Bill & Leslie’s Excellent Adventure

As of this month my folks are now officially retired and have been chomping at the bit to hit the open road. Their plan is to leverage my fathers’ military status and use military aircrafts to travel in what ever direction the plane is headed. With one caveat, first stop Israel, to see their daughter whom they haven’t seen in nearly 2 years.

Their overall plan is a pretty cool one – The military aircrafts take passengers (only active and retired military) and it is not unusual for military retirees to hang out on base till the next plane has their desired location and hop on for a minimal cost or for free. So the plan is to fly to Germany (for free) and then figure it out from there how to get to Israel.

Now I know where I get it from: it has all come full circle from my first blog entry, Type A vs. Type B personalities. I have no idea when they are officially arriving or even from where. I don’t even know where to greet them upon their arrival. Can’t even book a hotel room yet and don’t know what to do with them once they arrive. The beauty is neither they nor I mind. Tee hee, tee hee


Most recent update is they are at the military base and instead of Germany they will be landing in Spain… to be continued…

Whats up in Jerusalem?

It has been hard to understand even for myself, my resistance to return home other than knowing that all I can see for myself in my return is picking up where I left off. That is not what my intention was when I started this personal sojourn. I had yet again romantic notions of finding myself or feeling (if not finding myself) finding a new direction, inspiration or spark.

I maybe sounding heavy/deep or perhaps for many that’s normal…I’ve definitely learned to appreciate and recognize sensitivities and darkness. But to pat myself on the back, I have accomplished 2 of the 3 goals I set out on and am in the midst of the 3rd. I wanted to live abroad, immerse myself in a foreign country, be “The American” and challenge myself differently. In this pursuit I wanted to experience volunteering on a kibbutz (Kibbutz Ein Gev), immersing myself in Israeli culture (Tel Aviv) and whilst in Israel might as well learn more about Judaism. At present I have accomplished the first 2 and as mentioned am working on the 3rd.

Many have been asking what I have been up to and other than “learning about Judiasm” it has been nothing more than that. I’ve always wondered what the religion I’ve been born into is about and thought that an added perk for being in Israel would be to learn more. My thought was simply being in the Holy Land it would occur thru osmosis. As it turns out that is not the case here and that there is a great disparity in Israeli culture between practicing Jews “Religious” and cultural Jews “Secular”. With great effort I sought to learn more but resisted going the Religious route – I was quite intimidated by the idea of being surrounded with women in head covering and bearded men wearing big black hats and only dressing in black and white.

After being tapped on the shoulder by a Rabbi who offered a free ride to come and learn, I finally conceded - to throw caution to yet another wind - to throw my pants and plunging necklines aside, and adorn myself in 3/4 length skirts and tops for the sake of learning in a religious seminary.

The response has been mixed, (by me and) from those on the “Secular’ side of the fence. Some have been amazingly supportive and understanding in my approach while others have been quite cynical.

Despite my mixed emotions, I have to say to my pleasant surprise, it has been quite cool. Not just learning monotheism but I have been learning meditation, healing, zodiac, kaballah, history and the Jewish calander, the Hebrew alphabet – its numerical and spiritual values, Jewish philosophers, etc. It is truly deep, rich and enriching.

I’m not gonna lie and this may be a heads up – I don’t know where I am going with this or what I am willing to do but there is some really good stuff here that I may need to make greater effort to incorporate in my life. If all goes well I’ll find a husband, be covering my hair and flying home with my 9 children.