Weekend Away and 4th of July

Well it has been about a week since my last post...sorry. I just don't see the point in posting short messages that will consist of "I had school today, it was ok." So at this point I would be expecting weekend updates since that is when I am going to be having my adventures! At least until the real work hits me. :) So let's start at the very beginning.....it's apparently a very good place to start.

This past weekend Nina, Mike and I went on a little adventure to the north. We went toYa'kov (mom, I will be taking you there) and to Tiveria. It was exactly the weekend that I needed. We left jerusalem early Friday morning a took a bus to Tel Aviv. From Tel Aviv we took the bus to Zichron Ya'kov. Zichron Ya'kov is a beautiful little town. It kind of reminds Zichron me of Sausolitio (sp?) but with more hills. It has a lot of really cute little shops and restaurants. So when we first arrived in town we immediately had something to eat (since Nina was very hungry). We went to a cute little cafe kinda thing and I had Shakshuka. Shakshuka is poached eggs in a maranara sauce. They serve it to you in a warm skillet with bread and sometimes other dipping sauces. This is the third time I have tried Shakshuka since being here and this was the best one I've had. After eating we walking around the town a little bit. I bought a really cute cuff bracelet. It's turns my wrist green so I am going to have to buy some clear nail polish so I can wear it! After a little window shopping we went down to the winery. We didn't do a tour or anything, especially after they told us we needed to make a reservation, they were booked, and they were closing for the day. So they were kind enough to allow us to try some of the wines. I think my dislike of red wines (except Maniwzevits) was confirmed through this trip. So after trying two white wines I stuck to what I know and bought a bottle of Muscato. From the winery we took a bus ride to Tiveria.

I was not all the impressed with Tiveria. It might have been because there was no one out because of Shabbat but I was not all the impressed when we got there. So when we got there we checked in at the hostel and get ready to go out to dinner. The hotel recommended a small place for us to go eat, but when we left the hostel we made a right turn instead of a left and walked and walked and walked and didn't find anything. After coming to the conclusion that we weren't going to find anything to eat we turned around and went the other way and finally reached the promenade. We never did make it to the restaurant the hostel recommended, since Mike and Nina were against going there, and went to Big Ben. It was probably to worst meal I have had since being in Israel. I ordered a chicken salad, and the chicken was good but the salad was lettuce, a couple vegetables, and oil. Definitely not worth the money I spent on it. From there we went to an ice cream place and I made my own frozen yogurt. It was really good; Banana's and chocolate with Pecans. After eating our yogurt we went back to the hostel and hung out with the people that worked there. One of the guys Omri, spent the hour making fun of us and our american accents. At first it was funny, but then I thought it got kind of old....it wasn't like we were sitting there making fun of his Israeli accent. Anyhoo after a little while of hanging out with the hostel people we went back up to our room and watched part of Avatar.

We took the morning to sleep in and relax and finally got out of bed around 11am. After packing everything u[ we went back to the same place we had dinner and breakfast, luckily the food was better but the waitress had a bad attitude. After eating we headed over the the beach. All the beaches in Tiveria are privately owned so we had to pay to get in. Once we were in it was beautiful. The beaches are rocks...not sand to that was interesting but there were so many people and the weather was so beautiful nothing else mattered. The Kineret is a fresh water body of water so going in to the water didn't sting at all! Yay! We were at the beach for about 3 hours, maybe a little more and I got major burned. From the beach we took the bus all the way back to Jerusalem... it was about a 3 - 3.5 hour bus ride. The end of our weekend get away.

This is a black and white photo of the Winery Mike took. It is a small and cute winery with delicious wine...OBVIOUSLY!
This is the beach. Here you can see the lack of sand. It was really hot to walk on! The mountain range across the way is Jordan. Everyone wave and say Hi!!!
Me holding up my bottle of wine I bought in front the wine. Yay for Muscato!
Nina and I are diving in to what used to be a pool...according to the sign at least.
Gotta hold my breath so I don't get water up my nose!
Beautiful pink flowers we saw on the walk down to the Winery. They were pink....I couldn't resist.
I was a little sad to find out there wasn't much of a scent, but it made for a really great photo!!! Yay pink flowers!!!!!
Nina drinking her Cold Coffee at the cafe. She said she could feel the caffeine seeping in to her blood. She was a happy camper after the coffee :)

It was a really long hike up the hill from the winery... I was a little winded to say the least. But hey, I would rather do that walk a million times than climb that damn mountain Masada again!

Beautiful!

4th of July!

It was really weird...it didn't feel like the 4th of July but I knew it was. I wore red white and blue to school to support my country. At around 4:30 almost everyone that is here for the program met at Liberty Bell park for a picnic and BBQ. It was a lot of fun. I finally got to meet in person a lot of the people I have been talking to on Facebook. Everyone is super nice and it is also refreshing to see some new faces. There were no fireworks or parade but it was very nice and relaxing to hang out with EVERYONE in a non academic setting.

From left to right: Alexis, Sarah, Me, Bryce, and Jay. This is at the picnic and the only picture I have right now. I am waiting for people to give me their photos and then I will attach them to the next post. Jay and I went to Arizona together so it was really nice having him around! Congrats to him and Bryce who just got engaged!!!!!

Side note: On Saturday morning when it Tiveria we received a phone call from a fellow student informing us that one of our classmates mom passed away from a sudden heart attack. The student is now home and will be returning back to jerusalem after sitting shiva for the week with his family. Obviously, whenever something like this happens we are stricken with much grief and saddness but even more so when it comes so suddenly. I just wanted to tell you all how much I love you and how much you all mean to me. I would not be where I am without the love and support of you all. I miss everyone very much and look forward to continue my blog experience with you all as just one more way of me keep all of you with me during my life changing experience here in Israel. Shalom vl'hitraot!