Every morning about 10 of us take a sherut to work from our apartment building. A sherut is like a mini-bus, and it arrives every day at 7:45 am. Today it did not arrive. 8 of us stood outside our…
1. I am eating a sandwich with an olive oil-based mayonnaise. It tastes exactly the same as “regular” mayonnaise, except it has less fat and is slightly less thick. Lovely. 2. We watched a blue jellyfish float by at the beach…
I start writing, literally have paragraphs typed out and a subject line and something twists inside me and I stop. I keep trying to explain my life here, how much I love it, but I have the same words I…
I am surprised at the way eyes slide away when we know too much there are a few things I wish I could list in an endless way… maybe I am missing the pictures that go along with the captions…
My feet had lost the feeling of ground underneath them, the constant digging in of sharp rocks and hidden stones I forget what people are like, their little frailties and habits, the beautiful and ugly things they do. I am…
The first news is that my father’s newest book, Blueprint for a New World, has just been published from George Ronald, and I am reading it right now. I helped type and proofread, but in random chapters, so it is nice to…
http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/070607/a-nerds-opinion-presented-a.gif Look at the above link. Ok, so I admit that I use Wikipedia too, when I need a quick education on a subject. But really, I just get annoyed that it has become so accepted as a reference in…
1. Junk mail is just as bad here as in the USA. Walking into my apartment building, it was like an advertising blizzard had struck the foyer. 2. I’ve never had a taxi driver try to cheat me here…until the…
“Every tree uttered a word, and every leaf sang a melody.” “God’s power and the perfection of His handiwork could enjoyably be seen in the blossoms, the fruits, the trees, the leaves and the streams.” “In brief, all in the…
It is strange to be a pilgrim AND a staff member. Not as weird as I thought it would be, but still. I really appreciate that my fellow BWC staff members are respecting the fact that I’m on pilgrimage and…
I start my Baha’i pilgrimage tomorrow. The last time we went was in 1997, so I was 14 at the time. A lot has changed in Haifa since then…the Terraces were finished, the Arc project was completed, etc. It is…
I saw a man washing his dog with a garden hose on Hamegenim Street last night. I wish I had gotten a picture, because he had put the dog in a shopping cart so that it would not run away….
It has been a busy week. Friends & family in town on pilgrimage, a consultant in the office, and social engagements. Whew! Today started another work week (remember, we work Sunday-Friday noon here), and I must say it was one…
I’ll wait right here under these flowers, this sky, the rocks keeping me stable and standing. I’ll wait.
Hovering There was a moment’s pause an eternity packaged neatly movement outside comprehension surrounded by dark and the evening lights falling down through the darkness in eyes… we waited in pristine silence and it became new to me again… sanctified.
They are standing in glass houses With squares and tree-shaped reflections shadowing their faces And they are throwing glass rocks At the glass hearts suspended in human bodies And the shattering silence is suspended in formless sound Hope that every…
Yesterday (June 8th) was the 6 month anniversary of my arrival in Israel. I celebrated by getting internet at home, which I’ve been resisting for quite a while. This weekend has been one of rest, movies (Ocean’s 13!!), and the…
Mojan tagged me, and while I usually don’t do memes on my blog, I thought it would be nice to give some of you a little glimpse of some of my quirks. 1. One of my biggest pet peeves is…
I am here, I think. I am sitting in this chair and the sun followed me inside today. There are a few things I must share… bare feet on silk carpets and cold stone, one after another jazz music on…
Last night our friend Daniel B. invited me, my flatmate Sahar, and a few other friends to a dinner at his new apartment to celebrate his move from our building. We arrived at 6 pm and started helping prepare the…
Recently I’ve been trying to expand my repertoire of dishes. Last night I made Sholeh zard for the first time (literal translation: yellow flame), which is basically saffron rice pudding. It is usually made in remembrance of the dead, but…
There has been silence in moments we stand, here my eyes watch with laughter behind and incoherent words trip through my lips to fall flat on the floor. My identity is submerged, my thoughts are secret and strange. I promise…
I saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie last night. I really only enjoyed it for nostalgia’s sake, quite frankly. It was not as good as I’d hoped based on the trailer. I now realize how disconnected I truly am…
From Baha’i World News Service: “….His Highness Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II…passed away on the evening of 11 May…A follower of the Baha’i Faith, he was one of the longest reigning monarchs in the world. ” He was the first ruling…
Last night we were studying the Kitab-i-Ahd, and this particularly struck me, because recently I’ve been feeling the need for more wisdom in my utterance and my thoughts…been a bit tangled and thorny recently… Verily I say, the tongue is…
At Naw Ruz (the Baha’i New Year), the choir sang in the Seat of the Universal House of Justice for the Holy Day observance. If you look closely, you can see me in there. This video was put together by…
My flatmates and I took a little train ride to Tel Aviv for the 12th Day of Ridvan. We went with no destination, no map, no plans. It was wonderful. And here is my story (with pictures) of our adventures….
I picked up the abridged version of Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire the other day, just for fun, from a friend’s bookshelf. Then I borrowed Jane Austen’s Complete Novels (8 books in 1), and have read…
I saw this article on CNN the other day, and wondered if I had gone back in time to the time of the Civil Rights movement. “Black and white students attended the prom together for the first time on Saturday….
I am seeing the same things, so why would my words be different? Today the air was dust and rain at the same time, my bare feet on marble, my soul bared to Heaven, My eyes searching for change. I’ll…