You are currently browsing the archives for March, 2007.
I am a little disconnected from myself right now. This is because I am taking cold medicine. I hate medication but in this case it is necessary. I’ve been coughing so hard the last few days that my stomach muscles are protesting…I knew I should have started doing situps again! In any case, I have that odd floaty feeling in my head and I am not sure I like it.
My flatmates have been taking care of me, but mostly I have been lying on the couch wrapped in a blanket, sipping oregano tea (ugh), and praying that I live to see tomorrow. I am in the office briefly to take care of some urgent matters. I had 60 blog entries to catch up on, over 100 emails, and 2 weeks worth of laundry. oh my!
There really is not much new…3 days in the house doesn’t make for stories or adventures. I really do not even have the energy to respond to emails or make phone calls, so if you’re on the list of people I have sorely neglected, please forgive me.
Last night I walked down the long gravel path arm in arm with my flatmate. We looked at the sky with scattered stars over an empty field, and the lights shining behind and in front of us. Saturday evenings at Bahji are priceless. I will look back on these short days with longing, and I am so glad that I know this now.
In the winter it smells like roses in the Shrines, and in the summer I remember the smell of jasmine. At sunset the trees are aflame and the shadows grow slowly when I circle the gardens. At night there are the shimmering globes that give off a cool illumination, isolated spots of focus in the darkness.
I gazed at the ceiling, my knees pressed against the thick carpets and my hands folded in my lap. The vines, stones, flowers, and metal intertwine, the softness of the silence contrasts with the brightly lit room.
“Let thy soul glow with the flame of this undying Fire that burneth in the midmost heart of the world, in such wise that the waters of the universe shall be powerless to cool down its ardor.”
(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings, p. 38)
I decided that for a new year, a new design was needed. I spent hours staring at CSS code, ensuring that I will need a new prescription for my glasses in the next 6 months. Explore the site, there are more pages and information. Thanks must go out to Jordan for designing such a beautiful banner…with no input from me! And to my webmaster and friend Paul for helping with the switch.
Tomorrow is the Baha’i New Year, which is one of my favorites. Holy Days in Haifa are beyond description.
I wonder if maybe you would know me better if you read my words,
or if I tell you all of my stories (in chronological order),
or if I sat quietly with you in the silence of a sunny day in the car.
I think that it has probably been years since I last ate cottage cheese
or peanut butter straight off the spoon.
I think it has been years since time moved so slowly.
Ok, so I can’t claim to be a sports fan by any stretch of the imagination, but this weekend I have been heeding the siren call of the NCAA college basketball…and last night the Xavier vs Ohio State game was so intense I was actually shouting. hah.
So I took a little break from the basketball craziness to visit some of the Holy Places on Saturday…I didn’t take a lot of pictures because it felt good to just watch, listen, and participate in the visit. The sun came out and the sea air was crashing against my senses…what a wonderful day.
(House of Abdu’llah Pasha, Saturday)
Last night the storm took over my sleep, and I only wish I could have been awake to enjoy it. Instead I drifted in and out of sleep, imagining it was an earthquake (the thunder was so powerful it shook my bed…at least I think it did).
An hour ago the skies were blue with white clouds, and now again the rain is drenching the trees outside my window into a dark dark green color. And now again the sun is struggling behind the white/gray fluff to shine through my window.
But sometimes I think that thunderstorms are better appreciated when asleep. It makes dreams so much more interesting.
(the view out of my office window this morning) —————————–O ye beloved of God! When the winds blow severely, rains fall fiercely, the lightning flashes, the thunder roars, the bolt descends and storms of trial become severe, grieve not; for after this storm, verily, the divine spring will arrive, the hills and fields will become verdant, the expanses of grain will joyfully wave, the earth will become covered with blossoms, the trees will be clothed with green garments and adorned with blossoms and fruits.
-Abdu’l-Baha
- Red, yellow, & green peppers aren’t quite as bad as I thought. For as long as I can remember I have picked them out of dishes and avoided them. The other night I made chicken fajitas for a party and realized that I actually DO like them.
- Labneh is my new addiction…since I can’t eat pita bread, I usually eat it with corn chips. YUM.
- I know how to make Maki-zushi now. Funny that I had to come to Israel to finally learn. I miss Cafe J.K. Sweet (the rather odd restaurant we used to frequent back home), but now that I can make my own california rolls I’ll just be sure to stock my fridge with ice cream for that wonderful J.K. Sweet experience.
-Speaking of ice cream, unless you manage to get ahold of some Ben & Jerry’s or gelato, the major brand here just isn’t very satisfying…it melts rather quickly and has an odd consistency. Ah well.
- I love my flatmates.
In conclusion, I realize that this entry is mostly about food (during the Fast!). I am ok with that.
I am buried and surrounded by
the silence and truth.I am struggling to comprehend
the idea of worlds without end,
of the conciousness of planets,
the crystal light of suns.
I am watching the beauty of
smiles between friends,
the smile on a child’s porcelain-doll face.
I am wondering at the thousand ways
the wind can change my heart,
the way my heart can change my mind
and the way my soul sinks into the earth.
Wait!
I caught the faint ends of the
knowledge of the Divine,
the last tendrils of the
smouldering fire of the heavens.
And if you saw a glimpse only to reject it,
my heart weeps for you.
There are tasks I’ve yet to start,
dreams that I am painting in order to
start dreaming them.
You have so many choices
and one or two or three paths to take.
Only four or five or six exponential
leaps of logic
before your intuition takes over.
Through the sea of faces
the singular virtue in each glows dully
veiled in the layers of dust and time,
of the grime of the hours of life.
I am waiting for the silence between stars
to narrow and divide.
We can travel there
to the edges of the unraveling universe.
Today, after walking around the Arc gardens I came back to work and the path was blocked by lawn sprinklers. I thought I could time it right…but I didn’t. Luckily I didn’t get completely drenched, but it was pretty funny.
(Seat of the Universal House of Justice)I realized that today marks three months in the Holy Land. All of the usual things that people say about time and serving in Haifa are so true. This has been such a good week: the Fast, learning, developing friendships, and interesting thoughts.
The Fast is just so wonderful…breakfast with flat mates, dinner with a bunch of friends in the lunchroom. I must say that I am very happy here.
I uploaded a bunch of pictures…so check them out.
there are secrets in the way
eyelashes touch skin
in the way we sidestep battlefields
burying our smiles in murmurs
we are perfect strangers.
This weekend, the first two days of the Fast (our weekend is Friday & Saturday, remember!)…was exactly what I needed. A delightful breakfast with my flatmates the first morning, shopping in the sunlight (I’ve invested in a DVD player & perused an art store), movies, breakfast on the Saturday morning with most of the people in my apartment building, Saturday afternoon at
Bahji, and finally dinner at my apartment to break the Fast with friends.
It makes up for an Ayyam-i-Ha that was a bit less than stellar. 
I finished reading Muhammad and the Course of Islam, am almost done with The World Order of Baha’u'llah, and read Tuesdays with Morrie, which I highly recommend. This weekend I started Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, but I am also looking for some lighter reading to supplement.
Today is the last day of Ayyam-i-Ha, which is a time of joy and gift-giving before the Fast, and is about 4 or 5 days long. The Fast lasts for 19 days…no food or drink between sunrise & sunset. At the end of which we celebrate the Baha’i New Year (Naw Ruz). I had a rather quiet Ayyam-i-Ha, mostly consisting of reading at home and cooking.
When I was wandering down in the Hadar the other night I saw a kids (and their parents!) trying on costumes. Purim is in a few days, and it was kind of surreal to see the familiar sight of Halloween-type costumes in the stores.
