Happy Birthday Dante!

Our baby boy is two! We had a small party with four other American families on Friday. It was mellow but very nice -- games of ring around the rosies, a cool shark pinata from our friends/neighbors, presents (most of which came from the States in Carl and Em's suitcases), and a decadent chocolate cake also from the friends/neighbors. (I did make the lasagnas and rest of the food-- I'm not a complete failure as a mother.)

Right before bedtime on his birthday, he tripped and hit the bottom step splitting his bottom lip all the way through. Off to urgent care for super glue -- happy birthday little guy!

FYI - Dante has spent six months in Albuquerque, nine months in Portland, 6 weeks in Phoenix mixed with 7 weeks in Ohio, and six months in Israel. He's going to hate that ever-so-casual question -- So where are you from?

odds and ends (some more odd than others)

We haven't been doing that much travelling lately as we've been dealing with illness and the heat. Plus, Alfonso rotates between days, nights and weekends at work. This will be the way of life for the next year -- oh joy! Anyhow, I thought I'd spend time to talk just about our daily lives and the random differences we've encountered.
Alfonso bikes to work about 3-4 times a week. It's ~25 miles one way and takes an hour and a quarter. He's lost quite a bit of weight and his clothes are literally falling off of him. Life at Intel is pretty much the same except the Israelis yell and scream at each other in meetings then go sit and have lunch together as if the previous argument never happened. Very vocal about their opinions but don't take anything personally.
Alejandro misses PBS. They have lots of cartoons in Hebrew but they aren't of the educational variety so I usually don't let him watch. There is a Hebrew version of Sesame Street but still haven't figured out what time it's on. They televise BBC programs for kids. Alejandro watches a children's cooking show where they tell a story and then make some sort of healthy snack that goes along with the story. The snacks usually look like something -- mashed potatoes with a few carrot sticks and olives magically turn into one of Little Bo Peep's lost sheep. Anyhow, along with Alejandro trying to reassemble his food into storybook characters at every meal, he's also started pronouncing different words with a British accent. He throws things into the rubbish bin instead of the trash can. The Hebrew and Spanish mix wasn't confusing enough, so he added another accent just for fun.

The first time we took Dante to the doctor's office, the nurse handed me the thermometer to take his temperature instead of doing it herself. You pay the doctor -- physically hand him the money and he/she writes the receipt. I don't know if they don't trust other people to handle the money or what -- but it's been that way at three different places. I got blood drawn and the nurse didn't wear gloves. Then there are the scheduling, language and insurance issues... (heavy sigh) I'm just hoping no one else gets sick the rest of our stay. While I'm wishing, I also want the moon.
We have been going to two different churches in Tel Aviv and aim to hit the English masses (as opposed to the Arabic, Romanian, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Russian, French or Spanish masses that are held as well.) For the English mass, the church is filled with Filipinos that arrive on buses so the parking lot is empty. One week, we showed up and the lot was full -- it was an Arabic mass. There are woman that stand at the front of the church and put shawls around the shoulders of females in tank tops or low cut tops before they receive communion. I guess my clothes are modest enough because I haven't gotten covered yet.
Grocery shopping is still a bit tricky. I finally went with an Israeli friend and that helped but it will always be a challenge. They never have the same brands and varieties in stock. It's a crap shoot what you will find at the store. The quality of products isn't the same -- if you look at the foil funny it will tear. You can pay your grocery bill in up to four installments. We were so confused the first few times when they kept asking how many payments we wanted.

Fruits and vegetables are seasonal. When we first came, they were selling strawberries on every corner -- now there's not one to be found. Watermelon season is just about over. Mango season just started and the pomegranates trees are loaded but not quite ready. There is sales tax but it's already included in the ticketed price. The receipt shows how much of the purchase was tax -- usually 15.5%.

Went to some friends for supper and they made the most delicious pizza -- and then topped it with corn, olives and TUNA FISH. Yuck, yuck and double yuck! Israelis eat lots of tuna fish and it comes in a tons of flavors --lemon, garlic, chile and other various oils and spices.

The typical beach attire at a non-kosher beach is speedos and string bikinis. Age and/or fitness level doesn't matter. I'm often the only female on the beach with a one piece.

There are assigned seats at the movies. The adult movies just tend to have Hebrew subtitles but the kids movies are dubbed in Hebrew (as the kids can't read subtitles I guess.) Luckily, when Alejandro saw Wall-E there wasn't much dialogue.

We see lots of little ones at the park with ponytails and barrettes -- that just happen to be boys. Many Jews wait until the boy is three for his first haircut. With how much Dante fusses for a haircut, we may adopt this tradition. Since Alejandro still fusses, we need to find another culture that waits until 12 or 13 to get a haircut.

The capacity of our washing machine is maxed out with two bath towels. It takes over 2 and an half hours to wash and another two hours to dry a single load. With the small loads and lengthy process, everyday is laundry day. They wrap a towel around a squidgy with a broom length handle and call it a mop.

The light switches for the bathroom are outside of the room. The boys think it's hysterical to turn the lights off when someone is inside.

The garbage truck comes three times every week. I'm not sure why. Maybe they think people litter because their trash cans are full. I don't know. They'd be better off paying the garbage men to pick up litter.

All the houses have solar water heaters on the roof. You can switch to the electric heater when the solar one runs out of hot water.

The police cars always drive with their lights on and use sirens to pull someone over.


I'm sure there are more that I've become so accustomed to already that I forgot to mention. So I guess you will all have to come to visit and check it out yourselves!

Love always,
Debi

Summer Re-runs

The middle of June was relatively low key as was our Father's Day, celebrated with paper crowns. It's gotten a bit hot through the day, so we spend most of the day indoors or at our friends' pool across the street. Unfortunately the sea has been full of jellyfish as of late so we haven't gone to the beach very much. Alfonso and Alejandro have both gotten stung. We were told the jellyfish will be gone in another two weeks -- I just hope someone tells the jellyfish! It cools down in the evenings, so we will still head to the sand dunes. Dante was apparently unimpressed by Alejandro's leap with our friends.
At the end of June, Carl and Emily arrived for a visit so we spent 10 days trying to see and do everything we'd done in the past four months. Jerusalem, Masada, the Dead Sea, Bet Guvrin, the Sea of Galilee, Caesarea with a few extra stops as well. Part of the time, Alfonso and I took turns playing tour guide and baby sitter. It was nice to go and see things without worrying about diaper bags and nap times. I actually got to eat an entire meal without once having to say "Sit down," "No throwing food," "That's not how we use our forks," or "Please don't lick the salt shaker." Alfonso can be so embarrassing to eat with sometimes. Seriously, I spilt something on my shirt and had no one else to blame it on.
Then we took a two day trip with the whole gang. First, we went to the Sea of Galilee and checked out a fishing boat that dates from the time of Christ. There's no evidence that Jesus was ever on this particular boat but it's also a little sketchy to think that someone accurately remembered which particular rock that Jesus laid the loaves and fishes on 350 years later when the first Church of the Multiplication was built. Either way, they were both fascinating to see and help preserve the history.
We stopped again at Caupernaum, as you can see Alejandro strolling through the ancient synagogue while Dante napped in the car. Another nearby stop that we had missed on our last trip was the Mount of Beatitudes. The Church and its gardens were lovely but the view was simply exquisite. I kept thinking how incredible it would have been there during the time of Christ -- if only they had air conditioning! For those still planning a trip, I would recommend a time when it's about 15 degrees cooler!
We stayed in the town of Sefet/Safad/Tsafed/Zafat/Safet/Zefad/Tsefet depending on which map/GPS/sign/internet site you happen to look at. It is a very picturesque, particularly religious city. About 90 percent of the men we saw were wearing hats or kippahs (skullcaps.) We stayed at a zimmer (similar to a B&B) which was to put it kindly -- a dump. However, it was clean with working air conditioning. The boys were thrilled because their beds had dalmatians puppies on the sheets. If only we were all so easy to please...

The next day we headed to the Golan Heights. Months ago, I had read about Banyas, a city with ancient ruins of a temple to the god of Pan, and was so excited to visit. Banyas was also known as Caesarea Philippi after 20BC and Jesus had been in the area. (Matthew 16:13) Of course if He actually went to the ruins (the bible doesn't mention if He went sight seeing during his stay), Jesus would have been lucky enough to see the statues of the Greek gods. Much to my dismay, they were destroyed during the anti-paganist movement at the end of the Byzantine era. I hadn't realized until the morning of our trip with my last minute web search that we were going to be 550 years too late to see the statues. Anyhow, we left Sefad with the help of our ever-so-trusty-GPS and took a narrow, winding road through the hills that made Alejandro car-sick. After seeing signs for the border, I consulted a paper map and found we were a mere three millimeters from Lebanon (about 300 yards.) The GPS got demoted and I became lead navigator with the help from our Hertz map for the rest of the trip.
Despite the lack of statues, Banyas exceeded my expectations. There's lush forest at the bottom of Mount Hermon running along a tributary of the Jordan River with a gorgeous waterfall -- nature once again trumps anything man-made. We took a lovely hike that was shaded for the most part (thanks goodness!) and saw spectacular ruins from the Greeks and Romans. There was a section from the Crusaders that we'll have to catch on our next visit.
I must say Banyas is the most beautiful place I've seen in Israel so far. However, if they do give that land back to Syria, then Caesarea would take top spot. We stopped there since it was on the way home. Of course, coming from the Golan Heights, about 3/4 of Israel is on the way to Ashdod. Alfonso would have made more stops but he was out voted by my migraine. (Alejandro and I are at the rail looking out to sea if you look closely below.)
For the 4th of July, we had a simple barbecue at the house and some sparklers. As of late, we've been fighting pink eye and nasty colds. I'll be so happy to have everyone healthy again. There are a zillion other stories about the kids and our daily life here but I'm tired and short on time. Another day...
Miss you all,
Love always,
debi

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