it's gonna be a happy new year

ah'lan,

before i ramble on about various things...here are some pictures as promised...they are mostly Iris's pictures actually, since those are what have been copied to Roie's comp (where i am now) but since we're in the same place a lot, you won't notice :-P

also, check out liz's blogspot since she put up a bunch of cool pictures and commentary about us and life here in Israel/the kibbutz: http://www.lizraeli.blogspot.com/

Iris and her photogenic sunglasses :-) look closely everyone....
Ma'agan Michael, you are so beautiful. The birds just can't stay away...

lunch/dinner in Jerusalem before heading home...yummy sandwhiches with pesto :-)

Noa, Liz and I hanging out on Tzofit's couch, drinking tea of course
Tzofit and her adorable daughter Maya...notice how natural she looks holding Tzofit's palm pilot...oh, technology.

ok, more pictures in other posts for sure, now that i'm a little more familiar with the process. enzywayz... it's going to take a while, but i'm going to make an effort to make a couple cds of all the pictures i want to make an album out of and get them printed...SOON, otherwise we all know it'll never happen.

que mas...? so the job hunt is...going. i went to a couple employment agency type places on thursday, one in j-lem and one in tlv, and both went fairly well, although the women in j-lem in the morning were kind of obnoxious and just gave me a bad vibe. we shall see... i'll keep you posted if anything comes up.

everyone is in the process of leaving the kibbutz...it's kind of nice that it hasn't been a mass exodus thus far and the days that it will be, i won't be here. the last couple weeks have FLOWN by. one of those...oh, wait? what? it's new year's eve??? how the hell did that happen?

the trip to the negev was good times, although it was colder than i had hoped for. but it was still really great to go to Masada and the dead sea and sleep in bedouin tents overnight. i'll put pictures of all that up on kodak gallery sometime...in the near future i hope. i've been spending most of my computer time these days job searching, so pictures and emails have taken the backseat...my apologies to those who actually check and procrastinate with such materials.

we had our reiki finale on thursday night which was really great. it was nice to be back in that room with the group, and just talking about how the last three weeks have been for us. i am still doing reiki quite often, especially to go to sleep since it is a sure thing in terms of helping myself fall asleep despite noise or temperature or whatever else.

having my dad in Israel has been really nice. i'm really glad he was here for three weeks because we got to hang out a good amount but not in a too intense way. Amitai is also here now which is really really lovely. He came to visit here thursday night and stayed over. we hung out at the beach yesterday midmorning, enjoying the sun and relatively warm weather considering it's the end of December.

it's so crazy that it's new year's eve...it doesn't feel like it, mostly because not that many people are making a big deal about it, and it the states it was always such a hyped up affair. there's a party in the kibbutz tonight which i'm psyched for. it will be the last hurrah for me with most of the people here...when i come back almost everyone will have left. i hope amitai comes back with me to keep me company while i pack...it's kind of a tradition at this point, actually. it'll just be sad to be in my room all alone packing up, looking at the soon to be bare walls above Iris and Aviva's beds. I'm really glad they are staying another month :-) i can't handle a goodbye to the two of them just yet.

ok...i think i should get to do some job hunting. i still have a good amount of crap i want to accomplish before this evening.

happy new year everyone. don't plan this evening too much...it'll happen better if you don't. i promise.

ate too much...

uggh, i'm so full. not that im surprised. this happens a little too often on the weekends. we just go from house to house, visiting family and eating blah blah blah. it's great to see everyone though and it's fun to be here with my dad.

last night i went out to a bar/restaurant in tel aviv with Amitai and some of his buddies. it was great to see him, of course, and fun to finally meet the famous "danny" and one of the many Roie's i'll meet, and of course Miriam who is my partner on the receiving end of many emails :-) the place we went, Times Square, on the corner of Montefiori and Yavne, was really nice and even the bathrooms were a lovely experience!

que mas... i am currently at Arie and Shula's house in Ramat Gan so i dont have the pictures from my comp to upload, but perhaps that'll happen tomorrow. tonight dad and i are going to his friend Boaz, which will be nice. i may have met him before in my life but i don't remember... it's always fun to be with your parents friends...sometimes they even tell stories from when your parents were little --- the stories your parents don't tell you, that is.

i'm really psyched to know that i'm going to be going to a bunch of concerts in the near future. ivri, yehudit, rami for sure...maybe more. we didn't end up going to Miri Mesika last night but it would be fun to see her in concert.

ok, time to just sit and relax (digest). it'll be great to go on our tiul to the negev... i want to be HOT again. it's not that cold here relatively, but it's still cold, and rainy -- but this is a good thing, the land needs it, so it doesn't bother me the way it did in Boston when i knew it could continue that way for a week without sun.

yalla...more tomorrow with pictures.

no, i haven't fallen into a coma

I know I have been really awful about writing here, i realize, so my apologies to those who check it...and maybe don't anymore??

anyway...i won't do the "update" thing because that's just annoying. what i will say is that tomorrow is my last day of work...holy shit! i can't believe it! our test for the Ulpan is on Thursday and in general the next to weeks are full of things wrapping up around here and us all needing to bust a move.

the job search is still in progess...i am doing my best to remain optimistic. I have an interview with a placement agency in J-lem next Thursday which hopefully will help me have a better idea of what's really out there...i can't say yet how i feel about the idea of living and working in Jerusalem. I guess I definitely haven't ruled it out and if I am able to find a really great job there i think it might just be silly to not go for it. we'll see.

other than that, things are going really well. It's almost Channukah! my first one in Israel which is great, but it's also kind of sad to not be at home and able to make chanukah food with my mom. I might go for the first night to Miri and Ori though, we'll see. The only reason i wouldn't is that we have to get up at 4am the next day for our tiul to the negev for two days.

soooooooo....what else. My dad is here visiting!! woohoo! and this Friday Amitai gets here! Woohooo! starting his trip in style, we're going to some type of concert on Friday night...perhaps Miri Mesika in Ramat Gan, which would be quite convenient considering we're going to Ishay's parent's for Shabbat lunch regardless. que mas? this past weekend Gali and I and her friend Na'ama went to this bar in Tel Aviv (ouzie or something like that?) and this guy was like, do i look familiar to you? at first i assumed he was trying to hit on Gali but it turns out that he was in a commerical that just came out and wasn't sure if people have seen it or if they would recognize it. we both had no clue and i barely watch TV so i definitely haven't seen it, but since that night, Gali said she sees it all the time, which is cool for this random dude. Hopefully I'll see it as well sometime soon.

Leaving here is going to be so crazy i think. I am definitely not mentally prepared and even less physically prepared (i.e. not even thought about packing and i have wayyy too much crap accumulating here). Luckily Iris and Noa and Aviva are all staying for a while longer and so saying goodbye in the beginning of January won't really be goodbye.

ok, i'll write again really soon...promise. i'll add some pictures to make up for my absence :-P