...we had our third annual Yom HaAtzmaut BBQ

I will start this post on a topic other than storks and the Golan, but I cannot promise that it will stay there.

Sometimes I feel like I am still a new olah (a new immigrant), but other times, I feel like my first five months in ulpan, my summer in Kiryat Gat, and even my time working in preschool are ancient history.  I have been in my lab for over a year.  I have made so many new friends too.  A year ago, the vast majority of my friends were "ulpan friends," friends I met at Ulpan Etzion when I should have be learning Hebrew. Thankfully, I made those strong friendships in ulpan; those friends are probably the reason I stayed in Israel.  But as time goes on, I can now say that the majority of my friends are not "ulpan friends." I have friends from school and the lab, from other ulpans, from friends of "ulpan friends," and from friends of friends of "ulpan friends."   I am so glad to have such a strong friend group, they are all I have here--the people I celebrate with, study with, and do silly things with.

Our first year in Israel, we had a lovely Yom HaAztmaut BBQ in the park, and our second year in Israel we had another lovely BBQ in the park.  This year, we also had a lovely BBQ in the park.  It almost wasn't lovely, though.  The weather was gray and dreary, showers were forecast, and it was cold!  Over the years (3 now!!) we have learned to plan a good BBQ.  Sign-ups for food, requests of picnic blankets and sports equipment, bringing garbage bags, tongs, etc.  We never had to change the weather though. We had a few back up option for varying amounts of rain, and at 11am we made the decision: we were doing int in the park, the way the holiday was supposed to be celebrated.

The national showing this year at the park was much less than in the past, but that was good for us, because we have more friends now than in the past.  It was easy to find a spot and there were room for all of us.  And although it was cold and cloudy, there weren't more than 17 rain drops.  And I even managed to get sun burnt.

This year, the BBQ was different than the other two in that it was only about half "ulpan friends."  The other half were friends of friends of friends.  There were even people there that I didn't know and I organized it.  It is an ulpan/olim BBQ though, and as the year goes on, I know the group celebrating will fluctuate each year, but as one friend said (and I really hope it's true), we've made it three years, that means we have to do it forever, and in however many years, we're all going to be sitting around and our kids are going to be here barbecuing for us.  What a great wish for the future!

Everyone who came met new people, caught up with old friends (we have those now) they hadn't seen in a while, and left with a full tummy.  One of my (non-ulpan) friends made a video of the festivities (Thanks Eliyahu!!).  I have a sideways sitting part at about 32 seconds.  Enjoy.  (No storks this time.  We'll see about the next post...)