Everything, Nothing, and I'm a Middle Child

Okay, so maybe this is sort of twisted, but Mark and I saw the "coolest" fight the other evening. Maybe 'cool' is the wrong word, and of course, if the fight hadn't occured, all the better. But, anyway. We were enjoying some pizza outside a little pizzeria/gelateria, went in to pay, and when we came back out there was clearly a kerfuffle of some kind at the corner of the street. We paused to assess the situation as it was the direction in which we were headed, and realized that a fight was in progress. But not for long. Men descended literally from every corner, separated the men and simply blockaded them from approaching each other. One had been on a motorcycle. Another cyclist came over to his bike, helped him move the damaged motorcycle out of the road (away from the other man). Masses of men, I swear, continued to appear - all civilians. Not, however, to "see what was going on". They were there to help, to discourage any continuation.

I was really impressed. Mark and I mulled it over while enjoying some yummy dessert and realized that this scenario was unlikely in the States for a couple of reasons:

1. you never know whether one of the 'fightees' is carrying a weapon

and

2. if the police show up, they're most likely to simply arrest everyone there as they wouldn't know who the true culprits were and everyone would have their own version

Just a snapshot of life here that makes it interesting. Israelis may not be friendly, but they always seem to be there if you need them.

Posted by at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As you can see, I'm working on a new title to my blog. No offense, Nae, but I discuss more than simply life in Israel. In fact, it's sort of rare that I discuss life as it is particular to Israel. So, I'm working on a new title.

I'm open to suggests, too.

Maybe I'll make a tradition of it and change the title once each year (I've had this blog a year now!).

Posted by at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Anger.

I had a beautiful, relaxing weekend. I felt great. Refreshed even...

Then, I woke up at 5 this morning so angry from such a horrible, horrible dream. I immediately thought "I must have to go to the bathroom." Growing up, whenever we had a nightmare our mother had us go to the bathroom. I assume the theory is that if our bladders are full it may cause bad dreams. I have no idea if that is true, or if it was our mother's ploy to bring us back to reality, or maybe even simply an attempt to make sure we didn't wet the bed - but in any case, that's what I did this morning [went to the bathroom, not wet the bed].

I got back into bed, but I was so furious that I couldn't get back to sleep. I kept thinking/dreaming about what I'd dreamt, going in and out of consciousness. I tried praying to get it off my mind. Unfortunately, as you can tell, it didn't work, as I sit here 6 hours later writing about it.

I won't tell you the details, because, quite frankly, they don't deserve to be repeated. However, have you ever had a dream in which someone you know and love does something horrible, and even though you know it's a dream, it's hard not to hate them when you wake up? Well, that was definitely the case this morning.

I finally decided I had to examine that anger [with the assistance of a friend]. In effect, the anger I felt in the dream wasn't even so much about the action that the person in question had performed, but the effect that it had on my life. The fact that my life plans had to be seriously altered because of their actions infuriated me. Really, I'd say I was murderous. In the dream I actually said to a woman, "Leave now, because the only thing keeping me from killing you is this counter between us." At one point my mother tried to calm me and I simply stated, "The rules have changed now." Basically, imagine the worst dream you never want to have - that's what I dreamt last night.

In any case, I've been mulling over this anger - as it is still definitely lingering within me, raw - and I think I was able to pinpoint the source. Once I started thinking it was actually fairly obvious. Phew. At least now I have something else to focus on instead of that horrible dream.

Do you know, I actually considered not going into work today I felt so traumatized by the dream?! Of course, then I thought of me sitting at home just stewing in the dream - ugh! That would have been awful!

Posted by at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I wonder, will those three words now become a part of my family's jargon? Will it be a euphemism for ... for idiots? For annoying bits of flea-ridden junk in your life?

Also, am I the only one who knows that my mother would really like to be called "Nannie", not out of any cast-off yearnings about our younger years, but of her younger years, when her siblings (and she, I believe) shortened her name, Stephanie, to Nannie? And she'll tell you, it's 'ie' not 'y'. Should we simply make the switch - how fast could we do it? It tooks us all a while to find an alternative to Mommy that we all liked (including her!). But if she'd prefer to be called Nannie, why not?

So, here's the test, how quickly will we start seeing signs of her being called Nannie? I'll start the clock now.

The other question is: by posting this, does it therefore supercede my previous entry, meaning that no one will comment on my previous entry?

Posted by at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

I had a really good weekend.

First, I would like to thank my father for getting us the book on massage. Before we left the States we got some lavender essence, and this weekend I got a foot massage & Mark got a back massage. What a difference a little massage can make! Ahhh....

Secondly, we got back to the Shrines, and that's like a massage for the soul. Ahhhh....

Thirdly, Mark and I had rehearsals for the upcoming southeast Asian dance/music night and are getting excited about that. Yay! I'm doing one of the most difficult Indonesian dances from Bali - apparently by the age of 15 girls are forced to 'retire' from the dance. Err? Whatever, it's fun. The really scary part is that you know I don't have rhythm - agh!

Yesterday evening Mark and I went to a dinner for his office. It was a really good time. Afterward we watched Changing Lanes (w/ Samuel Jackson & Ben Affleck). It was really good. All I can say is: don't let Ben scare you off. He performed really well in this movie. Really, I swear. Of course, I think it has pretty much killed Mark's desire to become a lawyer. Not that he was very serious about it, but he's played with the idea for years.

Posted by at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay...

First, I would like to say that I am irritated beyond belief with these websites that somehow figure out how to get comments onto my website. Online Texas Holdem? Online Casino? Grr!!! Agh!! Not only that, but they've started putting "viable" comments. And today, I found one that was sexist! And I have no one to STRANGLE!!! So not fair. So, needless to say, I'm irritated.

But I also told you I was confused. Let me explain. Or maybe I should wait until a later blog and explain why I've been silent for a while?

See. I'm confused.

Anyway. The beginning. Mark's father had a heart attack recently, so we went home. We were there for two weeks, and it was a really wonderful visit. Fortunately, Mark's father is doing very well. They were able to remove the blockages, he has no paralysis, and had no open heart surgery. All good. As many of our relatives are still in Ohio, we were able to see a good number of them. Basically, all except my siblings. Even Mendon, the only one still residing in Ohio. [okay, that sounds like we saw Mendon, but we didn't] Sorry, dude. Other than that, it was a really good visit. We got to see almost all of our nieces and nephews (so cute!!!). One of the girls, when she saw me, came running out of her house saying "Aunt Mara!" Well melt my heart! We also spent a few days visiting friends who live near relatives, and that was awesome, too.

So, we were there for two weeks. Well, see, we were planning on taking a vacation in November. Visit everyone, see people at Thanksgiving.... Now, keep in mind, these past two weeks do not count as our vacation [major perk of working here!!] And actually, because of several sources of financial assistance, the cost of the trip was relatively little. So, in essence, we can afford to return.

But we were only planning on taking one return visit to the States before we return permanently in the spring of 2006. And, now, to return 2 months after we were last there seems a bit silly. Wouldn't it make more sense to go back sometime next year - say August of next year? Then people could feel like they were actually getting to see us on a fairly regular basis. [add to this that my parents are visiting in January...]

On the other hand, people were really looking forward to our visit.

Would it be wrong for us to still take a vacation in November, but to, oh I don't know, Spain, instead? Or China? Or Kenya?

Now that that's out there, I'll post some of the pictures of our visit to Ohio soon.

Posted by at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)