Chag Sameach!

Happy Holiday! Tomorrow the celebration of Purim starts in Israel. I need to get my costume ready!

I finished my Ulpan on the 17th of February and have been on a break since then. I went to Tel Aviv the first day off. I went on a tour with some of my fellow study-abroaders of the "slums" of Israel in Tel Aviv. I have never been so freaked out by a place before. The town located near the Tel Aviv bus station is a small city where many illegal immigrants and illegal workers reside. It is also where the sex trade of Russian woman is very active. We were taken around the small city and there were so many people from Russia, Africa, Thailand. I had never seen anything like it in Israel. I saw my first few narcotic needles on the group in a park that we went to...that was shocking for sure for a young lady from the hills of Hockinson, WA. : D I never ever would have seen this part of Israel without this tour. Most Israelis have never been to this small part of Tel Aviv or care to go there. Right now the issue of what to do with so many of the illegal immigrants is a hot topic in political discussions. Most of this immigrants are not Jewish and therefore cannot become citizens. There is no way for it to happen. It was a big chunk of Israel to chew on for the day.

After seeing the hole of Tel Aviv we were taken to the city to see the market, the fashion streets, the big city next to the amazing sea. Very beautiful but I still prefer the greenery of the north with all the beautiful fruit trees. A few of us went to a really delicious Mexican restaurant which wasn't so Mexican. I had a fabulous sweet potato enchilada. Yum! I met up with a friend, Adam, from summer camp who lives in Tel Aviv studying at University of Tel Aviv. He took me out to get a drink - it was really nice to see him. We hadn't seen each other for two and a half years!

This past Tuesday I went to see the aquatic director from my summer camp who lives in a Kibbutz called Deganyia Bet next to the biggest lake in Israel called the Kinneret in the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights were won in the war of 1967 from Syria. They are the most amazing mountains. I could see all of the Jordan Valley. The Jordan Valley is the sight of a large majority of Israel's agriculture. He works at the local high school as the PE instructor, at the local sailing school, and as the organizer of the basketball leagues in his town. I got to see all three! I saw him teach, he took me out on the lake, and I watched a high school basketball game. Talk about really seeing Israeli culture, huh? A real day in life...

Now I am back at Eyal's home with his family. I went shopping with his mom today to buy cookies for Purim, fresh pita and challah, and to buy some goods at a store called Home Center (think Home Depot but but much much smaller and a lot less shiny). We have to get our custome ready today for going out dancing tomorrow night. I'm so excited!

P.S. My Hebrew is slowly but surely getting a little better every day.