NAZARETH~(נצרת)

---

Hello again!!! (lol...I know I just sent out an e-mail like 30 minutes ago). This weekend my friends Aidan, Leslie, Aly, Kelly, and I traveled to Jerusalem and Nazareth. I am planning on writing a long blog entry about all my trips to Jerusalem together so I will just update you on the day we spent in Nazareth. We arrived on Friday the 7th right before the start of Shabbath and checked into the Sisters of Nazareth Convent for the night. We were trilled to have heat as it has gotten rather cold at night and it was raining. We spent about 30-40 min. wondering around the city at night trying to find Tishreen, a medieval style, restaurant. Aly, Kelly, and I decided to spend the rest of the night reading and going to bed as Kelly and I had been traveling since 5:45 that morning.

Nazareth (נצרת) is the largest city in the northern part of Israel and is also home to the largest Arab population. Being in Nazareth was wonderful and I loved the diversity of the city as well as the large Christian influences. It was also interesting to find that Nazareth has a Latino community! A fair amount of the Jews from Latino countries reside in Nazareth and actually invited Kelly and I to a salsa and merengue festival next weekend. (Too bad we have WAY TOO MUCH work).

On Saturday morning, the five of us checked out of the convent and proceeded to explore the city. We visited the nearby shook (market area) and found The Synagogue Church located inside. Afterwards, we ate breakfast at a dessert shop and had a few too many cookies and cakes. Aidan and Leslie left for Haifa and Aly, Kelly, and I were left to explore Nazareth for the day. We visited The Brasicilia of the Annunciation, the Church of St.Joseph, an Arab Anglican Church, and another Arab Protestant Church. Kelly and I spent some time searching for presents in the shook and I was able to buy a CD of Arabic Popular Music. Kelly practiced her Hebrew in the shops while I attempted to greet people in Arabic. The churches were absolutely beautiful and we spent most of the day traveling around, getting lost, and sight-seeing. It was raining off and on so after we visited all the churches we went to write post-cards and do homework at a quant pizza restaurant until it was time to leave for Jerusalem. Unfortunately, we waited outside in the cold for a little over an hour for our bus back to Jerusalem but we truly had a wonderful day visiting Nazareth.

---

Comments

[chieko]

miss u!
u r doin some amazing things lady...i am so proud of u!