JERUSALEM

Yes, we have arrived in Jerusalem, and yes, I do still have a blog.  I have been meaning to record my "first impressions" of Jerusalem, so here it goes; in no particular order...

1.  Not to state the obvious, but there is a lot of Hebrew (language) here - and I can't make heads or tales of it.  The grocery store is absolutely a mystery to me. I don't know if i'm buying sour cream, yogurt, buttermilk or cheese.  Stare and study as I might, I simply cannot make backwards c's and n's into words.  There is just so little english here to help figure out what signs are trying to convey.  Entrance or exit?  Got me.  Is this item on sale?  Heck if I know.  $100 for those groceries?  If you say so.  

2.  Apartment life with 3 young(ish) kids and a dog is the pits.  Our apartment is absolutely lovely and the location can't be beat, but I long to slide open a back door and let the kids burn off their energy.  Margo, who has never lived in an apartment (*accuracy disclaimer: this is not actually true, but i'm not responsible for the decisions Margo made before she came into our lives) is struggling with the concept that she is supposed to relieve herself WHILE she is on a walk, not ask to go out 20 minutes after we return home.  

3.  Jerusalem is a large, bustling city.  Actually it's not; which is why I get scoffed at when I express this observation to co-workers and locals.  Jerusalem is actually a very small city, but to this 3rd world surfing bumpkin, it's crazy here!  In my defense we live smack in the city center of downtown and that means it's, well, often really noisy.  

4.  The Prime Minister is our neighbor.  This is either really good (security wise, lots of guards, etc.) or really bad (big stinking bullseye).  This also ties nicely into talking point #1 (too much Hebrew).  The first night we were here (and most subsequent nights) we heard bunches of sirens and bullhorns squawking, followed by some sort of announcement (in Hebrew, of course) and more sirens.  I look at Mike and say, "ahhh, should we know what they are saying, because it sounds kinda important?"  Well, we didn't, so we just continued to eat our dinner or whatever it was we were doing.  Turns out that the sirens, squawking, bullhorns and announcements are from Bibi's motorcade blocking off streets.  At least that's what I think is going on.  Rest assured, if there are mass announcements about some impending disaster, we will remain blissfully unaware, thanks to all the blasted Hebrew!

5.  It is possible to walk uphill both ways.  You can't go anywhere here without going uphill; yet when you turn around to come home it never fails that you are walking uphill.  Those old-timers were not yanking your chain.

6.  Moving to Jerusalem has serious implications on our social life.  Mike and I called in a babysitter for the first time last night.  We paid the equivalent of $65 (inclusive of taxi fare) for 4 hours.  The babysitter cost more than our evening out.  Don't judge me that I'm seriously contemplating the legal implications of having Sophia (she's 9) start babysitting.

7.  There are no bagels here.  Those of you that are familiar with my co-dependent love affair with carbohydrates know how painful this discovery has been.  Trust me, I share your outrage and disgust and all-around despair.  There really is no justice in this world.  I literally sat down one night and googled "Why are there no bagels in Jerusalem."  It seems I was not the only one who felt they had been bamboozled.  The only explanation I uncovered is that New York got the bagel Jews and Jerusalem got the falafel Jews.  Seems true enough because there is lots of falafel here and I must admit that it is really delicious.

Still wanna visit??

THE LAST HURRAH

Guess who was able to wrest the camera from Mike's hands?  

The movers come next week and we are busily wrapping up our 2 years in Malawi.  We were able get away for one last safari in Zambia last weekend.

             

Notice how this log ripped off the running board of the car  It wouldn't budge and we needed to get an axe out and chop it out from under the car in pieces.

This is aptly called a raft of hippos.

 An extremely unhappy elephant who charged every time we proceeded down the path he was on.  When we backed, he would go into the woods to eat.  As soon as we began to inch forward, out he came swinging his trunk.  This charge was his last warning.  Elephant -1, us-0

 We saw lots of grumpy and/or fighting animals - perhaps it was mating season??

 This is Anna, of course!

 Need I mention that this is the same crocodile and hippo infested river pictured above?  We stayed for a while to watch - kinda like waiting for the train wreck you know is coming.

VICTORIA FALLS

Or as Anna insists on calling it, "Victoria's Falls."

We put some serious miles on our car and took a big old trip to Zambia and Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls. It truly was a sight to see. Rainy season is just ending and the amount of water going over the falls was just amazing. The falls are so huge that it is impossible to get any photos of the whole thing. What you can see from Mike's pix are just different sections of a huge strip. The water is falling over Zambia into Zimbabwe. And the noise is just indescribable. William and I ventured to a section of the trail aptly named "danger point", where you are forewarned to go further at your own risk. The trail is beyond slippery and there are no railings, fences or any other barriers.

The kids were nearly perfectly dry just before this picture was taken. A single gust of wind was all it took to drench EVERYONE. Luckily it was a warm day otherwise it would have been miserably cold.

Anna was absolutely TERRIFIED to cross this bridge. This photo is on our way back, the initial crossing she was even further up my body and hanging on even tighter. Smart girl though, the bridge was incredibly slippery and there is nothing to hold onto except for some slimy vertical metal rails.

After two nights at Victoria Falls we drove further south into Zimbabwe and visited Hwange Game Park - which was totally devoid of game (except for the two birds at the end of this post). Rainy season is NOT the time to visit game parks. We knew this so were not overly disappointed. The park was beautiful (Zimbabwe was beautiful) and we stayed in an absolutely lovely tented camp.

Yes, this frog really was in my bed. I pulled back the covers and nearly put my head on this guy. The next night (and different camp) there was yet another frog in my bed (no one else had this happen to them. Hmmmmm).

Did I forget to mention that Mike got arrested in Zimbabwe! So, we got stopped at a police/military roadblock (all the rage in Africa) and apparently Zimbabwe requires little strips of white reflector tape to be on the front bumper. Mike apologized for not having the tape and said that he would remedy the situation when we got to the nearest town. The police kept insisting "but you need it now."

Finally Mike says, "I understand I need this tape but I don't have it. What do i need to do to continue on my journey."

Police - "ahhh, you are now under arrest."

Mike - "what exactly does that mean?"

Lynn - (silently in my head) "This is awesome. Can you imagine the traffic this will generate on my blog if i get a photo of Mike in a Zimbabwean jail."

In the end, the police simply took Mike's passport over to his supervisor who was lounging under a shady mango tree. Whatever was discussed resulted on us being waved on to continue our journey.

Less than 50 days to go before we leave Malawi. Not that Mike is counting.......

BACK TO THE BEACH

Happy Maryter's Day!

Truly, I have NO IDEA what it is, but it got us a day off on Monday. We packed up the car, the kids, AND Margo and headed to the beach. All was fine until our first night, at 2AM, when Anna started puking IN the tent! It was a camping first for me and one that i hope to not again revisit. When we camp, we have a girls tent and a boys tent (Margo, of course, was in the girls tent). Turns out that the boys neglected to give the girls any flashlights. So, at 2AM when the puking begins, all i can do is cup my hands over Anna's mouth and hope to blindly catch as much as i can. Turned out that i missed quite a bit.

A few hours and a shower later, Anna wakes up and is burning up! I brought along medicine, but no thermometer. One of the families we were with had one, but it was in celsius and for the life of me, I'll never come to terms with temperatures in celsius (even going on year 6 in metric countries). I mean 39 degrees just doesn't sound very hot to me.

A few hours later when her temperature would not come down, another family we were with suggested i give her a malaria quick test (Malaria is always a concern here). There just happened to be a lovely Dutch doctor camping with her family who offered to plunge the lancet into Anna's finger. A few drops of blood and 15 to 30 minutes was all we needed. The test is supposed to be pretty straight forward. A vertical control stripe, then either no additional stripes (no malaria), or an assortment of vertical stripes that indicate the type of malaria. After 30 minutes all that appeared was a horizontal stripe of blood. Seriously, can we ever catch a break here?

By the end of the day, however, Anna was able to get up and dip her feet in the water for a few minutes of fun. The next day the fever was gone and she was back in action; but not for long as her fever is back and now accompanied with a wicked cough. I took her in for a professional malaria test today, so whatever she has I can assure you it's not malaria.

I'd say Margie got a solid B for her first camping trip. We are working on turning Margo into an "urban dog" in preparation for our move to Jerusalem. More than likely we will be living in an apartment and Margo needs to brush up on her social skills. Big time. She has led a very sheltered life here on her 2 acre country estate and has no idea what she's getting herself into (nor do we!). The thought of having to take the dog out to go to the bathroom every time they need to go is quite overwhelming. I guess we are all in for some big changes.

Mike took some amazing photos of a storm brewing over Mozambique. We are just entering the tail end of the rainy (and hot) season. Fortunately we were able to (mostly) dodge rain the whole weekend. We did successfully dodge this storm.