JumpEarth Around the World Adventure

Hey! We landed in Istanbul, Turkey this morning (night?)! We woke in the morning and, after a fiasco about the very sad loss of two sentimental keychains of mine, flew to Johannesburg with no issues except one. As we came in for landing, we nearly touched down when the plane suddenly came back up! As I am here it was nothing but air traffic, but I at least couldn’t help worrying about terrorism or a problem with the landing gear. We were all a bit nervous. This, of course, happened while the super strict flight attendant glared at us to make sure that “the kids” didn’t step out of line. Seriously, she actually came over to me and tightened my seatbelt! The flight to Istanbul was cramped and uncomfortable, but there were no issues with the plane. We said goodbye to Ronit, who wasn’t feeling very well, and drove to our apartment. I saw a few things that struck me, among them the number of mosques, stray cats, and, surprisingly, wind turbines. We went to sleep immediately and only woke up at noon, though the time difference is only an hour from South Africa. In the daylight, we walked around the city. Before I note what we saw, I want to dedicate this post to all the SUPER CUTE BRUNO CLONES here in Istanbul. Half of the cats here look like Bruno as a kitten, and there are a lot of them.

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As we walked around, one thing that I found very interesting was that there were many varieties of clothes worn by women. The burqa, which covers the face as well as the body; the niqab, that only covers the face; the hijab, which covers the head and chest; and shuriat, shorts. Women also wear short dresses, long dresses, pants, skirts, tank tops, tights, etc, but what astounded me is how smoothly everything flowed! A woman in a burqa would not even glance at a young girl in a tank top and short shorts. I even saw a mother in a hijab leading her shoulder-shirt-decked tween daughter! We headed over to Taksim Square, located very close to our apartment, and Asher and I each had a sesame bagel from one of the many vending carts there. We then smelled the enormous row of shawarma booths and, of course, we each had one of those. They put so many spices into it that it was simply heavenly!

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After petting tens of stray cats and kittens (they all looked exceedingly healthy except for one very lethargic and skinny young one),

we wandered around the rest of the day, snacking and eating Turkish Delights and popping into stores. A large mall-ish street next to Taksim was where we witnessed a Gay Pride march. The number of police was incredible! Even during the Eurovision in Israel I hadn’t seen so many “polis”!

The march was actually banned by the government, but activists still showed up with rainbow textiles, face paint, and other articles. Though we did not see it in action, we did pass by a group of activists which were later attacked by dogs, batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. Aba and I went out to by fruit and saw another demonstration, as well. One of the difficulties I have had here is not calling Aba “Aba”. He doesn’t want people to know that we’re Israeli. This is very hard! It’s like trying to call someone you know as Mike as Todd instead without sounding sarcastic or slipping up a lot! We went back to the square for another shawarma dinner and some Turkish delights (yuuuuumy!) and saw some men fight each other in an argument. The next day, in addition to strolling Taksim again, we went to two bazaars. The first was Mısır Çarşısı, the Egyptian Spice Market. There, we ate walnut-stuffed dates, apricot-stuffed figs, pistachio balls, and more! Everything was so colorful that it sort of reminded me of India. Thankfully this was in a covered area so we didn’t die of heatstroke!

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After that, we headed to the Grand Bazaar where items are sold such as some pants that I bought. We then went to the Nuruosmaniye and Blue Mosques. The Nuruosmaniye Mosque opened in 1755 and the Blue Mosque opened in 1616, and while both are still in use, the Blue Mosque is undergoing renovations so we only go to see people praying in the Nuruosmaniye Mosque.

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It was an interesting experience in both places, as I had to wear a makeshift scarf-hijab. I was already wearing long pants, brutal in the broiling heat and humidity.

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That evening, after eating, we sat at a sweets store and sampled desserts! We went thrifting on a street of antique stores and to the spice bazaar again the next morning as well as the underground Basilica Cistern.

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Out of the hundreds in existence, it is the largest cistern, an underground reservoir for water, in Istanbul. Unfortunately, it is also undergoing renovations so there was no water or poison-alerting carp in the cistern. We got to cut the line by paying a little extra, which was fun, and enjoyed the coolness away from the sun.

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An interesting part was when we speculated over the significance of some Medusa carvings and then discovered that there was none; they were simply there for decoration.

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The next day, our last day, today, was our shopping day! We explored modern Turkish fashion and bought quite a few items of clothing and even shoes! In the evening, we went to see a Whirling Dervish performance. It was interesting and I’m glad we got to see it, but they conducted a slow ritual for ten minutes and the rest of the hour was spent whirling. Asher even fell asleep! However, for the first few minutes, it was truly beautiful and enchanting.

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We are leaving for Russia in the morning, something I’m excited about because I’ve been reading War & Peace which is set in Russia, but I wish we’d had more time in Turkey. I would love to see more of the beautiful country. However, I’m glad I can finally call ‘Ofer’ ‘Aba’ again!

Ella

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June 18

We woke up this morning at 4:30 AM and flew out of Cape Town as we watched the sunrise. We had said goodbye to Anton and our apartment, but when we landed in Upington we were welcomed by our old friend and safari guide, Arun. We shopped for food and then drove for a few hours to our house in the Kalahari Desert, just twenty minutes away from the safari park. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and playing with meerkats. There are two groups, ones in rehabilitating that used to be pets so I could touch them, and the Wild Group that had been reintroduced or born in the wild who I only watched. They were very playful and so cute that I understand why people would want them as pets. However, I know it is wrong, so don’t buy meerkats!

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Later, we all made dinner together and played Uno that evening, though before that one of the interns showed us a poisonous scorpion that creeped Ronit out!

June 19

Today was our first day on safari here and Ronit’s first ever. We saw animals, but not the kinds we expected. For example, we had expected to see the Big 5 but leaned that only two of them are in the park. We were looking forward to seeing lions, leopards, or cheetahs and giraffes but only saw ostriches, different species of antelope, small birds, etc. This really is a birdwatching park…

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We did see a few cool things, though; a herd of thirty ostriches, something even Arun hadn’t seen before; a jackal following a honey badger in search of food; an ostrich taking a dirt bath; an ostrich sitting in water; some make ostriches fighting; a cape fox; and a bat-eared fox. We ate out at a restaurant and I had steak.

June 20

We saw a lot today! After heading out in the morning as usual, the first (major) animal we saw was a cheetah! We watched her for over an hour and were very excited because she was hunting! However, she had two perfect opportunities to strike and she didn’t even attempt it! At one point she was crouched and ready to go with a springbok five meters away from her and she just lay there after stalking it for so long. Her lack of action was disappointing, but she was still very cool to see.

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Later in the day, we saw a caracal. This was a rarity that we did not expect but that I had really wished to see. It was beautiful, even more so because of its unexpectedness. After driving past a restroom later, Aba decided that he needed to pee so we pulled over. As he started going a woman drove up and kind of unsuccessfully shamed him resulting in him yelling back at her. The reason I mention this is that later we saw a different caracal (incredible, right?!), even closer than before, but Arun accidentally got the van stuck in a ground squirrel/prairie dog hole and we had to wait for help (while still watching the caracal).

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The next person to drive up was the pee woman with her husband! They helped us get free, but I could tell that she was judging Aba. After that, also relating to judging, we stopped for a snack at some picnic grounds and Aba and Ronit walked a few meters away from the border to take some photos and this old couple started yelling at them to come back. They didn’t because they weren’t done photographing, so the lady took her super-zoom camera and took pictures of them to turn into the rangers! Luckily we had taken Arun’s logo stickers off the car earlier before getting help, because otherwise she could’ve filed a complaint through the park towards his company. As it is, she hasn’t found us yet… Anyway, right as we drove away from the sight of the second caracal we discovered a Black-Footed or African Wild Cat!, another rarity! We still didn’t see any lions, giraffes, wildcats, leopards, or hyenas just to name a few, but I am very happy today!

June 21

Until twenty minutes before we left the park, we only saw one un-immemorial group of animals. A honey badger was hunting in the hills and three goshawks and a jackal followed him, waiting for scraps.

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We watched them for ten minutes early in the day, but other than that we only saw birds. We couldn’t drive on a lot of the trails because we didn’t have a safari vehicle, so I practically started and finished a 300-page book (yay! a real non-electronic book!)in the car. The best part of the day was when we stumbled across a pride of six lionesses with a bloody Oryx carcass, which two of them were eating from. The other lionesses napped, but when they opened their eyes I was astounded at how pure their yellowish-gold color was.

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The lions here are much larger than at Kruger Park, where we went last year, but considering how short these posts have been I’m thinking that Kruger and Chobi might be better…

June 22

Contrary to yesterday’s expectations, we saw a lot today! In fact, we saw so much that I’m worried that I’ll miss something in this post, so I’m apologizing in advance. We left this morning and revisited the kill-site from yesterday, hoping to find lions or scavengers. The lionesses were gone, but we did see a fairly large Brown Hyena, though it ran away quickly. Arun figured that they had gone to the water-hole to drink after their large meal, so we headed that way hoping to see them. Instead, we found another (different) lioness with a lil kill of her own. It was another Oryx, but it was in such an odd position that we thought it was a honey badger, at first. It was a fresh kill, done very recently, so little of the meat was eaten and when she feasted there was plenty of blood to stain her face and neck. One interesting thing that we noticed is that she was wearing a radio tracking collar, something unusual among the wildlife here.

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We watched her for a while and then drove off to look for more animals. The great thing was that there were no other cars around the lioness! They kept driving by without noticing or stopping so that we could show them! While we wandered, we saw a Red Hartebeest, a very rare species of antelope to see in Kgalagadi Park.

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We went back to the second kill-site and discovered that another, also collared, lioness had joined the first one. They played and nuzzled and both of them ate. I had the pleasure of using binoculars, so I was able to see them rip out his and intestines and twist the Oryx’s skin so much that whole pieces of it came out, bloody and raw. Ah, Africa. Anyway, we continued on and found a cheetah! This happens to have been the same cheetah we saw a few days ago, as she was in the same territory, so she again mislead us into believing in her hunt. Even though she wasn’t as active as we hoped, I am still very happy that we got to see her again. There was once catch, though. A few cars gathered around after we arrived, most noticeably to us a white open-backed truck. There were serious looking men inside wearing camouflage suits, and Aba and Troy are certain that they are poachers. Arun was asleep, so he can’t say. I hope they’re wrong, but now I feel very nervous and worried about the animals. We revisited the first and second lion kill sites and ate at a restaurant before returning home. At the second site was an oddly parked empty car which made me very suspicious given the potential poachers we had just seen.

Kill-site one

Kill-site two

Hartebeest

Kill-site two

Cheetah

Kill-site one

Kill-site two

June 23

We saw two really cool occurrences today. I’m actually going to start with the second one because the first one is super exciting so I feel like it should be last. Okay; we were driving down an empty road when the only other car’s drivers pointed out a cat to us as they left. Upon closer inspection, we saw that it was a grey African Wild Cat! Unlike our previous encounter with a small cat, we were right up close to this one! The most incredible thing was his similar it looked to a domestic house cat! If I saw this car walking around a friend’s home I would assume it was their pet! The cat was light grey and fluffy and beautiful with light green eyes, so I just wanted to go to it as pick it up and kiss it. Given the way it looked, I was almost convinced that I could (without getting bitten, that is)! Arun even allowed Troy to get out of the car, something prohibited in the park, for in order to get better pictures. 

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Now, for the first occurrence:

We started the day heading toward the second kill site to check for scavengers and the lions. However, we stopped before we reached it because of a new (for us) and rare cat; a leopard. There was only one other car, and though he was far away, the leopard was wonderful. We were amazed when he casually came down to the water hole directly in front of us and stared drinking! He was slightly strained with fresh blood from a recent meal, explaining his thirst.

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We were so hooked on the leopard that I didn’t realize how close his proximity was to the two-lioness pride we had headed towards until it was too late. One of the lionesses came down from her hill and nearly met with the leopard until he noticed her and ran away. The lioness leisurely followed him to the tree he had climbed and sat nearby to wait while the other lioness guarded their previous Oryx kill. The first lioness got bored and took a nap, allowing the leopard to sneak away. That is when the second lioness left her kill to follow him. A minor side note; over twenty jackals swarmed the unprotected Oryx carcass, making the area surrounding it look like a pit of furry snakes.

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The lioness looked for the leotard, but he had disappeared. We were all relieved that he had escaped. Though we had wanted to see a kill, this was not the once that we wanted. The lionesses didn’t want to kill him because they were hungry, they just wanted to eliminate their competition. Though I love both animals, I am thrilled that the leopard wasn’t hurt, especially considering his species’ rarity in Kgalagadi.

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P.S.

We also stopped by the first kill site to check on the carcass, and there was NOTHING but a skull…

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June 24

We were driving along a deserted dune road when the leopard unexpectedly walked in front of the van! At first we thought it was a different leopard because it was so far away from our other sighting, but it ended up being the same one; remarkable! This handsome male came so close to us that we nearly could have touched him! We spent roughly 15 minutes alone with him, not a single other person in sight. He left after that and about three seconds later four cars drove up. We were the only ones to see him!

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Much later in the day we finally saw giraffes. They weren’t too close, but I’m still glad we got to see them.

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After that, we saw a Cape Fox cub! We saw an adult a few days ago so were able to see how much smaller the cub was in comparison. He looked tiny!

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Lastly, we saw another cheetah, though not as close, but we left it shortly in order to look for other animals. Also, Aba wanted me to add that some crows landed on our car

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and that Ronit has been high-pitchingly meowing to get animals’ attention, so…

June 25

Today, sadly, was our last day on safari. Thankfully, we saw two very rare animals/occurrences. First, Aba spotted, pun intended, four Spotted Hyenas! We had previously seen a Brown Hyena and saw a nursing Spotted Hyena at Kruger Park last year, but these hyenas are extremely rare in the Kgalagadi. They were enormous, much larger than many animals and even some of the cats we had seen. They were very close to us, starting on top of a dune and eventually crossing the road in front of us, and once again we were in the only car in the area.

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After they left, another car came. In the middle of the day, we found a cheetah. She was incredibly skinny and it looked as if she hadn’t eaten for days, so we were hoping to see her hunt. And my gosh, we did. After letting an Oryx pass by and with no prey close enough to sprint at, we were prepared to wait for a long time.

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As we ate brunch in the car and joked about Bruno being the Big 1 (a play-on-words of the Big 5), we suddenly saw that the cheetah had gotten up and witnessed her running directly at the car! Troy’s window was down and he was eating a large baloney sandwich so I assumed she was going for that, while Aba thought she wanted to eat Troy, when she suddenly veered across the street and pounced on a lost young ostrich about a meter tall. The poor thing never had a chance. She dragged it under a tree and we watched as she choked the ostrich to death, its legs kicking and its mouth silently screaming as it opened and closed it for breath. We then witnessed the cheetah gut and eat the large bird while a jackal waited nearby for his share. We had wanted to see a kill, a baby ostrich, and have the skinny cheetah fed, but I still can’t help feeling a bit sad for the ostrich.

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However, that didn’t stop Asher and me from fantasizing about sending this to my mostly vegetarian and animal-activist friends and imagining their horror at seeing the life so dramatically choked out of such an innocent being…

Hehehe… Revisiting the site later, two jackals were feasting on the remains of the ostrich and the cheetah was walking away over the ridge. Before we left the park for the last time, we were overjoyed to finally see a Kori Bustard, the heaviest flying bird alive, fly.

Mammals: 

Lions

Leopard

African Wild Cats

Cheetahs

Caracals

Spotted Hyenas

Brown Hyena

Black-Backed Jackals

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Cape Foxes

Bat-Eared Foxes

Honey Badgers

Gemsboks/Oryxes

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Greater Kudus

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Blue Wildebeests

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Red Hartebeests

Giraffes

Steenboks

Springboks

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Common (Grey) Duikers

Scrub Hare

Slender Mongoose

Yellow Mongooses

Meerkats/Suricates

Ground Squirrels

Birds in Singular:

Common Ostrich

Cape Sparrow

Black-Chested Prinia

Sociable Weaver

Spotted Flycatcher

Marico Flycatcher

Scaly-Feathered Finch

Kalahari Scrub Robin

Burchell’s Starling

Cape Glossy Starling

Cape Crow

Pied Crow

Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill

Cape Turtle-Dove

Crowned Lapwing

Burchell’s Sandgrouse

Namaqua Sandgrouse

Helmeted Guineafowl

Northern Black Korhaan

Red-Crested Korhaan

Kori Bustard

Jackal Buzzard

Steppe Buzzard

Pygmy Falcon

Lanner Falcon

Greater Kestrel

Gabar Goshawk

Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk

Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl

Wahlberg’s Eagle

Tawny Eagle

Martial Eagle

Bateleur

Black-Chested Snake Eagle

White-Backed Vulture

African Hoopoe

African Red-Eyed Bulbul

Crimson-Breasted Shrike

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Common Fiscal

Brown-Crowned Tchagra

June 26

We left the lodge after playing for a while with the extremely sweet meerkats and talking to The Professor, the old woman running the sanctuary. We stopped to see some bushman and I bought a keychain, then drove to a mall for a snack but ended up buying clothes and shoes.

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We made it to the Augrabies Falls lodgings shortly afterward, ate dinner, and are about to sleep. I am eating a tangerine.

June 27

In the morning we went on a safari-type drive at the game reserve. The scenery was wonderful with dazzling rock formations. We saw Oryxes, Giraffes,

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Bat-Eared Foxes,

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Marvins, Klipspringer,

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Steenbok, and even a Cape Mountain Zebra!

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After relaxing later, before eating dinner we went to see the Augrabies Falls. They were very nice, but we sadly saw a drowned monkey in a natural pool nearby. After seeing a dead Marving, RIP, and eating dinner, we went on a night safari in a jeep with a different guide as well as Arun. We additionally saw a Rock Rabbit and Hartebeests. My favorite part, though, was the clear and star-filled night sky.

June 28

We packed in the morning and went on a safari drive again. After breakfast, Arun took a short nap in the car with his door open. We then cracked up as we saw a bare-butted monkey sneak in and steal his cracker!

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We drove to Upington, only stopping to see a pink store with two soft and sweet cats!

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I’m blogging now, but we plan to go out to dinner with Arun tonight. You can blame this super long blog on Aba! 12-4  11-6-4-21 6-23-26 23-1 23-6-5-24-6!

Ella

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Right after we said bye to Oved and the cousins, we discovered there was something wrong with the stickers they had given us on the tickets. After waiting for a while in the “defective ticket” line, we got to security and boarded the plane. Everything went normally until security in Ethiopia at our layover. A security woman with a really thick Ethiopian accent asked me, quite harshly I might add, if I had scissors in my bag. I replied no because, though I had two tiny pairs of scissors for my bracelet strings, no one had ever bothered with them before. Not this lady! She practically dumped everything out of my bag and then found my string bag. She opened it, saw there was string in it, and dumped them all on the floor! She then found my safety pin bag and the foldable scissors. She was so worked up over the one she found that she didn’t even notice the one right next to it! She held the tiny scissors up in front of me and yelled “what’s this?!!!” triumphantly. I said “scissors… I forgot!” She then marched away with them and left me to clean up her mess. Golly! Anton picked us up at the airport and took us to our old apartment. We’re staying there again, so it feels like home! We went out to dinner with Anton and his girlfriend Tria a couple of days later and the Farmers’ Market. We also saw the new Aladdin movie. Do NOT see the new Aladdin movie. You will be “speechless” (#the new song they wrote for Jasmine… *Shudder*). They put a super confusing Infinity War scene as well, so be prepared. And Jafar sounds like a pubescent teenager etc. It’s just bad. We also saw the new “what if Superman was evil” movie, Brightburn, but it wasn’t amazing. A few days later we went to an American school for our friend Mia’s high school graduation, and the next day we went to another Farmers’ Market. The first one, Oranjezicht City Farm Market, was better, so we browsed through some antique shops on the street instead. I bought a beautiful wooden piggy bank. I’m posting a picture here because I looked online for hours and couldn’t find it anywhere and I’m curious to know its history.

The sweet old man who sold it to me said it’s a collectible danish piece, but the only label I found on it said DENMARK. No brand or anything, so that was frustrating. Two days later we met Gareth and Francesca, Mia’s parents, and their relatives Vanessa and Stuart for a hike up Devil’s Peak. The round-trip hike took three hours, but we had a lot of fun. It was quite steep but we were talking the whole way. Their dog Luiji came with us and he was very very energetic. I especially had fun on the way down, as Gareth and I got left behind and talked about EVERYTHING. I say EVERYTHING because it was like we were trekking a mountain again! I talked nonstop, blabbering on and on. Poor guy!

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Anyway, Vanessa and Stuart left and we stole Mia’s sister, Lucia, away from making pancakes, then went to the (good) Farmers’ Market. We had some delicious biltong and (again) had tons of fun. Their other friend, also called Vanessa, was with us too.

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Throughout the next couple of days, we saw the movie Rocket Man (a sad disappointment), did homework, ate dinner out with Anton, and ate dinner at Gareth and Francesca’s house. There, we played with their dogs, Luigi and Lily! Both very cute and (at least Luigi) slightly neurotic. We also played Train or Mexican Dominos which Vanessa had brought. Asher and I play this all the time at our grandparents’ lake in North Carolina, so I was very excited. There were a few alterations to the game, but overall it was very very similar. And I won! Three out of three times! I don’t even know how, but it was awesome! Gareth even dubbed me the “Domino Queen”! I can’t wait to play with my grandparents again! Oh! And we also had our 14th birthday! Wahoo!!!

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Ronit arrived on the 13th and we were all very excited to see her.

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The next day, we took her touring! We went to the Harbor again to see the seals, Simon’s Town to see the penguins, Cape Point to hike and see Dias Beach, and Table Mountain to see the sunset.

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A special point I would like to make about the penguins is that there are two areas where you can see them, one much more touristy than the other. Unlike last time, there were a few people on the non-touristy beach who had scared the penguins away. Asher and I scouted and shortly found their penguin safe haven! Aba and Troy couldn’t climb over and under the rocks they needed to so they stayed, but we managed to convince Ronit to come with us and we had an amazing view! It was wonderful because Ronit kept happily squealing at how cute they all were!

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On the way through the rocks, we also found a colony of Marvins (Rock Dassies or Rock Hyraxes if you don’t remember from last year)! They’re so fluffy!!!!! At Cape Point and Table Mountain, I discovered that Ronit has acrophobia, but that didn’t stop her! Even though she was scared, she looked out at the views and didn’t panic, so we’re all proud of her!

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At Dias Beach, we sadly didn’t roll down the hill, but we played and got wet and I sculpted a turtle out of sand! We also tried to write our initials big enough to be seen from the higher up trail, but it just looked like a tiny EATOR (Ella Asher Troy Ofer Ronit), not the best acronym.

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Anton, who had guided us all day, drove us to the Kloof Street House where we had eaten with him last time and we had dinner. Coincidentally, we had the same waiter, Harry, who was very very nice and helpful. We all liked him a lot. He even says he’s going to read our blog, so hello!

Anyway, Gareth stopped by for drinks and after dessert (Ronit tried Malva pudding, a traditional African dessert that I recommended) we went home, watched an episode of House of Cards, and went to sleep. Oh! And one more thing. My friend Una got a cat. His name is Avery and he looks ridiculous, so welcome to a weird life, Avery! (Sorry, Una! Thought I should give him fair warning!) The next day, we went back to the Oranjezicht Farmers’ Market and Ronit was just amazed. She loved all of the styles of food (especially biltong) and the outdoor space.

She even wants us to open our own market in Boulder! After that, we went to the V&A Waterfront and mall.

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We gave her the tour and then Asher and Troy went home, leaving the rest of us time to go shopping! Ronit and I both bought some cool shirts and I bought a notebook. For dinner, we went to Mojo’s. However, on our way out of the apartment, we met a man called Rooel who has also been traveling a lot. He came with us and we learned that he also speaks French, Hebrew, and some other languages, that it was his birthday, and basically his life’s story. He was an interesting guy to meet. In the morning, we took Ronit to the Winelands. It was almost a repeat of our trip last year, so for nostalgia and to save time I am mostly going to quote this day from Ducks and Cheese: Ella’s Perfect Day and The Glass Penguin Fits! A New Princess Is Crowned! Written by Ella. First, we went to the Duck Run winery again.

In the morning, we took Ronit to the Winelands. It was almost a repeat of our trip last year, so for nostalgia and to save time I am mostly going to quote this day from Ducks and Cheese: Ella’s Perfect Day and The Glass Penguin Fits! A New Princess Is Crowned! Written by Ella. First, we went to the Duck Run winery again.

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“On the way back to the main building of the winery I noticed that we were walking on very interesting ground. It was a dark, dulled purple, and I thought it made an amazing walkway. Then we realized that it was all peach and apricot pits! I thought that was genius. Then, we waited. We had not come here for wine, but for ducks!  At this winery live 1700 ducks” (there are actually more now) “and they get fed three times a day. This results in what is called a “‘Duck Run’”. That’s right. A Duck Run. There are handlers with flags and a running track that the ducks charge through to get to their food! The result is absolutely hilarious. In the end, all the spectators get a bag of food and the ducks eat out of our hands. It’s really great.”

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After that, we went to see some singing stones. We actually saw them last year, but apparently I didn’t blog about them, so here it is! They are basically ash lava stones with metal running through them so that when someone’s hand comes into close proximity they hum or ring. They make different sounds depending on the rock and the person, and Ronit was pretty amazed.

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“Then we went to a jerky” (biltong) store where we got some” okay “beef jerky” (biltong). What was cool about this place was their garden. There were many sorts of plants and herbs and it was very large and green.

For lunch, we ate at a nice new place and golfed. Terribly. It had a terrific view and we had a lot of fun.

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“We then went to the little town of Franschhoek where we” bought Ronit a pair of fake cheetah skin shoes that would get me skinned (pun intended!) if I wore them in Boulder! Next, “we drove to a place that makes goat cheese, called Fairview. As soon as I opened the car door I knew this place would be magical. As we walked up the path to the main building we saw” a pen of goats.

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“We proceeded to go into the main building where we all tasted some amazing African cheeses and wine” for the adults. In honor of His Majesty Rapunzel, I highly recommend that you go back to The Glass Penguin Fits! A New Princess Is Crowned! Written by Ella to see the princess. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your beard!” After eating a steampunk breakfast,

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Monday was the day “we went to a Township called Langa. There, we cycled around, stopping at interesting places such as a school, church, sacred ground, graffiti contest site, craft center, and traditional healer” (Goodbye To Africa From Ella). This traditional healer or witch doctor was one of my favorite parts this time around. For one, he was much more talkative and told us more, but Ronit was really scared which is what I loved (sorry!). She didn’t like the dead animals hanging in his dark alley tent or his gravelly voice or his skin hat or animal tail whip. We had seen it before so we weren’t creeped out, but Ronit was terrified!; clutching my arm and leaning away from him! I know it’s wrong to laugh, but it was really funny. Anyway, “everyone was very friendly, and even the children greeted and waved at us.” Something new this tour was seeing redeveloped houses vs older ones. The distance was astounding, but neither one of them would be accepted as livable for even one family in the USA. Here, multiple families live in them. In the neighborhood we saw, we had fun with some little kids who wanted us to pick them up and swing them around. They were very very sweet.

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“Then, we had lunch at a restaurant called Mzansi. We ate many different types of food, but the Malva Pudding was absolutely wonderful. We listened to a fantastic live band who taught us how to play their marimbas” “and listened to the owner’s (“Mama’s”) story of how the restaurant came to be” but from her son, Samu.

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She told the story better as he droned on and on and made it and the band seem very touristy, but other than that it was good. They all speak “Xhosa, an African language filled with very loud clicks”, but our guide Mike actually speaks nine languages. Tomorrow morning we are flying out of Cape Town to the Kalahari Desert for another safari! Wish us luck on finding animals!

Ella

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Later, we had a busy day. In the morning, to Cliff Beach to eat lunch with some friends of Aba. They were Leor (yes, the dentist that liberated me of my retainer), Heyla, and their daughter, Tamar. Tamar is eight years old and we sat next to each other, having a lot of fun. She is a very exuberant girl and I additionally had fun tickling her! At one point during the meal, Aba joked with her about switching phones (yes, she has a phone. Me?, not so much) and stole her hat. She was very offended and burst into tears, but she was laughing again soon enough. After breakfast, we went with Oved, Meital, and Matan to Avshalom Cave in the Stalactite Cave Nature Reserve. It was accidentally discovered by miners and turned into a major tourist attraction. We have seen a lot of caves not only in our lives, but also many in the past year, but the formations in this cave were wonderful and had many different varieties.

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For dinner, we met our second “Leor” of the day, Katia and Ronan’s son. Katia used to be Asher’s speech teacher, so it was nice to see them and their 14-year-old dog, Frutti, again. We ate dinner at their house, and Troy fell so in love with some of their sauces and pickled lemons(?) that he was “forced” to take them home. Later, it was the Yom HaShoah, a day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust. We went to the square again that evening for another community memorial service, then stayed home with Savta. The next holiday was Independence Day! Asher and I made fun of the cringy speeches and “BB Ad” on TV, and then we went to a big party with Oved and Michelle at a park. There were food vendors and a huge stage with some mostly terrible singers. However, I would like to point out that there was a group of elementary to middle school-aged girls that did a few songs and I didn’t want them to stop. They were amazing! There were quite a few professional singers there, and they outdid them by far. We danced and ate pizza and candy apples and casata and only got home around midnight.

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Then Aba and Troy left for an “adult” party that I wasn’t allowed to go to. Oh, pleeeeeeaaase. In the morning, Oved picked us up (minus Savta and Troy) and we went to the beach in order to watch an army air show. However, having already seen a cool one at an army base last year, it was very disappointing. Maybe eight planes flew by and did no tricks whatsoever. The beach was nice, though.

We then went to my Saba’s grave again. Arieli was with her boyfriend, Jonathan, but everyone else was there. We put rocks on his tomb and Savta looked really sad, but I guess we all did. Troy never met him. After that, we went to Oved’s house for a barbecue. Yum! Let me tell you, the people in this family know how to grill! We played a few games and watched Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse on TV, then went home. It was a really nice day. Later, we went to Moti and Ronit’s for Sabich. Sabich is basically a falafel sandwich minus the falafel and plus eggplant. Yuuuuuuuuuuuum. We had to wait in line for half an hour because the booth we went to was so popular, but it was worth it. The guy making the delicious food had to talk about everything in football/soccer terms. He reminded us of the Soup Nazi! After that, Troy, Aba, Asher, Moti, and I went to the house and talked with Ronit. Arieli was there, but she was swimming with her friends in the jacuzzi. That night, we went to a BBQ with Aba’s school friends; Leor and Heyla with their kids Ido,Tamar, and Yael; Eitan and Edna with their kids Maya, Alon, and Enbar; Ravit and Yariv with their kids Shachar, Ophir, Mika, and Adi; and Eran and Orit with their kids Roni, Roi, Nofar, and ___. At first, Asher and I played ping-pong with Alon. Then, when more kids came, we jumped on the trampoline with Tamar, Roni, Nofar, and ____. I am actually very proud of myself for getting ____ to play with us, as whenever I see him he’s either upset or sleeping. Usually the latter. That night, though, he really played with us! And laughed! I don’t think I’d ever seen him laugh…

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We played some more on the trampoline after eating, but after dessert, Troy’s malabi and Aba’s cheesecake-with-no-cheese (he forgot to put it in!), I played cards with Roni, Nofar, ___, ___, Ido, and one game with Asher. I learned two new games! Actually, I think Ido was the most helpful. He’s always been nice, but that night he was very considerate about explaining things to me and when I didn’t understand a word he would either tell me or show me what it was! He was very sweet. His sister, Yael, is also usually nice, but that night she was closed off. While the rest of us were talking and playing, she was sitting on a chair with her phone. She also cus her hair into a pixie-mohawk hybrid and wants a motorcycle. I’m gonna blame it on teenager-ism. In spite of that, though, I had tons and tons of fun that night! I could do that every week and never get tired of it. I think I’m going to miss everyone when we leave Israel again… The next morning, Oved picked us up. Arieli had slept over the night before in order to come with us and Oved’s kids were supposed to come, but they didn’t. They had to study for tests. However, we still had fun. We drove to Nazareth and Akko and toured the cities.

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In Akko, we even did a virtual reality tour! Arieli was off of her phone almost the whole time (except in the car), so I was very very happy.

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We ate lunch at a famous hummus place and had to fight our way in, and the food was good. When we went back to Savta’s place we talked with Michelle, who had been with Savta, and said bye to Ariel, Michelle, and Oved. We took showers and then drove to a Rita concert. She is a very famous Israeli singer, and I thoroughly enjoyed her concert. She is almost 60 years old, but she still put on a great show!

She was jumping and moving and dancing (to which Troy said that “she could benefit from a few dance lessons”) and still sounded wonderful. The crowd was singing with her almost the whole time, and she was so touched by it that she started to cry. I would’ve had it not been for two things: 1) I didn’t know most of the lyrics and 2) I was sneezing the ENTIRE time. Nonstop. The whole show. It was horrible. I could hardly talk that night… The next night, we went with Oved and his kids to a Peter Pan Escape Room. It’s sort of our tradition because we do it so much. Anyway, we “escaped” with five minutes to spare and had a lot of fun.

My favorite parts were that we had to insert somebody’s (Meital’s) shoes in a drawer in order to activate a clue, but when we opened it the shoes had been replaced with a key and hotel slippers. Poor Meital! She only got them back after two more rooms! My second favorite part was the “ocean” room, a tiny ball pit. With the six of us crammed in. Looking for stuff beneath the balls. Fuuuuuuuuuuun. We went to dinner after the escape room, though only Asher, Oved, and I ate. Later, Ronit and Moti took us to a Eurovision party. Eurovision is a big deal around the world. Representatives from European countries (plus some others) come to compete with songs. Personally, I think that is the only okay war. Israel won last year, so it’s now being hosted in Israel! However, Ronit was convinced that dogs were allowed and brought Tuko, but she was wrong. Therefore, Moti stood outside with him for two hours while we partied. I feel kind of bad… Anyway, inside it was very loud.

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We ate food from booths and Ronit bought me a shirt that says, in Hebrew, “God is a Woman” and got the seller down from $80 to $30. The guy was also selling a book about the scientific reasons behind gays’ obsession with the Eurovision, so… They had some live performances including Russia’s TERRIBLE “Thunder and Lightning” and Sweden’s “Dirty Dancing”. Come on, Sweden! When we drove home, Oved and Meital were there and we watched the Eurovision together. 17 songs. 14 sucked. 1 was okay. Two were good. Seriously, Australia and Greece made up the 11.764705882353% of good music in the first half of the Eurovision. Not to mention last year’s winner, who I thought was terrible. Also, Iceland and Portugal are just plain weird. I’m shuddering because Iceland got in and it was basically a strip dance with screaming. After all the screaming of that night, my throat hurt again… Later, Oved and the kids took us to another escape room! This time, it was Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders. I’m glad I have this blog because now I can shame my cousin, Noa, publicly. One clue gave us the letters “CRPT#” and there was a carpet on the ceiling. Previously, I had pointed out the carpet and said that there must be a clue there and started looking around it. Noa stopped me and said that there wouldn’t be anything there. We got stuck sometime later and asked for a hint. The operator said to look at what the letters spelled and sure enough, once we looked at the carpet with a UV flashlight, we found a code. BURN, Noa! Sorry…

Later, we went out on the night of the second Eurovision semi-final with or family member Nadav and his girlfriend, Sarina. We went to the White Horse party area in Yaffo and could actually see the building where the Eurovision was taking place! On the drives there and back, we watched videos of the first semi-final and updated them on how bad all the acts were. We walked around and listened to a couple of different musician groups and saw an art gallery. I even bought something! It’s an Israeli flag painted onto wood with Eurovision and 2019 in Hebrew.

After wandering some more, we ate hot dogs while talking about Tel Aviv cockroaches and watched a concert. That was at midnight. We watched the Eurovision lights and strolled next to the ocean until Asher got tired. We arrived home at 2 am! In the morning we wanted to watch the previous night’s Eurovision contest, but I had to make a gambling/voting sheet for our party, effectively spoiling the winners for me. Troy and I went to the print shop next to Savta’s house and printed the sheets, some photos for Savta, and some photos for my present for my cousin, Callie. I just want to say that the man helping us was very very nice. He had helped me print before, and this time he even cut my photos for me after resizing them again! He was real sweet. We started the Eurovision then met Savta’s sister, Shula, _____ her ___…., for lunch. Savta sure got her exercise, because Aba accidentally took the long way to the front door! Everyone was quite late, but we still had a nice time.

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Later, we went to dinner with another couple, the two Israeli men we met while in the Galapagos. David and Ofer’s apartment was amazing. They have got truly wonderful, exquisite taste. I wanted, and still want, to steal their cabinets and tables and trinkets and pillows and wall paint and light fixtures, but I especially liked their perfect art-deco tiny couch. It’s a creamy yellow color and very comfortable. We ate a three-course meal of fluffy chicken liver, a delicious steak burger with a portabello mushroom bun, and a rich chocolate cake, all homemade. Not only was it tasty, but it also looked like it came out of a fancy food magazine! Aba and Troy’s food is good, but they now want to start working on presentation. Later, Oved took Asher and me to a nature reserve with cave-man-caves! It was a lot of fun and we ate pita, then pizza!

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That night, we had a Eurovision party!we had a Eurovision party! The whole (available) family came and we all rated and scored the songs on my voting sheet!

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After dinner and a happy birthday song to Imri and Matan, a few people left. The rest of us enjoyed yelling at the screen when something was cringy and singing with the catchy songs.

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Before the winner was announced, Arieli had a breakdown. It was almost 2 am so she must have been tired and she wanted to see her boyfriend, so Imri and Dar left and took her home. Now, it was only Meital, Oved, Savta, Aba, Troy, Asher, and I. It was annoying how long the hosts dragged out the verdict, but I was disappointed when they chose the Netherlands.

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It wasn’t a bad song, but I preferred Australia, Greece, Norway, and Russia’s songs much more. Iceland, the Neo-Nazi country, decided to make a scene and held up free Palestine banners. They’ve been disqualified from next years’ contest and got the last place in this Eurovision. Madonna did a show, but it was too bad to even mention… Later, we flew to Cape Town. Savta cried and Ronit wasn’t there because she had gone to see Oran in Switzerland, but Oved and his kids were there to say goodbye…

Ella

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The next day I went to voice class with Tamar. We worked on Ave Maria and I had a lot of fun catching up with her. We rested all day, but that night we went to Ronit’s house for another Passover Seder.

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All three families came (Aba’s, Ronit’s, and Oved’s) and we ate Moti’s steaks and my aunt Michelle’s matza ball soup! It was the first time we saw her this trip to Israel.

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After dinner, Ronit made a speech. She said that she was very proud of our accomplishments this trip and that she had a present for us. When we opened them, Asher and I discovered that she had made us each a book of our blog posts for this trip! Mine is grey and finishes in Machu Picchu, Peru, and Asher’s is blue and finishes in Ecuador! It’s wonderful, and amazing quality! Ronit has been reading our blog all year, so thank you so much, Ronit! It’s magnificent!

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For (near) future reference, “later” means a minimum of one day (I don’t need to keep track!) Later, we Oved, Meital, Matan, Savta, Troy, Asher, and I went to see Avengers: Endgame. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. I especially hated, no spoilers here, the newest feminist scene. They’re all terrible, and in both big movies (Endgame and Infinity War)! We all had a dinner at Savta’s house of pizza in order to end the no bread fast of Passover. Fun fun fun!

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Later, Savta’s housekeeper, Yael, came. She is also friends with us, so we all had fun chatting. I went to my lesson with Tamar, and that evening I slept over at Ronit’s house. In the morning, we went to Waltz class! She has always wanted to learn to dance the waltz, so for her birthday she’s been taking lessons and this time she brought me with her! Our teacher’s name was Leor, and he was very good. After dancing with Ronit for 45 minutes, it was my turn. I went in there with zero experience with dancing (except for my cringy talent show Tango Maureen with my friend Noah), and now I can do a very very basic and slow waltz! I’m practicing a lot. After the lesson, we went shopping and drove for Ronit’s doctor appointment at 1 o’clock. However, apparently it was scheduled for 11 o’clock and we missed it, so we ate lunch (salmon) and went back to Savta’s house. Later, I had another lesson with Tamar. Last time we were in Israel, Tamar taught me a song called ציפור שנייה, or Second Bird. It had a few high notes that had been difficult for me to hit, so we decided to try it out and see if I could reach them. I could. Not only that, we ended up changing the pitch three more times, going higher and higher. At the end of the lesson, we planned to go another pitch higher in the following lesson because I had no difficulty going so high! My voice has really changed a lot this year! Later, we went to Hendal’e, the restaurant we’ve been fantasizing about for months. They have the best hot dogs there ever. Period. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, Asher and I order their hot dogs. Even though they’re from the kids’ menu. And we need to order three so that we’re full…

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Later, we went to Hendal’e for dinner with our friend Noam and his mom, Susan. We had a lot of fun, especially because there are many affectionate and cuddly stray cats there. Noam is afraid of cats! It was really great to see them. Later, we visited Aba’s friends Hagit and Arnon and their daughter Hadar. She is turning 11 in July and we had a lot of fun together! When Hadar was three-years-old, the family also went on a ten-month vacation around the world, but mostly in India. When we arrived at their house, we were greeted by the family’s dog, Petty. They had only had him for three weeks, but the funny part is that he had to wear the “Cone of Shame” (from UP)! They had gotten him ‘fixed’, but the veterinarian didn’t watch him and he bit at the stitches and got them infected. His undersides are now a very bright red, poor guy. Hadar was there when we arrived but went to a Youth Group in the neighborhood. Asher and I jumped on the trampoline and Aba, Troy, and I talked to Hagit and Arnon and played with Petty, and by then we were ready for dinner. We took a short walk to the neighborhood falafel stand and bought 25 falafel balls, then went back to the house to eat (though by the time we got there we only had 18 left). Hadar joined us and I helped Arnon and Hagit put their other food on the table. Aba made me demonstrate the progress we had made on our back bends and I reached the floor, the farthest I’d ever gotten! Before and after dinner, I played with Hadar. The best was that I discovered that she’s very very ticklish! I’ve missed kids, especially younger kids. I know I’m writing as if she was young and adorable, but I actually thought she was very mature and enjoyed talking with her. You see, I’ve rated kids into different age and maturity zones. The period between the ages of 0-4 has typical ‘kid’ behaviors and maturity levels. Obviously, during the baby stage kids don’t communicate on a very high level of intelligence, but until the age of four, they really have to be taken care of. From 4-8, kids have a higher level of adult thinking. They are still very silly and lack a lot of skills and coping mechanism, problem-solving, etc, but you can have pretty “adult” conversations with them if you don’t act towards them as if they were kids. From the age of eight and up, I think kids have the capability of having the same maturity and most adults. Sure, in academics and experience they might have a ways to go, but when I meet an eight-year-old I treat them as if they were my age! There is a kid I know, Itamar, and he’ll be eight soon. I’m not ready for him to grow up! Anyway, Hadar is in a choir and is apparently a good singer, so in exchange for relinquishing my hold on her ticklish parts, she promised she’ll sing for me next time I see her. It’s a bit of a drive back to Savta’s house, and we enjoyed DJing from Aba’s playlist, shaming him when he didn’t have the songs we were looking for. We got home and started watching Fauda, but then Savta started feeling a lot of pain. It got so bad that Aba and Imri (he had come to eat salmon and watch Game of Thrones with Savta) took her to the hospital. As you can imagine, we very worried. Asher put World War Z on (taking advantage of my worried position, as I had forbidden him from playing it in my presence) until midnight. Savta came back at 2:30 AM. She has a stone in her gallbladder and it has been causing her a lot of pain lately; we think she’ll need surgery. She’s almost 90-years-old. He ended up purging anything in the house with fat, along with all of our chocolate (even though I haven’t had a single piece the entire time we’ve been in Israel. In fact, Savta has been yelling at me when I don’t eat chocolate because she’s convinced I’m on a diet (I’m not, by the way)).

In the morning, we visited Aba’s friend Leor at his job and had a checkup. He’s a dentist. I’m happy because I no longer have to wear my horrible broken retainer during the day (only at night), but Asher’s depressed because he got his first cavity filled. He won’t let me look, though… Savta only woke up at 11. Wednesday evening was the beginning of Holocaust remembrance day. We went to a gathering in Ra’anana and watched the ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum on TV.

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In the morning, we woke up and went to the big street near Savta’s house. A siren went off at 10 AM and everyone stood still for one minute. Cars stopped and the drivers got out and stood on the street, bikers halted where they were and waited for it to end, all in memory for the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. I had another lesson with Tamar and worked on O Mio Babbino Caro. Ronit visited us, and we watched Fauda and Desperate Housewives. Did I mention that Netflix removed it?! We had to buy it on Amazon because we were hooked! Arrgh!!! Anyway, still loving Israel!

Ella

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