Israel

2 days in Israel are down.  It is hard to explain all I have seen because it is jumbled, mixed in with olive groves, eternal sunshine, ancient sites that are written about in the Bible with little kids kicking a half-flat soccer ball against it.  It is loud, chaotic, people on cell phones everywhere, lots of skin showing by Israelis while the Muslims and Druze are more covered as you would expect.

I am in northern Israel, about an hour south of Lebanon.  Yesterday we visited a Druze village and I had my first exposure to Israeli food, hummus, tahini, different salads, pita, lamb and rice, man oh man is it good! They also make a good lemonade in this country.

There was some folk dancing down on the beach last night and today we had a full day, visiting Nazareth and then driving through a small village next to it where Jesus performed his first miracle turning water into wine and then to the Sea of Galilee, visiting a kibbutz and a place for christians to go and be baptised in about the same spot that Jesus was baptised.  We had a great fish lunch on the eastern side of the Sea and it was fantastic.  We made it to Tsfat, the home of Jewish mysticism and then got back around 7pm tonight.

Tomorrow is Akko where I plan to take 2 rolls of film hopefully, some grottoes right next to the Lebanese border and then Tuesday off to Jerusalem!

Shalom!

Sotomayor is a racist?

I have to stop reading news sometimes because it upsets me.  In fact, the more I learn about the world, the angrier and more frustrated and hopeless I can feel.  But I also have to know what is happening.  The world is being shifted by a few major players in the world (and mostly with reference to the US) and I have to know what they’re up to.  And sometimes, my little, probably-monitored phone call to a congressman or congresswoman, might have an effect on the weighty decisions they make.

I had a long day, taught 4 classes, Franziska left this morning to go home for a couple of days, she’s there now and we’ll see each other on Friday again.  I have 4 more classes to teach tomorrow and then I am off work for more than a week.  I am drinking some Disaronno amaretto that I got for my birthday and watching the Champions League finale of Manchester United vs. Barcelona.  Much love ya’ll…

ps congrats to commenter/friend Mooney who got engaged last week.  Good for you, bro!

The day after 35

A hot lazy weekend was my 35th birthday.  Hung with some friends on Friday afternoon and evening, then spent the whole day on Saturday with Franziska.  We hiked to the top of the local mountain which kicked our ass and then we got back and she cooked an amazing dinner of asparagus and schnitzel, then she baked me a cheesecake for my birthday which was perfect!

Sunday we slept until 11am and then after a nice breakfast, met some friends for a late lunch early dinner at a restaurant outside of town.  Simple food, cheap drinks and warm weather was a nice capper to the birthday.  We got home around 8pm and spent the rest of the evening just being together and having a great time.  We woke up around 9-9:30am today and both were grateful we didn’t have to work today.  I got a haircut, did some lesson plans and now am trying not to melt before I do some typing.  I have about 75 pages typed so far and I’m quite happy about that.  I plan to do some writing this weekend so that when I come back from Israel I can just write about Israel and it will be fresh and real in my mind.

How are you?

What does 35 mean?  It seems to have meant more to others than to me but I am quite happy with my life.  I would like to change a few things, namely healthier eating and living, being more productive and less lazy.  However, I like who I am, I love my life, I love the woman I am with. It’s important to find the happy medium between satisfied with life and striving for more.  I am somewhere between those.

birthday week

I gotta tell you, this week has been great.  I went jogging in the humid morning still tired, then couldn’t take a shower because we aren’t getting hot water, yesterday I hung out at Franziska’s the whole day and it was fantastic, just chilling out, watching a movie, some tv, reading, relaxing, making a kick ass dinner of  lemon and garlic roasted potatoes and broccoli, yum!

Tonight there is a plan but no definitives if it is happening or not.  A band from Green Bay is playing in Swamp tonight and they play like 60s surf rock or something.  That is the plan but I’m not too sure about it.  Right now I am tired and dirty in my place, thinking of taking a nap.

Tomorrow Franziska and I are going to give hiking another chance, the weather should be cooperating.  Saturday night we are going to either cook something amazing or we are going to go out to eat.

Sunday is my 35th birthday.  The only plan is to go to outdoor restaurant in the black forest for an early dinner or something like that.  A movie might also be good this weekend, who knows?

I’m getting more and more excited about Israel.  I started doing some packing today, it will be the first time with my new backpack, which is a bit smaller and more compact than the one I have been using the past 8 years.  Can you believe that? I’ve been using the same travel backpack since my first trip to Europe in June of 2001.  The only reason I have a new backpack is because the daypack I had needed repairs but Eagle Creek said that I was eligible for a whole new bag because they didn’t make that pack anymore.  So I chose one, then returned it and ended up getting exactly what I got Franziska for Xmas and I really like it.  It’s got some different features that I will have to get used to but I’m getting excited about taking it on the road.  I could still very well use my old bag because it is in perfectly fine shape.  That bag has been to about 40 countries.  It has seen some life.

June 20th, my new exhibition date

from San Pedro, Guatemala, this little guy may just become the flyer for my new exhibition.

I got the call today, it’s been confirmed that my next photo exhibition will be on June 20th at Jos Fritz, the location of my last “big” exhibition in July 2007.  If I’m not mistaken, this is my first exhibition in a year and a half.  It’s about damn time.

But, what while watching Office Space in a business English class less than 3 miles from the Swiss border, I wrote in my journal that I want this exhbition to be SIMPLE.  I have spent hundreds of euros on exhibitions before and I want to minimize costs and set up.  I need to buy the black boards and paint to put the photos on.  That will cost 50 euros. I will buy 10 bottles of champagne.  That’s another 20 euros (no, it’s sparkling white wine, not (ahem) champagne).  I am willing, at this moment to put another 30 euros of costs into the exhibition but on what?

On a different note, I can’t believe the media would rather let the “torture story” to drift to Pelosi v. CIA instead of Cheney promoting torture and on investigations.

I went jogging today, need to shower before getting dinner with the roommates.  One of them is moving to London so…

Remembering the Mayans

This isn't a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon, is it?

I just painted this, thinking of a sunrise that Franziska and I saw in northern Guatemala in late August of 2008.

Roommate S

It appears we may have a new roommate.  We had two girls come over today and hang out with us for a second time to see if there was a connection.  The first girl was certainly nice enough, a medicine student from Heidelberg but I have to be honest that I had trouble understanding her, mostly because she spoke with a smile.  You know how some people just have more saliva in their mouths than other people?  The second girl, Roommate S came in.  We had had pasta with the first girl and with the second a glass of wine, hanging out and talking and letting them see the apartment again.

They were both very nice people and we can’t go wrong with our decision but the second girl just seemed a bit easier to get to know and connect with.  It’s hard to explain but some people are accessible as individuals and some aren’t.  And there are many shades in between.  I mean, just because I’m an open book in many ways doesn’t mean that others are.  That’s been one of the hardest things about growing up, is realizing that just because I am this way or that, or feel a certain way about something doesn’t mean that others will feel the same, even with things that I feel there shouldn’t be another position to hold.  You just learn to accept that some people aren’t going to be like you.  Well Roommate S was a bit more like me in the respect that you had the feeling you could get to know her as a person more easily, thus having more to talk about and more importantly, the brief encounters in an apartment between roommates can be smooth and easy.

You know what I’m talking bout.

So we’re sleeping on it tonight but for now we’ve made our decision.  I am ripping more cds to my harddrive after I have already done a couple hundred in the past month.  The last cd was Fiona Apple 12 May 2000 Osaka.  I have not listened to it twice in 6 years but it will be in my harddrive as data that I can access when I feel like it and you know what, I listened to a song and the sound is fine and I’m stoked that someday, when disposable income is not spent on cds and concerts, I will have a plethora of things to listen to to keep me entertained.

Helga’s childhood in Stuttgart during the war

I’ve corrected the grammar for her but this is her story of her childhood during the war. It’s quite moving, don’t you think?

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Some memories from my youth during the last war in Stuttgart

I was about 8 years old when war broke out. I was going to school in the lower class but for long because it wasn’t possible to have school so we had to take a break. There was always a large, packed bag next to the door with all of our very important things in it, anything we would need if we had to take refuge in the cellar of the house if the bomb alert sounded. I screamed and my hands held the banister leading down the cellar very tightly, and my mother hurried with me the longer way to the official bunker down the street. The siren went off often, day and night. Most families were hurrying into the bunker, of course always with their luggage and all they could carry. My mother was alone with me – like other women – because all men were in the war.

My parents had a hairdresser’s shop. In the evenings when the shop was closed some special customers would visit us. They were Jewish women coming for a haircut. It was forbidden to service such people. I had to go to bed early in the evening because I shouldn’t see the customers and the symbol they had on their clothes. It was a big Jewish star. One day, it was the last time they came to us, they said they would be sent away. This was her last journey to somewhere. They were sent to the gas chambers.

One day the air raid siren sounded and my mother was running with me, the big luggage and the heavy hairdryer down the street and into the bunker. I only dragged our pillows with me. When we arrived at the bunker, hundreds of people were standing close to each other. No one had space inside and then the big thick door closed. It was very calm in the bunker – I think people were praying in this moment to God for help. Suddenly the first bombs started falling again and again for a long time. I will never forget the sound of those bombs for the rest of my life. First, a whistle and then the explosion with the air pressure.

It was calm outside and the air raid was finished. The air raid siren sounded off again so we knew it was over. Then the door opened. It was the most terrible sight I had ever seen in my young life. All houses in the long street left and right as far as I could see were burning and the air was very hot. The air stank and between were explosions in the house and walls were falling down.

The race began. We hurried through the city to my aunt to ask her if we could stay with her. She only had two rooms. We could stay and the neighborhood came there for their hairdressing. One day my father came back from war and were five people in two small rooms. Some organization from the city sent us a foreign woman to live with us too. At that time, each family must fill their apartments with foreigners.

And now the famine began for each of us. The food supply was very small, only enough to eat so we could survive and not starve. My mother took a bed sheet and other things we had saved to the farmers for an egg or a small piece of butter. We walked with a small cart through the city up to a village for some hours. This was normal at the time. Everybody had to do this. The shelves in the bakery were empty. We could only buy a dark, damp bread. It wasn’t made of whole meal. It wasn’t possible to buy clothes or shoes either. I was growing up very fast and had only one pair of shoes. The problem was that I couldn’t stretch my toes in them. My clothes were too short, too.

One day we got a care package from America. It was distributed by the Church to poor people. Inside the package were a can of milk powder, a bit of chocolate and egg powder. I got a light pink dress with short sleeves. It fit me perfectly and I was very proud of it. I now had two dresses. In school we each got a small plate of warm food everyday. It was called Homer Speisring, named after a general. Once we got toothpaste. We ate this like peppermint candy.

This was part of my life.

Political affiliation

It’s hard to call myself a Democrat.  If we live in a world of Republican and Democrat, I’m definitely a Democrat.  But does the world have to be so binary?  Where are the shades of gray and splitting?  It’s because the 51% takes all.  I’m somewhat disappointed in what has been and is being accomplished by the Democrats.  It’s true, the Republicans are essentially doing nothing but saying no, refusing to compromise and they are suggesting they would filibuster anything that doesn’t fit exactly what they want and envision.

The Democrats have a pretty big majority, almost the magic number of 60 to stop any chance of filibustering.  But sometimes the Democrats allow the Republicans’ threat of filibuster actually serve as a filibuster.  They have compromised and then those people they negotiated with voted NO to the legislation they had just compromised and negotiated. This is not an isolated incidence. This is their m.o.. By allowing this to happen over and over, this is not a way to get respect.  The Republicans seemed to have barely given the Democrats to have any say about any legislation except for naming post offices.  Now that they have gotten their keisters handed to them in two consecutive elections, they think they are not being “right” enough.

And yet the Democrats keep having to back down and compromise.  I’m not against compromise.  I’m against people compromising and then voting against the legislation with regularity.  It’s frustrating.  The country is in crisis and instead of working with Obama and the Democrats to get the country back in the right direction.  The Republicans are actively working to undermine Obama at every turn.  And yet the Democrats are still afraid of them.

It’s hard to root for that team.  True, they can accomplish the most good of the two but really, it’s practically a toss-up at this point.

The Great Park

Instead of a military base, airport or sports stadium, I give you The Great Park

Apparently the designers of the soon-to-be-begun Great Park of Irvine won an architectural award from more than 700 submissions.  I’m really excited to be getting this for Orange County, a place I don’t even liveat anymore but it was proposed to become an airport, or even a sports stadium and the past many years it has been a military base.  This is a great thing for Orange County and could really help revitalize the community, just as the Irvine Spectrum has done.  What do you think?

http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/Graphics/2009/02/great-park-NEW-PLAN.gif

I’m sorry the whole image cannot make it onto the blog, check out the above link for the whole image.