News from Israel - Drew & Adele Noll

This page represents the opinions of Doron (Drew) & Adele Noll and are not necessarily those of Aish Kodesh. If you would like to be on the Noll's email list : Doron (Drew) & Adele Noll Since June 3rd, all of the Noll's stories are posted at this blogsite : bravenewland.blogspot.com It is a wild time to be living, much less in the center of the Universe. Hope to see you here soon... - Doron (Drew) The website of : D. Noll www.bigsundesign.com Sfinat Egoz, 3 Zichron Yaakov, Israel 90300 Date: Jun 3, 2007 Subject: Beit El, Bicycles, and other Beezwax (Doron) This story starts about 4 months ago when I got a call from my son Zach. He sounded out of breath and a bit manic and I had to have him repeat a couple of times what he was trying to tell me, his bike was stolen. Yup, this was the bike that we had bought in The States before the big move to the ‘wild wild east’ especially so that, with the help of G-d, he would grow into it both in size and in skill. Zach was talking to his girlfriend (at least that is the official story) with the bike leaning against a wall about three meters behind him. His friends had been riding it around a bit and so no one noticed when someone else decided to do the same… and kept on going. I told Zach to look for it some more and talk to everyone he saw about it in case someone saw it happen and could identify the thief. No luck whatsoever… yet that is. The bike was gone. Zach walked home from the Midrachove (our mini Pearl St. walking mall) and did some serious pouting. He spent the next two weeks walking around town instead of biking until his Baba Ruthie (Grandmother) took pity on him and helped out with the cost of another bike, albeit a much cheaper one. Thanks Baba! (ve bahatslacha eim ha regel) So now the story turns to about three weeks ago when Zach called me on my way home from work one day. He saw the bike! Some guy was riding it around and when Zach approached him he said that his Uncle gave it to him and then he rode off as fast as he could. I told Zach to follow him but he was regrettably on foot so he lost him but the story is not over yet! He described the guy to me and I drew a picture of him. It didn’t really look like him but just enough for a friend/neighbor to recognize him. She has had some similar problems with this guy and knew where he lived and with some searching gave us his name! We went to the Mishtarah (Police) with Abeles’ sister Barbara and filed a report. Long story short, the Mishtarah went into the guys’ house, took back the bike, and now we have it back! It was in pretty good shape too. It still had all its licensing stickers from Boulder on it, which really amazed the Police (evidently they don’t do that here) and it only had a bald rear tire, a couple of scratches, a ripped up seat, and a bent up rear derailleur. Oh well, its only money, right? So that is bicycles and now we move on to Beit El. That is the community of Notsreim (Christians) that I work for. Here is a link to an article about them if you want to know more. http://www.apologeticsindex.org/news1/an011022-20.html (not a good link - webmaster note) actually, we are going to have to regress to the driving thing again. Yes, it is still ongoing. They told me at work that I need to have a Rishoui linhog malgisah (forklift driving license). Oyy, not this again, I have been driving forklifts since I was 25 years old! I now have to do 3 lessons for 4 hours each in a town about 20 minutes from here called Amicom! After that I can take the mifchan (test) which is who knows how long! Beseder, so be it… at least I don’t have to pay for it. I guess it is quite expensive. What else? Oh yeah, Beezwax… Josh got a bee sting at the pool and it seemed like nothing but for the last two days his hand swelled to the size of a small cantelope. I think he is getting better now though, Baruch Hashem. There are lots of weird bugs here. We found a black spider in our bedroom that had a bright red lighting bolt on its back. Also, the other morning I got up and on my way to the bathroom stepped on something that crunched. I looked down and low and behold… a black beetle about the size of my thumb was wriggling under my barefoot with its guts squished out all over the place. Eyooww! And not to try to top that but we have been battling one of the 10 plagues for a couple of weeks now. Guess which one yet? I am just going to say one word… Keeneem! Sounds like one of those really trendy and healthy Boulder breakfast cereals doesn’t it? Well it’s not and, just as a precaution mind you, I have a shaved head to prove it! Are we all grossed out yet? I just had to talk about some more wild things. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Be well everyone, Blessings from the Holy Land, Drew. ps, picture of the Midrachove is on the blog address below (just click on it) blogsite : bravenewland.blogspot.com Date: May 29, 2007 Subject: Where the wild things are (Doron) My family and I came to Israel for my son Zach’s Bar mitzvah only two short years ago. At that time, and every other time that I had visited, I felt something soothingly familiar. In the past this feeling proved to be quite elusive as upon returning to my home our lives just seemed to creep back in and wipe away, what I can only call, the aroma of this ancient and holy land. With lots of things to do and think about – kids, businesses, school, friends, house, the experiences became memories and the feelings we had of a tangible connection between our Souls and this place just seemed to melt into the unconscious. We talked about Israel and loved and supported it, but it was not the same thing. It was just too hard to grasp and to hold the substance of that feeling. It slowly vanished like the smell of a gourmet meal that has already been gulped down. Two years ago, upon landing at Ben Gurion Airport I was greeted by my son Zach in one of the most amazing ways. I had left the United States a week after my family because of work and when Zach ran from the car he hugged me and looked at my face, into my eyes, and said, “We love it here, we want to move here!” I was very tired from a long flight and just laughed it off but because of this interaction and my subsequent awareness I was able to contemplate the possibility of actually moving to Israel. By the end of the trip my family and I had become so used to the idea that it had grown into the bud of a plan. We held it for the next year while we prepared to move. We had many moments of, “no we can’t! And what are we thinking?” my business was one of the biggest dilemmas for me. I had just achieved a life long goal of having a fully functional woodshop and studio with every tool I ever… well, maybe not wanted but surely that I needed, a custom spray booth, a waiting list of clients… just everything. When these thoughts crept in I would just remember my son’s eyes on that day in Tel Aviv to keep my stride, to remember what was real and what was really fiction. On the plane back, Zach decided to wear a yarmulke all of the time. I told him that if he did then I would also and we both did for the entire year that we prepared. Maybe this served as a reminder for us about our experience in Eretz Israel and a reminder for when everyday life tried to creep back in and fuzz over reality. When we were on our trip in Israel we spent a day at the beach at kibbutz Nachsholim with my sister in law Barbara. I think that this was a pivotal moment for both Adele and I and I have often wondered why. It was, after all, just a barbeque on the beach. We drove through the kibbutz on the walking paths to get there because the road was blocked with a barrier. We parked next to the sand and carried all our stuff a little ways over to some rock outcrops and cooked shishli, kabab, veggies, and pita on a little (as they say in Hebrew) “Grriille.” Josh was happily snorkeling in about two inches of water and we all just watched the crazy beach dogs roam around. Maybe someone owned them, but maybe not. Phoenician and Roman ruins were everywhere, on the cliff above us and in the water. Arab fishermen were bringing in their catches. The occasional kibbutsnik would wander down the beach and we were just living. It felt like the Wild West. It felt like I could do what ever I wanted to, with no rules or laws or restrictions. Yes there are laws, and to be more specific, there are Torah laws. Here in Eretz Israel we seem to be more on our honor. We live inside our souls and are constantly reminded of the tremendous history and cultural breadth just under our feet. Here in Eretz Israel we all have a lot of faith it seems. Maybe it emanates directly from the ground or it is just in the air. The people that migrated in The States out west a hundred years ago must have had a similar faith. I guess I had to go east in order to go Out West. There are people here with guns stuck in there belts. There are soldiers with M-16s and Uzis on the streets. There are wild animals that I have seen for myself on quite a few occasions. Animals like boars as big as Rottweilers, Weasels or Mongooses, Hedgehogs, crazy Raptors and scavenger birds, Geckos and Tortoises, Octopi, Parrot Fish, Lion Fish, Coral and sea creatures, deadly Asps, little Jackals that howl outside my bedroom window, feral animals like Parrots, Dogs, and the family of Cats that live under my front steps. This is the real Wild West with good guys and bad guys, yeah just read the news… with savannahs, dessert highlands and undersea jungles. Snow and surf are here too, but most importantly for me, this is the place where life can really happen. The place where East meets West, where good meets bad, where the rules are there as, “more of guidelines”, to quote the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, and we are allowed to live from our Souls. I barrowed the title for this piece from the children’s story Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, because it speaks of so many hidden things and places. Here, in Eretz Israel, there are wild things, hidden and also seen. There are places that jar the senses with haunting beauty and places that exist only in our minds. There are creatures that, with a quick snort, disappear into the imagination. This is a place of ideas and of pure Soul. In it we can slide and we can tumble, we can float and we can also fly. We are caressed and soothed by its roughness, by its wildness. Here we can discover things that we might not have even dared to dream of. Eretz Israel is a place that allows the deep places inside us to come out and play… where all the other wild things are. In one Month we will have been here for one year. I am continually thrilled by the immensity of this experience. Dig deep, live big, our Souls are truly wild… and love living. Pictures of : zachary's barmitvah trip in Israel 05 Date: May 28, 2007 Subject: compasion and maybe a swift kick (Doron) Picture of kassams being fired from Gaza City, Gaza at Israel. Jerusalem Post, Monday, May 28, 2007 All that I can say is, What would you do if Mexico or Canada did that to the U.S.? I think there would be Hell to pay… The world is not always what we want it to be, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something about it. Support peace and justice. Live your lives and when a little dog yaps at you, first have compassion for it, never turn your back on it, and by all means, watch your ankles. Love from the Holy Land, Drew. Date: May 7, 2007 Subject: Lag BaOmer and more cultural divergences (Doron) Hi everyone, Today was a very interesting day at work. The weather is starting to get a little hot here and I decided to wear something different to work because of it. In California we called them shorts, and in Colorado we also called them shorts, but in Israel we call them miknasaim qatsarim (short pants). I felt a little self conscious wearing them because I haven’t seen anyone wear them at the factory, but it is going to be a long summer… So I get to work and the first thing that someone says to me is, "Sunny-Boy"! With a big smile on his face. This is a guy that I have said two words to the entire time I have been at the factory, Shalom, and Boker Tov. Oy va voy! Am I in for a day or what… So the rest of the day was filled with questions like, "do they wear pants like that in America?" and, "did you wear those there?" My boss kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye like I was wearing lederhosen or something. Now I just need to get them used to it I guess. Ha, Ha, very funny everyone… LagBa Omer was immense this year. In Boulder we were lucky to get to a little gathering in Niwat or something to light a bonfire. Here in Israel and specifically in Zichron, Nachsholim, and Dor we had trouble walking without stepping onto one. The whole country must have been ablaze. Here in Zichron we had what my friend Laura Chizalli (yes the one and the same from Boulder) called Armageddon. It was absolutely insane. I will attach a picture or two. About 2 or 3 days before Lag a Omer we could see some of these amazing structures going up all around town. They were like some kind of crazy cultural burning man thing, but all over the place. Everyone from the Chiloni (Secular) to the Haradi (Extremely Orthodox) were out to make these one of a kind sculptures to burn. Some were small little cute ones and some were gigantic sprawling piles of shipping pallets and couch skeletons. And the most amazing thing is that when they go off, the life they have is all there own. The big ones you can't even get within about 50 feet of them. In the morning, the air was a dark smoky smelling fog. It eventually cleared and after work that day Adele and I went for a bike ride. Some of the little religious kids, in there excitement about the night before, accidentally started a little brush fire near our house. All the neighbors were just standing around watching it so we just chalked it up to one more day in this amazing place. The fire was out when we got back from our ride and people everywhere were still trying to light little bonfires in a few choice spots. I don’t think there is any wood left in Israel. Shavuot is in two weeks and I get the day off of work! I love the holidays here. And there are a lot of them! Be well everyone, Drew. Photos on Yahoo... lag ba omer (1) lag ba omer (9) lag ba omer (12) school hike The larger versions of these photos will be available until August 05, 2007 (90 days) Date: May 5, 2007 Subject: how to become an Israeli... (Doron) Last week I went mountain biking with Zach, his friend Nadav, and Nadav’s father. We went to a place called Ofer. I was a little worried about the ride because I really didn’t know the terrain. It was supposed to be quite technical. So, we meet up with Nadav and his father, Uri and head off to this great spot. We ended up at Har Horshan and Uri asked me to pull up beside his car to tell me that he went the wrong way. Ok, we turned around and went to the right place. We get there and start getting out stuff together and I can see that Uri is a lot more uptight than I am. He is a bit over weight and his equipment is pretty old. So now I stop worrying so much about me and start to worry about him a bit. We take off on the bikes up this little trail and it is very technical right away. We all need to get off and hike a lot, but Uri starts to complain about it. Lama, kolezman tsrchime lalechet? (Why do we always have to walk?) He is going on and on about it and his son Nadav is just speeding up the trail as fast as he can, maybe so he doesn’t have to hear or something. While all this is going on, I start in with my usual trip of trying to be the pacifier by telling him that it is hard and I have to walk too and what not. This approach doesn’t seem to be helping. He is still complaining and going on about it. After we get to the top of a little section, we stop for a hafsaka (break) and I start saying how tough it was and he looks at me and says… “Why do you keep belittling yourself? You are a better rider than me. Stop doing that.” So I stopped for a second. What do I say to this? I am just being a polite American. You know, if you don’t like the food you are being served you eat it anyways and say thank you. So, I looked back at him and said, “OK, you suck!” He seemed a little shocked at first, and then, we got along great for the rest of the day! So, I learned how to be a little more Israeli today. By the end of the day we had all crashed our bikes, watched a bunch of little kids fly through the air on these rusty nail and rotten wood rampote. (I was corrected when I said rampime which is male plural of ramps; it was explained to me that anything dangerous was female when pluralized in Hebrew… (Right)…) so now we have a place to go mountain biking in world class terrain, a crazy downhill mountain bike park, and I have a new friend named Uri. What fun! Yom tov kulam! Drew Date: April 26, 2007 Subject: where we truely live (Doron) When we are born, Sages have said that, we slowly begin to forget what came before. We fill our minds with the necessary things to get what we need to grow and this information just types over the existing memories. This idea speaks to me of how we live, day to day. We rarely operate from a place that incorporates the whole of our existence. What if we were able to hold onto the memories of what came before? Could we really exist in this life if we knew what was before it? And if we knew what was before it, would we also know what was after it? To know the whole of our existence would beg the question, ‘what would be the point of living? Why do we live?’ I believe that every day we spend the time we have doing one of two things, either nothing special or contemplating the idea of "why do we live?" Is there really anything in between? When we are happy or fulfilled we feel alive. When we are sprawled in the gutter, we also feel like we are alive. It would seem we live in order to feel. I have said that I moved across the world in order to live, but what if it was just to feel? Or maybe just to feel alive? In my life in the perfect cocoon of Boulder, Colorado I perfected the art of loving life. Life was handed to me with a great big "flatiron"(for the Boulderites reading this) spatula, here you go, eat up! There is always more! My life now is always subject to questions like what in the (beep) am I doing? Why am I here, in the Middle East of all places? And at the same time I am amazed every day at the hidden surprises behind each corner. Here in Israel, time seems to be manipulated by a greater force. I feel the days go by just like before, but it isn’t just like before. Time is compressed to a day to day context and it is, at the same time, expanded to include all of history and creation. It seems to be all about awareness. Being in Israel feels to me like the center of the Universe. It is a place where time and space intersect and condense and stretch, all at the same time. That is a tough one to relate to, I know… remember that scene in the movie ‘Men in Black’ when the universe was inside a locker and inside that Universe there was a world with a Universe around it and on that world there was another race of beings, with lockers and everything? Does the Universe ever stop? Maybe thinking about the idea of ‘why do we live’ is really to search for our Universe’s center. Maybe the whole of the Universe comes down to a simple thing like; in order to know that we are alive we need to feel and to feel we need to be tested. My Son, Josh came home from school today with paint and clay and whiteout and dirt and more embedded into his personage. I just smiled at him. He said that his day was just OK, but I know better. Just looking at him tells the story of his day. When we look at our lives, we can see the story that lives there. It isn’t about what we want it to be at all. It is about what is really underneath all of the lead-ins and lines that we invent to package our lives. What if we decided to not try to package our lives? What if we lived our lives in such a raw state that it was absolutely impossible to label anything about it? I think that would be the closest thing to what it would be like to be in the presence of G-D. Living in Israel is not easy. There is no Costco here (yet). The movie theatres have intermissions. There are tractors puffing down the road in front of your daily commute. There are jellyfish. And, oh yeah, there are violent terrorist neighbors that want to annihilate you. We live here with all of this and more, and then realize that the day was spent doing nothing special. That is the fine line where divinity lives. It is the place where we are tested and feel alive. In the end, I believe that it is the place where we also, truly live. Doron New Pix : Josh and the Israeli Flag Date: April 17, 2007 Subject: the whole country stopped for two minutes yesterday (Doron) Yesterday, the whole country stopped for two minutes. I was working in the factory and both kids were in school. Adele was driving in Netanya to pick up our driving licenses, (yes we passed), and everyone stopped what they were doing and stood solemnly to remember The Holocaust (Shoah). the break bell had just sounded for me at work and I came up the stairs and stood in the middle of the factory with everyone else that was stopped in their tracks to remember, and more importantly, not to forget. Adele was amazed to see everyone in the city of Netanya come to the windows, the front of their stores, or stop their cars in the middle of the street and step out to stand still as well. She said it was like the twilight zone - but absolutely incredible to witness and be a part of. Since I have been in Israel, I have seen people with a number tattooed on thier arm. Maybe in the grocery store or just standing in line at the post office. There are still Holocaust survivors in the world and many are here. I get the chills just thinking about it. This country is absolutely amazing and needs to be experienced and supported at all costs. There is absolutely no place on Earth that could ever take its place. It is so easy to forget what humanity is capable of as we go about our business. I work at a bench sometimes and sometimes at the next bench over an old German man comes in to work there. He uses a walker to get around and was the first Nagar (Carpenter) at the factory. After I first met him and he found out that I was from the U.S. he was exited to tell me about how he was a prisoner of war in an American P.O.W. camp. I held my breath as he spoke of it for fear of what he would tell me. He was 17 years old and was drafted into the army towards the end of the war. He was very afraid and the Allies were beckoning him to run over to their side in the middle of a battle. He told me that he threw down his weapon and did. As he told me the story, all I could think about was, "what did he do before that? He was 17 then. What did he do when he was 16, or 13? I only say hello and goodbye to him now. When I work at my bench and he is not there, which is most of the time, I find myself wondering if he has passed on. When he does arrive the next time he gives me a smile when I say hello to him, but a weird smile, like he wishes that either he never told me about being in the German army during WW2 or that maybe he wishes it never happened at all. I have heard many stories from people that were in a camp or people that lost everyone and grew up with out a family. Some were just video clips and some were from friends. What really upsets me though is that for the stories I hear there are countless others that will never be told or heard. The vast number of people that are no longer with us and that were never able to tell their stories is just too overwhelming for me to comprehend. I guess all we can do now is to listen to the people that are still with us and hope that they feel comfortable enough to share their stories with us. Soon, there will be no one left to tell the few stories that remain. I hung the largest Israeli flag that I could find on the porch today. Next week is Memorial Day and Independence Day follows immediately the next day. I am just floored by this place. Love to you all, Don’t forget, And try to always be ready to listen, Drew. Date: April 14, 2007 Subject: Just two days that are worth a small note (Doron) Just two days that are worth a small note. Yup, this is my life for the last two days. I will start with Thursday morning. Adele and I woke up at 6 am to drive to Netanya for our driving tests. Why Netanya, since I live in Zichron almost an hour away you ask? Well, don't. So, we get in the car only about 10 minutes late and speed away into the usual morning traffic. Yes, blood pressure is rising... and yes... we are talking about the whole driving test thing here which if you have been following, isn't exactly the best topic for Adele and I to handle. Oh, I forgot, on Wednesday after work Adele called me and said that I need to go to the Doar (post office) to get some Toffuses. You know, I don't even think that is a Hebrew word. Toffus?... somebody must have just made it up so that everyone can have a good laugh every time it gets uttered by guys like me. So the Doar was closed. I called the driving office in Netanya to find out what to do and this is all in Hebrew mind you, and the secretary tells me, (I think) that I can get to Netanya a little early and go to the Doar there. Yup, we got into the car 10 minutes late and hit a wall of traffic. Now the blood pressure thing has a little more weight, doesn't it? After traffic interspersed with Adele and I artistically spatting across the car our unique brand of Parsel-tongue, we arrive at the Netanya Doar at 10 minutes to 8! This time my fancy short cut worked! Yay, there is a G-D! Adele goes running off to, yes... stand in line. The Doar opens at 8 and there are already about 20 people in line. Oyyyyyy! OK, so now I am just breathing deeply and trying to remind myself that it is only a stupid driving test. So what is the worst that can happen? I just have to wait some more time and take the test with a pissed off instructor and tester just waiting to fail me. Did I mention that I failed my first ever driving test in the States because I was so nervous that I almost ran an old lady down in the crosswalk? Yeah I was only 16 but at least everyone spoke English. So I am in line now and Adele is pacing just out of sight. We wait, and wait… a spot opens up and we run up to ask about the Toffuses and the lady says, "What? What is a Toffus?" Adele does some fancy explanation and the woman seemed to understand but we still don’t know how to pronounce the friggin word. In the mean time the driving instructor has called and is now livid because we aren’t at his office already. I guess his secretary didn’t tell him what we were doing, and come to think of it, why didn’t his secretary tell us we needed the toffus thing earlier? Maybe she did and we just didn’t understand the word. Who knows? So we race off to a new meeting place at the canyon (mall) and pull up at exactly 8:30 to a large grin on our instructors face. He hurries us out of the car and we stand around for about 20 minutes while paperwork and stuff is filled out by not only us but two other guys that are going to take their test also. These guys are from Russia and have been in Israel for only 2 months. We all get into the car with the tester, which is no simple feat since now there are four men and one woman all trying to squeeze in to a car the size of a matchbox, and slowly creep away from the parking lot. The older Russian man is driving and it feels like he has got one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake. As he goes swerving down the road Adele gets into a conversation with the other Russian guy in the back of the car with us. I look over at him and notice that half of his face is a bit saggy and he is slurring his words a bit. Adele looks at me and whispers, "I think he has had a stroke." Our eyes got bigger around but I figured if he is here in the car he must have had some practice before the test, right? We continued the conversation and in the process of this find out why we needed to take the driving test in the first place. We thought it was just because it was a new Country with different rules and what not. Makes sense right? Well, to make a long story short, The Russian immigrants that had been coming to Israel had been getting into all kinds off accidents and when the government looked into this it found that in Russia you don’t take a test to get a driving license. In Russia you buy one. I have no idea how that works. You just pay somebody some money and they give you a license? Kind of like a fishing license I guess. So, while we had this discussion with the guy in the back seat Adele and I are getting a little nervous about being in the car with the Russian guy that seams to be just barely missing every other parked car on the road as he meanders his way through the test. In the end, it all worked out. No accidents and we now need to wait until next week to get the results. The instructor told us that they used to give the results right away but there were two little incidents in the Country when someone failed the test and pulled out a gun and shot the instructors! South Central L.A.? Actually they probably have had the same problems in the States. Did I call this letter a short note? Sorry, but this is only halfway through one day. Maybe you should take your time and read it like the morning newspaper or something. Anyways, after the test we drove to my mother in laws house to help her fix some stuff and hang some paintings and on the way I decided to take another short cut since the last one worked so well. This time it didn’t work so well. We got stuck in traffic and went in circles for a while until I pulled over and let Adele drive. Yes, the parsel-tongue was back and it lasted until we got back to Zichron, or actually Faradise, which is the Arab town next to Zichron when Adele asked to be let out of the car. I refused, for obvious reasons, and eventually we made it back to Zichron. You know, all this fuss over a driving test sounds a bit over the top, doesn't it? Well, the day is not over yet. Zach had been planning his birthday sleep over and we decided to do it at the beach. It started out at maybe six or eight kids but by the time it finished we ended up with sixteen! And that was only the ones who ended up sleeping, well actually no one really slept. The night started out fine. Zach and two of his friends were responsible for collecting wood and when I got back to the house after the test they were, yes… sitting in front of the computer. After some gentle reminding I went to run some errands and they went to find some wood. I came back to a pile of junk in my driveway. (it is still there by the way) so I drove them around the neighborhood and between pallets from the local winery and other assorted stops we did all right. We had enough for a bonfire to last until four in the morning when the rainstorm finally hit. But I am getting ahead of myself. I decided to let Adele off the hook because it was quite plainly making her life hell to think about the logistics with getting her to work at the base and after just returning from Jerusalem the night before our test, she was very tired. She rode her bike to work, about an hour and a half ride, and I went down to scope out the camping situation. We found a great spot in the bushes next to the beach and set up. One of Zach’s close friends from England was helping and at about 6 or 7 o'clock the kids started to show up. I left to pick up Adele from work. She was whooped. We came home and later took Josh down to check out the situation at the beach. There was about 20 kids all running and dancing and yelling and playing and who knows what else around the bonfire. The food I laid out was shredded and all of the kids stuff was everywhere. We helped a bit with semores and I drove Adele and Josh home. I went back and set up a little spot on the sand to sleep. It was great to watch the teen rituals going on. The boys were walking a thin line between childhood and adulthood. They would all be sitting and engaging with the girls at one point and the next they would be romping around like a bunch of monkeys. So funny! Well, I mentioned rain didn’t I? Yes, I got the weather report before I left and it said that there might be some slight rain showers the next morning. OK, we can handle slight - right? At about 10 o’clock I was tracking a storm out in the Mediterranean Sea that must have been over Greece. It was moving towards us. By 12 o’clock the wind kicked in and all the kids started dragging their tents into the bushes because there were no stakes to hold them down. By 2 o’clock I was hoping the storm would turn away because it was an electrical storm and by 4 o’clock I was counting the seconds between flashes and booms. (see the attached photograph that my friend Zohar took at exactly four in the morning just down the beach from us) After one particularly large boom I decided to climb out from under my hastily thrown together tarp contraption and get everyone under some cover. All the kids had just started to settle down and I told everyone that they needed to get all of their stuff together and drag it all over under one of the caravan roof that were near by. There they continued to pack stuff and fold up the tents in the dark as the rain pelted down for about an hour. Everything was wet because the tents weren’t really water proof but at least we didn’t need to worry about the lightning so much. One of the kids called his dad who had a car that could take 7 kids and I shuttled 7 of them and all of their stuff over to the entrance to the beach in my little rocket powered cardboard box of a car in shifts and came back for the rest. They as well were shuttled in shifts, first to the entrance, and then to their homes and to ours. We had five kids crammed into Zach’s room and all got to sleep about 6 in the morning with a pile of wet and sandy stuff sitting in my studio downstairs. I went back to the beach the next day and found some tarps, shoes, towels, and my prescription glasses that I had lost in the dark and the wind and the rain and the lightning bolts, during our hasty retreat. OK, that’s the story. I guess it was only one really long day and not two. Whfeew! So, with that, I will just say, Love to you all, be well, ve shavua tov, Drew zohars photo night of zachs beach party The larger versions of these photos will be available until July 13, 2007 (90 days) Date: April 7, 2007 Subject: out of the desert (Doron) so, where to begin... I guess we need to go all the way back to when we were slaves in Mitzraim (Hebrew word meaning Egypt and also place of narrowness). during this time of the year we are encouraged to look, once again inwards, and to find our own place of narrowness. our own private Mitzraim can be found if we have the courage to look, in the dark and fecund corners of our souls. Once we find these hidden places and take stock of (what I usually find) the amazing variety of fungi, all we need next is… Matzah! We eat this wonderful thing once a year for a period of eight days to remind us of who we are on the inside, without all the fluff and fancy that our egos tend to add all year long. My sister in law Pamela referred to this as vitamin ‘M’ at our Seder in Jerusalem . Yes, this year in Jerusalem ! And G-D willing next too! O.K., so maybe I went a little too far back…3500 years is a long time and this letter may get a little long winded. how about I just start off with how work is going? So, work is very fun for me! I am making mostly kitchens for the German Christian kibbutznicks at Beit El but sometimes I need to crank out some little boxes that they use for the guts of a mobile gas mask unit that rides on small open trucks for the army. My Hebrew is getting better all the time and maybe I will learn a little German as well. The whole factory is closed for the week of Pasach (Passover) and after working for a half day on Monday we drove to Jerusalem for an amazing Seder with family and friends. There was about 20 or 25 people and we told stories, learned Torah, Prayed, and yes, ate Matzah from 8 in the evening until 2 in the morning! The kids too! Wow… I loved it!!! Thanks so much to Aba and Pamela for creating such an amazing Seder!!! After the Pesach Seder we drove to the Negev desert and stayed with some friends and family in mud huts on Kibbutz Revivim. We hiked in the desert to see colored sands, black irises, and ancient ruins and caves, and returned to the hastily built mud huts to make … more Matzah! We were so busy that we didn’t have time to let the dough rise! Haw -haw – haw! Yeminite Jews were staying there the first night and late in the night the Elder of the community gathered all the clan around to tell a few stories. Everyone was very quite and at every punchline the whole group laughed and laughed. We brought some drums and they made short work of us with their drumming technique. Wow, they are good. An old woman that had shared some of her Marak (soup) with us earlier told us we had to settle down and eventually I had to put the drums away because all the little kids kept coming by to sneakily beat on them real quickly. Josh is loving his vacation from school. The kids get three weeks off now for Pasach. He stays up as late as he wants and gets up as late as he wants. We visited this morning with an Israeli family that we know and they do it that way too. Zach was going to have a beach party for his birthday tonight but the wind was a little much. Something called a chamseen when the wind blows in from Jordan in the east and fills the air with hot and dusty granuals for a day or two. Then it goes away and the usual awesome weather rolls in. So, in Adeles last email she may have mentioned our little experience with Shfeyah (Zachs school) when we went to get Josh into it. We showed up for the interview and sat down with two teachers, Zachs math teacher and someone else. Immediately Zachs math teacher asked where Zach had been that day in school. Adele had been in Jerusalem and I leave the house before they go to school in the morning so we just looked at each other and picked up the phone to call Zach. Yup, he ditched. And to make it even funnier, after turd wrangling with Zach for a while that night the whole truth came out. Josh decided to stay home too and they watched TV and played video games all day long. I should have guessed that something was up when I walked in the house after work and found that almost every surface of the house was covered in wrappers and crumbs. All fun aside, we had some bad news recently. Our dog Cody has died. He was living with my Mom in Northfork, California for almost a year now and got cancer or had elevated blood platelets or something and died the daya after Pasach. We didn’t find out until we returned from the Negev . We all missed him this year but he had the best retirement any dog could have had. He had his own lake to swim in and goats and ducks and geese to chase. He had a lot of love there. Thanks Mom. So, tomorrow we take our first driving lesson and Thursday this week we will take the test and finally be legal to drive here. That took a while. We were told by nefesh b nefesh that we had a year to do this. I was told by a police man that we needed to get a liscence before we drove here at all and I was told by someone else that spoke to another police man that we had to get it done by three months after our arrival. Since no one really knew, we chose the year answer. Wish us luck. We all miss you all very much and hope that some of you can visit soon or even later. Stay healthy in body, mind and most importantly spirit and don’t forget to pay attention to the lurking fluff in dark and pungiant spaces during this holiday season. Chag Sameach, Drew Pictures available : cody day 1 in northfork cody last day in boulder Jerusalem Kotel place-of-narrowness welcome-to-egypt The larger versions of these photos will be available until July 06, 2007 Date: March 31, 2007 Subject: Pesach time (Adele) Hello Everyone, We have just passed the 9 month mark! Feels like I have been incubating something! Maybe my life! I know it is a whopper! Life continues to be full, exciting and wonderful here. Things have definitely slowed down a bit and I am calming down a great deal. Daily small shockers occur less frequently and occur farther apart. We are now gearing up for passover. It is a 3 week holiday break for the kids. This Monday night is the Seder and after wards it feels as if the whole country jumps in their cars and begins to travel, camping, visiting friends, and day hikes. Staying at hotels is a big one because getting your kitchen and house koshered for passover is a big ta do! So, many opt to just leave for the 8 days and hang out a a hotel. Not a bad idea I would say. I am so happy to know that I am finally living out one of my dreams which was to come to Israel for a whole year and experience a year cycle of Jewish holidays. Passover is one of the biggest. I can't tell you all how great it feels to go into each and every grocery store and find that the shelves are being stocked with passover goods and there will be no bread available. The pizza stores sell matzo pizza! I can't wait to explore it all. Too fun! THE KIDS: Over this last period the kids are also doing great. As long as I don't think about the upcoming tests (Bagrut) for Zach I stay pretty relaxed. They are growing and learning and experiencing so many new things. I am really happy about most of it. We had a new experience for Drew and I which occurred last week. I am sure it is a ritual for most parents but we were fairly shocked. Last week we went for an interview for Josh to get into Zach's current school for next year. It is an advanced science and math focus emphasis. Longer hours, more intensive and higher level sciences. I know you may be thinking...what? is that good for Josh? Well, we are not exactly sure but the other choice is a school that has 450 7th graders in 9 classes of 40 kids. He would be completely lost. This school has only 2 classes for 30 kids. So, we figure we can give it a try. And, Josh says he wants to be a doctor although Drew is still convinced that he really only wants to play one on TV! So, here we go. We are on our way prepping Josh for the interview..."Josh if they ask, say you like to do homework, say you like to stay for longer hours, say you like sciences and math." Like as if! OK, so we are ready to go. We get into the interview room with two stern teachers asking us questions. Pretty serious scene as there are a lot of kids that want to get into this program. Well, the minute we walk in the room the first thing that the interviewer says to us (who happens to be the advanced Math teacher of Zach's): " Well, where was Zach today? we missed him. Is he ill?" Gulp! I look at Drew, he looks at me, we call Zach on the spot and hear "yep,,,,mom, I ditched school today". Right there and then. I was livid. The funny part was that the teachers immediately took Zach's side and told me not to punish him, and how they have set 2 days a year that their kids can ditch school etc. Don't ask! So, overall the interview went fine. Josh did his best bullshitting and we are scheduled to go for a week testing in the summer. I will keep you posted. Zach is turning into a mountain biking maniac and is on a small team. Both have 'girlfriends' so I guess we are still in the honey moon phase of things. DREW: Drew is in heaven in his bubble of a job at the German, Christian, Gas mask factory/kibbutz. He is busy learning everything he can: Hebrew, German, cultural stuff and some computerized machinery which is taught to him in Hebrew and the computerized stuff is in German. Ugh! He is doing great and I am more than proud of him. He mountain bikes 4-5 days a week after work and he is in great shape! He loves it here and is so happy. ADELE: I have settled down a lot! I feel more grounded and calm. It has been a doozy of a time these past 9 months. I never imagined really that it would be such a growing experience but we are doing fine, even great! I am really happy here. There definitely are times when I think that the behavior here is ridiculous and it irritates me but in the next minute something wonderful and loving can happen and it changes the whole color of things. A few more hours were added to my part time job at the army so that was great.l I Love it there and I am growing and learning and introducing new things etc. I work for a total of 20 hours a week give or take and that allows us to have a little extra spending money. I have not been motivated to advertise myself locally and my home business is teeny tiny. I may see 1-4 patients a week. I try not to get stressed and just relax. I will give myself some time with it all. I am excited to be taking another course next month! In English! From an Australian! My next little dream is to go to Australia for a month and study manual therapy there with some big kahuna. Nothing is planned but it is in the aura phase. Ha! the aura phase, I like that. Life here is really full. It is really what I was hoping for. It is stimulating, challenging and deeply warming and loving. The people I encounter are so special. Mostly! Things I miss most are my Friends, and patients of course, the mountains edge gym and maybe a garbage disposal? OH yeah, two cars are a real luxury. Cody. Peppermint patties and MARGARITAS!!! Besides that - all is well. It was great to connect with all this last half hour. I miss you and am so grateful for all the times and memories we shared together. Write back and share with me how you are all doing. Love to you. Have a wonderful spring and summer. May it be filled with renewal of life, health and joy and wildflowers!!!! Everything is in bloom here and the wildflowers are amazing. God surely had a blast creating all those flowers and colors and combinations for us to enjoy. Blessings Adele Date: March 18, 2007 Subject: just an update and photos. (Drew - Doron) Shalom kulam, I haven’t written for a while because I have been a bit under the weather. Yes it has been cold and rainy here but that is not what I meant. My first few weeks of work have evidently taken it out of me a bit. The second week of work I caught a cold but either was able to hold it at bay or it was really just nerves. The third week of work I got the stomach flu and had to call in sick for two days. The fourth week of work I got a full on head cold along with Adele and Zach. We have been snuffling around trying to get better. I think that the sicknesses here must just be a lot more virulent for us tall and soft white people from North America . At work I have been making friends with Israelis, Russians, Canadians, Germans and one or two Americans and Brits. They all have such different accents and it is sometimes hard to understand their Hebrew. One of the Israelis that works in the aluminum area is crazy to be a pilot. He is a bit old to be a pilot but doesn’t seem to be phased by it. The Jets fly over all the time when they practice and he goes running out of the room to see them when they do. Another guy, one of the Russian guys that works at the factory, was asked to help me on the “Krisig”, German for sliding table saw, and wanted to jump into the drivers’ seat right away. He, evidently, watched how I did it and decided that he wanted to give it a try. He said, “Ani Aosey et ze acshav”, while sweeping me away from the saw with a broad arm gesture. I didn’t let him and later, when I told my boss Yochanan about it, his eyes got real big. He just shook his head and we moved on, no big deal. Yochanan showed me the bomb shelter in the Nagaria (woodshop) the other day. We walked into this storage room with shelves of parts from the floor to the ceiling. My mind kept thinking, in an earthquake the shelves fall over and squish everything around them. Maybe it is all bolted down, or maybe it doesn’t really matter because that is different than a missile landing nearby, I don’t know. Then he showed me the chemical and biological filtration system in the shelter. Now that is state of the art! These are the machines that the factory manufactures for people and companies all over Israel and the World. A group of people from Singapore were at the factory recently and it was a big deal. I guess they are worried about China and North Korea . One of the Germans from the factory told me a disturbing story about something that happened to him while he was on a camping trip in the North. He was trying to make a fire and needed some paper to get it going. Some Arabs were nearby and he went over to ask them if they had anything to help. They turned out to be drunk and since the German man spoke Hebrew they replied with, “Sure, first you take our country and then you ask us for paper for your fire?” The German was taken aback at their response and immediately began to impersonate a German tourist for fear of being attacked or something. When they understood this the Arabs started to congratulate him on the Holocaust! He told me that he was very upset by what they said because he was so ashamed of his Country’s history. What a crazy mixed up world. How can anyone celebrate death? …Enough of that for now. The power is out here now. I am writing this on the laptop. The power goes out a lot. This time it is lightning near the house. Sometimes it is just rain or wind or something. The first time it happened we were all worried and called someone on the cell phone. They just said it will come back on and not to worry. It did. The power flickered in the factory once last week too. I am getting used to a lot of things now. I was looking at some pictures of our house in Boulder before we moved and had so many memories. After I looked at some pictures of our life here and realized that I am building memories here too. It is starting to feel like home in a physical sense now as well as just being spiritual or instinctual. We are really just starting to feel moved in now. Adele and I walked on the beach on Shabbat. It was amazing. Tel Dor is an ancient port that has ruins spread around it. We walked on the bluff for a couple of hours. It was great. So, Hope to see anyone and everyone here sometime. Love from the Holy Land , The Zichron Nolls. Photos available on Yahoo Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 Subject: greetings from me! (Drew - Doron) Hi everyone, I completed my first week of work and really like it. It feels so good to be making sawdust again. I think that I just love to do it. it is so much in my spirit or being or whatever. after having a little break, just over a year now!, I realize that just thinking about how to get the most out of the wood or being as efficient as possible, stupid little things like that are so much a part of me. I guess i was meant to be a carpenter, at least for now... my job is in a little woodshop at the German factory. the name or the factory, (actually i think the whole community) is Beth El (house of G-D). it is made up of Christians from Germany that in the late 60's started to move to Zichron and Benyamina because of a prophecy from a woman (i forgot her name) that "in the coming Apocalypse" this area would be spared. don't quote me because I don't really know. the community is structured as a Kibbutz and there are now many members now coming from Canada and the U.S. They hire people from Israel to work for them occasionally and i have met some Local grown Israelis and also Russians. a few people speak English but mostly we all have to communicate in Hebrew. The Germans speak German amongst themselves. The intercom is always spouting German, and all of the tooling is in German. It makes it fun when a guy like me, a native English speaker, has to work on the CNC machine which is all labeled and programed in German, and the use of which is all explained in Hebrew! It feels like the tower of Babel! anyways, here is Adeles latest, Love to you all, Drew. Drew Noll Sfinat Egoz 3 zichron Yaakov, IL. 30900 www.bigsundesign.com Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 Subject: greetings from me! (Adele) Hello Everyone, Wow! 8 months - almost anyhow. Time time time. First, we are all well and healthy. We are blessed! Life continues to be full and exploding out through the seams. Full and alive. We are really living our dream and things are falling into place. We had a new first yesterday. Josh asked me (out of the blue) if I could please drive him to his girlfriend's house to hang out with her a little bit. Girlfriend's house? 'Mom, I really want you to meet her. She is so nice!' So, he says to her: "HI Kleel, how was your day?" Too funny and too sweet. Where to start? Drew and I are still sleeping on the floor and hopefully today we will go to Ikea and buy a bed for us. Nothing fits our King size bed so we have to buy two twins and bolt them together. FYI. don't move across the world with American king size nothin'! It is winter here. Much different than Boulder, days of 65-70 degrees have popped up. Much more rain but the most interesting and challenging thing is the architecture of the houses. The houses are fully designed for sweltering hot summers and not for winter. We do not have central heat. We have two air conditioner/heater units in living room and our room. All other rooms are wet-cold. Electricity is a premium price around here so as much as possible it is sweaters and warm booties. In the morning my bedroom can be a cool 50 degrees! Lovely! one has to have a sense of humor about it all. Very moist around here as well so every couple of months we need to wipe the mold that grows on the walls off. Kind of weird. At least my hands don't look like lizard skin like they did in Boulder. Drew got a job! yeah! He works at the local (5 minute walk from the house) German Christian Toxic Filtration System producing factory. Go figure! He works in the carpenter area building stuff. I just find the whole concept hysterical. They are also the main manufacturers of gas masks here in Israel. Can you believe it? Our town has the German gas mask making factory. It is run and owned by a group of fundamentalist Amish-like Christians. They came in the 70's to make Israel great for the Jews to return to so that the Messiah could come and have it work out for the Christians so that they can move into their next deal. Kind of like chess don't ya think? Maybe we are all god's big chess game? hee hee. Anyhow, no English spoken there for him. Only German and Hebrew. Drew speaks Hebrew all day long which is the main bonus. Anyhow. I am doing a first today and hence the letter writing at 5 am. I am teaching my first course. It is in lumbar spinal mechanics. It is to a small group of physical therapists. It is for 4 hours a week for 4 weeks. Kind of nervous but got to try it. See if teaching is in the stars for me. My army work is a ton of fun. Cutest boys (oops - men) you have ever seen. They are wonderful and motivated beyond belief. A therapists dream. I still commute to Jerusalem 1 x week for a smattering of patients there. My home practice is inching along. slow slow slow. I imagine it would pick up if I did some advertising but just don't have the UMPH for it right now. It will come. Everything is a bit easier. I can read the bills, I can even pay them on-line. Getting gas out the gas dispenser with a credit card still is a 50-50 chance it works. Don't ask! So, it is still usually full service for me. One of the best perks about Israel is surely the food. the best best best. Great middle eastern restaurants. Competitive humus places everywhere although the Arabs are surely the best. I drive into an Arab town on the way home from Jerusalem and buy oodles of humus for Drew and the boys. Zach and Josh are plugging along. Both 'hooked up' right now so you would think the complaining would stop. I guess it is the blue print for life. No matter if you are 'attached' the complaining goes on. Both are conversationally good in Hebrew. Actually all of us are. Drew is amazing. Overall our life here is good and even great at times - at least this very second it is. There are of course the continuous ups and downs but we are making a good go of it. The funny thing is that I don't really think of the states much and pine for things there. I am not really that kind of person that thinks of what was. I do mostly miss friends and hanging out and laughing with my girlfriends and patients. Being light. Letting my shoulders drop a couple of inches. Just feeling like there are no cares in the world. I guess that is why God put The Rio on the map! - ha ha. No margarita joints around here. No body I know drinks alcohol really. It seems to be that Isreali's hang out with friends, spend time with their children, shop and go out to eat for their relaxation. More holidays are coming next month. WE just passed through the holiday of celebrating the birth of Trees. Everyone goes out, hikes, plants trees and eats dried and fresh fruits of every sort. We are thankful for all the variety and blessings that we have. I went on the cutest hike with the army base--all 800 of them. We went to a forest for a little hike. When we arrive at the destination, we got off bus and then had breakfast, then walked another 10 minutes and ate dried fruit and cakes. Walked another 20 minutes through this beautiful forest and planted some trees, listened to a short speech and ate some more. We then hiked back to the buses and ate lunch of sandwiches, cream puffs and grape juice. It was so cute and sweet. Just imagine the logistics of 4 meals for 800 with in 3-4 hours. I love the new adventures. I am learning for sure about a lot of things. I start a language school next week which meets 2 hours a week. I wish all of you a good weekend and shabbas. Send me angels of luck for my new teaching experience today. 4 hours in front of a group of people? What the heck will I say? I guess I can always revert to travel stories. Those are my favorites as you all know I am sure. ha! love love love Adele Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 Subject: planes, trains, and dont forget... automobiles! (Doron - Drew) Actually, there aren't any planes or trains on my mind now, just cars or to be more specific, Drivers licenses. We had to go to the Misrad ha Rishoui to try, once again, to get our drivers licenses going. This was the third time we had been there. It is in Haifa, a 30 minute drive for us, and the first time we went we forgot our Todat Oley (New Immigrant Passport) and had to turn around. Adele and I got a little divorce on the ride home but made up later. the second time we went they told us that we didn't need to be there yet and told us we needed to get some paper work started and to go to an optometrists office in a nearby mall (we call the mall "Scud Mall" because Saddam shot one at it while it was still under construction during the gulf war. on the way to the Scud Mall we had another little divorce but made up in the mall by forgetting all our little problems by, yes you guessed it, shopping. after we waited in line for almost an hour we got into the optometrists office and got the Tofus, (official paper work? sounds like soy bean curd to me). we got the eye exam in the same office, conveniently, and then we had to go to our Kupat Holim (Socialized Medicine Doctors Office) to get a medical checkup. so, now that we had the paperwork all filled out and our Tudat Oley in hand we were going to get it done, (I said "were", didn't I?) at the Misrad ha Rishui we were told that Since Adele had her drivers license stolen last Summer and the replacement didn't have the right date she now needs to deal with the DMV in Colorado to get the right paper work from the States before she can get her drivers license here. after the adjustments that this balagan made are completed (cross your fingers) she will need to make another trip to the Misrad Ha Rishoui and the next step is two or three drivers lessons and a driving test, ( not written, driven) to then get licenses. Yaay! Or should I just say Oyy! I guess they figure that if you can get through all the hoops to get a license you can't help but be ready for the Indie 500 and that is what it is here sometimes on the roads. Once again I am going to shout out about how I DONT HAVE TO DRIVE TO WORK! 5 or 10 minute walk, right from my house. That is definitely a YAAY! Today we decided to look at the dreaded budget. we entered all the credits and debts, or should I say pros and cons and (assuming we didn't forget something) at the bottom we found that if we don't spend anything on any superfluous items we may have about n's2000 ($458 at today's exchange rate) at the end of the month to put into an account that we can use for saving, going out, or maybe travel! Hey, maybe on a plane or a train! You know how that stuff works, we shall see... Josh got into a big brawl at school. he was tired, from setting his alarm early in the morning to watch BobSpog (Sponge Bob) and got into a scuffle with one of his friends, who had some other friends who decided to pound Josh. the two kids had to be held apart by each's respected friends and they all worked it out after a meeting with the secretary that day and the teacher the next. I guess they are all friends again now. Maybe it is a Middle Eastern hot head thing or maybe it is a Josh thing. Probably both. Josh is also changing big time now. Don't tell anyone but,... he kissed a girl for the first time (I think) at a little Bat Mitzvah party. He was so funny when he came home. He wanted to know about how it was for me when I was young but didn't want to give me any information about why he was asking. When it got pretty suspicious he just said that he needed to talk to his big brother first. Cute, cute, cute! All I heard Zach say was "you beat me by three years!" now I can say - OYY VA VOYY! With good reason. Zach had his little party that I wrote about last time and it seemed to go quite well for him. We were told by all the (Originally) Americans here that we needed to stay in the house, check up on him occasionally or just worry about it. We were told by all the Israelis that we should not worry about it for a second, that we should trust him and to give him some space. We, as responsible parents tried to do both. We left the house while they had the party and then we came back home about a half of an hour before we said we would. They were all sitting properly on the couch in the living room drinking soda and tea and having lovely little conversations! For the rest of the night until about 2:30 they were all very quite and eventually all fell asleep. In the morning we discovered that 7 or 8 people had slept over and they all were very polite, thanking us for the party multiple times before they left at about noon. Different world here. Zach was very industrious and cleaned up most of the mess and also thanked both his Mom and I many times for a very successful little party. He is a really nice kid. We are very impressed by his ability to blend into a new world here so quickly. Many blessings to you all and to wrap it all up for today, If you actively think of life as being too short, it may actually feel just right. Notice everything you can and think about what you noticed at least one more time. And... Always Love yourself. Love from the Holy Land, Drew. Photos will be available until April 29, 2007 Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 Subject: has it really been eight months already? Shalom Kulam! We are still doing well in Zichron. Adele has been very busy working for the army and developing her private practice. I have been looking for work and doing bids on jobs. I have finished two projects thus far, a shtender for the Shule, and a vanity for a beach house. I update the website ocationally if you would like to see. www.BigSunDesign.com Both projects I was able to build in my little garage, however, I now realize that to make anything larger I will need to get a more appropriate space to work from. This understanding and the fact that none of the bids that I did came in accelerated my search for employment and also my stress because I cant make very much money by getting a job as a carpenter. Through a friend of my sister in law Debbie, I was able to get an interview at the German gas mask factory in Zichron as a carpenter. This is the same factory that is nestled into the valley outside my living room window. I needed to push my way into an interview because I am evidently over qualified for the job. At the interview, there were 2 people waiting in the hall to interview and one inside already. I sat down with my resume and portfolio in between these guys as it was the only chair available. No one said a word. The other guys were about 30 years old. One had long dread locks and the other had frosted spiky hair. We sat for about 10 minutes while the guy inside was interviewed. When he was done the guy with the dread locks went in. We waited for another ten minutes and another guy showed up. He was wearing a little white kippa like you get at weddings and had a Versace t-shirt on. He sat down. No one talked. The dread lock guy came out and the frosted hair guy went in. 3 or 4 minutes later frosted hair came out and wedding kipa guy said that he needed to go into the interview next because his wife was having twins at that very moment. I said "bavakasha, ain baiya" and then waited for another 10 minutes. When it was finally my turn, I went into the little room and was greeted by an Israeli and a very neatly dressed German guy with a big smile. So, long story short, I didn’t need or even open my portfolio because it was too fancy, they liked that I was an Oley Hadash, I interviewed with them in Hebrew and in English, waited over the weekend, called on Sunday to be sure they knew I was interested, and this morning I received a call that I got the job! Yay! So now, I won't need to get another car that I can't afford because I can walk 5 or 10 minutes to work! The people are nice there too! I was worried about having to work with mostly Arabs, Russian immigrants, and Ethiopian immigrants. That is usually a pretty rough crowd here in HaAretz. So, I will be working in a factory with state of the art German machinery, five minutes from my home! Did I mention that they are Christian? Well, maybe more like Amish. They all live as simply as they can. They wear simple button up shirts, dress slacks, and live like Mennonites or Amish or ,I don’t know yet. They drive cars and use electricity but their philosophy is very specific about living. I don’t actually know much now but I will learn about it. They want to make Israel beautiful so that Jews make Aliyah,… I think. Lechen, akshav ani margeesh tov meode! I am extremely exited to get busy with something. I will go through a three month period as a new employee and then (with the help of Hashem) I will get to be permanent and receive some kind of insurance or something. It is all new to me. On a down note, Adele seems to have really hurt her knee. She went to some weird dancing thing to check it out and this woman fell on her and Adele popped her knee. She went to the hospital this morning with her sister Kate. I don’t know yet what is happening with it, but I think that it will be ok. Maybe rest for a week and pain and a brace for 3 months. The worst case scenario, surgery. Oyy… I am sure she will be writing all about it some time soon. Zach will be having a little party at our house on Thursday night this week. I think we are supposed to lock ourselves in our room or leave the house. I remember when my parents did that for me and my little brother. We rolled up the rug and had a dance party in the living room while they sat in the car at the end of the street. It sounds weird but I guess it is a bit normal or maybe normal just for me. Josh now has a rabbit. He is making some friends but it is a bit tougher for him. Good thing he has some time before he needs to get his act together. Zach has only one year to get his Hebrew down enough to take his bagrutes (baccalaureates) in Hebrew. These are tests that determine your collage placement. They start here in 11th grade and every year the kids take them. They average the scores or something like that. I don’t actually know. I think he will do OK. He is already getting A's on some tests and says that he understands most of what is going on in the class. We have to have lots of faith to do this. I have been using this faith for a long time now and feel that sometimes I have had to use it to hold my family up. Just last week I hit rock bottom. My faith started to falter a bit. I started to think about what if we moved back? What if I can't find work? What if we can't make it here? It felt very lonely in that place. Getting this job was a G-D send for me. I needed to remember that all things that happen have their purpose. I needed to be down to know what it was to be up… or… something like that anyway. I hope that all is wonderful for everyone and please write me sometime. I would enjoy hearing from you all. Love from the Holy Land, Drew. Photos will be available until April 22, 2007 (90 days) with PhotoMail from Yahoo! Mail. Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 Subject: home sweet home Shalom hevreh! Finally I am sending some pictures of my new city, or I guess you would say town, no, maybe technically it is more of a village… I am now out of Ulpan (language school) on an official basis but decided to continue with it two times a week for two hours a day just to keep tuned. I am now trying to figure out what I am going to do with my life! Not an easy task. Sometimes I want to build a business again and sometimes I just want to get a job. Maybe I will do both. I have done a couple of little projects, a Tansue style vanity and a Shulchan (Torah table) for my Temple. Also, I have begun to make art again. The government gives artists an incentive to create as an oley hadash (new immigrant) and all I need to do is to show a record of having made art professionally elsewhere and to show a piece that I made here. So I made a drawing of the view from my studio window and it was so great to do it that today I went on a little walk around town and took some pictures, (that is why I have some to email), and will start to draw from some of them. Maybe I will have a show here sometime soon! Anyways, life seems to always be ready for us and all we need to do is jump in! Having jumped off the high dive this time, I feel like I have to learn how to swim all over again! I hope that the belly flop that I did doesn’t sting too long! All kidding aside, this is a great adventure / life to be in. I wouldn’t trade for anything. The kids are doing very well. They have been on a little tiiyul (trip) to the desert to see Ein Geddy, the Dead Sea (Yom Hamelech) and Mount Masada with each of their classes. This is an amazing thing that the schools do here. They take these class trips and do hikes and sleep with their friends in little cabins. I think that they do it every year. Both Zach and Josh went from different schools to the same place and saw each other randomly there. They are on the busses coming back now and I am looking forward to seeing them. Adele is doing so well here. She is building her practice at lightning speed and is working for the Army in an elite unit as a Physical Therapist. I am going to the Base for the first time tonight to a party with her. She tells me that these boys are so amazing. They are not only physically developed but spiritually and emotionally as well. Just what I need, a little competition! Oyy! Just kidding, Adele and I are growing in leaps and bounds everyday. The stress is not easy but it sure produces growth! We are really starting to feel settled, (starting), and hope and pray that we will thrive here. Sorry for taking so long to get these photos to you all. So, enjoy the pictures. I love all of you and miss you very much. Drew. If you would like to view the photos, either ask Doron (Drew) to send you the email with the links (best option) or send an email to the Webmaster to do the same. List of the photos : and more midrachove carmel winery (yekev) devine chocolate next to the ancient wel flag at a memorial with faradise behind givat eden and faradise josh making a draidle just pure funky midrachove - walking mall more midrachove one ofthe local hardware stores sometimes my house is like this too. the (doar) post office the ancient well the best property in zichron with a grav the carmel winery with my house behind the german gasmask factory, cholomote Zi the road to yokneam turn off to the sonol station yaay! american (kosher) pizza yes, this is where i live now zach, mr. kutie on Yahoo : The larger versions of these photos will be available until April 04, 2007 (90 days) Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 Subject: Fwd: half a year here in the middle east Shalom from the Holy Land everyone, Here is the latest newsletter of our adventure. Things are starting to wind down a bit in terms of newness of it all but there are still some times when it just hits you. Yesterday I had a job interview at a little wood shop about an hour from here. The guy there gave me instructions but the combination of his broken English and my broken Hebrew sent me to a little town in the shtakeem (territories) called Ariel. I started to get a little worried when I saw Bedouins with Kafias walking along the road. I pulled over at the entrance to Ariel and consulted the map again. While I was sitting there an Arab guy came up to the car and asked me if I could take some papers to the hospital in Ariel. He was very insistent and took the papers out of the manilla envelope to show me that they really were just papers. I had to tell him no about 10 times before he got the hint. Ariel is only about 15 or 20 minutes into the shtakeem but it is a totally different world. It is a very large community on top of a hill as most of the Jewish settlements are. there is not much else around there accept a few scattered little Arab villages. When I went through the checkpoint I should have started to wonder but I thought maybe this wood shop is in the shtakeem as many industrial sites are there on Moshaveem or Kibbutzeem. It wasn't far out of the way but quite interesting. If you keep going on that road you end up going by Ramallah, (you know, the city where roving bands of thugs and terrorists shoot guns into the air on strange occasions like when The World Trade Center was destroyed). Oyyy! So, enjoy Adeles letter and hope to hear from you all soon, Drew. Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 Subject: half a year here in the middle east Hello Everyone, Shalom Shalom! I hope that this letter finds you all well and feeling good in this less light laden time of year. We have been here now 6 months. This continues to be the most incredible journey that we could imagined. We have now come to the hour of the CAR! Our focus over these next few weeks is to get a car. Before we can buy a car we need to have an Israeli driver's license which involves about 6 main steps. 1. Drive 30 Min away to get some paperwork to apply for a license. 2. Get a medical exam. 3.Get an eye exam. 4 and 5. Take at least two private 1 hour driving lessons with a driving instructor. 6. Go to take the test in the city of your choice. Then all we need to do is find a car. Sounds simple? NOT. Think about what your strategies would be to find a used car that you have no idea about. There is no consumer reports, hard to read and check out much of anything in newspapers or Internet. So we drive around and look at cars that we think would be good. Ugh. We are looking into a car that is half car - half truck called a Citroen Berlinger or a Renault Kangoo. Go figure. Check them out on the Internet and see if you can see a picture of one. I think that they are so funny looking. Drew calls it a 'guppy-mobile' in that is looks like a goldfish. Anyhow, cars here are double the value than they are in the states. So figure that a car that costs 10 grand in the US is a full 20 grand here. Cars cost a lot here. Kids are still have growing pains all over the place. Both can speak hebrew enough to get their basic needs met. Josh jsut told me that his key needs are: Where is the bathroon?, I need ice ceram and Where is the television? Zach's stresses are greatest in that he needs to get up to speed really fast so that he can start getting ready for the matriculation exams. They are now off for a week of Hanukkah break. Yep, no x-mas break here. The only x-mas stuff we have seen were some chocolate Santa's we saw last week at Nazareth. Also, no x-mas music except for the Christmas carols we sang last night at shabbat dinner at my sister's house. It was fun. Kids are now doing Tae qwon do and basketball is finished with. NO presents or shopping here for Hanukkah. As I have shared with many of you before Hanukkah is not a time for presents. It is more a time for Jelly do-nuts called 'Suvganiot" and 'Latkes' which are potato pancakes. It is a Holiday to celebrate the miracle of light and oil. So we eat oily foods...hence the donuts and friend foods. NO 'presents' pressure is divine. The weather continues to amaze me and I am delighted every day I wake to sunny skies. Today it was 68 degrees and in the sun it was really quite hot. yeah baby. It is heavenly. I know everyone here is Jone'sn for rain but I am more than happy with sunny skies day after day. Work has been amazing. I am getting more and more patients. Last week I had 20 private patients plus the 8 hours at the army. I have been asked to teach a course for 4 weeks on the pelvis and sacrum to a Small group of PTs. So cool. Also, I went and spoke to the PT department at Haifa University to see if teaching is in the stars for me. Not sure. There are so many cool and new opportunities here and I am trying to check them out. Drew is getting jobs slowly but surely. He is making friends and we are growing roots here in this very cute town called Zichron. Israel and my experiences here continue to amaze me. I am surprised on a regular basis that I actually live not just in a Jewish country but I also live in the Middle East. It really is different here! Culturally, socially and physically. I am getting it slowly but surely. Six months have gone by. It feels like it is flying by. I have friends that guide me as to how to navigate the cultural differences. When to be assertive and when to smile. Paying bills still is quite daunting and sometimes confusing. I did miss parent teacher conferences completely last week. That is frustrating. My sister Kattie called last week from the school as I was driving back from Jerusalem...'Adele, did you know that tonight was parent teacher conferences, etc?' Maybe if Josh would remember to give me papers he receives at school I might have a fighting chance. Anyhow. It will all come in the right time. There is so much to do and it feels like time is even shorter here. How can that be? I did think that life would someohow be slower here but not true. I guess I have fallen back to the habit of needing to slow down a bit. Maybe... Overall, We are doing really well. There continue to be those days that 'the bags are packed and I am outta here'. I have planned a few 'I am going to run away to Thailand's but I haven't. Tears flow less often. The weather keeps my spirits up. The people are both amazing and challenging. They are very deep and a complex group. It really feels like country of family. I wish you all a very healthy and blessed Holiday season. May you feel the brightness of my smile and joy beam across the oceans to you all. Please close you eyes and see my eyes beam with joy and happiness when I say 'I love you and send you all good wishes'. Hugs and smiles, Happy New Year. Adele Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 Subject: Fwd: 5 months into it Hi everyone, This is Adele's latest letter. We have all slowed down a bit and begun to start to get used to this new place. We have had some ups and downs but for the most part are still doing well. I will be very happy to be done with Ulpan (language school) because it takes a lot out of me. The program is very demanding. I went to a very wealthy part of Israel yesterday for a possible job with someone I met in Ulpan. It is like Newport Beach there and a good place to get connected with work. we shall see. We have some great mountain biking right out of our house here. there are nature reserves on two sides of us and an old farm town on the other, with the beach at the bottom of the hill of course. sometimes in the morning i am reminded that I live in the Middle East when I walk to my morning car pool meeting I walk pass Arab Women on there way to work instead of Hispanics or something. It is very strange and seems to always take me by surprise. It really feels like California or something here, until a reminder wakes me up. we live very close to an Arab town called Faradis. sometimes we go there to get veggies and fruit. it is like going to Tijuana to shop just 5 minutes away. There isn't any real building codes there and the buildings just sprawl up the next hill with barely any roads. I have been in there a couple of times and all I can say is that I wouldn't like to get lost there. anyways, here is Adele's latest, Love Drew. Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 Subject: 5 months into it Hello Everyone, I have attached two views from our back patio. We love the openness feeling of it. Click on each image for the full view (very large files) It is coming upon five months that we have been in our new home and country. It continues to be a exciting and a huge growing experience for all of us. The positives far outweigh the negatives. The town we are in, Zichron Yaakov, is still gorgeous to us. It is a cross between Laguna Beach, Boulder, and Santa Barbara. Yesterday I was mountain biking through open space in a tee shirt and shorts in 72 degree weather. Today we will go to the beach and hang out a bit. Our house is large enough for us to have our businesses in it but squeezed into 1/3 the size. It is fine as a rental. Our neighborhood is not our favorite but we will cope fine until the next move which I have no idea when, where and what. There will be a next move sometime. I will start with Drew my beloved life adventure partner and friend. We just celebrated our 20 year anniversary. We hope to do something exciting in the spring to really commemorate it like go to Croatia or Turkey. Drew is eternally optimistic and holds me when my intensity gets the better part of me. He is in his last three weeks of Ulpan, intensive language school. He has worked the hardest I could imagine and it has paid off. He can hold a half hour conversation in present, past, and future. Not easy for a 44 year old American man learning a new language. It is often said that Americans learn languages the slowest. The fastest, of course, are the Russians, then I believe come the French. Not sure on that one. He will be starting to look for a job, maybe in a wood /cabinet factory where he will be immersed in Hebrew and wood working terms. Send him your good prayers as he faces this new somewhat daunting phase of his life. Zach, 6 foot and 1 inch tall budding teen in foreign country. He can converse fairly freely with his friends in Hebrew. His social life is an 8.5/10. He wishes he had the freedom of a 25 year old yet still wants laundry done and food in the fridge. He is back to his Tae Qwon Doe. Unfortunately he got his brand new bike stolen 4 days ago from right under his chin. He turned around and some kid grabbed the cool new American mountain bike. It was his big bar mitzvah present and we have been down about it. Moving on. Learn and keep moving forward. He is working harder at school but still can not understand 90% of what the teacher is saying. It is a struggle and I pray he will be motivated enough to succeed with this challenge. We have to constantly reassess to figure out what is the best path. Little Joshua. He is happy, misses Boulder periodically, plays basketball 3 x week and gets tutoring. Loves cartoons in Hebrew (sponge bob). He is currently writing, directing and acting in a movie. Of course the stars are he and his cousins, Noa, Daniel and Gavriel. Mostly the princess (Fair Noa) is to be saved by the handsome princes (josh and Daniel) from the evil monster (Gavirel). Very cute. School....what school? No, I am kidding. he is progressing along with the same ole: tutors, fighting at school, friend issues (same same). You know the drill. Me? up down up down up down up down up down. Like a yo-yo. Coming here has taken my personal strengths and weakness and has magnified them with electron microscope. ha haa - that's funny. I work all over the place hustling wherever I can. I go from the elderly to the pediatric in one day with some soldier action in the middle. I have started my army work (paid 8 hours a week yet I've been there so far around 18 hours a week) That has been very interesting, amazing and full of new experiences and visions. This is the strangest part. I knew I was going to work in the Army but I did not KNOW really (not know now) what army really is. It is sad and strange to me to be a healer in a place of 'the war machine'. I just don't have it in my heart that we can solving any problems with killing human beings especially our children that we, as parents, have poured our hearts and souls into raising them. I never even met a soldier in Boulder! Too young for the Vietnam days I guess. I am slowly learning army is war. I look at these young (very cute) boys going out there to protect this teeny tiny country from our neighbors that really hate us. It is a strange, isolating and awful feeling to me. Enough of that. The soldiers are wonderful, the work is 100% stimulating and great and I am the most grateful I could be to be where I am. Then two days a week I work in the holy city of Jerusalem in my brothers holy (Small but magnificent) castle of a house. It is a great opportunity to step out of my town, get away, see something else but a two hour commute with out traffic each way. I had 17 patients last week! This is my all time high. ooooohhh baby. Add in the kid driving, chauffeuring, cooking, shopping cleaning and other mom duties. We are starting to make some good friends. The qualities of people here are wonderful. We really like the lifestyle. Work like maniacs all week. Weekends are Friday and Saturday. Friday am get together with friends for brunch. Friday night shabbas dinner somewhere, Saturday: exercise, hang out, travel, hike, see the countryside, eat and have a relaxing day. Sunday is back to the work week. I am really proud of us all. We are out here doing it. We are living out this dream. I miss the magnificence of the Rockies, 'Saddle Back' hikes, Chautauqua, dowdy draw, cinitas. Boulder to me is like a 'Lightness of Being'. Flowing though whipping cream, snowboarding through puff puff powder. Enjoy. We miss you all and send you prayers of goodness, health and prosperity. love love love Adele Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:32:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Hi everyone, I am still here! Hello all my dear friends, I hope that this letter finds you all in good spirits and health. I know it has been a while since I have written. Life has been a bit like living in the center of a mild TORNADO! so I have to overcome those centrifugal forces to step out to look at the last block of time and then share it... so here goes. The holidays period here are huge! They last for a good three weeks. Schools are out for much of it, people are on the move, traveling, visiting, guests, loads of food and good times. I am looking forward to having some normalcy in the total lack of normal life that I have. At least getting the kids and Drew back to schools and Ulpan will be good for them. My life is still somewhat unstructured and unscheduled which has its own challenges for me. Although it is getting a bit busier and easier. As you can all well imagine I am not taking it lying down! ha. I don't like it, I fight it, I cry, I bitch, moan and bellyache. Then all the wonderful wise people around me share and say: 'please, you must take it easy, be patient, this takes time, everything will unfold in the right time, go slowly' and a whole host of guiding words. So, I decided that I will try that, to work on being with myself more or something like that. We will see. For all of us moving to a different country and world continues to be the most amazing adventure with growing experiences along the way. I have traveled and moved around in the world some but to settle down and live in a different country has been so eye opening. The Israeli people are a complex lot. It is truly a mixing pot of people and cultures from all over the world so there is absolutely nothing boring about it. There are strong and subtle cultural differences between the Yemenites, Moroccans, Iraqi's, Bukhara's, Kurds to name a few from that part of the world. Then there are the USSR groups of Grozny's from Georgia, Ukrainians, Tajiks, Uzbek's and on and on. Ethiopians, Tunisians, Moroccans, etc. We fall into the Anglo-Saxons. American (very few), British, Canadians, Australians. Zach's best friend is from Liverpool and that is a real hoot to understand his lovely diction. Overall everyone has been extremely kind and helpful. We all have one thing in common which is our religion. It is an amazing thing to be in it and I love that part. Our community, Zichron Yaakov, is one of the oldest communities in modern Israel. Founded by Romanians in the 1800's and then the Yemenites. Baron Rothschild purchased most of the land years ago (early 1900's). I need to learn a lot more about it all. Another flavor in the pot is that I am also living with a new group of 5 siblings and my mother! I have my two very religious siblings living in the heart of Jerusalem in the center of the universe. My sister Barbara just moved from near by me to Jerusalem (J-town) as well. I don't think that J-town is the place for us right now but it is totally incredible. Kattier is living here with us in the town. Population 17,000. Work-wise, I have been traveling to J-town for one-two days a week to see patients there. Most of them are American religious folks that live a life of travel between the states and Israel. In the next few weeks I will be working part time with soldiers doing PT on their army training injuries. Another incredible job that I will also start 1-2 days a week working with is for an organization here called "One family' that does work with victims of terror. I went to their open house a few days ago and met and saw people in all walks of life working on getting their lives back together. I met a 20 something woman who was riding in a bus and a terrorist's bomb blew up and blew off her legs (above the knees). another woman, 53 years old lost both of her parents in the Park Hotel bomb that blew up some 70 people while they were having their passover Seder. The devastation is completely different but both lives are shattered. I will be working doing PT/massage with them 1-2 days a week. So, Life will soon become very stimulated for sure with these differ net worlds of work. Drew and I mountain bike a couple days a week right out of my house. I look forward to getting back to the gym after a 3 week hiatus. The kids continue to adjust. Zach is text messaging his little hands off with all the new kids he meets. Don't ask...I do...why don't they just get together? How strange to be raising children in a world that they are learning to communicate with text rather than voice and actual physical interaction. How will they learn to read body language, etc? Both boys are playing basketball and enjoying it. The children here are completely different than their Boulder friends and experiences and I am sure that they are all challenged as they learn the new ways of the the new 'hood'. The kids are very good quality and I am not worried. Although it is standard fare around here for the kids to go hang out with groups of children on the local teeny tiny outdoor mall and at friends houses until 5 am! Zach came home the other night at 5 am! So weird. Drew starts back at language school tomorrow for his last 2 months of free language school. He is going to get his butt kicked and it is such a full time job. I am really proud of him. Beach weather is still here. We snorkeled yesterday and will go again today. It is absolutely gorgeous as the weather today will be 87 degrees! We are still sleeping with only a sheet so we haven't even gotten into our summer quilts yet. We brought so much stuff that we won't need! Everyday is a new and exciting time. Challenges come in all sorts of forms when you move to a new country. This part is not the beaucratic part, it is just flowing with a new country! Israel is only 60 years old. Think how many years it takes to smooth things out. Think about starting a new country from scratch! The mail is a bit daunting. Weekly we get mail that isn't for us. All bills are in Hebrew. I have to keep all the mail together for when I find someone to translate it. Getting gas in the car with the credit card when it works is really exciting and fun. Believe me, it isn't as simple as you think. It isn't just put the card in and squeeze the trigger. The steps are very different. So, learning the small things also take time. The grocery carts you must rent with a 5 shekel coin that you get back when you return the cart. You put the coin in and the cart unlocks. It is like a dollar coin. Anyhow, if you do not happen to have that coin you must go in the store, etc , get change and then start again. Lots of funny differences that are out here in the world. Some are much more efficient than in the states and some are just ways that have been borrowed from the British because they were here for a time. For sure the food is the best I have ever eaten. (Peru as well has great fruit and vegetables). The vegetables are like from your garden! That is great. I have actually lost almost 18 lbs since i left the states so I feel heathier for sure. Every Arab taxi driver wants to marry me so I feel super special. Gotta love that one.... Over all to wrap up this letter. We are so pleased that we did this. We do not know what the future holds. We are living out this year in its fullness and seeing what unfolds. I miss you all in many different ways. I miss my girlfriend time. I miss all the heartfelt talks and learning while I was torturing some tight spot on your bodies. We are starting to make some friends and wiggle into our community. Time allows for lots to occur. We wish you all only the best. Love Adele Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 01:41:41 -0700 (PDT) Subject: new year and new job! Hello Everyone, Happy Jewish New Year! No, its not a celebration with champagne and party hats. It is a celebration of the birth of human beings. This Friday night is the Jewish new year where we are given the wonderful opportunity to re-New and examine our spirits. We can be introspective on a level that is as deep as we are capable or willing to go. What type of people do we really want to be? What actions do I want to be doing, words that I really want to be coming out of my mouth. Making conscious decisions from a deep place and fulfilling them. Last year when we came back from Zach's bar mitzvah trip in Israel I made the conscious decision to share with everyone that I could that we were planning to move to Israel. I wanted to lock in as tight as possible the awareness and expectations (to myself) that we would really stick it through and go for it. If I told a 100 people then I really better go for it. It is with this in mind that I open up to you all and share that I have a new intention for this year. (Uh oh) OK, so I am making a commitment to myself to stop the negative self talk. My sister (1 of the 6) said to me: "Adele, you do not need any critics because you are your own worst critic". So, for this year and g-d willing years to come I will be my own cheerleader and look at the cup full. We all know that life rushes by so fast. It seems that the older you get the faster the time flys. To actually take the time and opportunity to stop and self evaluate is what I am aiming for. I have lived 44 years. (OK, so I am 44 and a 1/2)! I have chosen to really pick up and throw a big wrench into the grinding wheel of my old life. How do I really want to do this life? I get another (I pray) 40-50 years to do it all. I want to take this opportunity to tell you all how grateful I am to have you in my life. Each and everyone has played a significant role in developing my spirit. I want to ask you all for forgiveness if I have directly or indirectly offended you or hurt you in any way. It was never my intention to hurt or harm anyone's feelings or even bodies. (I know several of you are saying right now....oh, I would like to get her back, one little dig into that trigger point, tender point.) That is not what I am talking about. You all needed that! It was with LOVE. You know that. OK, now for the job part. I got a job. An awesome job but it is only for 8 hours a week. Ha ha. I am to be a in-house PT for a special forces army unit. That's all I can say because you know...me and James B are now a team. I can't tell you everything or I would have to dum da dum dum. OK, so, it is for a whopping $30.00/hour. That is a good amount. I am gonna be singing to the bank. Oh my. Anyhow, It is with such a great unit that I am going to have a blast. I also have been traveling to Jerusalem 1 x week to treat 4-5 patients at my brother's house. That is also good but the commute is 2 hours each way in one day. You can't say I am not paying my dues. I am really excited about it all. I am grateful to have some work. I am just getting started and am learning patience. It will all happen in the right time. See, I am doing it already. Fast learner. Kids are adjusting. As for our family. Zach is in heaven at school. He has changed 100% since we got here. Really! he has a girlfriend! Holy mack-in-o-lee. Don't ask. I don't even want to know. He is learning fast. Enjoying all the new challenges. He is really rising to those challenges as well. He is on a basketball team (the tallest). Tonight I went to an open house for parents at Zach's school. The first 45 minutes (I left after that), was all about how to make the class a tighter knit of friends. Not academics, not drugs, problem kids, etc. Just how to make them happy and all become tighter, closer friends. Parties, outings, team and self development games, etc. It was very amazing to me how the parents were so focused on how tight the kids were and that they had friends and were enjoying school. Very interesting to me. There are 21 kids in his class. Josh is working it out. Every gray hair at a time. He is a true electric spirit full of life and ideas and EMOTIONS. He, too, is really enjoying basketball, skateboarding and cucumbers. He is a lot fun and I think also happy. Not entirely sure. Drew is hammering away at the language thing. He also got a new job doing a custom wood project for the synagogue which is new. He feels like he is at home and continues to be the best friend and angel that I could have ever dreamed of. We are spending time with new and old friends and family. We have all the luxuries we need and more. I went surfing two days ago and stood up (on the foam that Drew helped me get into). It was a blast and I can't wait to go again. We went swimming this evening and it was great. I am still learning from and enjoying the new cultural angles and experiences. WE wish you all a very happy healthy new year. We pray that you find the next year a year of joy and peace. Follow your dreams and take chances that promote growth. Love always Adele and Drew and the young-ins. Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 21:35:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: surprises HI Everyone, I hope that this letter finds everyone healthy and happy. As I have heard over and over again here, (you add in the thick Israeli accent) 'Don't vorry, be chappy'. And we are! The first week of school for the kids was a complete surprise and success. I know I shared with so many of you the worries that I had (especially for Zach) about all the angles of potential disaster for school. Well, it was a complete success. Never in my deepest dreams did I think that it would be so fantastic. The schools have received them well, friends galore, Zach's Hebrew is so much better than my was when I came at that same age. He looks so happy. His face is beaming with life and energy. We are so blessed! I started to tell a friend about our experience last night and as I was getting into the details I thought I would share it all with you. We went to a bat mitzvah of a friend of my sister Barbara. It was at a hotel on a Wednesday night. I was thinking how come on a school night? Well, it will probably not go too long I assumed. Anyone who makes assumptions in a place like this deserves..... The party started at 7:30 pm. We were so hungry. There was an amazing array of Moroccan foods, kebab, kibbe, ful, salads galore, sushi, food food food and oh yeah, open bar. We are eating away and my sister says... these are just the appetizers. Uh oh. so, 9:30 we sit down and the disco music starts to blare and out come these two sexy dancing girls in sequined pants and two hunky guys walk around and pull people onto the dance floor. We start the macararena and the whole she-bang. Then a beautiful 10-15 min video of the bat mitzvah girl comes on the 15 screens all around the room. First course (can't remember already), champagne, singing, 1 hour illusionist/magic show (it was fantastic), dinner served at 11:00 pm, punching balls fall from the ceiling for all the kids, fog machine on the dance floor, tropical bar that the dancing girls come out with coconuts filled with yummy coconut sweet drinks with many straws for everyone to drink from, rocking music, sweets and at the end all the men were given cigars. There was much more but we left at mid-night as the kids and Drew have school today. It was so fun. I LOVE IT HERE!!! Well, the other day I finally had a minute to find a gym and work out. I call the local gym/country club to see if they had a spin class to take that day. You know, gotta do it right now. So, they ask me if I have ever taken spin and I said, yep, and that I was a spin instructor and a PT and Pilate's, Massage etc. Before you know it they ask me to teach a mat Pilate's class for the next night. I think, Hmmmm. I have never really taught a Pilate's mat class, at least not in Hebrew so lets try. Well, there were 40 people in the class! The funniest part was learning the word to 'zip' up ( ie used a lot in Pilate's). The word zip is 'rrrrritch-rrrratch'. I was practically in stitches. I use that word quite a bit and it was hard to stammer out but everyone laughed loads. To make it short, it went great. I did it most in English with Hebrew butchered in there. AND! I am teaching a spin class there tonight. Two people came to me after to see if I could treat them but they did not call. That is OK. I am starting the marketing deal. I travel to Jerusalem 1 x week to see patients there. Slowly slowly. Today is our 20th year anniversary. We will need to wait a bit and celebrate it in a few months and get away for the weekend to Turkey or Croatia. Our hard drive crashed and we had the opportunity to have the craziest funniest Czech computer repair guy come to the house and work on the fix-ins. So as I thought my international phone would work any minute, it doesn't. Hopefully next week. Take care and know that there is always a couch here for you to crash on. Come visit. It is so beautiful here. Safe too! hugs and blessings Adele Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:07:36 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Loving it here Hi Everyone, Finally finally finally I feel like I am really here. Or should I say I feel like I like it here. I even love it (almost). The minor traumas are over, shippers, moving in, washing machines, war, etc. We are back to livin' large. We spent the day today at the beach with some friends and family members. Drew surfed all day and his spirit was glowing. We played in our blow up kayak, rafts, boogie boards. We had a bar-be-que and laughs after. What more could one want? This is the life! I really appreciate going out on a summer outing and not having to take rain gear, watch for thunderclouds, worry about where Cody is, who has him, and if he has once again ripped through our or somebody else's gate due to his fear of noise! Speaking of Mr. Cody. He is now living in dogie heaven. He is in northern California on a miniature animal farm with Drew's mom. There are 3 other dogs, 2 cats, 3 Pygmy goats, some chickens, rooster, geese, and little critters everywhere. He has a lake to swim in as well. We miss him lots and cry when I see pictures of him but am relieved to know he is in a great place. We think about getting another dog but I still would like to live in one place for a period of time before doing so. Getting back to how pleased we are to be here. I went to my first exercise class of spinning. Well, it was pretty funny overall. I came all geared up in my Boulder fancy schmancy Spin attire. Polar heart rate monitor, cleats, the whole she-bang. Well, the instructor shows up in a little dancing outfit. I am thinking...This is for a biking class? OK, 'just go with the flow Adele'. Well, she turns on the music, turns out the lights, puts on fluorescent black lights and a big mirrored disco ball hanging from the ceiling starts to turn slowly. The music rises and begins to blast out Footloose, Flash dance and Dirty Dancing. It was overall a blast albeit 'a little over the top' workout but I loved the experience. That is a little snippet of how people are full of life and fun here. Since life here can be so intense people take their free time and relaxation very seriously. They have long days of fun and family on shabbas (Saturday). The weekends here are Friday and Saturday. Sunday translates into Day 1. It is the beginning of the work week, kids go to school. It threw us off a bit at the beginning but we are gradually being weaned off of our weekend concepts of sat and sun. AS far as I can see there is not much hanging out at the house alone on the weekends. Life here is about being with people. Israelis are a very social society. There weekends revolve around being together with friends, family and food. The three 'F's. Overall, they choose to be in close proximity together. I really find it very interesting. An example of this is going to the movies. When you buy your tickets you are assigned a seat - usually as best as you can get in the middle of the theater. So the people pile into the center of the theater. There could be 500 seats with 200 people all sitting close together in the middle with out a spare seat between them. Another new thing is that there is an intermission in the middle of the movies. At first I thought the movie broke but it was just a food break. So funny. This happens somewhat at the beaches as well. All together. Work wise...I have been traveling to Jerusalem 1 - 2 times a week to do some work on patients. That too has been very interesting and stimulating. I work in the Old City of Jerusalem at my brother's house. We will see how the whole work thing goes. I think I would like to work at a clinic here in Zichron but not sure yet. School starts in a couple of days...and Drew will return to Ulpan which will require some complex commuting. I have tutoring set up for Josh as soon as school starts which is a relief because I know that he is going to make my life a living ____. I can just see the frustration..."Mom, I am not going back, I can't understand a frig-gin thing that stupid teacher is trying to tell the class, why do I have to go, I am not going, It is a waste of time. on and on and on." My friends, please send massive amounts of prayers our way that A: I don't kill him and B: he has an easier time of it. I am sure it will all go fine (in 6 months that is). Kids are still really happy here. Zach grumbles here and there after he communicates with his friends that have just started Fairview. Zach's school here looks like a country club. The high school is very intense. The kids here in Israel must pick a major in high school. At this school Zach must choose between Biology or Physics. We will see. Well, I could go and on. I just wanted to fill you all in on how good things are for us. My next letter could have a different flavor but this one was a creamy strawberry/vanilla bean feel to it. Don't forget the wild cherry...after all this is from ADELE! I wish you all the best week. May it be full of goodness and good deeds to make others smile. Take good care of