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Wrap up on our Israel trip – by Moochie, Zoi and special guest – Yiayia

Hello this is Emilio – we left from our friends home today and we walked up a big hill but I got a taxi with baba and Yiayia because Yiayia can’t walk that far.
imageWe walked on top of the wall of the old city of Jerusalem. We started from Jaffa gate. Yiayia didn’t come with us – she went on her own to a Greek Church. The wall was very fun. An old lady dropped a bag of tomatoes and we helped her pick them up. We saw three men playing music – I ran over to them and gave them some coins and they said ‘Thank-you’. We walked all the way to Damascus gate and waited there for Martin and Carolyn and we had a souvlaki burger which was yummy.

Then we walked to a cave that was really big and also fun because we found a little waterfall.
We walked all the way back to Jaffa gate and waited there for Yiayia. She was slow to come back so we went on the wall of the old city in the south part to a big wall where people were praying and clapping and singing.

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On the way home we saw some people climbing and being filmed for the television. Then we got home and played with the other kids who got home from school. I better go and play now – goodbye from Emilio.

 

 

imageloved playing with Zahra and her toys. She had such good toys.

imageMy best thing was going to the Jerusalem zoo for my sister Kalika’s birthday. We got to feed birds some special food that they gave us.

 

 

imageI really liked the waterfalls cause it felt nice to have the water going down on me.

 

 

 

 

 

imageWe had the boys from downstairs come to dinner with us and they were Gabe and Ned – Gabe was the little boy and Ned was the big boy. Gabe was very strong – he even got Emilio down in the tent. It was even funner with two more kids, but it was rougher.

imageI loved running along the old Jerusalem city wall – but only a tiny bit cause our friends’ house was even more fun.

Carolyn and Martin picked us up very late at night. One day they met us at the old city and took us out for lunch and showed us some caves.

I really liked Israel.

by Zoi

 

imageIsrael was so nice. It was wonderful to see these lovely friends of Christos and Sandy picking us up in the middle of the night.
They took us home and they even gave me their bedroom – holy sweet Virgin Mary they were so nice.

The next day they took us on an excursion to a nice national park and waterfalls and they helped me to get under the waterfall – it felt so nice.

imageThen we went to the Dead Sea where they plastered me in mud and they helped me to get in the water. Toby got me in the water first and told me I would float but I got scared cause one leg was going up and the other on the ground. I got a fright. Toby was laughing and some other tourists had to help me.

 

 

image imageBut then Martin and Christos held my hand and we went in and I floated. It was very good for my legs. Then we had to climb up the big hill again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image imageWe went to a monastery called Agios Gerasimos near Jericho and it was nice to light some candles there.

imageWe went to the Jordan river where Jesus was baptised and we dipped in the water too. It was so nice and very weird that one side was Israel and the other was Jordan. There were guards on both sides.

We went to the old city of Jerusalem to a church called ‘Naos of St Anastasios’ where Jesus tomb was and where he was crucified.

imageWe also even went to Bethlehem – I got to see were Jesus was baptised, where he was born and where he died. I felt very good. We met the man who is the key-holder for the church of Anastasios where Jesus died. He was very nice and told us stories.

image imageMartin and Carolyn and the kids were such nice nice people. The last day we all cooked together and I made them a cheese pita. We had a short rest and then they had to take us to the airport at 1.30am because we needed to have 3 hours to go through security at the airport. So nice of them to drive us.

By Yiayia Vasiliki

 

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Kiki’s 8th Birthday in Jerusalem and Bethlehem

My 8th birthday in Jerusalem

imageOur friends, Zahra, Alex and Marcus, had a day off school on my birthday and we went to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. It was awesome fun.

 

 

imageThere were lots of animals like elephants, monkeys, frogs and snakes.

imageThere were two zebras – one was biting the others bottom and the other zebra was kicking it in the face with it’s back legs – as if to say ‘stop it’. It was so funny to watch. We went to a cafe which was on a boat called ‘Noah’s Ark’. There was a little cinema there where we watched a short movie about a man who collected animals and gave them to the zoo.

 

 

 

 

 
imageWe got a little cup of sort of milky nectar stuff to feed the birds. When you wanted to move on and feed another bird they would hold on to the little cup with their claws. One of the birds bit me and it hurt so much I spilled so much of the nectar.
imageThere was an awesome park that we went to. It had mosaic climbing sculptures and Tony, Alex and I were climbing on them and pretending we were in jail. Then I played with Yasi, Marcus and Zahra
We were playing a game where we had a space ship and Toby and Alex were the bad guys. They were going to wreck our planet and we had to save it. We won.
When we were back at the entrance we had an ice cream which was nice cause it was very very hot. I had a silver coated magnum which was so delicious.

imageFor my special dinner we had lasagne and an amazing salad. it was really really yummy and Carolyn is the best cook.

 

 

image After dinner we had the best cake – it was a berry cheesecake. imageIt was so awesome because there was a rocket fireworks candle in the middle and it went up sparkling.
For my birthday I got the movie Frozen from mummy and baba and three vouchers. One was for the Jerusalem zoo, one was to go scuba diving with our friends in Ios and also the other was going to a water park in Crete with my friends Isabella, Manolis and Alex. From Carolyn and Martin and the kids I got a babushka doll to make out of fabric, a notebook and a mask making kit. They are awesome. I also got some cards and loom bands from my grandma and uncle Ricky’s family.
It was an awesome birthday but I also wish my friend Charlotte from Australia was there. I miss her so so so so so so so so much.

by Kikibelle

I’m so glad that Kiki had a great birthday – Carolyn and Martin were amazing hosts and helped to make her day fabulous. imageBefore we went to the zoo we thought we would make a side trip to Bethlehem to see the birth church of Jesus. It was definitely an eye opener. Bethlehem is in Area A which means it’s under Palestinian control but also that you have to go through a checkpoint – getting in didn’t take too long cause we showed our Greek/Australian passports but it dawned on me that when we got in – the hire car that Sandy was driving and following Carolyn isn’t insured in the West Bank. I was so so worried of having an accident because it would mean our trip was over and we would have to come home if we had a car bill. Anyway – all was well in the end and I was so glad that Sandy was driving cause I can be a bit of a stress head in very built up busy areas, especially parking in tricky situations.
imageAnyway – we got to the church and saw the line of people that wanted to see the birthplace – my immediate thought was ‘we don’t really need to see it that badly’ (I just don’t do lines). imageHowever  Carolyn chatted to a guide and it wasn’t too expensive and he quickly whisked us into a procession and put candles in our hands so we looked like we were there from the start and straight down to the birth chamber. – it was wonderful to hear the Franciscan monks chanting during the procession. So we were in and out of the church within about 1/2 and hour. A very efficient visit and Yiayia was ever so pleased.

imageimageThe kids loved playing chasey in Bethlehem square while the Sandy and Carolyn picked up the cars from goodness knows how far away they had to park!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

imageIt took forever to get out through the checkpoint – driving along the imposing wall. Tuesday 6th of May was Israel Independence Day which means that the checkpoints were closed to all Palestinian traffic – they couldn’t get out even if they worked in ‘Israel’. imageAnyway I breathed a sigh of relief when we got through the checkpoint and our car was insured once more – and on to the zoo for Kiki’s special day.

by Baba Miliking