Spring Break Part 1: Sea-to-Sea and Passover

Hi everyone, 

   I've been super busy doing some amazing things so I wanted to fill you in before my next post which will be allllll about my Italy adventures! 

  To start off passover break I signed up to do Yam-le-Yam (Sea-to-Sea) which was a wonderful experience but not exactly "sea-to-sea".  We started out with an amazing 4 hour hike that was pretty unbelieveable and exciting.  I am sure that some of you who have never been to Israel will be surprised by the greenery and the landscape... most people think of just desert but the North of Israel is actually very lush and has some unique wildlife.

 This is a fortress built into the hillside, it was quite the view! 

 The water felt amazing! 

 The end of the hike! I had to take an "I made it" picture!   We basically went down in between the hills to a stream and followed it and then came back up... the coming back up part was a bit of a challenge! 

  After the hike we took the bus to Tzfat which is an amazing city way up high on a hilltop which to me seemed more like a mountain.  I've been to Tzfat before but each time is new and different.  My favorite part are the accents of blue everywhere as seen in the picture below.  There are all kinds of shades of blue and there are many theories as to why but my favorite one says that the blue is there so that if evil passes by Tzfat is disguised as the sky and it will pass by leaving the town unharmed...

 This picture below is bullet holes in a building from a while ago, they leave them there as reminders... Further down there are some cool viewpoints that we saw.  It is hard to capture the spirit of the city.  It is a city that is well known for being an artists colony so there are all kinds of unique places!

  We spend the night in Tzfat and all of the next day and then went to a campsite where we were lead in some surprise Israeli army boot camp! During boot camp I got pinched by a friend and I started laughing, which led to me doing push ups in front of everyone... not my best moment.
The next morning we packed up and went onto our next hike.  For those of you who are facebook friends of mine I apologize for the intense amount of nature pictures I posted but the plantslife here is amaazing!  Here I only included my favorite flower that I found-- I learned quickly not to touch it...

Me in front of a large somewhat phallic looking piece of rock that has some significance that I can't seem to remember... 

  At the end of our hike we ended up at the Kinneret which is the body of water that feeds most of the greenery in the North of Israel!  From there it flows down the Jordan river to the Dead sea which is why the dead sea has nothing, all of the nutrients are soaked up before it gets there!

  Somewhat terrible picture of me but I thought my first box of self-bought matzah was a hallmark moment.   

Upon returning to Jerusalem I immediately packed up and headed to Tel Mond to stay with Leora for passover.  Leora was an Israeli Scout at Herzl camp while I worked there and I simply adore her! We got to see her uncle's winery and then we spend Passover with her family!  There was enough food for about 100 people and there was only about 20 of us there.  They only have Matzah ball soup on passover, which is funny because we make it all of the time in the U.S.

The next day we went to Leora's other side of the family's house on a kibbutz which was literally heaven on earth.  I felt like I entered the Garden of Eden.  Fruit was just growing on trees in people's yards and they have become very eco-friendly - below is a statue made from recycled products.

  After I left Leora's I met up with Eliran, who is a friend of Zack's (the boyfriend of one of my best friends in the whole world and former roommate Meg)  We went to the beach and then hung out with a bunch of his friends at a bar also called "The Library" but in Hebrew which I found to be really funny (for those of you who don't know there is a library bar at the U of M as well)  

I also attended my very first all in hebrew with no subtitles movie ... RIO!! Which I recommend for all ages-- the Monkey scene still makes me laugh when I think about it! 

All and all its been a busy and amazing start to spring break... here is a picture of the sunrise outside my room the other morning... 

From here on out I am going to Italy until May 4th to visit my lovely sorority sister Hannah!! Then I have less than a month left before I head home.  Its bitter sweet because I am having the time of my life here and I'm living a dream but I also have many many amazing things to look forward to this summer and I know I will be back here sooner than I think.... ;-)

Stay tuned for an amazing Italy post when I return! Also I will be at the airport for like 10 hours so feel free to skype me! Brittany.beck0914

Arrivederci,
B

Wait I have how much time left...

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay (Meg).  There hasn't been much going on because it was midterms - yes I actually "study" from time to time here.  The real reason for my lag in posts is because my stupid computer would not let me upload pictures BUT I just got that fixed yay!

Anyways We had a mandatory shabbat in which we went to this biblical park and that is where the sheep herding took place, it was hilarious we had to get them to move from one area to another, and then we had to attempt to seperate the goats from the sheep, which sounds much easier than it is.  For some reason they like to go together.

 

Me before with some of the animals before we started bothering them.

Me, attempting to stand as far away as possible while still poking the sheep...

 

Getting the hang of this... I might have a future career in sheparding.

Me with my poking stick... I bet those animals hate us Americans!

Me crushing Zatar- a special Israeli spice! 

After that we went to our hotel in Abu Gosh.  Funny story, a man from here won a 20 million dollar lottery in new york and came back and opened a really fancy restaurant in this city- so if you New Yorkers are wondering where your tax dollars went.... There you go! We had shabbat dinner at the hotel and I wish I could have taken pictures of the food because it was a buffet X100.  There was so much food and about 20 kinds of dessert after every meal it was amazing.  We had some workshops etc. and then came back the next day but it was a nice little getaway.

That week we went to a food festival in Jerusalem and tasted a bunch of interesting treats.  We also got to weave a basket at the festival which was an unusual experience, mine didn't turn out very good!
The next day I went shopping with some friends and made some new friends who own this really cool little shop in the old city.  Whoever gets souveniers from me, they will most likely be from here! Its always an adventure there and I always meet such interesting people.

Before picture of the baskets! Can you believe we made baskets out of those sticks!

 

After picture of the baskets! 

The majority of the rest of the time I have been working on my midterm and independent study.  Passover break starts in 2 days and I will be doing a hike from sea-to-sea that is 3 days long and so I will have plenty to say about that and then I will be spending the Passover holiday with my friend Leora and her family.  Then just a few days later I am off to ITALY! Just booked our Rome hostel and about to book our Venice hostel and then I will get to see my lovely friend Hannah in Florence!

Once I get back from Florence I have less than a month left of being in Israel! Its bittersweet because I love it here but I am so excited for summer with all of my friends and family back home!

Much love,
B