Ancient Caves

This weekend we decided to take a day trip to Scott's collegues house near Be'er Sheba, an area which gets a fraction of Hamas's rockets fired in from Gaza.  We needed to get away from the crazy Pesach city life where the mobs Israeli out on vacation were stressing me out!  After spending two hours outside our apartment in Neve Tsedek, all of us (Pali, Makai and I) would return home needing to nap from all the stress and stimulation from this week.  Scott just stayed home and worked. 

Back to our weekend...   We had a great time with Doda (aunite) Dana (Dah-nah) and her husband Shaha.  They took us on a hike to explore caves in the area.  When we made it to the caves, the first word out of Makai's mouth was "moon."   I thought he was trying to say "more" since Dana was helping him jump from rock to rock.  He kept saying "moon".  When I asked "Makai, where's the moon," this is what he pointed too.

Top of the cave.  People repel down and climb back up.

Makai and Doda jumping from rock to rock.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doda Dana.  Makai's best buddy.

The caves are what is left of an ancient quarry dating 2 to 3000 years ago.  The rocks are limestone and therefore easy to work with and useful as a building material.  The people at the time would dig a hole at the surface (what Makai calls moon) and then work their way down in a spiral, cutting out huge blocks to be used on surface.  What's left are these huge cathedral like caves.

We then were then invited to Dana's house for a salami and cheese lunch.  She lives in a small farming village, and we tasted the first peaches of the season.  Makai took to Doda Dana quite well and cried if he thought we were going to leave.  If only she lived closer, she could be our babysitter!

My First Passover

Today marks the first day of Passover.  It's an eight day holiday (though we don't officially get all those days off from work) celebrating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt back to Israel.  Much of the country shuts down during this time, and we generally hear the phrase at work, "after Pessah."  So many activities wind down even before Passover is here.  I'm told half of the country ends up traveling abroad during this period while the other half tours Israel.  And because of this, Jana and I have decided to simply stay here in Tel Aviv.

Tonight, Pessah Eve, we have been invited to our neighbor's father's home for our first ever Passover dinner.   Now fortunately, Auntie Kim and Amy (Christians, by the way) gave Atom (also a non-Jew) a book titled "My First Passover."  And since then, we have read the book two times.  Now I have a better idea of what Passover is (and I especially like the story of the 10 plagues), but I think Atom still has no clue.  And amusingly, my colleague summed it up that all Jewish holidays are based on some event in history where somebody wanted to kill the Jews but they managed to escape somehow. 

Oh yeah back to the dinner we're going to tonight.  During Passover, people become very strict about things being Kosher. 

Another side note:  I also participated in the selling and buying of "chametz."  Chametz is any grain or yeast product and is forbidden to be consumed during Passover.   They're actually not even supposed to have it in their house.  But you know what?  They can sell it to a non-Jew and then buy it back after Passover is over.  The items don't even have to exchange hands.  And of course they can only go into one of these contracts with a non-Jew.  Normally you find your local Arab for this.  But since they don't get along so well these days, I'm the next best thing.  So for 1 shekel, I am currently the owner of all the Chametz in the office building.  They didn't explain to me any of this before hand.  While they were drafting up the contract, I asked, "Am I being sold all your sins right now?"  But no, it was only grains but which happily enough includes beer!

Ok, back to the dinner story.  It was recommended by a colleague to bring only Kosher wine to the dinner we were invited to.  I never even knew there was such a thing as Kosher wine. We then heard that our neighbor's father loves foreign wines which I'm sure the majority of are not Kosher.  So I went out to a special wine shop and split the difference.  I purchased one Kosher wine, and one Chilean wine.  It turns out though that Jana spoke with our neighbor today who said, "Don't bring any Kosher things.  We're not religious at all.  We'll even have pork there at dinner tonight." 

So that will be my first Passover experience.

Twin's Visit

The twins Kim and Amy came out to visit a few weeks ago. Even with the flare up in the country, they still decided to come. And after being here for 12 days, they loved it. Never would have come to visit if we weren't here. They toured much of the country but didn't make it everywhere. Here's a short recap of their itinerary for those who may also want to come visit us.

• Day 1: Arrive in Tel Aviv.  Kim got held back at the immigration desk because she told them she wanted to visit other middle eastern countries like the West Bank.  The officer promptly replied with, "The West Bank is in Israel."
• Day 2: Toured Tel Aviv.  Walked through the Fashion District and then onto Sheinkin and the Carmel Market.  Kim and Amy tried on 300 pairs of sunglasses and bought one.
• Day 3: Private guided tour to north Israel (Nazarath, Golan Heights, and more.)  They left at 9 AM and didn't make it back till midnight.  They met a cute old Arab cafe owner and wanted to marry him.  And he was like, "American twins.  What more can an Arab ask for."
• Day 4: Private guided tour of the Old City in Jerusalem.  We went through 3000 years of history.  So please excuse us if we don't have our historical events all in order.  And had awesome hummus for lunch.  Arab dessert not to great.
• Day 5: Visited Caesarea.  Kim and Amy climbed some ruins they were not allowed to be on.  
• Day 6: Mitzpe Ramon/Negev Desert.  Kim and Amy saw camels up close for the first time.  They originally imagined all of Israel to be a desert.  
• Day 7: Hiking in Mitzpe Ramon.  We hiked in the crater on a trail that the park ranger had recommended but not for that day.  Due to the rain storms, flash floods could occur. We took the risk anyways and made the hike.
• Day 8: Camel rides and Jaffa at night.  Amy originally wanted a long camel trek.  Upon seeing the camel farm, the girls opted for a 5 minute ride around the holding pen.
• Day 9: Jerusalem.  The twins went back to the old city and visited Jesus's tomb.  They also paid 100 shekels for a taxi ride when it should have been only 20.
• Day 10: Guided tour through the West Bank.  The twins saw Bethlehem, Jericho, and the Dead Sea.  If you want to get into a heated debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, give Kim a call.
• Day 11: Barbecue in Tel Aviv.  We hosted a barbeque, inviting some Israeli friends to eat lots of non-Kosher meat.  
• Day 12: Flight back to the US.  Wonder if Kim got stopped at the immigration desk again.

Kim and Amy at the end of the Caanite Tunnel in the City of David

Hiking the lip of the Ramon Crater

Hummus and pita at a cafe in the
Muslim Quarter of the Old City

Rooftop view in the Old City

At the entrance of a wormhole taking them back to the future!

Hanging out at the Beach

It's been awhile since we made a post.  Jana says it's more fun hanging out at the beach than writing on our blog.  And I tend to agree.  Well, unless it's 95 degrees outside which it is today.  There's a heat wave right now which has interrupted the generally nice weather that we have been experiencing this spring. And with the nice weather, as referenced before, we have been hanging out at the beach often.

Atom and Jana are there almost every day.  I head out there in the mornings for a short walk with Pali, and on the weekends, Atom and I have a bit of bonding time at the beach.  Here are some photos of our beach fun.