Anna & Jamie's Wildest Ride in the Middle East

I think we brought some rain home with us from England. I'm sure that after a full season of rain, that will be upsetting. But right now it's a welcomed change. Before I inundate you with the many pictures from our trip, I'll catch you up on our lives.

First of all, we've decided that it's finally time for the big experiment: keeping kosher. It's been a long time in debate and discussion, and now that we're in Israel and it's so easy, we figured it's time to try. There are a lot of theories about the purpose of kashrut. Many think it has to do with health concerns from long ago; others believe it creates a distinction between Jewish and non-Jewish; others believe it's about recognizing your body as holy and therefore the food you put into your body must be holy. The list goes on. None of these reasons really made perfect sense to either of us, but we thought we'd give it a go and see if any clarity comes. We'll keep you updated on the progress of our experiment.

In other news, after a long string of emails, I've learned that I have a rather large family, on my father's side, here in Israel. It just so happened that the day we got back from England, Grandma B's cousin, Esmond, was having his 80th birthday party in Netanya. So, we went straight there to meet everyone all at once! Esmond is my great-grandfather's nephew (Grandma B's first cousin, who she's never met). He has 4 children, who have all immigrated to Israel, and between them I couldn't count all of the grandchildren and great-granchildren. They are a lively bunch, singing and hugging. We had a lovely time meeting everyone and getting to see cousing Rhoda again.





These are Esmond's grand- and great-grandchildren. Some babies are missing.

The birthday boy, Esmond, and his wife, Barbara	Cousin Rhoda, Esmond's sister, Grandma B's first cousin

And now, on to England! Stacy and Kevin just bought a new home:


We joined them for the first dinner in the dining room. Unfortunately, the chairs haven't been delivered yet, so Jamie and Kevin had trouble reaching the table.

Here is the street Stacy works on. She's only about a block from St. Paul's Cathedral. She's also across the street from a chain restaurant--check out the name!


It turns out that the new town Stacy and Kevin have moved to used to be a Jewish neighborhood. There are a few relics left on the high street. A kosher deli and a bagel shop. Jamie came into the bagel shop, as always sporting his kippah, which started a whole relationshiop with the owner and his brother. Turns out that they grew up in Israel, their father was a cantor and grandfather was a rabbi. They are pictured below, too.


We went to go see Parliment, which turned out to be the first day in session, so the protestors were of course out to mark the occasion. And, unsurprisingly, they were protesting Israel with a lovely swastika. Anyway, no one took them very seriously, even the cops who seemed to spend most of the time rolling their eyes and giving tourists directions.


And here are a bunch of other lovely sights from England:






Whew! That was a lot of pictures! Jamie's most likely going to post soon as well to give his review on London theatre. Stay tuned...