Israel

I met with Efrat and Jeff in Paris Wednesday morning (14 June) and we all flew together to Tel Aviv. We were sitting seperately but a nice gentleman, probably not wanting to cope with Efrat and I talking over rows for the whole flight, moved so we could sit together. We caught up and talked about what we would be doing, while enjoying the views below of the French Alps and the Mediteranean. We arrived in Tel Aviv, one of the most beautiful and immaculate airports I have ever seen, and were met by Yoav, Efrat's uncle and her brother Dan. We stayed most of the week with family in Rishon le-Zion, not far outside of Tel Aviv. That evening we went to dinner with Dan and Ophir at Nafi's and I got my first taste of many of hummus and ful and the best pita bread I have ever had. Later we met up with Whitney, Dan's fiance, who had been teaching that evening while were at dinner.

We began sightseeing early Thursday morning. Yoav took us to Caesarea, Daliat (a Druze Village), Akko, and the Sea of Galilee all in Northern Israel. It was a long day with a lot packed in but we were able to see most of the places we had hoped to in the North. There is so much history to all of the places we saw, I am not going to go into much detail about it. I absorbed so much but fear I wouldn't be able to present all that I learned adequately, so I will mostly just share pictures from our time there.

Jeff, Efrat and I in front of the Roman aqueduct in Caesarea dating back to around 22-10BC.

Statue of Elijah (the Prophet) at Muhraqa Monastery. We stopped here briefly for a look at the views.

Views from the monastery.





The restaurant where we had lunch along the market shops in Daliat, one of the Druze villages. I managed to buy my fill of Hebron glass here, with a lot of bargaining help from Yoav.

Ruins and the Mediterrean Sea at the coast in Akko.


One of the many ferrel cats roaming about the cities throughout Israel. I was told it is considered somewhat strange to keep cats as inside pets, but they are seen everywhere roaming the streets, more like wild animals.

Side Street in Akko.

The Templars Tunnels in Akko. These were a little disappointing in that you just walk straight through for about five minutes and then you are back out. There is futher exploration planned, though and when you remind yourself that they were part of development and construction built by the Templars in the 12th Century it becomes pretty impressive.

Along the edge of the city in Akko.

The food market in Akko. I loved the stands with various herbs, spices and nuts, colorfully arranged.



Some of these poor fish were still alive and flapping.



The Sea of Galilee towards the top of the descent.

Sea of Galilee

Thursday night we freshened up from the long day and went to the Carmel Winery in Rishon le-Zion. They have a meal with all you can drink wine and live entertainment that mostly consists of traditional style folk/dance music. Here is the group at the winery, before the loads of food and wine was brought out.

Once the music got going and the wine was flowing, everyone was soon dancing and singing along.


Yoav clapped and sang along with the music.


Meanwhile, as would be typical of most parties in my family, the kids crashed, regardless of the noise, while the adults continued to party. These kids weren't with our group, though.

Friday we took it easy and had lunch and did a little shopping in town (Rishon). Friday evening we went to Yoav's to have the Shabbat meal with his family. I felt priveledged to be able to be present for their weekly family traditions and enjoy in the amazing meal. I definitely never went hungry in Israel and there was always plenty for my vegetarian appetite. After spending time with the family, Efrat's cousin Ophir took us bowling. Efrat and I were both wearing sandals so we wore bowling shoes with no socks- lovely. Here is Ophir attempting to beat us all in bowling. They were all stuggling to keep up with me, though. ;-)

Saturday we spent the day with family, visiting first with Shula, Efrat's Aunt and her sons (Efrat's cousins). In the afternoon we spent some time with another uncle and family and then headed to Jerusalem to meet up with Shoshana Efrat's mom.

Approaching Jerusalem by sunset. We tried to get a couple pics but it was difficult by car. It was so beautiful the way the setting sun was hitting the various houses and building along the hills as we came into the city. We met with Shoshana and went with her tour group to dinner. The meal itself was very good but the service was a mess and it was a bit stressful to be surrounded by upper-middle class American tourists throughout the entire restaurant.

A view of Jerusalem from the hotel at sunrise.



After a not so good night's rest on the floor of the hotel room, Efrat and Jeff do their best to look chipper as we loaded up on the tour bus and joined Shoshana's tour group for the day. Most of the day was spent in the Old City of Jerusalem. Again, I learned so much and had so much history put forth that I could never repeat it all adequately.

The view of the Old City and surround from Mt. of Olives.





One of the original main streets from Roman Era.

These guys were on a tour as well. I think they are police rather than army. They are looking at a recreation of a Byzantine Era mosaic map of the Old City, Jerusalem.



Near the market in the Old City, there were numerous men relaxing with their narghiles (hookahs).

While the tour group shopped the market, we took a little rest in the shade.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried.

The architechture and art inside was impressive. The ceiling and many of the murals were all done in mosaic tile.









Where Jesus was believed to be buried by some Christians. There is a little room in this shrine you can go into but we did not do that. There were quite a few people for whom it was quite a holy experience which made me feel like a little uncomfortable at times, like a spectator.

The Western Wall; the portion that most people go to for prayer.

We went into the tunnel systems as well where the original Western wall continues (It dates back about 1900 years). Along the small holes in the rock there are various prayers that people leave.
This was a wedding occuring just outside the wall.

We got a taxi back to Rishon Sunday night and had some pizza before crashing from the long day. Monday morning we got a rental car and drove out through the Negrev (desert) and to the Dead Sea.

We stopped for a picture at Sea Level, before heading down to the Dead Sea. The sign on the right indicates this spot is at sea level, although it's hard to see.

The Dead Sea is below and the mountains in the hazy background are Jordan.

Yes, you really do float. And don't get it in your eyes!!!



There were camel crossing signs along the road driving through the Negrev.

Efrat spotted some camels and stopped so I could get a few pics.



Monday night we went to Yaffo, which is a beautiful town near Tel Aviv. It has been used as a significant port for over 4,000 years, so there are lots of ecavations sites throughout the town. Dinner was lovely and afterwards we strolled through the town a bit. Most shops and things were closed, but it was almost nicer to walk the streets while they were so quiet.

During dinner we could here the Muslim Call to Prayer. That is one of the towers used to the left and to the right is the lights of the Tel Aviv skyline.

Tel Aviv

The restuarant, Aladin from the outside.

Tuesday we got ready and went to the bris of Yoav's grandson. The ceremony occurs 8 days after the baby's birth and he is named at the ceremony. The hall were it was held was beautifully landscaped and is also a location for many weddings and other ceremonies. The environment was like a typical wedding reception, lots of food and the kids running around and dancing on the stage. The amount of food was insane. We arrived to a buffet of various appetizer type foods, followed by a course of fish, followed by a main course which was steak or chicken (sweet potato ravioli for me) and potatoes and then dessert and coffee). The ceremony was after the meal. The picture above is the only picture I took at the bris. I wanted to observe rather than have a camera plastered to my face during the ceremony. I got a little emotional standing there with Efrat and Jeff and all of Efrat's family, feeling incredibly priviledged that they all had made me feel so included, like part of their family. I did not see any of the actual circumcision of the child, just his face, and I am glad for that. :-) Afterwards Efrat's uncle Yakkov gave me a sort of blessing and told me I'll be married in a year. I told him I've still got to meet the guy first! Afterward's there were lots of emotional goodbyes and I even started crying a little. In the evening we had a few family visitors over to Dan and Whitney's and had a nice, relaxed last night. Yoav took us to the airport very early in the morning and I again got a little teary saying goodbye to him and to Efrat and Jeff. I am so glad I was able to join them for this trip- it was an unique experience that can never be duplicated. But, I hope at some point I will get to go to Israel again (and more of that area of the world) to have more experiences like it.
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My unrequited concert

I really wanted to see Howling Bells tonight. I first read about them in a music magazine I bought in the airport in Amsterdam- Dazed I think it was called and knew immediately I would like them. I was right when I took a gander at their website. I saw that they were playing at the Little Civic in Wolverhampton, and little that it is, I thought I'd be able to get a ticket that night. My two friends (in this country) that are willing and open-minded about going to see new music, (new) Tom and Bri, were either not up for it on a Tuesday or already going to see another band, respectively. I was happy to go by myself and had checked each day and there were still tickets available up to a couple days before. Surely there would be one ticket for little ol' single me. I got there and of course, there were not. I was so disappointed, I sat somberly with a pint of Guinness and then went home. I could have joined Bri next door at the Civic (Big Civic if you will) but I'm not a fan of Fall Out Boy and didn't feel like pretending to be. Just as well, I need to rest up for nights out with Matthew (who is in town!!) and Old Tom later this week. As my luck would have it, I think they are coming back in August! I will buy my ticket in advance this time. Shame on me for thinking such a good band wouldn't sell out at such a little venue!

Soundstation Festival

For the bank holiday weekend, the choices were A) Gay Pride or B) Soundstation Festival. I went to Gay pride last year and didn't enjoy it too much compared to some other similar themed events I've been to. It seemed more like Chav Pride than Gay Pride. My friend Tom (new Tom for those of you keeping track) had told me about Soundstation and I had only heard of one artist but after checking out who else was playing and liking some of the sounds I decided to go. Bri and her mom and aunt (who were visiting) and my friend Martyn and his mate Jason all ended up going as well. I went with Martyn and Jason, which meant there was a couple pub stops before we made it in to the festival.




Three pints of Guinness later. . .We found our way to the festival and the six of us met up with Tom and his sister briefly as they headed for the BLive tent- where all the DJs were playing and we stuck around to see what was happening on the main stage. So, I am not even going to bother listing these bands that played at the beginning of the day because they all sucked. They were all pop-alternative, claiming to be indie, teenie-bopper bands (including that Boy Kill Boy crap!). The festival was not marketed very well at all, I only heard about through Tom and the rest of our group heard about from me at the last minute. It was supposed to be this great eclectic mix of indie/alternative and DJs and I guess, eventually it was. After putting up with the crap bands in the main stage for a while I joined Tom and his sister in the BLive tent and Martyn, Jason and Bri eventually joined me. Bri's family wasn’t feeling it at all so they headed home early. As the day went on the music gradually got better. I made it back with Bri to the main stage for the Guillemots and ended up standing through Boy Kill Boy. . .then Martyn and Jason left after that performance.




Finally, the Guillemots came on and they were fabulous! I had only heard of them because of this festival. I looked them up when trying to decide whether to go or not and was intrigued by their website. I did a bit of research and bought their album and loved it so much I knew most of the words by the time I saw them live. They were energetic, unique, and melodic. The repertoire included organ/piano, stand up bass, percussion, various horn instruments and a typewriter. I would strongly recommend checking them out if you get a chance.




It got mighty cold as the evening grew dark and we headed back to the DJ tent to hear Mr. Scruff and warm up a bit. Another artist I did not know much about before I heard about this festival but bought an album of his soon after I did. He played the crowd wonderfully with some basic animation and conversation on the screen with the audience. As you all know, I am not and never was into raves, trance music and a lot of drum and bass, but you can't help be exposed to more of it here in the UK (it's much more popular here than it ever was in the States) and I have started to like the more melodic attempts at spinning something old into something new. Mr. Scruff does a good job of this, creating an eclectic funk, jazzy, electronic sound.




We left Mr. Scruff, reluctantly early so we could catch all of Graham Coxon, the one artist we all actually knew. He was the guitarist in Blur but has been flying solo for sometime now. He capped off the night nicely and with him and the other two performances mentioned made the 25GBP worth it. Graham Coxon is kind of on the smallish side and not your typical rocker, but he's got that dorkish cute quality that I like in some guys (with the added bonus of the thick rimmed glasses). His appearance gives way to a phenomenal guitar sound, good lyrics and a very entertaining performance. I guess he actually played his guitar with his teeth but I think I was in the port-a-loo when that happened.




So, it may have started off bad and they definitely need to do some work if Soundstation is to come back strong next year, but the later afternoon and night made it all worthwhile!

A visit home to Florida

So I just got a comment that I need to put up some new posts from "Anonymous," although I have a few guesses who that person might be. I know, I have slacked this month and I guess being busy isn't an excuse because I should be posting about it. So I'm going to get back up-to-date now before I head to Israel and Paris and have a lot more to post about!

So, as you all know I went home for a bit suddenly because my grandmother passed away. Thanks to all of you who gave your kind words and condolences to me and my family. We were expecting it but it is still never easy and the loss of my Grandma Alena has had me thinking a lot about family, memories of her as a vibrant woman, mother and grandmother and the things that are most important in life. You'd think I would have no pictures from this trip, but after the tears and my grandmother's memorial we were able to enjoy each other's company and have some great laughs, as we always do in our family. First with my dad's side and it was so great to see all my uncles and aunt and grandpa and spend time with them. I also got to catch up a bit with two of my cousins, Kristan and Laura. After we left my Grandpa's I got to spend time with my mom's sisters, my other grandmother, cousins and my gorgeous niece Milena and nephew Gabriyel. I've missed them the most of all (and their brother Alek) because they are growing so fast and I am missing it! I got lots of time with them and in my last weekend was able to see Brian and Monica and Aleksander when they arrived and was fortunate enough to be able to help them move into their new house (oh what joy! :-)



The sunrise Wednesday morning.

And Thursday morning. . . My dad's birthday.

Gabe had his cereal every morning on my lap while we watched the sunrise and I had my coffee and took pictures. We (along with Dad) were always the first two up.

Chia! It's too early for all these pictures.

Gabe gets reacclimated to the ocean on an early morning walk.

We had a very fun birthday party with some great shrimp, crab, all the fixins and typical fun family times. Here's OB with Dad and Milena.

Ended the week in Gainesville where I finally got to see my youngest nephew Alek (here in his new back yard)and spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law while helping them with the chaos of moving into their new home.
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Baby Uma!

Just got a call from Julia from the hospital. Baby Uma was born last night and is happy, healthy and well, as is Mamma Julia. I got shivers of excitement to hear she is finally here! I wish I could be there to greet her, but at least by the time I see her she will be coming into the fun, playful age. Welcome to the world Uma!!!

The Crooked House

Just a couple pics of The Crooked House. We usually manage to stop in each time we have visitor's come through, although I didn't get a chance to take my parents for a pint of Old Rosie. We took Erin for a drink on her last night here and I remembered to bring my camera this time. The pub has been there forever, but used to be a house. They now have a (straight) restaurant built on the back. It's crooked because of the mining in the Black Country area. There are a few buildings like this that have sunk into the ground due to the mining underneath.

No, my camera is not crooked, that is the house.

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Easter trip to Aberystwyth

We had a long four day weekend for the Easter holiday, so we decided to take a little trip. Nikki and I were going to go to Newquay in Cornwall, but I decided we should stay around so I could meet Bri's friend Erin who is visiting this weekend and go out with them (we've postponed Newquay for early July). We all ended up out in Wolverhampton essentially doing the usual Saturday night. Sunday we dragged ourselves out around 1PM and headed to Wales for the afternoon. We drove to Aberystwyth, enjoying the beautiful views of Welsh countryside on the way. Spring was definitely in the air. There were tons of sheep and a lot of little lambs that looked no more than a couple weeks old grazing the farms as we drove along. The daffodils were in full bloom and the sun came out just as we were crossing the border into Wales. As Nikki said before the we saw the sign welcoming us to Wales, the landscape definitely looked Welsh. We quickly came into countryside with small mountains (or very large hills, if you like) and the trees and grasses began to change. We didn't make it to Aberystwyth until about 4PM, but we checked out the amusements, got some good walking in and enjoyed the sea air for the afternoon. I also won a Mini! Although, it's only about a foot long so I don't think it will be too easy to drive.

After Bri and I stuck our feet in the cold water, Nikki posed for the camera. I took my flops off to wade in and almost lost them in the rocky shore, they sunk down so quickly.

We had a little lunch and walked along the shore to head up for a better view.

In the center there is a cliff railway you can take to the top but we walked it- with Brianna and I both in flip flops...and her's were platforms.

Once we made it to the top Nikki and stopped for a little rest and this picture, that somehow came out black and white, but I think it works.

This was my embarrasing moment of the week. I leaned near the edge to take this picture and almost lost my balance. I reacted and said a little curse word, which a little boy standing near me repeated about three times and asked his dad what I was saying. I walked away hanging my head in shame.

Views of the seaside and surrounding town and countryside from the top....







After we came back down we got some ice cream and the girls took a little break. That's from left to right, Brianna, Erin (Brianna's friend who has been visiting) and Nikki.

We walked to the other side of the harbour to check out the ruins of this castle. It's been in ruins for a few hundred years, so it wasn't much to see, but a nice little park area.

They did manage to have a cannon for Nikki to pose on, though.

View from the grounds of the castle site.

Almost every town has WWII memorials in England, but I thought this one was particularly nice as it was a bit more unique from the regular ones.


The memorial from the front.
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Okay, so I jumped the gun a little. . .

So, those close friends of mine that got that email from me last week, you may want to chock it up to my typical rantings when I get in a mood and think I've made up my mind. . .and then change it again. Something about the impending birth of Uma and finding out the next child in my brother's clan is going to be a girl had made me a little homesick. I'm really missing you guys in the States, but I don't really miss the States (if you catch my drift). By the next day of sending out the email and getting the wonderful responses from you guys, I realized as much as I want to be back with you all, I can't give up on opportunities to experience as much as I can before it's time to come back to the western hemisphere and be a suedo-adult again. Hopefully, I should be able to take two months and have enough money to basically go wherever I want. How can anyone pass that up???




So then the next dilemma arises- where to go? I have been talking and thinking about this a lot. Those of you who know me well know about my passion for the continent of Africa and this strange obsession with lands I've never seen. I ended up kind of ruling it out because some of the countries I want to see just aren't safe for a single gal traveler like myself. Or, perhaps not that those countries are not "safe," but just that I am not savvy enough to do it on my own. So then, with my recently renewed fascination with Eastern philosophy, I started thinking Asia. India and Nepal, perhaps? But I could spend two months in India alone easy and I am not sure about Nepal's politics at the moment. So then it brings me to Southeast Asia- perhaps a tour of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and some bits of Thailand I didn't see last time. There are just so many phenomenal places in this world, I just can't decide! Chats with friends here and a little forward Julia sent me has got me thinking about Africa again, though. There are plenty of amazing countries there that would be just as amazing as the ones I've dreamt of living in since I was little. Now, I have got Brianna on the scent and I am working on her to leave her job early and go with me. We even started thinking tonight we could both find short-term volunteer projects somewhere on the continent and relinquish that lingering desire to join the Peace Corps. Perhaps it's just The Constant Gardener on her brain.




Who knows folks??? I can say that regardless in the next year I will be home. Even if something crazy happens and I don't come back for good, I will visit! I think I am just a bit giddy and optimistic because I have a new crush, and I don't get those very often. But no worries, I'll settle down eventually somewhere, and I have strong reason to believe it will be with you all back home.

Calla plays for the small crowd

Went to Bar Academy last night to see Calla. They have about four albums out, but I only have and have listened to Televise, which I think was their third. I was impressed, but not entralled. I felt somewhat bad for the guys because it was in the Bar Academy, which is a small venue off the side of the Carling Academy in Birmingham. The stage is almost level with the crowd and I think most of the crowd (of which there was not many) were there to see the opening band because they knew them or they were a band member's grandmother or something. I was more interested in my new found music buddy who came along, ready and willing without knowing what music he was getting into. Think I have finally found a friend in England who will try out new music without being too over critical, but just snobbish enough. We managed to end the night after some bad, cheap lager, likely annoying each other with our favorite music and singing along to them. And yes, I was an hour late to work this morning after staying out late for a show on Sunday. But I have the flexi time. . .