no news is never good news

so sorry for my absence. for a few days there i just couldn't get up the energy to post a single thing - not a thought, or picture, or quote, or story.

some big things and some small things have happened since then. i'll try to record a couple of them now.

On literature:
among the books that Amelia bequeathed to me, was a collection of short stories by James Joyce titled "The Dubliners". it is amazing. i've only read three of them so far, but it has reignited the flame of short story writing in me, and my mind has begun to go into a bit of an imagination overdrive. hopefully, if you're of the lucky few, i'll share some soon. i really enjoy his style of writing. it reminds me of Faulkner a bit - the stream of consciousness technique that sort of pulls you in to the subconsciouses strings of words in a persons head.

i've also been reading a book titled "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss. now, i haven't had much time outside or during work to just read as i used to back home, so i have to really be creative in how i find the time to take part in this hobby of mine. but there are moments i find, throughout my day, where i can take 5-10 mins for concentrated reading time. it is also a fabulous book so far - recommended and passed on by my good friend Yaz.

and finally, as part of a study class i have also been reading the Kitab-i-Iqan.

Extracurricular activities:
this weekend i went bowling for the first time here in israel - i was completely knackered while i was playing, but it was fun all the same - i was with a group and we were celebrating our friend joe's birthday. played three games, and they sure got progressively worse.

the next day i joined amelia and payam as we went to go visit the Baha'i Cemetery up in Tiberius near the Sea of Galilee. it was a very...touching, confirming visit. i'll try to get some pictures from them soon to post.

now i'm back at work finishing up the day and then off to the Shrine of the Bab. tonight is also a devotional at Amelia's place. i think i'll call home tonight - you have been forewarned. ciao!

delay

I'm terribly sorry for the delay in our regular broadcast - our scheduled program will begin soon.

(this message has been broadcast through the support of viewers like you)

If ever you get bored, check this out: http://www.addictinggames.com/catwithbowgolf.html

Please know, though, that I've put a hold on it at work

Oh, and I know I'm behind on posting about the plays. Please know that you'll get a phone call or see a new post soon. In the meantime, check out my friend Khatereh's blog for some tidbits: http://katsquest.blogspot.com/

beautiful

so i thought i would put up the most beautiful photo in the world, and just let everyone meditate on it for the day.

also, two days and counting before the plays. YEAH!

all eventualities covered

i had an interesting morning. i was about to step out of my room to go catch the bus (it was about 7:05); but with my hand on the door, i stopped and felt like reading before i left for the day. so i sat down in my chair and pulled out my prayer book. for some reason, i felt the need to just read one of the longest ones in there, and i just took my time with it. by the time i was done reading it was the 7:16, and the bus comes at 7:20. i didn't feel rushed though, i felt...slightly...well, i knew something would work out.

so i stepped out my door and went to push the button for the elevator. just as i was about to push it, i heard a familiar voice of a dear friend of mine. what was he doing over here? to my surprise, or actually, no i wasn't surprised. i was more like "oh, [friend], it is your voice i hear". i didn't say this, just thinking it. i went down one flight of stairs to find him helping a new girl get settle into the flat of my friend kathi from chile. i said hello and introduced myself to the new staff member. the next question, naturally, out of my mouth was "oh, [friend], do you have a car?" "yeah, do you need a ride down to work? hold on for 5 minutes and i'll take you". so i sat down in one of kathi's really comfortable chairs and waited for him to get done showing her how the stove works.

as i was still waiting, i had the urge to go back up to my room to get a book mark as i was reading the Kitab-i-Iqan and needed to mark my place. just as i opened the door my home phone rang. it was someone checking to see if one of my new flatmates had arrived (he arrived at around 1am i found out later - but at this point i didn't know he was there). i told them i thought he had, and they needed to know who it was that brought him in. i, of course, didn't know. so i told them sorry, got my bookmark, and went back down stairs. as we were walking out he said "so did you meet sam? i brought him in last night - we got in about 1am". how about that. so i told him that someone had just called asking who it was that brought him in - usually, when they bring someone in, they have to call a certain office to inform them that the new staff member has arrived; the person who brought sam in had forgotten i assume, so i told my friend, and he promptly pulled out his cell phone to call.

as he extracted it form him coat pocket, he looked down to find that it was dead. luckily i had charged mine the day before and so i let him borrow mine to call it in. as he was informing the people that sam had arrived, they in turn told him that his wife had been calling trying to get a hold of him that morning - of course since his phone had been dead he had been unable to. he quickly called her, and was able to answer some questions she had for him.

we slowly made our way down to my office, winding our way through the morning haifa traffic, and i arrived at work after a very interesting hour of things just sort of falling into place.


also, so, i now have two new flatmates. omid arrived last night at about 8:30, and as i said, sam arrived much much later. they're both from the UK, and i think it'll be nice to have them living here. so thats that. :)

excitement

big news today: i am an uncle x 2!!!

please, everyone, help me to welcome into the world Taleh Maria Fananapazir!!! the next child prodigy of Katrina and Nafeh.

here's a picture of the B-E-A-UTIFUL Taleh:


here are also some pictures (once again, courtesy of wonderful Sholeh) of a small get together of close friends and family that i had for my birthday at Arcaffe:

(Rafaan and I)

(Khatereh, Roya, Amelia, me, Lucia, Mona, Yaz, Sholeh, Lauren [kneeling], Juha [squatting] )

(Sina [hand on my back], Ezra [hand on my stomach], Rafaan [hand on my chest], Jonathan [hand on my stomach, but then also secretly holding Ezra's hand] )

(Ezra, Sina, me, Jonathan, Rafaan)

(Ezra and Jonathan)

(the fam)

today

woke up

thanked Baha'u'llah for another year

beautiful walk to work

talked to Lucia

teared up with all the wonderful messages

today is going to be a good day

and this is a Madame Butterfly morning :D


how i feel inside:


umm...the best present today...to have a niece :D.
katrina, i know this might be a bit of a painful present, but just do your best ok? love you!

walking makes me happy

for the first time since the beginning of what was a depressingly hot summer, it was cool enough for me to walk willingly down to work - about a 35 minute walk. i have walked one other time, but that was only because I missed my bus, and when you have no money, your options are quite limited.

i stepped out of my apartment building at 7:15 set to go catch the bus. just then a cool breeze swept over me and the city began to actually look quite beautiful - it's quite easy to just focus on the garbage and insufferable amount of cats - but that didn't bother me this morning.

oh, and shana tova everyone! it is the eve rosh hashana, the jewish new year, starting after sunset. which means that even though it doesn't start till later tonight, it might as well have started now as most jewish israelis take the day off which means we don't have many people to correspond with today.

more importantly, i hope that everyone also had a beautiful Holy Day commemoration yesterday. after the commeroration here, the family met up with all the alfords for a wonderfully delicious lunch at tatami's - a sushi restaurant up in the ahuza. it was so so good, and i plan to go there much more often - we will definitely be taking navid up there when he comes. :)

here is something to think about:

Sleeping in the Forest

by Mary Oliver

I thought the earth remembered me,

she took me back so tenderly,

arranging her dark skirts, her pockets

full of lichens and seeds.

I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,

nothing between me and the white fire of the stars

but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths

among the branches of the perfect trees.

All night I heard the small kingdoms

breathing around me, the insects,

and the birds who do their work in the darkness.

All night I rose and fell, as if in water,

grappling with a luminous doom. By morning

I had vanished at least a dozen times

into something better.

wedding pics

So here are some pictures of the wedding this weekend,
courtesy of our great friend Sholeh!

(Abi, me, Gigi, Anis)

(Gigi, Neda)

(Kathi, me, Abi, Kerii)

(Mrs. Mohajer, Shrada, Abi, me)

(Aqdas, Neda, Tim, Abi, me, Kerii, Gigi's knee, Rafaan's head)

(Gigi, Anis)


Last thought - it is very much a "Norah Jones" listening day.

weekend

to begin:

Thursday evening - I was joined by Nabil, Ruha, the Lincolns, Halls, and O'Tooles at the wedding reception of our newest worker in OIA, Lee. We all arrived at a restaurant on Ben Gurion just on time, a bit too early actually...they were still setting up inside. But we walked in greeted the other guests, mostly family, that were there as best we could with our limited Hebrew. Many of them did know English. But we took over a table and then enjoyed a wonderful night of delicious food, apparently funny stories (we couldn't understand them :) ), and lots and lots of dancing. We had to be dignified to a certain extent, and so Theresa and I danced a little salsa but not too much. But it was truly lovely, and they even hoisted the bride and groom up on chairs and danced around.

Friday - what a busy, busy day. First I had work till noon, and then two play practices one right after the other. The first was very high energy and wore me out for the rest of the day. The second was just sitting, reading lines, observing. All that took me till about 3:30ish, when at that time was to go meet Tim Alford to practice the song we were going to perform together the next day for Gigi and Anis's wedding. We played for about an hour or so, hour and a half. After that I went home to practice with Kathi...we would also be playing together for the wedding. By this time, I was finding it so hard to move. I then went straight to my bed and fell asleep.


I woke up around 8ish realizing that I had to go meet someone to prepare a fruit salad for the wedding - it would need to feed about 40 people. So I taxied it over, and chopped and mixed for 2 hours. Unfortunately, they didn't have room in their fridge for everything so we had to carry a bunch over to another friends house to store it in their fridge. This is all about 11pm. We walk into this other house and there is Gigi and Anis and all their families and friends for a relaxing night together. I hung out there for a bit, but then slowly got roped into helping out some more...mostly with carrying stuff. I didn't get home till a little have 12 I think, and didn't fall asleep till around 1.

Saturday - I woke up early...mostly likely because I was nervous about performing...I always get nervous when I have to do solos. But I stayed in bed until I couldn't anymore, and just had to get up and get some breakfast. I then went over to Kathi's for a bit to practice a little more. And then went back up to bed, and found my self walking up my walls - it felt so good on my back and I just couldn't stop yawning.


Around 2ish I started to get ready and Kathi and I grabbed a taxi to make it up there around 3. I told the driver "39 Harof" please...so he takes us to 39 Harub. The "f" and "b" sound slightly similar. I'd never been to the house the wedding was at, but I knew this was not where it was. I quickly called Tim and go the correct pronunciation "Harofeh". "AH! Harofeh! Why didn't you say so" and then for the next 15 minutes Kahti and I got a lecture on the difference between the two words courtesy of our Israeli friend. So we got to the house, mingled around for a bit, and I waited for Tim to get there so we could practice one more time. Found an empty bathroom to squeeze into, played it through once and bob's your uncle. The wedding was lovely. About 35-40 people all packed together in a living room, waiting expectantly for our friends (Gigi and Anis) to come out and take their seats in front of us. Then finally they walked in to two little girls playing "Hey Jude" quite beautifully on the violin. The opening prayer was read, and then Tim and I were up. Though I was quite nervous and sort stuck out as I stood up and sort of towered over everyone. I think it went well, people said it did.


The rest of the programme was filled with wonderful readings and a few more songs and chants. Gigi and Anis decided to say their vows in the middle of the programme which was unique - the programme lasted about 20 minutes. We then made our way outside, while the dinner was being prepared, to take pictures against a beautiful sunset. The food was delicious, the company was fun and exciting. After the dinner, we all gathered together for those people they had asked to perform some songs. Kathi and I started it off with a Spanish song called "Compromiso". Many others sang songs including Tim and Aqdas, and then Gigi and Anis put on the rings. And the whole things finished about 8 oclock. I was so , so tired by the end of it. It had been a crazy couple of days, but quite rewarding. Kathi and I stayed around for a bit to help clean up but then caught a ride back home. I quickly found my bed when I got home and went to sleep soon after.

It was an intense weekend to be sure. But thank goodness the next wedding isn't until early October. I'll try to get a hold of some pictures soon. Ciao! Oh, and I also hope you all have been keeping up with the 2007 Rugby World Cup! Go All Blacks!

("the boys" - old school style)

empty frames

there are a number of picture frames that are just leaning against the sides of my shelf walls in my rooms - just empty frames waiting, wishing to be filled. i bought them fairly early on in since being here in israel, but have yet to find something worth putting in there. now, before you get ahead of yourself, i'm not making an allusion to the state of my life here :). just commenting on the fact that i need to search for something to really add to the decor of my room. i need to increase my library, find a place to put up my engraving of a poem of pablo neruda a friend got my from chile, and just add some color. i mean, my life is quite simplistic, but doesn't then mean that it is boring. but i'll find something soon. i also don't think i've taken the opportunity just to go and look.

i also need some flower pots...with some flowers in them.

today is a big day. singing two songs at the wedding of my flat mate and friend. (big breath) solos always make me so nervous. i've ironed all my clothes and set them out, also like empty frames waiting for me to step into them and give them life.

i had hoped to give myself my usual summer haircut (basically all off) this morning, but i can't find the clippers...oh well.

i'm wondering how cheryl is doing in my room...has she rearranged things? i know that i left a bunch of stuff, clothes, just sort of not stored away...i mean, i didn't know she would be there. but i wonder if she likes my little study corner? my desk? my library? my bed was really comfortable too. well, i hope she is using it to the max.

thought

creativity is so important i think. it needs to be developed at an early age and never lost. todays task for all of you today: do something creative; it can be spontaneous or planned. it just has to be expressive in some way and in any medium - paint a picture, write a story, play a song, rearrange your bedroom, do a dance, upgrade your office systems, run into someone and almost break your neck (he says sarcastically). use your imagination!

froggy frog frogger

brain is foggy this morning...finding it hard to concentrate completely.

tonight iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssss GAME NIGHT WITH LUCIA! yeah to yummy food! yeah to good company! yeah to fun games!

ok, enough of that. settle down gdawg...patience, patience.

i feel like posting pictures - can't think enough to make a coherent string of words. enjoy!

sweet september

the weekend was sort of jam packed with activities. first, on friday night after work i had a meeting with the other preschool teachers and then a dinner/orientation with the rest of the parents and teachers. Dr. Arbab was there, and gave a very memorable talk. i absorbed a ton, and it will most likely come out in bits and pieces over the next few blog posts.

saturday i had a teacher training day for Baha'i school here (again, i'll be teaching the 4 to5 year olds - which currently consists of one, count it, one kid...it'll be great :D ). the day was so much fun and it got me so extremely excited to begin teaching. we focused on learning styles and did all sorts of things from songs, to arts and crafts, to drama. all we were missing were the children :D and so we did our best to fill in. i'll need to be extremely creative teaching one child. here's a picture of me, completely focused on my art project - i was mixing it up with a little marker water color painting:



that very night we joined a lovely group of people to celebrate our friend Yaz's birthday. we went to the haifa mall to eat and then off to see a movie. but not just any movie...probably one of the funniest movies of the year. i was laughing, dancing, singing almost the entire time. yes my friends, i'm talking about the one, the only "Hairspray". it...was...hilarious. please, please see it. here's a picture of the funnest group in the world (the birthday girl is to the right of roya):


it is the 2nd of september...let me repeat that, it is the 2nd of september. can't believe it's already here. you know, i think there is, by policy, some specific amount of information and knowledge you are supposed to have gained and learned by the time you turn another year...hmm...i wonder if i've learned enough? ciao!