We were led as a group blindfolded from the bus to this amazing first view of Jerusalem - I am so grateful for that moment
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Such a busy day! We were up bright and early to go on the Hatzbani river hike. (Fun fact: The Hatzbani River eventually merges with the Dan and Banias Rivers to form the Jordan River). We were told that it is one of the Jewish commandments to walk the land of Israel - so that is what we did! Every four steps is considered a "mitzvah" or completion of good deed. We navigated through patches of shin height stream and rocks through the hike, which was so refreshing! Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not an outdoor enthusiast at the least, but I really enjoyed myself. The path was marked with three colored stripes on the rocks: Orange, blue and white which represent the desert, the Sea of Galilee, and snow. Another fun fact is that the order of the colors tells you what direction you are walking in: Orange first like below, means you are heading north and white first means you are heading south. How cool! After the hike I ate shawarma - which is lamb meat carved off of those giant rotating sticks in fresh pita with hummus, pickles, veggies (soo delicious!). Next stop was the Golan Heights Winery for a tasting of three Israeli wines. Please see photo of me below posing next to the most outrageously large bottle of wine I've seen in my life. Last stop was Bento Heights, which is a dormant volcano where we were able to see across the cease fire line into Syria (Fun fact: there is no boarder between Israel and Syria because they have not been able to come to terms on a peace treaty, therefore, the distinguishing separation is called the cease fire line). Our tour guide provided us with a basic timeline overview of how Jews were forced to migrate out of their homes to various countries for refuge and eventually began to migrate back. Of course, it is a much more complicated story than one can tell in 20 minutes - I'd love to hear more.
Later that evening was the beginning of Shabbat, where we listened to the Rabbi sing and say prayer to begin our day of rest into the next day. We have arrived in Israel! Currently writing live (but feeling dead tired) in a hotel bed in Tiberias. After the 10 hour flight to Tel Aviv, we drove about two hours north to our destination here in northern Israel.
One thing I've kept thinking about since landing was that we were told "Welcome home!" multiple times upon arrival, despite the majority of us never stepping foot in Israel before or have any current family there. It sounds so cheesy but my heart seriously melted every time I heard that. Even while waiting at our gate at JFK, complete strangers were approaching to engage in conversation, showing their excitement for us embarking on this trip and wishing us well. All of this makes me feel like being Jewish makes you a part of something bigger -- I look forward to finding out what that is over the next nine days! I traveled back to Kathmandu today for the festival Tihar (festival of lights). It is five days long and each day something is worshiped: ox, dog, crow, God of wealth and then siblings. I don't think that is exactly in the correct order but, today was the second day and the street dogs were prancing around with flower necklaces and paint on their forehead. Very cute. I made friends with the people who i traveled with in the jeep (see the selfie below as evidence). We stopped a few times along the way - first to stop to buy a bunch of flowers for the festival and second to buy some vegetables and other snacks. Someone bought and gave me what looked like tree bark to chew on - I went along with it. They also shared some homemade treats that they brought along for the ride. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but it was sweet and tasty. New Friends! Tree bark snack. More snackz Stopping to buy flowers I am staying at someone's home while I am in Kathmandu. She works at an orphanage and I went with her this afternoon. There are about 30 children living there from 3-18 years old and we're all very nice. I also got to eat buffalo mo-mo's which where soooo good. View of Kathmandu from the orphanage The best MoMos I've had so far
This is where we spend a lot of time before and after school playing, coloring, and dancing. There is a tv where we watch Nepalise soap opera-like shows every night and a little throughout the day. I am thoroughly invested in one of the shows, despite it being in Nepalise. In the latest episode the evil girlfriend was making her boyfriend burn all of his ex's items but fell into a spell and went unconscious. While she was trying to pry the necklace out of his hand his bros appeared and smacked her over the head with a stick. There is also another show that comes on after about a woman who transforms into an evil snake. Very intriguing. Basically, you don't need to be good at acting to be a Nepalise TV star, you just need to be able to hold an extremely shocked face for at least 2 minutes at a time and have really great eyebrows. Whenever something dramatic happens (which is often) the camera focuses in on every characters face to show their reaction. Very entertaining. The mother cooks all of the meals on the clay square. She lights a fire in the cylinder and coats the bottom of a pot with clay before putting in on top. I'm unsure if all of the mess are cooked this way because of the fuel shortage or if that is just how things are done in rural areas. Behind on the white square is where we get all of the water for drinking, cooking, cleaning. There are two bathrooms behind the blue doors, but it is very different than our bathrooms. It's basically a ceramic hole on the ground and a water faucet. There is no indoor plumbing or toilet paper. I've also become good friends with a massive daddy long leg that resides there.
Pictures by Anjue Magar, Ashika and Asma After I came back from temple yesterday morning. We ate different food than what we usually eat throughout the week on Saturday and it was soo delicious. My favorite dish was fried potato mixed with rice, tomatoes, garlic and some spices that made it look yellow (curry??)
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