April 11

April 11 (Leah's)

It’s my birthday today! I started it off by finishing off Isaiah. Once Spencer got up we “enjoyed” our motza again. This time I had it with peanut butter (something I haven’t had since Canada) and banana, and one with jam. They had a box of cheerios and I thought since it was my birthday and I hadn’t had cereal since Canada (which I do miss a bit) that I would treat myself to a tiny bowl. It was nice! Cereal here can be quite expensive, so I think that is why a lot of people don’t eat it. After we gathered ourselves together, we set off for our outing, something we had talked about doing while in Canada! I wanted to bike around the Sea of Galilee for my birthday! Last night Silvia called some friends from in the kibbutz and she found two good working bikes for us! And so we were able to accomplish my birthday “wish”! We were told it would take about 2-3 hours. The Sea, more like a lake looked really big as we started! We started on the way furthest from Tiberias so we could end up there for lunch. It took us a full three hours to get from the kibbutz to Tiberias. And boy were our legs, knees, bums, shoulders, and hands sore! We hadn’t been on a bike for quite some time!

On the way we seen lots of scenes- danger mine signs, birds, road kill (cat, snake, birds, rat, coyote or fox), the sea of course, the Jordan river, and other bikers brave enough to tackle the lake. At one point we were on this nice stone path that was called the Gospel Path. Someone must have sponsored for it to be made. It was short, but nice while it lasted. We had to go up a couple of hills, for which I wasn’t too thankful for! We made it all the way to Tiberias, and we stopped for a much needed lunch and break!

We got these amazing (and quite cheap) smoothies; they were so nice after our bike ride! I got mango peach and Spencer strawberry banana- so refreshing, so cold, so needed, so wonderful! We ate shawarma sandwiches and side of French fries. I opened my birthday cards from my parents and grandparents that mom had sent with me! While eating lunch I crashed-not literally! But I was wiped, tired, and not ready for another hour of riding back to the Kibbutz. But after we had lunch and sat for a while I got some energy back and we started to continue. We made it back to the kibbutz in good time, even stopping at a gas station to get some ice cream to share with the family tonight.

I had a nice shower and felt a bit more revived! We toured the bomb shelter right by the house and the garden. There are lots of yummy fruit trees and beautiful flowers. They have such a nice area here! We are now just relaxing and taking it easy. I don’t think we have energy for anything! We are going to eat dinner with the family soon. Silvia made meatballs in a red sauce with rice, and peas!

It was a good, scrumptious meal! And then later in the evening we had a Pesa (Passover) safe cake-it was not made with flour and it was so good! It had this amazing coconut top, and it was a marble cake, we also had with it the ice-cream we bought (Ben and Jerry’s). It was a good birthday. I even got to call and talk to my mom and dad, which was nice! And later Spencer surprised me with a wonderful beautiful scarf, original Turkish cashmere with beautiful colors. So all in all, my birthday in Israel was a wonderful one!