This and that

I've been lazy about posting since I haven't been able to take pics with my camera -- not only did I manage to break the screen, but today I also got sand in the lens. Oh well, it really was time for an upgrade anyway... I'll take care of it when I'm back in NYC, as I can't find any of the more basic Canon SD cameras here (are they out of date, maybe?)

Life has been very mellow here. I took one static trapeze lesson, and although the instructor showed me a few new things, mostly it was a bit of me saying I can "yep, I can do that too" and then I showed her a few things she hadn't seen before. Still, it was fun getting on a trapeze, of one kind or another, and really, really nice being told that I have good technique, since I definitely didn't expect to here that as I still really scrunch my toes in the single knee hangs... I also got to try out the lyra, which I had never done before, and have to say that it's something that I'd like to play with some more, but was surprised to find that it hurts more than a static bar! I guess that's because there is none of the softer ropey area. It wasn't quite as intuitive as I thought it would be...

Even though Romana, my instructor didn't think I needed anymore lessons, only practice time, the guy in charge of the circus is very hesitant about letting me train without anyone present -- insurance issues, of course. And although I promised to sign anything that he would require, it really was a no go. (Despite murmurs about them getting back to me. Oh well!) If I'm not feeling lazy, I may call someone who trains in her backyard about 45 minutes from here. It is always interesting to see what other tricks or transitions someone else has to offer. Romana is primarily a silks gal... I feel like I'm losing strength, like last summer, and my callouses are still there, but are definitely softening.

And in other news... this past weekend I took the girls up to the Kinneret (a/k/a the Sea of Galilee, even though it is a freshwater lake, and not a sea -- I think that this is where Jesus supposedly walked on water). The waves there were surprisingly strong, and came at up pretty rapidly. It was almost overwhelming for me!

We also went rafting on the Yarden/Jordan River, which was lots of fun in a lazy sort of way, (since I didn't do more than steer the raft away from the sides of the river.) While up there, we stayed in a "zimmer", the name for a little house on someone's property -- sort of like a bed and breakfast, although not necessarily with breakfast, and not usually attached to the person's house... they are a very popular alternative to hotels, and some of them are really very nice/romantic retreats.

The girls and I also went to a water park up there, and had lots of fun sliding and swimming, and on the way back to the Tel Aviv area, they both took nice long naps in the car.

Aside from that, life here has been almost the opposite of life in NYC. Aside from pick up and drop off for the girls at camp, I am totally a woman of leisure, and my mind and body seems to require that I do very little. I've spent a lot of time sleeping, a decent amount of time studying for the GRE's, and much, much less than usual being as physically active as I'm used to. When I tried to do more, I promptly got sick, and had to recover by sleeping an entire day away. Since it goes completely against my grain to do so little, every night, before I go to bed, I have all sorts of ambitious intentions for the following day. So far they haven't led to very much. Maybe tomorrow will be different, but only if I go to bed soon.

Missing NYC, and all of you.