Superficial Joy

  Nothing more to say.

I'm headed now to Greece to meet up with an ongoing tour in Thessaloniki, the organizer of which I met in Hebrew class online during Covid! The group has been to Egypt, Jordan and Israel and I am joining them for only the Greece section. Michelle and I had no problem leaving on time and getting me to London Stansted Airport 3 hours early, as Ryan Air recommended. Even I can be on time for airports now! The first wrong move I made was getting into a line that I didn't realize was Customer Service rather than a Check-In line.  This was easily fixed when an employee walking around making announcements stopped near me and I clarified if I was in the correct line or not. I have learn that I must  listen to that little voice that tells me when it thinks something is wrong--it is always right. So I move to the line where the guy directs me and a few others, as he condescendingly says, "You have to read the signs."  Yeah, thanks--I hadn't thought of that yet. How about yo...

My visit to the Lake District ended this morning and I made my way down to a town near Cambridge to visit Michelle, whom I met when she was an au pair for my cousin long ago. We have stayed in touch and when I was working on my Master's degree in Ireland I began to visit her and her family every summer. I haven't seen them for about 4 summers. The goodbye picture from the Lake District Adventure My journey happened to coincide with  the hottest day ever recorded in the UK .  There were travel advisories all over the place telling everyone to stay home and not travel on Monday and Tuesday unless it was absolutely essential. Here's one warning from the Trainline App  (an app I highly recommend for booking and following train travel in Europe).  As another aside, I wasn't sure why trains + extreme heat = trouble, but I found  this  page on Network Rail explaining what happens in the hot weather. It is actually very interesting reading, especially as someo...

When I think of the Lake District in the UK, I think of this scene from the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice , a place I've wanted to visit ever since seeing the movie: So when I was given the opportunity to hike (walk, as it is called in Europe) in the Lake District, I was definitely on board.  As it turns out I was wrong. Pride and Prejudice was not filmed in the Lake District (which is actually a National Park) but in the Peak District , which is a different National Park.  Zena and I arrived on Thursday evening and went hiking with her friend (our host) on Friday, Saturday and Monday with a break on Sunday for church and fellowship. Here's what the Lake District looks like from our hikes on Friday and Saturday. Next I am off to East Anglia to visit an old friend.  From Friday: On Saturday: and finally, on Monday; although this is not from the Lake District but nearby:

  I began writing this on Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv after 3 flights that began at 9 a.m. on Monday, Boise time. I wasn't really looking forward to coming back to Tel Aviv before I leave on Thursday morning to go to the UK, Greece and France.  If I'm really honest, I've been dreading it. Nothing these days gives me as much anxiety as the Tel Aviv airport. When I left in mid-June I arrived 4 hours early and it took me 2 hours to get checked in. Turned out that that was fast . Friends who left the next week had to wait 3-4 hours to check in. Pictures on Twitter showed people standing in line outside  the airport to get through the first layer of security. This fed my anxiety which was even higher because my original plans for the summer involved coming back to Tel Aviv twice during July!! I spent most of the first week of my time in the US with this underlying anxiety interrupting my sleep and constantly churning in the background. I managed to change one flight so that I...

What a great trip the the US it was this year. I only stayed for 3 weeks primarily because if this is my last year abroad (still yet to be determined), I want to pack in the travel this summer, especially after Corona took away a lot of travel time.  I took a graduate class this summer, so the first two weeks I was preoccupied with that. I spent one day in bed after getting my second booster for Covid (so that I could travel go on a short cruise in Greece this summer). Other than that, I spent time with family, friends and, most importantly, myself. I am not super great at planned down time where I am truly present with myself. I tend to turn on the TV and zone out--a habit I am not in the least condemning! I just would rather only do that by choice rather than as a habit when I don't want to. I made sure to preserve time to myself and I made sure I spent time outside in the amazing weather in Boise. I forced myself to go hike Table Rock in the evenings and spent both Saturdays in ...

Happy Fourth of July to my American friends! I am just over halfway through my visit to Boise and it has been wonderful! During the first week I was finishing up a class at Boise State University that took all of my spare time. I submitted my last assignment on Saturday and have been busy but not too busy. There has been a few coffee dates, time spent with my dear friend and her delightful mother, some (but not enough) being outside in the beautiful weather. A friend from Abu Dhabi drove through with her husband and that was amazing! [I would like to say that I have had more friends fro the UAE visit me in Boise than I had in the UAE from America! Come on, people--come to Israel!] I have a few adventures planned this week, but mostly I am enjoying spending time with myself relaxing and going to the gym and hiking and resting. As for the 4th, I have done NOTHING! I ran a few errands and went to the gym, but no big plans--and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I was surprised at how many...