The Continuation of our Israeli Adventure

After recovering from our trip to Germany, we went back to playing tourist in Israel. We took the kids to the Safari Zoo near Tel Aviv. There's a 250 acre area where they tried to recreate an African Savannah and the animals roam around and while you drive in your car. An ostrich just about broke the window trying to steal Alfonso's apple. They have the lions in a separate section from the other animals. Alejandro waited until we were all gated in with the lions to announce he had to go to the bathroom. Oh, how I loathe potty training! There's also a beautiful and size-able "normal" zoo with animal enclosures that we walked through as well. The kids took their first trip to Jerusalem (we'd gone during the house hunting trip without them.) Alfonso was once again amazed by the history and culture. I once again felt overwhelmed by the crowds and chaos and confusion.

Bet Govrin and the Soreq Cave
We have turned into a bunch of spelunkers. Alfonso and I first visited Bet Govrin sans kiddos. A co-worker's teenage daughter came to babysit. Alejandro literally pushed us out of the house, happy to have a new playmate while Dante bawled. There are several caves built by different cultures for varying purposes over the centuries -- burial tombs, quarrying, housing, cultivating pigeons. Apparently, some of the Bedouin (nomads/gypsies) use the park as grazing land and the path we took through the park coincided with their grazing route.


Most of these national parks have too much to see in one day. We took the kids another day and we still haven't been though the whole thing. The kids' expressions of wonder and excitement as we entered the caves were priceless. This past weekend we went to a natural stalactite cave in the Judean Hills. While it is amazing to see what ancient civilizations accomplished with relatively limited means yet these structures still exist thousands of years later, nature holds a beauty that man could never duplicate (although woman might come close.)

The Jewish Experience
We missed the big 60th independence day celebration when we were in Germany but, we've hit a few more holidays and are slowly learning more about the religion, culture and traditions of the Jewish people. I'm not even close to being an expert and there are so many flavors of Jews with varying levels of practice and different interpretations of scripture just as Christianity encompasses dozens of creeds.
Lag B'Omer is a Jewish holiday that I still don't quite understand what it is for but they have huge bonfires all over. After seeing all the little Israeli kids burning bread before Passover began, I was starting to think we had a bunch of pyros in our neighborhood.

Shavuot is to commemorate God revealing the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. They celebrate by eating lots of cheese and dairy dishes. Again I don't understand the reasoning, but it is a very tasty tradition. Sabbath -- The work week is Sunday through Thursday. The Sabbath begins sundown on Friday. So about 4 PM on Friday, everything shuts down until sundown on Saturday evening. In this time, those who practice do not work or touch money. Work includes operating man made machinery such as a car. For our month in Tel Aviv, we stayed at a kosher hotel so while there were still people who worked -- the breakfast they served on Saturday had been prepared the day before and the coffee was unfiltered. There was a special elevator that stopped on each floor so one wouldn't have to press a button. One time, Alfonso was in the lobby with an observant Jewish woman and the Shabbath elevator was on the 28th floor. He offered to let her on the normal elevator and press the button for her, she laughed and declined. It is possible to find gas stations, grocery stores and some restaurants open but not many. Even for the secular Jews, family is very important here and everyone gathers with their family on Friday evening for the Sabbath dinner.

Anyhow, we are learning a lot about history, geography and culture. I wish the kids were a bit older so they could remember more of the experience. But they are happy to just go to the beach.

Love always,
debi

Wir lieben Deutschland!

Time to pack our bags again. We are moving to Germany! We'll have to get some German lessons from Uncle Paul and Alfonso will have to quit Intel and go work for AMD (there's a plant in Dresden.) Okay, maybe we aren't quite ready to move yet -- but we'd like to. We went for a quick trip last week and completely fell in love with the country. It hadn't been top on our lists of places to see, but Alfonso has a high school friend stationed at the Army base in Heidelberg. Heidelberg is a beautiful city that wasn't damaged much during World War II. The Allies didn't think there was anything worth bombing I guess, but the German troops blew up the bridge over the Neckar River the day before the Allies liberated the city. The old town is so quaint with outdoor cafes and beirgartens. We skipped all the big cities and spent almost all of our time in the Bavaria region -- gorgeous picturesque country side with lots of villages with white houses and red roofs . We headed south near the Austrian border and got to see the Swiss Alps. We visited various castles including Neushwanstein after which Disney modeled the Sleeping Beauty castle. Alejandro would go room to room calling "Cinderella! Where are you? I'm here to rescue you!" Then there was Dante who would point at the stautes of the little nude cherubs at the Linderhof and shout at the top of his lungs "Naked boy! Naked boy!" Kids always pick the most inopportune moments to show off their language skills.
We had a bit different perspective visiting Germany after being in Israel the last two months. Instead of seeing all the signs and saying "Oh, we can't read German", we were excited because everything was written in the Roman alphabet. We ate pork, bacon, sausage any chance we had. Oh, it tasted soooooo good! Although we can get some pork in Israel, it just doesn't taste the same. Germany was so nice and clean without all the Israeli litterbugs to muck it up. We also ate lots of icecream as there were shops on every corner. One almost felt out of place walking down the street without carrying an icecream cone. I don't know if I mentioned that the icecream is worthless in Israel. We have the same container from our first trip to the store. Alfonso asked me the other day why I don't eat as much icecream -- it's lousy! Who wants to eat cardboard? Anyhow, I think I gained 5 kilos last week (sounds better than 10 pounds.) On second thought, we might not want to move to Germany -- I'll turn into a hippo.

Staying on the US Army base with friends also left a different impression than if we'd been in a hotel or B&B. His friends have lived there three years and speak minimal German because they have little use for it. The base is like small town USA with schools, stores, church, parks, bowling alley, mini-golf, fast food, bars, etc. all there with everything in English and all the products brought from the States. So while they are still far from family and still have the opportunity to see new places, their adjustment to living abroad wasn't as drastic as ours. (Of course, we don't have the risk of Alfonso being shipped off to Iraq any time soon either.)
So we got a taste of home and Alfonso got to relive his glory days of high school track with his friend. The two of them sounded like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite. The family we stayed with was very gracious and we really enjoyed their company on top of all our sight seeing.
I actually feel frustrated because I can't find the right words to encapsulate our experience. We took hundreds of pictures and they still don't do the place justice. My explanations and anecdotes are so inadequate to describe how fabulous our trip was.
Anyhow, now we are back "home" again and going to the beach every day. Oh, how we suffer!

Love always,
Debi

home sweet home (sort of)

We are finally in our house and our things arrived (mostly intact.) We have had a whole litany of problems but slowly the kinks are getting worked out or we are learning to deal. Our home is in Ashdod, the fifth largest city in Israel. It is on the Mediterranean Sea and has a huge port on the north end. I like the city a lot. It's big enough that there's plenty of nearby shopping and things to do but the streets are wider, there's more available parking and it's cleaner than Tel Aviv. There's a large population of Russian and French immigrants who aren't religious Jews, so there are many non-kosher items available -- pork, bacon, etc.. When it's not rush hour, it take Alfonso 35 minutes to get to Intel. Unfortunately there are only two roads that go into the city, the main one by the port and one at the south entrance. So the congestion at the intersection is insane just waiting to get into the city. Alfonso's shuttle ride takes over an hour. This was why we hadn't considered living in Ashdod originally. Since our other housing option was ..oh wait, we didn't have another option unless you consider waiting indefinitely at the hotel a viable choice (that would be NO!!!)

Anyhow, we have a nice home. It's a two story duplex. There are four bedrooms so we are ready for company whenever you are ready to come! The houses here are made of concrete and tile so it's a bit noisy and has quite an echo. Our home was used as a model home for this allotment so it was furnished to look "fancy" (I believe was the intent -- however the words "gaudy and tacky" come to mind.) The chandeliers and curtains with the crystals, black and white fringe would be better suited for a Vegas lounge than in home with two toddlers that merely look at the white couches to make them filthy. We have a beautiful garden and a small yard that is enclosed so the boys can run but not escape. The house is located at the very southern end of the city. At the end of our block, there's nothing but sand dunes (which the boys enjoy "sledding" down.) We are about 600 yards from the sea --a mere 8 minute walk to the beach. The walk home feels longer since I have to pull the wagon up hill to get back. We go to the beach quite a bit as the boys both love it. Dante calls it "El Mar" and reaches out his arm in this grand gesture as he somehow comprehends how vast and awesome it truly is. My new goal is to survive the next two years without getting skin cancer. There are two other American families from Intel with children on our street as well.

Masada and the Dead Sea
Masada is yet another set of ancient Roman ruins near the Dead Sea. This fortress/palace/city was built by King Herod as his winter retreat home. Because its location is so remote (in the middle of the desert) it was relatively uninhabited over the years and therefore well preserved. It was held by a group of Jews in the first century who killed themselves rather than be over taken by a Roman siege -- so it has a great symbolism to the Jewish people. The Israeli soldiers take an oath there that "Masada will not fall again." Alejandro was a little more interested in the ruins this time as he pretended to take a bath in the bathhouse and bought imaginary food from the ancient storerooms.
We stopped at the Dead Sea after our visit to Masada so it was way past nap time. The shore is 400 meters below sea level and the water is over 8 times saltier than the ocean. Alfonso and I both floated effortlessly but the kids couldn't be persuaded to try. It felt like walking into a pool of mineral oil. Not like water with grease on top, but the whole thing is like a vat of oil. It's supposed to be really healthy for your skin and people lather themselves with mud -- which Alejandro thought was hysterical. The salt crystallizes on the sea floor so it's painful to walk on your bare feet. Plus, the water is too salty for the kids to play. Dante got some his his mouth and tried to wipe the taste out with his hands which were covered with the salty water. Then Alejandro splashed it in his eyes and that was the end of our 20 minutes at the Dead Sea. Not a fun place for the kids even before naptime.
The drive offered yet another landscape -- a completely desolate, barren desert with windy roads. We could see camels wandering off in the distance and nothing else for miles. It was like out of a movie. There was one little spot by a gas station that Arab merchants had their wares for sale and camels all saddled up for the tourists. On the way there, we stopped for a photo and Alejandro got a ride around the parking lot. They normally take you out on half hour rides into the desert for an authentic experience but we just wanted to get to the Dead Sea. Dante was terrified of the camel for some reason and screamed like a banshee when we tried to get him to sit with his brother. On the drive home, we saw a few camels grazing on the side of the road, so Alfonso slowed down so we could get a picture. It's a good thing because there was a sharp curve in the road, and right as we came around the bend there was a camel right in the middle of the lane. Those creatures are so big, there wouldn't have been much left to our little car! A mile down the road, there was a sign warning about camels crossing.
Passover
We went to another family's home for their traditional Seder meal for Passover last night. They had their parents and some other friends as well. They said many blessings and prayers in Hebrew but would stop along the way to explain to us in English the meaning of the different parts. There were also many songs which Alejandro got upset that he didn't know the words too but Dante was happy to dance along with. We ate the different herbs and drank lots of wine. His co-worker's mother was from Turkey but spoke Ladino which is a very old form of Spanish. Way back in 1492, the Spaniards expelled the Muslims and Jews. Many of them settled in Turkey and Morocco but they kept the Spanish language even after all these centuaries. (We'll be lucky if our kids know how to speak Spanish.) Anyhow, at the end of the evening they sang a song in Ladino.

It starts "Un kavretiko ke lo merko mi padre por dos Levanim" which means "A goat that my father bought for two Levanim" and it goes through multiple verses with something happening to the last thing. So it ends like this:
"I vino el santo benditcho el i mato al Malah Hamavat ke degoyo al choet, ke degoyo ala vaka, ke bevio la aqua ke amota al fuego ke kemo al palo ke aharvo al perro ke moryo al gato ke komio al kavretiko ke lo merko me padre por dos Levanim"

(This is how it is written in Ladino -- my Spanish isn't really that bad!)
"The Blessed Holy One came and slaughtered the Angel of Death that slaughtered the butcher that slaughtered the cow that drank the water that put out the fire that was burning the stick that beat the dog that bit the cat that ate the goat that my father bought for two Levanim."

Groceries
Shopping here has been very challenging. An Israeli friend has offered to go with me to the store and help me out but our trip keeps getting delayed for one reason or another. I would say only about 10% of the items have English on the labels. Plus, the packaging is very different -- for example: tomato paste is in like a plastic pudding cup with a foil seal instead of a can. I'm an expert on tomato paste because we've bought it three times in attempt to get tomato sauce. Asking for help doesn't get you very far when people have limited English and my Hebrew is practically non-existent. Other things, we just haven't found yet whether the store is kosher or not. All the cheeses here are white -- no cheddar. We bought one cheese that was a darker yellow and it turned into a buttery consistency when left at room temperature and has absolutely no flavor. The foods are grouped differently so it's hard to even know where to look for things. (Flour and sugar are with the breads instead of with other baking items.) Nothing I cook tastes like it's supposed to. I'm sure over time and with a little help we'll get things figured out. Right now, meal time is a a bit frustrating. Alejandro and Dante are happy with chicken nuggets and hot dogs (made from chicken) respectively. They have daily arguments over which is better. It reminds me of those old "taste great/less filling" commercials where they just shout back and forth at each other. "Hot dog!" "Chicken nuggets!" "Hot dog!" "Chicken nuggets!" Alejandro came home from shopping with Alfonso and Dante looks at him and yells "Hot dog!" just to start a fight. It's a bit ridiculous.

Bamba
Bamba is like the Israeli national snack food. They are like cheese puffs except they are peanut butter flavored. The boys were first introduced at one of Alfonso's co-worker's home. They put out a huge bowl and both of the boys started scarfing it as fast as they could get it to their face. Eventually they slowed down so they could go play with the cat. Later, I told them it was time to go and I started to gather the diaper bag. I turn around and Dante has two fistfuls, while Alejandro had made a pouch out of his shirt and is dumping the remaining bamba into his shirt. I was absolutely mortified but our hosts just thought it was adorable. Of course, Israelis are so indulgent with children I'm not sure what behavior they would disapprove of. Alfonso and I aren't fans of the bamba. They have fruit flavored puffs as well but apparently no cheese flavored ones (that we have found yet anyhow.) We saw a Cheetos brand bag (with Chester the cheetah) and bought them -- only to discover they were flavored like sweet corn. The boys both like to sing La Bamba whenever they eat it.

love always,
debi

good news

We have a house! They signed the contract today and will hopefully have it furnished so we can move in sometime next week. Right now we are still living in the hotel in Tel Aviv. The maid cleans daily. We drop the laundry off once a week. Eat out two meals a day. I guess I'm not cut out for this posh lifestyle because I will be thrilled to cook and clean again!

We've experienced so much already and I've been slacking on my note taking so it's hard to figure out where to begin. I guess I'll start with our sight seeing...

Caesarea -- Is on the Mediterranean coast north of Tel Aviv. It was built by King Herod around 20 BC and was the capital of Judea during Jesus' time. Has a theater, aqueducts, hippodrome, bathhouse, amphitheater, synagogue as well as fortifications built by the Crusaders. (The Crusaders stuff is relatively new. Only a paltry 900 years old instead of 2000 like the rest of the ruins.) The place is fabulous! Very open, lots to see, very little barricaded off. We need to go back when we have strollers/back carriers for the kiddos because it's too extensive for them to walk the whole way. Also we had a minor incident with Alejandro removing a small boulder from one of the walls of the hippodrome. The wall had lasted over 2000 years, and our son was tearing it down in the split second we had turned our backs. Anyhow, we got to see some gorgeous Roman ruins just in case we never make it to Italy .
Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee -- Capernaum was where Jesus "recruited" many of the apostles and spent time preaching. The town is just ruins that were excavated by Franciscan monks the first six decades of the last century. There are several houses including that of St. Peter as well as the synagogue from the time. It's quiet and peaceful and I found the trip much more meaningful than our visit to Jerusalem . Jerusalem is a living city and has changed so much from the time of Jesus. Capernaum helps one imagine life at His time. Of course the significance was lost on the kids as Dante played in the gravel the whole time while Alejandro investigated every crevice in the walls with sticks. The Sea of Galilee (which is not a sea -- it's a fresh water lake) is in northeast Israel . It's green and lush and reminded us of Ireland . We stopped and let the kids go swimming but they fussed about the gravel shoreline instead of the soft sand they've become accustomed to at the beach in Tel Aviv. The whole walking on water thing didn't work for us. Unfortunately we had left the camera at a friend's house the night before, so we have video but no pictures.

Purim -- Purim is more of a national holiday than a religious one. It is to celebrate the Jews' deliverance from the Persian plot to kill them recorded in the Book of Esther. People dress in costumes similar to Halloween but only those of a playful nature -- nothing scary allowed. (I really don't understand the concept of the masquerade because there are no disguises in the Book of Esther.) Anyhow, we went to a Purim "parade." I am reluctant to perpetuate this misnomer about calling it a "parade" because it was stationary -- with little stages and booths setup where people in costumes put on skits. The crowd had to do all the walking. We didn't have costumes for the kids but they enjoyed seeing everyone else dressed up.
Easter -- We weren't brave enough to take on all the droves of tourists that come this time in Jerusalem , so we just went to church in Tel Aviv. Then we gathered with four other American families for dinner. I had never had chili cheese hotdogs and green chile stew for Easter dinner before, but there's a first for everything. (The green chiles were leftovers for someone's stash from Hatch NM -- we haven't found anything for a close substitute yet.) The kids played on the slip'n'slide and had an egg hunt in their bathing suits -- another first.
Terrain -- Israel is so tiny but it offers so many different sceneries. We'll start driving from the beach, sandy desert, head into plains with olive trees and citrus groves, highly irrigated farmland, next we are headed up wooded mountains in just an hour's drive. Then up north we found cliffs, bluffs and grassy hillsides where sheep and cows graze. Plus, just watch out the window and you'll pass ruins everywhere along the way. There are so many different types of architecture because this land has been conquered by the just about everybody and their brother -- Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans and the British.

Children -- It's not uncommon to see an Israeli man pick up a strange baby and just gush over the little one. Israelis delight in seeing children and love to spoil them. Dante loves to flirt but is not comfortable with strangers trying to touch him. As we've been dining out so frequently, Alejandro wants to run around and entertain whoever will pay any attention to him. While in the States, people might smile and say hello to a child, they eventually want to be left to dine in peace. Here they are thrilled to keep the child's attention for so long and Alejandro is thrilled to have an audience. As I'm desperately trying to keep Dante from picking up litter on our walk to the beach, Alejandro is busy collecting cookies and candy from shop owners and passersby. The whole don't take candy from strangers approach doesn't work so well here.
All the little things -- Like the rest of the world, Israel uses the metric system. It's been a long time since I've stepped on a scale and it read in the 60s. (Kilograms instead of pounds, of course.) On Easter, it was 42 degrees (unfortunately that was in Celsius which made it a whopping 107 Fahrenheit! It's only March!) They use military time instead of am/pm. The currency is the shekel which is worth about 3.4 shekels/ US dollar. Just six months ago, it was 4.2 shekels per dollar. Since Alfonso is getting paid in dollars, we've lost 20% of our purchasing power. Oh, did I mention everything is crazy expensive? Gas and milk are both over $7/gallon (if you do the conversions -- they only sell liters here.) They only things we have found cheaper here are flowers and avocados.

Anyhow, that's enough for now. I don't want to bore you all to death and end up with everyone setting up an auto-delete for my emails. We are really excited to be here and are really looking forward to these next two years.
Love always,
debi

greetings from Israel

So over a year after we made the decision to come, our family finally arrived in Israel. The boys did well enough on the flight (Dante slept 10 out of the 12 hours bless his soul) but the following jet lag to adjust to the time difference made for a painful week. Just as things started to get better, the boys got sick. Fevers, vomiting, stuck in a hotel -- complete deja vu of Phoenix. Dante's illness was short lived but Alejandro is determined to be as miserable as possible. Finally took him to the doctor this morning and he has an ear infection on top of a viral infection. Poor little guy.

Anyhow, so we've been in a hotel in Tel Aviv (an hour commute for Alfonso) the whole time with little prospect of getting a house. Today the announcement came that the company Intel contracted to help us get a house has basically gone on strike. Intel and the contracted company are both accusing the other of not living up to their end of the contract, Intel stopped payments and the other company stopped working (although they weren't working very well to begin with.) Who knows how long it will take for them to work things out. In the mean time, we are "stranded" in a fancy hotel, just two blocks from the beach. While it would be nice to have a washer/dryer and a kitchen that consisted of more than a mini-fridge and microwave, we are together and getting lots of support from Alfonso's co-workers.

Right now, email is the best way to get in touch. We'll have a U.S. number but not til we get into a house. For those interested, there's free software called Skype which we use with to video call. But you can use it without a camera. As long as your computer has a microphone and speakers we'll be able to talk. My skype name is debiconrad. Just keep in mind the time difference. We are 7 hours ahead of EST and 9 hours ahead of MST. (Well, it will be once Israel switches to daylight savings time. We don't switch until the 28th for some reason.)

Well, I'll send another update with all our experiences later. Anyhow, we are here and fine.

Miss you and love you,
debi

house hunting

Alfonso and I went on our house hunting trip in Israel from Feb 2- Feb 8th. The housing market is really tight right now and there weren't that many options. We found out last week that the relocation company was unable to secure a contract with either house in which we were interested. So Intel will put us up in a hotel until we find a house and the relo company can secure a contract and get it furnished. I'm hoping we aren't in a hotel any more than a month. I'm sure it will pass quickly and the boys and I will find lots of ways to entertain ourselves. No problem. (What I'm really thinking: A hotel for a month!! Two toddlers!! Help! Help!)

The boys were fine and dandy at my parents' house during our trip and only cried when we would call on Skype (video call on the computer.) Out of sight out of mind. They were happy to see us when we came back so that's all that matters. Alejandro came running at me full force and just about leveled me. Alfonso is back in Phoenix until the end of the month while the boys and I are staying in Ohio. The move date for Israel is still March 1st.

Besides our fruitless days spent searching for a house, we were able to do a bit of sight seeing. We stayed in Tel-Aviv which is right on the Mediterranean coast. The weather was similar to Phoenix. We'd need a light jacket in the mornings and evenings but it got toasty mid-day. Monday we went up to Haifa which is an hour north of Tel Aviv, also on the coast and went to the Baha'i Shrine and Gardens. Wednesday we went to Jerusalem. Traffic was worse there than anywhere where else. The Old City is just a maze and we mistakenly thought we'd be able to navigate with just a map. We wandered around lost, forever asking for directions. If someone hadn't offered to take us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (built around Christ's tomb) we would probably still be looking for it now.

This might be a bit long winded for some of you -- but I'm going to try to capture a bit of our experience over the next two years.

Observations, opinions, odds and ends

Language -- Contrary to everything we'd been told, everyone does not speak English. Many people know some level of English but not necessarily fluently. In most cases, there was at least one person around they could bring over to help us. The state languages are Hebrew and Arabic. In Jerusalem, we were trying to avoid being harassed by everyone trying to sell us things so we started conversing in Spanish. We made it half a block before someone came over hawking his services in Spanish.

Food -- We ate out the whole time and never had a bad meal. Of course since Intel was footing the bill, we dined at some fancy-shamsy places that we'll never set foot in again (especially with the little guys in tow.) The food is very flavorful but not spicy in the hot sense that we were accustomed to in New Mexico. We ordered burritos at one place that we labeled as spicy -- but it tasted more like a sweet bbq sauce than anything. They pickle everything! We tried pickled carrots and lemon rinds (I'm not a fan.) People raved about the pickled watermelon but we never had the opportunity to try it. We never made it to a grocery store -- so we shall see what that holds in store for us.

Traffic -- Insane. The drivers call themselves "aggressive." It's a free for all. People cut each other off like crazy, motorcycles weave in and out between lanes of traffic (if you can call them lanes -- people drive wherever they feel like it.) They park on shoulders and sidewalks and in the middle of the road if they can't find a parking spot and have a quick errand to run. Israelis live to honk their horns, not if someone cuts them off. No, usually when the traffic is stopped and there's nothing anyone can do but wait -- they just lean on the horn the whole time until traffic clears. Also, the traffic signals work a little differently. When the light is red, the yellow light comes on (while the red is still on) to let you know it's about to turn green. So if you don't start driving when the yellow comes on, they start honking. Sometimes they start honking before the yellow even comes on to let you know that it's about to turn yellow.

Smoking -- Apparently there's no Israeli surgeon general warning on all of the cigarettes because people there are smoking fiends! I foresee a huge lung cancer epidemic hitting the country in the next few decades.

Litter bugs -- Trash, trash, and more trash. People throw stuff right in front of you with absolutely no shame. There's litter everywhere. We walk out of this fancy five star restaurant and it's like walking into a dumpster. The contrast is hard to fathom. It's on the beach, parks, religious sites even (well, not the Baha'i gardens) but people have no respect for the environment. The smaller communities aren't as bad (not as many people to litter.) This is one of the hardest things for me to accept because it was such a shock to me (and I'm a neat freak -- not as bad since I've had kids but still a neat freak at heart.)

Random Encounters -- The best part of this adventure is all the people. While most Israelis appear a bit unapproachable at first, they are very warm hearted and happy to help. Everyone has a story to tell if you have the time to listen. Here are a few of the people we came across.

Mira -- When walking around in Haifa, Alfonso noticed a woman sitting in a car with a flat tire and offered to help. She looks at him and says "You are not Israeli. An Israeli man wouldn't help. He wouldn't even look at you." (Alfonso speaking english may also tipped her off to his citizenship.) She declined his offer as she'd already called for help. Later she drove by and gave us her phone number and insisted we come to her home to eat when we move next month.

Dorthy -- Met at the Baha'i gardens. She's originally from the States, her husband escaped from Poland when he was four but the rest of his family died in the concentration camps. They now live in Haifa and are activists for the occupied territories. She told a story about visiting Auschwitz and seeing the welcome sign that says "Arbeit macht frei" which means "Work liberates." While it is a nice slogan, it is a terrible thing to say when nothing could be further from the truth. She said it's the same going into Bethlehem in the West Bank there's a sign that says "Peace be with you" but the people there are living in violence, strife and no means of escape.

Zachi -- A Muslim tour guide we met inside Jaffa Gate at the Old City in Jerusalem. His cousin owns a souvenir shop on David Street. Talked about how Jews and Muslims are brothers because they both call Abraham father. "The trouble lies in Israel welcoming "foreign" Jews to come, have land, and make a living but the Palestinians whose homes were here have lost their land and can not make a living." He was very kind and very funny. After exchanging some witty banter, he turns to Alfonso and offers "a million camels for your wife."

Josh -- A photo journalist from Philadelphia that moved to Israel in 1985. He goes to the Old City daily and likes to talk to people and find out their stories. He also helps people find their way around but not for pay because he won't pay 22,000 shekels to become an official tour guide. When we met him, he was in jeans and a ball cap but he says he often dons Arab garb to go into East Jerusalem and Occupied Palestine. He told us that the ladder at the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not there for restorations. It has been there for over 200 years when the Byzantines had control of the church and the Turks used the ladder to smuggle food into those trapped in the Church.

Levi -- His wife ran a food stand out of their garage in one of the small moshavs (farming communities) when where we were looking for houses. She had to track Levi down to help us order because no one else spoke english. He was originally from Morocco. He worked construction and had helped build one of Intel's earlier fabs. They welcome us into the home and the wife started making extra "freebies" for us to try and take with us. When he heard we were looking for a house, he started making phone calls and drove us around to see other houses he knew of for rent.

Baha'i Shrine and Gardens. Baha'i is a relatively modern religion that believes "there is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity." Anyhow, the gardens are very impressive -- absolutely impeccable.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre
We'll have to go again with a local or tour guide so we'll know what we are looking at.

less tenative move date

We have our mailing info in Arizona but, I don't know if you want to bother penciling it in -- maybe use disappearing ink because we won't be here long. It's a shame because we just settled in and I like this apartment a lot better than the one in Portland. It feels a bit like a fishbowl because we are on the first floor and get lots of pedestrian traffic that like to peer in and check out what trouble the kids are up to.

We finally have a move date to Israel that's less likely to change than before only in the sense that Intel finally let us book our tickets. The movers are packing our stuff Jan 30th since it takes 6-8 weeks to get there by boat. We fly Feb 1st to Ohio and leave the kiddos with my parents while Alfonso and I go on a house hunting trip for a week. Then I'll stay with the boys in Ohio since we won't have most of the toys/books/etc.. Alfonso has to come back to Arizona to work for three weeks. Then he'll fly to Ohio Feb 29th and we'll all leave together for Israel on March 1st. Alfonso's mother was able to come for a week to visit before the next round of chaos ensues. (Alejandro and Alfonso are picking her up at the airport right now.)
Anyhow, the boys are doing well enough. The moving has been a little hard on them. We were in a hotel for two weeks, at my parents for three weeks, now we've been here three with one more to go. It messes up nap schedules and Alejandro wakes up crying in the middle of the night. Once they settle down, we leave again and start all over. But they are resilient little guys. Dante hit a growth spurt and is quickly catching up with Alejandro. They've been accused of being twins twice in the past two days. Alejandro still has about 2-3 inches and ten pounds on his little brother though. They play really well together when they aren't fighting. The other morning, they were playing with a wooden train they got for Christmas. Dante brought pieces to his brother one by one and Alejandro would say "thank you" for each piece as he assembled the track. But by afternoon, Alejandro didn't want to share and Dante destroyed the track just to make Alejandro mad.
Alejandro knows most of his letters and is working on material for a book as soon as he learns how to write. The title will be "1001 Ways to Procrastinate at Bedtime and Drive your Parents Crazy." Dante played tattletale for the first time yesterday. He comes running in tears (while Alejandro was hiding his face so I already had an idea of what happened.) He tells me, "Ale.. (incomprehensible blubbering) push me." (more sobbing) I discovered a miracle cure for his malady though. As soon as I disciplined Alejandro, Dante's tears dried up and he smiled as he jumped up to play. Such joy at getting his brother in trouble.

Well, I'll keep you updated with the progress of our move. The whole thing feels very anti-climatic as we made the decision to go to Israel over a year ago. We enjoyed our time in the Pacific Northwest. I can't complain much about living in Phoenix for the winter. But I'm tired of moving and ready to go back to Albuquerque. Seriously, once our things arrive and we get settled in Israel, I'll be fine. So April is looking really nice about now.

Love always,
debi