November 28, 2013

Today was the first day of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. It was Thanksgivukah! I had a normal day of classes and then hanging out with friends a little bit. At about 5pm, I left the dorms and got a cab to my cousin, Manoli's army base. It was about twenty five minutes away, in Ramat Gan. I had to meet him there because he was driving me back to his and his family's house in Jerusalem. I was going to my cousin Amiel and his family's house for Thanksgiving. The car ride from Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem was about an hour and a half. The whole car ride, I was talking to Manoli about the army and different positions and units and rankings and uniforms. It was really interesting to finally learn about the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). Once we got to their house in Jerusalem, the party started! It was an interesting mix of people, both friends, mutual and further friends, and family, both close and far. I met a lot of new people and had a lot of fun with them. The Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! There were latkes and Asian green beans and sweet potatoes and turkey and cornbread and corn on the cob and cranberry sauce with apples in it, stuffing, cole slaw, a salad, and much more. It was a huge and yummy dinner. The desserts were incredible too; apple pie, apple-pumpkin pie, a crisp, and dreidle cookies. My cousin, Elyana (Amiels's daughter and Manoli's sister), wants to be a pastry chef when she grows up so she made all of the breads and desserts. She made them deliciously and beautifully! Once we were all too full to function, all of the "kids" moved down to one side of the long table and we all played Cards Against Humanity and kept making pitchers of sangria. We were awake and playing the game and laughing histarically until 1am. Originally I was not planning on spending the night but because we played the game until so late, I ended up sleeping at their house.

I did not get a lot of sleep because I was sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor and it was not very comfy at all. Also we went to bed very late and woke up early. Oh well! Int he morning, we cleaned the house and cleaned up after everything from the night before. Once the house was spotless, we had some tea and coffee and then headed outside for a walk around Jerusalem and the shuk. Manoli and Amiel bought a bunch of groceries for Shabbat at the shuk. Elyana and I got yummy smoothies for breakfast and walked around. It was fun to see the Jerusalem shuk compared to the Tel Aviv shuk. After the shuk we headed back to their house and hung out there for a little bit. Then I had to leave because I had to make sure I got on the bus back to Tel Aviv before Shabbat started and the buses stopped working. I made it and had a nice and relaxing bus ride back to Tel Avi. I had an amazing Thanksgivikah this year and it was so nice to be with family, even though I didn't really know them that well, while I was on the other side of the world from my intermediate family. I am really glad that I decided to go to Amiel's house for Thanksgivikah dinner, I had a great time!