Family time...

Mum and dad have been visiting for the last week and a bit, keeping me entertained while I'm on my mid-semester vacation. Although they're not here for that long, we've managed to do a lot of different things, including:

* Lazing around by the pool at a Hotel by the Dead Sea with my "adopted" Arad family (pictured)- very needed after a long trip from New Zealand via Bangkok....

* Two days in the area near Haifa, where we visited an artist's village called Ein Hod, also The Atlit Detention Camp, where Jewish refugees were put by the British during the British Mandate period (prior to 1948), swam at Habonim beach, met friends in Haifa for dinner, and had a quick peer at the famous Bahai Gardens


* An afternoon in Safed, an ancient mountaintop town which gave birth to much of the mystical Kabbalistic tradition

* Driving up the Hula valley - highlight, the Naot outlet factory shop, where I bought some very nice pink sandals...

* Sunset and Dinner on the beautiful Golan Heights with our friends Razia and Ekel

* Walking around the excavated remains of the ancient city of Bet She'an, followed by a wander through the somewhat-touristy-yet-actually-impressive scale models of Mini Israel (Their slogan is brilliant :"See it all....see it SMALL!")



* Wandering around the Old City of Jerusalem on foot, and touring around the whole city on a sightseeing bus

* Catching up with friends JoEllen and Shoshanna in Jerusalem, eating well, and torturing my poor dad with the endless quest for the perfect pair of earrings (which requires us to look in every shop, of course....)

* Drinking endless cups of delicious Mint Tea

Mum and dad only have a couple more days here, and tomorrow we're off to Tel Aviv. It's been very fun having them here to visit, and I acknowledged the importance of their long long journey by snubbing the Israeli Prime Minister in order to hang with them instead! (True story). In two days' time, boo hoo, they have to return to New Zealand, and I will be moving into an apartment on King George St. Here's hoping (for my sake and yours) that I'll have a good internizzle situation in my new home....