Had a great weekend and the week is about to get really great. Purim, the only Israeli holiday that encourages drinking heavily (so that you can't tell Mordechai from Haman...story here), is essentially a Jewish Halloween. Kids have been walking around dressed up already and setting off small fireworks on the streets and tomorrow night I am going go to into Tel Aviv where I here the party will be pretty fun.
Thurday after work I grabbed a bite and a drink with a girl from work, Sivan, originally from L.A. On the way we saw a large group of Sudanese men standing with signs outside of an Israeli military base chanting pro-International Criminal Court (ICC) and anti-Omar al-Bashir slogans (because of his recent indightment for crimes against humanity in the Darfur region. I didn't talk to any of the protesters, but I did take some pictures...
I got to spend Shabbat this weekend with mom's cousin and her husband (Katya and Dima) who live in Holon, about 10 minutes south of Tel Aviv. They got to Israel about three years ago and have been living in Holon the entire time. Holon is not unlike Ra'anana in the sense that it is a peaceful and pretty "exurb" of Tel Aviv. The exception between cities being Holon is experiencing somewhat of a housing boom - a lot of highrise condo construction. Dima showed me around the city on Friday night and I went for a run Saturday and really like what I saw...pictures below. For family I had never met they were incredibly nice and friendly preparing dinner and a bed and some really interesting conversation. It's great to know that even in Israel I have somewhat of a support system.
Thanks again for reading. I'll be putting Purim pictures up soon.
-Pavel
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I was actually thinking the same thing. I had no idea there were so many Sudanese in Israel. Although I think I know why they're hating on China.
ReplyDeleteLong story short: China has a lot of investments in Sudan, and sells Sudan military equipment... which is turned around and being used on citizens in Darfur.