Now that Mendon has announced that we won't read each other's blogs and we'll be writing about what is salient to us, I feel pressured and obliged and a little bit peeved (because, seriously, I don't do well at keeping things in mind while blogging; I can only usually manage to get one thought or two out, at most). Plus, what was he thinking trying to keep me from his blog without consulting me first? He should know that he's breeding rebellion in me. : )
At any rate. Here's what I'm blogging about, salient, random, or whatever just happens to come to mind.
I am so self-conscious. I've written before about some of the things that I did in India to help me fit in (braiding my hair, doing the Indian bobble-doll head bob, picking up a slight accent). I'm doing those exact things here, and looking like a complete idiot. Mostly, I do the head bob and look like an idiot for it. No one notices the other things. Everyone notices that. So, at any rate, I look forward to having some other things that I can do when I'm feeling awkward that won't actually make me look MORE awkward.
What else?
I'm pretty content. Not too jet-lagged. (Mendon and I went to bed at 9 last night and slept for TWELVE hours until 9 this morning. It was bliss, and we both feel good after that). I'm enjoying being in the desert (deserty things remind me of AZ, which always brings good to mind). I'm also enjoying being right near the water, even though we're in enough of a city that the pollution keeps me from seeing the horizon of the bay and the sky clearly, which for whatever reason is disappointing. I like the city noise and the traffic. It feels like India, but really, really fast, and even if I'm being a total couch sloth, I can still feel busy because the rest of the world is zooming past our flat at 100 km/hr. I think Haifa smells good after the rain, but then again, I don't have high standards for that at this point. There was a point this summer where I craved the smell of cigarette smoke because it smelled good compared to my other options. Generally, I'm content to be in Haifa. We had some falafel for lunch, which we walked into the Wadi to buy. The weather is great. Warm (50's?) and mostly sunny/threateningly rainy. I'm with my new husband, on our honeymoon, so there's not too much that can ruin this.
So, the Baha'i end of things are also great. Last night, after taking a shower (which was essential!), Mara took Mendon and me down to the Shrine of the Bab (which also included the Shrine of Abdu'l-Baha. That was so, so wonderful. I don't know exactly what I can write about being in the Shrines. It was beautiful, calming, invigorating, exciting, overwhelming (probably the best word for my experience so far). It was also truly beautiful to watch Mendon enter and be in the Shrine of the Bab. This is a mystery about Mendon for me, his love of the Bab. So, to watch him in that holy place and have a vague idea of what it meant for him to be there, that was wonderful, in that full of wonder sense of the word. This was the icing on the cake of my experience. It was a well-rounded experience because in addition to the beauty of the evening, I also had a cool experience as we got nearer into the city. There's a point where we drove in where the Shrine of the Bab starts to peek out at you on the road. Well, I was the first one to catch it, and it sort of winked at me several times before Mendon was able to see it as well. Although it seems completely inappropriate, the best word that I have to describe that experience is sexy. Mendon agrees. And, to top it off, mendon and I took a stroll down through the terraces at 12 today, on our way to lunch. Paradise, truly. They smell good, the of course look good, everyone who stands at the gates has the coolest hoodies that I've ever seen (and I want one!), and it's blissfully quiet and peaceful. Very, very peaceful.
At any rate, Mendon is trying to lure me into the guest room so that we can snuggle (he turned the heater on for me; special treat), which is keeping me from wanting to blog too extravagantly long.
I am enjoying reading your blog account of Isreal