Unintentionally artsy photo

We're back .... and I'm awake at 4:30 am on the east coast, tapping into some neighbor's wifi.

This is the last picture from the camera. I am not sure where it was taken or by whom, but I think I was trying to see how outdoor photos would turn out. It kind of looks like a bunch of Santas running through a mall. We will definitely buy a new camera soon ...

Gan and Death of a Camera

Daycare/preschool ('gan') at the kibbutz is not what one would find at home. From the beginning L was the best-dressed kid there (not intentionally; we just didn't bring clothes with giant stains and holes) and the least likely to get dirty (they play outside in the mud a lot and L would have none of it). These pics show the creative use of broken household appliances, cleaning supplies and muddy water at the gan.



And then the camera broke. Here are two of the final pics out of our deceased camera; L and Or are sitting on the futon in the rented Jerusalem apartment eating cucumbers and cold pasta.

Brave New Girl and more of Jerusalem

We are pretty big recyclers and so it pains me to see the state of affairs here. This is one of the huge water-bottle cages that one can find on city streets here; they are perpetually overflowing and stuffed with all kinds of other crap usually. Sometimes there are also newspaper recycling containers around, but that's it, and it feels pretty retro to throw away cans, glass containers, paper, plastic bags, etc. on a daily basis. Everything here is over-packaged to death as well.

Here is one shot of L in the shuk in Jerusalem, which is the big outdoor market in the new city. It was right near the apt we rented while we were there, and we went often as M (and I) have fond memories of shopping there when we lived in Jerusalem. The day we arrived L had a fever and was all tired and lethargic so I stayed with her in the apt while M went out to shop just before the market closed for shabbat on Friday in late afternoon. Everyone is trying to dump everything then because the shuk is closed on Sat so things were ridiculously cheap. Among fruit, veg, bread, etc., he returned with a large sack of really good mixed nuts that we are still working on.

L has changed a lot since we arrived I think, although we'll only know for sure when we are settled in at home I guess. We have schlepped her all over this country over the past 2 months and she has seen a lot of people and dogs, made a lot of friends, gotten over her dislike of dirt somewhat (by necessity), etc. Here she is in the sand in a Jerusalem playground; frolicking voluntarily in sand is definitely something new for her.

She's also wanted to be on her own a lot more. Here, for example, she sits at the 'Coffee Bar Y' which was this literal hole-in-wall neighborhood cafe right near our rented apt (excellent coffee) with a woman who works there and her friend. They thought she was cute and so took her outside to talk and whenever M went outside to check on her she would say 'go away Abba!' M told her that they were students (which they are - at Hebrew U) and so she referred to them later as 'my students.' She's done this with other people she hardly knows as well, which is REALLY new.

And it's amazing how well she's been playing with kids she hardly knows. Yesterday she totally hit it off with a new friend Netta, who is one of M's best friend's kids, and again sent M away while she played at Netta's grandmother's house on the kibbutz for over an hour. Here she is in Jerusalem with Yoel and Ella's sons at a park near their house; we stayed with them the last night we were in Jerusalem.

Fruit Tour of Israel 1

Before the camera broke, M spent many hours documenting the various exotic fruits on the kibbutz. All of these aren't commercially grown; some were planted as ornamentals here years ago and random people can pick and eat them. Do you know these fruits?

Sapota (or sapodilla). The inside is purplish brown and it tastes like cotton candy. Lilah loves it, and J thinks it's foul (although pro-cotton candy).

Papaya.
Sabra (prickly pear).
One of the many varieties of dates around here.

Avocado.

Lilah and figs (ate many of them).

Spondias dulcis (Tahitian apple).

Kumquat.
Passionfruit. It's ubiquitous here, in chocolate bars, drinks, gum, cosmetics and everything else.

Pomegranate. We went to a winery that makes only pomegranate wine today. The dessert wine was pretty good. Unfortunately, we left the bottle in the car for two hours and the cork popped.

Ode to the BFF (in celebration of her birthday)

New playgrounds are fun

But you are so far away

I miss you, Svea!

Jerusalem Old City

We were in Jerusalem for 5 days. Last Saturday, after eating a lovely breakfast with Yorke in the Albright courtyard, we walked over to the Old City. After some window-shopping, we paused for yet another plate of chips (too bad you can't see the pink ketchup) in the Christian Quarter before braving the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on a Saturday afternoon.

Something is spotted outside the entrance (12th century Crusader).


Lilah pauses in front of the Stone of Unction. This is precisely when she started rubbing her face that day - she wound up with a pretty bad rash that lasted the whole time we were in Jerusalem. Was it the incense in the air? The smoke? The grease from the nasty $6 plate of fries?

This picture, taken by M, makes Christ's tomb look pretty impressive with the light from the ceiling and all. The view closer to the ground is pretty bad - the tomb walls are buckling in a serious way and supported by ugly scaffolding from the 19th century.

This pic only hints at the crowds present that day. Actually, it wasn't so bad, but we didn't stay in for long.

The lioness howled (probably for another popsicle) as we wandered past the stalls not far from the church.

And we stopped at a shop on the Via Dolorosa to buy some souvenirs (a bunch of hamsas; I'm feeling the need for special protection these days).

Cana and Nazareth Village

This week we spent a few days at Kibbutz HaSoleilim, where I worked on the stone from Khirbet Cana. My work in storage rooms reached new heights.

But only briefly, as it was way too hot to be in this thing after like 8:30 am. Generally we enjoyed the lovely weather; there was lots of outdoor dining on the picnic table outside of our room. Here we ate, among other things, giant pita and labneh with zaatar. This pita is so big that it can be worn as a skirt.

The crowded kibbutz pool was full of helpful signage.

The kibbutz is near Nazareth, so we spent yesterday there walking around downtown, briefly visiting the Church of the Annunciation, and touring Nazareth Village. L really liked the doors to the church; she keeps talking about how small Jesus is in these images. There were also lots of beautiful mosaics of Mary and Jesus by artists from countries all over the world.

And then we went to Nazareth Village. I have been using this as an example in classes for a few years but had never been there until yesterday. Basically, it is a faux Roman village from the time of Jesus with reenactors, animals, traditional crafts, etc. It was not as cheesy as I expected, which is something, but I have some complaints. For one, it was noon and hot, and there were only like 2 reenactors working plus a couple of goats and a donkey. For some reason we didn't get a tour of all the reconstructed buildings, which made me pretty annoyed as there were some pretty good installations, tools, etc. that I wanted to take pictures of. Our guide was ok, but honestly his inauthentic dress, Sprite bottle, and frequent text-messaging were all wrong.

Here is a member of our group with one of the reenactors on the watchtower.

This olive press was used pretty recently, as it still had olive chunks and delicious-smelling oil on it.
The reconstructed synagogue was really nice, and Lilah was all smiles in the relative coolness in there.

I sort of recommend this place. In cooler weather with more reenactors it would be better. The gift shop was full of great stuff but it was way expensive (which didn't deter me). We got little replica Roman lamps as souvenirs, and successfully burned one last night while watching Snow White for the millionth time.