Keeping It Israel

On Tuesday night (January 1st) we will leave Jerusalem around 9:00 pm with all our stuff and travel to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv for a 1:00 am flight. I am feeling excited about going home, so much that I don’t mind the three planes we will have to take to get back to O’Hare.

When we booked these tickets, the route was Tel Aviv to Paris, then Paris to Chicago. However, a few months ago Air France unceremoniously emailed that we would now be stopping in Detroit. I’m sure the Motor City is lovely in January, but adding a stop like this while traveling with kids can be deflating.

We have a ten hour layover in Paris and have arranged for a whirlwind tour of the sights. A driver picks us up at the airport and takes us from tourist attraction to tourist attraction, before returning us to the airport. The girls and I have never been to Paris and Adena has not been there since 1992. Hopefully we can stay awake long enough to enjoy it.

We should land in Chicago around 9:00 pm on Wednesday and will be staying at a hotel on-site. In the morning, I will take an Uber to pick up the minivan we reserved at Alamo. We will pack our stuff one last time and drive to Champaign. We’ll have to try and remember the code for the security system, and hopefully the spare key is still on the garage.

Thursday promises to be busy. In addition to driving from O’Hare, we need to visit Verizon and AT&T to re-establish cell phone service and get new American phone numbers. We also need to clean seven months of dust off everything and buy groceries.

On Friday, we visit Aviva’s new daycare classroom (same place, different building) and the campus parking department to restart our parking permits. Millie goes back to school on Tuesday, but there is no room in the afterschool program she had been doing. Adena and I will check out a similar one at Chesterbrook over the lunch hour next Tuesday.

It has been a productive and enjoyable sabbatical for me and Adena and the girls have had a wonderful time. I am finding it more difficult to leave than I expected, but I am also excited to get back to our house and our lives in Champaign-Urbana.

Lots of things happened since my last blog post. We are happy to report that our security deposit for the apartment we were renting on Sderot Yitshak was returned in full. I always wonder what the “sweet spot” is when moving out of a place. You want to clean well enough to get the deposit back, but not so much that you throw your back out.

On December 21 we moved out of the Airbnb on Margalit Street in Haifa. As we were packing the car, Millie moved the book she loves (Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls) from its place on the counter and it was left behind in the apartment. Luckily, the Airbnb host lives and works in Jerusalem and goes to Haifa on Fridays to check the apartment, so we are hoping to meet her this weekend to retrieve it.

Paul came up to Haifa to help us transport our stuff because it would not all fit in the Picanto. I drove back with the girls, while Adena went with Paul. We intentionally drove out of Haifa using the route by the water for one last look at the waves.

The drive was fine, despite a bit of traffic in Tel Aviv. There was also a little rain and a rainbow on Route 1 near the Latrun exit. We made it to Paul and Laura’s in time for Shabbat dinner and everyone was there: Kayli, Ziv, Amalia, Avi, and Noam.

Saturday was a lazy day. I got in a run (down to one per week now) and we watched Smallfoot as our weekly family movie in the afternoon.

Sunday we headed down to the town of Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev desert and spent three nights at a hotel one block from the edge of the “crater”. It reminds you of the Grand Canyon and apparently, it was formed by water and erosion rather than a meteor impact, hence the quotes around the word crater.

We had a great time despite what felt like a five hour drive down. South of Be’er Sheva (Beersheba), there were road signs warning of camels wandering up to the roadside, lots of military vehicles, and drivers going way too fast around winding desert curves. The room layout was perfect with a separate sleeping area for the girls, a bathtub, and a kitchen table for working. We found some dinner at this unassuming restaurant down the street, but the food was amazing and the staff was super nice. (It was so good, that we went back the last night we were in town.) When we got back to the hotel, we saw this bus parked by the door and I assumed it would be hard to sleep.

Sure enough, this busload of young adults were loud, but the noise stopped promptly at about 10:30 pm.

The next day was Christmas Eve. The breakfast spread at the hotel was not as large and varied as the one at Ein Gedi or Marom Golan, but had more things I actually wanted to eat. After breakfast, the girls wanted to use the indoor pool. I never remember to bring flip-flops and so we all walked down the stairs and across the courtyard in bare feet. There was a fully clothed (sweatpants, hooded sweatshirt, cellphone) lifeguard sitting in the corner and some of the windows were open to help with the fog that had formed due to the temperature differential. After the pool, we walked from the hotel to the Mitzpe Ramon Visitor’s Center where were learned about things to do in the area.

The grey area in the bottom-right corner of the image above is the “crater” and we walked back along the rim trail shown in the green dotted lines. The weather was sunny and in the sixties while we were in Mitzpe Ramon and the view was spectacular.

There are Nubian ibex roaming free all over town, but they seem to be pretty harmless. Millie and Adena continued all the way up to Camel Hill (Camel Mount on the map above) while I took Aviva to the playground near the trail. They enjoyed the view from the top of the lookout.

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We rested a bit in the hotel, then headed out for a 90 minute jeep tour down in the “crater” with Amnon Bakar. There were times when I wondered if the terrain and rocky dirt roads would be too much for his Mitsubishi Pajero and I was relieved when he whipped out a pair of sunglasses as we drove directly into the sun. He was talkative and told us a lot about the Bedouin who live in this part of country including government efforts to resettle and assimilate them into Israeli society. Amnon was good with the girls and we even got to see the sunset from a ridge.

After the tour, we had a WhatsApp call with grandma and grandpa, then had pizza and salad in the room.

The next day we visited an alpaca farm just west of the “crater”. This was one of the best experiences of the entire trip. It was very laid back and self-guided with a few roaming alpacas and llamas that you can feed by hand with the bags of pellets you get with the admission ticket.

There were three other English-speaking kids who were staying at one of the cottages on the property and the girls made friends quickly, petting Blintz the border collie and holding her puppies (Potato is shown here).

There was a swarm of birds that kept flying overhead in these awesome, fluid formations. The sound of their wings was really cool. We got coffee, tea, and hot chocolate at the little cafe but Aviva was too small for the horse rides and Millie was way too big for the alpaca rides, so we didn’t do either. It was mostly an enclosed space for the kids to roam and explore without much supervision and it was very nice.

In the afternoon, we took the Picanto down in to the “crater” and collected colored sand in bottles.

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Then we dashed across Route 40 to the Vulture Lookout, which is part of a quarry reclamation effort.

We were able to climb back out of the “crater” in the Picanto and then went to the pool for a bit. As I mentioned, we went back to the same restaurant as on the first night in town and Aviva fell asleep before the food arrived. We had been out in the sun all day and the girls were both exhausted. They ended up going to bed about an hour earlier than usual.

The next day we packed up the car, walked over to the rim for one last look, then headed back to Jerusalem. We stopped at the Ikea in Be’er Sheva to pick up a gift card and had lunch. When we first arrived in the desert, the girls made this checklist of things that we might see (with some help from me).

As you can see, there was lots of rocky sand, cacti, sand dunes, and even a chicken, but no dragon glass or lizards. Maybe next time…

If you have ever binge-watched a show, you know that the most exciting things always happen during the next-to-last episode of the season. That leaves exactly one episode to sort through the fallout and make sense of that penultimate one. Last week was our next-to-last week in Haifa.

We had a great time with Aviva’s friend Itamar and his parents last weekend. I made potato latkes (see photo below) and the kids played and played. Loudly. So loudly that I wondered if the downstairs neighbors would complain.

Adena already described our family adventure to Tel Aviv on the train in a previous post. On Monday Aviva went back to gan, but Millie was still out of school for Chanukah. She and Adena went out for breakfast at Cafe Cafe while I got in some work in the morning.

When it was time for Adena to start working, Millie read for a bit. That afternoon she and I went for a hike down Wadi Lotem, which starts near the Haifa Zoo. Because Haifa is mountainous, there are steep ravines on both sides of the ridge where it is impossible to build or develop. They have lots of trees and shrubs, and since 2015 have been officially maintained as recreation trails. During the rainy season, they become (intermittent) streams and when it is really dry, they can burn and bring wildfires into the heart of the city.

About halfway in I noticed that the ground was torn up. At first I thought maybe it was the rain, but then I realized it was wild boars. I didn’t want to scare her, so I picked up a really thick “walking stick” and we pushed forward. We walked along for about one mile and were having a great time. When we stopped to have a little snack Millie thanked me for bringing her out there and said it was “amazing”. A few minutes later, we saw the first wild boar. It grunted and ran up the slope, but Millie freaked out. She wanted to go back even though we were closer to the end than the start of the trail. So, we backtracked and I was able to calm her down. That is until we saw the second wild boar. This one was closer and not as hidden by shrubs as the first. It was big and you could see its tusks, but it just stood there. We kept walking and eventually made it back to the trailhead. We were able to talk about it then and now in retrospect, she’s able to laugh about having seen wild boars.

The next day everyone went to school and Adena and I headed down to the Azrieli Mall and eventually found Arik Tires (אריק צמיגים) underneath the parking area. We needed to get the leaky tire fixed ourselves because the car rental company is basically useless.

These guys were incredible. They were very nice and responsive. I took a picture of this religious-themed poster near their office. One of them even gave me and other customers who were waiting small cups of flavored coffee from his own private thermos. They were playing 80s music like ABBA and Toto, which made it more surreal. The tire could not be repaired, but they gave us a used tired for 100 shekels and we were on our way.

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This week I gave my keys back and said goodbye to folks at the Technion (I’m still finishing up a few things from home). The first photo above is of Haifa Bay as you approach Aviva’s gan. She and I talked about how we will only be in Haifa for another week, so we should enjoy seeing the ships out on the water.

On Wednesday night we met Adena’s cousin Zehavit for dinner. Zehavit is vegan so we wanted to find a vegan restaurant. We took the Carmelit for two stops to get to Masada street.

The restaurant, called the Rabbit Hole, was definitely a hole-in-the wall place and I am pretty sure they are not used to having young kids as customers. We ordered and it took a looooong time for the food to arrive (about an hour). There is basically one guy who functioned as waiter and cook. Everyone in the restaurant had dreadlocks and at one point there was a funky smell that wafted in from the outside seating (the restaurant used to be called Doobie’s). We had no idea what to expect. As it turned out, the food was delicious and I really liked the music they were playing. Home made hummus, fried mashed potato balls, and a truly amazing black lentil salad were the highlights. Zehavit lent Adena her coat (until we are back in Jerusalem) and gave Millie one of the rings she was wearing. I also learned a new word: satlan (סטלן) vinaigrette, which was one of the salad dressing options on their menu.

We moved out of our apartment (in the above slideshow) into an Airbnb for a week. The move is almost complete and seems to have gone well, but has taken up the better part of a day for me. The new apartment is a little less than one mile south of the old one. The girls are sharing a bed, it is dry (did I mention that our former apartment became quite damp once the weather changed?), and the heat works well.

This apartment is not as shiny and new as the other one, but it has way more character and charm. I just hope the girls don’t break any of the delicate things on the walls and shelves. It also has a huge window with a view of the Azrieli Mall, Student Beach, and the Mediterranean Sea.

My sister in-law, Kes, asked how we are feeling about this adventure coming to a close. Here is a long way to answer that question.

Yesterday both Millie and Aviva were off from school and gan, so we decided to go to Tel Aviv for the day. We took the train from the Hof HaCarmel station here in Haifa.

We arrived at the HaShalom station in Tel Aviv, exited through the Azrieli mall, and made our way to the Sarona Market for some lunch. There is a pedestrian mall lined with high end stores and restaurants, including the Draydel Shop, which had all sorts of ceramic spinning toys. Millie particularly liked the one that you spin to get a blessing.

We decided to eat at Max Brenner, a restaurant known for its chocolate (and there are a few of them in the U.S.). Millie had the most decadent meal and Bev had his best shakshuka to date.

After lunch we wandered over towards HaBima (literally “the stage”) which is a performing arts center. It is an impressive space with a wide open plaza, a sunken garden, and a raised tree.

From there we walked along Rothschild Boulevard, which has plenty of places to stop and hang out along the way.

Our destination was Meir Park where the girls played for a bit. We then headed to the Carmel Market and walked past the many stalls of trinkets, clothes, and food. If you are looking for boxer shorts with the Israeli flag, we know where to get them!

It was time to head back, so we caught a bus to the train station. We boarded a mostly full train but there was a nice guy who gave up his seat so we could all sit together. He was getting off at the next stop, so it wasn’t too much of a hardship…

As we took a bus back to our neighborhood, Millie looked a bit sad. She explained that she doesn’t want to leave Israel.  A few minutes later, she also expressed her excitement for being in our Champaign house again. And I think that is how we all feel. No one wants to leave, but there is also the anticipation of getting back to our life in central Illinois.

We fly home in 24 days, and so the last two weeks have been intense. I have been trying to wrap up some work items and we have been moving down the list of remaining things we would like to do/see/experience in the north of the country. Two Sundays ago Adena and I dropped the kids off at school and daycare and drove thirty minutes south to the Tishbi winery located in Binyamina. Their website is not great, but we had a very nice time. Maya led us on a short tour of the facility, but since the harvest season (there are two each year) was over, there wasn’t a lot to see other than the barrel room.

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There were several other small groups there for the tasting, which consisted of six red wines paired with dark chocolate squares. The host explained that dark chocolate opens your tastebuds and so you take a sip, eat the chocolate, then drink the wine. We liked the Cabernet Franc best, but at 130 shekels per bottle, we didn’t bring any home. We picked up some of the chocolate and a few bottles of red wine to give to folks at the Technion as parting gifts. We sat next to a group of sisters (maybe between 50 and 60 years old) originally from Scotland and they were delightful. One of the sisters made aliyah decades ago and now lives outside Tel Aviv and the others were visiting from Aberdeen, Scotland and Florida. We ended up talking about scotch and I learned that in Scotland, you drink it with water added—never with ice because it compromises the flavor and never neat. After the tasting, Adena and I had a lovely lunch at the restaurant on site to recover from the tasting. The food was good and the bread that came with meal was fantastic. I had the second best shakshuka of the whole trip there (Greg Kitchen in Jerusalem is still #1!) and sitting under the vine-covered pergola was pleasant. We bought a loaf of the bread from the onsite bakery on the way out and headed home.

That week, a few kids in Millie’s class had birthdays and so their parents pooled resources and took everyone to the Elite chocolate factory. In addition to birthday cake, each kid came home with a bag of mini Pesek Zman and Mekupelet bars.

On Friday, Aviva had her Chanukah celebration at daycare. We arrived a few minutes late and she was in tears because she thought we weren’t coming. Eventually she warmed up and we all had a great time. I even participated in the “dance of the dads” where we paraded in wearing paper short order cook hats and dancing with trays of sufganiot.

That afternoon we drove down to Jerusalem and had a belated Thanksgiving dinner with Uncle Paul, Aunt Laura, and all their kids. It was really nice to see everyone and the girls had fun making hand turkeys, but three-month old Amalia was the undisputed star.

Last Sunday, Adena and I took a lunch break and visited the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art here in Haifa. It is basically next door to Aviva’s gan and we had been wanting to see it. We enjoyed the paintings and woodcuts more than the ceramics and even picked up a few gifts at the museum shop.

That night we all took the bus across town to Millie’s class Chanukah party. The kids lit candles for the first night, played games, and ate lots of candy (and pizza). It was interesting to see another part of Haifa and surprisingly fun to be out at night with the girls. Schools close for Chanukah and so on Tuesday morning, Millie and I took the Carmelit down to the Hadar neighborhood and took in some of the street art on Masada Street.

We wandered over to HaZikaron Garden near city hall and there was a street protest happening. I’m not sure what the protest was about though. We picked up Aviva from daycare and after lunch we drove up to Merom Golan resort in the Golan Heights. This area is less than 40 miles from Damascus, but in order to get there one would have to backtrack 4.5 hours and enter through Jordan. Politics.

The drive up was easy, except for the sharp turns and switchbacks once you start the ascent (around where Route 90 becomes 91). I drove up and Adena drove home on Friday (more later). The scenery is amazing, but we were worried that the weather would be a problem given that rain was in the forecast each of the three days we would be there. The room was fine, with a separate sleeping area for the girls and forced-air heat! We were so happy to be warm and dry that we barely noticed that the room didn’t have cable TV (considering how much they charge, this is a definite oversight). Each evening there was a communal Chanukah candle lighting in the lobby with all-you-care-to-eat traditional (red jelly filling) sufganiot. The girls made friends with some kids their age (Noa and Tamar) who happen to live in Haifa.

I drove us up to Mount Bental, which is a dormant volcano with a military bunker on top. We spent a lot of time exploring the bunker and taking in the view.

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We rested a bit in the room, then toured the Beresheet apple factory down the road from the hotel. It was a lot of fun to see the operation and we even got to eat one of the apples from the cryogenic refrigeration room.

The next day, we drove down to the Hula Valley and toured one of the nature reserves. The 3D video at the beginning was crazy, with moving seats and jets of air that shoot into your face. The self-guided tour was just what the girls needed, even though it was a little rainy.

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The girls got their faces painted at the Agamon Market down the road and we had a late lunch before heading back up the escarpment.

Friday morning it was super foggy and rainy. We had the hotel breakfast one last time, packed the car, and headed out. The plan was to make a quick stop by the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Adena drove and we had to proceed very slowly, given the weather conditions and the fact that we were in a Kia Picanto (negative horsepower). Luckily, swinging by the Kinneret allowed us to bypass the steepest parts of the descent and we were able to at least see the water. It was raining when we got there with huge waves. We got gas and were about to get on the freeway to Haifa, when the rain stopped and the sun came out. I made a U-Turn to go back and take a quick drive by Mount Arbel when we heard the unmistakable sound.

We had a flat tire, but I was able to put on the doughnut pretty easily. I could hear the call to prayer from the mosque down the road and an older Arab man and his wife stopped to ask if we needed help. Of course it started raining again as soon as I got the leaky tire off, but soon we were on our way. Here are a few photos of the fog on Mount Arbel.

If we ever get back here, I would want to spend some time in this region. We had a quiet Shabbat dinner last night and drove down to the beach this morning to give the rocks and shells the girls collected that won’t fit in the suitcase back to the sea. We each made a wish out loud as we threw them into the water, which was kind of nice.

Right now we are preparing to host Aviva’s friend Itamar and his family for latkes and candle lighting this evening. Here’s a photo of them at the Louis Promenade overlook.

It is going to be hard for them to say goodbye. I think it will be hard for the whole family to leave Haifa in two weeks. You can bet that we will not go quietly though.