Kippah'n It Kosher

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    Thursday, the day after our overnight Tiyul last week, we had a regular campus day: Core Class in the morning and General Studies in the afternoon. Then, Friday was our Unit One Core Class Exam. After over two hours consisting of multiple choice bubbles and three essays, they released us for our first Free Weekend! Sami, one of my roommates, invited me to stay with family friends in Tel Aviv. The mom, Gali, who went to camp in high school with Sami's mom, remained so hospitable throughout the visit. On Friday, after the dad, Ofer, picked Sami and I up from campus, he drove us through an extremely Orthodox community to pick up fresh Challah for Shabbat dinner. Seeing all of the Orthodox men rush their kids through the streets to get to dinner and services helped set the tone for the evening ahead. We ate a delicious lunch on their beautiful porch at home and then met their daughter Yuval who is a year younger than us. After family Shabbat dinner, which consisted of their entire family speaking only in Hebrew the entire time, Yuval's friend, Naama, came over. They dressed Sami and I in their crazy Israeli style clothing and then brought us out to town! We finally experienced the true Israel nightlife. 

    On Saturday, Yuval brought us to a vibrant boardwalk in Tel Aviv, filled with children skootering, teenagers laughing, and women shopping. As we indulged on some fresh pomegranate juice, we walked along the water, explored the Shuk, and relaxed in the warm December sun. Right before we left, Yuval introduced us to her favorite dessert, similar to warm lava cake. One of the most interesting observations of the entire adventure revolved around Israeli teenagers' independence. Although most of them cannot drive, they travelled all around the city in taxis, with their friends or even just by themselves. After dinner with just Gali, Ofer, Yuval, Sami, and I Saturday night, Gali and Ofer sadly brought us back to campus. 

    Sunday and Monday were both regular days on campus with the main points of an APUSH test, a physics lab, and the arrival of Weber. Their dorm is only two over from ours' so it's funny seeing them so often. 

    On Tuesday, we set off for our second overnight Tiyul to the model of Jerusalem, the Shrine of the Book, the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, the Southern Wall of the Second Temple, and another youth hostel on the base of Masada. This time, I arrived to the hostel with the entire group, not shivering in a taxi with the police on the phone. 

    "It's 4:30 am, wake up!" The beauty of every Masada adventure. After sleeping in our clothes the night before and grubbing down a bagged breakfast, I gazed up at the moon at exactly 5:00 am Wednesday morning, just as daddy was looking at it across the world at 10:00 pm Tuesday night. An exuberant ring revolved around the shining moon. We darted up Masada, a little harder of a hike than I remember, in less than an hour and headed straight to the highest platform before sitting down. Being one of the first of us to the top, I dwelled on the sand, looked out at the view, heard the wind, and took in huge, refreshing breathes. After exploring around the excavations on top and taking notes about the true story of Masada, our class shared an intriguing discussion in the oldest Mikva ever excavated, dating over two thousand years back. Throughout the four and a half hours on top of Masada (yes, we were up there for over four and a half hours), I drank all three liters of water from my camelback! We all greatly appreciated the useful mountain plumbing. We hiked back down, hit up the Ahava store, and then ventured towards the Dead Sea. We ate a buffet by the changing rooms and then splashed up the Dead Sea, unfortunately without any mud resources. This time, we actually got quality pictures in the sea, unlike three years ago. After showering and engaging in a comfortable bus ride back to campus, we all enjoyed a relaxing evening in the dorms, including all of the guys buzzing each other unattractive faux hawks. 


with love :)