Hello, hello! I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! I made mashed potatoes using herbs from my garden (very exciting!), bought $12 worth of Humboldt Fog cheese and a bottle of champagne, packed up the car, and drove down to Portland to spend the long weekend with my sisters and Trav. Trav's dad, Joe, and friend Jake joined us for a delicious dinner (chicken for them, tofurky for us), and we spent an enjoyable time eating, talking, and playing a fun card game that was new to me late into the evening. After drinking mimosas and wine throughout the day, and finishing the night with vodka mixed with Hansen's raspberry soda, Mols and I got a bit punchy. We laughed hysterically over things that could only be funny to us, such as the sexy shoulder shake and saying "Oil can!" out of the sides of our mouths a la the tin man from the Wizard of Oz.

Yeah. New to the card game, I lost quite a bit at first. The loser is supposed to shuffle, but I don't like to shuffle, and in my buzzed state I refused to do so, leaving poor Jake to deal the cards every time.

Oh, and I showed everyone my book, which I'll tell you about in a minute.

Friday night, we all took Trav to see the Zoo Lights. We left after the zoo closed, and as we pulled out of the parking lot, Trav started to wiggle around and promptly announced that he had to go to the bathroom. With no bathroom in sight, the four adults consulted and determined that we could pull over to the side of the road near the freeway entrance so he could go. But, when I came to a stop, he took one look, apparently decided roadside whizzing was undignified, and stated that he could wait until we got home. Are you sure? Yeah! So, off we went, with Trav asking a couple of times when we'd be home. About halfway there, we all were chatting, and Mols and Joe missed telling me a turn. As I circled around a few blocks to get back on track, driving through a quiet street, we slowed down to consult on the best way to go. Suddenly, a little three year old voice from the backseat called out with urgency, "I'm having an emergency!" I quickly veered to the side of the road and screeched to a halt. Mols speedily unhooked Trav from his seat, Jake hopped out the passenger side, moving the seat up so Trav and Joe could climb out, and they hightailed it over to a quiet spot where Trav relieved himself on some pavement.

I'm having an emergency!

So, the book. Last weekend, our Israel group got together for the first time since returning at the end of August. One of the totally amazing students, who took picture after picture everywhere we went, put together a book (you have to understand, a *real* book-book!) of photos of all of us in Israel. It. Is. Gorgeous. Well, minus the fact that in every picture with me is either from the back or the side or only includes a part of me (like, let's say, my boob when I'm sitting next to someone at lunch), AND/OR I'm either looking away, looking bored, making a funny face, or eating something. But, you know. Whatever. Besides that, it's fabulous, and it's not stopping me from showing it to absolutely everyone and giving what's turning out to be my "lecture" on the trip. It triggers a lot of memories, so I can just talk and talk! Most of my friends are now aware of this. If you know me, beware if you see me armed with it and heading your way. I even made the big boss at work take a look, although I condensed down the lecture since he's a very busy man. The book is dedicated in memory of the lovely Rosemary, which is completely perfect.

Friend Casey pointed out that I could have something special with the boob shots. I could do some garden gnome type thing at various international destinations. "Look, here's my boob in Paris next to some French guy. Here's my boobs at the wailing wall. There they are at the Taj Mahal!" We'll see.

Speaking of friend Casey, remind me one day to tell you about the email exchange I had with him and his friend, J, about the perceived bennies of dating divorced women with kids. As you can imagine, I had a lot to say about THAT! It was intense. At one point, one of the boys even brought Guitar Hero into the discussion.

Ooooo, and read Casey's story here at Thieves Jargon!

Friends and fam, I posted Israel pics to my Facebook page. For those of you with no FB, I'll post them somewhere else soon and let you know. I'm getting there! I still plan to write more about my trip soon, too.

As is the case lately, I'm a dud this week when it comes to entertaining blog posts. I have a lot of topics I can't write about at the moment, so...you get nothing. :) Sorry, Charlie. The secrets I must keep. Plus, I'm wrapped up in reading Eclipse and shopping for fall (shoes, shoes, and more shoes) and taking on my Regina George role in certain areas again (I am a mean girl, and it's fun!) and getting caught up on all the stuff I've let slide while being crazy-busy, even though I'm not crazy-busy right now but will be again soon. Someday I'll become interesting again.

I want to thank all the people in my world who have showed me what I call random acts of thoughtfulness and kindness this last week or so. It's been very nice.

Tutoring starts up again next week. I'm looking forward to seeing my student so much! I've missed her. And, I'll be helping another new student this year.

Since being home, I've been working on making more permanent changes to my eating and exercise habits. I'm trying really hard to eat locally grown vegetarian (and now more often, vegan) foods (soyalicious!), watch what and how much I eat, and exercise more regularly. Ever since my time at the beach in Tel-Aviv, I'm a fan of long walks, and I even rejoined the gym at work after a three year hiatus. It's going pretty well, and I feel like it's making a difference in my health overall. I love visiting the farmers markets to buy fruits and veggies, and I've changed where I shop for food on a regular basis. This was another one of my New Year's resolutions, and I'm marching on in continuing to fulfill those.

However, the one thing I don't want to do is become one of those annoying peeps who can only talk about how much she works out (or needs to work out) and how healthy she eats, depriving herself of things she likes and lecturing everyone on the number of calories in a Fran's chocolate stuffed fig (lurv those). Ugh. I've made my friends promise to notify me if I start heading that direction, especially if they start having the urge to slap me. NG. I mean, please. I ate Taco Bell on Sunday. Who are we kidding?

My French books are still sitting on a shelf untouched. It's the one resolution hanging over my head. I will start back up again!

For those of you interested in learning more about the women's rights in divorce in Israel, the UW's Women's Center is showing Sentenced to Marriage and hosting a panel discussion on October 29th at the Hillel Center. I don't see details on their site yet, but hopefully soon.

And finally, a nice Seattle Times article on the lovely Rosemary.

Well, my friends, I wish this blog wasn't so much doom and gloom lately, but life has been rough again recently. Earlier this week I found out that one of the students on my Israel trip died in a car accident in Jordan over the weekend. This is shocking news, and it's incredibly hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that she is gone. Rosemary was the other person in my room at the hostel to have her belongings stolen. We bonded from that experience and had picking up money at Western Union adventures together. We both love bubble tea and were thrilled to find a stand to buy it at one of the markets in Tel-Aviv. We had intense conversations about love, life and Islam, and, for 18 days, she was one of my constant roommates. She was a kind and generous person, always giving to others and offering insights to the group. She had a beautiful soul and was truly engaged in life. Rosemary had been travelling and studying abroad over the last year, concentrating her studies in the Middle East. We'd made plans with others in the group for a bunch of outings when she returned, and it's so hard to understand that she won't be returning, that more time with her won't happen. How can this beautiful, 29 year old woman no longer be? From the responses to the tragic news of her death, it's clear that Rosemary impacted so many people's lives in amazing ways, and she will be deeply missed by so many. I will miss her presence here very much.

I'm backity back! I'm sorry I've been out of touch for a while. I didn't really have internet access the last few days of my trip and, while I hoped to have time to get caught up while sitting at the airport in Tel Aviv, that plan was foiled when I got held up for hours at security, who confiscated my laptop AC adapter for "special screening" and then escorted me to my gate so I wouldn't miss my flight. They'd also unpacked my bags and separated out my souvs to pack in a separate box for some reason. Luckily, one of the nice, cute guys working behind the security counter very sweetly packed everything up, carefully wrapping my items in bubble wrap. Once that ordeal was over, I was SO GLAD to get on the plane. However...

It turned out the flight home was on a ghetto plane that was falling apart on the inside. No individual movie player that I was so looking forward to. In fact, the audio system didn't work for half the plane. Once settled in and airborne on my full flight, I discovered that the recline function in my seat was completely broken. I notified an attendant who leaned over the guy sitting in the aisle to remove the recline button with a key and then proceeded to wrestle around with my seat, trying to get it to budge. It didn't work. So then I started to cry envisioning sitting in the upright position, exhausted, the entire 12 hours of the flight to New York. I was at my limit. To cope, I popped a melatonin and worked on creating a cushiony "area" between my seat and the window using multiple pillows, my jacket, and the blanket. With that in place I was able to sleep for a good part of the flight, waking up frequently to change to a more comfortable position.

Then, at JFK, I ended up in a terminal with no wireless, so I couldn't get on the computer to figure out my transportation home from the airport in Seattle (my cellies were dead) or anything else. So, I ended up on a Shuttle Express with the chattiest driver ever, and I was never so glad to get home in my freakin life. Sheesh.

I had a really fun weekend hanging out with Mols and Trav, though. I'm just experiencing major jet lag. Around 4pm I start to crash pretty hard, and I slept a ton on Sunday. I'm hoping to get back to normal soon.

AND, I got everything sorted with bank account, credit cards, and my driver's license. I actually like my new driver's license pic much more, so that's one good thing that came out of the Tel Aviv Hostel Theft Debacle.

I have so much more to tell you about Israel, and I want to post some pics. I'll work on that over the next week, but for now, it's time to get ready for bed. And, I guess, watch the Hills so I can talk about it with my sis and Monice. Not to mention get my fill of eye rolling.

Even though I put up a few blog posts yesterday, I decided I want to write a bit more tonight. I don't know if I'll have internet access much the rest of the trip, as we're moving to the south tomorrow. The rest of the trip will be at the Dead Sea, Masada, and Wednesday night we'll be staying with Bedouins (am imagining tents in the desert, which is probably close to the truth). Then, it's back to Tel Aviv for our last day. I fly home at 1am on Friday morning, and I have to say that while I want to soak up every last bit of this experience, I'm also looking forward to coming home now. I'm ready to have my own space again.

Do you know what I'm really looking forward to? This is totally lame, but after all these days of no connection to my world as I know it, I'm actually excited for the long plane ride between Tel Aviv and New York to just do my own thing and watch movies. I can't wait to watch movies! It's silly.

I'm going to swim in the Dead Sea and cover myself with mud! I'm soooooo looking forward to that. It's like being a kid again. I'm the kind who still likes to stomp and splash in puddles, and I love the feel of mud. Tomorrow night we're also going to do some sort of night scout with flashlights by the Dead Sea.

Do you know what I'm really looking forward to? This is totally lame, but after all these days of no connection to my world as I know it, I'm actually excited for the long plane ride between Tel Aviv and New York to just do my own thing and watch movies. I can't wait to watch movies! It's silly.

I can tell that I'm just going to be very random and talk about whatever, with no real flow, here.

Music is still a big part of my trip. Naturally I'm so glad to have it. When I need some space, or just want to retreat into my own head for a bit, my earphones go in and my player switch is on. I'm revisiting some oldies on this trip, since that's mostly what was on my computer when I very quickly uploaded what I had onto my new player. I've listened to Damien Rice's O, which I hadn't heard in a long time. I'm still a sucker for "The Blower's Daughter" and was really happy to listen to it again. It's an incredibly beautiful love song that I never get sick of hearing. I totally fall for good love songs every time and can listen to them over and over again.

I still heart We Can Create by Maps. They are on my Awesome List forever. I hope to see them play sometime. I'm having fun listening to Beck's The Information, Rilo Kiley, and The White Stripes Icky Thump, also on the Awesome List. Before this I hadn't heard the entire Icky Thump album, and I've discovered it's special. It has songs I'd dedicate to each of the men I've dated (or something that sorta looks like dating if you want to be technical about it) over the past few years. One for each. There aren't many on the list, but these songs either sum up the person or the situation pretty perfectly. I should write the White Stripes to thank them. :)

Speaking of which, my online dating subscription runs out while I'm here. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it when I return. On one hand, I'd like to continue meeting people, but on the other hand, I haven't had much luck this route so far. I may take a break for a bit. Luckily, I have 18 hours of plane time to give my options some deep thought.

I'm so in love with the Song of Songs right now. It's been coming up on this trip, and it inspired me to read it again...I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.

Today when I was walking into a shopping and cafe part of Jerusalem, trailing a bit behind the group, a man with long wild hair, who I assume is homeless (and probably crazy), was heading my direction. As he was about to pass me, he came to a stop, stared for a moment, and then just said, "Jesus." He said it like Jesus the name, although I don't feel like he was calling me Jesus or anything. He said it very matter of fact, and I had no idea what he meant by it. I looked at him briefly and decided to just keep walking, since I tend to be wary about engaging in convos with the unstable, and he continued walking too. It was very bizarre and is stuck in my mind. I'm all, Jesus?

I think my sis and Trav are going to come visit me when I return, and my sis and I are hoping to go to Smash. I'm looking forward to taking her there. Yum!

I've decided the one good thing about having my wallet stolen is that I'll get to have a new driver's license photo in front of the horrid turquoise curtain. Goody! Not.

Well, I found out my coworkers (and friends, I guess) have volunteered me as a player on a newly-formed kickball team at work. We've been challenged by another department, so peeps got together to make a team and now we're having shirts made and everything. Wow, I can't believe the decisions that are made for me while I'm away. This is funny, because I haven't thought about kickball in ages, but recently one of my friends told me he's part of an extreme (or hardcore or something) kickball league, which I'd never heard of, so I had to look into that. Now all of a sudden I'm on a team at work??? Kickball is the new theme!

The good news is that I like to kick. The bad news is that I was never a stellar kickballer in grade school, so I have doubts that any skills have magically developed over the last 20 or so years. I'm wondering if I'll be that player on the team that causes everyone to groan when she's up to kick. Well fine. I'm fine with that. But I may need to have a drink before the big game.

OK, I just posted A LOT. I've been writing even when I don't have internet access, so I sat down to put it all up this evening for your enjoyment. A couple of the posts are very long, but I wanted to be sure to tell as much as I can, and I still feel like I'm hardly telling you anything. :)

Like I said, I'm usually typing really quickly to get things down and ready to be posted, so please forgive me all my errors in these posts.

I found a couple of cool rings at the market in Jerusalem today. I'm happy! Although, I don't feel like I have long enough to negotiate and really look for gifts to bring home. Sigh. We're always on a time crunch. Everyone will probably end up with mud from the Dead Sea. It's good for the complexion.

We're in Jerusalem until Monday. Today we visited the different quarters in Jerusalem and shopped at the markets. We went into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where you could "touch the hole" from the cross at the crucifixion, touch the slab of rock that Jesus was supposedly laid out on after, and visit his "tomb". While I don't think any of these are the real deal, the church itself is gorgeous and I enjoyed being in it. There were sooooo many people, though. I'll post pics of that soon. The next couple of days are going to be museums and the Knesset and foreign ministry. I'm looking forward to all of that!

So it’s turning out that a lot of places we’re at have very poor or no internet connection, which means I’m writing posts as a I go along to put up as soon as I can. It’s a bit frustrating being so disconnected, but I’m glad that I’m having time to write things to post now. For a few days there, we were sometimes going 15 hours a day, and I was exhausted with about zero time for myself. Whine, whine. But really I'm having a good time in spite of all the going and a few annoyances here and there.

The religion aspect of this trip has been very interesting for me. As you might expect, our group has a combination of beliefs, and we’re visiting a place that is the hub of three big religions. With no separation between church and state here, religion is always a part of daily life. That means people are often more than happy to talk about it, and I love it. I often find discussing religion at home to be very touchy. People either aren’t interested in discussing it (seeing it as too serious or unimportant). or aren’t open to exploring other points of view, or are so disconnected from what they believe and why that a talk hardly gets off the ground.

I didn’t go into this trip with real expectations of what my experience would be like, but I think I leaned more toward feeling a greater spiritual connection with god by being in the holy land. This hasn’t really been the case. Oddly enough, I have moments of greater connection, but they tend to be in random places, like on the bus, rather than at the Sea of Galilee or the Jordan River or even Jerusalem. I feel like over time humanity has sort of sucked the holiness out of these places. Sad but true. And, I have to say that although I respect the culture of the ultra-orthodox here, and feel fine with whatever way they choose to practice their beliefs, I’m NOT fine with the stories I hear about throwing stones at people for being “immodestly dressed” and stuff. What??? Really? Is this what you believe God truly wants? If so, that isn’t a god I’d want to have anything to do with anyway.

This has been an eye opening experience. Only, instead of my eyes going from closed to open, I think they’ve gotten wider as I observe more completely what I've suspected to be true. You see, while I’m a believer in god/higher power/universe, I don’t believe in religion. As it turns out, this isn’t always a very popular belief to have. Often times people don’t get that. They ask me, “What do you mean you have no religion? What were you born into and blahbitty blah?” So I try to explain my thought process on this. I talk about the fact that while I was born a Christian I don't identify with a particular church. I’m a believer and have faith in god, but I can’t in good conscience for myself participate in formal religious system. It feels wrong. I very much believe that religion is the root of a lot of the world’s problems, giving birth to false righteousness, and my time in Israel has totally confirmed that in a much bigger way than I'd anticipated. I’m troubled by all the horrible things that have been done in the name of religion with the underlying motives of power, greed, and control. I think religion breeds hyprocisy (I see that here even), and while we’re all hypocrites to some extent, it seems truly wrong to me to proselytize a doctrine to recruit or maintain followers while in practice covertly living by a whole other set of rules. I don’t think one particular religion is right over another, and I’m tired of the violence and mistreatment that occurs in the name of religion when it goes against the very thing that god represents. I don't see peace in the middle east happening anytime soon, and I think that's true within Israel itself.

The thing is that, for myself, I very much believe that I’m with god every day. I feel a loving presence in my life and believe that we are all born with this. I truly think we are given the inherent knowledge and a direct line to god within ourselves at the time of creation. If we could get over being afraid of taking a deeper look inside, of asking the questions we need to of ourselves, we could easily tap into that knowing without the rules and guidance of a specific doctrine. I realize that belonging to a religion has benefits in providing structure to those who thrive with that and a sense of community. In my eyes, though, religion distracts us from having a real relationship with a higher power by simply telling us what it is we should be doing or thinking. My hope is that one day human consciousness will evolve to a level of understanding that we are given what we need, making religion unnecessary, and perhaps even undesirable. Certainly I think it’s beneficial to ask questions of each other and learn together. I hope humanity will always do that, and I like the community aspect as well. But, I’d love to see a greater openness to learning, changing, and growing spiritually as we journey through our lives, and the absence of fear in where that journey will take us.

Outside of that, I’ve discovered that I have a real problem with religious dress codes, too. I feel rebellious and annoyed. Again I say, Really?? It just seems dumb that what you wear somehow makes you more religious. I remember my cousin telling me once that his work had a dress code, and he was glad, because, in his experience, when people have to dress professionally they also behave more professionally. I was like, Uh, I guess. I don't think that makes a difference to me, so it seems like a silly idea that wouldn't work in practice. I guess I feel the same way about religion. I don’t mind dressing in a way that honors a particular culture, but I think it’s really funny that people believe that wearing specific outfits makes them any more holy or respectful than the rest of us. Again, do people really believe that god gives a crap what we’re wearing? Was Jesus evaluating my outfit when I went into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? I don't understand the twisted logic that says dressing the part somehow make me a better Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, etc. I can put on a tennis skirt and grab a racket and still be a terrible player.

I wrote some of this blog entry while sitting next to the Sea of Galilee. It’s getting closer to sunset, and it’s sunny and warm, but breezy. I have to hold on to the pages of my notebook while writing so they don’t fly up and over my hand.

I'm writing quickly so I can get this posted. Please forgive my typos and mistakes!

A couple of random things I forgot to mention before. One thing I noticed in Tel-Aviv that I really liked is that women of all shapes and sizes wore bikinis on the beach, and that seemed perfectly fine here. I didn’t feel any weird competitive vibe between women or that people judged you for how you look at all. That was nice. Also, I’m really into a snack food I found called Bamba. It's like Smart Puffs, only instead of cheese there’s peanut butter instead. They are yummy and filling, not to mention a good source of protein, which I find, surprisingly, I’m lacking here at times.

I really enjoyed visiting Haifa, and I think I liked it even better than Tel-Aviv. It’s smaller with lots of great hills overlooking the ocean. We visited with some NGOs and saw the Bahai Gardens. The gardens are touted as one of the most beautiful in the world, and it really is pretty perfect, and perfectly symmetrical, but I find that kind of perfection too much almost. I like chaotic beauty a whole lot more. Also, they weren't very nice there. It's too bad, since I appreciate the Bahai belief system.

While in Haifa, I also saw friend Jason who made my life ten times better by handing off his digital camera to me. He and his brother and cousin picked me up and took me to dinner at a place where I could have something to eat other than falafel and hummus. I was so happy and will be forever grateful to them for indulging me in delicious food, even though they’d already eaten, and a discussion about religion. I love talking about religion, but I find that not very many people at home want to discuss it much. Here it’s so much a part of life that I notice most people are completely at ease and willing to talk about it. It was fascinating hearing about their beliefs and the culture here from their perspective (they’re Arabs). After dinner we went for a walk on the beach, and it was just fun to spend time with someone from home for a bit.

So, I wanted to talk a little bit about the educational system in Israel, because I find it so interesting. There is no separation between church and state here, and the Israeli government has come up with a core curriculum that is taught in three different school systems: secular, orthodox, and Arab. The basic curriculum is then adapted to a specific community, but there are issues, such as the ultra-orthodox have little interest in learning things like literature. Also, while Hebrew is required of course, my understanding is the Arabic is not so much. I’m sure you can imagine some of the other conflicts that come up with a Jewish-oriented curriculum.

There are 1.5 million K-12 kids and about 53,450 classrooms, which means 35-40 kids in a class. The computer to student ratio is Israel is 1:20 (compare to 1:3 in the US), and less than 2% of classrooms have things like projectors, wireless, and sound systems, although 75% of households in Israel have internet. The majority of textbook production is actually handled by an NGO called the Center for Educational Technology. We met with them and learned about the work they do to make textbooks more accurate and fitting for all the communities they serve. Before a textbook is published, it must go through an approval process with the Ministry of Education. In addition to textbooks, they have created a bunch of really cool online educational tools. For example, they’ve partnered with Google to create applications for Google Earth that add layers of information to the program. One they showed us marks all the places in the world where human rights are being violated. Another program they showed us is psoookim.com, which is actually a Facebook application, too, and users can upload content to the program. As you scroll through biblical text, pictures and links pop up that are related to that particular section. In our demo, we got to see Matt Bar “The Jewish Rapper” do a little rap about the creation story on YouTube. I recommend checking out the CET site.

From a meeting with another NGO, I’m disturbed by the plight of the migrant worker in Israel. There are over 100,000 illegal and 80,000 legal migrants in the state. Their situation isn’t very good. Often, they pay a hefty fee to an employment agency to come to Israel to work, and some agencies trick them by taking their money and then claiming that they never showed up etc, etc, when actually they did show up and are now here illegally due to that claim. Because of Israel’s concern with demographics, the government doesn’t want the migrant worker settling here permanently. They have very few rights and are often not informed of the rights they do have. If a woman shows up here pregnant or with children, she has to leave. If an employee decides to quit his/her job due to mistreatment, he/she immediately becomes an illegal and will be deported. At times the government will simultaneously issue orders to deport thousands of migrants and grant permits to bring in thousands more. They don’t want the migrants settling here, but they like the cheap labor and money-making opportunities they provide.

Essentially, the migrant workers are “invisible” here. Typically they earn way below minimum wage and maybe receive basic health care. They don’t know what rights they do have when they arrive, so often they are clueless about even minor ways to make their situation better. As part of our visit with the NGO we toured their neighborhood near the old bus station around 9-10pm. It was interesting because this is also the prostitution district in Tel-Aviv, so we walked by brothel after sex shop after brothel to get to the area where the migrant workers live. They didn’t like us being there, and doors and shades would close as we walked by. In spots, the streets smelled strongly of urine, and we passed a woman smoking crack in a doorway. Also, we saw men coming out of those and heading off to their nice cars or motorcycles, and the whole thing was a bit, well, sickening to me.

In the migrant’s areas it was a different story. It was an obviously poor area, but it still felt very bustling and alive in its own way. At the end there was a large city park with bright lights and a children’s playing area in the middle. At 10pm the grass was full of groups, mostly men, sitting and talking, and the children’s play area was packed with kids and parents. Kids were laughing and shouting from the jungle gym and swings. It was a very memorable experience, and I know I won’t ever forget it. But, it’s tough in the way that once you know something you can’t un-know it. Ultimately this is a good thing, but now I feel some social responsibility and like I want to do something to help make it better, even if that is in the States.

OK, I have tons more to say, but this post is already way too long, and it’s time for bed. In my next installment (har har), I want to talk religion, which, as I mentioned above, is one of my favorite topics. I have a lot to say about my experience here so far and how my feelings about religion have been affected by this visit. I shall return with more soon.

Today we move on to Jerusalem.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

The commercialization of Jesus at its finest. This is at the Christian baptism site at the Jordan River, and, yes, it costs you nine buck to be baptized in a rented robe. I’m sure if Jesus thought about how things would be in the future this is exactly how he would have wanted it. Baptism for a buck. Or nine.

But, you can all relax now knowing I filled up a couple of bottles of river water for my mom. Yes, I was the crazy lady dipping her plastic bottles in with the catfish. Good times.

I have so much to report from the past couple of days. Mainly, I want to talk about Israel's education system and the plight of migrant workers (not to mention our stroll through brothel central, which is located in the same area as the migrants). Both fascinating topics in my book, and I'm excited to write about what we've seen and done, but I'm so exhausted tonight that it will have to wait until tomorrow. There's a lot to say. Today on my player I heard Nada Surf's "Do It Again" and I had to agree with the lyrics. I *am* spending all my energy staying upright at the moment.

Stay tuned!

We're in Haifa now, which I'm finding very beautiful and nice. I think I like it better than Tel Aviv, but I have a couple of days to find out for sure.

After a debacle trying to pick up the money my fam sent me via Western Union on Friday, I finally got it yesterday, so everything here is pretty good right now. Thanks again to everyone for the help and offers of help!

I still really miss my rings though. My fingers look naked without them, and I see the tan lines where they were and I get a bit sad. They were worth nothing, but I found them beautiful and they've been with me through a lot. It's hard to let go of the sentimental value. I loved them. I'll get over it, I'm sure. I'm starting a search for replacement rings so my hands don't feel so bare.

Free Day

Today (Saturday) is our one and only free day on the trip. Most of the shops are closed for the Sabbath, so that means lots and lots of beach time. I really can’t get enough of the beach here. Yesterday, I spent about four hours out walking along the beach, stopping at a café for a wonderful Halloumi (squeaky cheese!) sandwich with olive tapenade, pickles, and tomatoes and delicious lemonade. The one thing I didn’t expect here is just how good the pickles would be. I love them! I ate my dinner at a table outside next to a big fountain with a good view of the beach. I sat there for a long time reading a little book of Rumi , writing in my journal, and watching the sun set over the water. After that, I took another long walk by the shore before calling it a day.

The food is nice here. I’ve had extremely good hummus and falafel at many places. The pizza is different but very tasty. Coffee = yum! They’re big on salad made of chopped up onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I’ve had some good rice dishes and other things that are pretty common at home (for example, at the university I had a veggie-type lasagna).

The beach during the day on a weekend is an experience. It’s pretty packed, yet you don’t feel overly crowded. You can pay about 20 shekels to rent a lounge chair and an umbrella, which I recommend because the sun and the sand gets so incredibly hot, so it’s nice to have some protection. All around is the buzz of voices talking in Hebrew and other languages. The lifeguards entertain me. Sections of the beach are marked as safe or unsafe for swimming, and they patrol what people are doing. They do this by yelling over a PA system. It cracks me up when the guard sighs audibly into the mic before shouting his orders. If it doesn’t appear that people understand, they will sometimes switch to broken English yelling things like, “Guy! Don’t! Come back!” or “Guy! No, no, no!” You can hear the finger wagging in his voice.

When I walk along the beach, I listen to the waves crashing on the shore and watch them make their mad dash back out to the sea. I like the background noise of snippets of conversations I can’t understand. The beach is full of families, couples, joggers, children playing, women sitting in the sand so the waves can wash over their legs, and friends having animated conversations. Pairs of people up and down the water hit a rubber ball back and forth to each other with wooden paddles. When it’s really busy, the most prominent sound of all is the plink! plunk! of the ball as it bounces from one person to the other.

Sometimes I like to listen to my MP3 player so I can take all this in while walking along to my own soundtrack. I set it to random play, and often it brings up perfect artists/songs for my thoughts. A little Goldfrapp. A little Catpower. Some Regina Spektor. A little Belle and Sebastian (song White Collar Boy, which somehow just fit this setting). PJ Harvey’s We Float, which is my fave by her. Band of Horses, Maps, Low. Silversun Pickups Little Lover’s So Polite, which I haven’t heard in a while. Blur, Jarvis Cocker, Lily Allen. All goodies. I walk along listening to this music I love feeling so content, relaxed and at peace. I can think about anything or maybe nothing at all, and keep the same level of tranquility, not to mention a greater sense of objectivity. Any problems or worries or annoyances I have at home seem so far away (and, I mean, they are), and I’m totally connected to this place and moment. I realize that, in spite of what I may think at different times in daily life, overall I am really truly happy.

You know those games at arcades with the claw that you maneuver to try to capture a stuffed animal? Well, they have the same thing here, too, sometimes out on the street, except replace the plush toys with packs of cigarettes. Yeah. It’s funny. There is one in Jaffa, and when someone tries to go for a pack, people often gather to cheer the person on. At the top of the game, there is a decorative band painted on with the words Baby Party. So strange.

I feel like you all have mostly heard about my tales of woe, rather than my actual trip. The amount of learning happening here for me is incredible. It’s intense. I came into this experience knowing very little about Judaism, and while I certainly don’t consider myself an expert by any means, I think I’m way better informed and open to learning more. It’s amazing to me how this religion/culture has survived after facing so much adversity and displacement of its people over the centuries. The Diaspora Museum was a real eye opener. The one thing that really impresses me about the religion is the emphasis on questioning everything, to never stop asking questions. There is a quote by a rabbi in the museum that says something along the lines that a rabbi isn’t doing his job if his congregation isn’t disagreeing with him, and I thought that was cool. I totally respect that.

Yesterday, we met with a person from the NGO Reut, which focuses on relations between the Arabs and the Jews. We got to tour one of the Arab neighborhoods in Jaffa, and all I can say is wow. It’s clear that the government here puts about zero dollars into maintaining these communities. Our guide talked a lot about the history of the Palestinians and the issues related to property ownership by Arabs (which basically boils down to them not getting to own any). A couple of our talks at Tel-Aviv University focused on Israeli/Arab relations, too, and the more you learn the messier and complicated the situation appears.

There has been a lot of discussion as well as some talks on the rabbinical law, especially in relation to marriage and divorce. For orthodox women, obtaining a divorce (called a “get” here) can be very difficult, since under the rabbinic courts a husband has to “grant” his wife a divorce, based on the rules of the religion. Thanks a lot Deuteronomy 24:1! While there is a movement to encourage rabbinic courts to incorporate democratic principles into their decisions, about 38% of women who file are subject to get extortion. This means in the matter of divorce men hold the majority of the power, which makes this a matter of justice that needs to be fixed on a systemic level. Suddenly it’s Judaism vs. democracy, and the goal is to figure out how to make a fair system that also preserves Jewish values. We heard accounts of women who have been held hostage for years (up to 15 in one case), basically, by their husbands who refuse to grant them a divorce, even when the man is off living a new life with some other woman. In 2003, among 11,000 cases filed, the rabbinic court issued only 10 decisions compelling a husband to divorce his wife. The good news that increases a woman’s power a bit now is that she can seek damages from a husband who won’t give a get, but the process is still far from fair. The talk by Suzan Weis at Tel-Aviv U was really interesting, and I encourage you to take a look at the Center for Women’s Justice site.

Also, we’ve learned some interesting things about Israel’s education system, which I’ll probably share in another post, because I hear the beach calling me again on this one free day.:-) More soon!

OK, I'm back and in way better spirits. Everyone has been so amazing helping me figure things out. My work peeps rounded up a bunch of money to send me, and of course my family is on it. Everyone is jumping in to help, and, again, I feel so cared for by so many people. Thank you so much! Especially to my sis, Molly, who called all my credit card companies at about midnight her time to cancel all my cards (successfully). She rocks. Monice got on the horn and yelled at some people on my behalf, which was awesome, especially for me to imagine. She gets things done, too, man. The former student is insisting that I take his camera for the rest of the trip when I meet up with him, so I don't have to replace it here. So sweet all around! I even had a faculty member from our department call to make sure I'm ok and to find out if I needed any money.

Thanks to everyone who put in money at work. It may sound corny, but it totally touched my heart to hear this, and it feels good knowing that no one is going to let me sink in Tel-Aviv! :)

Now All You Need Is Love is on the player at the internet cafe! Another goody. It's making me really happy.

The day got a lot better. The lectures and tour of the Diaspora Museum were so interesting. I'm learning so much. It's insane. I hope I remember a fraction of it. Around noon, I decided that everything is ok, and I really wasn't very upset about being robbed anymore. Not even angry. I still don't like it, but things happen. I just hope the person who gets my beloved (but worthless) rings appreciates them.

To add to my banner day, I totally had an embarrassing moment when I stepped off the bus at our dinner location. I was the first one out the back door, talking on my cell, and I took a few steps onto a grate that was actually forcefully blowing a bunch of air upwards. I had on a fairly short flowy skirt, which immediately flew up exposing my thong underwear to the students. Argh! I quickly pushed the skirt down and hopped off the grate, but still. Those who saw were really funny and cute about it. They were like, "It's your Marilyn Monroe moment! Your face even looked like Marilyn's!"

Sigh. Of course!

I have a feeling I'm the new comedy/entertainment for the 20-somethings.

Bad start to this morning. I woke up to discover that my wallet, rings, and camera were stolen out of our room. :( Another girl in my room had her wallet stolen and her passports. Luckily, I still have my passport and a credit card, but I have no cash and am going to have to ask my family to send me some, I guess. I was really, really upset, but also feel lucky to not be totally wiped out. Sigh. I'm going to have to do something about my camera, and I'm totally missing my rings. They have no value, but I've had them forever and was totally attached to them. Part of me wants to come home after this, but a bigger part of me really wants to stay and not let one a-hole ruin my time, so I'm going to stay. I'll figure everything else out. Just such a total bummer in every way. More details soon.

Tonight I've escaped for a bit to an internet cafe. The past couple of days have been extremely interesting and so busy, but I'm feeling a bit worn out tonight. Let It Be started playing while I was sitting here typing away, and it made me a little teary. That song always has that effect on me, but to a different degree every time.

I really, truly love it here! The city is cool with a mellow vibe. It's very resort beachy, and it almost reminds me of Hawaii in some ways. Although I'm not loving the hostel situation, at the moment, of sharing a pretty small room with three early 20-somethings. They're all really nice, but I'm oldish and definitely have an introvert side that makes me crave time alone...not to mention my own bathroom. Time alone is not really the thing on this trip.

The students are great, though, all very nice and friendly. They seem to want to include me in their free time activities, which is sweet. For some reason, this one guy keeps calling me "Brenda" and now it's catching on with the other students, because they hear him calling me that, so I guess they think my name is Brenda. I'm all, Brenda? Who's Brenda? Whatever, man. Also, one girl told me I'm like "the good mom" of the group, since I seem to have the supplies people need in my backpack at all times. I guess. Heh. And, I've already listened to and counseled one girl with her boy problems. We had a heart-to-heart about men and how they think and signs of who is and isn't good to date. I feel I had some wisdom to impart on this topic, so I did. I think she took it under advisement. But, really, who knows?

Last night the group met up to officially start the program. I spent a few hours of the first day at the beach and then walked all over the city with one of the students. The Mediterranean is so very beautiful and warm. I'm making a point to spend time there every day. The sand is very fine and soft, and I love walking in it, especially in the evenings. We had dinner on the beach last night, and it was cool to walk back along the water, looking at the moon, and all the people hanging out. This is truly the city that never sleeps (the orthodox call it "Sin City"). There are people out and about until all hours, and things stay open until way late. Many of the bars and clubs don't even get going until after midnight. Not that I'm really clubbing it at this point. Nope. Instead I'm hanging out at internet cafes, at least today.

Today, we toured Tel-Aviv and Jaffa. We started at 8:30am and got back to the hostel around 7pm. I learned lots of interesting things that I'm excited to write about, but I'm afraid my time is limited. Plus, my brain is pretty tired, so I doubt I'd make much sense. I'll try uploading a couple pics, though.

Tomorrow we'll spend at Tel-Aviv University, attending lectures mostly. Friday we'll be meeting with Reut, an NGO that deals with peaceful relations between Jews and Arabs. Then we'll be going to the artists market, Nahalat Binyamin. Saturday is a free day, and Sunday is a technology day where we visit different technological institutes/companies. We'll also meet with another NGO that addresses issues of foreign workers in Israel and explore the other side of Tel-Aviv night life (looking at darker social issues such as prostitution, trafficking of women, etc.). On Monday, we'll head north to Haifa and Galilee. In Haifa I may meet up with one of my former students who is there for the summer. He seems really excited about showing me around the town, and I think that could be fun. I think.

I'm learning the lay of the land quickly. I know places to go to shop for basic necessities at a good price. I negotiated a bit at a flea market in Jaffa today. It's interesting to see how they price things in shekels. The food is delicious. I love falafel, although I may find that I never want to see another falafel again after a couple of weeks of eating it daily. :)

I think I'm going to stop with the deets now, as I really should head back soon to get good sleep for tomorrow. I miss everyone!

Hello from Tel-Aviv! Or, I guess I could say, Shalom. :)

I arrived after a fairly uneventful, although long, 20 hours of travel. It went by much faster than I expected, probably because I slept away a good chunk of the flight from Atlanta to here. I'm tired now, but I'm staying up for a bit to try to go for a regular night of sleep (it's about 10:30pm, and we are 10 hours ahead of my peeps in Seattle) in preparation for the program starting tomorrow evening. I can't wait! I felt so happy and excited when we landed at the beautiful Ben Gurion airport. It has this cool dome thing in the center of one area where water falls, like rain, into a small pool.

The hostel--48 Haryakon--is interesting. I'm paying a small fortune to have a private room my first night, with TV and own bathroom, since I'll be sharing with the students after today. It's kind of dumpy and noisy, but the privacy is nice, and I can watch Will and Grace with Hebrew subtitles. It's really good to have a bit of space right now and well-worth it, since I'm worn out from traveling. Plus, I'm the kind who shows up at a place like the Hilton and wipes the remotes down with anti-bacterial clothes, so I mean, I'm funny about these things. The best part is that the hostel is one block from the fantastic beach! The Mediterranean is gorgeous, and there's a really nice, relaxed vibe here. It's amazing, and I like how it smells. I think I'll spend some time there tomorrow.

I started reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight on the plane, and I'm about 350 pages in. I'm so into it. It's exactly the kind of love story I find appealing, and I'm excited that there are three more books to read after this!

There was such a mix of people waiting to board the plane in Atlanta. There was what appeared to be a church youth group heading this way. I gleaned this information while waiting behind a few pre-teens in the security line. One was having trouble getting through the detector with his foil-wrapped burrito, and a girl with him said, "God doesn't want you to have that burrito." She seemed rather serious about it, too. Of course, I snickered to myself and whipped out my cell phone to text that little exchange to others.

I love it when people say "Shalom" to me, and I like saying it back. I can't help but hear it and say it like Uncle Andy on Weeds, though. That makes me laugh, and I can't shake it.

It's so strange to keep thinking, I'm in the Middle East. It's hard to believe I'm actually here.

I'm backity-back after a lovely and relaxing mini-vacay. My friend, Chris, was a great hostess. I appreciate her shuttling me around to visit family and friends, browsing bookstores with me, touring an old mansion and the Cathedral of St. Paul, accommodating my food cravings, going bowling, and just overall making me feel welcome and relaxed. I had a fabulous time. Seriously, we ate so much delicious food, which is always a must for my vacations. One night, after a wonderful sushi dinner, she even remembered my craving for ice cream after sushi and cheerfully stopped at a local DQ. There we spent $16 ($16!!!) on a small blizzard, a peanut buster parfait, and a box of dilly bars. $16! Ouch! I haven't been to DQ in 10 years or something. The times have certainly changed, my friends. We cracked up about that one.

Chris got us tickets to the Swell Season show in Minneapolis, and it was fun to see them again. Also, she bought me the Artist's Den DVD from their show here, AND gave me some other cool gifts, including handmade coasters of Yoshitomo Nara prints. It was such an incredibly thoughtful and unique present. They are so cute! I brought a few in to work so I can look at them during the day, too. Thanks for everything, C-Note!

Well, peeps, after a several month hiatus, I'm jumping back into the murky world of online dating. Here I go! Woooooo! I need more consistent material for the Super Secret Dating Blog, you see. Good times. Well...maybe. I'll be totally honest here and say that my previous attempts have been half-hearted at best. I tend to go in ambivalent and easily overwhelmed by the process. But, I think I'm now in a place to approach it more openly and with renewed energy. As I've talked about (far too often for some, I'm sure) here, the last year+ has been a time of introspection, learning, processing what I've learned, and more clearly defining what I want and need. As we know, there have been a lot of ups and downs, yet I now feel healthier, more grounded and whole. I like being single, but my end goal isn't to remain single indefinitely, and, let's face, it, I can use all the practice I can get. Plus, entertainment. My single girlfriends, like ConjugatetheInfinitive, are great support and inspiration. And, well, I'm ready to be out there again...I think. Heh.

I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday morning, I heard and danced to Instant Karma on the radio. Today, I heard and instantly connected with Phantom Planet's Knowitall. It's definitely my theme song. I am a know-it-all.

Oooooooh, I now have the itinerary for the Israel trip. I'll share in my next entry. I'm so excited!

More regular posting soon, but I'm super excited to share that I received an award to go on a study abroad program to *Israel* for ten days this summer! I can hardly believe it, and at this point it's difficult to wrap my mind around the idea of being there. I have moments of feeling a tiny bit nervous, especially when people (even my doctor) keep asking me, "Is it safe?", but primarily I'm just super happy to have this opportunity. Israel isn't a place I'd visit on my own, and this program offers an inside look I wouldn't have just traveling there myself. I'll have more details about when and where soon, which I'm sure I'll share with all of you. Then it will feel like more of a reality. Yay!