One Month?! Amazing!

I said I would write, and write I shall. It is a wonder to me that I've been living in Israel a month. The first two and a half weeks touring with my dad and brother were such precious and exciting times. I am very thankful we took the time to make a thorough top to bottom survey of the Land before beginning our volunteer time. It was an essential acclimation without the pressure of meeting anyone else's needs.

My volunteer work is mostly manual labor varying from hotel style housekeeping to tree removal and parking lot policing. Everything is pleasant though. The hours are fair, if not lenient, and the supervisors are a delight to please. It does seem like all of Israel is getting married twice, considering how many weddings we have each week--sometimes several a day! I have acquired a deeper understanding of the term "ballagone".

Lately, I've been working in the gardens. I have to say that gardening in Israel really adds meaning to all the parables of Yeshua. Actually experiencing plants shooting up through the stony soil, having to separate out the tares, and stumbling on rare spices in the midst of fields transforms Scriptural passages from a philosophical commentaries to tangible analogies. And then to look out at the "mountains" around Jerusalem--ah! it's marvelous.

In addition to the weddings and special events, we have many interesting guest groups staying for longer periods of time at the lodgings. The past two weeks we've been hosting a group of archeologists from ABR. To my delight, they invited whomever wanted to join them for time out at their dig. After coordinating for several groups of the volunteers to go on their days off, I finally made it out this past Monday. What a thrill to be walking on the site, and being able to work in the squares instead of being told tersely to stay behind the designated lines! I found multitudes of pottery shards; some with intricate design work, a "dainty handle", several flint knives, and a stone with a ridged border carved in it. The stone was probably Hasmonean, but the pottery was generally Bronze 1. Such a sensation to hold even the shards in my hands; especially since some of the fragments were very similar to my own broken pottery items in ceramic class after a bisque firing!

That evening Sam and I caught a taxi into Tel Aviv to check out the local swing scene. I wasn't sure what to expect, since sometimes "swing dancing" turns out to be a group of slightly intoxicated 30s or 40s dancing to country western and sleazy '80s music. No need for concern--it was a fantastic bunch of true dancers with a great dj in a lovely studio with plenty of room and AC. I connected with some mutual friends and we had a wonderful hostess and accommodations for the evening. Even some surrogate doggies and kitties to keep us company!

The next day, we were graciously chauffeured to our aunt's house where we sat through the national security drill. It was more like a moment of reminiscing than any sort of military exercise. As soon as the alarms stopped, we promptly went shopping at the bazaar in Lud. Much good food was devoured, but I totally spaced on taking pictures.

Today's adventure: I cut my own bangs after work. Yes, they came out fine, Mom.

Thanks to everyone who is praying ardently for us. It is our prayer that anyone who can will join us whenever possible!

Welcome to Israel

When my father goes touring, it's mostly going and the touring happens in motion or not at all.
We landed in Tel Aviv, where it was balmy and overcast; not unlike San Diego in June. The whole process of collecting our luggage and disembarking was effcient and expediant.

I had already had some practice with my Hebrew in the airport, with a nice young guy who
teaches Hebrew in the bay area. It's funny how you don't make friends with anyone on your
plane until the second leg. A lot of people got on in San Francisco, didn't speak to each other unless sharing a seat and at the barest necessity. But suddenly, when we realize we're all waiting for the same plane in London, we're the best of friends!

Getting a sheirut to our moshav was so simple, I was still fumbling through our page of directions when we had already arrived. I did get to enjoy sitting next to an orthodox couple and their baby girl. So unbelievably cute, and after several aircraft with babies on board, I felt like an authority. She sang herself to sleep, probably still under a year old.

We got settled in our rooms at the moshav (pictures will come shortly), though we almost missed
dinner doing so. Our fellow volunteers hadn't realized that we wouldn't have eaten yet, but we made it at the last second and enjoyed our first taste of salads, hummus, tahina, pita, and fruit in Israel!

The next morning, the boys and I sent a quick voicemail to mom. I heart google talk; it just makes everything so easy, and FREE. Then it was running down the street, a driveway really, to catch the bus (yes, the bus stop is so close!) to Jerusalem. Now, dad had said we were just grabbing our tickets to Eilat and then regrouping, I didn't realize regrouping meant stopping for lunch before going a self-guided tour of the Old City! I wasn't exactly prepared, and by that I mean I had completely forgotten sunscreen. The irony is that all my friends who traveled to Israel before warned me specifically about being sunburnt in Jerusalem! Oy. I guess it was prophetic, and valid, since it was fulfilled! I am once again a bright Rudolph, with some oddly shaped patches on the top of my hands. Thankfully I had long sleeves or it would have been much worse.

Everyone seemed to have spent to much time in the sun that day or something, because many people were sick that evening. I had a little light unpleasantness, but it didn't prevent me from throwing my stuff in a backpack and joining the boys promptly for our bus to Eilat. Oh my word. After that bus trip, the new a couple months back about the tour bus that lost control and went over a cliff didn't seem like such an anomaly! On the way out of town, a competing company tried to cut our driver off--you would have thought they were counter spies sparring in Lamborghinis. It was crazy! And, I have never been on a bus that aggressively passed so many cars during the course of a trip! It would be far more nerve wracking if any of the other passengers had shown any concern, but everyone was so incredibly calm, I had no choice but to sit bakc and enjoy the ride. After all, we made it to Eilat.

Eilat is fantastic. If you have ever thought of coming, you should. The beaches aren't anything like the sandy stretches of California, but the water is so incredible it doesn't matter. I walked to the end of a pier where there were stairs into the water so snorkelers can enter the reefs. I was a little sad, because of a recent ear infection it wasn't the best thing to go snorkeling. But I didn't have to. I walked the bottom of the steps--waist deep in the water--and I was standing in a school of zebra fish. There were some bright blue ones that I think were angel fish too.The most amazing feeling, being surrounded by these beautiful creatures and yet unable to touch them! They were so fast; zipping around my legs and feet! It was so cool. And the vibe of the city is great; great places to eat, fun shopping bazaars, and sights.

The plan for tomorrow is to head out to Solomon's Mines and then Petra the next day.
Shabbat shalom! I won't forget the sunscreen.

Not True, and More Delicious Bits

I have decided my last post was just silly. There have been several occasions when good stories were begging to be told, and ample time presented itself for blogging. My excuse? I retired it already. Ridiculous!

I've realized that I don't need to be pressured by the superbloggers, whose blackberry hip attachments allow them to spew several entries a day--on schedule, no doubt. So, I've decided to return to my spontaneous, sporadic storytelling, recipe sharing, photo posting attempt at blogging.

We'll launch with my first attempt at making a trifle, no artificial ingredients.



I used my favorite recipe resource for the cake and custard. The cake came out a little heavy, so I think the author meant that instead of just mixing the heavy cream and vanilla, you need to whip it until stiff. The flavor was nice, so I'll try that adaptation next time and see what happens. The custard needs to be quadrupled, at least for the purpose of the trifle. I defrosted organic frozen strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. A portion of the juice served as the first layer, then cake sprinkled with 1/2 Tbs. brandy. The brandy could be doubled, maybe tripled too. Custard was spread over the cake layer, followed by berries and then whipped cream--before starting the whole process again. I used ground up almonds, chocolate, and toffee bits as a topping. Delish!