it's been real, israel

i spent my last few days in the holy land with the family.
we floated in the dead sea,

assumed our true identities,

explored with indiana jones,

left a note in the kotel,

and bid farewell to the future of jeru

 

l'heet iz.

ashley JORDAN green

the green family came to visit me in israel and left immediately for jordan.
we walked through the stone city of petra,

where my dad made a new friend.

then we climbed the 800 steps to the monastery

and visited the end of the world.

what a day gang, what a day.

salam, jordan

wwoof wwoof

then there was the week that i wwoofed.

world wide opportunities for organic farming (wwoof) sends volunteers to work at organic farms across the globe. i spent a week volunteering at rish l'kish in the village of zippori, israel. the farm produces olives and organic olive oil, which they press in a mud house.

i spent the week weeding the vegetable garden, clearing paths, and planting sweet potatoes.

and that's the week that i decided that i will not grow up to be a farmer.

walk like an egyptian

my study abroad program in jerusalem ended in late may.

so i went next door to egypt, where i traded my view of the temple mount for a view of the pyramids.

on our way to the ancient sites in cairo, we passed tahrir square,

where egyptians protested earlier this year.

then i posed with the giza pyramids,

cruised down the nile river,

and visited abu simbel, which is only 20 km from the border with sudan.

salam, egypt

i went to india and all i got was a parasite

i spent spring break in india.

but first, i had a layover in istanbul. so i got to try turkish coffee:

 

 once in india, i was overcome by the country's beauty.

and the urinal that flooded the public street in new delhi.

in amristar, i went to the holy pilgrimage site for the sikh faith.

the temple also has a kitchen that feeds 30,000 people a day.

golden temple:

golden fish:

at work stirring sweet rice in the kitchen:

then i went to agra where i posed with the taj mahal:

*then i went to agra where i posed with the taj mahal:

and it turns out that pushkar is a lot like israel.

hebrew signs:

israeli food:

and notes in a wall:

 

india was unbelievable. i rode an elephant. i saw a bollywood movie. i ate a lot of rice.

but then it was time to say bye to my new boyfriends and return to the holy land.

it's good to be back in israel. especially now that lent is over.

falafel count: 2

namaste.

spring cleaning

if you've ever wondered what happens to all of the notes in the western wall,

they're taken out with sticks

 

and swept into trash bags.

in other news, i went to the jerusalem zoo to see the animals indigenous to israel:

penguins

 and reindeer.

 

happy erev spring break and hag sameach!

oh! the places you'll go

three weeks ago: purim in israel

purim is like a jewish halloween: costumes, candy, and street parties.

purim in tel aviv

butterflies, or parpars if you will

shushan purim in jerusalem

megillah reading at the kotel

 

two weeks ago: shabbat in tzfat

tzfat is the home of kabbalah and jewish mysticism.

kaballah blah blah art

kaballah blah blah artist

 

last week: weekend in haifa and akko

haifa is a northern port city and akko is an ancient walled city.

baha'i gardens in haifa

view of haifa from akko

just the view from prison

and the tunnels. of doom.

falafel count: 0

(i gave up falafels for lent. ironic, i know.)