Jack in another Israeli onesie!!

One4Students

 One Plaza in Beer Sheva is having a student day called One 4 Students. Part of the event is a photo contest.   I entered these five pictures in the contest! If you live in Beer Sheva please go to the event and vote for my pictures!!!

This landscape on Ada Canyon in the Negev says Gilad Shalit in the fore ground.  Every Israeli knows who this soldier is.  He was captured in Gaza by Hama in 2006.  

This little boy lives in Hebron and he really liked me. I can tell because he waved at my when I passed. 

 Clearly this is Jack, most beautiful baby ever!


I took this picture in Turkey when we went to Eyup on an Exchange Committee trip.

The lady below is also from Turkey and she was watching our group from her balcony in Mardin.

Two quite humorous events...

First, I was walking to the OSP office to drop something off for Hila, our social director, and a little lady professor was carrying a box with bottles of drinks and cookies. She had set it down on the ground because cookies (the bags, not the actual cookies) were falling out. So I stopped to help her reorganize the things that had fallen and lift it up for her if she needed or even carry it...

Well, when I started helping her, she stopped and looked at me, we were both near the ground picking up cookies and she said something in Hebrew and I answered in English, of course. I just said, "Are you okay? Do you need help?" And she stopped and said, "Oh, now I understand, you're American."

I didn't really understand what she meant, I smiled and said yes, and she goes, "An Israeli would never stop to help." I don't want to make Israelis sound bad, because I have met hundreds of very outgoing Israelis, but also, they can be rude or even abrasive.  They don't say excuse me, they don't really care if they bump into you, they are just doing there thing.  It's not offensive if you're used to it, but it can be when you first arrive.

But the professor (who I later found out works in the Political Science Department and teaches gender) really made me miss somethings about Americans.  Americans are actually really friendly, at least in the Midwest. We always say hi to each other and if someone falls or drops something, we always stop to help. Anyway, I found the situation to be very interesting.

The second weird thing that happened today was when I left the photo printing shop this boy on a bike was starting at me.  I glanced at him just in time to see him run his bike into a tree because he was looking at me and not the sidewalk.  Yet, that embarrassing moment didn't stop him from cutting me off later down the sidewalk to ask me if I wanted to get coffee with him. The conversation quickly ended when I told him I had a boyfriend.

I'm glad today is almost over. It was weird. =)

Soldiers of Hebron

Police of Hebron

They didn't really like us there. Excuse my French, but they were on us like flies on shit...they never were more than 20 feet away at anytime.


They really wanted us to end our tour and get us out of there...

They were watching us too!! To defend themselves in court if necessary and make sure no one did anything to violate any rules. =)

more children...

Children of Hebron

Hagar cont.

The two Americans...the blonde one is Roi!

Brother and sister!! They speak Russian, Arabic, and Hebrew!

Cute crafts!!

Check out those eyes!! =)

Become a fan of Hagar on Facebook!!

Earth Day 2010 at Hagar!

Adorable!

Everyone can pull weeds! We like to start 'em early!

More from the county fair - or Yom Ha'atzmaut

This is definitely a family event and reminded me the Porter County Fair (without the rides) but the food and cheap toys were included!!

Popcorn and candy apples!

They call cotton candy, "grandma's hair" yummy.......

Lots of light toys to be sold and bought! =)

Documentation of my first time holding Eythan!

At Eythan's party!! He was over a month old already!!

Yom Ha'atzmaut

Independence Day is a wonderful day in Israel! Probably because they have only had the day 62 times!

Yay......FIREWORKS!!!

All my favorite boys before going into the gated area!! (They fenced off half the city for this massive block party!) Way to go Beer Sheva!!

Happy 62nd birthday Israel!

On Shabbat, Roi, Rada, Senya and I went to a birthday party for Senya's uncle! It was wonderful! There was lots of food and brandy (not vodka, which was a surprise) and dancing!! Senya and Roi are so funny when they dance, but it's funny because they're good at dancing. And sometimes I just can't believe how they are moving their bodies. It was really entertaining!

Yesterday I went to the mall to order more contacts and the called today to say they were ready! I was really surprised because there are a lot of holidays this week so I thought it would take a few days. But that wasn't the case.

Today is Yom Hazikaron, or Day of Remembrance. You can read about the politicians' speeches here: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=173501 There was a siren at 11:00am for two minutes and you stop everything you're doing and honor the fallen.

Tonight turns into Yom Ha'atzmaut, or Independence Day and the partying begins!! Tomorrow there were be lots of parades and BBQ and fireworks! It'll be a nice change after the solemness of today!

Dinner visit =)

Roi and Myrelle!! Please notice the FRANGO MINT that she is eating!! All the way from Chicago!! =)

Grandpa and Eythan and Eythan's puppy that sings songs!

Myrelle in her little (actually big) house!! See the letters that spell her name on the corner of the roof?? I got them for her!! They look really cute on the play house!

My mom picked out the bubble-gun for Myrelle and it was a great success!!! She loved it. I'm scared we're going to run out of bubbles soon though!!

Eythan's Party!

Dancing!!

Senya and Myrelle! Everyone looked great!

All the gifts Roi and I got Eythan!!! =)

Last night Roi and I went to Eythan's party. Everything was really beautiful! Roi had been stressed because Rada wanted him to make a movie for the party from Eythan welcoming everyone. He had worked on it for many many hours! The movie was wonderful and everyone loved it. So I think he felt like all the stress was worth it!

There was lots of dancing too! And I finally got to hold Eythan! He is a month older than Jack, so obviously bigger, but such a cutie pie!!!!

I brought back gifts from the US for Eythan. Rada loved them!! I'm so happy!! I can't wait to see Eythan playing with them when he is a bit bigger!! =)