Goooood neewwws!!! I am back in Andover.

I got here yesterday evening. The travelling went great, with the exception of the three hours I spent dealing with airport security in Tel Aviv. At the time, it was emotionally traumatic, but I am happy to be able to say that now I think it's funny. When I got to Chicago, I got to see Mom and Frances, who came out to the airport to see me. Mom bought me a delicious turkey and cheese croissant (turkey! and cheese! together again!) and it was SO good to get to see them. In OKC, I was greeted at the airport by my boyfriend Cody, and Deah, my friend who has been in Russia since December. Basically, it was a stupendous day, even if it was quite long.

I am now back in Andover, spending some quality time with the cat. At this point we are still on good terms. I've been unpacking and sleeping and doing laundry and being lazy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when my family gets back from Wisconsin. Oh how happy we will be! It will be like the turkey and cheese moment, only better.

I still really want a cheeseburger

I got to Tel Aviv two days ago, with many thanks to Boris, who carried my heavy, chunky, broken suitcase the whole way. I have been relaxing on the beach, hanging out with friends (I've met some people I knew in Jerusalem and Haifa), wandering through markets, and being a lazy bum. I wasn't expecting to like Tel Aviv too much, since I'm not really into hot weather, beaches, or partying, all of which are things this city is famous for. I've really been enjoying it here though! The city is set up for very active people, and there are always people outside taking advantage of it. There's a public beach that stretches the whole length of the city, and a nice promenade with lots of grass, playgrounds, and even these weights machines that people actually use. It's a great city to walk around in (aside from the humidity), and I've been doing a lot of that.

What does the name Tel Aviv mean? I'm so glad you asked! "Tel" is Hebrew for hill, but specifically a mound that has been created from cities built on the ruins of other cities, making a hill with layers of history. "Aviv" means spring. I like the two words together, because one is about having a rich past, and one is about having a hopeful future. Words are great, right? End of linguistics lecture.

Since I got here, I have tried a plethora of interesting foods! Let me tell you about that.

• At a restaurant in Jaffo called Dr. Shokshouka, I had a delicious potato stuffed with lamb or beef or something. It was splendid, and I wish I remembered the actual name of it.
• My friend Shayna brought some watermelon to the beach, and it was orange! So weird! It tasted fine, but a little like flour. I hope it wasn't poisonous.
• Last night I went to Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar, which was as magical as it sounds. I had chocolate souffle that was served with ice cream, a beaker of hot fudge sauce, and little chocolatey pebble things. I may never need to eat chocolate again.
• Frozen yogurt adventure--passionfruit, mango, pineapple, and a strawberry. It's a good combination!
• Pastries I have eaten include 1) something that may have been a donut, and 2) a potato bureka. Imagine mashed potatoes in puff pastry. Mmm food.

I leave tomorrow night from Ben-Gurion airport! I'm pretty excited. Pray for safe and problem-free travel! I can't wait to get home and see you people and complain to you about how bad American hummus is compared to the real thing.

Final day in the northern tundras of Israel

Last day in Haifa! I'm sitting in Shtroudl Cafe, waiting for Russian Boris to get back from the gardens because we are Tel Aviv travel buddies. We are both going to the same hostel, so I'm hoping I can get him to carry my big fat suitcase. It's an hour train ride, and then there is a bus involved, I think.

Yesterday Anika and Sandrine and I went to Caesarea, which is a port city built by King Herod to impress the Roman emperor and the American tourists. Paul was imprisoned there for two years before they shipped him off to Rome. Today there are a lot of ruins and expensive restaurants and a beach. Anika and I fell asleep on the beach for a while, but Sandrine, who has more energy than anyone really needs, swam all over the place and made friends and business connections and even found people she knows from France.



Sandrine in front of some ruins. This spot has been home to a Roman temple, a Christian cathedral, a mosque, another Christian cathedral, a fortress, and now piles of rocks.



In its glory days, this was the freshwater swimming pool in Herod's palace. Now it is a saltwater swimming pool for little Israeli kids who don't want to pay twenty shekels to go to the beach.



This is from two days ago, in Akko. Here we have Boris and Anika in the Crusader tunnels. It might look like they are talking on phones, but actually we all had these audio guides that told us about the history of everything. It was a lot like being on the phone with a longwinded, conceited, boring British woman.



Ollie and Sandrine decided that they needed to stop at a hookah bar and smoke some shisha. No illegal substances were involved, just "double apple" flavored tobacco, that Ollie thought sounded more intriguing than regular apple. We spent forever trying to get an awesome picture of them both blowing smoke, but it still didn't work that great and I ended up with a lot of really hilarious pictures of Sandrine.



Anika and Boris on top of the wall promenade in Akko. This picture makes me happy because I don't see grass very often these days.

Ani ochelet harbe harbe pitot!

I'm in Haifa! I got in on Thursday around noon. If you are not aware of your Israel geography, Haifa is a Mediterranean port city in the north of the country. It's built on Mt. Carmel, which made me excited because that's where the story about Elijah and the prophets of Baal takes place. (Read it! 1 Kings 18. It's awesome.) It's very hot and humid here, but there is occasionally a breeze.

Yesterday morning, Anika and I went to the Baha'i Gardens with Sara, a Dutch girl who was also staying at our hostel. These gardens are very impressive. It stretches all the way up the side of the mountain, and there's a big shrine with a dome right in the middle. If you find a picture of Haifa, this dome is probably in the picture, since it's basically the only impressive thing in the city. I liked the garden, but it was too symmetrical and didn't have enough trees for my taste.

If you have time, you should research the Baha'i religion and let me know what it's about, because even after the tour and a short documentary, I'm not sure what exactly they believe. They kept throwing around words like "peace" and "love" and "social justice." As far as I know, no religions would say they are opposed to any of those ideas, so I don't know what sets Baha'i apart.

This morning, I went to Akko with Anika and three other people from the hostel. We had Sandrine from France, Boris from Russia, and Ollie from England--it was a very international group. We wandered around the Crusader tunnels and the Old City and ate at an amazing hummus restaurant where everyone got there own giant dish of hummus. Mine had chickpeas, lamb, beef, and pine nuts in it, and it was the most delicious thing I have eaten here. We also found the market and bought pita and knafeh.

Tomorrow we are going to Caesarea, which will be tricky. We have to take two different trains and a cab to get there. But there will be a nice beach! You can expect pictures from all this, but it won't be until I have slightly more reliable internet.

I'm enjoying the hostel experience--there are people here from all over, and we all stay up late chatting and drinking tea we made out of leaves someone found in the garden. Some little Israeli girls have been teaching me more Hebrew vocabulary, and I'm learning the imperative form from listening to their mother yell at them. Of course there are a few people who are not friendly and behave in a socially inappropriate manner. I have some stories about that, which I think are entertaining, but you might not, so I will keep them to myself for now.

I hope all is well in America! I have very sketchy internet, so I don't get to catch up with people on skype. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, especially if you're on your way to Camp Runamuc!