Sukkot



Not the best picture, but this is the sukkah we decorated

So I never really celebrated Sukkot at home with my family in America. We always went to synagogue and it wasn't really that big of a deal...well in Israel its different. Everyone is off for the whole week...or most people are at least. I was at my uncle rami and aunt oras house for the first night of sukkot. I helped decorate and prepare all day with them. My aunt cooked all day long and my uncle set the sukkah up for most of the day. A bunch of my family came like Sara, Ron, Lee-shy, Liad, Yaffa, and a bunch more! Everyone got here around 6 & we all managed to sqeeze inside the sukkah. All the food my aunt made was so good! They were all my favorite Israeli foods. Afterwards, we all sat outside eating fruits and nuts....of course. Everyone was in a circle singing karoke or just talking. It then started to rain, which is very surprising! I'm pretty sure that was my first time actually seeing rain in Israel! So we all went inside and continued to talk/sing karoke, etc. Everyone finally left around 9 or 10pm. It was great being with my whole family! Xoxo simcha
                              
                                        My cousins Adva and Lee-shy.

 

Birthday bashhh

Surprised my friend, Bentzi for his birthday along with 15 others at my roommate, Rachels apartment. It was so great! We all hid in the bathroom and one person would walk out every minute. He was so excited and happy to see all of us! It was priceless.

 

The Dead Sea Experience

I went to the Dead Sea with my 10 year old cousin, Liad and my aunt/uncle. It was fun, but extremely hot and dry! Liad and I went into a sulfur pool nearby and found it was filled with dead skin.....it was actually the most disgusting thing. We got out immediately and took a really long shower afterwards. We also put black mud all over us. It makes your skin so soft...it was wonderful! Oh not to mention, I've never seen so many very large Russians in my life...they filled the place! It was crazy! Overall, it was a fun filled day with many new experiences. xoxo simcha

Guess I didn't get the memo to wear white

Last night at sundown was the start of Yom Kippur...this was my first year for the holiday. It was such a different experience than America. After we ate dinner, we just walked the streets of petach tikva. There were so many people and everyone was dressed up in white..except me of course. Guess I didn't get that memo beforehand...oh well.  I mean I knew white was the thing to wear, but I did not think EVERYONE would be wearing it. I know next time! but it was my cousins and their friends plus me...we just walked the streets and the highway for hours talking. There were absolutely no cars whatsoever...unless it was a police or an ambulance of course. It was so weird! But everyone was speaking Hebrew so I wasn't really listening...after listening to it for more than hour, I got so overwhelmed and tired of it because I had to really think about what everyone was saying & I was really tired. Its difficult! But we ended up going to my cousins house at like midnight and I fell asleep..I don't know why I was so tired because I'm usually wide awake at midnight. After about an hour I woke up and I walked back to my aunt rivkas house with my other cousin, Atad. The second we got back, I crashed. I slept until like 11 the next day...but I ended up going back to sleep and slept the rest of the day. There was nothing better to do anyways. Finally around 5ish, my cousins and I walked to a synagogue nearby to listen to the shofar. It was weird because everyone was standing outside since there was no room inside. There were hundreds of people...they all came just to hear the shofar for like a minute just like us. After, we walked back to rivkas and broke the fast. It was the best thing ever!! The end.
Xoxo simcha

Roomies

Just in case y'all cared...here's my lovely roommate, Rachel! We knew each other before Israel, so we picked to be each others roommate. & she's from texas in case yall really wanted to know haha
xoxo simcha

 

What's in the Poyke Pot?

 

 

The first night I arrived at Yemin Orde, my madricha wanted us to have "bonding time" to get to know each other. So, after dinner we made a bonfire outside even though it was like 5 million degrees to make poyke. We waited about ten minutes for the fire to get bigger & then we somehow mananged to put both poyke pots in the fire without getting burned. Poyke is basically a stew with chicken and vegetables in case you did not know. But anyways, its a pretty easy thing to make....it just takes about two hours. We basically just put oil in the pots, then the vegetables & chicken, and lastly a lot of water. Afterwards, we just let it sit for a while. During this time, we all made our own pita bread from the fire.

It didn't really have that much taste but it's okay.  By the time the poyke was done, it was around 10pm. It was pretty late to eat a heavy meal like that, but it was definitely worth it!

It looks kind of gross, but it was so good!

 

 

Better Late than Never

Well, a lot of people have been asking me to start a blog about my new life in Israel...so I decided to make one. I'm not much of a writer so I probably won't post something everyday, but I'll do my best! I arrived in Israel about three weeks ago & have been loving it ever since! I can't believe that I've been here for almost one month...time goes by so fast! The first week I was living in Arad, Israel for orientation...which was not so great. It was just an awkward first week because I didn't really know that many people and I was also pretty homesick..well kinda. Also, there's nothing to do in Arad which made it worse for me and pretty much everyone else as well. So anyways, now I'm living in Yemin Orde for my "Israel Experience" which is about 20 minutes from Haifa. This is a youth village for former Soviet Union and Ethopian Jews. I am voluneering there with 15 others from my section. My job is to work in the Chadar Ochel, which is the Dining Room/Kitchen. To be honest it's not the best job. First of all, I hate cleaning especially after other people & their spit..but it's whatever. I love the people I work with, so that's definitely a positive. We also help prepare all the food for about 400 people, which is a lot of work! I do this job only in the mornings until lunch. After lunch, I usually have ulpan which is a hebrew class. Every day we have a different activity in the afternoon...just depends what day it is. That's pretty much it...but I'll post more about life in the village later! xoxo simcha