http://www.chadica.com Living a year in Israel and beyond! Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:21:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Well, it's definitely been a couple of weeks. So here's the update. Christmas Eve The strangest thing about Christmas in Jerusalem is how normal the day felt. Stores were open, people were all around. No Christmas lights, or Silent Night on an endless loop. To be honest, it didn't feel like Christmas ... http://www.chadica.com/2009/01/05/christmas-new-years-and-beyond/ Jess and I would like to wish everyone a happy Hanukkah. We were out for a walk tonight and got to see the large menorah's being lite around the city. Near Ben Yehuda (the big tourist street), there was a large menorah with loud speakers blaring jewish music as they ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/12/21/a-bittersweet-hanukkah/ So apparently, we haven't been very vocal about our plans for winter break. Instead of telling you where we're going...I thought I would bring in some video and just show you: Yup, we're going to Kenya & Tanzania! We'll be spending 10 days on safari, followed by a couple of days ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/12/15/winter-break-another-adventure/ Ah the multi-week updates. That is what I get (and unfortunately you get) for my laziness Thanksgiving While it was hard to be away from the family for Thanksgiving, it was nice to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Some of the students organized a 'potluck' dinner that had all the traditional elements ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/12/09/thanksgiving-and-more-hiking/ Last weekend, I went on a hike with an Israeli hiking club. I knew one other person on the hike who is American by birth, but has now become an Israeli citizen.  The hiking club is known for being a 'hard-core' hiking club. You basically hike with water and food ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/11/22/hiking-near-the-dead-sea/ 31.694365201768303 35.386962890625 This past weekend, we had a chance to catch up with a group of old friends. On Friday, my friend Noam and Valerie, his girlfriend, came to Jerusalem to visit us and to get ready for a cross-Israel bike ride. Seems like everytime we get together, there is always something ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/11/12/meeting-up-with-old-friends/ http://www.chadica.com/2008/11/05/love-this-video/ This morning I woke up at 1:40am to start watching election results. We in Israel didn't have it so easy that we could start watching at 7pm and just have a nice relaxed evening. I headed over to my friend Brian's place (he had CNN), and then an 'American' bar ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/11/05/obama-and-football/ Lately, I've taken many of the pictures that I've taken (or Scott or Jessica have taken) and started posting them onto Flickr.com/chadica. I post there for 2 reasons. The first is so that you can see the pictures and get a glimpse of what we are doing and seeing while ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/11/01/photography/ Sadly, Halloween isn't celebrated in Israel. That didn't stop the Rabbinic students from having a Halloween party. It amazes me the custom ideas people came up with in a city that doesn't really have costume shops or thrift stores. I think I'm inspired to have a $10 or under Halloween ... http://www.chadica.com/2008/11/01/happy-halloween/