Happy Chanukah!

Hi, Everyone! Happy Chanukah! So I've had a great week or so, though I'm not sure it has anything to do with the special events going on. I think I just finally feel comfortable here (the timing is ironic, since I'm coming home in two days...but at least I'll return in good spirits in two weeks). But I will do my best to remember what events have happened.

We visited Kever Rochel, which was a much more simple experience than I expected. It was humbling to see that there wasn't such a big to do even at the grave of one of the matriarchs. All we really did was go, speak a little about Rachel, pray, and leave. I liked it that way though - it wasn't overdone.

Classes last week went really well, and I also spent a good amount of time preparing for a little speech/mini-class I'm giving at my high school when I visit at the end of this week. I asked the principal if I could teach the girls something, because I think the best way to express my enthusiasm about what I'm learning is to show it. And I'd love to portray to the girls how different the learning is from high school learning. It's such a different world! I'm constantly surprised by the contrast...

Chanukah started this past Shabbat, and being in Israel for the holidays is another experience in of itself. The holiday also isn't overdone (as holiday season in America is), but what decorations and music there is - it's all about Chanukah. If you walk around the Old City you see glass cases outside of all of the apartments where people display their menorahs every night in order to publicise the miracle (which is part of commandment for lighting Chanukah candles).

Today we went to a Kibbutz called Yad Menachem, where residents defended their ground agains the Egyptians at the same time as the War for Independence, sacrificing themselves to prevent the Egyptians from reaching Tel Aviv. It was a beautiful place, and the museum there was educating regarding the battle itself that took place there, the Holocaust (because the Kibbutz was named after a brave rebel from one of the Ghettos in Poland), and the emerging of the state. Tomorrow and Tuesday we have more museums and tours planned, but the exact places we're going have slipped my mind.

Now I have some choir stuff to deal with, and a dinner with one of my friends and her father to attend, so I have to run. I probably won't write again until after I return from America, so Chag Sameach! Until next time,

Gabriella