2011 Christmas Card

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For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11 We tried to get this card out to everyone, but in case it didn't make it to your mail box, Merry Christmas from the Welch Family!

Happy Hanukkah!

Growing up in Winston-Salem NC, the only Festival of Lights we knew of was the yearly event at Tanglewood. Now, with the Hanukkah season upon us, we are becoming culturally aware! The kids have been busy making Hanukiyot (menorrahs) and spinning s'vivons (dradles) at school, and we are invited to four different family candle lightings in the homes of friends this week! These are exciting times.

In order to pull our weight this holiday season, we hosted a Christmas party at our house a couple of nights ago. We invited friends from Lydia's and Will's classes, and ended up with 16 kids and their parents over for ornament making and cupcake decorating. We explained why we celebrate Christmas and shared some of our family's Christmas traditions. Everyone loved the tree and had fun asking questions about stockings, Santa Claus, and baby Jesus. Yes, they were all Israeli, and for many this was their first time seeing a Christmas tree in someone's home. In fact, today a random parent from a different Kindergarten class approached Stewart and said, "Are you the one with the Christmas tree? My daughter heard about it at school, and she wants to come over and see it." How funny.

Another highlight from this week: Lydia's school Hanukkah Party.

The party was scheduled for 4:45 one day after school. I was thinking we were going to go to her classroom, have some doughnuts, spin some dradles and head back home. I didn't know there was a whole performance in store.

We arrived on time and were directed to the school gym. There, the kids split off in their class groups, and the parents were directed to the gym bleachers. Stewart was in Jerusalem, running a 10k with the other 2 Israel Olmsted scholars, so Will and I were on our own. So, once we were packed in like sardines, we were ready for the show. But wait, what's this? An hour long gymnastics performance put on by the school gymnastics team? Oh, I see. It's registration time and they are looking for new recruits. What better time than to bamboozle the kindergarten class Hanukkah party and entertain a captive audience. Interesting. The gymnastics was surprisingly impressive, but still.....one hour? Really!?

Ok, so after the gymnastics demo, we were redirected to the school atrium where the official Hanukkah party was to begin. After we were all seated again (for the most part, because honestly, Israelis never just sit and watch), the 3 kindergarten classes started to file in to the pitch black room, carrying flashlights. Clever, because Hanukkah is the festival of lights. Not so clever, because you have no idea where your kid is or if they are even there. So, this is how the first couple of songs were "performed:" In a pitch black room, with 5 year olds waving flashlights. From there, the kids sang and danced 5 more songs, the Hanukiyah was lit, and then we were dismissed to their classrooms for doughnuts and dradles. The whole thing was true to form utter chaos, and utterly enjoyable. It's always an experience in these parts.

A few warnings about the video footage:

-Will was on my lap

-We were packed like sardines

-Will was on my lap

Sorry, it's not the best quality. Also, I accidentally finalized the whole project before cutting the gymnastics footage down. We secretly wanted you to feel our pain. Feel free to fast forward as needed.

Also for your viewing pleasure...you just can't beat classic Adam Sandler:

Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song

And for a truly historical perspective of this important holiday, Stewart recommends The Maccabeats:

Shalom Y'all, & Happy Hanukkah!

Bah Humbug & Merry Christmas!

This is our first holiday season outside of the U.S., and I must say it's been a bit dreary.

There was no sign of Halloween. OK, we can live with that.

No sign of fall (my favorite season) or Thanksgiving (besides our own). This one gets to me a little, but we do have experience living in California, so we know how to make it through without fall.

But now it's Christmas. We've never lived anywhere without Christmas. Not just no snow and no cold weather Christmas, but nothing...nada....in the way of the holiday spirit or festive cheer. At least, this is the case in Tel Aviv. Plenty of Hannukah, though.

So, this year on the day after thanksgiving we were super excited to race downstairs to our storage unit and unpack our Christmas boxes. We had been counting down the days for weeks.

Yay!!! Christmas is here!!!

...or not. So, we packed these boxes, setting aside the most crucial decorations, for our move one year ago, and then the movers came and repacked them 6 months later. This is what we found:

• a four foot tall tree left to us by the last scholars
• broken lights
• a nativity set
• one box of ornaments

That's it.

No stockings.

No Advent calendar.

No Christmas books.

No candles, bows, wrapping paper.

No star for the top of the tree.

You get the idea.

I know, I can already hear you saying it, thinking it. "Be grateful for what you have." But when you are face to face with sincere disappointment, it's a little easy to lose perspective. So I did. I had a pity party. I disparaged over all the traditions we would miss... How bare our apartment would be... About how the dream I had of making our home a Christmas oasis was dashed. Stewart didn't seem to struggle with any of this. Go figure.

And then, the next morning I pulled myself together, ended the pity party, and started searching the apartment for scraps of fabric and old clothes that I could turn into Christmas stockings.

Walla! Not exactly Martha Stewart, but that'll do.

Then, I went on a man hunt for Christmas tree lights. Not easy to find around here. Eventually, we found 2 boxes at this Russian book store not far from Jaffa:

Now, there's something you should know about these lights. They are a little crazy. Apparently, plain white Christmas lights aren't on the Russian import list. Only colored, flashing ones. Thankfully, you can adjust the flashing intensity, but oh my....just see for yourself:

So, at the end of the day, I finally came to terms with it all, and made the realization that all of you probably made at line 2 of this rant. Yes, we may not have our traditional decorations or much of anything in the way of an American Christmas, but for pete's sake - we have Bethlehem! And Nazareth! We have an opportunity to start new traditions. We attend a darling little church in Jaffa with a fantastic Christmas celebration planned. There are Christian Arab villages to see and other cultures to observe.

I was just on the phone with the past Tel Aviv scholar's wife yesterday, and she helped me seal my new perspective. She said, "You have an amazing opportunity to have Christmas without commercialism."

And she's right.

Shalom Y'all...E

The Jerusalem Wedding

Back in September I had the privilege of attending a wedding in Jerusalem. I jumped at the opportunity, because what's more cultural than a Jewish Wedding in Jerusalem? I arrived promptly at 6, expecting the ceremony to start at 630, as was advertised on the invitation. That was lesson one...this is the middle east and apparently these events just kind of have a life of their own. They'll start when they are good & ready. I found that after a solid 2+ hours of mingling, family pictures, eating tasty catered food (kosher no doubt), meeting more friends & family, the ceremony still hadn't started. This was not like a southern protestant wedding at all.

Eventually, the night unfolded and I was exposed to several Jewish traditions that were, well, quite foreign to me. Here are just a few examples:

1)The signing of the Ketubah (קתובה) before the ceremony. This is a jewish marriage contract. It basically spells out the rights of the bride in the event of a divorce. The Talmud states that purpose of this contract is to make it difficult for a man to divorce his wife. Pictured below are the groom, his father, & the father-of-the-bride.

2)Praying- Following the signing of the Ketubah, there was a lot of praying. This all took place in a room full of men only before the ceremony. This appeared rather impromptu and disorganized, but then again, everybody seemed to know what direction to face & what to say. Kind of like everyone doing their own thing, but all at the same time and in the same place. Then, all of the sudden, dancing/singing/clapping broke out, a band materialized, and everyone paraded up to where the ceremony was to be held. It was crazy--with clapping, jumping and dancing the whole way. This was a weird, fun, energetic, lively, and surprisingly contagious way to start nuptials.

3) Ceremony- Here, things were a bit more like I expected. The bride walked down the isle, blessings were said, ring exchanged (actually, only the bride got one), and the band was much more chill at this point. One interesting thing I saw was that the bride walked around the groom 7 times, showing that this particular couple is more orthodox in their practices. In this ritual the groom symbolizes Jerusalem. Another custom common to Jewish wedding is the crushing of a glass under the groom's heel. This symbolizes the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. So, even in times of joy and celebration, Jews are always looking back to the past while placing hope in the future.

One stark contrast in general between an Israeli event, even a wedding, and it's US counterpart is the overall 'do-your-own-thing' informality of everyone in attendance. So, while all these parts of the ceremony are taking place, some guests are watching while others are chatting, mingling or walking around. I'm not sure if this is normal for every Jewish wedding ceremony, but I know you wouldn't dream of trying something so informal in the American South.

After all was said & done, the newlyweds disappeared while all the guests went to the banquet hall to hang out & wait for their arrival. Wait & wait & wait...until the marriage is officially consummated . Now this part I found hard to believe; and I'm pretty sure that a male thought of this tradition. I thought it was something only found in Yentl. That being said, if I had known of this particular tradition when I was 22, I definitely would have petitioned for that to be part of our nuptials. Oh well...

Finally, the bride & groom appear and dancing begins: WOW.

I knew that there would be festivities afterwards to celebrate the marriage occasion, but I really had no idea what to expect. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. This was a celebration in every sense of the word. At first I felt like a spectator not only because I'm not Jewish, but I'm also the only male there not wearing a head covering, I barely understand what is going on with my beginner Hebrew, and Lord knows that I can't grow a beard. Before I knew it, my friend Nahum, the father-of-the-groom, dances up to me and pushes me in to this swirling vortex of happy dancing Jew men. I've never danced with so many dudes in my life! Good times:)

More than anything else I felt that the guests dancing were truly happy for the young couple, and it fostered a real sense of community right there in the banquet hall. This not uncommon for any good wedding--its a big party. The segregation between the sexes may seem strange or archaic at first, but I came to see this tradition in a more positive light. It gave the chance for all the men to dance together, and basically be free of the pressures that inevitably go with mixed company. It also was a chance for the bride to have some time dancing & chatting with her friends--something that I know Elizabeth would have enjoyed at our wedding.

Pictured below are some wonderful folks that I met there--family of the bride. We hung out, talked, they explained the order of the events, and they graciously suffered my Hebrew all night. Later on that month, they invited our whole family for shabbat dinner (kids & all). Very generous...

All-in-all, it was an wonderful experience, and I met some really great people along the way. For an explanation as to how I was invited in the first place, that is a story for another blog.

I want to extend a personal, special thanks to Nahum & his dear family for the generous invitation, and מזל טוב! to the young bride & groom.

Shalom y'all, Stew

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**CORRECTION**- As it turns out, the bride & groom don't actually consummate the marriage immediately after the ceremony while hundreds of guests wait while eating wine & cheese (as I had previously deduced). They just get to spend a little time together, eat something since the groom has fasted all day, and get a chance to chill before the big party. Yet another classic example of cultural misunderstandings, or what Elizabeth likes to call, me being a big idiot. How was I supposed to know?!?

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

Happy Late Thanksgiving Everyone!

We hope everyone enjoyed their fill of feasting and family dysfunction! Over here in the middle East, we had a delightful American Thanksgiving all our own. It was a bit of a labor of love, but in the end it was absolutely worth it.

See this face of utter bewilderment? This was halfway through the day, just after taking Will to the doctor for an acute ear infection that surfaced around noon. Guests were due at 6 pm.

Wait, let me back up a bit and start at the beginning.

The first dilemma of Thanksgiving abroad is: to have or not to have. We could have skipped it altogether. We could have prepared a simple meal. We could have even eaten out at the one American Restaurant in Tel Aviv hosting their Thanksgiving plate special. However, once the Embassy advertised their "feather free" butterballs for sale at the handsome price of $60 per 10-12 lb. bird, we decided to go for it. We invited three sets of neighbors to join us, and the planning began.

Now, procuring grocery items for a traditional American Thanksgiving in Israel is not the easiest task. Here's a few unavailable items:

• stuffing
• cream of mushroom or chicken soup
• chicken broth
• marshmallows
• salted butter
• fried onions
• apple cider
• pumpkin
• condensed milk or evaporated milk
• cranberries of any variety: canned, fresh, frozen, dried

Thankfully, between our dry goods shipment, care packages from friends and family, and a little online Netgrocer shopping, I had most of these items on hand. Except marshmallows. Which is why our sweet potato casserole was topped with these:

Israeli banana flavored and shaped marshmallows. It was either these or strawberry. Weird, but Stewart insisted on marshmallows, so there you go.

I digress; back to the bird. So, it turns out that a "feather free" turkey isn't necessarily "quill free." Or "neck and innards free." Stewart was my absolute hero and knight in shining armor. He offered to de-quill and clean our little avian friend for me. I think he knew that if I were left to the job, there might not be a turkey come next year. So, he pulled out some pliers and worked on the gobble gobble for over an hour.

Check out those quills! They were all over every inch of that sucker.

One by one.

Gross... but that's how it's done.

The next hurdle was fitting our bird in our oven. Our oven is a little on the small side. Like more similar to a microwave than an oven, really. It only fits up to one 13 x 9 size dish in at a time. Thankfully, by placing the rack on the lowest setting, we were able to just barely fit the turkey inside. Whew!

After all was said and done, the turkey cooked beautifully and turned out to be the most scrumptious one we've prepared yet. Will had a nice long nap, and the antibiotics kicked in, so he was in the clear. Lydia finally dropped her fever the day before (yes, we truly have been chronically ill for the last two months), so she too was good to go.

Out of the neighbors that joined us, only one couple had ever partaken of a thanksgiving meal and even then it was only one time. They were all very curious and excited about the event. They kept saying things like, "We've only seen this in the movies!" & "We've always wanted to see a Thanksgiving meal and try the food." With eager, grateful company, good wine and good food, we had a wonderful meal and evening. We also took time to introduce our traditions of reading scripture, saying grace, and going around and sharing the things for which we are thankful. We learned a lot about each other, and relationships were forged a little deeper. Of course, I said I was thankful for my family and the chance to be living in Israel, but what I really wanted to say was, "I'm so thankful I didn't ruin the food and the turkey isn't full of quills and feathers!"

"Happy Thanks Holiday"

Shalom Y'all!

Don't Mess With the Zohan

Remember that Adam Sandler flick...Don't Mess With the Zohan? You know, the one about the ex-IDF (Israeli military) officer who wants to become a hair dresser? I always thought the Zohan was one of those crazy, random Adam Sandler characters, but it turns out he may have found his inspiration in Israel.

Every salon or beauty shop I have passed on the streets here has an all-male staff.

I'm sure that Israel has female hair stylists. They have to, right? However, I have yet to lay eyes on one. I was even warned by other expats that the IDF-trained male stylists might come off as overly "flirtatious."

But, what do you do when your hair looks like this?

After months of sun, wind, sizzling heat and humidity, my hair was looking....well....rough.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

One day I had had enough. I dropped the kids off at school, walked to the nearest hair salon and in Henglish asked for the next available appointment. I was told to come back that evening at 5 pm.

So, I returned promptly at 5 pm. I said I had an appointment for a haircut (or at least I thought I did), and then the gentleman behind the counter started showing me samples of hair extensions. At this point I realize one of two things has happened. Either I have miscommunicated (highly possible), or I really look so bad and desperate that he is going to try to push the latest product on me. I was hoping it was option A, so I switched to all English.

Me: "Ifshar ledeber be Anglit bevakashah?" (May we speak in English please?)

Zohan: OK

Me: I think I have an appointment for a haircut. Just a haircut.

Zohan: Aaaaah. Ok, it's with me. "Boi."(come with me)

And that is how my first Zohan experience started. I learned that this gentleman studied at the Paul Mitchell Salon in New York years ago, his English was good enough, and he was fantastic at cutting and styling hair. My hair was washed, cut and styled within 20 minutes, and it was one of the best haircuts I have ever received. AND....it wasn't more expensive than an American haircut. Score!

If you're wondering about the flirtatious part, there was no hanky panky or improper innuendos whatsoever. He was a true gentleman. This may have had something to do with my overall appearance upon entering the salon, you never know. You could say that I don't exactly blend in with the Tel Aviv locals in the fashion department. In fact, I more or less stick out like an Amish woman in SoHo. Regardless, he was kind and professional...

....even if he did jam out to GNR's Paradise City while cutting my hair.

Shalom Y'all,

E

Ein Gedi

Are we really getting paid to do this?!

During our Dead Sea excursion, we stayed at Kibbutz Ein Gedi. The whole kibbutz experience is a blog post for another time. For now, just know that a kibbutz is a cooperative community that commonly also runs a hotel/ resort on their premises.

Not too bad for location...

As you can see, the term "oasis" is quite fitting for Kibbutz Ein Gedi. It is a tropical garden paradise nestled between rough, steep, desert terrain. The Summer highs can reach 115 F in the shade (no thanks!). I think we were wise to let the summer and high holiday season pass before we tackled this area. The temp was in the low 80's during the day and 60's at night - perfect!

Israel is full of national parks with beautiful hiking trails. The Ein Gedi Nature Reserve was only a couple of miles from the kibbutz, so we took the afternoon to explore it on our second day. Some of the hiking trails out here are pretty intense, but since "intense" and "expert" are not the typical speed of a three and five year old (nor these two 34 year olds) we stick to the "easy" family friendly trails. For this park, that meant walking up through a series of waterfalls until finally reaching King David's Waterfall.

After our bat experience at Nimrod's Fortress (click here if you missed it), I am always careful to get the rundown on the potential wildlife with which we'll be sharing our day. Thankfully, in daylight hours we should only be spotting hyrax (the rock groundhog things) and ibex.

Here's our first sighting:

What? You don't see it?

Maybe this will help:

These little guys were so cute and peaceful. They look like the miniature pony of the deer family. I think they can't get bigger than a few feet tall. Will kept calling to them, like you would a lost kitten or stray dog: "Here ibex. Heeerre ibex, ibex, ibex. Heeeeere little ibex." Didn't work.

As we moved on we had a second sighting:

A group of nuns, w/ habits hiked up to their knees, wading in the cool, fresh water. Now folks, you just don't see stuff like this every day...

Surely they were pondering that eternal question on the mind of every nun,

'How DO you solve a problem like Maria?' [Hum along now]

Supposedly, the water at Ein Gedi is so pure and fresh that you can drink right out of the streams and waterfalls. Lydia and Stewart tried it, but I let my fear of yet another viral/ intestinal/ parasitical infection keep me sipping my pre-packaged, store bought water instead.

Which brand? Oh yes, "Ein Gedi Natural Spring Water."

I'm a dork.

After a beautiful afternoon of exploring, it was time to head back.

Lydia did great!

Will is practically exhausted after all that 'walking' he did.

Shalom y'all.