shabbas in beit zayit

so it's coming to the end of the weekend... yes, the weekend here is friday and saturday. it's weird. i like my lazy sundays, but i guess now they'll have to be lazy saturdays.

today was in between lazy and not.

we went to visit our friends in Beit Zayit, a part of town about twenty minutes away but takes you really outside of the city. it's very beautiful. almond trees are in bloom now so the mountainsides are dotted with pink and while blossoms, and they smell amazing. so anyway, Eli and Eran live in Beit Zayit, next door to each other in these weird little houses with cool wood fireplaces and palm leaf-covered porches outside that appear to be homemade. we brought our compost because they have a garden in which to bury it.

on the way, we picked up Eran's ladyfriend, Amit (which turns out to be a unisex name. i thought it was a boy's name). we fell in love. she went to a school in Arava, a part of the desert in the south. it's a section of the Great Rift Valley, lying between the Dead Sea to the north and the Gulf of Aqaba to the south. it includes nearly half of the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. (it's where the israel-jordan peace treaty was signed in '94. neat.) anyway the school is amazing. it's called the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and it's unique for being the most successful school at integrating Palestinian, Israeli and international students. there is a strong emphasis on social justice as well. Amit said it was the only one in Israel proper that allows Palestinian students, but i think it just might be the most famous and/or successful. anyhow, it's pretty awesome. look at the link. i sent you to the english site. :)

anyway, apart from her school, she's my kind of peeps. she lives in the desert so it won't be so easy to hang out, but we have plans to visit next time we go to egypt. she told me about a permaculture studies program she did, which is something i've been thinking about hardcore. i almost ditched ulpan to start a permaculture program at a kibbutz up north that starts next week - 3 months, spend the week living there and play on the weekends - but i decided perhaps it's best to not spend the week away from jerusalem seeing as i just got here. :) but an important thing going on in my head: i want to do an intensive permaculture course because i want to live like this one day. i don't know where, but i want to have a huge garden and mud buildings and goats and be surrounded by happy friends who want the same. i really think this is way i want to spend my days. so there you have it. :)

and as for breakfast... we made delicious salads, had delicious blueberry pecan toast and homemade olives that Eli made, and they had Amit's uncle's happy goat cheese, and i cracked a whole bunch of freshly picked macadamia nuts - WHICH is not an easy thing to do necessarily! i learned that it's easier to let them dry for about a month after you pick them BEFORE cracking them open, but we were eager so we just went for it. i got pretty good with that hammer and getting out the nut in one (or two... or three) pieces. *gurgle* so tasty. especially on that bread. we prepped food outside and ate outside, and spent the rest of the day outside, the sun scooting in and out from behind clouds... we had a pretty good dance party in the dirt there (some black eyed peas, michael jackson, beach boys...), talked about The Secret Life of Plants, and laughed hysterically while making strange noises with our faces. we drank lemon verbena tea (they call it Louisa) and piled on shawls as they day went on. Amit put almond blossoms in my hair and we talked about mud structures. i decided to make Eran a CD of Cat Empire (he's a great musician, plays the cora, going to give me a piano - we like Eran). we left around 530 when our toes were getting numb, and i was so happy.

i have a secret. i now like instant coffee. i'm drinking it right now with chocolate soymilk. don't judge me. i like real coffee too!

i'm going to relax with Eyal now... he has an eye infection, and is getting over the strep throat he caught from me. :S then we'll eat soup that we made yesterday... yum.

xo