Sunday April 13
My family arrived early Sunday morning from their 3 day visit to England. They surprised me right before lunch by showing up to my campus. Minus my Dad who was giving a lecture in Tel-Aviv. We went out for lunch at a Falafel place close by. We rented an apartment in Jerusalem just down the street from my campus on Hapalmach. It was really nice to see everyone, although they all looked exhausted! My Dad picked me up at around 8:30 pm. He got a mini tour of the campus and got to see a clean room 7, (not that it is never clean or anything). We went out for dinner in Emek Refaim at a Yemenite meat restaurant. It was a great first meal after not having full appetizing meals!! How often do you get to go to an ice cream place after having meat and have a whole parve section in front of you, only in Israel!!! We went to our apartment afterwards.
Monday April 14
At our apartment before the celebrations with the view!!
We went to the Kotel on Monday before the Seder. We also got a tour of the Davidson centre (The southern wall).
Before the Seder we went to our friend Maya from Toronto's cocktail party in Teddy Kolek park (across from Mamilla mall). After, we walked straight to Beit Shmuel for our Seder. We had around 40 people at our Seder. It started at 9:30 and went until 1 am. They emphasized at the Seder that everyone can add new family traditions to the Seder (different tunes, discussions). I thought that this was a very nice idea to put into the Seder. We walked back to our apartment after the Seder, there were many other families walking at that time from their Seder.
Tuesday April 15
We all woke up pretty late and stayed in our Pajamas until 2:30. Once everybody was ready, we went on the Ramparts walk in the old city. It took awhile to find the entrance to the walk. Even though I had done the walk before, it was really nice I do it with my family! We then went to the Kotel since we were already there. It was chag so no stores were open. My Dad got packaged meals the day before to have for dinner for that night. He got kugel, and quiche, where else can you have that on Passover!!
Wednesday April 16
We woke up early to go and plant trees with the Grossmans and their extended family in . We all planted at least one tree. It was really meaningful to plant a tree in a country where so much history occurred. Using Waze, we figured out that the traffic on the way was going I be crazy. It would have taken 3 hours for us to get back to Jerusalem, where it would normally taking 45 minutes. The Grossmand shinshinim from last year, Noa and her family were there. Noas father took us to Beit Shemesh on a tiyul to the Bar Kochba caves. I didn't go in this time around.
We drove back to Jerusalem a different way then before to avoid traffic. It was a very scenic drive, up and down hills (where is it not scenic in Israel though). We got back to Jerusalem and were supposed to go to the Kotel Tunnels. We were going to be to rushed if we tried to get there, so we ended up going to Ben Yehuda street. We went out for dinner in Ben Yehuda at 'Rimon', with the Grossmans and their cousins from Chicago. It is so easy to keep Passover in Israel, we had what tasted and looked like bread rolls and pasta. Obviously they were made with corn starch, but they definitely tasted like normal bread and pasta.
We were halfway to their hotel when my Dad realized that Zev was missing. He ran back to find Zev. He had been in a Kippas store and hadn't told anyone. Luckily, Zev found The Lengas (the Grossmans cousins) who waited with him to find everyone. Of course he didn't know anyone's Israel cell numbers. Zev was lucky that he had found them and a couple minutes later my Dad had gone to bring him back. The adventures of the Bell Family in Jerusalem!!!!!
Thursday April 17
Today was the big day; Ayala's Bat Mitzvah!! Her Bat Mitzvah was at the conservative synagogue on King Solomon street. Her family led the whole service. She read from the Torah and haftorah and did an amazing job!! The reception was at the Leonardo. I think they won for the longest Horah!!! We all had a great time!! A few people from TRY were there to which was nice. After the delicious lunch in, we went swimming and hung out by the pool for awhile. By the time everyone was out, it was 5:00!! After swimming we went for ice-cream on Ben Yehuda with all the ׳extended guests׳!!
Friday April 18
While my Mom, Talia and Zev were at Yad Vashem, my Dad, Galit and I went to the Tachaneh. Galit and I walked around, she got a flower baloon, cotton candy and a whole bag of candy. She was so happy. Every Friday there is a market on the tachanah-even during passover!! That afternoon we were going to Kibbutz Ein Gedi. I went in the Grossmans car because our rental car was so tiny and could barely fit all the duffel bags. Once I got to the Kibbutz with te Grossmans we went right into the pool. The Kibbutz is a stunning botanical garden overlooking the Dead Sea. For Shabbat Dinner we were in a dining hall with many of the hotel guests. It was a feast and amazing food!!
Galit at the Tachaneh with her flower balloon
Saturday April 19
We all woke up semi-early to go hiking at Nachal David. We ended up going a bit later then planned because of miscommunication. I hiked with the Grossmans. We stopped at every waterfall on the way up, which felt great on a hot day and different from what I did on the hike with my school. We all got soaking wet, we continued to hike and it just took about 10 minutes to dry because it was 35 degrees out!! We got up to the top and saw my family who had left earlier and were already going down the mountain. We were heading towards the caves at the top. Only Daphna and Yona ended up going to the caves. Once we got back to the entrance, we set up our picnic. Israelis really do have the best picnics out there.
People even brought mini grills to barbecue burgers. After eating, we went to the Dead Sea. We got to the mud pit and bathed mud on ourselves. I've never been in the Dead Sea, the past three times that I've been at the Dead Sea because of my skin.
I decided to go in. It stung a bit, but overall I was glad I went in. As we got out of the Dead Sea to go up to the rampart back to the car, the sandstorm started. We were rinsing ourselves off in the shower outside and sand was smacking us. Watermelons, Chairs, and tents were flying all over the place. It was crazy!
We finally got back to the car and drove back to Kibbutz Ein Gedi. We jumped into the pool at the kibbutz once we got back and then Yona and I went into the spa to go to the Turkish steam room. We had dinner reservations for 8 with another humongous feast!! The food was delicious. After the amazing dinner, we went to the lobby area where there was a guitarist playing live. We enjoyed that and then I had to say my goodbyes as my Dad was driving me back at 6:00 the next morning.
Sunday April 20
My Dad, being the great father that he is, woke up at 5:30 during his vacation to drive me 2.5 hours to Jerusalem. We were going with our school up to Tzfat. My Dad even stayed with me until the bus arrived and then drove back south as they were going that afternoon to Mitzpr Ramon.
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