Shabbat Dinner & Host Family

On Friday night, Sarah and I finally met Becky, our host family contact. She is in her 60s or 70s and emigrated from Bulgaria when she was a child. She speaks very little English, but we were able to get by with the little Hebrew we know. We live in the very northern part of Ramla, and Becky lives in the very southern part. It should be about a half-hour walk, but it took us slightly longer because the streets aren't labeled well and we made a wrong turn.

We met Becky at her house, and then she drove us to her daughter's house in Be'er Ya'akov, which is a town right outside Ramla. Be'er Ya'akov is much nicer than Ramla; smaller and wealthier. Becky's daughter's house was large and beautiful, although we didn't see very much of it. Apparently each of Becky's children take turns hosting Shabbat dinner, changing houses each week. We met three of her four children (all grown), some of her 14 grandchildren, and some family friends. They were all very nice. Everyone but Becky speaks English, but they used Hebrew most of the time, it being their native tongue. I was able to pick out words and phrases here and there, and sometimes full sentences, but it was kind of awkward to not be able to follow the conversation.

At the end of the night, Becky's son Nisan drove us home. Nisan owns a security company that has surveillance systems in a large share of the municipal and commercial buildings in Ramla. We see his signs all over town.

It was a decent night.