Israel: Updates and Details

Two weeks or two months? Which one is it? I guess we have only been here for two weeks, but it is difficult to believe as we have already done so many different things and changed our plans so many different times! Most of our time so far has been figuring out our plans so get ready to join us in our confusion!

Tel Aviv: We stayed with Ben's cousin, Liad, at his flat in Tel Aviv, a rather large flat actually. We explored Tel Aviv a bit, mostly by foot and a bit by bus as well. I'm not a fan of the buses, although a lot of it has to do with not knowing the language and always feeling like everyone sounds angry and is yelling. This may actually be the case because people in Tel Aviv seem rather stressed out, like most other big cities. We went to the beach one day but the sea was full of garbage. I think part of it was because we went in a little inlet or bay thing, which may have slower moving water and collect more garbage, instead of seaweed touching and grabbing our legs, it was plastic bags! However, we were told it is not always like that, which is good, and will of course go again another time.

One thing I have noticed here is that I am always sticky. After going to the beach the feeling can be described by 5 words beginning with S: Sweaty, Salty, Sticky, Smelly, and Sunscreeny (ok maybe that's not a word, but we can pretend).

We also visited Yafo, which is part of Tel Aviv and is just a bit South. We looked at an apartment there, but decided not to take it as we didn't yet know where Ben would be for army (we still don't know).Next we stayed with Julie Yosefan, she is the mother of Ben's friend Yotam, Julie has helped me look for jobs over the past few months. The whole family is very nice and it was a great place to stay.

Beer Sheva: After the first 5 days in Tel Aviv we headed down to Beer Sheva, where Thea and Mandy live (good family friends of the Morgan's). There wasn't a lot for us to do here in terms of getting stuff done so we did our best to relax and enjoy our time. We did help Inbar and Hemi out at their new apartment (Inbar is Thea/Mandy's daughter). We sanded the walls one day and painted them a few days later...wow that is hard work and Inbar is very pregnant so I'm glad we were there to do it instead! We also visited Brian Moshofsky (someone I went to high school with) who is living in Beer Sheva with his girlfriend Ilan.

For Rosh Hashana Thea and Mandy's families came over and we had a huge dinner. It was an interesting meal with SO many different dishes, two of which I could not bring myself to try (fish head and beef tongue!) Fish head is supposed to be good luck to eat. It was really a good time and I enjoyed meeting everyone. There were three kids there (18, 14, and 8) and it was fun to hang out with them. The 8 year old, Aviv, is doing really well on English and knows way too many words that 8 year olds should not know!! He was funny.

I hit the jackpot the other day when Inbar told us that there were boxes full of books that had been left in the apartment before they moved in....they were all in English! I spent two hours sifting through 6 large boxes of books. Most of them were old and related to war, government conspiracy, or murder so it was certainly a treasure hunt. In the end though I still found a whole bag full of books that I am interesting in reading. I read White Fang and The Call of The Wild first and enjoyed them both (although they are brutal in terms of human/dog violence...Susan don't read them you wouldn't be able to handle it!).

Kibbutz Ketura: After 6 days in Beer Sheva we headed even farther South and we are now on the Kibbutz that Ben has lived on for the past year. This is awesome...we are staying in a nice guest house for free. They are so nice here. Ronit (Ben's Kibbutz host family mom) has been helping us every day with paperwork and things we need to get taken care of on the Kibbutz. We have gone into Eilat every day until today to get stuff done. We met with many of the government agencies and without getting into too many boring details we seem to have the information we need to get things going and everything seems fairly possible, much easier than it all seemed from the US. We have been enjoying our time in Eilat and on Kibbutz even though we are keeping ourselves very busy with stuff to get done. The other night I went with Ronit to her folk dancing class, which was awesome. Folk dancing here is like line dancing but in a circle. This class was very advanced though and they already knew all the dances so they just danced, no instruction necessary. I followed along for some of it, but it was difficult (very fast, many steps, and lots of turns). I really enjoyed it though and want to join a beginners class at some point. I really enjoy line dancing (in college, and when I lived in CA I took a class or two) and this was very similar!

Tonight there is a Bar Mitzvah on the Kibbutz, which means there is a party at the pool and good food at the dining hall. Omer (Ronit's son) has his Bar Mitzvah next month and we are excited to go.

We have decided that for the first few months (3 or 4) we will be living in Eilat. It is the southern most city of the country right between Egypt and Jordan on the Red Sea. We didn't consider this as an option until we got down here and now there are a few reasons to make this move. We discovered that dealing with the government agencies in Eilat is rather simple compared to the horror stories we have heard about in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We decided to make it simple and just stay here for a few months while Ben figures out the army and I figure out my work visa. We found an apartment in Eilat that is super cheap...it's a small (tiny) studio with a HUGE porch and all utilities and internet included. We will also be starting an Ulpan (Hebrew classes), which will be three hours on Mon and Wed. Both the apartment and the Ulpan don't start until October, so we have time to get some other things figured out in Beer Sheva and Tel Aviv. We are excited about our decision to begin in Eilat.

Hopefully soon things may settle down a bit and I will be able to write about how much Hebrew I am learning, but for now I'm super happy just to have made a decision about the first few months and feel much more confident about getting the visa and having things work out.

See below for a map of Israel if you are not familiar with where we have been. Tel-Aviv Yafo is on the west coast a little above the center. Beer Sheva (here spelled Beersheba) is in the center below the West Bank, Eilat (here spelled Elat) is at the very bottom tip, and Kibbutz Ketura (not on the map) is a about 20 miles North of Eilat.

France Days 6, 7, and 8

Day 6

We got up early and headed back up to Paris on the plane. We decided that instead of taking the metro back from the bus station we would try walking a bit. That turned out to be a great idea as on the walk we turned a corner and faced L'Arc de Triomph directly in front of us. It was surrounded by an INSANELY huge round-about that appeared to be practically 6 lanes wide, however since there were no actual lane lines it was difficult to tell where the cars were going and impossible to understand how they were not constantly running into one another. They just kept zigging and zagging around one another and then shooting off onto one of the many roads that met at the arc.

After walking half way we took the metro the rest of the way to save Ben's leg for future walks and met up with Laurie again (Ben's cousin). Laurie took us to Notre Dame and was a wonderful tour guide. We walked along the Seine (which I now know is pronounced 'sen') and eventually made our way back to the apartment for a short rest before heading back out for a nice dinner with Laurie and her family.

Day 7

Bike tour of Paris! Ben and I decided to take a tour of Paris by bike thinking we could get around better and for a longer time than if he were on foot and could see more than if we went by bus..we were so very right. The bike ride was amazing. We toured all around Paris beginning at the Eiffel Tower and stopping every few minutes for history lessons and amazing background stories you may not get from a textbook.

It rained a little but it didn't matter, we had a blast, learned a lot, and finished four hours later with some sore rears (adding to the horseback riding soreness) and a yearning for some more. After finding out that we could get 50% off the night tour because we had already done the day tour, it was inevitable that we would do the night tour the next evening.

Some of the places we visited on our tour include: The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's Tomb, Arc de Triomph (no we did not bike the round-about), Les Invalides,

and much more that I can't even remember the

names of! (I was never really good at history). These two pictures are of a church built only for the royal family to use, but it is no longer a church and is now where Napolean's tomb is. The garden in front of it was also really beautiful.

Behind this building is Les Invalides (see below), which was originally built as a hospital and place for veterans to live but is now a museum dedicated to everything military related, the bushes in the front of the building are even shaped like bullets! (Grandpa, I think you might find this place quite interesting, have you been?)

After the tour we met up with Laurie and went to the Musee Rodin, where we saw a lot of statues (including The Thinker).We were exhausted by the end of that and headed back to the

apartment and joined Laurie and her family for a dinner out. We ate at a nice Chinese restaurant with Laurie, her parents, Aldrich (her brother) and Lia (her grandmother). Memorable Moment: at the end of the meal the waiter came by and asked if any of us would like a shot of sake; only Ben and Lia partook. In the bottom of each of the tiny shot glasses was a glass bubble that seemed a little odd but nothing really noteworthy. However, the waiter poured the two shots and Lia peered into hers before drinking it. Ben took is without a look. Then we found out that that little glass bubble in the bottom of the glass has a picture in it that you can only see when there is liquid in the glass. Ben had not looked at his and I was curious so I cheated a poured a little water into the glass. Looking in it took me a minute to focus but eventually I could just make out a tiny imagine of a woman...ok, I thought, that's nice...oh wait though, that's a boob, oh and another boob, oh and..some more. Wow! I looked up at Lia (a grandmother remember) and laughed and she handed me hers. Ben and I each peered into the glasses, this one even more scandelous with a man AND a woman (I'll leave it up to the imagination for this one, let me just say it was not a picture you want to be looking at while sitting at a dinner table with a family you have merely just met!). It was a good laugh and something I had never seen before, what fun!

Day 8

Our last full day in France...and we filled it! In the morning Ben and I explored Montemartre and Sacre Coeur. It was a beautiful view from the top of the hill and the building was amazing! We didn't stay long because we had a packed day, but we certainly enjoyed the views.

We met up with Laurie and Alrich for some lunch after our time at Sacre Coeur and then visited Lia's husband Charbonne (no idea how to spell that!) in the hospital (he had fallen recently and was in the hospital for a few days to get checked out). He is a very sweet man and it seemed to make him very glad that we had stopped by, it was well worth it.

After our morning/afternoon adventures Ben and I went back to the apartment and got ready for our evening bike tour! We bundled up because it was chilly and went off into the busy streets of Paris. This tour was much quicker, with fewer stops, and much scarier biking! A few times I even had to stop a car from continuing by sticking out my hand and shaking it at the driver. It was certainly something I would not like to do on a regular basis, but I enjoyed it all the same. (Ben and I were the only ones who wore helmets, including the kids!).

Highlights of the tour:

1. The Eiffel Tower at night. It sparkles at night for about 10 minutes every hour, it actually made me gasp when I saw it start, it was crazy, the pictures could not capture it.

2. Biking through the central area of the Louve around a circular fountain with my head in the air, surrounded on all sides by the towering walls of the Louvre with detailed sculptures light up from beneath. All the silence of the streets vanished and all I could hear was the quiet peddling of our fellow bikers and a small giggle in my throat from the awe of it. We took no pictures of this as I think it would have ruined it. It was the most amazing moment of my trip, I could have stayed there for hours just biking in circles.

3. We stopped for some amazing ice cream behind Notre Dame.

4. The tour ended on a big boat where we were given wine and I stood at the end of the boat with my face in the wind as we road for an hour up and down the Seine, all the lights of the city transforming it completely from its daytime appearance.

After the tour Ben and I went to the park at the base of the Eiffel Tower and just sat in the grass looking up at it until we were too tired to stay any longer. What a way to spend our final night in France.

France Days 4 and 5

Day 4

Ben and I spent the morning in Arles. We took the rental car and drove the 20 something km to the town and decided to find the office of tourism to get ourselves some maps. We accidentally passed it and made the first turn we could so that we could turn around....big mistake. Immediately we found ourselves headed into a maze of narrow roads flanked with pedestrians (locals and tourists alike, paying no attention to the few cars that dared to venture into this area). The maze appeared to be endless and with each turn we made we seemed to get ourselves deeper and deeper into it. In the end we (at least 15 minutes of high stress) we broke through to the Rhone river and found a parking spot, still deep in the labyrinth but with no intentions of attempting to escape without finding a map first. Despite another interesting beginning to our day we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Arles, wandering the old streets and admiring the many colorful doors and windows and imagining what it would be like to live somewhere like that. We found a nice place to eat panini (the staple of our diet in France) and cool off a bit before attempting the maze again (took us only 2 min with the map!).

After a nice morning in Arles we went back to the farm to meet up with Guillaume and headed off to another beach near Marseille. This beach was a rocky one and was absolutely beautiful. We stopped to swim and bask in the sun behind a jetty where the water was pretty calm (a popular place). We stayed until the sun went behind the arches of the bridge towering above the water and then headed back to Arles to meet up with Guillaume's family for an authentic French meal at a nice restaurant. Ben even tried fois gras and liked it (I tried it too but I'm not as inclined to endorse it as he is). It was a great day with some true relaxation and adventure.

Day 5

Three words: exhausting, beautiful, and impressive. Today we rented kayaks and paddled our way around trees, rocks, and a massive Roman aqueduct. I was baffled by the fact that these aqueducts were used to transport water from city to city, it was difficult to imagine 30 miles of above ground water running through the relatively small section of the structure rising above us. By the end of our trek we had sore arms (nothing yet compared to our rear ends though), burnt legs, and hungry stomachs. We went for another panini (of course) and raced (again of course) back to Arles to return the rental car before the deadline. At this point we got to tour the olive and apple orchards that Guillaume and Andre own. They have a total of 100 hectares (or 400 acres) of apple, olive, and wheat fields. We got to pick an apple right off the tree to eat right then...mmmm. Guillaume's grandparents live right next door so we popped in to meet them and do a little olive oil tasting (an interesting process consisting of smelling twice, sucking through the teeth, swishing around, either spitting or swallowing, and then breathing deeply in through the mouth and out the nose). We ate another late meal and headed off to our last night in Provence. A wonderful place made for relaxation and exploration, just as we had hoped.

Pictures will soon be added to the France posts.

France day 3

Day 3:

Guillaume's father Andre gave him a few days off work so that he could spend some time with Ben and I while we were staying with them. However, he was ever so nice to his father and ended up working at least a few hours every day that we were there. Considering we couldn't seem to drag ourselves out of bed before 9:00 anyway he was able to get in almost 4 hours before we were even up! Ben and I decided we wanted to do something different while we were in Provence, something different and relaxing. We ended up doing both although never really at the same time. In the morning of our first full day we decided to go horseback riding. We went down to a town called Saintes Maries de la Mer (beach town) for lunch and then took a 2 hour ride on horseback.

We were feeling pretty good about our decision and felt it was a good way to be outdoors, see some sites, and get around without Ben having to walk too much because of his leg. There were probably about 15 of us, oh and all the horses decided it was very important to pee and poo before leaving so we left a big puddle behind us as we took off down the side of the road. Only about 1 minute into the ride a horse in front of us decided to jump into the road and turn around only a few inches from a speeding bus! Ben and I turned to one another with wide eyes and mouthed, what did we get ourselves into?!

Despite the scary beginning the rest of the ride was rather uneventful....however, half way through the ride we started trotting a bit and it proved to be a painful experience for Ben. By the end of the ride my rear end felt like one solid bruise and Ben wouldn't even let me take a picture of him on his horse..his very words were, "no way, let's go get a drink and forget this ever happened." No more horseback riding until that leg is 100% healed! So that's just what we did...or at least tried to do, we went to the beach and relaxed in the waves and sand but alas we could not forget this horses for days as each time we sat we were reminded of the hard saddle beneath our derrier. Back on the farm we had another late (fantastically good) meal and off to bed right after. Poor Ben suffered from strange dreams after eating so late and made noises in the night and woke up in a panic....silly boy.

France Days 1 and 2

Day 1:

All I really have to say is...JET LAG! Ben and I got in two hours apart from one another to Charles De Gaulle airport. I made my way out of the old smelly (oooh, bad!) terminal to the terminal he came in on, which was more like a nice mall (yes, he got to miss that icky part of Paris). We were so glad we chose to reserve a door-to-door shuttle because with all of our huge bags (54lbs, 51lbs, 42 lbs) and backpacks (3), we did not want to be running all over Paris trying to find our way. We got dropped off at the front door to Laurie's apartment (Ben's cousin, ish) and were immediately engulfed in hospitality. Laurie had figured everything out for us...she had food in the fridge, ideas for our trip, etc. We walked around Paris for a bit and then even though we told one another we would stay up until at least 8:00pm, 5:00pm came around and we conked out. However, 5 hours later I was up finishing my book and 3 hours after I fell back asleep Ben was up fixing us lunch, organizing our stuff, and showering. We slept 'til 9 however and felt a bit better.

Day 2

Another travelling day. This morning we got ourselves ready for the next portion of our trip, Arles! A quick 1 hour 2o min plane ride and we would be in the beautiful south of France...sounds simple right? Or not. Five minutes before we planned to head out the door I took a look at my boarding pass and....hmm, there it was in big bold letters: Nationality: United Arab Emirates. The beginning of our first adventure in Paris...looking for the internet. We called the airline and they emailed me another boarding pass (with my correct Nationality) and told us to print it before we got to the airport. So...with an hour an a half before we had to be at the Shuttle pickup location we needed to find internet, AND a printer. We spoke with about 15 people (some in English, some French, but mostly what I guess you could call Frenglish). After being sent from location to location with no luck, we decided to just get on the metro and look again at our first stop along the way. Talked to 5 more people and finally found what we were looking for...problem solved (phew!). The rest of the day was fairly uneventful compared to that start to the day, however there are a few key moments to mention:

1. We had a bottle of beer to bring to Guillaume (friend in Arles) and were not allowed to take it on the plane (we knew this of course, but had not thought of it until headed to the flight). I would never recommend this..but of course Ben has some sort of magic ability to convince people to do things and he managed to get the bottle of beer on the checked luggage of the people behind us!! We picked it up after and all was good.

2. Once in Marseille we met up with Guillaume and headed for Arles, a drive that should have taken us over an hour. However, 45 minutes later we arrive with my heart in my mouth and eyes tightly shut. Apparently there are no rules of the road in southern France and speed limits are just for decoration. We sped along those roads, in and out of traffic, around tight curves and across the countryside....80 miles an hour was considered slow. Being someone who hates driving (or being passenger), this was not a fun experience! However, we did make it there and enjoyed a nice drink on the beautiful streets of Arles (I don't usually drink, but after that drive, it was necessary....and as it turns out, very expected in that area). Guillaume's parent's (Andre and On) are SO very nice. We experiences our first dinner in the South of France at 10:00 (appetizers, meal, cheese, and dessert), I stopped after the meal (so much food), and Ben tested the stinkiest cheese I have ever smelled (he stunk for hours!).

Despite the jet lag and interesting start to the day....we ended it relaxed and feeling good.

A Wedding and a visit to Grandma's

Saturday was Bobbi's wedding in Rogue River. She and Ross looked great and put on a wonderful party at Bobbi's parent's house. It was nice to see friends from college at the wedding and to see Stacy/Erik, and Bobbi/Ross again before we take off.

Random moment: On our drive back from the wedding to our hotel we stopped for some rabbits that were crossing the road. Ben had what I thought was a crazy, insane, impossible idea of trying to catch/pet one...and then a second later he had one in his arms. It was so bizarre to be in the middle of nowhere at night, no one around and petting a bunny in the headlights of my car!

Anyway, we stayed in Medford the night of the wedding and then the next morning headed up to the coast to visit Grandma Jo! Ever since Ben and I stayed with Grandma last year we have been wanting to go back, and finally we had the chance to do it. It was so nice, we did a lot of relaxing and Grandma took us to Tidal Raves (yum yum) for lunch. We also looked at a bunch of pictures of Grandma's from her travels all over the world, it was really fun to see her adventures when we are about to begin our own. We also watched a documentary about how dogs became man's best friend. It was on the National Geographic Channel and it was called "And Man Created Dog." I would recommend it to any dog lovers, it is replaying this Friday (the 13th, ooh).

We've been doing a lot of preparations for our travels the past two days and are actually seeing a bit of real progress. The list is slowly shrinking (hmm..but so are the days). Ben got a new (to him) camera today that it far more complicated and higher quality that we have ever used. He has been experimenting and watching tutorials for at least 4 hours now! It's nice though, the pictures are better, which make the people in the picture look better;) Quality pictures coming soon........

Los Angeles

Thursday we went down to San Luis Obispo to visit Dan (a longtome friend of Ben's) and had a grande 'ol time getting a wooden Lion's head cane. The two of them (both got canes!) looked pretty silly walking the streets with their canes and limps (one real, one not). We also got to see Kelly Shiflett, a friend from Bend, which was great. Next day we headed down to LA for a combination visit including Jon (Ben's brother) and Lindsay & Nate. However, we got to see quite a few other people while we were down there.

Randomly, Mike Noxon (friend from Bend) had two free tickets to the X-Games, so we got to go to the X-Games and watch from a suite in the Staples Center....those seats were probably $2,000! After the games, we headed over the Jon's house (a Moishe house for Jewish residents) and had Shabbat dinner with his friends. It was interesting to see his life and friends and spend an evening at the Moishe house.

As usual, I had one of the best weekends of the year with Lindsay, she always seems to have the effect on me. We had the chance to be girly-girls and go shopping together, which is rare and was so nice. Nate and Ben had the chance to test drive a Challenger, considering they plan to do it again in Eugene next weekend...I think they enjoyed it;) Oh, and Lindsay's apartment is AWESOME. We also went to an improv comedy show and one of the people from The Office was in it. Not a main character, he is the dorky guy from the new company they merged with. He as good at improv.

As we were heading out of town we had a short visit with Becky (my roommate from when I lived in CA). We had not seen one another since I moved out in June of 2007. It was great to see her, it surprised me how easy it was to hang out with her when we are SUCH different characters, although it was always that way when we lived together too.

Anyhoo..fantastic weekend in LA. We are back in Santa Clara now for a few more days with Irina and Serge and then head back up to Oregon.