Zippori and Tel Aviv

I had the most incredible weekend! Friday morning we woke up and went to Zippori National Park. It was very beautiful and there were tons of very cool ruins. Apparently Zippori is where the Mishna was written. This is a picture of an ancient Roman theater. Zippori is where the Romans and Jews lived together and there was a lot of controversy because the Romans lived a very materialistic lifestyle and the Jews had to figure out how to either adapt to that lifestyle or keep distant from it in order to maintain their moral standards. This theater was used for entertainment that was crude and sexual and it was a place for prostitutes to come. The Jews were forbidden to go to the theater because it was against Jewish morals but many Jews came anyways because it was a very extravagant and fun thing to do during that time period. After Zippori, we came back to the dorms and got ready to leave for the weekend. I took a bus to Tel Aviv and Mattan picked me up at the bus station. We went to his place and got ready and then went to meet his dad and his dad's girlfriend. They live in Ra'anana. They were so sweet and gave us cookies, coffee, watermelon, and chocolate. It was so nice to meet them. After that we went back to Tel Aviv to pick up Mattan's friend Shy and we drove to Maccabim where Tamar lives. We had Shabbos dinner and it was so wonderful. She made sooo much food and I had to try everything, I was so full afterwards. After we left Tamar's we went back to Tel Aviv to party. Mattan and I dropped Shy off and then went to a birthday party which was kind of weird and not giving off very good vibes so we left early. We went to meet up with Shy and

(Ishay, Me, Shy)

his friends at a bar called The Clara. It was enormous and very beautiful. The bar is completely outside and there are couches and tables and the railing goes around the outside of the bar and you can look out onto the ocean. The waves literally crash up against the side of the bar railings. It is very cool, I tried to take a picture but it was too dark. On Saturday Mattan and I picked up his friend Yaela and drove to a beach on the Med. sea about 30 minutes north of Tel Aviv. Shannie lives in that area so she met us there and so did Mattan and Yaela's

other friend Nitzan. We stayed at the beach for a few hours and just played in the water and laid out and drank smoothies. It was so relaxing but I burned the back of my legs a little bit. At the beach we saw these kites and went to check it out and they were connected to surfers. Apparently the kite gets blown by the wind and it makes the surfboard fly like ten feet in the air. You have to be really good at it for it to work I guess, apparently Mattan has some friends that can do it. After the beach Mattan and I met up with Shy and we went to Max Brenner which is a chocolate factory and restaurant. They have an entire menu of everything chocolate. I got a dark chocolate truffle milkshake. It was to die for.

This picture is of Mattan and me on the beach drinking the best smoothie ever.

Everyone got back this morning from Tel Aviv and wherever else people traveled and we had to go right to class. We had a four hour class but it wasn't too bad because we talked about some really interesting things. Tonight we are doing Israeli cooking at a Moshav in or near Afula, I'm not quite sure. It should be good.

(Happy 1 year Anniversary Stef and Shalom!)