Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everyone! The holidays here, for me, are both good and bad. They are great because, duh, everyone celebrates Hanukkah! It’s really cool to see all the streets lit up with Menorah’s decorating all the street lights and Menorah’s lit in every window, with donuts EVERYWHERE. But for me, someone who LOVES Christmas, it’s hard to be here. The last 3 years I’ve missed Christmas (sorry Aunt Karen…last one I promise!) for USY’s International Convention. But even when I missed actual Christmas day, I always still got the holiday season – lights and decorations, carols on the radio, and Christmas specials on TV. Here, none of that exists. I have yet to see a single Christmas tree or Christmas decoration in Jerusalem. And Hanukkah, while a great holiday, is not as big in Israel as it is in America, so I’ve really been feeling the absence of the holiday season.

I have to back-track a little bit since it’s been so long since I’ve written: I’m going to use the excuse of finals season and having several 10-page papers to write. The weekend after I went to Netanya, that Thursday night I went with Kesha and Misha to Tel Aviv where we went to the Couchsurfer’s meet up dinner. We had hoped to meet some people involved in couchsurfing who live in various places in Israel so we would have places to stay when we wanted to travel second semester, but, disappointingly, most of the people there were from Tel Aviv. However, it was in a really funky Indian restaurant with mismatched couches and board games everywhere, so that was really cool. We then went out with Kesha’s Israeli friend from camp. He took us to a few funky bars in the artsy district of Tel Aviv and then we stayed at his house. He was really hilarious so it was a very fun evening.

That Shabbat was a closed one, so we all stayed on base, prayed, and relaxed. It was a very restful weekend and one that was greatly appreciated.

Last weekend I went with a friend of mine, Becca, to Haifa, where we stayed with her family friends. I hadn’t been to Haifa yet so I was really happy to finally be going, since it’s one of the largest cities in Israel and I hadn’t yet had a chance to experience it. The family friends we stayed with were so nice. Over the whole weekend, we watched three Disney movies with the daughter and they totally spoiled us. On Friday morning Becca and I woke up early to go into town to see the Bahai Gardens, which are these beautifully sculpted gardens that overlook the Bahai Temple. We then all went to Zichron Ya’akov, which is this adorable little town in the North, about an hour outside of Haifa. It’s Israel’s ‘little Europa,’ and it’s filled with little coffee shops and cobblestone streets. We stopped and had some delicious cheesecake and hot chocolate at an adorable little coffeeshop/chocolaterie called “Motek,” which means ‘sweetie’ in Hebrew. All the chairs were pink and it was very cute, and everything was excellent. We also walked around and window-shopped in all the stores.
That evening they had invited two Israelis who they know whose parents were out of town over for Shabbat dinner, and it was really fun talking to them. We had a delicious Shabbat dinner and spend the night relaxing. The next morning, since the family we stayed with, as well as most of the city of Haifa, was not Shabbat observant, we woke up early to go to a street festival. They have this festival once a year, on every Saturday in December. We got an traditional Israeli breakfast of hummus, tehina, pita, and Israeli salad (chopped up onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes with some seasonings). We then walked over to the street fair and wandered up and down the street and looked at all the stands and all the food. We tasted Turkish delight and roasted Chestnuts. It was really interesting to see all the different kinds of people that came to sell their goods and to shop at this street festival.

On Tuesday night Nativ had a Hanukkah party where we watched the Holiday Armadillo episode of Friends, ate latkes and gelt, and had a sufganiyot (donut) eating contest – I did not participate, but it was a very fun evening.

Since all of my friends are coming next week (by all I’m not exaggerating – Jenna, Touger, Rachel, Jeff, Jake, Todd, and Rob are all coming to visit), this week has been really busy. I’ve done a good job (for once) of not procrastinating and finished all my final papers early so that I wouldn’t have to do it when my friends are here. I’ve also started(ish) cleaning my room so that my friends will have some room to breathe and hang out when they come over. Additionally, my friend Ginsburg, who I know from USY and who now goes to Emory, is here this week on an Emory program. I hung out with him and his friends from Emory two nights this week, and they were SO great. They were really friendly and super excited to talk to me when they found out I was going to Emory, and it made me really happy and less nervous for school next year.

On a final note, I have to wish a happy birthday to my friend Billy, who turned TWENTY (I really can’t believe it) today!

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying the season!