Pesach: Jerusalem and Arad

So after yam lyam the original plan was to camp out and go to the beach the next day, but by the time we were done hiking we OBVIOUSLY didn't want to do that anymore, so while Kesha decided to go back to Yerucham and David went to Tel Aviv to stay with friends Ashley and I opted to stay in Jerusalem at Misha's cousin's apartment, since I really wanted to experience Pesach in the holy city. We met up with some friends who were also in Jerusalem and went out to our favorite sushi restaurant (as is the norm when we go to Jerusalem) for dinner. The vast majority of restaurants that are open in Jerusalem during the holiday are Kosher for Pesach - which is REALLY cool, because you would never experience something like that in America, and koshering a kitchen for Passover is not an easy process. Although many Ashkenazi (descending from Eastern Europe) Jews do not eat what is called 'keniyot' (legumes such as corn and beans), Sephardic (descending from Spain and Morocco and places like that) Jews do, and almost all Israelis do, which makes keeping Kosher in Israel a little bit easier. I even went to a Kosher for Passover McDonald's - complete with Kosher for Pesach hamburger buns made out of cornmeal. We then slept for many hours (it was WONDERFUL), and woke up sometime the next day in the early afternoon.

After we woke up, we decided to go to Coffeeshop, one of our favorite places for drinks and breakfast-y type foods. Coffeeshop also had a Kosher for Passover menu, complete with baskets of matzah instead of bread. We ate outside on the sidewalk, and soon we witnessed a curious incident down the street. Outside of a restaurant called 'Meat Burger,' which isn't Kosher at all so obviously wasn't Kosher for Passover, a group of ultra-religious men, donned in long black coats and black furry hats, were standing outside protesting. Every time someone would walk out with the un-Kosher-for-Passover food, they would all chant 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil.' It was actually quite hilarious, and quite a crowd gathered to witness the spectacle. Only in Jerusalem =). We spent many hours just sitting outside and enjoying the day...in Israel, they will never bring the check unless you ask for it because they never want to be kicking you out and they want you to know you can take your time, which is something I both love and hate about dining in Israel.

After that we went to the shuk (it might be the thing I miss most about living in Jerusalem) and spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around and enjoying the city we love so much. Ashley and I then went back to Yerucham for the night, even though we would be spending the next day, yuntif, in Jerusalem - all we had with us were the (very) dirty clothes from Yam Lyam, so we had to make the trip and we even convinced some other friends in Jerusalem to come with us for the night. Even though most of the Yerucham Nativers were gone for the entire break, I really liked touching back on home base every few days.

The next day Ashley, the boys, and I traveled back to Jerusalem for Yuntif. Part of the standard Passover seder includes the phrase "next year in Jerusalem," so it was really important to us to be able to celebrate one of the religious holidays in the city. We spent the night in Matan's mom's apartment, where we had a lovely holiday meal. The next day we went back over to Misha's cousin's for lunch, which was wonderful as usual, and then we went to Agron to hang out for a little since there were quite a few Nativers staying there. That night officially ended Passover, and around 9:00 all the falafel restaurants in the city had lines out the door. We all ate our first bites of bread and made our way back to Yerucham for another restful evening.

The following day Ashley and I went to Arad to see our friend Eva. Eva came on an exchange program last winter and stayed with Ashley, so Ashley and I spent the whole week taking her around and out to dinner and whatnot, so she was very excited that we were finally coming to visit her. She took us out for dinner at the local Chinese restaurant (run by her friend's family) and that night we went to the local pub (one of only about two or three in arad) and hung out with her friends. Everyone there was so nice and SO excited to finally meet her 'American friends.' After 8 months of living in Israel it really made me feel like a tourist again, especially since all her friends wanted to talk about was prom and whether or not we really have cheerleaders like in the movies. Ashley left but I also ended up staying for Shabbat, and we had two lovely meals at Eva's best friends house. Overall it was SO nice to see Eva, she is really sweet, and to meet all of her friends.

And just like that...break was over.