speak, baby speak, tell me i'm weak

al and i got a bus to jerusalem
met dad and joan with their tour guide, tomer
drove to kibbutz tzuba, where dad and joan were staying
hung out at reception and got some yummy sandwiches, talking about the trip
got showered, best feeling ever ever ever
watched figure skating, latin ballroom, and interpretive dance
woke up and had breakfast
dreamy guys everywhere
al and i found out how we can work there
took a walk around the grounds, pretty place
left for eilat
got a little lost (tense!)
went to where the dead sea scrolls were found and saw a video and the ancient grounds
really cool, place to hike
drove more to the dead sea, ate there (didn't get in, dad didn't want to leave the car)
drove more to masada, BARELY made the cable car thingy
got up to the top, gave dad bar mitzvah since he's never had one (really sweet)
i asked for a talit from oranim, gave it to him and had him say a tali prayer in hebrew at the best lookout of all masada. he liked it :)
took the last cable car and got back down
saw harper WEIRD
drove to eilat at sunset/night
looked at stars
amazing views
got to hotel after getting SUPER lost driving through las vegas of israel
walked to dinner at italian place, after problem woman changing kid on table
got back and got ready, met birthright group at unplugged
danced on bar and drank
really smelly dude (al's boyfriend)
met adam smith and boys
facebooking adam smith
maybe like, one smeethome
slept
woke at 6 for petra
picked up at other hotels
got to border
waited a lot
got through the jordanian border (cancelled our visas)
cool gift shop, turkish coffee oasis
finally got on a bus
drove 2 and a half hours
really cool photos shot out the window of the bus
crazy dilapidated towns
amazing looking people
arrived at petra
molested by shop guys who gave us cool head scarves
one put a burka on my face, it was really scary
i felt like a woman who was being trapped
started walking down through the canyon
most amazing thing i've seen ever
horses and beduins and carved out rock homes and temples
finally walked through a narrow canyon and emerged in a huge open space, revealing the most amazing thing i've ever seen
a huge ornate temple carved out of a mountain face
took lots of photos:
dad and joan with camel, al with guard on cell phone
people like their picture taken here, not in israel
made some little hustler friends (young girls trying to sell us postcards)
we finally left them, kept climbing and taking in the atmosphere
it felt as if we were back in the spice route times
really amazing jewelry places
no money
found horses in front of a carved out house
climbed up carved out stairs and just sat for a minute taking everything in
very peaceful
walked back most of the way, then talked our way into riding some horses the rest of the way
got to the oriental restaurant and ate some jordanian food with boring/exciting kentucky people
i asked if they knew jim james. they didn't
we almost left al because she took too long to shop, then almost got hit by a bus
drove a long way to the border, through the mountains and amazing landscape of jordan, at sunset
got to the border, just barely got through due to border stuff
got showered up and ready for dinner
found this yummy place called pago pago
ate an amazing calamari salad
got sea sick since the restaurant was a boat
talked about favorite things
got home and vegged out
watched movies
fell asleep
woke up next morning kinda late, got breakfast
checked out of hotel
drove through the negev, to ramon crater
really amazing museum and lookout
the most beautiful scenery i've ever seen
drove to the kibbutz where ben gurion is buried
walked in on an IDF swearing in ceremony
just so many young, new soldiers
it was interesting because the war just started and these are all just kids
we didn't find ben gurion's house, but we did find a little cafe to eat
afterwards, we got really lost in the beduin suburbs but finally found the house
got convinced into a wine tasting by a guy from cali that started a vineyard out here
got to ben gurion's house right before it closed, had to maneuver through lots of soldiers
on the way out, we discovered a "yad shniyah" shop (means second hand in hebrew)--i'm a genius
dad almost bought be a 35mm film body, but it had a scratch
there were the most amazing sweaters ever
the shop keeper told us that be'er sheva was a danger zone, so we should go around it
it's a good thing because we were going to stop there
we left and drove more through the desert
more beautiful scenery
took a really long time to get to ramla, but we finally did
said goodbye to dad and joan
started to decompress and get ready for new year's eve
imanuel stopped by and we hung out for a while
he showed us this:

really impressed, israeli musician
it got so late that al and i just did the countdown to new year's in the kitchen, took a shot of vodka, kissed, and watched darjeeling limited before going to sleep
i video chatted with josh, which was great. i really miss him.
sleep
woke up yesterday and fiddled around a bit, cleaning for naama to bring a municipality worker by the house
i need to grow up kinda
we had a security meeting at the apartment about what to do in case of an emergency
walked home and chilled before meeting the kids at nave yonatan so i could show them the photos they took last week
on the way i found a little woven arrow attached to a branch, i found a pink shoelace and tied a bow on the end to prevent the ends from fraying further
decided to give it to dad and joan because it represents israel:
it has a point or goal, but the edges are starting to come apart, except they are tying everything together to keep it together
when i arrived, we got on the computer at the school and was very impressed by one girl's work. she has an eye for sure
i showed them some of my work
next week i'll bring the cameras, they seemed kinda disappointed that i didn't bring them
got done and headed out on the slowest sheruit i've ever been on with the worst driver possible
got to tel aviv and just took a fucking cab to meet dad and joan at the tel aviv museum of art
the guy dropped me off at the wrong corner and i got all flustered and hurried trying to find them since i was supposed to have been there a whole hour and a half before (but i did have a pretty sweet conversation with the cab driver in all hebrew)
we finally met up and drove around for a while trying to find someplace to eat before getting to the airport
i'm really proud of how they have navigated with the rental car
they get terribly lost always
but it makes me appreciative that i don't drive here
decided to just go to the airport, got gas miraculously and laughed about accents
spent some time getting things sent and eating sandwiches
we talked about their favorite parts of the trip and al got to say goodbye over the phone
we hung out a little more and then stood in the security line until it was time to go to the terminal
everyone got all flustered in line and it was funny
really good looking guys work at the airport
they got check in and it was time to say goodbye to dad and joan
i don't know when i'll get to see my dad next so it was really sad
no tears then, but big hugs and kisses and love
i will miss my dad very much
he's the best dad ever and i told him so
we waved goodbye one last time and i walked away, looking back
as soon as i left them a wave of sadness hit me
i almost cried, but had to figure out how to get to the train to tel aviv to meet al, so i did
joan gave me this sick photo book from an amazing photojournalist that has been documenting all the fucked up stuff going on during the war in israel named pavel wolberg
i suggest him
waiting for the train, i met this cool australian guy traveling with his girlfriend
told him about the sub kuch, we rode on the train together, then walked to the bus station once in tel aviv
al called me from the station right when we got there, so we met, i said goodbye to the aussie and we walked to the sub kuch
lots of good looking guys there last night, but all we did was look
we just spent the night hanging with sagi, daniel, mayyan, and everyone else
saw yanez, kinda weird
met asaf who is working on a global awareness project in the form of a music festival in the south near be'er sheva
got his number
daniel gave me the asaf avidan CD!@!!!!! ("eets a plesent")
best present ever
alice really wanted to go home so we grabbed a cab after some treats
i got woken up as soon as we got home and we passed out
this morning, alice thought i was sleep-picking-my-nose
we've basically just been bumming around all day, excpet to get some groceries
made some eggs with challah
i've been writing this fucking thing all day, catching up with friends, looking at photos and hip hop choreography videos
talked to eddie who is in jerualem, but he's so busy that i haven't gotten to see him yet
i can't wait until he gets to tel aviv
i miss the shit outta that guy
so tonight al and i are gonig to natanya supposedly
love everyone...

PLUS!!

new photos here

and here

love,

sally