On Sunday we started our cooking club with Chaya the madricha. We learned to prepare two kinds of lasagna Celeste Williams said that making lasagna with her friends was the highlight of her day.,
On Tuesday we headed north for an overnight trip with all of Aardvark. We woke up early in the morning and drove north to a Druze village called Isfiya. There we met one of the local residents that taught us about the Druze religion and life in Israel. She taught us about that Israeli Druze are drafted to the army and consider themselves to be fully Israeli. They are very proud of their IDF service and support of the country. We had the chance to experience some Druze hospitality, including their delicious tea, and walked around the village getting to see an amazing viewpoint and hearing about the Druze culture. After the tour, we had lunch in a local Druze home and enjoyed the local cuisine.
Jacob Adler said about the Isfya: ” We got to see the Druze village which I thought was rally cool. Seeing the minorities within Israel and their lifestyle was something I enjoyed experiencing. We got to eat some of their delicious foods, and learn about their culture”
Our next stop was the ancient city of Akko (Acre) where we toured the ancient market and had some free time to try out the local produce. From the market we went to the Knights’ Halls, The Crusader structures called the Knights’ Halls or the Citadel of Acre originally served as the Knights Hospitaller Compound. They extend over an area of c. 8,300 square meters.
Jessica Pfrenger wrote about the Akko tour: “The hiking tour we had in Akko was quite an experience. It was intriguing to see the old architecture and buildings of the crusader forts, and to learn about the history of the people there! The view was absolutely stunning! It was a wonderful experience to hike with our aardvark family and to eat lunch in a place that was built hundreds of years ago!”
On Wednesday we woke up to Galil morning and left to go on the hike. The hike started on Mivtzar Monfort) it’s a ruined crusader castle in the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel, about 22 miles (35 km) northeast of the city of Haifa and 10 miles (16 km) south of the border with Lebanon. The site is a national park inside the Nahal Kziv nature reserve and is an important tourist destination attracting many visitors from inside and outside Israel. The hiking was really amazing – nature is so different in different weathers! At first, it was dripping and a little bit cold and we made our way through some mud under a grey sky. We were bouncing between puddles and all of our pants were so muddy. Then, in a matter of minutes, the sky turned blue! No grey clouds in sight – the weather changed again and the view was clear and the air was crisp. The spirit of everyone on the trip was high! The trip was also an opportunity to talk with the coordinators of the corresponding programs. The Jerusalem students got to hear from Adi about the semester Tel aviv,: the tuesday excursion we do, the possible internship and volunteering places etc.
Last week Arab Israel culture class -we discussed of Jerusalem should be the Jewish capital of Israel or the international capital of Israel. There is only one college credit student, Noam who is excellent
This week we are going on a tour of the village of Abu Ghosh,- We are going to taste the local hummus and get to know the local population, In addition, we are going to a basketball game team Hapoel Jerusalem.
