15 March 2006

Mariele and I awoke early on Wednesday morning, picked up a rental car, and sprinted south to Masada and the Dead Sea.

Mariele and I arrived in Masada first. We hiked up the 450 meter high plateau to the ancient ruins atop the mountain. Masada began as a palace-fortress, built by King Herod, and later developed into a Jewish settlement during the time of the Romans. During the revolt against the Romans in the 70s, a group of Jewish rebels held their last stand at Masada; an event for which Masada is famous.

From the palace, it is possible to see much of the Dead Sea and the surrounding area. It is a gorgeous view. The ruins, although partially reconstructed, are also very interesting. They contain a variety of baths, both Roman and Jewish, houses, storerooms, and royal palaces. Mariele and I wandered around the archeological ruins until the afternoon, when we hiked back down the plateau.

From Masada, Mariele and I drove back along the Dead Sea until we reached the Ein Ghedi beach. I am always amazed at the bouyancy level when swimming in the Dead Sea. Mariele and I stood straight up in the water and were still able to float easily. It is really cool to be able to walk on water, even if it means that two-thirds of you is submerged.

After washing off, we drove back to Jerusalem so that I could take a test on Thursday and we could prepare for the next trip.

I will try to post more pictures soon.... the website hasn't been letting me post more than this one picture.

Much love
l

Purim! (Evening of March 13th to afternoon of March 14th)

Purim was a blast. Mariele and I started to welcome in Purim at school. There was dressing up and drinking and musical and comic performances.

Alon joined us as Mariele and I migrated to a friend's party in Jerusalem. Everyone was in costumes (I went as a married ultra orthodox woman and Mariele went "white trash"). The party was fantastic, and a classic way to celebrate Purim.

The next morning, we drove to Tel Aviv to participate in the street carnival there.

After wandering around the carnival, we walked down to the beach. Mariele and I ate at a beach-side cafe and enjoyed the sun. Towards the evening, we walked to the Tel Aviv market, Shuk Ha Carmel, and shopped in a large crafts festival in the "trendy district" of Tel Aviv. From there, we walked to the ancient city of Yaffo to see the old street and buildings and look at the view of a lighted Tel Aviv.

We met Alon again in Ra'anana and hung out with some friends there.
Wednesday morning, Mariele and I were back in Jerusalem, renting a car. But that is for the next blog.

I will post pictures of all of this once this site lets me.

Like a chicken without a head...

Or at least that is what I am feeling like lately. To my great happiness, Mariele came into town on Wednesday. We went out to dinner at a lovely little restaurant, called Timol Shimshom. On Thursday morning, I sent her down to Eilat - to sit on the beach - and to Petra in Jordan - to go see all of the beautiful archeological remains that are there (see my entry about Petra over the summer for pictures of Petra, etc.). I am jealous of her trip, because it should be so much fun, and I hope that she enjoys herself. As for me, I had a Hebrew test on Thursday, plus make up classes, plus volunteering, plus the beginning of my weekend with my NFTY course. I will be in the course for the rest of the weekend, from breakfast to past dinner. Then, on Sunday, I have a huge midterm, and on Monday I am leading my first worship service since I was, like, 18. I am really nervous for it... but I am hoping that it goes well.

Needless to say, things are busy and I am spending a lot of time studying.
Hope all are doing well!

Mary Virginia comes to town

Mary VA arrived in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon. After running around the Old City on Thursday afternoon (we visited the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Seplecur, and Temple Mount archeological museum/site), and my performance at the Monologues on Thursday evening, we jetted up to Tel Aviv for Friday morning. There we wandered around the Carmel Market, shmoozed in a café, walked around southern Tel Aviv, saw the Friday art fair, and made sandcastels at the beach on the Mediterranean. From there, we drove with Alon up to the Galilee, stopping by the Mount Tabor monastary (seen to the left) and the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) along the way. (There is a picture of the Kinneret, near Tiberias, to the right.)

We slept in Ramot Naftali, on the Lebanese border in northern Israel on Friday evening. (See picture to the left of me and Mary VA in front of the Lebanese border.) On Saturday morning, we drove further north, into the Golan. There, we wandered around a kibbutz in Kfar Giladi and went horseback riding there in the blooming flowers of the Golan (the north is green and filled with flowers this time of year). From there we went to Metula to check out wild tulips. (See some pictures of the flowers below and to the right.) We saw Nachal Saar, a series of waterfalls near Baniyas and the Nimrod fortress, on the southern border of the Hermon mountain range. We traveled through the Golan, through the Druze village of Masade, to the volcanic mountain of Ben Tal, where we wandered around an old Israeli fort. After that, we drove down the Syrian border on a very bumpy road to briefly see the Black Waterfalls of the El Al stream in the southern Golan Heights. We drove through the West Bank, stopping off there for lunch/dinner. We took a series of pictures with soldiers in the West Bank (ahh, to be tourists). From there, we sprinted back to Jerusalem for my final show for the Monologues.

Mary VA left very early on Sunday morning. It was really a blast to have her in town, and I am really happy that she visited. Safe trip home, Mary V :)

Vagina Success!

I performed in the Vagina Monologues this weekend (performances on Thursday and Saturday nights). It was a huge success - I am really happy about my performance both nights that we did the show. More importantly, we raised over 12,000 shekels for a women's crisis center in Jerusalem. This is a lot of money here, and we are all very proud of everyone's efforts.

I will post pictures of the performance after I get the "official" pictures (clearly, as I was acting, I could not be taking pictures as well).

I got really sick this week with an upper resperatory viral infection... it has pretty much put me down for the count. But, it does mean that I have a few minutes to upload one or two pictures from a trip that Alon and I took a the weekend before last.

We traveled up North; this time of year the North is covered in little red, yellow, purple, and white flowers. The weather is gorgeous these days - blue skies, crisp air, green grass (although many of the trees are still bare, as it is still winter). We saw horses and cows and tree-lined farm fields and orchards and street-side pita vendors and picnic-ers and a big spice market and pick-your-own-strawberries. It was beautiful.

Alon and I also decided to visit Nazareth. The Church of the Annunciation was amazing. (It is supposedly situated at Mary's house, where the angel Gabriel declared that Mary would give birth to Jesus.) The outside is lined with a series of depictions of Jesus in the arms of Mary from a variety of different countries (including a Japanese, Thailandi, and other national appearing mother and babe). It was very interesting. This is not compared to the inside of the church, which is fantastic. The interior uses a pseudo-archeological dig in combination with modern architecture to create two different sanctuaries, one above the other. It was really interesting.

Alon and I returned home after this part of the trip. If I ever get pictures of the spice market that we visited, I will post them up as well.

Time to go back to bed now. Hope everyone at home is well.
l