Thulani in Israel - Part Five

Thursday 3 March 2011

Jewish wedding, 600 people- didn’t want to risk the little man getting lost so he was left at home!

Friday 4 March 2011

Shabbat is earlier now, 17:20. So we went to Shimon’s parents and before Shabbat started took a photo of Hannah and Thulani.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

A quiet week as the museum tired Thulani and Dad, so we stayed in a lot. We did go to the old part of the city to the library. The English section is quite big and mainly consists of books people brought to read on the plane or on holiday and donated. Trashy easy to read novels- perfect! So we take Dad there a lot as he is a prolific reader.

Today is my husband’s birthday so of course Thulani came to! We went to Calma, our favourite seaside café but as you can see it was wet and miserable outside. We  had a wonderful meal and Thulani was very well behaved.

Saturday 12 March 2011

Apollonia! Oh so we were intending to visit caves but it rained all night and then the sun came out! Waste a day in the caves when it has been raining three days??? So we went to Apollonia, a Roman fortress.

Tomorrow Thulani leaves for the next stage of his holiday. I shall really miss the little man and wave him off with sadness. Safe journey little bear!

Thulani in Israel - Part Four

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Today was a looong day. Our original plan was to visit the Arabic park in Jatta but Dad watched a fascinating program on someone who faked the ossuary (bone container) of James the brother of Jesus and they showed the inside of the Biblical Museum of Jerusalem. Well. That was a change of plan!

First stop was the Biblical Museum. Thulani was fascinated! There are photos of him with the Egyptian chair, the boat- all sorts! The seat was the statue of Ramses II and was made in 1290 BC! The boat was Egyptian from the Middle Kingdom about 3000 years ago and is not a reproduction!

He also found the seals fascinating, carved from some precious stones and clay. The pictures they reproduced when rolled across soft medium were astonishingly detailed.

Downstairs there was an exhibition called ‘Angels and Demons’ about magic and spells in Judaism. He found it fascinating if worrying. They had an explanation of the Evil Eye- it’s against bad luck and Thulani asked if he could have one too. Doesn’t he look smart with it on?

We then went to the Shrine of the Books, the museum with the Dead Sea scrolls- no pictures in them and no photography. We then went home and crashed- we walked MILES today!

Thulani in Israel - Part Three

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Mini Israel and Thulani thought this was the best day so far! He pretended to audition for King Kong, went to see the kibbutz, sadly there are very few now, modern technology and lifestyles have closed many of them.

He also went to the safari exhibit. I explained to him that first you drive through the section with rhinos, deer, antelope and ostriches and then park and visit the zoo. After walking about the fairly big zoo for a few hours, you get back in the car and drive through the lions. Sadly most children fall asleep in the car and miss seeing the lions! Thulani saw the areas of Israel he might not get to see for real so he really loved it.

Friday 25 February 2011

Tank museum at Latrun. I find it incredibly poignant that my dad is 81 , nearing the end of his days, walking around all the tanks he remembers from his time in the army, both dreaming of their days of glory. Very sad. However Thulani loved it- he got to pretend to be Cher sitting on the gun and even had a great idea to save postage! Get out of here Thulani!

Shabbat was at home so I was very busy cooking Moroccan fish, roast chicken, Italian meatballs and puree potato.

Thulani in Israel - Part Two

Monday 14 February 2011

Valentines Day! Valentines Day isn’t really celebrated in Israel but this year when we went out to dinner all the restaurants were full of heart shaped helium balloons. Festivals in Israel are in the main religions- Passover which is HUGE is in April which means a month before I start cleaning and that means all floors, wardrobes, window, shutters, cupboards, curtains- the whole apartment. There are usually tears, tantrums and arguments. Passover is a week and during that week we can’t eat, see or own any bread, pasta, beer, whiskey, biscuits or anything with flour in it. We also cannot eat from any plate or use any cutlery or utensil that came into contact with any of them! So it’s like camping using special outdoor stuff for a week.

Tuesday 15 February 2011

How annoying! We went to the cinema to see Harry Potter (I checked if Thulani was allowed and he was) and five minutes into an English speaking film with Hebrew subtitles they allowed in a birthday of 15 5-9 year olds who couldn’t read Hebrew. So they amused themselves by screaming, shouting and throwing popcorn so we had to leave halfway through the evening and it was the last night it was being shown! Thulani was fluffy with temper.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

The Shuk. Usually the shuk is a bustling amazingly colourful market by the sea, full of cloth covered stalls selling clothes, spices and an eye watering selection of pirate DVDs, music and games. It’s brilliant for just about everything. You may have noted the ‘usually’ because we got there to discover, due to the high wind and the sand hurtling horizontally across car-park where it usually held, only about nine stalls. 8 vegetable and one selling dodgy leopard-print leggings so that wasn’t a runner. Thulani didn’t even get out the car and I don’t blame him.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Breakfast at my favourite beach side café! It was my bestests 50^th so Thulani sat at home and sulked- girls only!

Saturday 19 February 2011

We (that being hubby, daddy, daughter, dog and Thulani) walked to the fort at Ashdod. It’s only fifteen minutes away but with my husband who really doesn’t walk, my whinging daughter, dad who is 81 it felt like swimming upstream. And I forgot to take any pictures of Thulani who frankly was the best behaved of the whole lot!

Thulani in Israel, Part One

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Thulani arrives in Israel! Just after he arrived I went to the airport to collect my dad from the airport- he is staying with us for 6 weeks.

We live on the eighth floor of a nine floor apartment building in the city of Ashdod on the coast. Thulani was very impressed with the view from the apartment! I moved to Isreal in 2001 having met my husband to be online. I moved out in the September and we married in the October. Hannah was born in 2003. She is the one holding Thulani at the airport

Thulani is a little worried about being KB (Kosher bear) during his time in Israel but we assured him a kosher diet is very healthy and all that olive oil would make his fur nice and glossy. Late night after all the excitement of Dad arriving.

Thursday 10 February 2011

Today Thulani played with Hani and her new Nintendo DSI which Hani’s granddad brought from the UK- he thought it was great! He met Hani from school and next week he is really looking forward to going to school all day with Hannah.

Friday 11 February 2011

Tonight is Shabbat so mummy is busy tidying and cooking ready for 25 hours of rest- Shabbat starts 1 hour before sunset and lasts until Saturday night 1 hour after sunset. Friday night means all the family gets together for a long leisurely dinner, no telephone, no television and no DSI’s! It’s a lovely chatty time with the table beautifully laid and far too many dishes of food! We don’t mix meat and dairy so no mixing cheese, cream or yoghurt with meat- it makes curries and lasagnes challenging!

Update from Israel

An update from Thulani's host, Rachel, in Israel:

Oooh Thulani has been really busy! We went to Mini Israel which was kind of neat as he did all of Israel without leaving the local area! He managed to fit in an audition for King Kong but some wretched monkey got it but I thought he put in a lot of expression (mainly terrified).

He also went to a kibbutz. Sadly they are not as prevalent in Israel as they once were but he thought it was very interesting. He wondered why there were no cows or sheeps in the field so I gently explained how hot Israel gets in the summer and we dont like to cook our food alive as it were so they stay nice and cool under cover

 

He had his Shabbat here. He found it weird we dont have television or anything on Shabbat and thought it was boring so like the rest of the family - he got some sleep in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we went to the market by the beach. I took a photo but it was really busy so Thunani was held firmly by the paw behind the camera and didnt appear in the shot, I wouldnt like the little fella to get lost you understand!

Above are some photos though they will also appear in the diary - he is loving his time in Israel though he has asked if when he arrives in Australia, could he have a prawn barbeque or maybe a bacon sandwich? The kosher is driving him a little insane you see .....

Hugs

Rachel 

Thulani is in Israel!

Received from Rachel this morning:

Thulani is here! He arrived about two minutes ago and is sitting on the counter getting his breath back after his long journey!

Tonight he is going to the airport in Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion) to meet my dad who is coming from England and tomorrow he is going to Gan Yavne to a friends house, then Friday to the beach and after that ... who knows????

Baruch habaitanoo (welcome to our House!)