In San Francisco it feels like there’s a Starbucks on every street corner. In Jerusalem it feels like there’s a menorah lighting ceremony on every street corner. Lighting 1 was held in the student forum, lighting 2 in the library, and lighting 3 in a bar near the dorms. And on top of that, 2 out of 3 of the lightings had free jelly doughnuts, and it’s only the first night!
I didn’t make it to the free 2 hour tour (which I saw advertised at the hostel) so I set my own path starting in the Florentin neighborhood, walked up the coast to Ben Gurion Blvd upon my return to the hostel I passed by the Rabin Memorial, Dizengoff Square, then had lunch on Rothschild Blvd before returning to the hostel.
Tel Aviv has a lot of interesting architecture.
Spotted this on Rothschild Blvd
Rabin Square – The plates on the ground show exactly where he, his guards, and the the assassin were standing the night he was assassinated
Thanksgiving dinner was organized by the campus Hillel and held at the Jerusalem Gardens Hotel. The night started out with appetizers which included soup, falafel & hummus, and egg rolls. We then moved to the banquet room where we were entertained by a comedian whose jokes were quite funny, which was then followed by the main course which included turkey (of course), potatoes, vegetables, lamb kabob, stuffed chicken breasts, and other various side dishes. After dinner a live band played some Israeli music while everyone danced. The band played some new songs as well as, you guessed it, הבה נגילה and מים. Just when I thought those 2 songs were only reserved for weddings and Bar-Mitzvahs!
Elijah’s Cave, where he fled after beating the prophets of Baal
Elijah’s cave, inside
San Francisco Observation Point
Mt Carmel, Statue of Elijah Commemorating His Battle Against the Prophets of Baal
Rosh Hanikra — Lebanon Is Somewhere Beyond Those Gates
Inside The Cave
Train tunnel which once connected Haifa to Beirut.
Today I had dinner with some other RIS students, some of which are in my Hebrew class. I made a 7 layer bean dip with the usual ingredients except for sour cream which I was unable to find. So instead of sour cream I decided to use hummus which turned out to add a nice flavor to the dip so I think I’ll continue using hummus instead of sour cream the next time I make the dip.
As you can tell from the pic I had dinner with mostly Chinese students, in fact including me there are 7 students in our class that speak Chinese which is almost half the class!
But I’m not here to learn Chinese! I’m here to learn Hebrew :p At least we can practice Hebrew with each other.
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Well I’m finally here, after 18 years I’m back in Israel. 18. I couldn’t have picked a better number right?
Upon arriving on campus (which I had the help of a nice Israeli girl who was going in the same direction as me) I had to first register for classes then check into my dorm. On the way to the dorm I encountered some people speaking Chinese so while one of them began walking away from the group I of course had to strike up a conversation and ask for directions to the dorm. Funny that my Chinese is coming in handy here in Israel.
The dorm has 5 people that share a kitchen and living room but the rooms are separate yet small. There are 2 Germans living here, two Americans (including me) and someone from Hong Kong (guess I can’t get away from them).
Anyway, class starts tomorrow so have to get up early.
At the airport waiting to board for my flight to Israel. I’ll sure miss the food here and my friends but It’ll be nice to get out of the crowds, pollution and great firewall of China (no need for VPN).
Can’t wait to have some falafel!
Tonight I met up with my friend Xiao Feng whom I met while I was at BNU.
The hotpot restaurant we ate at, called Hai Di Lao is quite famous in China and they even have a location in LA.
BNU Campus Entrance
BNU Library
My Dorm
Cafeteria I Usually Ate At
Classroom/Dorm
