Our eleven hour flight landed at 3:15pm Tel Aviv time (1:30am California time). After making it through customs and baggage claim, we met up with Bill (one of the IBEX professors) and loaded up the bus to Moshav Yad HaShmonah. The moshav sits in the Judean Hills north-northeast of Jerusalem. An Arab town, Abu Ghosh, sits next to us on the neighboring hill.
I'm very excited to being my semester here in Israel. The moshav itself is beautiful, so I can't wait to see the rest of the country! Orientation started at 8:15 this morning, followed by lunch and a hike to Kiriat Je'arim and Abu Ghosh. We walked down from the moshav onto the sidewalk next to the main road. Kiriat Je'arim is where the Ark of the Covenant sat for about one hundred years, until David moved it to Jerusalem. In fact, the road that we hiked along side of was very likely the same road that David took in transporting the Ark. From the top of the hill, we could see the outskirts of Jerusalem, where we will be taking a trip tomorrow morning. We stopped by several Catholic chapels and sang a few hymns, enjoying the wonderful acoustics. We also stopped by a possible site for the spring of Emmaus. I got to drink from the spring too! The water tasted amazing.
I'm very excited to being my semester here in Israel. The moshav itself is beautiful, so I can't wait to see the rest of the country! Orientation started at 8:15 this morning, followed by lunch and a hike to Kiriat Je'arim and Abu Ghosh. We walked down from the moshav onto the sidewalk next to the main road. Kiriat Je'arim is where the Ark of the Covenant sat for about one hundred years, until David moved it to Jerusalem. In fact, the road that we hiked along side of was very likely the same road that David took in transporting the Ark. From the top of the hill, we could see the outskirts of Jerusalem, where we will be taking a trip tomorrow morning. We stopped by several Catholic chapels and sang a few hymns, enjoying the wonderful acoustics. We also stopped by a possible site for the spring of Emmaus. I got to drink from the spring too! The water tasted amazing.
Speaking of which, the weather here is unseasonably humid. Thankfully it's cooler in the mornings and evenings. The breeze kicks up fairly often too, so that helps. It's difficult to stay cool as an American in Israeli culture, because modesty means something totally different than it does in America. I ended up having to wear full on jeans on the Kiriat Je'arim walk due to modesty rules associated with going to the chapels. It was very hot to say the least. Thankfully modest shorts are permitted at the moshav!
I'm constantly astounded by the beautiful vegetation here. There are so many vibrant flowers, as well as fig trees, olive trees, and the like. There are some grape vines that we can eat straight off of as well.
The food is also very different from America. Breakfast consists of fish, cheese, salad, fruit and bread products (like waffles). Lunch is the main meal of the day, and usually has fish, chicken, or beef, with vegetables and potatoes. Dinner is the same as lunch. The food itself sounds like it's the same, but the way things are prepared is very different. The fish, for example, is served whole, minus the tail and the head. All the skin, bones, organs, and fins are still there. It's delicious, but interesting working with the different preparations. Of course, everything is kosher, so no pork, and no dairy with meat products.
Everything is going smoothly so far. I will probably post an update at least once a week, summarizing our activities. I have a lot of homework to do already, so I probably won't have as much time to blog constantly. I'm looking forward to starting my studies, but there's lots to do and not much time to do it in!
The food is also very different from America. Breakfast consists of fish, cheese, salad, fruit and bread products (like waffles). Lunch is the main meal of the day, and usually has fish, chicken, or beef, with vegetables and potatoes. Dinner is the same as lunch. The food itself sounds like it's the same, but the way things are prepared is very different. The fish, for example, is served whole, minus the tail and the head. All the skin, bones, organs, and fins are still there. It's delicious, but interesting working with the different preparations. Of course, everything is kosher, so no pork, and no dairy with meat products.
Everything is going smoothly so far. I will probably post an update at least once a week, summarizing our activities. I have a lot of homework to do already, so I probably won't have as much time to blog constantly. I'm looking forward to starting my studies, but there's lots to do and not much time to do it in!