My Year 2015

A lot of really good stuff this year, but something tells me that 2016 is gonna be a real knockout year!  This is a compilation video of my year in photographs  https://youtu.be/XGF_KyqVG4g

15 YEARS

I was looking at some older pics and wondered about doing a sort of time lapse of myself over the past 15 years, so I created a video. Maybe I can someday have the time to create a life history, but in the meantime...

https://youtu.be/lK5ZA3bd5_4

Just In Time For Fest Season

It seems like I spend a lot of time looking forward to things that always end too soon. As I embark on a new adventure, I get sentimental again after 6 months in Japan that blew by too fast, following an intense few months living in Israel. In Japan had the excitement of meeting up with my old friend Clyde and reminiscing about the “good old days”. I met my brother’s long time friend Brad, and got to spend a little time with him, talking like old friends about different memories of the same space in time. Taking three weeks in August to take care of personal business, see some friends, and visit my family, including Blake and John and John’s son Cayden was a welcome but fast break. And now I am in Baumholder, Germany having recovered from my wrist surgery in July and my back balagan in August.  My year in Germany is starting off with some cool new adventures with a new and an old friend. Baumholder is a small village on a hillside that I can pretty much walk around in an hour. The US Army installation here is quite big, so to coin a phrase, you can’t throw a rock without hitting an American, but I just try to blend and get away when I can so I feel like I am actually in Germany. Fall in Deutschland is a very festive time of year with trees changing colors rapidly, new wine being sold at every venue, wine fests, beer fests and pumpkin fests. 

This past weekend all of Germany was celebrating German Unity Day marking 25 years since the reunification of East and West Germany. Look it up folks, Germany used to be 2 countries, and before that it was one country and, well, the center of a lot of the world’s energy. Anyway, I have enjoyed some Autumn festivities and now thinking I am gonna chill for a week or so, before I indulge again. I was planning to go to Munich for Oktobefest last weekend, but after the fest in Stuttgart, I decided that I could not handle Munich.  I just contented myself with throngs of quite drunk, mostly happy and intensely celebratory people in lederhosen and dirndlen singing Take Me Home Country Roads at top volume from the table tops and lampposts, spilling beer and laughing, throwing up on the sidewalks, urinating anywhere there was something to lean against, and eating bratwurst and pommes frites.  If that doesn’t tell you why I didn’t go to Munich, add in the fact that the train was the best transportation to the Stuttgart Volksfest which was crammed with people of every ethnicity, size, age and degree of inebriation. Once you are in the mob moving to or from the train, you are going where the mob goes regardless of your agenda or itinerary. When the fest closed Friday night it seemed like EVERYBODY in Stuttgart moved as one throbbing organism, heaving forward, then to the side with no room to turn around, fall down or exit. We had a colorful term for it in Boot Camp, but here I will just say that I got to know the people in front of and behind me very well…all while singing Country Roads or Sweet Caroline or Ein Prozit…loudly.

Then it was Saturday, Unity Day and my friends and I went into the city for a little while before attempting to go back and enjoy more of the Volksfest. It was an incredibly beautiful day and despite the heavy presence of Polizei in riot gear surrounding an event that resounded with shouts by angry white guys trash-talking America and Israel while waving a hodgepodge of Middle Eastern flags. It was a small but hostile crowd that I was able to walk the long way around and visit the Palace grounds and enjoy the weather and scenery. Since then it has rained everyday, which local people affectionately call Baumholder sunshine. I love Germany.

Photos are from top to bottom, left to right: Clyde; Brad; Blake; John and Cayden; pumpkins everywhere; Volksfest table dancing; my bodyguards/entourage; Stuttgart and Stuttgart Schlossplatz. Tschuss!

Endings and Beginnings; Israel and Japan…again

 

 It is hard to believe my time in Israel ended a month in the past. It confirmed so much for me and left me undone in other ways. The problem with new experiences is that they always teach you something new and sometimes don’t really know what to do with that new stuff and often it is not something you can prepare for. You just have to be patient and wait for the revelation to hit you. In struggling to find the right words, I am keenly aware of how sensitive words can be. I don’t even know what I need to say, but I think I have to write something. I have been trying to write this blog for over a month.

I just want to say also that a diverse group of people have made an impact on me, from Bethlehem to Baga, London to Lublianja, Germany to Jerusalem.  To quote the song: what a long, strange trip it’s been. But one I wouldn’t have missed for the world.  I did graduate from ulpan (language school), so now I have another language to butcher.

I have been to many places, and always with a little insulation as I had a job and the blanket of protection provided by being on a military installation. Being on vacation somewhere is always nice, but still there is the knowledge that in a few days I can look back at the little annoyances as part of the experience of being a tourist. For me, this was different. My Dad and I immersed in the local life, renting an apartment, taking public transit and meandering the streets searching for the best falafel shop and best place in the shuq to buy nuts and vegetables, while studying Hebrew and trying to get everything done and be home before the Shabbat horn. Then after he went home, and I moved to a new neighborhood. I struck out on some adventures of my own, taking the Arab bus to Bethlehem, learning to navigate the 4 quarters of Jerusalem – day and night, staying out too late and having to walk, and hanging out with some awesome people. There are too many people who made the time in Israel amazing and I cannot name them all and if I tried I might leave someone out, but you know who you are and I place high value on our friendship. I read once that the measure of life well-lived is not how many breaths I took, but how many moments took my breath away.  The measurer is gonna need a bigger ruler.

After a wonderful time in Tennessee with my family for a whole 8 days, once again I find myself in Japan.  One of those magical places I keep coming back to and cannot get enough of. From Okinawa to Misawa and points in between…I like it a lot. Now I am at a point in between, again, and making new friendships and re-establishing old ones.  6 months from now I will be at another crossroads, but a great American philosopher once said “I'll think about that tomorrow.”

 

Ending the year in ירושלים

2014 is winding down and what a year I have had. Let me explain…no there is too much…let me sum up. My dream date came true (nuf said), I broke my arm and got it fixed, my stuff went under water and I flew home from Okinawa to salvage what I could…and back again, I have a grandson and now I am studying Hebrew in Jerusalem. It may not be everybody’s perfect year but I have absolutely no complaints.  I am really graced. Since my last writing, Dad and Betsy returned to Tennessee, I have moved to my new place and my host has been great.  He even loaned me to a couple of Haredi men to tutor them in English, which has also been awesome.  He invited me to his English class on Friday mornings and I try and offer a bit of help and maybe support these guys as they deal with the English language: Things like rough, cough, though and through do not rhyme; or that What looks like it should rhyme with That but rather it sounds like But which doesn’t rhyme with Put. And why Each and Deaf both have the “ea” but sound completely different.  Add to that possessive pronouns and making possessives out of a plural words when they end with S.  It is a wonder anybody can speak English! Well…that’s a subject for another day.  Back to life, I have made a few cool friends whom I hope to be in touch with for a long time to come. Going out for falafels or coffee is just nice to do. Language skills are growing but I am deeply saddened by the fact that upon Ulpan gradation, I will have to turn in my Hebrew skills for Japanese skills. Not sad about returning to Japan…I love that part, but leaving HaAretz (The Land) and my Hebrew learning, is already making me a little sad. So as Chanukah comes to a close and Christmas is soon to be over and a New year begins, I can only say that I hope next year is as wonderful (but less disastrous) as this one was.  I have this nagging aggravation about the fact that I will be in Japan exactly four years since the last time I was in exactly the same place outside Tokyo for the big earthquake and ensuing tsunami. Not that I believe I am a harbinger of doom, but I do have this track record of causing catastrophic events.  Maybe I should just not be saying those things out loud or putting them into print.  Nah just kidding.  I don’t believe in that.  I believe in love and peace and hope and faith and that’s all I have to say about that.  Now to make it to Bethlehem for Christmas and then survive into 2015.  I got a text message from my Mosad contact that there’s gonna be a monster party for New Years…but he can’t tell me where it is. Bummer. the pix are from the top 1 the foundation stone of the first temple in the tunnels, me at Galilee, sunset at Galilee, Absalom's pillar and Zechariah's tomb,  the Old City from where I live, Chanukiah above the tunnel, the view of the Dead Sea from the roof of where I stay, people at the Kotel (the Wall), ...and the Western Wall/The Wailing Wall/ the Kotel tonight.

 

Jerusalem, Tiberias and beyond!

Time just has a way of getting away from a person.  I have finished my 5^th week in Hebrew Ulpan (language school) and it is starting to get more challenging although by building on what I already know and practicing regularly, I am getting the hang of it.  There is so much to do and see in Jerusalem, and that, coupled with showing my dad and Betsy around, I find myself ready to branch out a little. We have done the big things, plus some stuff I haven’t done before.  Some of those things involve walking in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem, and while I understand the idea of not wanting to take a large group of tourists there for safety’s sake, there are things not to be missed.  Things like walking up the Mount of Olives from Gethsemane; things like walking through the Lion’s Gate where Stephen was stoned to death as the first Christian martyr, and walking around the ruins of the pools at Bethesda where Yeshua (Jesus) healed a crippled man. We have been to the serene Garden Tomb and walked the Via Dolorosa from “The Pavement” where Yeshua was tried by Pilate, to the elaborate Church of The Holy Sepulcher. Walking in and out of the Damascus Gate and in the Muslim and Christian Quarters calls for keeping a watchful eye, but overall, it has been awesome.  We went this last week to The Davidson Center near the Dung Gate and they have recently opened the Ophel: the corner where the old old city met the Temple.  It was very cool ascending the giant marble stairs that once up led into the Temple grounds and seeing the remains of houses and mikves and other artifacts and excavations. I had to hum Shir LaMaalot (a song of ascents – Psalm 121) while I was going up to the Temple Mount.  This weekend we are in the Galilee in places like the Mount of Beatitudes and Capernaum, walking around the hill area that Yeshua and the disciples knew so well.  Staying in a nice apartment overlooking the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is nice too. As I write I see fishing boats on the glassy waters of the Kinneret with a light fog subduing the far shore.
We have had a lot of rain (torrential at times) but it makes everything so green and beautiful, not to mention cleaning the air.  Of course when you add in the cold weather, it has been just short of miserable on some days. There have been a few more terrorist attacks since I last blogged, awful things, but I have managed to stay out of trouble.  There are lots of police and IDF strapped with weapons and riot gear standing by, everywhere from the holy sites to the trains, so I feel like as long as I don’t get crazy, or act too suspiciously when trying to get a cough drop out of my bag, I will be fine.  That last bit bears mentioning since people always seem to wonder about safety.  At least I am not in Ferguson.  I feel quite safe in my ‘hood in Jerusalem, but as a Palestinian classmate told me the other day, “Of course you feel safe here.  You are not a Jew or an Arab.” I suppose everything is relative. My life is blessed and my opportunities are a gift…a thing I have to keep in front of my mind. The pictures are from top to bottom, then left to right: Mount of Olives; Golgotha (Garden Tomb); Temple Stairs (Ophel); police at Damascus Gate; Soldiers in the Jewish Quarter; Byzantine remains (Old City); Western Wall tunnels; Pools at Bethesda; Tower of David (Citadel); Dome of the Rock grounds; Gethsemane; Calvary (Church of the Holy Sepulcher);  White synagogue at Capernaum; Jordan River

 

 

I have been in my apartment and my Hebrew classes for two weeks now and everything is going great. Of course there is a learning curve to everything and I have to be re-taught many lessons. A nice Jewish lady from somewhere like Philadelphia told me at a bakery, “These people are so rude.” I scratched my head and told her, “No, but they are so Israeli.”  She thought I was being funny, but truthfully, I have to remember things like standing in line and waiting your turn is very Okinawan, but not very Israeli.  I have to remember that every taxi driver takes a course in a) how to spot a tourist; b) how to make him feel guilty about saying no to a private tour, and c) how to barter on everything and not take no for an answer.  Fortunately I know a little Arabic and can tell them, “La Shukran…Kul shay tamam” or “No thanks, everything is cool.” If that doesn’t work I just say “Ani Gar Po” (or, “I live here”, in Hebrew).That doesn’t fix anything but I have to believe it helps quell the force of the sales pitch. I have to remember that walking down the road is a game of chicken…nobody moves out of anyone’s way and when you bump somebody’s shoulder you either give them a mean face or ignore them completely. I have to remember to not assume that anybody is Jewish or Arab and keep any of my thoughts about the Israeli and Palestinian issue to myself. I don’t discuss American politics either…you never know whose side who is on, but one thing I know…most Israelis and Palestinians I have talked to don’t like Obama due to his disdain for the lot of them…of course, the “chicken sh*t” comment didn’t help, but THIS is not a political blog.  I have made some friends in my ulpan (intensive language course) from all over the world, Germany, Hong Kong, Slovenia, France, and more, and several Palestinians.  Everybody is awesome in the class – we laugh and tell stories in Hebrew about ourselves and our homes and families.  Learning in an ulpan is wonderful and I think my Hebrew is improving at a good clip…plus I speak it everywhere I go. Unfortunately, the last language that I mismanaged was Japanese and tonight after a nice but challenging convo in Hebrew, I said to the lady “Arigato”. Dad thought that was pretty funny. Having my dad here with me has been great.  I think sometimes having another person by your side helps overcome fears that, alone, would be intimidating: things like walking around East Jerusalem, which I am getting familiar with.  Whenever we are concerned we always ask, “What would Mark [my brother] do?”  He would do it…and so do we. Walking around Jerusalem and seeing things you might never get on a tour is great.  We have met and chatted with a lot of people and wandered through places like Gethsemane, Bethesda, The Garden Tomb, Via Dolorosa.  We have explored a lot of side streets and alleyways to find interesting places and people. Of course we have been to the Western (Wailing) Wall, the new Temple Institute, the Tower of David and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  A couple of nights ago we heard a thunderous musical extravaganza about 9 p.m. and decided to go in search of it.  It was a bunch of Chasidim celebrating in the streets and playing music and dancing wildly as they took the Torah into the synagogue.  The music was lively and the mood was enthusiastic. We enjoyed it, then we went home.  Always something new and interesting and I am excited about what the next 11 weeks will bring.

PS: there have been more terrorist attacks lately, but I am watchful and cautious, plus I am not hanging out in places where an attack is more likely to happen.  Of course I know it can happen anywhere, but it is certainly less likely in my mixed Arab and Jewish and Goyim neighborhood.  No worries, here.  If anything, I would invite all my friends to come see me in Jerusalem, when or if I get a job here be-ezrat HaShem. Shabbat Shalom y’all.

Downtime in Tennessee

I have been back in the USA for 2 months now. I don’t know that I have accomplished much, but I have managed to keep myself occupied.  My Oriental carpets from Turkey and Afghanistan are in better shape than I expected due to the color running and being folded during the Great Pensacola Flood of 2014…still despite the fact that they are nowhere near showroom quality, I figure the flood adds to their individual stories. Their smell will certainly add to that story unless I can figure out a way to make them smell more like camels and less like sewage. I have sorted through almost everything that I salvaged and have thrown out a fair amount of permanently damaged stuff, or things that I looked at and wondered “why in the world am I saving this?” Now I can almost put all my worldly possessions in the bed of my truck when I move again.  That’s quite a downsize from a 3 bedroom house. Other things have been busy work like, banking, doctor’s appointments, fighting to settle my worker’s comp case…you know, the kind of stuff that gets in the way of having fun.  My son John and his girlfriend Autumn made me the grandfather on August 12^th of Cayden, a 9 and a half pound baby boy.  I got to spend 22 consecutive hours with my Blake the day he picked me up at the airport coming in from Okinawa until I dropped him off to catch his plane back to Orlando.  I really like that guy.  I am catching up on quality time with my parents as well, living very close to each of them. I am staying in an apartment in the back of my dad’s barn with a bunch of farm equipment, so although I have privacy, a nice place and a great view of the woods complete with hoot owls, deer, and things that shriek in the night, I have to admit that I miss my apartment in Okinawa with the view of the East China Sea. I miss my people in Okinawa too, some more than others (you know who you are) but I guess that is par for the course.  The School Age kids at Camp Kinser in sent me a video birthday song via FB, which made my day…that and the strawberry cake my mom made and a great birthday dinner with my dad. Then that afternoon as I was turning 35, I hit the road for Wisconsin to attend my niece Amanda’s wedding. My other niece Andrea was her bridesmaid.  I must say, even though I may be a little prejudiced that my nieces are two of the most beautiful young women EVER. My new nephew Jordan and his son Jaden were also quite striking. Last week I was off to see my “other” grandkids (Robert and his family) in Columbus, Ohio, and then to see my buddy Sue in Philadelphia (and New York) for a few days. Soon, I will be headed back to Florida for a week to meet Cayden, then back home to prep for my move to Jerusalem on October 23^rd.  I am stoked beyond words and I get to share it with my Dad for a month before my stepmom joins us for a couple of weeks. Almost everyone in my family will have been to Israel with me after this. Now you have it. That brings me up to date as far as the blog goes. Still a lot to do over the next several weeks.  I expect my next blog posting will be from the eternal city Jerusalem.