First quarter summary

Apologies for an extended absence from the blog. Here is a summary of the last six weeks:

1.) Celebrated 23.

Rooftop of my apt.

2.) Weekended in Petra for Rosh Hashanah.

First view of Al-Khazneh (the Treasury) coming out of the Siq.


On the human sacrificial altar of the ancient Nabateans on the cliffs in Petra.


Hiking up to the Monastery.


The Monastery: Petra's largest monument.


Royal tombs of Petra.

3.) Acquainted myself with my new home.

My apt building.

Café-ing w/ Ayalon.


Neighborhood art.


Globe exhibit on Rothchild sponsored by the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

4.) Swam 1.5km in the Sea of Galilee and spent the weekend on a kibbutz in the north.

Looking down on Karmi'el.

Beeping kibbutz cows' noses.

5.) Won my first race! A 4km women's race in Rosh Ha'ayin.

6.) My XC team ran their first team race in Tel Aviv! We took home 5 trophies.

Team picture post race.

The Sahara

The Doors of Morocco

Doors, doors, doors:
Fes, Rabat, Marrakesh, Casa, Essaouira.

(In response to Neha-- I took all these pictures, except the picture 6over-5down, where you can see my face in the hole in the door.)

Morocco pictures...

...coming soon.

Back in Israel

Back from my whirlwind tour of the US. I had the best time EVER and it was extremely difficult to leave. I'm really excited to be back, though, and I just finished moving into my new apartment. I'm leaving for Morocco in about 5 hours, but I can't sleep because of jet lag and perhaps some excitement about my new place. Here is a short photo summary of the last few weeks (biased towards those events where a camera was present):

My beautiful girls at Amy's beautiful wedding.

The wedding party!

I miss you girls SO MUCH. T-340ish.

My sister, her fiance, and the fam dog.

My dad with his new galabeya and borrowed kaffiyeh.

Post 4th of July race with some of my HS XC girlies.

**Iris has all the pics from my Boulder visit**

My three lovely hosts in NYC:

My sole Samoan friend-- Ji.

My favorite BLee.

Hydie!

Saturday afternoon at the Astoria beer garden.

Now I'm off to Morocco!!! Lots of amazing pictures to come.

Summer 07!

School's been out for nearly two weeks now, yet things have hardly calmed down. The last couple weeks have been a flurry of planning for next year, good-bye parties, and errands. Most of the other American teachers left for the States immediately after we finished at the end of last week, but there is no way I could have pulled myself together in time. However, I've made some progress the last couple days, and things are looking a lot more manageable. Detailed below are my plans for the remainder of the summer (school resumes August 15th, teacher workdays begin August 9th):

1.) Trip to the US. My US itinerary is finally set, and I'm super excited to see everyone and bask in the comfort and convenience of life in America. Items at the top of my list are seeing family and friends I love and miss, eating food I love and miss, buying things at the comparatively asscheap prices available in the States, and generally enjoying the comforts of home. The itinerary includes:

• 28 June - 2 July: Grand Rapids and Detriot, MI to see my little Amy marry her Matt, fulfill bridesmaid duties to the best of my ability, gorge myself on NLPT, and catch up with everyone else in attendance.
• 2 July - 6 July: Apple Valley time! Lots of family time, Korean food, and dear old Minnie friend time.
  
• 6 July - 9 July: BOULDER, COLORADO to check out the new digs of SHIMMERS.
  
• 9 July - 11 July: More MN time.
• 11 July - 16 July: NYC. Copious amounts of food and people I miss. If you live in NY, please fast in preparation for 5-day period because I WILL CALL YOU to come out with me.
  

2.) Trip to Morocco. 19 July - 3 August. My only concern is the bizarre cheese meal obsession of my travel buddy...

3.) Lesson planning for my classes next year. Yes, for MY CLASSES next year. My roster includes a section of 10th grade Global History (from 1000AD - 20th century), a section of Senior Project, and team-teaching of a new freshman seminar. Super excited.

4.) Moving to my new apartment. I found the cutest apartment in Tel Aviv in a great location-- fully furnished, recently renovated, AC, security system, (little) balcony, washer and dryer in building. But, my absolute favorite thing about the apartment is the gorgeous full rooftop garden with views of the city and the sea. The apartment building is an architecture/design project, and all the units were designed and furnished according to a unified theme. The owner is super nice and all the tenants contribute a set monthly fee for all utilities (except electricity), cable, internet, arnona, maintenance of the building and grounds, etc. The apartment isn't right across from the beach, as spacious, as well furnished, or shared with the world's greatest roommate like my current apartment, but it'll have to do. My business manager told me that about 40 people applied for the apartment, but the owner thought I was nice and responsible(!), and I'll sign the lease tomorrow barring any major complications. I really, really, really hope everything goes smoothly, but in any case I'm moving to the city, so there will be a move somewhere in the summer.

Can't wait to see you guys in the States. :D

My first triathlon

This morning, I participated in my first triathlon! I did it as a relay because I found out about it only a few weeks beforehand and did not have adequate time to prepare. However, we did the long course over the short course, and I was stuck with the swimming leg because noone else wanted to do it. I've never swum in open water before, so I was terrified. I tried to get acquainted with distance swimming in the sea before the day of the race, but the two opportunities I had the water was too rough for us to swim or I slept in.

So, race day ended up being my first experience swimming competitively and swimming competitively in open water. I was half hoping the water would be too rough-- in which case they would turn the swimming leg into a 5k run, which I knew I can handle. But, in the end, as in the case of pretty much every other athletic even I've participated competitively in, I was so happy I did it. It took me about 200m to get used to swimming in the sea-- the choppy waves and ultra salty and cloudy water were pretty significant departures from lap swimming in a clear, chlorinated pool-- but after I was comfortable, I set a good rhythm and it was super fun.

After my 750m swim, I handed off the electronic tag to our team's biker, who completed a 20k bike ride, and then Hellen finished up with a 5k run. It was an all women's triathlon, starting out of the Herzliya marina about 1.5 miles from my house. There was a wonderful atmosphere at the race, with women of all ages and abilities and super encouraging cheerers all along the way. I'm super excited to train next year and complete the full triathlon on my own.

At the end of the race, a student of mine informed me that my team was listed as winning 2nd place!! It was obviously a mistake: the score sheet timed my swim at only 2 minutes.

Picture of my tri team to come soon.

Renewed commitment

I've lost my entire blog audience. It's my fault, really-- what with the lost camera and lack of interesting stories. To close up the year in nominally respectable condition, I'll post a few pictures procured only through the generosity of friends.

Mitzpe Ramon and Nitzanim camping trip

Last weekend, my friend Ayalon and I took a camping trip in southern Israel. We drove down to the Negev and spent the first night in the Ramon crater -- the world's largest crater-- measuring 500 meters in depth. We spent the next day hiking a few trails around Ein Saharonim in the crater.

Resting on top of a mountain.

Hiking down.

The heat of midday was so overwhelming we took a 2-hour lunch break.
The time was passed scaling the crumbling walls of the dry riverbed and hunting flies w/ rocks.

After an intense climb we felt pretty victorious.

In front of the warbly hills.

Documentation that we actually took the trip together.

Panoramic view of the crater.

The next night we camped out here on the beach in Nitzanim-- a nature reserve on the coast just south of Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, there was an overabundance of rowdy partying crowds celebrating Lag Ba'Omer that invaved circa 2am and proceeded to set up their spotlights, club-decibel music, and bonfires within a 10ft radius of our tent.

Making PB&Js on the roof of the car.

(Note: this is my first photograph of my car! Woo.)

Super fun trip.