Ima's flower song...

Ima is full of songs, this one about a flower we saw.

Orna's girls at gymnastics (Tal and Yael)

Videos from atop Bet Shean overlooking Jordan Valley, Jordan within sight

Atl least I'm doing laundry while uploading these videos...

Here's two videos taken at Aba and Ima's during Friday Shabbat. The first is Moysh saying the blessing over the wine. The second is his blessing over the bread. (Yes, now I think you were trying to tell me about the manna from heaven, right Moysh?? English is hard for me sometimes!)

I should be packing for the weekend...

Here's some videos I took. Couldn't upload them earlier. These are from the wedding. First one is of Amir and Liat's grand entrance into the wedding. Second is during the wedding. Third is at the very end when Amir crushes the glass under his foot (hang on!)...

Leaving Israeli culture

I'm awake a bit too early this morning, so I'll post a couple of thoughts I've had in mind.

Here's the first. The night before I left Israel, my mind was in competition with my sleeping pill. I went to bed at Orna's house near Tel Aviv (great meal, Orna, and good to see your home and girls at gymnastics). It was 9:30 and we were getting up at 3 to catch the 5:30 am flight. But my brain just wouldn't shut off. It kept hearing Hebrew conversations and I couldn't stop attempting to make sense out of them. I probably wasn't really hearing all Hebrew, of course, but just familiar language patterns and voice intonations. But my brain amazed even me in its attempt to capture the language. I had been in an intense "Hebrew language listening mode" for so long, I just couldn't let go of it. Finally by around 10:30 the drugs won.

I so wish I could have had enough time to become fluent, but I'm still stuck at a very slow pace of conversation. (Thanks for your patience, Elyashar family!) Words were still popping up in my brain up until the end, but all this must go back into the recesses of my mind for now. Perhaps the next visit...

Here's the second thought. Because I was trying to get some sleep on my Tel Aviv-Amsterdam flight, I didn't realize until it was too late that I was leaving Israeli culture and people completely behind. But the last couple of exposures were memorable. Since we were beginning a new day on the plane, some religious Jews wanted to pray. (I didn't see many religious Jews this trip since the snow kept alot of people home in Jerusalem the day I was there.) The guy sitting on the aisle 2 seats away from me had a friend standing next to him helping him wrap his arms and head with the Tephilim for his prayers (if you are unfamiliar, google tephilim). I would have loved a photo, but I thought I would have been rude so I didn't. All the supplies were laid out on the tray table in front of us as they worked to wrap him up. Interesting. Yes, it did occur minutes before landing and the Israeli guy sitting right next to me and I exchanged glances and smiles as the stewardess tried to get the helper friend to sit down for landing. The last Hebrew conversation I would hold came when we deplaned and I said shalom to my neighbor. The last Hebrew conversation I would hear was in an Amsterdam airport restroom when I heard a little girl and her mother talking. And then all the exposure to Hebrew and Israeli culture came to an end. I only realized what was happening after deplaning, so the echo of one last tender little voice was a nice note to end on.

Soon after, I was on another flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, seated next to a sweet, innocent teenage girl returning home from a 2 week missions trip to Tanzania with her Christian high school . This was my first reexposure to an American accent in 10 days. Too familiar. I avoided a conversation with her, because I didn't want to dilute the memory of what I had just left behind.

Now that I'm home again, here's some thoughts:

First off, Israel and Florida have similarities-- the palm trees, the snow birds, the terrazzo or tile floors/no carpeting. Probably others.

Florida has some great humidity, though--your hair doesn't get static in it nor does your skin need lotion.

Life went on without me nicely, while Ray scrambled from one responsibility to the other. I was fortunate to miss 2 throw up cleanups and numerous bedtime routines. Though life is forcing me otherwise, I hesitate to throw myself mindlessly into the endless details of life that Franchesca (Meryl Streep's movie character) and I used to drown in. There seems a neverending list of things to do to keep us on the run. Perhaps I was completely spoiled this past couple weeks, living like a teenager again, so carefree.

I am deeply appreciative that I have a husband willing to send me off like he did. He is a good guy. He even seemed genuinely appreciative of all the souvenirs I brought home...ha! (you can ask him what)

I am extremely fortunate to have the Israeli family that I do, ready with open arms to take me in any time.

David loves his dad alot. I don't think he missed me that much. Jonathan has made lots of new gains on his favorite video game. Natalie works or goes to school constantly and I had to email her the note I was out of town. LAUREN missed me!

This weekend the beat doesn't slow down. Ray and I are headed off tomorrow, Friday, with our student council students to a state convention in Gainsville. We're staying in hotels, so I'm very hopeful to get to bed early and catch up on sleep!

One more posting yet to come with comments on the professions the brothers have chosen and a few last pictures to upload...

Later.

Home sweet home!

I made it home by 6:30 pm with no delayed flights. I even made it over to my 7:30 precalc algebra/trig class, thanks to Ray's willingness to check out the campus while I was in class. Glad I was there. Now that I've been up 27 hours, I better head to bed! School tomorrow morning at 7:30 am!

Thanks for reading my blog, if you are reading this now. I'll try to explain a bit more later. Lot's to catch up on this week.

Sunday around Afula

Here's some pictures from today, Sunday, around Afula. No time to explain.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=cj4qbcu6.649qshx2&x=0&y=w24pq2

Shabbat pictures from Friday eve and Saturday

Today is my last day in Israel. We will go to get the famous sunflower seeds in Afula's shops and head to Eyal to see the factory he runs. Then the plan may be to travel to Orna's house north of Tel Aviv if her husband is not sick. This part we'll wait and see.

My flight leaves tonight, really tomorrow, Monday, at 5 am. So tonight will be a very short sleeping night if at all. I slept 9 hours last night so I'm ready.

This visit has been wonderful. Sad to see it coming to an end, but really it's just THIS trip that is coming to an end. I really love both my Israeli family and this special land. I'll see both again some time, I am sure.

Here's the pictures of Shabbat, beginning Friday evening and all day Saturday.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=cj4qbcu6.4urzf7bq&x=0&y=fmd3sy

Ok, American family. Get ready for me! Don't forget to pick up the house tonight. And since I hear all three boys have been sleeping in my bed, clean sheets may be nice...! Just thinking about you now makes me miss you. Can't wait to see everyone again.

Love you!

Friday's travels to Rosh HaNikra

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=cj4qbcu6.8vt0jtli&x=0&y=zhnoyt

Here's today's travels. No time to write.

Wednesday and Thursday...

Ok, so the blogging part of this is a bit harder for me to do than I thought. So much to say and so little time to say it. I have pictures I'm waiting to upload--it can take a couple of hours sometimes! But they will show you a bit more of Efrat's life in Kibbutz Gevaram. I don't know if the Israeli army blimp picture will be clear or not, but it's in the sky over the Gaza border, just a few miles from their house. Very interesting stories of rockets falling on her children's school, so they switched to one a bit further away. There's lots of bomb shelter shots if you can make them out. The day we were in Jerusalem, 4 missles were shot from Gaza to nowhere. Happens every day. Since Kibbutz Gevaram is in the middle of no cosmopolitan area and the missles are not very accurate, they are not really a target, but just in missle range. Now, Mom, I'm no longer staying there, so you don't have to worry.

Yesterday, we headed to the wedding near Nataniya. The place was one of the most beautiful I've ever been. The wedding itself was simply lovely. The pictures will tell alot of the story. Liat is tall and gorgeous, isn't she? And Amir is a great match to her. I would love to describe every picture but the Kodak website is just for pix. (Someone else needs to show me how to quickly insert pix and text into a website. This one is too slow and limits the # of pix.) I have video of some of the wedding, such as when he crushed the glass. The Ctoova (the wedding contract) is an outstanding shot, if I must say so myself. I had a front row view.

Btw, an interesting cultural note: The wedding invitations said 7 pm, but guests know it's safe to come up to an hour later or so. The chuppa/ceremony part didn't start until 8:15.

After the wedding, around midnight, I switched my luggage to Aba and Ima's car and headed to Afula with them. I said goodbye for now to Efrat and her family (until Friday evening for Shabbat). She deserves a reward for surviving my visit and travels. She was my "wheels" in so many ways. A true friend.

So now I am staying with Aba and Ima in the Jezreel Valley. I remember all the locations of things and today we went out traveling. First we had to visit the prior 2 homes I stayed in with them. Then off to where Ima was a kindergarten teacher when I first met her (in the same place where Aba worked as head of a part of the Kipat Cholim--health insurance I think we'd say). Then we revisited the center of Afula and I did indeed get a picture that matches my postcard. Email me if you figure it out and I'll send you a free ticket to Israel.

From there we headed in the car up to the Kinneret area. The mountains along the way were so green from the rains, they looked like they were glowing. You'll see the photos. And we tried to take a picture of me in the grass with the red flowers. Ray has an enlarged picture of me (in your room at school now, right Ray) where I was sitting in flowers like these years ago, so I wanted to recreate it for him. But the sun was blinding both Ima and Aba as they tried to take my picture, so I had alot of fun laughing with them about their photography skills. Thus, I left every photo attempt to be uploaded. (For the record, some of the other pictures reflect their fine photography skills...)

After getting a great overview of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), we circled around the south, then east side of the sea. Some pictures are from there, but you'll have to guess which ones, sorry! When we were driving below the Golan Heights, a family of 3 deer were cavorting on the mountainside. Really cute, but we passed by too fast to photo.

Then to Vered HaGalil, where Efrat worked for awhile and I came to visit a few times. It's a "western" horse ranch. Fun to see. Back when I was a student, I loved their hamburgers there.

I must digress at this point and say that everything an American would want commercially is now findable in Israel. I was amazed to see all sorts of familiar brands and stores and malls and technology. An American could set up a pretty similar environment for themselves here. But when I mentioned this to Efrat, she said an American would still have culture shock. That would come when an American got in their auto and had another car almost shove them over when they wanted to change lanes. And it's crazy how a few people honk the horn when a yellow light goes on before the green to warn drivers to prepare to go.

But hey, someone point out something Americans do that's crazy, too, ok?

Back to the traveling. We continued north in the Galilee area until we came to Hula Basin. There's a preserve there with more birds than any place on earth, I believe. Over 500,000,000 (yes, zeros are correct) birds pass through Israel every year, coming from Europe and some headed to Africa. Snowbirds, just like in Florida! Truly fascinating. The birds in the photos are mostly cranes.

It's late (1 am and I'm going to be tired tomorrow!) but I must say this trip's theme has been things of beauty: the wedding, the bride, the grass, the flowers, the snow, the birds, and the friends (who are truly family). And this trip is unique because there are many things I could have only seen in the winter: the grass, the flowers, the birds, and the snow (which some of you know I haven't seen in over 14 years and David our youngest has never seen).

I am very blessed. And tired.

I see some of the upload failed, so I'll try again tomorrow evening before the gang arrives here at Aba and Ima's for Shabbat dinner. There will be 18 of us! My how we have grown from the days there were just 6 of us...!

Off we'll go to see the very northern extent of Israel tomorrow, Rosh ha Nikra?? (Ray knows). It's a beautiful spot north of Acco, next to the Mediterranean and Lebanon.

Bye!

P.S. I finally got all the pix to upload, but the ones at the end may be out of sequence. Here's the link for Wednesday and Thursday's pix: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=cj4qbcu6.cicvrrrq&x=0&y=-7qfi5u

Ok, here's the link to my pictures

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=cj4qbcu6.9kohm4xq&x=0&y=-pljft2

Click on this and it should take you to a website with all my pictures. The first set are Ray and I's leadership class here in the States, but after that the rest are from Israel....

What I forgot to photograph...

Dang it! I forgot to photograph Ben Yehuda Street in the center of the New City (actually perhaps my camera battery wouldn't let me). Efrat and I had a nice lunch there and did some shopping. Then a bit more car touring, then home to the kibbutz south of Tel Aviv. Evening was spent talking with the boys, looking at more photos of the family on the computer. Tomorrow afternoon we'll go see Nir's school, when we pick them up early to head to the wedding north of Tel Aviv. We must be there by 6:30 and the wedding starts at 7. What a big day for Amir and Liat. So glad to share it with them.

Inside the Old City...

As a Florida girl, I had no appropriate shoes for the snow (feet were soaked). So I had to buy boots in the Old City. My haggling over the price so impressed my Israeli sister Efrat, that she laughed with amazement as she retold the story to Moysh, her husband when we got home tonight. The shouk seller started at 180 shekels, and after our haggling, I paid 65 (about $17). Now they are a "gift" for Noam, since I have no use for them in FL.

The meat in the City always amuses me. My camera battery was dying or else I'd also have a pix of some animal's intestine for sale. Notice the brown furry tail on the meat on the left.

At the Kotel (Western Wall)

It is customary to put prayer notes in the Wall.

Yesterday with Elyashars and today near our school...

Oops! Already forgot about yesterday. Yesterday feels like a month ago! Efrat and I drove to Hertzelia to meet up with Aba, Ima, and Orna for lunch. We had such a great time reminiscing. They are a dear family to me.

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In this picture, we had already finished a very nice meal and went next door for ice cream. Tomorrow, Wednesday, everyone will be together for the wedding.

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After ice cream, we said goodbye for now, then Efrat and I went off to Dizengoff in Tel Aviv, and up to Jerusalem for the evening before the snow came. (We were beat so dinner from the Supersol--grocery store--across from our youth hostel!)

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Israel has left an indelible mark on my life, that is for sure.

The rest of the pictures are from today near the Institute where Ray and I studied.

Snow in Jerusalem!

Can you believe it? It doesn't even snow every year, and yet the one day I am in Jerusalem, it does! We didn't let it stop us. Hopefully the location of some pictures will be recognizeable, but if not, I'll explain at a photo website when I get home.

Pictures

I'm falling behind in my blogging and it's just the second day!

Trip itself was great. Every connection was much too close (traffic jam in Tampa, flight arrived late in Memphis, played to the last minute in Amsterdam) but really all worked out fine. From Memphis to Amsterdam I sat next to a Dutch man who builds ships, a nautical architect. He was a nice resource for information. I did sleep for more than half of the flight and arrived rested in Amsterdam.

Once there, I easily found my friend Lia and her family: Floor, a Christian television personality, Franka, a lovely 15 year old girl, and Tyn, a sweet 11 year old boy (11, right, Lia??). Lia, herself, is now a social worker in a psychiatric hospital, though she has taught Hebrew and Greek at a seminary in the past. We headed first in their car to Haarlem to see Corrie ten Boom ("oo" like in "ocean"--thanks, Floor). On Saturdays, they have in the center of town, like all other towns, what looked to me like a flea market. We needed to wiat 45 minutes to see a tour of the house, so we stopped for some food. My Dutch friends in Bradenton will know what crouquet is, I bet. I had some and liked it.

Yes, I loved seeing Corrie's house. I already knew most of her story from reading every single book she wrote, so actually, we didn't stay long. (For those who don't know her, she was a 53 year old lady who hid Jews during WWII. When they raided her house, they found hundreds of ration cards for just the three of them (hidden in the woodwork of the stairs), so they took her, her sister and her father away. Her sister and father died, but Corrie came out alive from Aushwitz. I adore this lady. She passed away in the 1980's, but she was the reason I ever had an interest in Israel in the first place.)

After seeing the house, we said goodbye to Lia's family and headed by train back to Amsterdam. One of my biggest impressions was how many bikes there are in Holland. My picture of the bikes was from in front of the Central Bus Station. Amazing. Then off to Anne Frank's house but every tourist in Amsterdam was in line for it. So we decided to pass and just appreciate the setting. Off next to the Van Gogh museum. He's one of my favorite artists, so this was great. Rembrandt was another museum, so we chose Van Gogh instead.

After this, we walked our little feet off, pulling my backpack along (anyone seen the movie "Once"?? I made myself laugh, since I think I looked like the girl in the movie, who dragged her vacuum sweeper around Dublin.) We saw the Dam, coffee shops, the Red Light district, canals, ate dinner in a nice restaurant. We had such a good conversation sharing our lives that we (at least I) lost track of time. At 7 pm, we had to run off and catch my 9 o'clock plane. As I turned to get my last impression of Holland as we loaded the train (same train station where Jews were herded off to camps), I heard a sweet Dutch woman speaking in Dutch. That will remain the summary of Holland to me: sweet Dutch women.

I must make a silly comment here about my impression of Holland. That was my first exposure to how humans will design different solutions for very common needs. What caught my attention was the way toilets are flushed--you push a panel thing in from the top. Lia says all Dutch homes are like this. Now that I'm in Israel, I see we Americans are the only "bar swingers". Israelis have 2 buttons to choose from based on the amount of water dispensed....

As you see, I am a detail person. Franchesca (Meryl Streep) said in a movie once that her life was a series of details. Mine too, sometimes. So it's the details I am catching on this trip. Ok, next subject!

I was so tired from running around Amsterdam that I fell asleep as soon as I fell into my seat on the plane. Twenty minutes later when the plane took off, I woke up startled, thinking I swerving off the road in a car! But I fell quickly back to sleep and woke up almost in Tel Aviv.

My first Israeli exposure came when I heard Hebrew conversations while standing in the security lines in Amsterdam before boarding my Tel Aviv flight. How fun to remember phrases my own mind couldn't summon up on its own.

The Tel Aviv airport was a shock. It is nothing like I remember. Completely remodeled and modern. Customs was nothing. Efrat was waiting for me on the other side. Together we decided to not go straight home (3 am) but to look for something open in Tel Aviv. Well, Tel Avivers are smarter than us and went to bed. Instead, we got fresh bread at the famous Jaffa "Aboolafia" bread stand.

It was wonderful to see Efrat again. She looks the same as she always has, but somehow she seemed to grow taller! She is a dear friend and we hit it off immediately. We talked until we got home to Kibbutz Gevaram at 5:30 in the morning. (Kibbutz is very close to Ashquelon.)

Today she let me sleep until 11:30 am when she woke me a half hour early because it was a beautiful sunny day. It felt like temps in Florida, no jacket necessary. I met Moysh, Efrat's very multi-talented husband, all around jack-of-all-trades. His talent reminds me of Ray. And I also met Guy, a very polite and extremely intelligent 17 year old son. Together we all walked to the dining room and ate lunch (Chicken again for me! Olives, too!). Then Moysh got productive, while Guy, Efrat and I took a tour around the kibbutz. It was fascinating seeing the factory where they make envelopes for companies like Office Depot. Efrat sits in a beautiful new office and runs the computer information systems for the factory. We saw a small petting zoo and dairy cows milking, too

In the afternoon, the delightful boys Noam, 13, and Nir, 9, came home from school. Noam is quite good with his English already and Nir is doing a great job learning it. I have had fun using as much Hebrew as I can, then fill in with English as necessary. We spent some time looking at pictures of the family on the computer.

Later in the evening, we headed to a strip mall in Ashquelon to pick up something for Efrat. I was surprised to see how Americanized it was...even an Ace Hardware and Office Depot there. Supersol is still in business, I see. Then after picking up Noam and Guy from tennis, we headed further into Ashquelon to a food court at the mall (!!). Surprised to see Ked Shoes, Crocs, as well as McDonalds.

It is getting late and I would like to upload the pictures I have taken, but my assistant, Guy has gone to bed (11:15 pm here) so I will try tomorrow. I am uploading them to a website that I'll supply the link to.

Tomorrow we'll leave the house early and head to Tel Aviv for lunch then off to Jerusalem for 2 days. At lunch I'll see Aba and Ima, Orna and perhaps Eyal. Amir, the groom-to-be, somehow will be busy. I've spoken with everyone in the family on the phone, so we're all anxious to meet up.

Tonight I was able to blog while Efrat was working on something next to me. But I will be away from the computer until Tuesday night, so all the pictures must wait until then. I was able to put a few in just for fun.

Till next time,

Shalom!

Cheri

Made it!

I don't have time to really type, but all is well and I'm sitting in Kibbutz Gevaram with Efrat and Moysh in their home. Amsterdam was great and I'll explain later. It was wonderful seeing Lia, her family, and the sights.

Last night I flew in to Tel Aviv and I saw the kibbutz today. I promise to supply some pictures later, but now we are headed to Ashquelon for a bit.

Be back later!

Ready to go

I'm all packed and it's a little after midnight. All checked in, too.

Can't wait!

I have all day at school to think about what I forgot to put in...

Valentine's Day in Israel?

I can't remember if Israeli's celebrate Valentine's Day or not. Help me out, somebody who knows.

Here's my Valentine wish for us all: may we love the ones we love--deeply!

Have a good one, everyone. After dinner at the beach with Ray, I'll be packing...

Two of my students...

...only the brightest at Manatee High.

Here I am back in high school 31 years later.

Me in 1977

Here's what I looked like in 1977 when I was an exchange student.

Afula, Israel

Here's a postcard I brought home from Israel 31 years ago. Let's see if I can get a photo of the same spot while I'm there...

Travel plans

Here's how my plans are falling together for my time in Israel.

After spending, hopefully from 11:15 am to 9:00 pm Saturday in Amsterdam, I'll arrive in Tel Aviv at 2:30 am Sunday (ugh!) .

Beginning Sunday-Wednesday, I'll be with the sister my age, Efrat. Sunday night we'll stay with her family in a kibbutz south of Tel Aviv, see the kibbutz and take naps as necessary during the day.

On Monday, we'll have lunch in Tel Aviv at an Arab restaurant with Aba and Ima and perhaps a couple other siblings will join us. Falafel and hummus are on the menu. Then after lunch, Efrat and I are heading up to Jerusalem where she and I will spend the night at a nice youth hostel. A night in the city should be fun. I'll look for Ben Yehuda Street where there's lots of outdoor cafes. Tuesday in Jerusalem also. Tuesday night back at the kibbutz.

Then on Wednesday afternoon, we'll head up north to Sadot/near Netanya. Wedding will be held here: http://www.mitchatnim.co.il/members/sadot/Mekure.asp The wedding should be great. There's should be lots of food, fun, dancing--and some of you know what kind of a dancer I am already, so I'll try not to embarrass myself.

After the wedding, Aba and Ima will take me home to Afula and out sightseeing around Galilee on Thursday and Friday. Efrat's family will come up to Afula for the Friday evening Shabbat meal. Ima called me to ask me what she should fix for the meal (my favorites: chix/rice with green olives, hummus, chocolate cake/gleeda, too!). She is indeed a great cook. Then on Saturday we'll go to Tel Aviv to the home of another sisiter's (Orna's) house for lunch. Somewhere in there, I hope we'll stop in at a couple of brother's homes for a visit.

It will be a great experience being totally immersed in Israeli culture and Hebrew language. Yes, the adults can speak English to me, but I doubt all the "nieces and nephews" can speak fluently. And everyone else speaks to each other in Hebrew. Some Hebrew should come back to me, but it's been 24 years!

Then home early Monday (5:30 am leave Israel/6 pm arrive in Tampa) and back to teaching Tuesday!

Anybody exhausted yet??

Less than 4 days and counting...

Crazy day today. It's 11:10 pm and I just walked in the door from the day. I had a class up in Tampa, then picked up a prescription for Sonata, a sleeping pill. Now I'm finally home and ready to see what effect the drug has on me. Tomorrow is a high stakes testing day for our school (FCAT Writing test), but I've told Ray to drag me out of bed if I seem comatose!

I want to find out what effect the drug has on me before the trip, so I don't find myself waking up in some stranger's house and not remembering how I got there.

Sleep is a must while I'm traveling, since 40% of my trip is inflight! (4 days out of the 10...yes I love numbers.)

Six days until I leave

I'm headed to a wedding in Israel in less than one week! I leave Friday at 5:15 pm. School gets out at 2:20, so we'll run home, change clothes, throw my bag in the car and head to Tampa. After kissing hubby and kids goodbye, I'll be off on a great adventure.

I go through Memphis then KLM to Amsterdam, arriving the next morning at 11:15 am. It's a 9 hour flight, so I plan to sleep. I hope to have a nice layover in Amsterdam, catching up with a dear Dutch friend from IHLS and seeing Corrie ten Boom's house, Anne Frank's house, and an art museum with Van Goghs and Rembrandts.

At 9:00 pm, I'll board my flight to Tel Aviv and arrive at 2:20 am (ugh!). I've got a full week planned already.

More next post.

A blog for my trip to Israel

Well, I'm trying something new here. I've never had a blog before, but I think this might be a convenient way to communicate with friends and family while I'm off to Israel next week to attend the wedding of the youngest sibling in my high school exchange family, the Elyashars. Amir, 30, techno expert, is marrying Liat. clinical psychologist. Ima was p.g. with him when I lived there almost 31 years ago. Ray and I decided this was a great opportunity, so I'm taking it, even though the finances aren't there for us to go together this time. (Don't feel sorry for him. He spent 3 weeks in Israel 14 years ago without me, when we were considering a move there.)

I'm really looking forward to the trip. I will esp. enjoy catching up with these dear friends. But I will also appreciate seeing the changes in Israel over the years. I was first there when Israel was just 28 years old. Now she's almost 60. I hear she's quite sophisticated now.