12.21.2009
They Say It's Your Birthday
Well, it was. And what a birthday it was!
Max really spoiled me and I had perhaps my best birthday ever. We decided to make a last minute mini-trip up to Nazareth. We rented the tiniest car Budget offered and took a lovely drive up north along the coast and then inland to Nazareth. Driving in Israel is a little insane - crazy driving is something that Israelis and Arabs alike enjoy. But to be fair, it's better than Amman and MUCH better than Cairo, city of eminent-death-by-vehicle.
Anyway, we saw some of the sights of Nazareth including the Church of the Annunciation, largest church in the Middle East and supposed sight where the Angel appeared to Mary to tell her of her impending pregnancy. My favorite part of the church were the representations of Mary sent in from all over the world. They had images made of tiles, stone, and paintings from Thailand, China, Scotland, India, Spain, Canada - you name it.
Do you want to know what the United States' contribution looks like?
And why wouldn't it? This is clearly the most naturally interpretation of Mary... I'm being snarky, but I actually liked it in a crazy-art kind of way. There is some quotation next to it from something Catholic, I think, that talks about Mary appearing with a dress like "shook foil". On a world wide scale I think of America as fairly traditional, so this avant-garde-ness really surprised me.
But the best part was really our trip to the top of Mount Tabor, where the transfiguration of Jesus in the New Testament happened. We spent some time in the church at the very top and then snooped around the ruins. We also caught the most amazing sunset I've seen in my 26 years of life. It took up the whole sky and drifted down across the Jezreel Valley. We ate pizza with bacon later that night and all was right with the world.
A little Video, ignore my gasps. It was that breathtaking!
Max really spoiled me and I had perhaps my best birthday ever. We decided to make a last minute mini-trip up to Nazareth. We rented the tiniest car Budget offered and took a lovely drive up north along the coast and then inland to Nazareth. Driving in Israel is a little insane - crazy driving is something that Israelis and Arabs alike enjoy. But to be fair, it's better than Amman and MUCH better than Cairo, city of eminent-death-by-vehicle.
Anyway, we saw some of the sights of Nazareth including the Church of the Annunciation, largest church in the Middle East and supposed sight where the Angel appeared to Mary to tell her of her impending pregnancy. My favorite part of the church were the representations of Mary sent in from all over the world. They had images made of tiles, stone, and paintings from Thailand, China, Scotland, India, Spain, Canada - you name it.
Do you want to know what the United States' contribution looks like?
But the best part was really our trip to the top of Mount Tabor, where the transfiguration of Jesus in the New Testament happened. We spent some time in the church at the very top and then snooped around the ruins. We also caught the most amazing sunset I've seen in my 26 years of life. It took up the whole sky and drifted down across the Jezreel Valley. We ate pizza with bacon later that night and all was right with the world.
Mount Tabor from a distance, the view from the top of the Jezreel Valley
Church on Top of Mount Tabor
Here we are on the top of Mount Tabor
Me, doing exactly what I do each time we take a trip - read the guidebook
A little Video, ignore my gasps. It was that breathtaking!
12.20.2009
When in Rome
Ok, here is a little bit more info about our potential Italy gig. I started applying for things back when I thought we'd be here through the summer and then come back to Israel. I wanted to travel, make a little bit of money, and get out of our expensive apartment for a few months.
In my internet searching I came across an English Instruction Summer Camp that takes place in various cities in Italy. It is a Drama/Singing/Dancing/Crafting camp for Italian youth with very little "classroom instruction" time. In the morning you do a little bit of grammar and typical "English Teacher" stuff, and then in the afternoon you work on crafts or sports with the kids. You also practice a short play that will be performed for everyone at the end of the two week period. Each "play practice" has a grammar goal and a vocabulary focus - it's very neat. The whole thing is really play" oriented. The kids ages 6 to 14 as I understand it.
So I just started emailing this nice woman and a couple of passport photos and applications later - we have a job offer! Our circumstances have changed a bit since we are coming home, but we can still do the camp for at least 2 weeks (the length of one session) and maybe 4 and get home July 10th at the latest. So we are still coming home, but if we decide to do this we might come home a few weeks later than we had planned.
Of course living in Italy while someone else pays for your housing and food is sweeeet, but the best part is that they will pay us. Both Max and I will be employed so we will make enough to cover our plane tickets home and have some living money when we get home. This way we won't have to be such mooches:)
So there it is. We are still deciding if the timing will work out for us, but it's so nice to know that if we are on board, there is something waiting for us.
We have decided not to apply for Scotland, but if you want to spend 2 weeks to a month in Scotland this summer while managing a hostel in the boondocks you should check out this website. No pay, but free room.
In my internet searching I came across an English Instruction Summer Camp that takes place in various cities in Italy. It is a Drama/Singing/Dancing/Crafting camp for Italian youth with very little "classroom instruction" time. In the morning you do a little bit of grammar and typical "English Teacher" stuff, and then in the afternoon you work on crafts or sports with the kids. You also practice a short play that will be performed for everyone at the end of the two week period. Each "play practice" has a grammar goal and a vocabulary focus - it's very neat. The whole thing is really play" oriented. The kids ages 6 to 14 as I understand it.
So I just started emailing this nice woman and a couple of passport photos and applications later - we have a job offer! Our circumstances have changed a bit since we are coming home, but we can still do the camp for at least 2 weeks (the length of one session) and maybe 4 and get home July 10th at the latest. So we are still coming home, but if we decide to do this we might come home a few weeks later than we had planned.
Of course living in Italy while someone else pays for your housing and food is sweeeet, but the best part is that they will pay us. Both Max and I will be employed so we will make enough to cover our plane tickets home and have some living money when we get home. This way we won't have to be such mooches:)
So there it is. We are still deciding if the timing will work out for us, but it's so nice to know that if we are on board, there is something waiting for us.
We have decided not to apply for Scotland, but if you want to spend 2 weeks to a month in Scotland this summer while managing a hostel in the boondocks you should check out this website. No pay, but free room.
12.17.2009
We Got Into Italy!!!
I hope we can juggle things well enough to make this work, but both of us were accepted to be English Teachers in Italy this summer! For money!
12.14.2009
A Little Night Music Revisited
Max has been practicing with the Jerusalem Acapella Choir once a week for about 4 months now. At least he thinks that's what they are called - the entire rehearsal and most of the songs are in Hebrew. It's done wonders for his Hebrew (he tells me) but it also makes things exciting when he's not sure if the concert is at 6:30 or 7:30 for example. I'm not leading up to a cute lost-in-translation story, I just think it's amazing that he sticks right with it along side genuine Israeli Hebrew speakers.
The choir has about 18 people and they sing mostly ancient choral music, hymns, Jewish songs, and an occasional English/American tune. Last week they had their first concert and it was just wonderful. It was fun for me to see him in his rehearsal before, chatting away with his new friends, as well as on stage again. He remarked that has been since High School that he has sung with a formal choir in a concert (8 years - yowza).
The Man to Max's Right (your left) is Eli (eh-li), the nice Man who gives Max a ride home every week so he doesn't have to endure the long bus ride. The man to the right of Eli is Ofer (oh-FEHR) and he invited us to an amazing Rosh Hashanna dinner at his house a few months ago - there were 7 courses at least. The man to Max's Left (your right) is Amnon, and I don't know much about him except for he kind of looks like Deep Roy. There are women in the choir, just not in the pictures.
The concert was on the evening of December 7th, and I had my first "embarrassed-of-my-gobs-of-technology" moment. I wanted to take pictures of Max close up so I needed my regular lens as well as my zoom lens. And we couldn't let this occasion go by without video taping the event, could we? So the video camera came too...and the tripod. You can't have a sharp super-zoom without a sturdy tripod. I staked out a place in the back of the concert where I wouldn't bother anyone, but as I started to unfold my studio away from home I became so self-conscious! Isn't this something that 30 something Dad's do at their 7 year old's first soccer game? I tried to own it as much as possible, and I don't regret bringing everything because I got great film on top of a few good pictures, but I was glad when I could hide my abundance of image capturing devices and their accompanying equipment. (And you thought I was gadgety before, Aunt Mary!)Minor embarrassment aside, the concert was great and Max was wonderful. I'm so proud of him for joining this choir - they importance of doing something you love can't be overstated, I think. I have attached a video of a Hebrew Song (...I don't know it's name ) and an English Song (Ride the Chariot) for your listening pleasure. The quality is pretty poor, but you get the idea.
Actually, I am having some uploading problems and instead of pulling my hair out, I'm going to go into my kitchen and make sugar cookies. Hopefully I can post the videos later.
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