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Published: November 6th 2009
Greetings Everyone! Welcome to our journey, in Itay's homeland this time. Few thoughts before getting into the details...Israel is a unique country in many ways and instead of pretending to be a historian I will provide links to sites where you can read further if you are intrigued. You can also click on photos on the top if you want to read the blog at a later time. This blog is meant to share photos for friends and family, educate some of our friends about Israel (or at least peak their interest in Israel) and note my observations and experiences. So, here we go...
To start, a BIG thanks to Itay's parents - Drora & Matti - for organizing the trip and making me feel welcome, comfortable and loved. Also to all those who contributed to the Israel part of our Honeyfund hope the pictures will do justice to your generous gifts.
We arrive into Tel Aviv in the late afternoon and are greeted by Matti & Drora at the airport. Matti is deep into his falafel when we see him so it automatically gets me excited about the food but I have to wait to get my appetite
Ima & Orna
Old friends enjoying lunch by the sea side with their families.back after flying for so long. We took a few days to get adjusted by enjoying the beach in Tel Aviv, frequenting yogurt shops between meals, learning about Cafe A-fugh (Cafe Latte), eating falafel and marveling at this modern city and wondering where is all the history and political tension people speak about? Tel Aviv is known for its night life, designer gear, sushi. We had fancy meals in nice restaurants at night and falafel by the street side during the day.
I met Drora's friend from the army days, Orna, who is gentle, sweet and very well informed. She showed us around Jaffa, an old Arab port town and told us about the best hummus spot (later coincidently featured in the NY Times:
). We were joined by Orna's two kids for lunch one day and had riveting discussions about their experience in the army. For those who don't know, everyone (exceptions include orthodox Jews and medically unfit) in Israel is required to serve in the army for 3 years so essentially the whole country has had the common experience of serving in the army.
Next stop after Tel Aviv was Kibbutz Tzora! Kibbutz is a unique Winery visit
Kibbutz Tzora now sells its own wine! Find it at a store near you. living concept in Israel where communities join forces to live together and work off the land. Traditionally it was based on agriculture (this is where Matti got his start in the Turkey business) but now expands to juice factories, medical equipment production, wineries, etc.
. Kibbutz Tzora is where Itay and his siblings were raised before moving the U.S.
I met another Orna: she was Itay's daycare teacher and she is truly one of a kind! She's really outspoken (which Israeli isn't) and has an open home where the lock is rarely used if ever. She also collects bells from around the world and had an impressive collection hung up on her walls. We spent an evening with Orna and walked around the kibbutz where I saw Itay's old house, daycare, cafeteria and let's not forget the bomb shelter! Each house and apartment building in Israel is required by law to have a shelter room. These rooms are made out of concrete blocks and a glaring reminder that Israel is a country under constant threat of war.
It was a sad goodbye from Tzora but next up on the horizon was Jerusalem!
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Pooja & Ashish
non-member comment
Intrigued...
Really enjoyed reading this post. Intrigued by Orna and her bells. Intigued by Matti's hand-made awning. Intrigued by the idea of riveting discussions about the army. Intrigued by .... everything! Looking forward to more pictures and posts :-)