December 2009: Chanukah, Spain & New Year's Eve

DECEMBER
2- Had an interesting lecture about the Knesset, the legislature assembly in Israel. We learned about the different political parties that make up the Knesset. We also learned about strange parties that did not make it into the Knesset, like a Taxi Driver party and the pro-marijuana Holocaust survivor's party (which is one party).

8- Chanukah celebrations officially begin with a trip to Maalot, a town about ten minutes away. We visited a community of people from the Tribe of Manasseh. The Bnei Menashe ("Children of Menasseh") is a group from northeast India who claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. We hosted a Chanukah crafts program for kids. They also made Sfinch, a Moroccan version of a donut. Don't know how the recipe varies from a normal donut, they were tasty and topped with sugar. Also, we had some lovely chocolate donuts and sufganiot (jelly donuts). The kids were lovely but none spoke English, most of the parents didn't either, so our Hebrew was tested.

10- DAY TRIP! We went to the beautiful Ramat Hanadiv Gardens in Zichron Ya'akov where the Baron Rotchild is buried. The gardens were beautiful and thankfully it was a sunny beautiful day. Then we went on a hike in the Carmel. I forget were exactly we hiked but it was quite muddy and included a cloudy view of Haifa and the Mediterranean. Then we went for lunch and a visit at a Druze village, Daliyat El Carmel. I ate labneh on a crepe-like wrap. Labneh is a yogurt like cheese, often eaten with spices and olive oil (like I ate it). We also had a nice walk around the town and into markets and stores. (And I finally did some souvenir shopping.) On our way back north to the kibbutz, we made a brief stop at the Bahai gardens in Haifa (where I've been briefly before).

11- First night of Chanukah (by this point I'd eaten sooo many donuts and sfinch in pre-Chanukah celebrations that I was almost dreading the actual Chanukah week)
The kibbutz held a huge Friday night dinner & show in celebration of Chanukah and the 63rd birthday of the kibbutz. There were dozens of tables set up in the dining hall, with a plate of sufganiot, bottle of wine, and a make-shift menorah (with all of the candles). For dinner, there was soup with bread. It was very good--full of potatoes, vegetables and meat. The vegetarian soup was also really good, it was especially spicy. I think I had a ridiculous amount of food, like four bowls of soup and 2.5 donuts. The show was interesting....kinda--and all in Hebrew :(
The little kids on the kibbutz performed skits and dances. One of my favorite performances was the parents of a kindergarden class on the kibbutz. The kids are too young to perform, so their parents performed for them & to them. It was cute. We, my program group, also performed. We sang some Chanukah song in English that most of us knew. It was slightly embarrassing but overall we couldn't be heard by most of the room because the participant holding the microphone didn't turn it on properly- so the sound was messed up.
They also lit every candle of the menorah, dedicating each candle to different reasons: the pioneers from the kibbutz, soldiers, etc. There were no blessings over the candles or anything religious during the evening. Most of the kibbutz was there and the room was packed! The kibbutz is made-up of about 200 families=about 500 people. Oh, they also did a slideshow of kibbutz members and a few other things in correlation with the kibbutz history and its birthday.

The week of the 12-19 was Chanukah break. SO most everyone on my program went to travel, visit with family, see friends, etc. My workplace had different hours this week because the kids don't have school. I stayed on the kibbutz and went into work half of the week. I vaguely planned a day trip for my days off work but the weather was gross and rainy, so I stayed inside instead.

23- MOVIE NIGHT!! Our program coordinator set-up a lovely movie night for us. We all got together and watched "Etz Limon" = "Lemon Tree". It was very good and I recommend it.
A brief summary:: Salma, a Palestinian widow, has to stand up against her new neighbor, the Israeli Defense Minister, when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove, on the green line border between Israel and the West Bank. The Israeli security forces are quick to declare that Salma‘s trees pose a threat to the Minister’s safety and issue orders to uproot them. Together with Ziad Daud, her young Palestinian lawyer, Salma and he fight the orders to uproot her trees.

24- Heading to Barcelona!! My flight boards 3:50am on Friday the 25th, but we are a two hour train ride from the airport so I headed there the night before. The adventure to Spain started with an interesting cab ride. I called the cab company and was hung up on by dispatch. I was left un-sure if a cab was headed my way or not. A few minutes later the cab driver called to confirm. Unfortunately he didn't understand English or my attempts to speak Hebrew. It also doesn't help that I was using the wrong words for things...like when I said the feminine version for "write" instead of train. (so I said cotevet instead of racevet)
But anyway, I made it to the train station just fine and got on a 10pm train. I got to the airport around 12:15am (the 25th) but didn't get through security until 1:15. First I went to the wrong security place, I went to the second check-point place before the first. So then I found the right security place but was taken out of line and questioned about my family, stay in Israel, etc. Mind you I was LEAVING Israel and yet being questioned more than I was when entering Israel from the USA. They asked about the religious affiliation and memberships of my family, my favorite holidays, etc. Ultimately she left and came back and apologized for the excessive questioning, explaining that I look like someone likely to have been convinced to carry a bomb on for someone. Ridiculous. Anyway, then my bags were x-rayed. Then my large bag was opened and briefly searched--and they swiped it for explosives or something.
Now at security place number two. Where me and my bags (for the second time) entered x-ray machines. Then my bags were searched, again and worse. My backpack and large bag were unpacked. It was horrible. Things went through the x-ray machine again (now for a third time) and other things were swiped or just searched.
After nearly an hour, I've finally made it through. I brought plenty of snacks and sat and ate in front of the waterfall fountain thing they have in the Ben Gurion airport. Eventually I got tired, napped a bit. Then bought a Sudoku book and headed to my gate. The flight was very full and unfortunately didn't feed me. (But I slept most of the way anyway).

Barcelona Trip (24-30):: AMAZING. I had a very great time with my parents in Barcelona. We ate amazing food, saw some beautiful (and some un-impressive) sights/museums/etc. On a brief overview, we saw the Gaudi park and two of the Gaudi houses, the Picasso museum, the Miro museum, a Flamenco dancing/music show, went to three movies, a Chocolate museum, went to Montserrat, took a cable car, and more.
Just to start with the movies, we saw "It's Complicated", "Fame", and "In the Loop". "Fame" was entertaining but overall very choppy and un-impressive. "It's Complicated" was cute and entertaining. By far "In the Loop" was the best movie we saw and I loved it. I highly recommend it.
We ate tapas of a huge variety, paella, excellent croissants and hot chocolates and chocolates and more. The food was great.
The Gaudi park and one of the houses were some of my favorite sights. Absolutely beautiful and innovative. In the park, we had a lovely afternoon walking around and listening to a ton of different music as there were musicians all around the park.
On the 30th, we woke up early for our flights. I was in the last row of the airplane and the flight was packed, so it wasn't the most enjoyable experience. I hopped on a train back up north when I got back. I'll do my best to write more about the trip later, but I also invite questions. Overall, great trip and I would LOVE to go back (and also see more of Spain).

New Year's Eve was an excellent success.
I went out to dinner with my friend from the program, Emily. We went into Naharyia for dinner at Spagettim- a local Italian place that she'd eaten at before and vouched for it's amazing quality. We enjoyed an elaborate and tasty dinner, starting with an appetizer of bruschetta caprese (with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil YUM).
Our entrees were delicious. I had whole wheat pasta with salmon and spinach in a cream, something, sauce. Then our amazing coffee and desserts. We got two desserts: a hot chocolate cake topped with nuts and with a raspberry topped ice cream on the plate as well AND a three kinds of chocolate mousse cake. The night of my favorite was the ice cream and Emily's was the cake. However, as we finally ate our dessert left-overs last night, both of us agree that our left-over favorite was the mousse cake. The hot chocolate cake tasted like fudge and made for a very rich left-over.
Anyway, then we went back to the kibbutz. We actually had a group event to rush back to, where our group talked to an Oranim short-term group about what it is like to live on the kibbutz. (Oranim runs short-term programs, similar to Birthright although no longer apart of that organization.)
Then off to the kibbutz pub for the night where they were handing out free glasses of champagne. The night was great but it was still a different new years vibe.

Finally up to date, yesterday was a very warm day on the kibbutz and I went with my friend Emily on a nice long walk around the kibbutz (actually around two or three times). We also got up earlier this morning for another walk. I head into work in about thirty-minutes. I'm back in the USA in almost two months exactly. On Thursday we have a day nature trip to the Yizrael Valley. (Don't know anything about it yet.)

I hope you all are well and that you had a good holiday season. Happy New Year!