Xmas 2011

 Its Xmas again! This is my second Xmas here in Israel and also my last! Yeah~! People in Israel dun celeb Xmas at all, instead they celeb Hanuka where they light candles, spin tops and eat fried sweet food. Sure miss the festive Xmas mood back in SG with the logcakes, gingerbread man, Santa Claus etc.... I actually dun even realize its Xmas until Hubby put up the Xmas tree in the living room 2 days ago. Above is the Xmas tree which we brought over from SG, oh dear....think my white Xmas tree is starting to turn yellow.

 On Xmas eve, before we went to the Xmas party organised for all the SG RPOs in Israel, we had a gift exhange at my place. Everyone is supposed to prepare a gift and will be assigned a number which we will pick at random from a lucky draw.

Poor Poochi is the only one without a Xmas gift.

JW seemed to be quite sad with the present he got, coz he already know what it is.

Hubby got the gift from JW which is a set of earphones.

WH ended up with a coffee mug from Weizhong, just nice for him since he loves to drink coffee.

Ah Teck ended up with my present which is a new balance pedometer, just nice for his up coming marathon. He looked v happy.

Ended up, JW and Weizhong exhanged their Xmas gifts. So, WZ got the neck cushion gift and JW got the Swiss army knife instead.

I ended up with the biggest gift, from WH, which is a table football game, which I donate to the guys for their lunchtime work recreation. So sad....I ended up with no Xmas gift afterall :(

After that, we went to JL's place for the Xmas party. There were much fewer people around compared to last year. JL and his wife prepared a turkey, sashimi, pasta, cheesecake, etc...I totally forgot to take any pics. His wife, Karen made some very nice cookies and I asked her for the recipe. We all had a great time chatting around, drinking and eating and it was past midnite by the time we left.

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Oh yes, the highlight of the day was when we discovered a Abercrombie and Fitch Outlet at the shopping mall where JL lived. I got myself 2 polo, each costing only about $28 SGD! SO cheap!

A tote bag

2 tees about $20 SGD each and a free pair of socks

Guess I did get my Xmas present in the end afterall... :)

My first crepe

Decided to make strawberries and cream crepe today using the frozen crepe that I bought recently.

 The picture in the package looked so nice and tempting, and I had a sudden craving for crepe.

 Eveything is in Hebrew, not a single word of English to be found. But I guess you either heat it in a microwave, in an oven or cook in a pan, one of these 3 methods had to be the correct one, right? As for the timing, just have to trial and error, no choice.... *_*

The instructions written right in front of me, but couldnt understand a word of it. Its so frustrating~!

At first, I tried heating it in a pan, thot it will be similar to cooking roti prata....end up....failure! The crepe turned into a biscuit. So, I tried heating it in a microwave.....it works! But had to adjust the timing again so that the crepe turned out softer. Violia! Finally figured it out :) 

 Added some strawberries and whipped cream and then wrapped it together, with some chocolate sauce drizzled on top. My first crepe is done!

It tasted real nice as the crepe is soft and chewy although it looked kindda pale and not exactly like the colour as the crepe in the packaging. Oh well, what matters is that it taste good :D

 Made a zipped pouch wristlet from newspaper print linen fabric recently.  I like the newspaper print very much and managed to find a matching coloured zip for it.

 Interior of the pouch

Received my ebay purchase yesterday at last! Bought this Freshel moist lift cream from a Taiwan seller CT Taiwan. I actually bought a lot of stuffs from this seller as he/she ships to Israel, unlike SO MANY other sellers and the price is quite reasonable also. Right after I received this, I placed another order for a Shiseido Aqua Label White Up Toner 200ml  from this seller again. Cost $23 USD plus shipping, which I find quite reasonable. Only cons is that I have to wait for almost 3 weeks before I can get it....well....better than nothing.

Been sick again with cough and flu~ :( This is a milder case after the super severe flu I had in the States 1.5 mths ago. Dunoe why I keep getting sick nowadays, maybe the weather is getting colder and colder each day or maybe my health is getting worse as I get older. Just feel tired easily and always feeling slight feverish. Hubby had been urging me to go see a doctor here but its hard to explain to the doctor through sign language and broken pieces of English and Hebrew. Its just too ridiculous.... *_*

Visit to Jerusalem Old City

Went on a guided tour around Jerusalem Old City yesterday with JW and his 'cousin'. Guess some people must be wondering why I have never been there till now while I am in Israel for almost a year. Reason being I was not in the least bit interested in such places as I am not religious. Also, its not a very safe place and unless you are on a tour, dun ever wander there by yourself coz its still full of crooks and thieves even though its a holy place. Jerusalem had such a long and complex history, and I simply could not fully understand the conflicts  between the Muslims, Jews and Christians over this piece of land.

 Standing outside Jaffar Gate, where the tour started.

The walls of the old city

 Most of the buildings looked very similar to me, stones, sandy beige colour and more stones.

A statue of King David

A coming of age Jewish ceremony

Entrance into the room of the last supper.

 Inside the room of the last supper.

This Muslim structure was also found in the room, and was supposed to be facing the direction of prayers.

 Most of the old buildings had narrow slit like openings, which I cant remb what exactly they are used for.

 Our tour guide, pointing out in the direction where the border between Israel and Palestine lies.

The Golden Dome in the distance.

 Entrance to the Western Wailing Wall and the Golden Dome. There is a male entrance on the left and female entrance on the right.

 Walking through the wooden archway bridge over to the Golden Dome

The Wailing Wall can be seen from the wooden bridge.

 A Muslim mosque opp the Golden Dome.

Close up view of the Golden Dome, only Muslims can enter.

 A shopping alley in the Muslim quarters, felt creepy to me as its dark and narrow inside with people trying to sell their stuffs to you. I just walked quickly through.

The fifth station in the Via Dolorosa route, which Jesus took on his way to his crucification.

 Station 6, not very sure what it means as I am busy trying to catch up with the guide and the place is like a maze, with many alleys and identical looking buildings. It is best not to get lost or the 'vultures' will start to pounce on you...

Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the site where Jesus was crucified and buried.

Going up the stairways to the Calvary.

 People queuing up to touch the rock which Jesus was crucified on. The whole atmosphere was so sombre that I din even dared to talk or breathe too loudly....

The rock was enclosed inside the glass to protect it from pilgrims trying to chip off a piece. While looking at it, I was suddenly overcome by a great sense of unexplainable sadness. There IS an aura here which I cant explain, it felt so real, so peaceful yet so sad....and right away, I truly believe it is a holy place(despite being a non Christian) and I believe Jesus was crucified on this very rock coz his aura remains and the sadness of it still lingers after thousands of years....I was quite shaken by it all and was totally speechless at that moment. It was like being shaken awake to what's real (which is the pain, suffering and sacrifice) and whats not real (the thoughts and voices inside my head) After this, I was in no mood to take any more pics inside the Church.

 After the tour ended, we went for tea break at this very nice cafe inside an Austrian Hospice. Finding this place was like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert and the coffee was excellent.

 By the time we finished tea, it was night fall. I felt Jerusalem at night felt more peaceful and relaxed compared to the tense atmosphere in the daytime. It seems like a different place after the sun went down.

 Nightime views of the old city

Nightime view of the Golden Dome from far

At the end of the day, I'm glad I came to the tour. I began to understand why so many people want to come to this place. There really is something holy here and its not something that can be explained unless you felt it.