A Trip to the North

I just had one of the most amazing experiences!

So I went to Akko this afternoon, which is a beautiful city in the north of Israel, and I took a picture of the sunset and put it on facebook. A friend of mine from Tel Aviv, who is Druze, saw that I was in Akko and called me. Coincidentally, he was visiting his parents in the Druze village he grew up in, which was only 10 minutes from where we were. So he invited us to come to his house because they were having a huge birthday party for him and his twin brother.

The Druze are a religious community who live in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria primarily. It's interesting because one of the tenets of their faith is to be loyal to whatever country they live in, and Israeli's say that Druze make the best soldiers because of that. Arabic is their mother tongue, but they also speak Hebrew and some even speak English too.

Anyways, the Druze in Israel live in villages primarily in the north and are a really close knit community. And they are incredibly hospitable. We joined the party last minute and they could not have been more gracious. It was so interesting because when it was time to eat, the men sat at the table and the women served them. Since I was a guest they wanted me to sit at the table with all of the men but I decided to respect their tradition, so I sat in the other room with some of the girls and ate there. Although traditionally at parties like this the men eat first and then when they are done the women sit down and eat. But since I was American and a guest, some of the women sat down and ate with me while the men ate in the other room.

Eating is a huge part of the culture here in Israel, and the Druze are no exception. All of the women kept telling me that I was too skinny and that I needed to eat more, so I kept eating and eating and eating. They brought out the salads first, and I was told we couldn't start eating until the meat was served. (They were relieved when I told them I wasn't a vegeterian. That's like blasphemy here!) Seconds later they brought out chicken and rice, so I started to eat because to me, chicken is meat. But I was informed that chicken is not "real meat," and that the "real meat" was coming soon. Of course, this meant tons and tons of red meat. It was so delicious. After I was done stuffing my face I rubbed my belly and said that I was stuffed and my friend's mother started laughing hysterically and said, "What are you rubbing? There's nothing there!"

After dinner they served Arabic coffee and knefeh, a delicious Arab dessert. Since I was a guest they didn't let me lift a finger to help them clean up. I was really so humbled by their kindness and hospitality.

This is one of those experiences that I will never forget.

Christmas and New Year's Eve

The holidays here were wonderful!

First, as my last post mentioned, I spent Christmas Eve in Bethlehem and Christmas Day in Nazareth. It doesn't get much better than that. And to top it off, I was with some of my closest friends.

Bethlehem was really interesting. In order to get in we had to go through a security check point at the wall that separates the West Bank from Israel. And once we were in there it was like another world. There were Christmas trees and Santas everywhere! And Christmas music was playing in every store.

One of the most memorable parts of Bethlehem was the graffiti that was covering the barrier wall from inside the city. There are two pictures on the wall that stick out in my memory. The first is of Leila Khalid, a member of the Palestinian National Council who hijacked a plane when she was only 15 years old, holding a rifle and wearing a kaffiyeh. She has a huge smile on her face. I'm pretty sure the mural is a replica of an actual photo.

The second is a picture of a dove wearing a bullet proof vest with a red target light on his chest. This one was done by the famous graffiti artist Banksy. Of course what makes it so interesting is the fact that a dove is symbolic of peace, yet it's wearing a bullet proof vest. And the olive branch... Noah and the flood perhaps? I'm not sure.

After Bethlehem, we went back to Jerusalem and ate Christmas Eve dinner at an Irish pub. It was so delicious. Then we went to a coffee shop until Midnight Mass, but I don't want to repeat what's in my previous post. :)

The next day we went to Nazareth. We visited a lot of churches and even saw a movie theater there named after the one and only Frank Sinatra! (At one point my friend Amy pointed out how crazy it was that we were actually walking in Nazareth. Sometimes I forget what an amazing adventure I'm on.) We ate Christmas dinner at a little restaurant in the center of Nazareth and then headed back home. On the way back, we reminisced about the music we loved when we were in middle school and high school. You can be sure that we sang a ton of Backstreet Boys, Shaggy, and TLC, to name but a few.

A week later, we were ready for another holiday! On New Year's Eve we went to 3 different parties and had an absolute blast. I always get excited at the beginning of a new year because you just never know what it may hold. This time last year I had no idea that I would be spending the end of 2011/the beginning of 2012 in Tel Aviv. So much can change in such a short period of time. We'll see what surprises this year holds!