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On the road again...
I'm very jealous of all my writer friends who are currently winging their way to RWA Nationals in Orlando this year. My only consolation is that next year it's in NY and I'm there! It's not like I haven't gotten to travel this summer, cause I have. In fact, much of it is mini-road trips to see my honey. So I've discovered the wonderful concept of books on CD. The last time I tried these, I always went for books I knew. Books that were familiar, and that I knew would make me laugh. This time around, I'm trying authors I know but books I haven't read. So far they keep me entertained...as long as I have enough caffeine. And yes, we all know what caffeine does to me. But as R puts it, I have about a 2 hour attention span, and the trip is 3 hours. You do the math. Right now I'm "reading" JD Robb's Salvation in Death. Not sure what I'll pick up next. One friend suggested the Harry Potter series. Any other suggestions?Labels: books, travel
Visits, packing, and trips...oh my!
Last week one of my dearest friends from high school came to visit. She visits about once a year, so finding new and fun stuff to do is always a challenge. This time around we drove up to my aunt's cabin for a couple of days. It was so beautiful and so quiet up there. The best part? Lots of time to relax with good laughs. She left the other day and now I've started packing up my books. I figure they are an easy place to start. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, because frankly I don't have the space to put the boxes...but I needed to make a dent. It's weird, sitting here next to a nearly empty boookcase. And very soon I'll be off to Vegas for Girls' Weekend. NYC and A (of last week's visit) will join me in laughing my rear off for a few days. Now if I can just stay focused enough on my revisions before I leave...Labels: random musings, travel
Home sweet home...
I'm finally home from L.A. (well, technically, I got home on Sunday, but haven't really been in MY home all week), with lots of pictures. What a great way to start my summer break! Sun, good food, fabulous friends, and flights that took off and landed on time. What more can a gal ask for? Pictures you say? Well, that I can do. So while I'm working on revisions and marvelling that I haven't managed to kill the orchid a student gave me, enjoy! It's all about brunch. Or was it lunch? Frankly, time seemed to run together. But The Newsroom, just up the road from the now famous Ivy, had some of the best french toast ever! After a long day wandering around Los Angeles, we drove up to The Getty Museum. The museum has some of the best views in the city. After wandering through one of the photo exhibits, and grabbing a snack, we took a few moments to relax before getting ready for the evening's entertainment...The Groundlings Theater. The trip would not have been complete without a visit to Venice Beach. Have I mentioned how much I love the water? And the beach? I wanted to stay here all day...but we had things to do. Like find C's fiance who'd gone off to park the car. Eventually she called him to find out where he was. You'd think she was famous, the way she avoided the camera, though. She's got it down to an art.Labels: summer vacation, travel
Pudding brain not-withstanding...
Okay, okay, I know I'm at fault here. I'm horribly late with updating you all on the every exciting life I lead, and I should apologize. But I won't. I came back from the RWA National conference with just enough time to grocery shop and re-pack, before leaving again to celebrate Bubbe's 80th birthday back in Michigan. I got to spend some quality family time this last week...complete with mini-golf. All I want to know is, how in the world did two athletic people (ie. my parents) create me? I have no grace when it comes to sports. Heck, I'm just proud I scored better than my 9 year old cousin. The week was very much like reverting to my 5 year old self. How is it that I can be almost 30 years old and yet the minute I return to my grandmother's home I might as well still be in elementary school? Now that I'm home, I'm busy running around getting ready for the new school year. I spent most of yesterday at work, pulling my classroom together with the help of about 5-7 volunteers. These ladies and gents were amazing. They willingly took on some of the nastier jobs...like labeling the books in my class library with genre and cleaning out my printer. I'm scrambling to get as much writing in as possible before work starts in reality...which means that things are definitely not boring around here. But I haven't forgotton all of you. Over the next week or so I promise to show you pictures of my trip to San Francisco (the tourist part with mom, not the conference...you've already seen all of those). I may even throw in some photos from Michigan. Who knows. You'll just have to come back and see.Labels: random musings, travel
Hurricane Erin...
Sorry for the gap, ladies and gents. I just returned yesterday from a family trip to Hawaii. 14 of us gathered to help celebrate my grandmother's 75 birthday. The good news? I managed to escape without any embarrassing questions about boyfriends, when I'm getting married, or providing great-grandbabies. Thank goodness.Of course, if you've paid attention to the news, or the Weather Channel, you already know this was no simple vacation. No, not my family. We like to throw a measure of danger in, when we can. So here you go, a list of our "adventures": narrowly missed Hurricane Flossie (which went over the Big Island where we stayed, just in the south end), Tsunami warnings thanks to the earthquake in Peru, an earthquake in Hilo (on the other side from where we stayed)...I'm sure I'm missing other natural disasters. Then there was the getting stuck in an elevator with my cousin. We left Mom & Co. in the lounge to head back to our rooms on the other side of the hotel. Since we were on the 5th floor, we took the elevator. It stopped at the third floor to let off one lady, then continued up to 5. I think. It stopped at 5 but the doors didn't open. Then it moved, maybe back down to 2? Again the car stopped but the doors remained shut. We went up and down for what felt like 5 minutes, trying to call various relatives, before I found the phone box on the elevator. At this point my poor cousin was curled up in the fetal position rocking back and forth. Thankfully they got a maintenance man up to us pretty quickly, but we still don't really know what happened. Needless to say, we took the stairs up after that.I promise, there were good times too...but those will have to be another post. Labels: travel
Day 9 - aka our last day...
Despite what the time stamp on my photos says, our last day was July 4th, which in Israel isn't really considered a holiday. Can't blame them, really. Why celebrate an American holiday? Our last day took on an  "independence" theme in honor of the event. In the  morning we visited Old Jaffa, an neighborhood of Tel Aviv known for it's art galleries. The art has expanded past the walls of the individual galleries, and spilled out into the streets. After our gallery wanderings, during which a friend and I managed to get lost in the not-so nice section of Jaffa (yeah, don't really know how it happened. We were trying to find the meeting place. Good thing we left extra early.), the group visited Dizengoff House, also known as Independence Hall. This one-time home belonged to the first mayor of Tel Aviv. It was from this house on May 14, 1948 that David Ben Gurion announced the establishment of the State of  Israel. His radio broadcast was heard around the world, and celebrations took place all over: New York, Detroit, L.A.
 Then it was on to lunch, finishing packing and relaxing before our final party and flights home. And party we did. We partied all night long...or at least until the buses came to pick us up for the ride to the airport. We had our own personal 4th of July celebration, complete with fireworks and  dancing.  Labels: happy times, travel
Day 8 - onwards to Tel Aviv
 Day 8 dawned with The Mutt Bus splitting up for the day. Members of our group from San Diego and Los Angeles went off to meet with their Federations' sister cities. The rest of us visited a place called Suzanne's House, a program helping at-risk and abused teens. In this program they are taught artisan skills, as well as business and management skills. They make some of the most beautiful glass work I've seen. They make beads, plates, jewelry, and a ton of other stuff.  After our visit, we debriefed on the trip (think group therapy session), and found lunch. Yes, ladies and gents, more food. Can you tell how much Steve and Andrea enjoyed lunch? Then it was on to a walk through the shouk, a farmer's market in the middle of town. It reminded me a lot of Pike's Place Market,  actually. Well, except even noisier. From there we were back on the bus to head to Tel Aviv, one of the more modern cities in Israel. Reminds me a lot of New York City actually.  On the way we had our requisite Potty Break, but this time our guide and driver made sure to find a very special place. I give you, The Elvis Cafe. I even convinced our guard to take a picture with  me. And before you ask, yes we are both standing on level ground. And no, neither of us are wearing heels. Labels: happy times, travel
Day 7 - Yad Vashem
I know you're all hoping for witticisms here, but sadly I'll have to disappoint. I also have no photos to share, as I could not bring myself to turn on my camera this day. Yad Vashem is the Israeli Holocaust Museum. It is chilling in the telling of the story of 6 million men, women and children murdered. The last time I visited Israel, I barely made it through the door without breaking down and spent the rest of the visit on the bus, waiting for my family. For this visit, I challenged myself to see how far I could make it through. I spent much of the morning mentally preparing myself to face the devestation and horrors to come. Like many Jews, I've grown up with the stories. My dad's parents were survivors. They met in a displaced persons camp in Austria after the war. Growing up, my bubbe shared her stories, believing that only through telling these tales could we hope to avoid repeating the past. It was with these stories rolling through my head that I approached the museum. With the support of several friends I made it through the two memorials set up at the beginning of the museum (weeping, true, but I made it). Surprisingly, by the time I entered the museum proper, I had calmed down enough to view it from an academic standpoint. That being said, I think I may have set a landspeed record for how fast a human can move through the exhibitsThe day became one of reflection to me. Many of the survivors have died in recent years, as their generation grows older. It begs the question: Who will be around to tell their story? Who will bring the human face back to the academic knowledge? Who will continue to say, as we do every year on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), "Never again,"?The answer is all of us. It is up to us all, regardless of religious background, to remember what has happened and to do everything within our powers to keep it from happening again. My bubbe recently asked me to write her story one day. I don't know that it's a story I'm ready to tell, but it's one that has to be written. One day I'll put fingers to keyboard and share her voice with my family, and maybe even the world. Until then, I can only pray and remember those who are lost.Labels: memories, travel
Day 6 - Diner and Dancing at the Israel Museum
 Following our fun at Masada and the Dead Sea, we returned to our hotel to dress for dinner. Our group had rented out the Israel Museum for the evening. Too bad they forgot to let the weather goddesses know. Our outdoor dinner was made way less comfortable by all the wind. At one point several people at my table had pulled the tablecloth up to cover their shoulders. Isn't Israel supposed to be warm? What in the world??
After dinner our entertainment came in the form of a private  concert by the band Ethnix. Considering I couldn't understand a word they sang, the closest description I can come up with is "Israel's answer to U2". The place was rockin'! Once again I got to dance and enjoy the evening with some friends I made earlier in the day. Labels: travel
Day 6 - Masada
 What? You thought I was done? This was a long trip! Sunday morning began for many at 3a.m. (okay, techincally? Most didn't go to sleep so Saturday just continued for them). The busses departed and took them to the base of Masada where they began climbing. The rest of us, I like to think the sane of us, left at the more normal time of 8 a.m. for the drive to the base where we took a cable car to the top.  Masada was the site of another of King Herod's fortresses. It was also the site where a group of about a 1000 Jewish zealots took refuge when the Romans captured Jerusalem around 70 BCE. Roman soldiers laid siege to the fortress and the zealots were forced to make a choice. If they were captured they would become slaves. Needless to say, we've been touchy about the slavery thing since Egypt.
What's amazing to me is the decision they finally made. Historians say that 9 men decided the fate of the rest, killing themselves and their families to avoid slavery. Only three people survived, a woman and her children who hid. When the Romans finally captured the fortress they discovered what had occurred and what they lost.  In the cable car on the way down I had the following conversation: Woman: Oh, I see you're from Seattle. We're from Bellevue!
Me: I teach in Bellevue.
The conversation went from there. Needless to say, the world got just a little bit smaller that morning.
After Masada we took the bus to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the planet. The salt content is so high there, nothing can live and everything floats. The water was amazingly warm, and felt wonderful for the first few minutes. Then it began to tingle. Then it found several cuts in some unfortunate places and it began to burn like the fires of Hell.
That's when I ran for the showers. Labels: Jewish musings, travel
Day 5
 Finally, we had a chance to relax a bit. Shabbat in Jerusalem is a bit like Sunday in a coal mining town. Nothing's open except for synagogues. Since it was Shabbat, and there was nothing planned for the day, we decided to sleep in before going down to breakfast. Afterward we headed out to the hotel pool, where we relaxed for a few hours. After 4 days of running around non-stop, it was wonderful to have a day to ourselves.(Brianne, me and Natalie in Ein Kerem)
In the afternoon we decided to try to explore a bit, and took a cab into an area of town called Ein Kerem. We wandered a bit, before grabbing a snack at one of the few cafes open and willing to use the stove. Since I wasn't that hungry, I grabbed some sorbet, but the others wanted something more substantial.  Like this pizza (which was awesome, by the way). It's one thing to be stuck on a bus with 39 other people, trying to get to know your fellow travelers. It's another to share pizza and laughs. We talked about all sorts of topics over our mid afternoon snack, before calling the cab for our return ride to the hotel. After Havdalah, the ceremony to close Shabbat, a group of us made our way into Jerusalem and the famous Ben Yehuda street in search of a very late dinner. Those of you who are close to me will understand the problem when I tell you that by the time we got into town, it was around 9:30. Needless to say I took charge, finding us a great little restaurant off a side street. Good food, several rounds of two truths and a lie, as well as various stories, made for a very fun evening. As for the truths and lies? Let's just say stories about kissing girls, living in a brothel, cop visits colored the dinner conversation. We'll leave it at that. Labels: food, travel
Day 4
 (my roommate Brianne and I at the lookout on Mt. Scopus)
Once we arrived in Jerusalem, our first stop was a lookout on Mt. Scopus. From this vantage point we could look out over the entire city. It truly is an awe inspiring sight, when you can take it all in at once. There is a law there about using the same stone in all their buildings, so to see this city rising around you, a sea of beige stone...there are few words to truly describe the feeling that comes with it. The next morning took us to the Davidson Visitors' Center, an  archeological excavation site at the Southern Wall of the 2nd Temple. The size of the stones used to build the walls and the temple are enormous, most definitely leaving you with one simple question: How the heck did they build this thing?? (That's our guide, Mony, in front of the remnants of some of the stones that were pushed down when the Romans destroyed the temple.)  I know I use the word amazing a lot, but it just blows me away that so much of this history is still left standing, over 2000 years later. It's especially hard to imagine when the oldest piece of history around here is only about 100 years old, give or take a decade. This is what would be left of the stone road beneath, if you were to remove the stones (seen above). Can you imagine what might have happened if someone had been caught under the falling r0cks? Yikes!Labels: travel
Day 3...
Well, you've waited long enough. So here you go, day 3... We started off our day a little later than day two. We didn't have breakfast until 7:15! Wahoo! A note here: the breakfasts were amazing, and especially the first few days in the North. They had everything you could imagine. Israeli salad, eggs, croissants, challah, halavah, fruit (OMG the fruit!)...the list goes on.  After breakfast we left for Tiberias, a town about an hour south of where we'd stayed. There we visited a school who receives help from the Jewish Agency for Israel (or JAFI). The visit was made even more special because of the number of teachers in our group. It seemed everywhere I turned, I met another teacher. We joined the kids for their last day of school, their equivalent of field day. After their performance, and playing a few games, we went  around to the other side of the school where we helped to plant trees. Planting trees in Israel is kind of the thing to do, especially in a country where vegetation can be so hard to come by. Just as we went to leave, a few of the boys started asking some of our group for their autographs. They were very persistant. Sadly, mine was not asked for, no matter how much I tried to insist that one day I'd be a famous author. From Tiberias we moved on to a town called Zichron Ya'acov, for lunch at a winery. Oh, my, goodness. This was one of the best lunches we had. One thing I noticed was that food was often served tapas style, small plates of each item to share with the whole table. We enjoyed more Israeli salad, hummus (I think I almost turned into a chick pea), vegetable lasagna, pizza and other items I can't possibly remember. In answer to the inevitable question...no. One of my friends asked if we ever actually ate Israeli food...and the answer is, not really. We had Israeli breakfast, and falafel. But between the Bedouin dinner, the Brazilian dinner and the Italian lunch, I'm not sure where the Israeli food really came in. *** There's still time to enter the contest to win Dating4Demons!! Comment now! Labels: food, travel
The Golan Heights
 After Sfat we spent the afternoon up in the Golan Heights. We traveled by jeep up into the Heights, where one of the guides proceeded to tell us about the history of the area, including the Hula Swamps. The Swamps are what have helped to make the northern part of the country so fruitful.  The jeeps then took us down to a launch area off the Jordan River, where we had the option of taking either a kayak or a raft down the river. One of the other gals and I took a kayak and made our way, mostly turning in circles. Let's just say I'm not the best kayaker. Dinner was another party, this time Brazilian-style, which meant meat. And lots of it. Apparently Israel doesn't have a ton of vegetarians. Let's just say the Dairy meals were my favorite. Labels: happy times, travel
And you thought the birthplace of Kabbalah was Madonna's house...
 I know, I know, I'm a bad blogger. In my defense, I've been trying to take care of a myriad of little life things, not to mention getting back into my writing (can we say 100 pages to go?). But, enough with the excuses, and back to the virtual tour. On our second day (okay, technically our first full day), our buses took us down to the city of Sfat, or Safed as some spell it. Sfat is known as the birthplace of Kabbalah and the seat of Jewish Mysticism. Contrary to popular belief, it is not Madonna's house. Along with Kabbalah, Sfat is also known for it's candles and it's galleries. The most famous candle shop, Safed Candles,  creates beautiful (and fun) works of art, like this candle here. I had to fight to not go completely crazy in this store. The prices were fantastic, and c'mon! They made candles shaped like tiny books! We also visited a few of the galleries, where I managed to buy three gorgeous watercolor prints. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait to see them, because they are at the framers' right now. The streets in town are very narrow, so thankfully we split up to go off on our own, which meant  easy access to moving out of the way of on-coming groups. The energy in Sfat is very calming; until you have to duck out of the way of a tour group. But standing on the cobblestone streets, covered up so as not to offend the sensibilities of the many Orthodox Jews in the town, you can almost understand why the rabbis came to Sfat when they were looking for a mystical center. Labels: Jewish musings, travel
What you've all been waiting for...
I know you're all sitting there, desperately waiting for more updates from my trip. I know you want photos, and you can finally stop hitting refresh on your web browsers, because your prayers have been answered... 
After two red-eye flights in a row, and maybe about 4 hours of sleep?, we finally arrived at Ben Gurion airport. From there, it was another 2 hour drive north to the site of our "Bedouin-style dinner". Yes, folks, this is me after both flights, shower-less, and starving. Thankfully, those plates you see in front of me are filled with food, including hummus (something you'll be hearing a lot more about). This one definitely qualified as one of the better meals we had. 
Our entertainment for the night included a flute soloist, as well as a fire dance. Let me tell you, when he called up of the gals from New York and started swinging the chains of flame around her? I was sure we'd have our first casualty. Thankfully, she stayed real still.  Labels: happy times, travel
My first proposal...
Sadly, I can't take it seriously, but it at least lays out for you just how much in the minority this little woman from Seattle was on her trip. Standing at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, waiting among the throng desperate to get their luggage. Bag after bag came off the belt, and began to stack up next to my fellow passengers. I soon noticed, even more than I had at the airport in New York, that I was alone in my single-bag carrying ways. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I managed to live out of one suitcase for 10 days, without having to rewear more than one or two shirts, and that was because it was at night, and I hadn't sweated all day in them. All around me passengers pulled off two to three bags each, stacking them along side their carry-on bags and purses. That's when it happened. A fellow traveler, I believe from NY, took one look at my lone bag and promptly propsed marriage. Obviously his criteria aren't that great, and for more than one reason I turned him down flat. But still, it counts, right??Labels: travel
The Mutt Bus...
Yes, that's what we called ourselves. Every other community seemed to have their own bus. Detroit...Chicago...New York had 2! Boston. You name it, they had their own, with maybe a few scragglers sneaking on to round things out. But not bus 5. No, we were the mutt bus, made up all the participants from the West Coast, along with a couple other communities, just for the heck of it. We represented:
- Seattle (actually, I represented the entire state)
- San Francisco
- East Bay/Oakland
- San Diego
- L.A.
- Arizona
- Dallas, TX.
- and for some reason Washington D.C., but they fit right in with the rest of us
It's probably what made our bus so cool, and so much fun to be a part of. We didn't really have any cliquish-ness, because no one knew one another to start with. There wasn't any of that one-up-manship that comes with being stuck on a bus with 40 people from your hometown. Labels: travel
Potty party...
Obviously Israel was ill-prepared for 300 American visitors, all guzzling water and in desperate need of the bathroom. Especially when approximately 200 of those 300 were women. It was clearly too much for them to keep the bathrooms well-stocked with the necessary toilet paper. Most of the time we were forced to resort to paper towel, which to be honest and fair was about as smooth as the toilet paper...which is to say not at all. And it didn't help if the men had toilet paper. Most of the bathrooms became unisex as soon as our buses pulled into the lot, depleting their resources as well. The best part of coming home? An endless supply of toilet paper that I don't have to share with 200 other females.Labels: random musings, travel
How missions are a lot like Conference...
I discovered a few things while traveling through Israel on a Young Leadership Mission. I discovered it's a lot like going to a writer's conference. The biggest difference is, of course, that many of my fellow traveler's weren't writers. But here are a few things they had in common:
- Buffets. Yes, the bain or pleasure of any conference. Depending on how far away you are from the food stations, you may be in for a long wait, but if you're lucky? The quality of the food will make up for it (and yes, we had our own version of conference chicken).
- People. Suddenly, in the space of a few days, you have eight new best friends from all over the country. If you're lucky? You keep in contact with a few regularly, and others less frequently. Not to mention the sheer numbers. I spend 9 days traveling with 300 people.
- Activities. Missions, like conferences, have an agenda and a time table. Sleep is at a premium and you do what they say when they say it. Of course, if you don't like the plan, you can choose not to participate, just like if you skip workshops.
The trip was an amazing whirlwind, and too much for one post. Check back over the next week, as I'll be adding tidbits of my trip frequently. I'll also be including pictures, once I can get them uploaded to my machine. Labels: Jewish musings, travel
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