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July 25 6 years ago--the little thingsI first came to Israel eight years ago, and returned six months after my pilgrimage to serve in the gardens. I remember how things were then, when Ben Gurion avenue in Haifa wasn't straight, when the Terraces weren't complete, when cars were stoned for driving on shabbot. Some things are enduring.
Even with everything being uncertain at this point in time, it is still the time of year when baby kittens emerge all over the city. I think i have talked about the cats before. Haifa, being a port city, had some rats. So then they got cats and now there are lots and lots of wild cats. Six years ago, we deemed the path to the apartment 'cat land' because i think there were more cats there than people in the building. Yesterday, i realized the kittens were out again...nature continues undaunted. Six years ago, i worked out the honking system for driving. Its an art actually, this method of communicating between cars--all dependent on length of horn honk and frequency (one honk-hello, two--ok, i'm here you can move, three--please get out of my way, one really really long one accompanied by gesticulation--no need, universal translation). It is an incessant and normal part of daily life here. The conflict has brought strange adjustments, in part because so many of the daily norms (of which this is one very trivial example) have shifted. Suddenly, there is little to no honking here, it has become necessity only instead of usual interaction,--the silence is almost deafening sometimes.
My thoughts and prayers, alongside those of so many of you who have sent messages of love and hope, remain with the people affected by the conflict--and those millions of others worldwide who also struggle with conflicts in their countries on a day to day basis. Nature continues undaunted and we try to as well--while the little things shift to endure.
July 22 whoever said...patience is a virtue should be shot. Quick point of clarification--the sirens go off here when there are missiles anywhere in the north--so when one sees sirens in Haifa on the news, it shouldn't be assumed we have missiles raining from the sky.
It just allows everyone to take safety precautions. Its another beautiful day of what would be GREAT tanning weather at the beach. I have dreams of the last two summers, when we would BBQ on the beach, lie in the sun, swim with the jellyfishes, and go to the ice cream trucks that park on the beach amongst the clumps of chairs and umbrellas they set up for their patrons. On a deeper note, i wanted to mention something about the pilgrims who have been here this week. They, in my opinion, are really special--to have come at this time, when they can't do the normal activities of pilgrimage b/c of the situation. Yet, the light and love they radiate and appreciation they have for being here, at the world center of their Faith, is really impressive. ..Makes me redouble my efforts to be resilient and focus on my service--the work continues. As a post scipt, Bob and Lissa (my parents) have discovered (in their 6 trips to the shelter today) that one of their neighbors is the projectionist at the local cinema...and that the matriarch of the building gets very upset with them if they don't make it there quickly enough. July 20 Lushia the dogSo today's blog is courtesy of my parents, who are well behaved and go down to the safe area in their building when they are at home and the sirens (like the one at 530 i slept through this morning) go off. One of the first times, they got down there and their israeli neighbors were in the pjs, underwear and carrying their small children and dogs--including lushia.
Fast forward three days:
My mom's cheese sandwich breakfast gets interrupted; so she, my dad and the cheese sandwich go downstairs. The numbers of neighbors gathering are dwindling. Neighbor's clothing has switched, no more underwear, now looks like beachwear instead. They must wear beachwear to sleep in figures my mom (still clutching the cheese sandwich). She pans the room....the baby is salivating and oogling her sandwich (which she clutches more tightly and guards closer)...still paning....
Ah, the dog made it! Lushia, you are safe, she thinks....then realizes...the dog came on its own--its family is no where to be seen. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks??
July 19 the cookie to siren ratioi go through a box of cookies roughly every 4 sirens. i figured it out--had to take an average--complicated subject this stress/food consumption business. Today, after consuming the whole thing--tummy hurting, i moved on to chocolate chip cake for the next couple wailing noises...it worked well, they were in succession and i could just munch to my heart's content, watch the Jeremy guy on CNN (which i can't stand afte this week), and speculate on where things were landing in Haifa. My desk is covered in papers and snacks. If it weren't for my dad's metabolism i would be weight watchers diet waiting to happen the rate i am going.
if you aren't in the mood for introspective--STOP HERE______________________________________________
When i was younger--like pre-teen--we used to spend summers at girl scout camp. I remember weeks on end of arts and crafts, horse-back riding, water sports and tending llamas (yes, seriously)...all while sleeping in platform tents or cabins. And yes, i was a girl scout. anyways, i suppose its just one of those days when i wish i could rewind to southern summers, lying on the dock by the lake, riding bikes to the pool, playin in the grass making witch's brews and potions. I miss those things.
I love being here--there is no where i would rather be right now. Its just that i don' t think i really appreciated that kind of freedom when i had it...and i am hoping that at the end of this i appreciate it more and take greater advantage of being able to travel, explore, and enjoy being outside in nature. My concrete cookie filled bunker/office gets old fast. July 17 honestly---meh mehOk, so by now i think you all realize that regardless of my joking about the original hit--the situation is by far more serious than i care to let on. The air raid sirens started at 6 am this morning, sun just risen, rain clouds created by the shelling and missles hovering over akka. Although we had a break for most of the morning--right after lunch the sirens started again and we were under fire.
My office serves as a bomb shelter (as it is built back into the mountain) and there are more of them in the other buildings (which is where my parents are). We are being well taken care of by both the Universal House of Justice (who i am working for) and our security department. So aside from being anxious and stressed and generally bored after work hours, i can't complain too terribly much. It is seriously nerve wracking to feel like you are waiting forever for the other shoe to drop. The sirens going off are almost a relief--the anticipation sucks.
we have realized that the media (especially cnn and bbc) make things alot worse. For the closest picture to reality here, i would like to suggest Fox news.
Land lines are generally the best way to communicate with us here following an attack as cell reception quicky goes awry. (Reminds me of what DC was like right after 9/11--similar lack of cell phone service i mean) If you need those numbers, please just let me know and we can go from there. Thank you for the love and support. I promise that if the situation warranted i would come home--but its not to that point yet.
July 14 BBQs and RocketsIts a beautiful summer day here--the sun is shining, water is an increadible teal blue, the breeze is blowing, jelly fish are still here--preventing swimming in the ocean and we are getting ready for our third BBQ this week.
Last night we watched as a rocket exploded onto the mountainside about 3/4 of a km from where i live...just below Stella Maris near the cable cars for anyone familiar with the area. Loud boom, smoke for not long enough for us to remember to take pictures, and extensive awe that they were actually stupid enough to lob something at haifa ensued. The whole time i think i was more worried that the ribs on the grill were going to burn while we speculated about what might just have been the smartest thing the guys on the other side of the border have ever done....certianly Beirut isn't grateful i am sure after the pummeling it tok over the last 24 hrs.
A hike that way today proved to me one thing--these katuysha rocket things are not capable of inflicting much damage...any that has occurred was purely luck and not the result of them being weapons of any ferocity. Seriously guys, i think anyone with a pipe bomb can do more....or mace and a bobcat (digging machine thing). Although the unfortunate tree that got stuck holding all the grass the rocket kicked up wold probably think otherwise, but granted the height of the debris was about 3 feet above ground level--maybe not.
So, for anyone worried about safety--don't. The overgrown firecrackers can't do much damage and CNN blows things WAY out of proportion. If in doubt, call or text...but really, no need to panic. (pictures up soon)
much love from the war zone (although you would only know b/c there are more fancy helicopters flying around than usual). July 10 World Cup Final, Fire BBQing, and AstroturfSo its been a while--mostly because i didn't feel like blogging about anything that wasn't at least moderately entertaining...and while i have been crazy busy, none of it was really the kind of story that translates into general population humor--until last night.
First off, let me be clear---Zidane is my new hero. i was going for Italy (they were prettier and had longer hair and we all know i am a sucker for pretty boys with long hair), right up until that spectacular head butt---WHAT GENIUS!!! and the real stoke of genius was that NO ONE (minus the entire world watching on TV) saw him do it.
Anyways....that twenty seconds of sheer brilliance i watched from the floor of Mace's living roon, which sometime between Tokyo Drift the night before and the dead animal consumption party magically became covered in plastic astroturf--yeah, grass. His livingroom looks like a big, poorly managed, golf course. This would be strange out there in the real world, i realize this. But here it is really INCREDIBLE. There is no grass in this country, certianly none you can walk on in your barefeet without fear--and to all of a sudden encounter a living room full of it was quite a reality shaker. It was all in honor of the game---and the BBQ party was to make us fourth of July missing Americans feel better. (so there to my boyz that went to san fran--i had indoor grass!!)
We grilled up enough ribs, chickens, and veggies, marinated in Leili's special sauces, to feed the small army amassed on the grass. We called Navs, as his presence was exceptionally missed--he told us that we wasted good space on the grill roasting the damn veggies--ah my little South African carnivore. Only problem with BBQing is that Payam has this magical talent for setting the whole grill on fire....one minute the coals would be glowing red hot, heat stable, the sizzling noise of meat teasing our ears (occasionally drowned out by loud yelling in Hebrew and tires screeching on the hill--but yeah, sizzling)...then Payam with his magic touch would do something and there would be an erpution of flame---The Chickens were on fire, witih their black charbroiled outsides and still not cooked insides, a sad reminder that Saudi-Canadians shouldn't be allowed control of BBQs.
And thus passed my delayed 4th of july bbq on the grass in honor of the world's best head butt.
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