Can't Wait to Return!

     I'm sorry that I did not post anything on my blog yesterday. It was a very relaxing, low-key kind of day. We visited Jaffa and a few other places in Tel Aviv yesterday morning. We went down to the waterfront and made our way through the artsy part of town. We walked through the largest open-air market in Israel and stopped to look at cool hand-made crafts and listen to street performers.

     Most of the day though we spent walking back to the hostel (a little over a 4 mile walk). While stopping at various restaurants, coffee shops, ect. along the way. I didn't realize just how large the park is that is across the street from our hostel is until we (Elyssa, Bello, Megan, Mykaela, William, and I) were walking through a large portion of it.

     Since we leave for the airport in about an hour and I am not mentally ready to go home, I will share with you a list of things I am going to miss about Israel.

When I go back to the states I am going to miss:

-Chaim (our tour guide)

-Mutasaim (the guy I rode the tandem bike with)

-Muhammed (the college student from Al-Qasim whose dad's farm we visited and had lunch at)

-the animals here (Nubian ibex, wild cats, rock hyrax, fire salamander, white donkey, camel, ect.)

-weird as it is to say this, people who look like me

-the beautiful Hebrew and Aramaic languages

-signs posted in multiple languages

-all the different local dialects/accents here

-the funny sense of humor the people here have

-the scenery (rolling hills, green grass, desserts, orange trees, limestone buildings, black stone buildings, seas, the architecture, palm trees, date palms, cactus)

-the warm weather (in Winter!!!)

-the food (everything here is fresh & locally grown! I love lox, Israeli salad, Hamantash, Rugelach, latke, fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, falafels, pierogi, fresh hummus, weird sour cream tasting yogurt type stuff, and samosa)

-the Arabian coffee

-the iced coffee (similar to a frappe in the states)

-fitting in so much that people think I'm a local & start talking to me in Hebrew

-the unique types of spices they use in the food here

-Yellow gas station

-the unique smells

-the clear/icy blue seas

-all the fresh/ripe produce

-the stereotypes of where people think I'm from (the US, Canada, Ireland, somewhere in Europe, Israel (and apparently I look Jewish)).

     I cannot wait for the day I return here! I am really hoping to come back here for graduate school (to get my M.Div.) after I finish my undergraduate degree at Trinity. Hope to see you in two and a half years Israel! Can't wait to live here, in the Holy Lands, some day!