Today we visited a city called Maaleh Adumim. It means "red heights" and the dirt there really is red - and boy, is there a lot of dirt! It is a very dusty place on the edge of a big desert, about 15 minutes from the Yam HaMelach (Dead Sea).
Maaleh Adumim (MA) is about 15 minutes from Yerushalayim, which is amazing, but the bus took forever to come this morning, so it felt much longer. Once we were driving it was nice and fast - there is a quick tunnel outside of Yerushalayim, then a short highway, and then you're there.
Maaleh Adumim (MA) is about 15 minutes from Yerushalayim, which is amazing, but the bus took forever to come this morning, so it felt much longer. Once we were driving it was nice and fast - there is a quick tunnel outside of Yerushalayim, then a short highway, and then you're there.
We visited 3 schools and all the kids are going crazy getting ready for Purim. They were running around being silly and dressing up. Of course, there is also an Ulpan where grown-ups go to figure out Hebrew while their children learn it at school. The schools in MA have many English-speaking kids and teachers who help them understand what's going on.
We saw the swimming pool and community centre and lots and LOTS of streets with houses and apartments. Like everywhere in Israel, there are lots of cats roaming the streets by themselves. Here, though, we also saw sheep - bedouin people graze them in the valley right in the middle of the city.
MA also has a nice mall where we sat and drank coffee - and rested our feet before catching another bus back to Yerushalayim.
On the way back, we stopped and met Mrs. Medad, a lady I know from her blog about living in Israel. She made aliyah 40 years ago and lives in a city called Shilo. If you read in the Tanach, you'll see that the mishkan spent hundreds of years in Shilo, making it one of the holiest and most important places in Israel - a place where almost every city is important for some reason or another.
(here’s a link to her blog)
(Naomi Rivka, I took a picture of the bus stop with a sign saying Elon Moreh because we read about Avram going there in parshas Lech Lecha - if he were going today, he could just take the 477 bus!).
We also went to the Jerusalem International Book Fair, which mostly just reminded us that we are waaaay happier reading books in English than in Hebrew. They had books in many languages there, though, and many fascinating haggadahs that would probably not be fascinating to you.
Then we had supper - fish and chips in the midrachov, the open streets of shops and restaurants, almost all kosher. Wow!
Tomorrow, we are visiting a city called Rechovot that is much farther away from Yerushalayim. I don't know exactly where it is, so I'm glad I don't have to drive the bus.
It is also aunt Sara's birthday, so please be extra-nice if you see her and phone her if you don't. We will be thinking about her all day...
Lots of pictures today - i couldn't decide! One is of a purim store, and abba is holding up 2 costumes - barbie and rachel imenu! Unfortunately, we cannot buy costumes here for you guys - Naomi Rivka, have you decided what you're wearing???
<3 so much love from,
Mama
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