Learning Hebrew

The small letters under the big letters are the
formal way to write it.

You may be thinking that I'm having a really cruisy, easy holiday. Well you're probably right, but I also have to learn how to read and write in hebrew. Nearly every day after we have lunch, but before we have a schnutz, our dad teaches us for half and hour how to read and write. But It feels much harder to read and write in hebrew than in english. There are two different styles, cursive is the handwritten form, and  formal is the printed style like books, newspapers, ads, and posters. Right now I know the whole alphabet of by heart and can read up to lammed which is the 12th letter in the hebrew alphabet. There's also 5 letters that are spelt differently at the end of a sentence which I haven't learnt yet. To help me I installed a game that's really helpful and my mum likes it so she uses it. You write from right to left and  It's like reading a book from back to front.

Bowling

Yesterday my sister, mum, dad, and I went bowling. It was really fun with good music and cool lights. Before we got in the car, mum and I made a deal. If I win I can buy whatever chocolate I want. But if my mum wins, I have to give her a foot massage thinking I would beat her although I've never seen her play. Sadly I underestimated her and she beat me. Of course my dad came first because he's a bowling god and I came third because my mum got 2 strikes on the last 4 bowls but before that I was coming second.

Bring back the Mona Lisa

Today was the most fun I've had in such a long time! My sister, dad, mum and I went to an Escape Room for the first time and finished in less then an hour. The Escape Room was about bringing back the Mona Lisa and blocking the secret entrance that Carmen Sandiego (the thief) made to steal the Mona Lisa. It took us around 15 minutes to complete the first question (which I solved) and we had lots more. But after that we whizzed through it and finished it in 59 minutes and 29 seconds. That's right, we made it with 31 seconds to spare. You can't get closer than that. It was so fun we're going to do another one soon! The guy who runs it was really nice and gave us 2 clues along the way. My favourite part was when my dad got the pipe and was going to poke it into the painting but was just joking. Then my sister got the pipe and did exactly the same thing except actually did it, so it revealed a secret entrance and the painting fell with a loud bang which made my mum and sister scream which made me scream because I thought the screams were coming from inside the entrance. After that we all had a laugh and kept cracking codes.

Jordan river

The Jordan river (were we went kayaking) runs along our Kibbutz so It's really close.
There's also a really beautiful pathway with grape vine above your head so there's patches of shade everywhere. On the pathway you'll see lots of lizards and It's a good view of the mountains. My mum and I sometimes go for walks in the morning along the walkway but today we went in the Jordan. But it takes guts to get in. It's the coldest, frezzingest (that's not a word but it should be) river ever. It took me 5 minutes to get up to my stomach and 15 minutes to get my head under so 20 minutes altogether. We had a picnic under a big tree so there was shade and we had a great time.

       

Yoavs Bar Mitzva

Today at 11:00 we went to Yoavs Bar Mitzva. You probably don't know what a Bar Mitzva is so I'll tell you. A Bar Mitzva is when a boy turns 13 and a Bat Mitzva is when a girl turns 12. Right now I'll be
telling you what a Bar Mitzva is.
A Bar Mitzva is when a boy turns 13 and the whole family celebrates. (In this case around 60 people) It's when a boy becomes a man and is close to becoming an adult.

The person who has the Bar Mitzva makes something to represent how much he's grown. (With parents help if wanted)
Him and his closest family also give a speech about what he's like. It's like turning 18 in NZ except you give speeches and It's just your family. Ok, so It's not really like turning 18. Lets just say It's a birthday that happens 1 time in your life so you want it to be special. Anyway now I can tell you about Yoavs Bar Mitzva. It was really fun with lots of games and great food and snacks.
 I didn't know all the relatives because they were from different places but I got to know them. There was a fun place with Foosball and all these other fun games that I don't know the name of in a corner with some grass and music.
Most of the time I was in the play corner playing football and other games in the corner with all the kids but at the start I had to try all the food there because it was so good. My favourite food there was probably the falafel.
Yoav is my second cousin and as you know, turned 13. He loves football like me and is always smiling. Seriously, I've never seen him not smiling. He has a brother and a sister who are both younger than him. His brother is 7 and his sister is 11. He loves playing video games with his brother, and watching scary movies with his sister. (Who usually falls asleep in the middle of them.)
My favourite thing about Yoav is that he always sees the positive side of things and is really friendly and caring to other people. Sadly there leaving to America today because that's where they live and they were just on holiday. But I hope them a safe trip and hope they come back soon.

 

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, It has a long history. Jerusalem has been destroyed at least 2, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The "Old City" is divided into four quarters; Armenian, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish. My dad is Jewish by birth but our family are not religious. 

Western Wall Tunnels

The Western Wall is in the Old City but sadly most of it got destroyed 2,000 years ago. The wall stretched along almost half a kilometre,  but today, the only bit you can see is a small 70 metres. The tour of the tunnels underground were nice and cool, and we could reach and touch the hidden part of the sacred wall. We walked through ancient spaces, with large stone arches, water pits, an ancient water aqueduct that ended at a pool. My favourite bit was when we walked over glass with a 10 metre drop. It was a bit scary at first but then I realized there were people double my size walking across it so I would be fine.

Biblical Zoo

           The Zoo was so fun! There were so many crazy animals! There were dark places with Nocturnal animals like bats, and Owls and much more. My favourite animals were all the Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs, so all the big cats and the wolves. There were cool Lizards and spiders, my favourite part was when my sister screamed because she saw an Anaconda. But in the end, all of us had lots of fun and had

                                   a great time in Jerusalem.

Food

What is this?

If you've ever eaten something from New Zealand and thought it was 

the best thing in the world you're wrong, because the best thing in the world, is skydiving out of your private jet and instead of a parachute, you have a jetpack. But the second best thing in the world is the amazing food that they have in Israel. I'm telling you, you haven't lived until you've tasted the food in Israel. Oh, and by the way, if anyone can guess what the pink thing i'm holding up is, you get a prize. 

Best lunch ever!

Best hummus ever.

 Holy bread!

Kayaking

Today we went Kayaking along the Jordan river around 12:00 pm.
The water was freezing cold but refreshing so it was fun when we jumped in and out of the boat even though we're not meant to because
"It's not safe" but everyone does it anyway. At first you really don't want to get in because the water's freezing cold but all you need  is a little push. Sometimes literally, I was counting down from 3 and I ended up taking 10 seconds for me to get to 2 so my dad just pushed me in, I thanked him because it was refreshing and it would have took me 5 minutes until I got in. After that Alon and I just floated with our life jackets until the rapids came.
We went with my family and my 2 cousins, Alon and Gali, who are also twins.

Zip line going into the Jordan.

The best bit was when we went down the rapid at the end because it was really bumpy and water was flying everywhere.

Archery

After that we usually go on all the fun things that are also there like climbing walls, big ropes that you climb on in the trees, archery, and the zip line that goes into the Jordan. The Zip line is the best part because there's a climbing wall on the side so you can get up like that or you can use the ladders, and just the adrenaline and the feeling of zooming down into the freezing cold water. Next time were going to pay some extra money so we can go on the fun rides.

Zip line with a climbing wall

Israel-Family

First of all, for those of you who didn't know, I'm now in Israel! Before I tell you what we do here I need to tell you about family and what its like. It's so hot here that the average heat in the summer is around 36 degrees and at night it's around 20. So It's too hot to play outside when It's between 1-3 pm. So in that time you sleep or rest for 2 hours, which is called schnutz. Now that you know how hot it is, you should know about my family because It's big, and when I say big I don't mean 10 people big, I mean 35. Every friday, all the family comes together at where we're staying/my grandparents, and eat and eat and eat. We call it friday dinner. I think that pretty much sums up my family. 

The first thing we did after unpacking and recovering from jet lag was go to the pool. But this pool isn't like the Olympic pools, It's so much better. First of all, there's only one outdoor pool about double the size of the Olympic pools, and instead of walking into where you buy tickets and eat, you walk straight into the pool and theirs chairs and food inside the pool. Plus, if your from our Kibbutz, Kfar Blum, then you don't even have to pay. So It's bigger, easier to eat, more refreshing, and you don't have to pay. Now that's what I call a pool.