Blogging from Israel..so What is it like? Cold, warm... both and wild.

That was last night in Jerusalem at the Wall. 

We prayed there a while.

I got to watch sunset as we drove up to the Wall.

We also did the Tunnel Tours. 

You MUST do them if you go..

You don't have to be Jewish.

We had Germans, people from Thailand and Americans.

It really gives you a sense of history, the bible and just a wonder of the world.

They explain the geography, weather and history and how it relates.

How various generations of invaders came and went.

Each adding their own style and touch to the construction.

The very mountain the "Wall" of the Old Temple is built on is HIGH.

Note it's a lot of walking..

So I'm posting from Netanya in Israel. It's a beach city much like Miami Beach in ways but more a combination of Santa Monica and Miami Beach with a touch of Laguna Beach thrown in as well. Sort of like you are in a movie where everyone is speaking in Hebrew and you can't find subtitles in English unless you see PIZZA HUT, IKEA or OFFICE DEPOT signs in English lit up along the side of the road in neon lights. National Geographic Channel is on tv here everywhere with Hebrew Subtitles, I guess that's why Israelis love to travel and see the world. And then many come back to Israel while others stay in America a while. My son-in-law to be is from Netanya of Yemenite/Persian background and his family has lived in Israel for generations. He lives and works in Miami where he met my daughter and they've been together a long time so I feel more like he's a son than a stranger coming into the family. It's a custom to go the Wall before the Chuppah which is the RELIGIOUS wedding ceremony vs a regular legal one in America. Sometimes we do it the other way around as when I got remarried I had a Chuppah but waited a few years for the legal, civil ceremony.

To understand this blog post I attended Hebrew School when I was little after public school where I learned for a few years to say things like EMA BO! Meaning Mother is here! Then ABA BO! Meaning Father is here. Maybe it was Po but think it was Bo so you get the idea. I can't really speak Hebrew but I can read it and understand a little. My list of words is mostly things like "now" "only" "if" "what" "who" "good" "no" "ok" which isn't enough to really string a sentence together but works a bit. His family doesn't speak English. One brother does a bit and a brother in law speaks some as well as Spanish as he was born in Argentina. Yay I can speak a bit of Spanish. Yiddish doesn't work well here as it is mostly a European blend of Hebrew and German so that only works if you are some where that American's who are orthodox or people from England made Aliyah.

When I try to speak Hebrew my mind mixes it all into a mish mash of one word English, one Spanish, one Hebrew and one Yiddish so I smile a lot.

It's very much like LA in that you can drive a half an hour up a mountain and going from boots and sweaters being okay to suddenly freezing.

The spiritual aspect of it is slow to hit me and unfolds the way a rose does as you see layers of it all. The sun setting on the Arab quarter was awesome. It reminds me of Seattle a bit ways and then Laguna and then "OH wow I'm in Israel!"

So here are some pictures and this is where I am living on the Israeli weather sites. Note you have to change them to F from C and well you get the idea.

http://www.ims.gov.il/IMSENG/All_Tahazit/homepage.htm

What I don't understand is..............

55 degrees in Jerusalem seems so much colder than Raleigh.

It's really cold and in Raleigh I'd wear a sweater ...

...yet here I needed a winter coat.

And yet in summer it would be warm so...

... I'm not getting a summer vacation from winter.

The fruit in the shuk wow.

You can live on the halvah and baklava a lone.

Arab area... nice.

Some of the family "at the wall"

So that's it.

I'm either going to the beach or the Dead Sea or Jerusalem later.

I'm here with several kids and family so everything is fluid.

Sorry for any typos, I'm tired.

Jet lag but running.

love you all and will let Mike do American weather this week.

I'll be back next week covering winter weather and anything tropical.

Besos BobbiStorm

Shalom in Israel

@bobbistorm on TwitterB