To Israel for Israel for Noah!

Sunday – October 10th, 2010

Today was somewhat of a bitter-sweet day. Noah was taking off to Kibbutz where he’s going to reside for the next five months, picking pomegranates and making spices. Steve and Heather drove with Noah and three bags to a town in the North East corner of the country called Beit Shan and near Afula. The kibbutz is only a stone’s throw away from the Jordanian border. It was sad to see him go this morning, but I’m glad he’s not only headed but going to be in a good place. Noah – I’m going to miss you bro.

While they were gone Kathie and I took our last walk around the Karmel Shuk. Remember it’s only a block away from our apartment, so this is why we can get there so easily. We bought last minute gifts, took pictures, Heather went back to the beach one last time and everyone showered and packed.

Sunday was our last day in the coolest country in the Middle East! After some last minute apartment business to take care of and returning the rental car it was time to depart. We crammed into a taxi: four people, and six bags into a tiny car all the way to the airport. I had to go through a small extra step of security that my family did not have to do, but as long as they didn’t take my spices I was fine with any security precautions. Finally, we were off. This is the end of our very special vacation as a family, wonderful memories, and lots of pictures.

Thanks for reading up, tuning in, tuning out, dropping in, dropping out, and have fun!

Love always,
Naomi Ruth

Saturday – October 9th, 2010

Saturday was a fairly technology free day for the Alhadeff’s. It was Shabbat, so in order to hang out with Noah we needed to go somewhere we could observe the Sabbath and have fun, Beach Day! We spent almost all day in the sun, surfing in the waves, and relaxing on the white beaches. Murphy’s Law dictates however, that as soon as the Alhadeff’s show up the lifeguard says, “out of the water”! The winds had picked up so much that the waves were easily over ten feet tall! The lifeguards, in four different languages, were yelling at everyone to get out of the waves. They said due to safety concerns they didn’t suggest anymore swimming!

But oh no! Not us Alhadeff’s! Those rules don’t apply. So, some serious waves came crashing through OUR turf that were reaching heights of 15 feet or more, for sure the largest waves I’ve ever come in contact with! Unfortunately, the wave g-ds were a little perturbed with our actions and threw my dad all around and landed on his head – wiping him completely out! I’ve never been more scared for him in my entire short life! So, needless to say everyone took it a little easier the rest of the day and Kathie looked after my dad.

Noah had much to arrange because he was heading out Kibbutz on Sunday morning so he took off to pack, which left the four of us to our own devices. Steve, Kathie, Heather, and I headed to a little bar around the corner that we really liked called HaMazna, or the Monastery. We ate wonderful food, had some Israeli Cabernet, and ended dinner with the soccer game of Israel v. Croatia. Israel lost, 2-1 in a poorly played game, I might add.

Steve & Kathie headed home at halftime so Heath & I finished the game – and of course some more drinks! We headed to another bar that was more of an American yuppie style bar and had a few drinks & shots there too! I was too tired to stay out all night again, so I headed home. Heather’s a big girl she can take care of herself! G’Night mates!

------

Only, a few parting words:
First of all, there are WAY too many stray cats and dogs in this country. To them stray cats are like rats to Americans. They’re considered pests that are truly EVERYWHERE. Sometimes, they hang out under the tables hoping for scraps and scratch at you to get your attention. I thought Lincoln had a bad feral cat problem. Another thing that Kathie and I talked a lot about was the smoking. It seems that ALL Israeli’s smoke and they start so young! American’s are doing great compared to their smoking habits, it’s disgusting. Kat and I felt that our lungs and throats were having a tough time with all the restaurants, bars, and just the streets after ten days.

The last thing I want to mention is that when you combine, the littering, the cig butts, feral cats, and no sewers, the streets of Tel-Aviv are DISGUSTING! One more thing to add is that there is no grass to speak so dog’s “go” on the streets and the owners don’t bother to pick it up! Gross! These are some strong reasons not to live in Tel-Aviv at least. Okay, I’m done.

-NRA

Friday – October 8th, 2010

Woke up late, yesterday was a LOOOooooong day. Today we packed up and headed to Caesarea, which is the site of the ancient Roman aqueducts. But, on our way something happened that’s never happened to me on my four visits to this country. It rained. I couldn’t believe it. So we turned around, picked up Noah at his friend Shawn’s place and went out for coffee. On our way back to the apartment, we girls couldn’t contain ourselves anymore. We had to go window shopping, right? C’mon! However, for some reason or another we ended on the most expensive strip of shopping in Israel, store like Armani, Gucci, and other’s we couldn’t afford. I did enjoy seeing though that even secular people who wandered in and out of these places were still kissing Mezuzah’s on the door posts on their way in.

We decided to head to the Karmel shuk or shook, I’m not sure on the proper English-Hebrew transliteration. All three of us bought some souvenirs and even some foods to take back to the states, some as gifts. The shuk closes up for Shabbat so it’s the time to visit the artists market, buy Challahs, Kosher wine and meats, or any other foods that fit your fancy! Noah bought some Kosher foods too so we could a real Kosher meal on Shabbat. Eventually, my dad and Noah went to Shabbat services for Friday night and the rest of us relaxed in the apartment and met back for dinner.

We had a great meal with songs and a few blessings for the food and the wonderful opportunity we had to be in Israel together, as a family. Finally, we all just crashed and waited for Saturday morning to arrive, Beach Day!

I just have to have a little rant here… This country seems to have the worst drivers I’ve ever encountered. Granted I have only been in four countries, if you add what I’ve heard about Israel v. others it’s awful. Once on this trip we actually saw a guy ON the highway riding a Recumbent bicycle with an electric motor on. He was below the line of sight and going maybe 35 miles an hour! Ridiculous!!! The scooter drivers here are absolutely insane as well. They zoom in between cars, drive on the dotted lines, and commit traffic phenomenons on a daily basis!

Alright that’s enough said,
Naomi

Thursday – October 7th, 2010

Today was a great day!!! It was Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Masada Museum, Ahava Store, Jerusalem, dinner at Gabriella’s, Ben-Yehuda Street, and home to Tel-Aviv Day!!! And crash. Okay but more about the day…

We started off early, and headed straight to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea had absolutely no marine life in the waters and nothing grows around the shores. It is the lowest place on Earth and the saltiest body of water in the world – and when you get in those waters, pray you didn’t shave that morning! We parked our tiny Fiat sized vehicle and headed to the beach, minus the white sands. Everyone entered slowly to let any cuts or scrapes expose themselves and finally drifted away. It is physically impossible to sink in the Dead Sea due to the density of the water from the salt and minerals. Therefore, you sort of float there like a buoy and just lounge. Just be careful and don’t get your face in the water, you’ll regret that decision quickly! Heather got ONE tiny droplet up her nose and her sinuses burned all day and I got ONE tiny droplet IN my eye and had to throw the contacts away. It burned so badly I could easily put that on my top-5 list of most painful moments in my life!

Noah ventured off to find us our Dead Sea mud and found what he described as a honey comb of small holes dug by adventurous people. He started a new hole and added the water and we smeared it all over our bodies. Kathie and I created nice mineral masks and we were all lucky enough to have a picture taken.

Cleaning ourselves became our top priority. We got ice and clean with a fresh water shower and had some lunch at the local lunch joint. Our next stop was Ein Gedi which is a natural spring and the main water source for all of Israel’s drinking water. Additionally, all the salt they leech out of the water becomes Israel’s main exported product. A small hike to the natural falls and you can swim in the naturally fed springs of Ein Gedi.

For those of you that know me, I took lots of photos. And while we were in Ein Gedi National Park we saw Iberian Ibex, Rock Hyordes (spelling?), and some neat European bird species of which I’ve yet to identify. The Ibex were very cool because we were there during the rut so the enormous black male was herding his harem of dusty colored ewes. Pretty cool.

Our next stop was Masada Mountain. It is such a beautiful and daunting view from below that you can’t help but gasp. It’s a huge mountain that was home to the horrendous battle of the Romans v. the Jews. There are two ways to access the top of the mountains, hiking or a cable car. Unfortunately, my dad’s knees don’t like those kinds of hikes and I like him more than getting to the top of that mountain. So we decided to take the cable car, but we showed up some 10 minutes after the last one departed. As sad as we were to have missed that we did spend a wonderful day swimming in the Dead Sea and the Ein Gedi springs.

So we wandered through the Masada Museum and learned all about the way of life of the people living on Masada before the Romans invaded. Unbelievably, they were living quite the cushy lifestyle for being isolated in the desert.

Our last stop on our tour of the Negev desert was to head back to Jerusalem and have a wonderful meal in the Old City. On our way we stopped at the Ahava store, the source of all Dead Sea mineral Ahava products in the world, and spent a little dough. But their stuff is sooo worth it! But on to Jerusalem, we ate at a wonderful restaurant called Gabriella’s. It was hands down the BEST meal we’ve had the whole trip!!! The food, the service, the ambiance, the people watching on the cobblestones, and the wonderful family together, was amazing! We wandered onto Ben-Yehuda Street (different than the one in Tel-Aviv) and just watched the scene. Thursday nights are the American equivalent to Friday nights, in that ANYONE who’s ANYONE is there to be and be seen! I took some great photos and some even funnier videos. We finally left late that night and headed home to Tel-Aviv, I was pooped but Noah continued on to be with a friend.
Off to the sack…good night!

Naomi

Wednesday – October 6th, 2010

I think everyone was a bit tired today. Yesterday and the day before was lots of driving for my dad and another airport trip for the rest of the family. I woke up late, which I love to do, but not when I’m on vacation. However, traveling is tiresome! Heather went to the beach and got a surf lesson from the lifeguard and was out in the water most of the day. My dad, unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned before has lots of work to do each and every day. Noah spent some time getting his finances and situation more organized. So today was a good “business” day to get some things done.

Kathie I exchanged our “large” rental car that fit 6 people for a smaller one for just 4-5 people. This was my first experience driving in a foreign country, all by myself! Kathie was my navigator and we drove to the hotel, switched cars, and got the “compact” car. By American standards this compact car would be enough for two people, is Israel, it holds 4-5 people and the one we were returning would be considered HUGE! When we got the new car it was quite a shock to see how really teeny tiny it was, and crossed our fingers we hadn’t made a mistake.

Nonetheless, we drove it home and played up my driving prowess! I have it on video if anyone wants to doubt me…but don’t. Another beautiful day in Tel-Aviv, can’t complain. We also spent part of the evening planning the next day because driving halfway across a country with 5 people requires planning!

Laters,
Naomi Ruth Alhadeff (NRA) <--i know.

Tuesday – October 5th, 2010

Today we headed the city of Haifa, pronounced with that “chh” sound you always hear me say. We drove along Hwy 2 which winds along the coast all the way North to Haifa, a port city. And Heather informed me this is where there is an American Navy base, so there are often hundreds of American soldiers docked right in town.

We headed to the Baha’i Gardens, which without the proper tour I don’t know that much about. But, they can grow beautiful plants!

Afterwards, we realized we were hungry! Oh no! So, with the ease of Heather’s handy-dandy iPhone we googled Kosher restaurants in Haifa and found, of all things a Chinese restaurant. I must admit it was interesting to see the word Szechuan spelled out in Hebrew letters. Not an easy word to say and spell. Grandma normally doesn’t like Chinese food, but guess what? She loved it! Said it was the best restaurant we’d gone to in our whole trip to Israel.

We finally had to head out and just see the rest of Haifa from the car because Grandma & Papoo had to get back to Tel-Aviv for their flight. They were leaving earlier than us, so don’t worry we have many more adventures planned!

Steve, Kathie, Grandma & Papoo went to the airport and dropped Heather and I off at the apartment. We couldn’t sit-put and headed out to walk the streets of Tel-Aviv’s night life. We headed toward Ben-Yehuda Street and found shopping, and artists market, and a wonderful Italian restaurant. We had a bottle of Italian white wine and tapas all night while Heather re-taught the rules of SHesh-Besh, or backgammon. Needless to say, she won. Damn.

We met Steve & Kathie back at the apartment and hit the sack! Now it was just us without the concern of where we go being handicap accessible. Heather told Noah that he could make a million bucks if he wrote a Tourists Guide to Israel that has ADA demands in mind. Think about it, a book geared toward families with a few slower individuals knowing where to go and not go. Where to rent a wheelchair and which museums are worth the effort! Noah go for it! Heck, you could expand that into other countries that have eco-tourism on their radar!

Signing off,
Naomi

Monday – October 4th, 2010

Today was a sloooooowww morning for me. Having just gone to bed not a few hours earlier I was in some pain. The plan was to be up and out of the house by 7:30am and head to Jerusalem. Albeit my more innate human instincts I dragged my ass out of bed and crammed into our tiny rental car and headed to the holiest of holy cities.

We discovered parking can be a tough project in Jerusalem considering, King Solomon probably didn’t consult his city planner to discuss roads and traffic congestion. However, leave it to the Alhadeff’s to have a friend in the “biz”. Kathie had a friend who worked for the Sephardic Education Center (SEC) and he hooked us up with not only a parking spot but a wheelchair for Papoo. Our car was so tiny there was no way we could fit the wheel chair we borrowed and still cram six people in their. At this point, if you haven’t done the math already, I should note that Heather did not join us…she was a little tired.

I should mention that the way the old city used to be was a walled fortress. Having twelve “gates” which you could enter in which only three still exist today. We entered in the Jaffa gate, pronounced Yaffo gate, and drove straight to our new friend, coincidentally named Israel. He got us a parking spot and then walked us to the SEC. Israel gave us food and drinks and then told us all about the great work he’s doing and helping students learn about their Sephardic Jewish heritage especially as it relates to the country of Israel.

We spent most of the morning there and we all learned a lot! Israel was able to track down a wheel chair for Papoo and again, pushing him over the cobble streets proves quite the challenge. After the SEC, we went to a few different synagogues that are very, very old, and I stress the Old factor. They were beautiful and built entirely out of Jerusalem stone. We got to go inside one of them and see how they are still active and thriving in the walled City.

Finally, it was time to meander over to the highlight of anyone who goes to the Old City, the Kotel. Known by many as the Wailing Wall or just the Western Wall, either way it is a special place. The wall is enormous and towers over anyone standing at its base. I’ve also learned that it goes some three times as far down underground as it does above ground – WOAH! There are two sides, separating men and women and it’s a quite, spiritual, and emotional place for many. My grandma Ruth, Kathie, and I head towards the women’s side and each said our own solemn prayers and touched the holiest remnants of our once wonderful Temple. With the unfortunate Dome of the Rock in the background I slipped a small piece of paper* with a personal prayer into the wall, hoping one day to have it answered.

• point of note: I didn’t have just a “small piece of paper” so I used my new NGPC business card, so sue me!

My grandfather Abraham, my dad Steve, and Noah headed to the men’s side and Papoo got to use the new Talit he purchased from a local artisan. I’m sure their experience was just as powerful.

Eventually we all met back in the common area where talking is allowed, and noticed there were an absurd amount of soldiers growing in numbers each with Oozies and M-16’s flung over their shoulders. Now I should mention that one or even several soldiers walking the streets of Israel is nothing new and quite the common occurrence. However, I’ve never seen so many organized in one place. So I put on my detective hat and discovered why! Apparently each year, all the new recruits of the Israel Army are inducted in a ceremony at the Kotel, which is very fitting. So we’d arrived on such a night and all the families of the soldiers were pouring in, unfortunately we couldn’t stay but it was special to have witnessed nonetheless.

We wandered the “shooks” of Jerusalem and bought souvenirs, artwork, jewelry, and I of course took hundreds of photos. Ultimately, most of these will end up online so keep an eye out. Speaking of which, if you would like a kodakgallery email of all the photos I’m going to post make sure and send me an email so I’ve got your email. We all had lunch at an outdoor café and took in the sights! So many different types of people, different languages, and different attire, even different religious sects walking around makes Jerusalem truly a melting pot of the world.

Lastly, we said goodbye to our new friend Israel, the holy city with the bustling streets, the stores and craft markets, and the wonderful views of the Wailing Wall and headed home to Tel-Aviv. I crashed from a long day but boy, what a day.

Sunday – October 3, 2010

Today we decided to spend the day in Jaffa, pronounced Yaffo, the oldest port in the world. Lunch was at a small café called Napoleans’. Apparently, he was a big influence during his “reign” here in Yaffo. We walked around their artist’s colony at bought beautiful jewelry from a local artist. With Papoo and Grandma the cobblestone streets are harder on them so we didn’t go far. But the alleyways and quaint shops made for wonderful photography. Yaffo is a very Muslim part of Israel and we heard the people called to prayer over a loud speaker, it was an interesting experience.

We found a cute little restaurant, called Yamit, to have wine at overlooking the port and again, the always with us, Mediterranean Sea. Heather played my dad in a game of Shesh Besh, or more commonly known as Backgammon. However, Heather won.

After we made it home Heather and I decided the night just wasn’t quite over yet….
So we walked Rechov Dizengoff (Dizengoff St.) and found a cool, very Israeli bar called Tsiya. Not sure what it meant but “we serve drinks here” is pretty universal. We met up with two guys, very pushy Israeli’s and stayed out all night. When we finally emerged from yet another bar, it was you guessed it, dawn. Ouch. I was a hurtin’ puppy the next morning with only two hours of sleep.

Saturday – October 2, 2010

Today was Beach day! We woke up and had a simple breakfast before putting on our baby-suits and heading to the warm beaches of Tel-Aviv. We found an umbrella for P & G and hit the waves! Papoo joined us in the water to show us how it is done – but would eventually hit the sand again for a nap. Although, who can blame him, at some point we all closed our eyes to the warm Mediterranean sun.
Noah, my dad, and I went body surfing only to hear the warm sounds of Hebrew being screamed at us through a loud speaker! In Hebrew: “Yeled katan baboogey, aepho EMA shelchah!!!” which translates into “little boy on the boogey (board) where is your mother???)!! We thought it was hysterical, so we wanted to see if we could the lifeguards to yell at us, so Noah took off to the rock breaks. Too bad they don’t we don’t speak Hebrew*.
It wasn’t long before Heather and I noticed the lifeguards for more than their illiterate yammering’s and one noticed her. So we took a zoomed in picture of them and a young man named, Ran (roll that Rrrrr) waved her to come up but he ultimately came down to say Shalom (hello). More chest photos to come – and for all of Heather’s friends out there she’ll be telling you all about this.
Saturday night dinner we made it to a restaurant in Tel-Aviv on the wharf, called CafeCafe, where it was so windy everything was blowing away. But that didn’t stop Heather from driving all the way back to the apartment because she left our cell phone – the one with the number she gave Ran and setup a date!! She bailed on the family for the hottest stomach this side of the Yemenite border! The next time we saw her was Sunday morning at breakfast – needless to say G’ma was SOOO concerned. She suggested before she fell asleep that she would stay up ALL night out of worry. This won’t be the first time this happens….brown chicken brown cow!
Have I mentioned the dog and cat problem here in Israel? THEY”RE EVERYWHERE!! One could argue that they are free like a bird, ahem Heather, however the reality of the situation is they have nasty diseases. As I type this Heather is living in a bubble and thinks I’m making this stuff up. However, there have been six, or even seven, times that I thought about taking one of the little buggers home to the USA.

• P.s. some of us do speak Hebrew and some of us speak it O.K.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Hello All,

Greetings from Tel-Aviv still. Today was a fun-filled packed day. There are still some quarks to work out when traveling with family, especially seven of us, but it's worth the experience. Today was our first day as tourists and it was jam packed! I started my day a little after 5am. because I couldn't sleep - apparently there was some confusion in the Fahrenheit Celsius conversion on the thermostat so it was a little hot. I spent my morning as I wrote the first blog entry on the balcony listening to Tel-Aviv wake up and prepared for the first day.

First, we woke and Heather and I went for a walk to find a breakfast restaurant where we could all meet up with Noah and finally see the little guy! We found a restaurant and in broken Hebrew explained that there were seven of us coming and needed a table. So, while we were waiting for the 'fam we decided to move around and sight-see. We wandered into the Shook HaCarmel (the Shook of Mt. Carmel) which is an open-air market where everything is being sold from raw chicken to socks and back to "chochskees" (Yiddish for "junk")! More on this later...
Finally, Noah arrived - yeah and we met up and hugged in the streets of Tel-Aviv! We made our way to the restaurant - and oops it wasn't Kosher! So, we had to move restaurants and find a Kosher breakfast place, which wasn't hard in Israel.

Shook HaCarmel
Afterwards, we ALL wandered over to the Shook. It's only two blocks away and on a Friday you can tell your near the market by the hum of people getting ready for Shabbat. There were thousands of people there and everyone was bargaining and negotiating their Shekels (the currency here). All seven of us moved around the shook but losing people quickly became a reality - so it was tough keeping together and you have to keep an eye on your purse and hopefully nothing goes missing!

After the shook, G'ma and Papoo were tired, who can blame them, so we walked them back to our "deer" and dropped those youngsters off. My dad, Heather, Noah, and I went for what turned into a long walk and got some business at the apartment rental office. We also rented some cell phones so we could communicate and found some information about daily tours. On our way back from the office we walked through the shook so we could get some Kosher food and have Shabbat dinner at home all of us together.

Noah and my dad decided to go to Synagogue so while they prayed Kat, Heath, and I went to the BEACH!! I finally got my feet in the warm Mediterranean Sea and actually went body surfing, albeit by myself! The water felt amazing and even thought the sun had set it was still beautiful. Surprisingly, there were alot of people still in the water like myself, I thought somebody would want to strike up a conversation but apparently they can smell nerds. While I drifted away in bliss, Heather and Kat were schmoozing and Heather found the cutest puppy! Unfortunately, it had cute little puppy teeth, so she'll be bringing home some souvenirs.

Shabbat Dinner & the Promenade
We had a delicious dinner at home and lit Shabbat candles and drank some great wine! Afterwards Kat, Stevie, Heather, Noah, and I walked towards the beach and Tel-Aviv is for the promenade. Tons of people just stroll aimlessly up and down the Mediterranean and Tel-Aviv-Jaffa coast meeting people and reminiscing with friends. It's THE place to be on a Friday night! Ultimately, we went back but there was a lingering little bug in Heath and I....

We couldn't go to bed! So she and I took to the streets and found equipped with the Top Ten Best Bars in Tel-Aviv found a place called Molly Blooms. It's an Irish bar of all things packed with, you guessed it, only Israelis. An interesting experience considering we had "American" plastered on our foreheads. But we had fun and eventually found our way back to bed.

Hopefully this time the temperature in Celsius-Fahrenheit confusion is over...

'Night!


"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, he became a butterfly." -Unknown

Alright ALL!!

We made it safe and sound into Tel-Aviv Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. It was, to say the least, an interesting plane trip. However, all that matters is that we all arrived safely and full. The first few hours in the plane were quite bumpy, but the pilot did wonderful navigating through the clouds and weather. Delta was looking for volunteers to bump our flights and get offered "this and that" we finally decided to stick with the plan. Unfortunately, we didn't get to all sit together, so poor Heather was wedged in between two people who kept "snaking" her food. And the last straw came when we curled up to watch a movie on our personal screens and "what's that? the televisions don't work?". Lovely.

For those of you who may be unaware or unfamiliar I thought I would go through all the key players on this trip so as you're reading this blog you will know who I am talking about.
We'll start with most wise and work our way down:

1. Papoo- my grandfather Abraham and hands down his subtle humorous remarks will leave you heaving
2. Grandma - let that one sink in a sec. Really named Ruth and more interested in shopping, sometimes I will spell her name as G'ma.
-collectively I may also refer to them as G & P.
3. Steven - my father, our faithful leader and confident, who unfortunately is bound to the shackles of his work.
4. Kathie - my bonus mother, she is the faithful leader's, faithful leader. Right?
5. Heather - my sister, who's iPhone may keep us from getting lost and of course find the perfect bar & cafe. Additionally, her confidence with Hebrew has already come in handy.
6. Naomi - and finally myself. The baby in the group, although not last, feeling like the strawberry nerd in the box of grape nerds. You know the candy? Nevermind.
7. Noah - and although he is the resident of this country no less a part of this trip. One could call him our tour guide.
**There will be more encounters of the third kind along the way as we venture out across this holy land and run into more people we may know.

So...
Last night we arrived in Tel-Aviv about 4:45pm local time and found our way to not a hotel, but a rented condo. There is no word in Hebrew for condo, but they just call it an apartment or a "deer". Don't forget to rrrrroll your "r's". We're staying at Geula St. which is 3 blocks from the Mediterranean Sea and as I type this I can see the water from the balcony. I'm sitting outside this morning listening to the sounds of the city whirr around us and most of our troupe are still sleeping. After we got to our "deer" last night Steve, Kat, Heath, and I went grocery shopping for a week's supply of nosh food. Milk here comes in baggies, not cartons, and apparently everything is written in Hebrew. Who knew. So I have been working on my translation, it's starting to come back and with Heather's help we're learning that there is no such thing as creme or half-and-half, but there is white pasteurized milk. However, it too doesn't come in the variety of choices we Americans are used to your options are (in percent): 1, 2, 3, 3.5, and 3.6. Very strange.

Noah will be joining us this morning starting with Breakfast and then we're off to see Tel-Aviv. Tonight we will more than likely head to Jaffa, pronounced Yaffo, the sea port and the old city because the night life is unreal. I will be updating this blog as time allows, my dad fortunately brought his laptop but for the main purpose of work. After which comes three other people's work & personal emails, and THEN Naomi's travel blog. Also, the arrival of pictures will come when there is a cord to transfer photos, so until then just text.

So without further adu - welcome to the Alhadeff 2010 Israel & (hopefully) Greece travel blog!!! I'll keep you posted with our travels and silly musings so you're job is to "just keep reading"!!

-Naomi

Galaxar out. <-- Nerd alert. For those of you know me, and if you don't why are you reading this, that comment shouldn't seem strange to you.