BEN'S ADVENTURES WITH MOM

Sometimes Ben goes on trips with my mom, here are some photos.

At a Bedouin tent dinner.

Ben learns to play harp with Shoshi at Moshav Ramat Raziel.

Ben climbs the Monster in Jerusalem!

Overlooking Haifa's coast.

At the wooden park south of Netanya.

ok, this is not much of a field trip (it's the bathroom of our apartment!)...but it's still Ben and Mom!

Ben loves to grab the camera and take photos!

Ben's self portrait!

At the 'yellow' playground on top of the Netanya beach.

At the wooden playground's pirate park.

At night at the carousel in Netanya's Kikar Haatzmaut.

My English Seminar on American Music!

My English teacher Michal asked me to give a lecture about American popular music for my class's English lesson.  I researched a few singers and wrote this up to present to the class:

Lady Gaga
The first singer I researched is Lady Gaga. Her real name is Stefani Germanotta (she is Italian American). She is 24 years old. Some of her famous songs are " Bad Romance", "Just Dance", "Telephone", and "Poker Face". Something interesting about her is she calls her fans "Little Monsters" (for fun) but is incredibly thankful to them. She wears crazy clothes for attention from the press.

Justin Bieber
As a rock star, he didn't change his name, that's his real name. He is 16 years old. He grew up with a single mother who had him when she was 18! One of his famous songs is "Baby". He has also had "crowd control problems" by girl fans who "love" him. Some girls recently trampled his mother and he had to ask his fans to just all calm down so nobody else will get hurt.

Taylor Swift
Yes, Taylor Swift is her real name. She is 21 years old. A famous song of hers is "Love Story". The genre (kind) of music she plays is called "country pop", which she invented! Something that suprises me greatly is that when she got an award for the best music video, Kanye West (a rapper) stole the microphone from her and said that Beyonce should have won!

Beyonce Knowles/Jay-Z
That brings us to Beyonce Knowles, which is her real name, but most people know her as just Beyonce. A famous song of hers is "Halo". Ever since she started her career, in Destiny's Child (a church band), her mother has made her costumes and her father has been her producer. She is VERY private about her feelings and love life. That brings us to Jay-Z, her husband. He is 41, compared to her, that's old! His famous song is "New York: Empire State of Mind" with Alica Keys. His real name is Shawn Carter. He owns 5 clubs, co-owns a professional basketball team, has a line of clothing, and started 3 recording companies including Def Jam Records. He has 450 MILLION dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After teaching the class a little about these artists, I taught them the lyrics of a Taylor Swift song,'Love Story". Now, not only will they know more about famous American pop singers, but when they hear Taylor Swift's song, they can sing along too!

Back At Itamar School

Today I went back to Itamar school in Netanya after not being there for almost 3 weeks. At first I thought, Whoppee, I'm back in school, big deal, but then I realized I missed my friends and teachers. When I walked in, everybody rushed over to hug me and give me high-fives and slap my back. It was a great feeling! The teacher was surprised to see me but was obviously happy. Apparently, everybody thought I had already left Israel! I can't imagine how they (or I!) will feel when I really leave in 10 days and how they (and I!) will react to that news. My feelings right now are bittersweet; I don't know if I want to leave or not.

Top 10 List

Here is a list of 10 Things I love about Israel:

1. There fresh vegetables and fruits are amazing.
2. People here are super nice, and treat you like family.
3. They are super concerned about children here.
4. Like family, people will drop everything for you.
5. Also like family, people make sure you have something to do on holidays (not to be alone) and that you always have a meal or snacks all the time.
6. Despite it being a tense place, people are carefree and light here.
7. There are almost no drunk people here (everybody smokes instead)
8. People are real here, not fake.
9. People laugh a lot when they are happy.
10. Public/private places like restaurants let you use their restroom even if you are not a customer (unlike the U.S.)
    
    

    

    Yummy fresh strawberries!
    (Ok, so this strawberry vendor had a fight
    with the supermarket and set up selling his fruit
    RIGHT outside the supermarket instead of
    giving it to the supermarket to sell! So funny!)

10 Things I don't like:

1. There are as many stray cats here as there are squirrels in the U.S. They are missing ears, eye balls, tails and are really gross and scary looking!
2. The car street lights don't match up with the pedestrian lights so a walker will walk in front of a car unknowingly
3. The pedestrian lights don't match up with each other across a two-part street so if one light is green, you only get half way across the road because the other light is red.
4. There is cat pee and dog poo on the streets everywhere so you need to watch where you are going.
5. In the city, people throw their waste water out the apartment window when washing floors. Always look up!
6. At the same time people are super nice and will go out of their way for you, they can also be VERY rude as well. "Customer Service" is a term that has not made it here yet!
7. Walkers have a straight path and if you are in their path, you get knocked down or atleast pushed without acknowledgement (I have learned to give it right back to them though).
8. Some people are not paying attention in public places and hit you with their bags or bang into you and then don't even seem to realize it!
9. There has not been one time in the grocery store where I have not seen a fight waiting in the long line.




Ugh! The lights and the walk signals don't match up!
Be careful!


10. Because some of the people are so rude and tough, it would be hard if you were sweet.

FACTS ABOUT PLACES I'VE VISITED - Populations Tell A Story!

Across all of Israel,

• 76% of the people are Jewish
• 21% Arab (this does not include Palestinians who do not identify themselves as Israeli) and
• 3% are "other" including different non-Arab Christian communities: Syriacs, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Samaratins, etc.

 Within Israel's Arab population,

• 82% are Muslim, and this also includes Bedouin.
• 9% are Druze
• 9% are Christian.

Within Israel's Jewish population

• 8% are Ultra-Orthodox Haredi who are not Zionist
• 9% are orthodox Zionist
• 12% are "religious-traditionalists" (mostly adhering to Jewish religious law)
• 27% are "non-religious traditionalists" (only partly following Jewish religious law), and
• 43% are "secular" including a bit over half of those who believe in God.

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The statistics on both the Arab and Jewish populations are important:

Growing populations: As a percentage of the whole Israeli population, 21% is currently Arab non Jewish, however they are having more children per family than the Israeli Jewish population, so that percentage is growing. The growth rate of the Arab population in Israel is 2.6%, while the growth rate of the Jewish population in Israel is 1.7%. Over time, there will be more than 21% of Israel's population that is Arab.

Also, the growth rate within the Jewish population is leaning more to the Ultra-orthodox because they also have more kids than non-orthodox. So, over time, there will be even more orthodox than there is today.

So, what does this mean? In the future, there will be more Arab (Muslims) and more Orthodox Jews. This may make Peace harder because these groups have less in common with each other than regular, secular people on both sides. And it makes it harder for the Israelis to defend themselves because the ultra-Orthodox don't serve in the army.

Specific areas: The West Bank has 75% or 3/4 of its population as Arab Muslim and 1/4 Jewish. Gaza has almost all of its population Arab Muslim. And I was surprised to learn that the Old City of Jerusalem is 80% Muslim vs. Jewish, Christian or other. Coastal places like Tel Aviv and Netanya, and Negev cities like Beer Sheba and Eilat are almost all Jewish. Ultra-orthodox live in Meir Sherim in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv.

So, what does this mean? It means that most areas are not mixed neighborhoods and people of different backgrounds don't get to know each other.

Having unbalanced population growth and neighborhoods that are not mixed may make Peace more difficult over time, because people people get more different than alike over time and don't live near each other to get to know each other well.

Our Last Family Trip - To Eilat!

Day 1 Travelling
Today I woke up to the windows rattling and rain pounding against them. There was a huge storm with category 2 winds and heavy rain. So our trip to Eilat was delayed for 3 hours. Once we got on the road, we hit this huge sandstorm driving through the desert. We couldn't see 1 foot in front of our car so I was so scared we would hit something or be hit from behind. We pulled over. It only went on for about 30 seconds.

Once we got to Eilat, we saw all the fancy resorts and found ours - ours is the only one with a theme of a cruise ship in the whole country. Everything is boaty, fishy or piratey. We have a really nice room too! The resort has 10 pools. It is SO cool!

Day 2 Marine Center
Today we went to a marine center. The place has an underwater observatory, a 3D oceanarium movie, and exotic marine life cared for by the workers there. It is located on the Red Sea, at the crossroads of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel.

I noticed in the observatory that we got to see all the marine life in the actual sea without having to get wet! There were all these exotic fish and colors of coral. My favorite fish was one with many pretty colors and it looked like it had smudged eye makeup. The worst part was that the walls felt like they were going to bust in on me from so much water pressure!

There was a movie focused on a marine biologist's boat that had technology to track sharks. The movie theater seats moved for a special effect. My brother hated it because of the sharks who scared him. There also were huge turtles that were 120 years old and 300 kilograms. 2 smaller ones were fighting and the one who was losing appeared to be crying! Today was a 'wateriffic' day!

Day 3-5
Today we hung out at the hotel and did some swimming. There was a pool with swim-up windows to a fake submarine.

We also played in the arcade, hung out at the hotel. Ben and I (and a bunch of other kids) were called up on stage to be in a show one evening and Ben cried because he didn't like it, but I calmed him down.


Day 6
Today we went to Timna National Park where there were mountains that were naturally shaped funny from desert erosion - one looked like a corkscrew and another looked like a mushroom. There were different color rocks, including dark gray ones from volcanos a long time ago. Ancient Egyptians had an enormous underground copper mine in Timna and you could still see caves leading into the mines. We saw a movie that had 360' screen and seats kept moving all around.

Later in the day we went on camel rides for half hour in the desert mountains. The whole time my dad was acting like he was 4 years old hooting and hollering because he was so happy and smiling like crazy! The Hebrew word for camel is 'gamel' and my dad loved that!

My "gamel" is named Lena!

Afterwards, we had a fancy dinner at an Italian restaurant. We then went to this amusement park and they had this ride called the Sling Shot. It had 2 poles the size of a 5-story building with large cable wires attached to them. On the top of each pole was a cable as long as the pole. On the end of the cable was a large ball large enough to fit 2 people in it. It was open, no windows, and the people get strapped into seats. Once the people were inside, the ride would start and sling-shoot you straight up into the air, still attached to the cables meanwhile spinning around like crazy every which way you can think of. As I said, the ball's walls are not solid, it is just the skeleton frame of a ball. The wind is blowing in and pushing the ball around like crazy. The worst part is the embarrassment  - what do I mean by that? Well, I mean that the ball had a camera inside that films your faces up close the whole time you're in the ball. And it's shown on a jumbo-tron down below on the ground for everyone to see! I was hating it, screaming and crying the whole time, while screaming to my dad, SHUTTTTTT UPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!! because he was screaming with the joy of the rushing wind.

Last day
We went back home and I got car sick. We stopped in Beer Sheva for lunch, then hit the road to return to Netanya. (the road conditions today were a lot better than the day we drove down to Eilat).

A Stormy Day In Jaffa

Today my dad, my brother and I went to the house of my dad's Israeli boss, Itzik Benenson, on the stormiest day Israel has seen in 42 years! When we got there, we had a little snack, then went off to explore Old Jaffa. Each street has an astrological street sign and symbol. Mine is the crab, and I found that street! It is supposed to be good luck. Then we went to the choppy sea and saw the huge waves splashing into the streets over the sea wall. I ran into the middle of the street and let's say I got the 'best shower of my life.'  I got drenched! And what made it colder was that the wind was high category 1 wind. I never knew wind could be so strong!

Jaffa's port was empty except for us, during this huge storm!

We then went to a restaurant with the Benensons that was obviously a bunch of folding chairs and tables set up in somebody's living room, but the food was outstanding.

See us in the restaurant mirror?!

After the fight back to their home with Mother Nature, we had some refreshing hot tea. We thanked the family and went home.

The Car of the Future!

Today we went with our friend Noam to on a tour of Better Place, the company that makes electric cars! It is close to Netanya but we still got really lost getting there. The showroom is really sleek and modern and cool. We got to drive in the car! I hope it is successful!

FACTS & MAPS OF PLACES I'VE VISITED - Maps Tell Stories

I always thought that maps showed facts: what you look at is what is there. After living here, I realize that maps tell a particular story, depending on what story you want to tell. Here, Israelis and Palestinians fight over who owns the land, who should own the land, and who used to own the land, so maps are used to show your side of the story. 

Here is a world map: the yellow part is all of the Middle East, including 22 Arab countries (325m people) and Israel (7.5m people). From this map, you can see that this region is at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa; for that reason, it is an important area that many different people wanted to control over centuries.

Mostly on the news, we hear about the fight between the Arab countries and Israel like they are equals and that Israel has the best army in the area. But looking at a map shows that Israel is very outnumbered and located in a boxed-in location by the sea:

Can you even find tiny Israel on this map? It is between Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and just the size of New Jersey!

In this part of the world, some people use maps to share their ideas. For example, in the map below, the turquoise area is called "Samaria, Jerusalem, and Judea." Most modern people call this area "The West Bank" because it's the west side of the Jordan River. So it's interesting that whoever made this map calls it something else. Why? Well, Samaria and Judea are the biblical Jewish names of this area... so that's a clue. Maybe the map maker wants us to think of that land as important holy areas from the bible, especially for Jews. It's probably an ultra-Orthodox Jew who wants to show a map that the Jewish people always had a presence living in this region since bible times:

Most modern people call the turqouise area "West Bank" but not this map maker.

Now here's another map - notice the gray area called "West Bank." And what's even more interesting is that most modern people call the orange area "Israel" but this map calls it "Palestine." Why? Well, from this I think the map maker is probably Palestinian who wants to ignore that there is in modern-tmes a Jewish country called Israel. I think it's incredibly sad that 36 countries do not recognize Israel's right to exist. All of its neighbors except Egypt and Jordan do not even recognize Israel's right to be there, so this is probably one of the maps from one of thse neighbors:

Where is Israel? Imagine how you'd feel if your neighbors didn't want you there and pretended you didn't even exist!

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Not only do the names of what map makers call places tell a story. Also, what things you decide to put on the map tell a story too. For example, if you look at the key or legend on the map below, you can see it shows where Israel and Palestinian Authority offically control the land and where Israel put a fence. I was surprised to see the West Bank is almost all Palestinian Authority. For the Israel side, it shows me that the Israelis will have a hard time keeping the little white areas in the West Bank because they are surrounded by area not controlled by Israel. How will the Israeli people get from one place to another? And for the Palestinian side, it shows me that Palestinians will have a hard time going from Gaza and West Bank for the same reason, that they are surrounded by area not controlled by them (and because there is a fence):

This map can be used to tell many stories!

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This is true not just for the story of the Israel and its relationship to its neighbors: what you put on a map depends on what you're trying to tell.

The Legend is very important to know what you're trying to look at. You can have a simple ski map that shows where the trees are, so you don't bump into them.

Ski map

You can have a map that shows where all the restrooms are in New York City!

This Legend of a NY City map lists a lot, including where public restrooms are located!

My dad is a geographer and he and his students make maps of how people in Massachusetts use their land by their homes for lawn, trees and bushes, pavement, swimming pools, etc.

This is actually NOT one of my dad's map, but you get the idea!

You can also have 3D maps that show how high mountains are, street maps like Google Earth with actual satellite pictures of your house, and so many other maps!
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In conclusion, Maps help you find your way around and to learn about an area (but remember, it's from a particular point of view opinion of the mapmaker). Depending on what you want to find out or teach/show others, you will USE a map or MAKE a particular map to define borders and places in the Middle East, get to a bathroom quickly in NYC, or take a dip in a swimming pools on Cape Cod!

Dialogue in the Dark

Today my mom and I went back to the Children's Museum, which has an exhibit DIALOG IN THE DARK, not meant for little children, despite its location at the Children's Museum. It is not an ordinary exhibit. First thing, when we got there, we were handed walking sticks and a guide led us through a series of pitch black rooms (places). The first place was a forest: we had to detect where we were using our other 4 senses. How? Well, you could smell the nature, feel the cool and humid temperature; hear sounds of frog, crickets, etc., and feel trees, dirt and grass. Next the guide guided us to a boat and sailed us around. Then he brought us to a cafe where we ordered something in the dark. We then sat down to ask the guide some questions (that's why the exhibit is called Dialogue in the Dark). Meanwhile, a loud New Yorker wa blabbing away. When we were led to the light again, my eyes took a while to adjust. I then saw the guide who is blind, and I was shocked! From being with him for an hour, I thought his voice was youthful, upbeat, and confident. For those reasons, I pictured him to be a handsome 23 year old who could see. It turns out he was a 40 year old, average looking, and totally blind from birth! He really suprised me! He lives alone, rides the bus an hour to work, and seemed very nice, happy and confident.

The experience is not meant for you to feel like you're blind. It's supposed to challenge your other senses, help you think about your previous ideas you had about blind people being helpless or depressed or something else. It helped me and my mom think about our own senses and we learned to “see” our guide with a deep respect and appreciation.

Hanukah in Modi'in - Maccabee-style!

Today my brother, mother and I went to a moshav (farm) in Modi'in, the town where the Maccabees from the Hanukah story lived 2,000 years ago. When we got there, the first thing we did was milk the goats. I got to also hold a 1 week old baby goat and saw it drink from its mother.

Baby goats are like any other baby - animal or human - in that it's small and makes you feel loving towards it. With the fresh milk, we made soft cheese. It was a Russian cheese and took just 5 minutes to make once the milk was boiled to the right temperature (other cheeses can take up to 3 weeks to make!). We got to eat it right then and there, it was so good that I felt that I was in heaven. I never thought a Russian cheese would be so simple, fresh and tasty, but this one was.

This little bag of cheese cloth has the cheese in it.

We cleaned wool and spun it on a wheel.

We picked fresh herbs for tea, jam and other things. We then made a mobile of local clay. Judy, the farmer, gave us some homemade ice cream which was a very weird flavor of banana-date-coffee. After that, we went to an excavated archeological site right next to her home which had an oil press, a wine making area and even caves that the Maccabees hid in! After that, we had a great song session with some college-aged boys singing spiritual songs written by an Orthodox hippie who used to live on the moshav. In the middle of the nice songs, 30 old ladies busted in chattering and taking over our space, kind of ruined the moment!

The moshav was where Shlomo Carlebach lived - a lot of ex-hippies turned religious.

The whole day, my brother was excited and kept saying "Judy! Um, Judy! Excuse me!" and then he'd ask questions or say some comment, which cracked me up - I guess he did that because he was curious and excited to be there.

At the end, we went back to Judy's house to buy some fresh olive oil made right there from the area's olive trees; this was the same area where the Maccabees got the famous oil that lit up the reclaimed Temple in Jerusalem for 8 days instead of 1 day, the Hanukah miracle - so it was really special to be here during Hanukah!

Israel is Burning!

Israel is having the worst forest fire in its history, right in the Carmel mountains near Haifa! We've been to this place and it is very beautiful. My mother said she would have named me Carmel for this beautiful spot, if I had been born a girl. Many people are without their homes, and some died. It is a terrible thing!

So sad, a bus of prison guards went up in flames; they all died.

If you can, please give money to help the fire victims, check this or other websites
http://www.azm.org/together-as-one-carmel-fire-relief.php

Tel Aviv Day Trip

Today, my brother, mother and I went to Tel Aviv. Here's some of the stuff we did...

Bauhaus Tour, Neve Tzedek, and the Tachana Train Station
Today we went on a Bauhaus tour of Tel Aviv. Bauhaus (or International) is a German kind of architecture popular in the 1930s that is simple, not fancy, straight lines, and mostly white. The area is called "The White City" because of it. The subject was boring in the first place, so it wasn't fun for me. But what made it even more boring was the guide talked with a low sleepy voice. Before, I thought architecture was borning; but now I know it is! When we finally finished, we went to look for a broken down train station from Turkish times thatnow has cool shops in it. To get there, we had to pass a neighborhood called Neve Tzedek which is a big neighborhood closer to the water which fancy houses and a mix of all kinds of styles. It was big, so we had to do a lot of walking around cool shops, parks, etc. At the Tachana train station, there was a clown. She gave Ben a balloon and it popped, so she gave him a new one for free.

Bauhaus architecture has systematic, straight lines and it is very functional, nothing fancy.

Max Brenner
Max Brenner is a HUGE chocolate restaurant. My quote is "Max Brenner is a preview for when the Messiah will come!" :)

Sights/Smells
The minute I walked in the door, my jaw dropped. There was chocolate everywhere! There was that color brown everywhere. I smelled chocolate everywhere too. There were huge tubs of chocolate situated around the restaurant. And above these tubs, there were tons of shelves with tons of tiny boxes of chocolates in all shapes and sizes. I have always wanted to sneak into the grocery store when it is closed and night and raid the candy aisle... for this, I didn't even have to sneak in!

OMG, they have something called a Chocolate Syringe, which is exactly what it sounds like, about 15 inches long! My dream come true!

Tastes
Here I knew the food would be good, but not as good as it turned out to really be. I ordered eggs, cheese and toast. When it came, my mouth was a happy camper. Well, what about the chocolate? Well, for dessert I got a 4 inch high rich, plain vanilla ice cream bar which came with chocolate sauce, chocolate balls and a grated chocolate bar. You would take the ice cream, dip it in the chocolate sauce, then the chocolate balls or grated chocolate  so it would stick to the ice cream. But best of all, the chocolate sauce would harden! After I finished eating paradise, we got chocolate balls the size of marbles that were really waffle balls dipped in chocolate. It was just as good as the ice cream.

On my Dad's next sabbatical, I want to live in the apartment above Max Brenner.

Hanukah in Jerusalem

On December 2, my whole family went on a trip to Jerusalem.

Abu Shukri
Abu Shukri is the best humus place in Jerusalem! Even just walking in, you can sense that this is the place you want to have lunch. And when you take that first bite of pita bread, it is so filling that you couldn't take another bite (but of course you do!). What I find very funny is all the Israelis go there, yet no Arabs (it's run by an Arab family and is in the outdoor Arab flea market!). It wins Israeli awards for the best humus. And what's even funnier is the person who we met in there happens to be the director of Reform Judaism in Israel. Now you may say to yourself "Whooppee, Caleb found the director of the most common form of Judaism." Well, no - the most common form of Judaism in Israel is either secular (not religious) or Orthodox. The Reform and Conservative movements are very small here and not recognized by the Rabbinate to perform weddings, funerals, bar and bat mitzvahs, etc. So it was good to meet someone who's Reform, because they are doing great work to make more Israelis become familiar with non-Orthodox ways of celebrating Judaism.

The City of David
After we finished eating, we went to the City of David. We saw a 3D movie about what David did 3,000 years ago to create the first Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem. It was 3D, but when you saw a bee or a fly, when it came at you in the movie, no strong wisp of air would come out. We went around the bend to see the archeological site still being dug where David's palace was. We went to sit down and looked over an excavated site of an old house next to the palace. The house had a toilet bowl which indicated that the family was very rich. The Talmud asks what is a rich man, and one answer is a man who has a toilet in his home! A contract seal was found there indicating that it belonged to a family whose names are actually mentioned in the Bible. It's cool that the Bible stories are actually real people who lived so long ago!

At the 2,000 (or 3,000?) year old City of David, outside the walls of Jerusalem's 500 year old "Old City."

We then went to a cave where the ancient people built a water tunnel to bring spring water to the city in case of siege. There was a natural long shaft down that connected to the water tunel that led to the city. David built the tunnel so that in times of war, they could get water without leaving the city. The people who dug the tunnel made the work harder for themselves because they had to make their own shaft down to the water; what's even sadder is the shaft they dug was just 1 yard to the right of the natural shaft - if they had known, they could have stopped their digging right there! We hiked through the dark tunnel through the water tunnel which was pitch black and still had water running up to our waist. My brother was on my dad's back the whole time and hated it because he was a little afraid. We had flashlights and walked for 30 minutes. There were 2 ultra-Orthodox guys who were adventurous enough to go through the water tunnel with us, but asked the Guide to hold their hats made from rabbit fur.  She put it on her head, and asked "I thought rabbit is not kosher?" and the guy said, "So, we don't eat it, just wear it!"

Our (secular) tour guide Aiyala wore the Haredi rabbit hat while the man went through the water tunnel.

We got lost in a different tunnel and wound up outside by where the archeological dig is still going on today and where the Arabs who live nearby don't like it. We had to retrace our steps back to where the Guide would meet us. Finally, we went to another excavated area of an old street where every stone block or two of steps was tilted up and broken. Why? Because when the Romans conquered the city of Jerusalem from the Jews, some Jews tried to hide under the streets in the sewers to save themselves. The Roman general ordered the Roman soldiers to systematically find every last Jew so they broke open all the streets till they found all the Jews and killed them.

Just finished wading through the waters in the dark in Hezekiah's Tunnel!

It was interesting to think that today Jerusalem is once again a Jewish city, and that the last time it was Jewish was 2,000 years ago when the Hasmonean kingdom of the Maccabees retook the city in the Hanukah story. For 2,000 years Jews did not control the city, but the Guide said we were very lucky to live in our times after 2,000 years.

Kotel (Western Wall) and Shuk
On a happier note, we made our way at dusk to the Kotel once again. It was Ben's first and only time visiting. Because it was Hanukah, the Kotel had a huge menorah there. We also took notes from our friends the Morrels to put in the cracks of the walls.

When we were walking back, we saw an old rabbi with a long white beard with 2 canes. And we saw this cute little old couple below: the man was wearing one of the little paper flags on a toothpick that you stick in your cocktail drink... on his head!

Look closely what's on his head!

Then we went to the Arab outdoor flea market (shuk). There we bought a kiddush cup set where you have a main cup that sits on top and you pore wine in a little hole that goes out the hole in different spots to 6 different smaller cups. I find it very cool, and have been wanting one for a while.

This is my new kiddush set: we used it for the next Shabbat dinner!

My mom got a couple of Armenian ceramic bowls that she wants to put salt in to dip challah in salt on Shabbat. Again, the shop keepers were very aggressive and I definitely don't like that. All the while we were pushing the stroller which was really hard because we were going uphill on stairs. It was still really hard even though Ben wasn't in it. We had dinner at Aroma cafe overlooking the King David Hotel right outside Jaffa Gate. In the parking garage, there was a random stray wolf - OMG my parents freaked out and hurried us into the car! By the time we got home, we were so tired, so we changed into our pajamas with our eyes closed and TOTALLY crashed! Well, good night!