“It’s Thursday afternoon and I’m outta here!”

In Israel, because of Shabbat, the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Therefore, come Sunday morning it’s back to school?! Huh?! I want my Sundays back!! Anyways, I just had to get used to it. I’ve spent my weekends differently since I’ve been here. Some weekends I’ve stayed in Ashdod to either eat at home, eat with my host family or with my real family who’s been in town. My host family was amazing, I’ve only eaten there twice, but they were incredible. Such open and warm people, I wish I could’ve gone more often but I decided to spend most of my weekends out of Ashdod. However, one Shabbat I did decide to stay here and be lazy. So me and my roommate, Lindsey, made dinner. The menu? - Pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and cinnamon pancakes. In that moment, it was the best decision ever! Mmmm!

Most weekends I went to Tel Aviv and spent it with Laura and some other friends. We either have our Shabbat dinners in restaurants or at friends’ houses. It’s always difficult to travel on the weekends because of Shabbat. All the buses stop running by Friday afternoon and only start up again after Shabbat on Saturday night. It can get frustrating, but by now I’m used to it.

About two weeks ago I went to Caesarea to meet some new family members. Edmond, who is my father’s cousin, his wife and their family. They have 7 children, so it was quite the table load… and table load of FOOD! I don’t think I’ve ever been fed so much in my life, and to top it all off I was also sent home with a doggy bag. I literally needed a whole other stomach to get through the weekend. Since the food was just too good to pass up it broke my heart to have to say “no”. But yes, there reached a point where I just had to say “no”. Hhmmm, let me try that again “no thanks”. Ok, uummm… “I’m so full, it’s delicious, but I can’t eat anymore”. Ok, one last shot… “I WILL EXPLODE!” Haha, they didn’t understand “no”. Saying no means “take a taste now while it’s hot, and eat it later… in about 15 mins!” My little story: I got there Friday night and had a dinner that could’ve easily fed 5 people, and those 5 people would’ve been stuffed! The next morning I woke up *still full*, and sat down to eat breakfast. Breakfast consisted of: breads, salads, dafina (which is a meal itself!) and then came the ‘actual’ meal of chicken, meat bourekas, rice, vegetables and more! After the dafina I was literally sweating because I was too full, so you can only imagine how I looked at that new plate of food… Lots of fear in my eyes!! (I guess you can only appreciate this story if you know what dafina is…)

Meeting new family in Caesarea

On a more serious note, the family was amazing to me! They immediately made me feel welcome, I heard plenty of stories and I laughed all night at the table with them. I will definitely be back for more visits before I leave Israel, but next time please remind me to bring my second stomach!

I've also got to meet a few others from the family. My great aunt Fiby, my dad's cousin, Rachel, and a few others from that side. Last weekend I went to my Aunt Marcelle’s for Shabbat dinner. She’s in from France and is staying in Ashdod. I also got to see my g-d parents from Montreal, Ralph and Jocelyne. We had a nice little family dinner, and I got to share some of my experiences with them. Having the opportunity to spend time with them in Israel makes it that much more special. There’s just something about this country!

To many, many more wonderful weekends in and outside of Israel! “L’chaim!”

Marcelle & I in France