Shana Tova

Shana Tova! שנה טןבה Happy New Year to Everyone! (Even if you are not Jewish) We are celebrating Rosh Hashanah at Kibbutz Kinnert. We arrived at the Kibbutz on Thursday evening. It is a beautiful place. It sits next to the Sea of Galilee. The kibbutz is bursting full of color. Everywhere you walk you see trees and plants in full bloom. There are Mango Trees (Unfortunately, the season passed. Only one tree has Mangos and they will not ripen because the tree is sick. Dates, Green Apples, Clementine's and much more are in full bloom. Kibbutz Kinneret is known for there date trees. They have tons of different varieties. Too bad I am not a date fan! Oren will have to enjoy them for the both of us! We are staying at Oren's Aunt Esterica's house. It is very nice. Not what I expected at the Kibbutz. Totally modernized! I am going through a bit of culture shock. Everyone speaks Hebrew. It is so hard to communicate. Talk about total immersion. Oren is still serving as my personal dictionary and translator. His cousin Sheer is 13 and is learning English in school. When we try to communicate she knows how I feel. Luckily, Esterica's speaks English, well. I am practicing my Hebrew, a lot. Everyone will be happy to know that it is as good as or BETTER than my Spanish! I met Oren's grandfather on his dad's side. He is 85 years old and is so active! Today we went to his house and looked at his art work. He is very talented. He does sculptures, carvings, pastels and ceramics. Oren is still waiting for the day his artist talent comes out, like his grandfather and father. When walking around the Kibbutz we have met many of Oren's Aunts, Uncles and cousins. It is sort of strange. You are just walking around and then someone says there is your aunt, uncle or cousin. Then you walk over to them, say hi and go on your way. We will see them more at Rosh Hashanah Dinner in the Cafeteria. There will be a big community dinner tonight! I am looking forward to it. The best part is there are no services, YAY!!! That's enough yapping for today! Hope everyone is well.