend of april/first week of may. fingers crossed. below is a picture of me, emma, and amit with two friends from tufts who are studying in florence for the semester. they are visiting for the weekend but since emma and i are going to eilat, we hung out and grabbed dinner with them last night- love tufts reunions!
have a good weekend! xoxo

Fam, Friends, and Food!

I know i've been a little quiet lately-dont worry i'm not losing steam on my blogging. the truth is i'm finally settled into a normal routine where life isnt so crazy and unpredictable. i wake up and go to hebrew, go to the gym, make lunch, go to class, have dinner, and do some reading. dont get me wrong i'm not bored- i just have a life, a real life. and i love it. the suns getting warmer and my hebrews getting better- i couldnt really ask for more :)

This week I celerbated Arielle's 25th birthday. I went down to jerusalem after class and Arielle, Ethan, and I went out for dinner with Josh and Nani (Josh is a rabbinical student as well and Nani is his fiance). I gave Arielle a turkish tea set that i bought for her at the grand bazaar and then scampered back to tel aviv. amazing how quick and easy it is to go back and forth between our two homes.

On wednesday, Emma's friend Alex arrived from Paris to visit for the weekend. We decided sushi would be a fun dinner and we went to MOON! I must challah at Shir because once i decided to go abroad to tel aviv, Shir always told me i had to go for sushi at moon because it is AMAZING and she is soooo right. The food- fish and veggies- were soo fresh and the menu was so extensive. Alex is really fun and it was great getting to talk to someone about israel- i really found myself feeling like i had a place here and i had things to say about the arab-israeli conflict and the future of the country. i feel so genuinely attached and a part of the country.


friday i took the train up to haifa to stay with the mellers for shabbat. (when arielle did seeds of peace she got very close to this israeli Hilla and the mellers are Hilla's family). The train was less than 40 minutes and i got picked up at the train in Atlit, the town where they live outside haifa. When i arrived i was greeted with freshly made kooogel. then we a nap and then came down for shabbat dinner. when i came down, the table was covered with different israeli salads- fresh beets, avocados, three kinds of babaganoush- it was amazing! Anna (the mom) comes from a moroccan family and we had delicious moroccan fish with israeli couscous. Anna also had meatballs and rice and i was force fed that as well. AND for dessert we had homemade chocolate cake- amazing!
In the morning, Anna made eggs and toast- with HOMEMADE CREAM CHEESE WITH OLIVES AND HOMEMADE ORANGE MARMALADE- she is amazing! Then Anna and I went out to the Druze village up in the mountains of Haifa. we met up with a friend of Arielle and Hilla's from seeds named Raia. Raia took us through the village and to the Druze market. I didnt know much about the druze but it was really interesting talking to Raia and seeing the druze people in their traditional clothing.

after, Anna and I went for a walk on the beach (see bel0w) and then anna took me for "the best falafel in haifa" and let me know tell you, it might be the best falafel in israel. it was called falafel michel and it was deliciousssss. yumyumyum. then i took the sheirut back from haifa to tel aviv and took a shower and met up with the girls to go out.

so ya, as you see life has been pretty normal. today we went to the beach all day and just relaxed! this week- real life continues with classes and such. weather is supposed to get summerly hot so much of my week will be spent laying out at the pool (did i mention my gym has an outdoor pool with lounge chairs???). on wednesday, three boys from tufts who are abroad in florence are coming for the weekend so we will get to see them. and on thursday we (6 of us) head off to eilat for a weekend of sun and relaxation! and a daytrip to petra!

about to head out for more sushi at Moon!!! xoxoxoxo

Hapoel Hapoel / Purim Sameach / Jumbos!

Just started Week 2 of classes today- its definitely strange to be doing classes here because the past month has been so casual and free- just hebrew in the mornings and exploration all afternoon and all night. but nonetheless, i guess thats what i came here to do. this weekend was SOOOO rainy! every israeli keeps saying the winter (aka rain) is done and then more and more rain...hopefully its done now.

thursday night we went to a hapoel soccer game- hapoel played russia in the POURING RAIN and we were there and we were POURED ON! despite the rain it was really exciting to see a soccer game in israel- its a big sport here- and we loved some sweet hapoel cheers/songs

Friday night began the purim celebrations! Purim is a hugeee holiday here because its essentially their halloween. its a mitzvah to get extremely drunk on purim (for real) and everyone dresses up and has huge parties and parades in the streets. of course, the rain was a bit of a downer and many celebrations were cancelled :( but i still managed to dress up twice (once as a devil and once as a cat) and we had alot of fun. apparently its "tradition" that it rain alllll purim weekend and that it did. it was certainly my most relaxed weekend here, involving alot of indoor/bed time, but cant complain about relaxation! i think my father became concerned with he skyped with me at 4:30pm my time and i was still in bed in my PJs.

sunday night we organized an ADORABLE/AMAZING tufts dindin. while all of us have made our own friends, we are all saps for being tufts jumbos and cant resist getting together and strolling down memory/professors row lane. its so much fun! there are 6 of us studying in tel aviv and we also had a visit from another Jumbo who is studying in be'er sheva at ben gurion university. we went out for turkish food (which i half missed half wasnt ready for) and it was delicious! Highlights for this upcoming week include: my sisters 25th bday tomorrow!!! (challah to my mommy's whos bday was this past week!) i'll be going down to jerusalem after class to hang/go out to dinner with arielle and ethan. also this week a friend of emma's who is studying in paris is coming to stay with us from wednesday to sunday which will be really fun to play tourguide and hopefully go to the beach assuming the weather clears up. also this shabbat i will be going to haifa to stay with our family friends for the night and also hopefully get to the beach! (i think you see a theme here).

mommy gets here in two weeks! and my trip to eilat/petra is the week before! so much happening and i'm so excited!!

xoxo and hag sameach