a broad abroad

Final thoughts: This trip encompassed a lot of firsts for me!   Some of them were big and exciting firsts (experiencing Jewish culture, camping, hiking!) and some of them were ridiculous and silly firsts (eating passion fruits, going to the bathroom behind a tree!).  I made friends.   I drank three gallons of water a day.   I didn’t faint in the heat.   I ate food with my dirty hands.   I went to every gas station bathroom along the highway. I ate hummus with every single meal.   I learned a lot of history.   I laughed and cried.   Here is everywhere we traveled within Israel: I feel very fortunate that I could experience a side of my heritage that I have never explored before. I love opening my mind to new experiences and cultures and I know that I am super lucky to have gone on this trip. Here are some Hebrew words I learned: Thank you: todah Good morning: bokhil tov Where is the bathroom?:  ...

Hi! I have been back since Friday and things have been crazy! There is a saying that coming back from vacation negates all the relaxation of your vacation, and it is definitely true. Here is what I did the last few days in Israel!! August 3: We woke up early to go on something called the "Salad Trail."  The awesome thing about this place was that an immigrant family (originally from South Africa!) had essentially reclaimed the desert, which can sustain little life.  They built a very successful farm that grows a dozen kinds of small tomatoes, cucumbers, passion fruits, strawberries, carrots, melons, and more.  Visitors can walk through the rows and pick and eat the produce, which is exactly what we did!  And all of it is free -- they give it all away. So you can say that this activity was right up my alley! We walked through rows of tomatoes with names like "blondes" "redheaded dates" and "matrushka dolls," picking tomatoes off of vines...

Hi! I only have a few minutes! No pictures, but much to say.  Here's what we have done the past couple days: Yesterday we rested. We did some yoga (haha) and talked about current conflicts in Israel. There were a lot of rhetorical questions: was the state if Israel established because of the holocaust, or in spite of it? Does the existence of Israel as a Jewish state raise anti-semitism in the world? And there were a lot of answers I hadn't thought about: other countries did not want Jewish refugees; Jews were a burden rather than equals; is antisemitism a generational thing? we also had a political discussion with Neil Lazarus, who was very interesting and charismatic and gave us the rundown of Israel's political situation. We think that the U.S. Is very politically divided, but here it is a hundred times more pronounced. We talked about Isis too. All of our Israeli peers knew someone who had been killed in a terrorist attack. It was very humbling to know that we are so pr...