Blogs from Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv District, Israel, Middle East - page 14

I Have Arrived. I had never previously thought that any journey could be so harrowing. It was like a Spielberg epic- laughing, crying, yelling... actually though, the laughing was more to keep from crying, and the crying didn't involve so many tears as angry rants... so I suppose it was just stress-induced ...angry stress. Chapter 1. SO. I start the long journey, as always, by sleeping through my alarm clock. Thankfully, back up fail safe alarm number three worked (thanks Jess). Follow 10-12 hour (who knows/cares at that point) trip to Jordan. I wrote down at the Amman (Jordan) airport: "I'm mostly disconcerted-- generally the flight is what throws me into a panic, but I'm blaze. BLAZE. (with a french accent on the e, not like i'm on fire)... Come ON, Stace. Look outside. It's all...desert-y ... read more

Photos of Tel Aviv and Jaffa...... read more

It has been many years since I have dressed up for purim. I didnt even dress up when I was running my youth groups purim carnival. This year was a little different. i was in israel and every single person doesnt matter on your age I have noticed gets in the spirit of dressing up. So I was innovative, and decided to dress up as a twister board. The front of the tshirt was the spinner, and the back was the board. A lot of Otzmanikim decided to go into Ta and go to flourintine and have a good time. This is where I spent my new years eve same place different street party. LA,SD,NY and a couple other people were there. We all went to the apt in TA to hang out first and get ... read more

It is amazing how in any given moment time can feel as though it is crawling by, but when you stop to look back, a whole week has passed. And this is where I presently find myself. I arrived in Israel at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv at 2:30am local time on Feb. 14/09. After a near eternity of traveling, it was glorious to be somewhere permanently, even if it did mean facing Israeli immigration. Being a bit of a worrywart by nature, I had spent a fair amount of time trying to conceive of every possible question that could be asked, along with the appropriate range of potential responses. However, about a week before departure I decided to abandon all worry and instead projected the image of myself walking out of the airport with ... read more

Day 17 1:30 am M.E.T. The diner I had on the plane was delicious. I ate chicken, mashed potatoes, a little feta cheese, chocolate cream cake, water and apple juice. There were two choices, but they ran out of pasta. I enjoyed this dinner better than the dinner on the flight coming to Israel. I ate this meal at 1:30 am, 32,000 feet high, our speed is 567 m.p.h.; we are over the Agean Sea and have traveled 1,000 miles. 10:54 pm M.E.T., our plane has landed and we are now waiting in the New York Airport for our flight to Columbia. The flight departs at 10:00 am. The flight lasts 30 minutes. The plane was very small, two seats in a row, two rows across. The plane landed and we waited downstairs for Mom to ... read more