Well my dear family and friends, it is time for the Jews to return to Egypt. Tonight I board an all night bus with Yora and Noa. As the sun begins to rise we will be in Eilat, the most southern point on Israel’s map. Geographically it is a really cool spot. Check it out. If you stand in Eilat, you look out over the Red Sea. At night you can see lights from Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. That is pretty cool.

From Eilat we will probably wait a very long time to cross the boarder into Egypt. Once in Egypt the world is ours. We have a few places we have looked at in the tour book, but we are planning to play it by ear. One of our friends was just there and he said everything is so cheap. He said an hour and a half cab ride cost about ten US dollars. We have decided we want to stay pretty cheap. There are places were you can sleep outside or in little shacks. We are bringing sleeping bags.

Unfortunately Yora has to leave on the 17th because her mom is coming to visit. Noa and I are going to stay on till the 19th. On the 20th work and school starts again.

So, I just experienced my first Pesach (Passover) in Israel. I have to say I was very excited as it something we say at the end of the meal, “Next year in Jerusalem” I am not in Jerusalem, but I am pretty close.

I stayed on the kibbutz and I didn’t know how it would be, as this is not a religious kibbutz.
In the late afternoon there was a little festival out in one of the fields. There was singing and Israeli dancing. Afterwards all the kids started to run around in the field. It was so beautiful to see.



The meal was so nice. The dinning room was full and all the families of the kibbutzniks came. There was a lot of singing and many children performed. They sang a lot of the songs I know for Pesach and some I had not heard. There was wine and matzos. Haroset (a nut, fruit, and wine mixture. My mom’s is much better) and marror (horseradish).



The meal was really good. We had chicken, beef, potatoes, rice, and salad.


Maybe it was Bencio's first taste of Matzo. Who knows!!!

I wore I pretty skirt I bought in Holland and for the first time I wore the green stone necklace I took from my Grandma when she died. I had tried to wear it many times but every time I put it on it just felt wrong like, “Nana is supposed to wear this.” But I did it and wore it for the first time and it felt good.

There was a party in the pub afterwards. I was going to go but first I wanted to take a nap…. and well I never made it. But I slept really well. I found out this week that I am anemic. I went to give blood at the blood drive they were having on the kibbutz and they told me I couldn’t. I was really sad, as I have never not been able to give blood. But I do have to say knowing this makes a lot of sense. I would say in the last 2 almost 3 months I have been extremely tired. I can sleep anytime and I almost always wait up tired. So the first thing I did is get some green leafy vegetables. I thought they were spinach, but it isn’t. I am not sure what it is. It is similar but the leaves are thicker. I ate the whole package in 3 days. I am going to go online and find out what the foods are that are the highest in iron. It is hard on the kibbutz because if you eat in the dinning room the main veggies that are served are tomatoes and cucumbers. I know tomatoes are really healthy, but I don’t know if there is much vitamins in cucumbers. I have been doing more cooking for myself lately. I bought brown rice and have been eating that.

On Monday I went to Tel Aviv for the day. I had the day off and I really wanted to get away for a day. It was really nice. I caught a sherut (mini-bus/taxi) all the way into the city. It was actually really fast, maybe only 45 minutes. I got off in Azreali Center because that is where Lerone works and we had planned to meet up. I hung out in the mall there for an hour, till she got off work. I bought two CD s. One is an Israeli singer named Liraz Charchi. She is an actress in the Israeli movie “At The End Of The World, Turn Left”. Also her cousin is a very famous Israeli singer named Rita. And I bought a Roy Orbison CD because I have been in Roy withdrawals. It was so nice to listen to Roy again. And this CD is great because it has all the songs I love. It is really funny to say, but his music is such a part of my childhood memories. I remember when Mom and Hugh first met and we would all pile into Hugh's little white VW bug and go to the beach. This is the feeling I get when I hear Roy. It is funny how music can take you back like that.

So back to Tel Aviv, Lerone and I had a nice lunch of shawarma and falafel (it was my fault, I was really craving it!!) We caught up on everything. Lerone just signed for her first apartment here and is so excited. Then she had to go back to work and I continued my adventures. I walked to the beach, and on my way by the Dizengoff Center saw the bomb squad had closed a street and were about to blow up something that looked suspicious. I sat on the beach for a long time. It was really warm and there were a lot of people out. Then I decided to slowly make my way back to where I started so I could go home. Once I got to Azraeli Center I couldn’t find the same bus line back. So I ended up waiting an hour for the bus that passes by Ma-Agan Michael. That route is so long. It took 2 1/2 hours. In Hadera there was a car accident right in front of us. Thank God it was not bad. And some of the passengers got off the bus to move the car so we could pass. I finally got home almost at 10. It was a very exciting day. In some ways these strange events are becoming less strange. Bomb squades, sick people on the bus, accidents, it is life in Israel.