Everything, Nothing, and I'm a Middle Child

Thursday night was awesome! Some friends and we went out to Hamat Gader, some ancient natural hot springs. It was loads of fun, though if you're imagining us in nature, well, think again. The water was piped into pools, and when I say "pool" think the city's public pool you paid $1 to get into during your childhood. Granted we paid more than that, and granted in some ways it was nicer, but not by too much.

It was on the edge of the Sea of Galilea - not at all far from Jordan. There are actually ancient Greek ruins there as well - that's how long the spot has been known for its hot springs. We packed dinner for ourselves (well, Krisia did - thank you!! she works in the gardens - starts work earlier than ourselves, and therefore gets off earlier, too.)

There were three pools: warm, warmer, and hot. The first two were outdoor pools, with a few 'side attractions' - a jet stream you could lie in, a 'bubble' pool, where the air bubbled up from the floor & a waterfall you could sit under. Those were all fun. We decided to try the hot pool, which was indoors. We walked in, and wow - well, it was obvious that few women went in there. And here we were, 4 women and one man ... and few of us looked like we were Israelis (Me & Mark from the States, a woman from Mexico, another from New Zealand and one from Bermuda). Yeah, we got stares - a lot of them. In fact, somehow after we left the hot pool those stares followed us. I don't know if they were the same people, but the stares continued. It didn't stop us, but I really wanted to walk up to a few and slap 'em upside the head.

I remember my younger brother, Mendon, coming home in about 8th grade enraged. I asked him what was wrong, and his reply was this: "Hasn't anyone ever told these guys it's rude to stare at girls?!??!" He was absolutely incredulous. Mendon, you rock! No, they haven't, and apparently no one has told these people, either. Ugh.

Anyway, in spite of the stares we had loads of fun. I was in the changing room afterward and it was really a study in contrasts. They had showers with private changing areas, and then a large open area with benches. At one end were women changing in the open - taking off their bathing suit and changing back into clothes, and at the other was a woman totally covered from head to foot - robes, headscarf ... the whole kit'n'kaboodle. Each set of women seemed to be equally shocked by the other. It amused me.

Posted by Mara at 03:27 PM | Permalink

Literally, Days of Há (i.e. the letter Ha, which in the abjad system has the numerical value of 5). Intercalary Days. The four days (five in a leap year) before the last month of the Bahá'í year, 'Ala', which is the month of fasting.

Bahá'u'lláh designated the Intercalary days as Ayyam-i-Ha in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (our most holy book) and specified when they should be observed; the Báb (Forerunner to Baha'u'llah) left this undefined. The Ayyam-i-Ha are devoted to spiritual preparation for the fast, hospitality, feasting, charity and gift giving.

This is by far my most favorite time of the year. My parents created all sorts of cool traditions for us around this holiday season. Which also happens to be why we kids are bummed when we can't be "home for the holidays". We've decorated our home a little bit, but we're simply not established enough to have all the cool things my parents do. My mother creates a small tree devoted to various birds she's collected over the years. On our mantelpiece are displayed a variety of dolls from all over the world - unity in diversity, yay! Of course, there were also two dishes: one of Hershey's kisses and the other of M & M's. In order to control us (and possibly Papa as well :-)), we could only eat them if guests were over and we offered some to them first.

We also each had a little basket (each in a different animal shape) that was miraculously refilled with candy every morning when we came to breakfast! On the last day of Ayyam'i'Ha we always got a new toothbrush :-). Every day we got a gift from the "Intercalary Goose". NOTE: this is a particular family tradition ... not a "Baha'i thing" (though we love the goose!). One day we would all get art supplies, another was just clothes, etc. On the last day of Ayyam'i'Ha we would exchange gifts with one another. We all loved getting all the gifts, but we also took particular joy in how much the others were enjoying the gifts we had often carefully thought about for each person.

This year we are all scattered to the four winds - my sister is in D.C., my parents are in Cleveland, Mendon is in the Gambia, and Nathan is in Scotland (as you can see from the title of my blog, I'm in Israel). I'm sad because I'm not with my family, but I also feel like a total heel because I didn't get gifts out to them... (in Mendon's case, I would have needed to send it back in December!). I especially feel like a heel because some of them have sent me gifts... sigh. Well, for those of you who are reading this: I have not forgotten. I have started buying gifts (I want them to be special, since I'm in Israel and all). I think everyone will simply get one gift from us when we come home for a visit in the fall. (My aunt and uncle in Argentina do this, and their gifts ROCK!)

Posted by Mara at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's stressful just to come up with the title sometimes, you know?

Anyhow, life is a bit busy at the moment. We just had a long weekend. Sunday and Monday were each a holy day, the Birth of the Bab and the Birth of Baha'u'llah, respectively, as celebrated according to the lunar calendar - whereas most other places in the world celebrate them according to the solar calendar.

Mark and I rented a car for the occasion. It was really nice to be able to go places whenever it was convenient. But then, we also realized that a car isn't all that necessary.

We went to IKEA - yup, there's one here, too. It was nice to just veg out there - with slightly suspended disbelief that we were in our own country... heck, IKEA is all in Swedish, no matter where it is!! So, mutual confusion!

Then we went to Herzliyya. Wow was it overrated by people. Who goes to "explore" in a suburb? Well, there was a cute little strip of shops, so we went there first, then we headed over to the "hip" area of town with over-priced shops and over-priced restaurants. They also happen to be overrated. We went to the "best sushi restaurant in Israel". Why did we think that meant it would be good sushi? It was mediocre - and expensive. Oh well, lesson learned. At least now we know we're not missing anything in Haifa! In fact, Haifa is quite a bit more interesting.

Monday we had a pancake breakfast with some friends, went out to Bahji together (this is the place where Baha'u'llah is buried - and we get to visit regularly, wow!), and then came back to Haifa for a picnic lunch in the sculpture garden across from our home. Afterward we all went to the holy day celebration - with oodles of people!!

I'm exhausted, but content.

Posted by Mara at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For your viewing pleasure, this is my Grampa Dornbrook, on the occasion of his 85th birthday (wow!). Nice shirt, Grampa! :-) (big Ohio State University fan...)

Posted by Mara at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yummy! Happy, happy birthday! I wasn't there for the party (obviously), but my maman sent me the pictures to share with all of you lovely people. Thank you, Maman!

Posted by Mara at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

These are our very dear Gramma & Grampa Dornbrook! Happy Birthday, Grampa!

Posted by Mara at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sorry, I know it's lame, but I couldn't resist...

We had an 'earthquake' here a few hours ago, which I'm sure you can find on the news, and it will sound much more exciting because they will sensationalize it. It's funny because the first reports called it a "minor earth tremor". Of course, it did register 4.5 on the Richter scale.

Here's the thing. I've only lived through one other earthquake, but this didn't seem as scary as it has been described. [The BBC quoted a man saying "It was big, I felt it. It was scary." (Yossi Shamir, evacuated from an office in Jerusalem, told Reuters.). Uh, yeah, whatever. Very scientific, that.]

First of all, my building, as are all of the Baha'i buildings around me, is earthquake-resistant. As we happen to live on a fault line (and you were worried about the bombs!?!), this is really a necessary precaution.

I certainly felt it, and recognized it immediately. It's amazing - my last earthquake was when I was in 4th grade, but it's a feeling I haven't forgotten. The floor trembled a bit, and my computer screen rattled (that was the most nerve-racking thing, really). It lasted for about 20 seconds, I think. The only thing that made me nervous was that it was increasing in its momentum ... so I wondered how strong it would get before I really decided it was necessary to vacate the top floor of a 5 story building. I'm sure that's all very comforting to you to know that I vacillate over such decisions, but then things weren't falling off the shelves, and people who were not at their desks tended not to notice that anything was happening.

So, that's the update on my exciting life! :-) Love and hugs to you all!

Posted by Mara at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

This week has just flown by! I've had a lot of fun ... and, oh! so many things!

First: an update on the art show. It was amazing. We got some very yummy foods from the bake sale for people back home (therefore I cannot reveal what they are :-)!

My dress ended up being hung off of a stairwell. It was hanging between some paintings and some quilts - sort of the 'transition piece', if you will, between the 'arts' and the 'crafts', I suppose. :-) Mark and I had a blast - there was so much to do and see. We ushered for the slide show, which Mark participated in (so you can tell Sydney she's been on the big screen now!), which had a video presentation afterward. For the video, I was Trinity (from the movie, "The Matrix") - I had gotten 'in the system' and was having a problem with the computer... the whole video was a compilation of different things we do here: security, gardens, cleaning & maintenance, office workers... I was the 'office' skit - calling our helpdesk :-). My new nickname is apparently Trinity... it seems like everyone who sees me now makes a reference to my 'movie appearance'.

They also had an Arts Cafe, with live performances, a fashion show (all clothes were from our 'clothing exchange')... all in all, loads of exhausting fun.

On another, but still very exciting, note, my family has recently been reunited with my mother's French family. I've been doing a lot of corresponding with them, too, seeing as how I speak French. This is so exciting for me. I, at least partially, studied French to understand my French grandmother more (since she passed away when I was about 1 year old), and that side of my family. I had had a few random contacts in past years, but nothing consistent. What a blessing email is!!! This is thrilling for me, and allows me to practice my French. Understanding French and coming up with it on your own are two rather different things, so it's important for me to practice my French despite the fact that I am translating it on a daily basis.

It's starting to warm up here - yesterday it got up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit! In February!

By the way, folks, pictures will probably be suspended for a while - our camera just died. It was limping ever since it was dropped back in December, and last week it just gave up. Sorry!

Posted by Mara at 11:59 AM | Permalink

Please note that this recipe is from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook ... and it's very yummy!

And yes, Maman, I would love an oven thermometer. My basic solution was to turn the oven down and bake it for about 40 minutes instead of 25. Of course, I would prefer to bake it at the correct temperature ...

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars
3/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup mashed banana(2-3 bananas medium size)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
6 oz package(1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate pieces
2/3 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
grease pan
mix butter on high, add sugars, baking powder, and salt. beat tilll combined
beat in egg, bananas, vanilla till combined
beat in as much flour as possible w/ mixer...add the rest by hand
stir in chocolate and nuts
spread on greased pan and bake 25 minutes on 350 (or until golden:)

By the way, I love the organic evolution of responses to this!

Big hugs and love to you all!! I'm so happy that no matter how far away we are we really can trim the distance a bit with the use of the Internet!

Posted by Mara at 10:05 AM | Permalink

Sorry about the title. Basically it is non-sensical because there isn't really a topic. I don't have a whole lot of anything new or interesting to say.

At least I don't think so. I mainly just want to keep writing so that you keep reading, and keep responding to me because I thrive on hearing from all of you.

We went to a devotional gathering to commemorate the passing of a friend's parents. It was really beautiful. He had prepared writings from many of the different world religions about death, the next world and the sacredness of our bodies - even once we've passed away - because it is a receptacle for our soul. It was interesting - Mark and I had just been talking about the various different methods of burial - caskets vs. cremation, and why the religions each say some very specific things about how we should treat/handle the bodies of those who have passed away. The writings answered a number of the questions we'd had.

On another note, a Filipino friend that was there introduced us to his fiancee. They will be getting married here in April. I joked that even here, in Israel, there's no way he'll get away with a small wedding - just inviting the Filipinos guarantees 50 people! Then there's his office, her office... and don't forget family! Hahahaha!

Friday evening I will be celebrating my 6-month anniversary with my orientation group. Some of them will be leaving in another 6 months already! They are like my family here. They're the people I came in with, and we definitely have a close bond because of that. I'm looking forward to the party! :-)

Then, Saturday we are having a huge Arts and Crafts Show. We can enter works to sell or simply to show. There will be everything there from paintings to decorated matchboxes! I've entered the Afghani dress my mother and I made when I was in high school (not for sale, of course!!). It's been interesting trying to figure out how we can present it so that everyone can see all sides of it (since I'm not about to stand there for 5 hours modeling it).

There will also be an Arts Cafe, as well as a bake sale, a slide show, a short movie, and a fashion show (not a serious event). I'm baking up a storm for the Arts Cafe. I think it's absolutely hysterical. I think few people back home would think of me as having a flair for baking, but somehow I've become known here for my cooking. I don't know whether that says something about me, or about the other people! This is especially ironic because if it is not the essence of simplicity (very few ingredients, very little preparation) - I don't even look at the recipe. Meaning? Anyone could do it! I know, I know, "but they don't". Got it. That's why I'm baking for the Cafe, I suppose. :-)

Anyhow, I'm making several batches of shortbread and banana chocolate chip bars (thank you, Rae, for sending me the recipe!). For the shortbread, I'm going to be 'icing' it with ganache. I know you care, right? In any case, I've committed to making a double batch of each, so I'll be busy on Friday! (work Friday morning, bake all afternoon, and then the orientation dinner in the evening - thank heavens I only committed to bringing drinks to the party!)

It's amazing how much space one can take up with not saying much of anything, eh? And I didn't even tell you what the weather is like! (nothing exciting, promise)

Posted by Mara at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)