Purim In Israel. What's purim without hamentashen? This year we got creative, chocolate, jams, peanut butter and dulce de leche in every and any combination. Turned out well but after 2 days of eating them that was enough.
This week my friend Liz from college was visiting her sister who was studying abroad. I got to meet her family and walk around the Old City with them and enjoy a nice meal in one of the Mamilla restaurants. It was nice to see some familiar faces and share my experiences so far with them. At the end of the week I met up with Liz and she joined me for a Purim party. Purim lucky fell on a Saturday night so one is able to celebrate the whole weekend. Similarly to Halloween, if it falls on a tuesday you do not necessarily get as long of a celebration. Thursday we went out to a birthday party\purim party. I dressed up as Where's Waldo (Efo Effie? in hebrew). It never ceases to amaze me the endless creativity of the costumes and the extreme price of drinks. One thing I love about Purim is that every dresses up and everyone clebrates, its not a holiday only for kids, adults or teenagers but a holiday for everyone. Another thing I like about Purim is that there is nothing scary about in, in fact its a rather nice holiday where people share treates with eachother and give presents to eachother. We were walking back from the beach and I saw this old lady with her walker and a mask in the front basket, sometimes I just love being extra friendly and I said "Chag Sameach" (Happy Holidays) to her. She was so caught off guard and equally happy to hear from me. There was such a holiday spirit in the air I am not sure why she was so surprised but it was nice to make her day. The funny thing about Purim in Israel is that there are often people dress up a bit out of the ordinary anyways and on Purim people do not just put their costumes on to go to a party, they put them on and wear them throughout the day, no matter there plans, no matter their age. I can't even begin to remember all of the bizarre costumes I saw or how many times I said to myself, is that person dress up for Purim or simply just wearing a unique outfit as any other normal day. Israel - nothing like it!
Elyes's Visit to Israel!
Monday morning after Purim Idan and I went to pick up Elyse from the airport and go on a mini adventure and vacation. Elyse hadn't been to Israel for almost 15 years so things were a bit different now. First stop, Nazareth. Why not shake things up from the usual Jewish Teen Tour of Israel. We drove straight to Nazareth and headed directly to the bakery\sweets shops. The pastries and cookies were delicious. Afterwards we visit the Church where Jeses was concieved and Marys fountain. It was a different experience being in Nazareth, definetly a side of Israel I have never seen. Its amazing how many tourist groups were there and how ever religion has it own special sights in such a small country. 
After we headed to Tzpori National Park. It was an old cite of an ancient Roman city. Their buildings and community were both equally impressive. The highlights were a mosaic that has been preserved from almost 2000 years ago and its incredible. It literally looks like a painting and its made out of little stones. There was also a huge water reservoir carved out to bring water from a local river to the city. It was an incredible sight and must have taken an enormous length of time to complete. After our visit we drove further north to a Tzimmer. They are upscale log cabins you can rent and they are all over the north often with beautiful views, hot tubs and a nice breakfast. Elyse almost didn’t make it there, on the drive up she would be asking us questions about Israel and barely keep her eyes open and head up to hear the response. We all took a much needed nap as soon as we got to our Tzimmer. That night we went to a delicious Lebanese restaurant, great food. If you are ever up North let me know and I’ll tell you where to go. We got back and all went to enjoy a glass of wine, snacks Elyse brought from the States and the hot tub. It was a full moon and perfect weather. It was nice to relax and all catch up a bit.
The next day Elyse and I went to do some sight seeing in Jerusalem. We went to the Dome of the Rock and walked around the big plaza that surrounds the area. It’s a very impressive space which many people do not visit because they do not know that it’s possible. We walked through the Jewish quarter, the Arab quarter and went to the Kotel (Western Wall). Afterwards we headed to Ben Yehudah to do some Judaic shopping.
To our surprise, our plans for the rest of the day shifted a bit. We were on Ben Yehudah and as we walked out of a store we noticed people gathering around a TV in a shop. There was a terrorist attack in Jerusalem by the main conference center and bus station. We were in shock. As American’s we hear about these things happening in Israel but it is another thing to be there for it. What does one do? Where do you go? Is it a big deal? We quickly told our family that we were okay and walked back to my neighborhood. People were freaked out but after that day things return to normal. Its truly incredible how resilient people are here. Its something else.
We were supposed to run the Jerusalem 10K Friday morning but with all of the craziness of Jerusalem, the traffic nightmare and getting out for Shabbat we decided to head to Tel Aviv early and enjoy an extra night there. Thursday night we made delicious shakshukah (traditional Israel breakfast food) and went to bed. We were not going to give up on the 10K and we planned our own race in Tel Aviv and ran it the next morning together. It was a beautiful run through a major park in Tel Aviv and ended along the beach. We got delicious ice cream after in Neve Tzedek, a new up and coming neighborhood in Tel Aviv, went to the art market and explored Tel Aviv. 
Idan’s family invited us for Shabbat dinner so we headed over to his parents house that is outside of Tel Aviv. We ate delicious food and had a nice cultural exchange. His parents enjoyed learning about what Elyse is studying and where she is headed in life and it was equally as interesting for her to explain her story and see their reactions. Life in the US and Israel is so similar, yet so different. We all enjoyed a night of good food and company.
Saturday we all went to the beach and met up with a few friends. A great end to a wonderful week with Elyse in Israel!
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