FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!!!

Hey guys,

My first week of school is over now! I have to say that last year will always be dear to me. I miss you all and I miss Mr. Ross!!! (love you guys!!!) But I know that this year will be freaking awesome.



Love,
Janea

March 20th

St. Marks Square, Byzantine Basilica, Doge Palace, and the Bridge of sighs are just some of the things I saw today. St. Marks square was nice but not particularly phenomenal. The Basilica however was beautiful even if I only got to see it from the outside. Italy sure has a copious amount of churches. They are beautiful though. The doge palace I did actually get to go inside of it was ornate and heavily decorated with frescoes and architectural carvings and other assorted embellishments. One of the passageways is covered entirely in gold well the ceiling anyhow. The bridge of sighs was built as a way to transport the unattractive prisoners out of the castle while not having them in the view of the visiting nobles or the duke. A dark dank and rather long tunnel is what composes the bridge of sighs. A Poet who was rather imaginative thought up the prisoners sighing as they looked upon Venice for the last time well the bridge is completely enclosed so that doesn't quite fit but the name stuck anyhow. We took a private boat to Burano which is a small island of Venice but away from the crowd and the noise and the canals off by it's self. Burano is a fishing village where the men would go out to fish and the women would stay on the island and make lace by hand. The buildings are all painted different colors, it looks like something out of a story book, and very few people very few tourists, some small cafes shops and then homes. There are two different speculations as to why the buildings are all painted different colors. Are they painted different colors because each family had its own color and when each new family came onto the island more and more colors where added? Or were all the buildings painted different colors so that the men could see their house when they were away? Well in my opinion I think each family had their own color because not all houses can be viewed from the sea, it just makes more sense to me.

Day one March 1st

Here is the start of my daily log of my journeys, please note that I wrote these notes of my day per say when it was happening on a piece of paper. As right now is obviously not March 1st....

Day one March First March 1 2008

Today is March first a Saturday. I am at the airport right now waiting for breakfast. I don't know what the time is right now, but I do know that I got up at 3:00 this morning, left the house at 4:00 in a car that looked like a hearse. Hmmm I always thought that I could reserve riding in a hearse for when I was dead. Well, at least I have gained a new experience. On the way to Tel Aviv Israel, we have to change planes several times. (Well we stop to refuel any who we go from sunny San Diego to Atlanta Georgia where Martin Luther king Junior is buried, then to Milan in Italy, finally we wind up at the Tel Aviv Israel. The time is 5:36 AM When I finally get off the first plane it will be 3:30ish in the afternoon ( if I was referring to San Diego time zones) It will be a long droll day but I hope that I can pass the time through reading writing and most likely homework. Well, over and out I should probably go get ready to board the plane, in order to get to the gate in time. .......

A while later the same day... I think (as switching time zones is discombobulating)

The plane from Georgia to Italy is there are 6 seats in a row with space in between them and there are 3 different cabins each with approximately 15 seats each. There is a T.V. at each seat with lots of choices of Television shows, movies, good music, and games. On each seat there is a bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, headphones, and a sleeping mask. As of right now right now it feels as if riding in a hearse happened a millennium ago. Today has been a long and draining day even though it feels as if not much has happened. A lot has happened already and lots more will continue to happen. I am in the middle of the second flight or the actual transatlantic flight.

Well over and out.

Social and Economic issues in Israel and Italy

Social and economic issues in Israel: Akko Haifa and Elsewhere

What I have noticed that disturbs me and astonishes me is how people react to the security measures. Now don’t get me wrong it’s a good thing the security is needed what makes me cringe is the fact that when these mother get searched when going to pick up their kids from school, or when people go to the mall or grocery shopping, they accept the fact that they will get searched as part of the deal part of the package bargain. Security is needed at this extent and I understand that. How do these people feel about this do they accept it as they move about their daily chores? Or is there something else inside of them something called hope and faith that one day they will be able to grocery shop without fear.

Will one day they be able to hear silence and peace in the air instead of bombing at the Ghaza strip? How must it feel to be in a country that is endlessly killing other people? How must it feel to live next to a country that is killing your people the same way? I don’t know. I don’t know. Still through it all they make it through the day saying Salaam and smiling and nodding even though they don’t really understand what you are saying. I think this is the faith and hope shining through. I think it is more than just making it through the day to go onto the next. I think it is love. I think it is love for life and love for just being love. Love doesn’t have to come in kisses and hugs it can be through a smile it can be through the lady behind the corner of a street market giving my brother free candy, love can come as friendship... it doesn’t really matter how it comes as long as it is there.

In Israel some other problems that they are facing as you probably already know is religious. As a Bahai I went at one point in time to go and visit Akko which houses some religious sites such as the prison “The Most Great Prison” also known as The Prison of Akko. Akko used to be a prison city. But now is a place where Bahais do not dwell for fear. In fact we are not allowed to venture into the heart or the center of Akko but instead stay on the outskirts. Religious fanatics do not take kindly as to our being in the city.

When there is religious conflict you can find religious unity as well a good example of two different religions getting along when these religions have clashed in the past they are now getting along and working in harmony. For instance there is a place that is holy for two different religions: Judaism and Christianity. Instead of fighting over this holy land “the cave of Elijah they manage it together in peace and harmony. The Jews manage and own the upper cave and The Christians manage and own the lower cave.

Social and Economic issues in Italy: Pisa, Venice and elsewhere

In Italy the problems that the populace are facing as a whole is economic. When the government switched to the euro after being on the lira the prices of living doubled. Housing costs twice as much, food costs twice as much, and everything doubled the problem however is that the salaries did not double. A 30 year old with a college degree makes 1,200 euros a month. Southern Italy is impoverished due to geography and the inability to produce its own products. Because northern Italy prospers while southern Italy's economy fails, the government raises the taxes to help support southern Italy. This sounds like here when the government wants to fix something they raise the taxes, so no biggee. That is what I thought. But the lowest tax bracket is 45% ouch. Say for instance there is a family of four; two parents, two kids. If both of the parents are working all the family actually has to themselves at the end f the month is 1,080 euros (note this does not include the house mortgages) If the family were to go out to dinner once during the month with their allotment of 1,080 at 20 euros a piece they would spend 80 euros leaving them with only 1,000 euros left. So now you can fully understand the gravity of the situation. Within Italy several different places are suffering for different reasons one place that right now is flourishing but isn’t as strong economically as it used to be is Pisa. Pisa used to be a booming port city where goods could come and go. Italy tends to flood a rather awful lot. So anyways, Pisa was flooded and with the flood came a lot of silt. This silt ended up ruining the port so that no longer could ships come and go with goods to transport. Many people in Pisa depended on the port so people lost their jobs and their homes. Then the bell tower of the Pisa cathedral began to lean. (It is common fallacy that the leaning tower of Pisa was built as political stand, the bell tower is just detached) and people, mainly tourists rushed over to Pisa in order to see this amazing leaning building. The tower is going to fall the fact that the tower will fall is indisputable. When the tower falls tourists will no longer be attracted to viewing this monument, and people will lose their jobs and homes and Pisa will once again need a miracle to bring it back to profitable.

March 19th

March 19th

Today is a day for travel from Florence to Verona and finally onto Venice.
In Verona we stopped to look at Juliet's balcony; the balcony from Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet. I viewed the balcony, beneath the balcony stands a statue of Venus. Legend has it that if you touch her left breast you will have success in money if you touch her right you will have success in love. The statue was made out of bronze so do you know which breast is shiny from millions of people touching it? The right one of course! They are sort of odd in comparison the right breast is shiny and gold in color the other one is a faded dark color. We arrived in Venice, wow it was amazing. No roads of course so no cars, the constant slap of water against the side of houses, gondolas, going everywhere by boat it is simply beautiful. We took a gondola of course the gondolier sung for us as he took us around the canals of Venice. After going on a gondola ride we walked to Piazza San Marco the square that hosts Torre Dell'Orolgio or the clock tower. In Piazza San Marco is the Doge place which is brilliantly lighted up at night, it was beautiful, complimented nicely by the dark moonless sky.

March 19th

Today I visited the Academy of Fine arts which houses Michelangelo's David. And then we saw Signoria square. No picture can come close to portraying the mastery and cleverness that is in David. you can see the fear yet courage in his eyes. I saw several other items in Signoria square that didn't somehow compare at all to the transcendence of  David. I would love to visit signoria square when it is not raining. I am sure that it would be simply charming but I couldnt really grasp the beauty when it was so drab and gelid. Someday I wish to visit this square in the sun.

March 17th

March 17^th

Today before traveling by bus to Pisa and then Florence I visited the Sistine chapel and the Vatican Museums. Michelangelo was designing the tomb for the pope when the pope decided that instead he wanted to have the ceiling of the Sistine chapel frescoed. Michelangelo did not want to fresco a ceiling he wanted to finish the tomb but the pope said you will paint the Sistine chapel or you will not finish my tomb. Michelangelo was infuriated but set to painting the ceiling. Michelangelo never frescoed anything before and had to hire a man to teach him. When the hired man and Michelangelo got in a fight Michelangelo started to teach himself. 250 years after the Sistine chapel was painted an explosion rocked the town. This explosion caused a chunk of the fresco to crumble; even though a piece of the work is missing it is left that way in order to maintain authenticity. Michelangelo finished the ceiling spectacularly but in the process of completing it he gained bad eyesight because he painted from 4 feet away paint constantly fell into his eyes. That was not the only disappointing outcome on behalf of Michelangelo but also the Pope died and so he could not complete the tomb after all.

The Vatican museums were very interesting but I do not think they were half as interesting as the Sistine chapel and so I shant talk about it. The rest of the day was spent driving along the Aurelian way and the Tyrrhenian coast which is a fancy name for the Mediterranean. We visited Pisa and then went on to Florence which is a city in the province of Tuscana.

March 16th

March 16^th

Today I saw the colusseum , Saint peters square and Basilica. The coliseum was fascinating, and with that much history also come fallacies. According to common belief the colosseum was used for chariot races this however is incorrect chariot races were held at Circus Maximus . Another fallacy was that 1 gladiator would be against five or some other unfair advantage, again this is not true, gladiator fights were always one on one or one against a wild animal. A wooden floor used to be stationed over the stone cells that held animals and the gladiators. The wooden floor would be where they fought, as you can imagine the wooden floor became slick with blood and very difficult to walk on, so to help absorb the gore to help add tread, slaves would sprinkle “reina” or sand over the fighting surface. The center or the stage became known as “a-reina” hence the title arena for a circular stadium. The colusseum was built after Nero’s death and only took a total of 18 months to complete.

Today also happened to be Palm Sunday and we were in the Vatican City, so while we were visiting St. Peter’s Square I got the chance to in person watch the Pope give mass. Although I am not Catholic this won’t be something that will likely happen to me again, so I treasure it. One thing I noticed that was saddening was the fact that the Pope had the NEED to sit behind a wall of bullet proof because he feared for his life. What are we coming to?!? The fact that someone… anyone finds the need to sit behind a wall of bullet proof glass because they fear for their life is sickening. That is a simply revolting realization.

March 15th

March 15^th

Today is the last day that we have in Rome to ourselves before we meet our tour group in fact we meet them tonight. The Spanish steps or in Italian Scalinata Di Piazza Di Spagna, ironically enough were not built by the Spanish but instead by the French. There are 12 flights of stairs that are supposed to be transcending far above for a spectacular view unfortunately it was sort of difficult to see above the heads of the people and the market owners trying to get you to buy their fares. It was nice however. The view was nice. Above the stairs rested the Trinita Dei Monti church.

Rome due to a lot of flooding rose 30 feet of time and so underneath what we see of Rome; the surface, there is a whole other underground city covered by layers of dirt hidden with time. So naturally we had to go see an excerpt of underground Rome. Beneath the church of San Clemente they have excavated 60ft of ruins, frescoes, and the room of the Mithras (a cult) where they performed grisly rituals. Underground it was cold and dank and I couldn’t take any pictures unfortunately as I was asked not to. The old bathing rooms, an underground stream. It was all very fascinating. Tonight we meet our tour group and will go on about exploring Italy.

March 14th

March 14^th

Today was a very busy day filled with lots of history and things to see. Rome consists of 7 hills today I visited Capotoline hill and the basilica that sits perched atop it. (Basilica is a fancy name for a church) I saw and visited the Capotiline museo or Museum. The museum is so big that I only got a chance to see half of it. The museum is neat for several reasons one of the reasons is that it is built around and on top of what used to be the first governmental offices. The square and the museum were designed by Michelangelo. For the first 1,000 years that Rome was a city-state it wasn’t very imaginative most of the works were copied from previous works that were made in Greece. After that lapse of having no imagination they became much more imaginative and instead of copying from Greece. Fontana di Trevi is a very famous fountain that is supposed to be simply spectacular at night. Trevi fountain was designed by Nicola Salvi and built in 1732-62. Although it is supposed to be simply spectacular, gorgeous beyond measure… it was pretty I’ll give it that, but maybe it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I also saw the place where historians believe that Cesar was stabbed to death. I think that it is an odd coincidence that right after Brutus murdered his friend Julius the next emperors abused the power shamelessly.

March 13th

Wow I shall just say that Rome is AMAZING. Rome is built on 7 hills and consists of three different cities that were built at different times. The room that we are staying while in Rome is adorable. The name of the hotel is Antica Roma which means Ancient Rome. The rooms’ well suite is like something out of the 1800s simply charming. I took pictures of it all. We took a tour of Rome on a tour bus and I learned several interesting tidbits. For example, the Conte family and the Kalona family despised each other and built fortified buildings to protect themselves from each other. They had many battles… and they lived across the street from each other. Another family that was shall we say …. Interesting was the Barbarini family, in fact they earned themselves the phrases “What the barbarians didn’t do the Barbarini did” the Barbarini family believed that they were entitled and so they acted quite ill behaved. They took marble and stones from the coliseum in order to beautify their own palace or plazzo. WE visited the Pantheon which was built as a house of worship for all the gods and it also houses the house of Raphael who is a famous artist. I also visited Ponto San Angelo which is lined with the arch angles that were sculpted by Bernini. The arch angels represent Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. One angel carries the cross; one angel carries the crown of thorns, and so on. Rome is filled with 3,000 years of history I have only seen a small portion of it I can’t wait to uncover more

March 12th

March 12^th Traveling Alatallia operated by Delta, sleeping reading, listening to music, and other blah things that occur while traveling on an airplane. I do not ever want to go to an airport again, I will have to be dragged kicking and screaming before I will willing step into a crowded space filled with recycled air. Yikes! Or maybe I have just gotten sick of airplanes with all the time I have been spending on them. Finally I arrive in Rome to find a charming hotel room.

March 11

Today is the last day I shall spend in Israel. Today was mainly filled with packing doing laundry and other such tasks that fall under the title of quotidian. Another thing that I noticed is how different even American junk food is. In America if you walk into a McDonalds you can order a hamburger and other assorted greasy junk foods, but if it comes to ordering something healthy you MIGHT be able to get a measly salad. If you walk into a McDonalds in Israel you can order a full luscious salad with Feta or chicken or tofu (all of these items are kosher by the way) with lemon dressing. Wow that really put into perspective how cough unhealthy America is. So tomorrow I shall board a plane to go to Rome where I will be for three days and then I will connect with a tour group.

Day one March 1st

Here is the start of my daily log of my journeys , please note that I wrote these notes of my day persay when it was happening on a piece of paper. As right now is obviously not March 1st....

Day one March First March 1 2008
Today is March first a Saturday. I am at the airport right now waiting for breakfast. I don't know what the time is right now, but I do know that I got up at 3:00 this morning, left the house at 4:00 in a car that looked like a hearse. Hmmm I always thought that I could reserve riding in a hearse for when I was dead. Well, at least I have gained a new experience. On the way to Tel =Aviv Israel, we have to change planes several times. (well we stop to refuel any who) We go from sunny San Diego to Atlanta Georgia to Milan in Italy then to the final destination Tel Aviv Israel. The time is 5:36 AM When I finally get off the first plane it will be 3:30ish in the afternoon ( if I was reffering to SanDiego time zones) It will be a long droll day but I hope that I can pass the time through reading, writing, and most likely homework. Well, over and out I should probably go get ready to board the plane, in order to get to the gate in time. .......
A while later the same day... I think ( as switching time zones is discombobulating)
The plane from Georgia to Italy is colossal there are 6 seats in a row with space in between them and there are 3 different cabins each with aproximately15 seats each, there is a T.V. at each seat with lots of choices of television shows, movies, good music, and games. On each seat there is a bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, headphones, and a sleeping mask. As of right now right now it feels as if riding in a hearse happened a millenium ago.Today has been a long and draining day even though it feels as if not much has happened. Lots has happened already and lots more will continue to happen. I am in the middle of the second flight or the longest one from Georgia to Italy.. well over and out

Day three March 3rd

To be honest I do not know how March second passed all I know is that today is allegedly March 3rd. Last night was the first time I had slept in an actual bed in 48 + hours. I will never again underestimate the value of sleeping in a bed, cause I can from personal experience tell you that the stone in the Italian airport is a very uncomfortable sleeping arangement, or that sleeping on a coffee table in Atlanta is also very uncomfortable even if my feet had a chair to rest on. ( don't ask) so I must assume that somehow that in passing time zones that Mrach Second slipped away. No Matter but today is March 3rd and I start my first day of pilgramige. Jaleh had mentioned that the breakfasts at the dan Gardens hotel in Hiafa were authentic and not american. Man was she right and it was goood. There was none of the scrambled eggs and sausage ordeal but instead there was lebni and vegtables in marinade and feta but if I were to mention everything it would take forever. Wow this is very different experience!!! Going through customs and pasport control was very frightening. so we are leaving the hotel room momentarily so farewell... hasta luego!!...

...... sometime later Now it is almost 1:30 and I have become a registered pilgrim or someone who travels to the holy land on a pilgramige. everyone at the pilgrim reception ceneter has been very nice and every one says Allahuapah which in arabic means God is most glorious it is a greeting. I have met several people though none of them are my own age. Even if I did not come to Israel to meet people and have friends it would be nice. We went to a local market to obtain some food and buy todays lunch, which conssted of Humus some cheese that resembled feta but didn't taste like it, and the best stinking pitas i have ever tasted. the pitas where thick and fresh and airy but hearty at the same time those pitas where phenomenal!! but enough about pitas, I should spend this time interacting.. So over and out (3:50)

....... again some time later

I saw the gardens and the shrines for the first time(from the outside) the beauty was not only in the ;landscaping and the architecture but in the awe and the love and understanding that tends to radiate from holy places. As I am writing this last bit I am sitting at a table at the Pilgrim Recception centere to find out what will happen next..

March 4th Today is or i should say today was as the day is now gone

march 10th

March 10^th

Wow I am astonished that today is my last full day. The end of pilgrimage is near however I am changed not the same person I used to be, in a good way. I will always remember this pilgrimage. Even if I am not in the holy land I shall be with God here or there… Everywhere!!! Today I visited the buildings on the ark. Such as the Universal house of Justice or the center or head of our religion, they manage money and assorted secretarial duties. The international teaching center creates plans to help us deepen ourselves as Bahais and they have a lecture hall for members of the universal house of Justice to address the peoples. The last building on the Ark is the institute of the study of the texts, so when people have questions about life or how religion pertains to a certain aspect of their life, they consult the institute and the institute will tell them where in the numerous tablets they can find the answer to their question. The institute also works on translating and retranslating and making sure that the translations of the text are as accurate as they can be. Later on I also visited the house of the Master or Abdul-baha. This house did not hold any impact for me it just felt like a pretty, and a big house.

March 9th

March 9th

Today we visited the house of Abdul Pasha although my Dad is still ill he wanted us to continue our pilgrimage without him. This house has lots of historic meaning in our religion as many tablets where revealed here. I have some pictures.....

Today is the 10th today is the last full day of pilgrimage. Today we visited the house of Abdul-pasha. The house of Abdul pasha is in Akko. Abdul-baha was exiled in Akko and could not leave unfortunately the Shrine of the Bab was being built, Abdul-baha built a small wooden room on top of his house so that he could foresee the building process even if he couldn’t be there in person. In this way he oversaw the building of the shrine of the Bab.

March 8th

Today or March 8th I shall only inform a little bit of due to the fact that I can't share much information unless you are interested in how efficient Israel's emergency room is. My father got ill and thankfully we had travel insurance because he needed to be in the emergency room. While my dad was being ill which was all day my Mother, My brother and I felt that it was our duty to stay with him so we did, I read Harry potter 7 for the second time. And well blah blah blah. Not very interesting however when we did get to the emergency room they had him looked at within an hour or so and we stayed most of the night, but any who. I thought that it was interesting how the Government in Israel is in charge of medicine and medicinal care yet it is still efficient and works far better than our system does. Hmmmm isn’t that odd. I could hear and feel the bombing in Gaza strip that was frightening I have been hearing it for a while now.

March 7th

Today is March 7th ... Several things are to happen today we visit the International archive display where all of the important and holy articles pertaining to the Bahai faith now rest. The only picture of Baha’u’llah is in the archives, He wished only one picture to be made of him for one simple reason. He did not want Bahai's of the world worshiping a photo but instead worshiping God. There were the pictures of both the Bab and Baha’u’llah as well as original tablets revealed by Baha’u’llah and the Bab. Later on today we are going to Akko. We have a free day to do whatever we liked so my family and two of the friends that we have met decided to go into Akko. As Bahai’s visiting a place full of both religious and political unrest it is unsafe for us to venture very far into this city. So we were asked by the Universal house of Justice to stay on the outskirts of town along the colored route on a map they had given us. Even on the outskirts of town there were many things to see bazaars filled with textiles and fruit. In the past Napoleon tried to conquer Akko but he could not, this downfall, the many soldiers that he lost; was the start of the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was all very interesting we wandered around the city being entranced by all the neat and interesting objects. We got lost. Looking at a map we realized that we had strayed far into the middle of the city, thankfully nothing happened and we just made our way back to the outskirts of the city. We visited the walls of the city, the land gate and the sea gate, we also visited the moat. When Napoleon tried to conquer the city he did not know that the only way that this city was never conquered was by sea never by land.

March 6th

March 6th

Today is not quite done yet, today being March 6th of course. I visited both the Mansion at Bahji and the mansion at Mazreih I prayed and meditated in the rooms where Baha'u'llah had lived. I must say that it is simply breathtaking in Bahji. *(I am sitting in the Bahji visitors’ center by the way) the scenery is gorgeous, green. Consisting of 420 different species, and very full of life and love.

March 5th

Today is March 5th and yet again it was just as impactfull as visiting the shrine. We visited the Most Great Prison in Akko. This city, Akko was at many times a Prison City so the main aspect of the city was the prison. In this prison many people who have impacted history have remained contained within its walls. While I was there I noticed something that made me smile, was that there were Muslim, and Christian, and Bahai’s all visiting the prison at the same time this unity and accord of having three different religious groups in one place made me feel good inside. Maybe we are getting somewhere after all maybe we are growing maybe there is hope after all.

One of the people that was contained within the prison was Baha'u'llah. The prison was eerie majestic, yet foreboding all at the same time. Again I spent a long time praying and meditating in silence. Another place I visited was the house of Abud, the house of Abud was the place where Baha’u’llah stayed when he was released from the prison but still confined in the walls of the city. In the house of Abud He revealed many tablets. I knelt in what used to be His room and I prayed. I prayed in both his cell and the room; both were very impactfull. The day was long even if it ended at 4:00 I went back up to the hotel room to rest then I got up at 7:30 for a meeting with the international teaching center after the meeting I had the pleasantries of nodding and smiling and shaking their hands as they wanted to meet all of the pilgrims. The most exciting part of the evening was probably debating whether or not I wanted to have caffeinated tea that would keep me from sleeping when I was so tired, or did I want to have the tea so that it could keep me awake. I decided on having the tea. ;)

March 4th

Today is March 4^th or should I say today was as the day is now gone. Today is unable to be explained in words… so it is beyond words. I went to Baji or the shrine of Baha'ullah' the prophet of our faith the Bahai faith. I visited this shrine and I sat and prayed or mediated in silence, for hours. I felt so at peace and at rest with myself it was unbelievable. It made me sit and wonder for a while I listened… I heard silence for the first time in my life my heart was calm my brain wasn’t whirring with turmoil.

Being in the presence of such a holy entity left me feeling revitalized purified and cleaner a better person somehow. I took many photographs of the surrounding gardens but even though the photographs can remain vivid the pictures in my heart will last forever. I also got a chance to meet the universal house of justice or the head of the faith, the people who maintain the peace and keep everything in order. This is a privilege that not many people are blessed by having the opportunity to do.

Day 3 March 3rd

Day three March 3rd

To be honest I do not know how March second passed all I know is that today is allegedly March 3rd. Last night was the first time I had slept in an actual bed in 48 + hours. I will never again underestimate the value of sleeping in a bed, because I can from personal experience tell you that the tile in the Italian airport is a very uncomfortable sleeping arrangement, or that sleeping on a coffee table in Atlanta is also very uncomfortable. (Don’t ask)

So I must assume that somehow that in passing time zones that March second slipped away. No matter, today is March 3rd and I start my first day of pilgrimage. Jaleh had mentioned that the breakfasts at the Dan Gardens hotel in Haifa were authentic and not American. She was right and boy am I pleased about that fact. It was good. There were no scrambled eggs and sausage that accompany an American breakfast. Instead what food greeted me was lebni, and vegetables in marinade, and feta but if I were to mention everything it would take forever

...... Sometime later…. Now it is almost 1:30 and I have become a registered pilgrim or someone who travels to the holy land on a pilgrimige. Everyone at the pilgrim reception center has been very nice and every one says Allahuapah which in Arabic means “God is most glorious”. It is a greeting as Salaam is in Hebrew.

I have met several people some of the friendliest and forthright and willing people I believe I have ever met in my life.

One thing that I noticed while out buying lunch at a small market was how nice the people are here. They smile at you and say salaam and when they say that greeting, they don’t only say it they actually mean it. Their smiles are genuine and they don’t stop at the eyes they come from the soul as if they care… For example the lady at the small market was not well off and that was apparent, she gave my brother free candy even if he could not eat it because he is allergic and he did not understand that the woman was being kind she tried hard to reach out.

Again sometime later…….

I saw the gardens and the shrines for the first time (from the outside) the beauty was not only in the landscaping and the architecture but in the awe and the love and understanding that tends to radiate from holy places. As I am writing this last bit I am sitting at a table at the Pilgrim Reception center to find out what will happen next...

Wall Smart ~ trustworthiness

Hi people the last line of the comic got cut off and so I am sorry about that but I can read it.

Okies!!!

Fighting inside and out

Comic (the real one) Miscommunications!!

Comic~ Then and Now

Dilbert By adam scott

One of the cartoonists that I enjoy greatly is Adam Scott. He is unique in the aspect that he used his bosses and co-workers as inspiration to create the humorous Dilbert!!!!

Here are three of his comics that I enjoy:

Another one that I like:

And last but not least:

A New Beginning

Hey everyone,

I know that I haven't posted anything in a long time but now I am back!!!! Presentations of Learning are over!!! And the new semester begins!!! I am excited for the ability to start over. I will be posting more frequently though!! See ya guys soon!!!


Love ,
Janea