Channukah in Israel and England

Two simple words perfectly describe Channukah in the Holy Land: sufganiyot galore. Seriously. From the shuk to the best bakeries, anywhere and everywhere had an assortment of Channukah donuts. An Israeli told me that she limits herself to one sufganiyah a year since each one clocks in at an average of 600 calories but I think that’s just silly. Why deprive myself of something that reminds us of the miracle of Channukah? I’m happy that some people are able to exercise self control, but as the saying goes -“Treat yo’ self.” And that’s just what I did. Sometimes twice a day. Oops.

While the students had school during the majority of the holiday, my program was kind enough to give us a week off. One of my best friends on the program, Naomi, extended an invitation to go home to Manchester, England with her. While I was tempted to go home for the holiday, I felt silly doing so since I am so close to Europe and I won’t necessarily have the opportunity to travel so freely again.

I chose to join Naomi and visit England for the first time. I definitely made the right decision. I had an incredible time. I would be lying if I said England was at the top of my dream places to travel to – in fact, had you told me in August that I would be going to England, I would probably laugh in your face. But lo and behold, here I am on my return flight back to Israel writing about the “brilliant” time I had in England.

I was fortunate enough to spend 5 days in England. Like any good tourist, I went into the trip with a bucket list, if you will, of what I wanted to do while on the trip.

My List

1. Go to Starbucks 
2. Go to Taco Bell
3. Get personalized Nutella
4. Have high tea
5. Have fish & chips

I know, I know – there’s absolutely zero reason as to why I’m not a 500 lb human being. And while the first two tasks are not British AT ALL, I have gone 4 months without both and have missed them every single day. No shame. I also thought it’d be cool to see Big Ben and maybe even the London Eye (more so on a look but don’t touch basis – there are few things I hate more than heights), but they weren’t exactly at the top of my list.

I am happy to say that all missions on my bucket list were ACCOMPLISHED.

Friday, December 19^th was my first full day in Manchester. Nay and I spent the day in town, where I was able to get Starbucks and personalized Nutella. We also took some very couple-y holiday photos. Tis the season after all. For Shabbat, her family had about 15 guests over for a traditional Shabbat dinner. Nay and I had a relatively early evening because Saturday morning we had a train to catch to London.

We caught the train at 8 am because we wanted to be able to enjoy a full day in London. We arrived at around 10:30 am. We then took the tube from the train station to Nay’s twin brother’s apartment. Her brother, Toby, was our gracious host for the weekend. We spent 7 hours walking around London. We got to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and other touristy things but most importantly we had fish and chips at an English pub and high tea for an early dinner.

Fun fact – Brits do NOT get their leftovers to go. We had quite a few scones leftover from tea and Nay’s brother was mortified when I considered asking for a “doggy bag.” I decided to spare him the embarrassment and not ask because I am a nice human being.

I really enjoyed walking around London – it was exhausting but definitely worth it. It’s a beautiful city that reminds me so much of New York.

After our long day out, the 3 of us returned to Toby’s apartment to get ready for a night out. I got the opportunity to meet lots of Nay’s friends and we all got to enjoy the London nightlife experience. I was exhausted and probably delirious but I’m pretty sure we all had a lot of fun (even though Toby was horrified that I devoured an unkosher burger at like 2 am).

On Sunday morning we enjoyed a traditional Jewish bagels, shmear, and lox brunch while rehashing the details of Saturday night’s shenanigans. Nay and I decided to take it easy until our 2 pm train back to Manchester.

Upon returning to Manchester on Sunday evening, we got to enjoy a delicious Italian dinner with some of Nay’s close and extended family members. Nay has two little cousins who are so in love with her – it’s so precious. It seriously warmed my heart to see them interacting. One asked me if we speak English in “Los Angel-leeze” which was also precious.

On Monday, Nay and her aunt had planned what most people would consider a fun day at the ice skating rink. As we know, though, I have issues conforming and I’m not like most people. I have gone ice-skating at least 10 times and for the life of me CANNOT balance and skate. Skating gives me serious anxiety because there are always those rail holders that either go too fast or too slow, as if they don’t know that MY pace is the correct one, and for the love of God do NOT get me started on the panic that instills when there is no railing to hold on to because apparently people need an entrance/exit or whatever.

Needless to say, I was not impressed with the ice skating plans. Nay tried to comfort me by saying that she wasn’t a greater skater herself, but obviously the second we hit the ice she turns into freaking Kristi Yamaguchi. Some girls just have it all. So, I had her use her powers for good and got to enjoy being pushed around the rink.

On Tuesday, I was set to fly back to Israel at 5:30 pm, which left me enough time to check off the last thing on my bucket list – a visit to Taco Bell. While Brits aren’t really familiar with the gourmet fast food chain, there are a few locations in England and I needed to get my fix. It was sort of embarrassing telling people that this was actually something I wanted to do – one of Nay’s younger cousins even asked me why I wanted to go so badly when their food is “rubbish.” My answer? It reminds me of home.

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SOOOO GOOD

While some menu items were different, I was able to get my fix and introduce my Brit to high quality Mexican food before heading back to the Holy Land.

All in all, it was an AMAZING trip that inspired me to do even more traveling while living abroad. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to live abroad, and going to England was a great blessing and gift.

Until next time x