The Laughlins

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Kalisher's home this last Thursday. I tried to organize something fun for a number of college-aged people here, so we made silly invitations, had people sign up for all sorts of foods and drinks, and had a party. There were about 25-30 people there, and we ended up ordering two turkeys!! (They were about 13 pounds each). Anyways, Mark cooked the turkeys, and he did a great job (they were his first turkeys), and I made the stuffing, and Mark says that it turned out great as well...so lots of thanks to the Murrays for the recipes!!

We had salads, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, cranberries, corn, and much, much more. We went around the table and said different things that we were thankful for, so it was a fun time to get to know each other. After dinner, everyone socialized, colored the cool turkeys that I brought, and then we had coffee, tea, and dessert. Fun was had by all :) A big thanks to the Kalisher family for letting us use their home, as our apartment is quite small and would not have fit all of those people!!

One quick pre-Thanksgiving turkey trama story: Mark carried home two turkeys in a box on the day before the party. I had to leave for my Hebrew class shortly afterwards, so I was trying to help him get the turkeys into their marinade first. He mixed a bunch of apple juice marinade in these big plastic cooking bags that we bought. The turkeys were a tight squeeze, and just as one was almost in the bag, its leg popped a hole in the bag, and the marinade went all over the floor. I ran down to the hardware store and bought two buckets instead, and we put them in those. Mark had to spend the evening cleaning up the floor. When I got home, I opened the fridge and discovered that he had taken most of our food out (of our half-sized fridge), and managed to fit both of the turkey buckets in the fridge, using a Hebrew book and cans of vegetables (watch the video). It was pretty amazing and definitely comical. Poor Mark though...a fridge shelf cracked, he accidentally threw away our one good knife and had to dig it out of the dumpster, and his cookies kept burning in our little counter-top oven. I even found turkey cookie cutters in Israel, but once you put the turkey in the oven and it spread out, it looked like a blob, or maybe a pumpkin. I made yummy frosting though, and dyed it bright orange with the food coloring I found, so I still think they turned out great :)

Here is a little video of our Thanksgiving :)

I recently wrote a song about eating falafel at French Hill Falafel every Shabbat. This has become a tradition for Mark and I, and we look forward to it each week. Anyways, I thought that it was special enough that I should write a song for it, so here is the video. The words are in Hebrew, but here is the translation:

Every Shabbat at two in the afternoon,
I am feeling very hungry.
I think about falafel,
and I want to eat.

I love falafel,
I love falafel,
I love falafel from French Hill Falafel.
I love falafel,
I love falafel,
I love falafel from French Hill Falafel.

Every Shabbat I order falafel.
Every Shabbat I order falafel from French Hill Falafel
Every Shabbat I order falafel.
Every Shabbat I order falafel from French Hill Falafel

I love falafel,
I love falafel,
I love falafel from French Hill Falafel.
I love falafel,
I love falafel,
I love falafel from French Hill Falafel.

I love cucumbers,
and I love hummus and tehina, and of course, french fries (chips).
I sit on a chair and eat,
I sit on a chair and eat falafel.

I love falafel,
I love falafel,
I love falafel from French Hill Falafel.
I love falafel,
I love falafel,
I love falafel from French Hill Falafel.

Every Shabbat at two in the afternoon,
I am feeling very hungry.
I think about falafel,
and I want to eat.


...hope you liked it!!

My friend, Sara, had her birthday last week. We went to a good Latin restaurant called La Boca in the German Colony. Here is what the owner and chef has to say about the cuisine: "We have collected the leading local delicacies from every country in Latin America and adapted them to suit the Israeli palate. For example 'Sabiche,' the national dish in Peru, is less sour at La Boca than in the streets of Lima and Cuzco. Indeed, this dish has been getting compliments since the day we opened."

So there you have it. I got a chicken fajita, and Mark got a chicken salad. Luke and Sarah (the only married couple our age here) came (baseball cap boy and cream jacket girl), Philip (has every class with Mark - Russian imigrant to America: gray shirt), David and Ambrey (cute couple in black looking at their camera), Sara (the star of the night in the maroon sweater), and John and his wife (ah...I forgot her name right now! John is an elder at our church with an Australian accent...older couple at the table). Anyways, we had a good time, however I ended up with bizarre hives that itched like crazy by the time I got home. I must have been allergic to something! I found an anti-histamine, and it took about 36 hours for the rash to go away, so hopefully it is gone for good now.

In other news, Mark has been doing well in his classes. He has been in his M.A. classes for almost a month now. He is taking Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Modern Hebrew, Archaeology of Jerusalem (with Barkay), Jeremiah, and an every other week Bibliography class. He is enjoying all of the classes, although the Modern Hebrew requirement can feel more like a nuisance when you have the other core classes for your degree that you really want to invest time in. He keeps office hours at the library and definitely feels like this is the program for him.

I am taking Modern Hebrew twice a week though a city ulpan class and enjoying it as well. After such an intense summer, I feel like this ulpan is at a snail's pace, but that just means I have to work more at home to challenge myself. I have class on my birthday this Wednesday, but I am still going :) My teacher is 27 too :)

I just "interviewed" yesterday for a private English tutoring job for a high school girl. It will be three days a week, and she seems like a very nice girl :) I am also tutoring a Korean lady from our church once a week for an hour, so a little here and a little there.

I am coordinating a Thanksgiving party right now for 20-30 college-aged students, so everyone is excited about that. Mark is going to do the turkey :) It should be a lot of fun - we are planning on a lot of fun anyways. It will be hosted at another family's house (because they have more space than us).

That's it for now. I am working hard on a "secret project" for Christmas as well, so I am staying busy.

Waahoooooooo!!!!!! OK, so here is Beth Shemesh (finally!). We went on this little hike about a month ago. Beth Shemesh is just south of Jerusalem...a pretty short busride. Mark, Chris, Seth, and I went hiking around the hills above the Sorek Valley - the forest of Zorah. I'm going to give you the Todd Bolen summary of the biblical significance of the area (to save some time):

"Also known as Tel Bet Shemesh, Tel Beth-Shemesh, Tell er-Rumeileh, Ain esh-Shems, 'Ain Shems, Beth-shemesh, Bethshemesh, Har-Heres, Ir-Shemesh, Rabbah(?), Rubute(?), Rumeileh. A border city between Judah and Dan, Beth Shemesh was given to the Levites. Beth Shemesh was the most important Israelite city in the Sorek Valley as it watched both east-west traffic through the Sorek Valley and north-south traffic along the 'Diagonal Route.'"

"Recent excavations have shown a thriving city here from the Middle Bronze Age through the Iron II period. On the north side of the Sorek Valley across from Beth Shemesh are the ancient villages of Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson's prophesied birth was in this area (Judges 13) as was the location of his burial (Judges 16). Samson's first 'girlfriend' lived at Timnah a few miles west in the Sorek valley. His last girlfriend Delilah lived somewhere in this same valley. Samson traveled down this valley numerous times including the time when he killed the lion and later when he tied the tails of 300 foxes together. This was the vantage point of the Israelites who watched the ark of the covenant return to Beth Shemesh on a cow-pulled cart from the land of the Philistines (1 Samuel 6)."

"Israeli archaeologists recently uncovered the largest Iron Age reservoir known in Israel. With a capacity of 7500 cubic feet, this reservoir could have supplied the town's inhabitants with water to survive a three-month siege. This underground storage basin is composed of two long rooms in the shape of a cross and according to the excavators is 'one of the finest examples of water engineering and management in the kingdom of Judah.' The importance of Beth Shemesh is largely owing to its situation along the route leading south to Lachish. Known by some as the 'Diagonal Route' (no name is given in historical sources), this route was the major artery through the Shephelah in the historical periods. Travelers going south from Beth Shemesh will meet most of the major cities of the Shephelah along this route: Azekah, Moresheth Gath, Mareshah/Beth Guvrin and Lachish." Bible Places Page on Beth Shemesh

We went up the ridgeline and hiked around the Zorah area. You can see in the pictures below, the bright blue mound that is supposed to commemorate Samson's tomb and lots of views of the Sorek Valley and Beth Shemesh below.

So, I realized that I haven't posted anything in a while for no good reason. But then I realized that this is the problem: every time (lately) that I have tried to upload the pictures for my next post (which I have had ready to go for a while), Blogger refuses to upload them. Therefore, I give up and wait until later. But Blogger always seems to have another problem "later" as well. All that said, I am still trying to get another REAL entry up, so keep checking back. This is my Blogger complaining entry (in case you didn't notice).