'Cause I Was Walking in Yokne'am

Since we've been in Yokne'am, we've been hearing a lot about this event called the "Yokne'am Walk" that was coming up, how it was such a huge deal, how everyone went to it, and how much we should be looking forward to it. Well, last Saturday it finally came! Basically, this was a huge American-style festival, with game booths, a moon bounce, junk food for sale, people selling random trinkets, and a stage set up for various bands and dance groups. Along with the carnival was a marked path for a little hike of either 6 or 11 kilometers. First, we checked in at the Dalyiot booth which was being run by my adoptive mom (who's the vice principal of the school) and Yuval, my 4 year old adoptive brother. After Yuval gave me a hat and some candy (but none for Andi and Tali - he's shy!) we headed out on the walk.

We were looking forward to the whole thing, but we were especially watching out for a booth set up by the kids at the youth center. Well, to our surprise, it wasn't just a booth - it was a whole other carnival! They set up about 30 minutes into the walk, and had a lot of the same features as the first carnival. We were really proud of them - they came up with everything and ran the whole thing themselves. Even Nadav, the youth center's director, was able to just sit back and watch them at work. It was really impressive!

Following our stop, we headed out for the rest of the whole 11 km walk/hike. The landscape in Yokne'am is really gorgeous, and it was the first time we really got to see it all. Along the way, we ran into a bunch of people we had met over the past few months, including a ton of our kids from Dalyiot.

After completing the hike (and returning to a shut down and empty carnival - guess we took a while), I decided I was tired of walking, so I gave Efi (my adoptive dad) a call to see if he could come pick us up. He did us one better, offering to bring us to their house where they had "a lot of food". Well, the reason they had so much food was that his ENTIRE FAMILY was there to visit! I was shocked, as I had just had Shabbat dinner with them the night before and he didn't mention that anyone was coming. Turns out that they had been planning on inviting us all along, but they didn't know when we would be done with the walk. So, we were treated to an amazing Shabbat lunch after a long hike, and Andi and Tali got to meet my extended Israeli family. Just another reason why I love Shabbat in Israel!

I could go on, but I think in this case I'd rather show, not tell. Enjoy!