Israel

In yesterday's blog, we had just landed in Tel Aviv: the reason we were there was to spend the Passover Holidays with my parents.

As soon as we woke up, we unpacked and we made our way towards my parents to say hello. Funnily enough, we actually bumped into my father in the street on the way to their house. We had lunch at my parents and afterwards, we went back to our flat and got ready for the Passover night.

 My younger sister joined us, which was special, and I had fun playing with my nephews and nieces.

We went to see my Aunt and several of my cousins, who were happy to meet Esther for the first time and then came back to my parents.  

My father led the service and my mother served good food. The following day, we also ate at my parents and once again had some good food.

The following day was a Friday and I have a tradition that when I'm in Israel on Fridays or on festival days, I like to volunteer at a soup kitchen, where I have volunteered for many years. So I contacted my good friend, the editor of this blog, Rachael Risby-Raz and asked if she can organize tickets to the Israel Aquarium for my sister's family with Esther. Luckily she said yes and I went to volunteer while Esther and my sister went to see the fish.

Afterwards, we got ready and went to my parents for the Shabbat meal.  My older sister walked down for that meal, so was great to see her and catch up, especially with the connection that her husband is a cousin of Esther. 

On Sunday, I had coursework to do so my mother took Esther to Kever Rachel (the burial site of the matriarch, Rachel from the Bible) and then shopping and we met afterwards. 

The following day, I met up with my friend Yoni Kedem who had almost died a few months before after falling from a height.  Miraculously, he survived. We went to interview his grandfather, an artist, who is incredible. Those who read Hebrew can read about him already in the Ma’ariv newspaper.  The English will be up at the end of the month in the Jerusalem Report magazine. 

My parents took Esther to Netanya to the beach and we met up after and went for supper at Esther's Aunt and Uncle’s where I had a great conversation with her Uncle. 

The following day, my mother took Esther to see a friend and shopping while I volunteered again.

That night and the following day were festival days and we celebrated with my parents. 

The next day after the holiday, we went to pick something from the University and then went shopping. After shopping, Esther got a true Israeli experience after witnessing a bag being forgotten by someone at the bus stop, so the police and bomb squad pulled up to deal with it. 

The following day, I dropped Esther at my sister’s and went to volunteer. That night we ate at my aunt’s and the following day at my brother’s. 

On Sunday, I wasn't feeling well, so I put Esther in a taxi to go to visit a friend. Later I did errands, picked up Esther and went to a family Bar Mitzvah celebration. 

On Monday, we went shopping and then had lunch at Cafe Greg in Mamilla; great lunch, good food and great service. Later that day my brother picked us up and we went to his house in Givat Ze’ev, a town just outside of Jerusalem. 

The following day we packed up and I took Esther to the airport for her flight home. Little did I know the saga I would have the following day, otherwise I would have flown back with her...

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