It's a Boy!!!

Dawn found out at her comprehensive ultrasound this week that we will have a boy! We are happy to know what we are having, though we both agree that what we most want is a healthy baby. We also toured the local hospital, Soroka Regional Medical Center, the major medical center for all of southern Israel. More babys are born at Soroka than at any other hospital in Israel. We were pleasantly surprised. Depending on when the baby comes, they may or may not have their new maternity ward open. It is slated to open in late March or early April, and will feature all private rooms. Our new arrival will land on or around April 4, 2010 (Easter Sunday).

Getting Her Kicks

Dawn felt the baby kick, or punch, or something similar, yesterday for the first time! She said it felt like being elbowed from the inside. We're still waiting to find out if it will be a boy or a girl. An ultrasound is scheduled in about a week. Thanksgiving party planning is underway. It will be a joint party with our new American-Israeli neighbors. They have a two year old named Zowie. I had a productive day yesterday writing on my thesis (over 5 pages) and hope to have another one today.

Another Country Heard From...literally

During late September and October, Dawn and I had the chance to return home to visit our families and attend the wedding of Dawn's sister Ruth and her fiance (now husband!) Hector. It was a beautiful wedding, and we were honored to both be part of the bridal party, Dawn as Matron of Honor, and me as a groomsman. There was even a rainbow after a brief rain shower on the way from the wedding to the reception!

We also enjoyed spending time with friends in and around Eugene, Oregon, and I had the chance to visit some good friends in Austin, Texas for a day or two, including my best friend during my elementary school years, Mark.

Dawn and I also embarked upon our "Grandmothers Tour 2009" and enjoyed spending time with each of our grandmas and our extended family. At the end of our 9 day "tour", we had been from Michigan to Chicago to Alabama and back again, with over 1500 miles driven! We also enjoyed a fun afternoon and late lunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, who all converged on the Lansing area for a great get together. Thanks to all the aunts and uncles who hosted us overnight on our trip, and to our friends in Eugene and Austin for providing a place to stay during our visits!!

Finally, we began planning in earnest for our new arrival, with shopping for baby items and strategizing on what we would need and wouldn't need over in Israel. Many thanks to our parents, especially Dawn's mother, for her tireless efforts on our behalf to help prepare us for our new adventure! Besides the USA, another country will be heard from along about April 2010 when our new bundle of joy arrives!

If you would like to hear more about our adventures in the U.S., please e-mail me.

October 2009

No travels to report in Israel over the last couple months. Check back in another month for more!

Israel 08/19/09, by Joshua Archey

I'd like to share my York photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

MA Thesis is Drafted!

After my parents returned to the U.S., and I had recovered enough from our adventures to continue working, I set to work on finishing the draft of my MA thesis, which will become the first chapter of my dissertation on the Thesis make-up track. (I did the non thesis option at the University of Oregon, hence the need for an MA thesis). By August 2nd, I was up to page 37, from page 17 when my parents arrived for their 2 week visit. By Sunday, August 9th,I had reached the end: page 51! Now, the draft has been sent to my advisor for review. Next up is a 10 page paper for my advisor's seminar, Contemporary Topics in Literature. After that, it's back to the dissertation.

Meanwhile, the med school student led Bible Study is slowly getting going again. Nadine, a good friend from Germany I worked with in the German Studies Center is back in town for the 6 week Deutsche Sommer Universitaet. Our Austrian friend Sonja, meanwhile, is preparing to leave us to return to Austria, after spending the last two years in Be'er Sheva at the university teaching German. Last night, we enjoyed a farewell dinner in her honor at Pitput, a nice but overpriced restaurant in the BIG shopping complex. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring our camera along!

Pictures of vacation with Josh's parents

See the slideshow here (the first half dozen pictures are from our friend Bryanna's birthday party):

July 2009 Update, Josh's parents visit

Apologies for the long lapse in communication. My Hebrew class ended June 28th, followed immediately by the arrival of my parents for a 2 week visit. They left late Monday night and arrived back in Kalamazoo last night. I worked very hard in the weeks leading up to their arrival on my dissertation, and after a 2 week "vacation", I need to get back to work. The Graduate School is moving offices this week, to where I don't know, and my advisor and I are once again confused by what I do and do not need to do as far as a make-up MA thesis on the road to the dissertation. I also have a 10 page seminar paper I need to write within the next month, in addition to the end of August deadline set by the Grad School for submitting what I need to submit. We have also had to say goodbye to several friends in the Medical School here who headed back to the U.S. after completing their 3rd year of med school. They'll be back in January, and in the meantime, we wish them well on their rotations around the U.S. The 4th years celebrated graduation in May, and are now also gone from Be'er Sheva. Friends of ours, David, a 3rd year med school student, and his wife Daria gave birth to 6.8 pound Lily Danielle, and will also be heading back to the U.S. in the near future. Our other friends are also in a period of transition, as Andreas, a post-doc in chemistry from South Africa, whose parents emigrated there from Austria, is spending 6 weeks this summer at Stonybrook in New York. Sonja will br returning home to Vienna in August. Nadine will come back to Israel from Germany for a 6 week Ulpan (language course in Hebrew) in August and September.

The following is a brief overview of my parents 2 week visit:

5 nights in Tel Aviv, during which time they recovered from jetlag, toured Old Jaffa, and visited Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, we explored the Mt. of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, Church of Mary Magdalene, Church of the Holy Sepulhere, and the Western Wall. Dad did not enjoy driving or parking in Jerusalem...next time, the bus!

2 nights in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee: Visited Mt. of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Galilee Boat, Jordan River Baptismal site, and the ruins of Jewish Korazim, chastised by Jesus in the Bible.

3 nights in Be'er Sheva. Toured the Old City, showed them around the university, did laundry, took Dad to the Israeli Air Force Museum.

3 nights in the Sinai peninsula of Egypt. Stopped at the Dead Sea on the way down to Eilat. It was very hot. The wind felt like a heater blowing on high. We took a day tour to St. Catherine's monastery and Mt. Sinai. Enjoyed the pools at the hotel, and on the last morning, Dawn took me out to the coral reefs. (The hotel had a beach on the Red Sea.) Saw a spectacular sea green fish, almost fluoresent, a purple and yellow fish, and a school of little white fishes. I also finished my 900 page Tom Clancy novel during these 2 weeks, Rainbow Six.

1 last night in Be'er Sheva. Stopped in Mitzpe Ramon Crater on the way back. Parents packed, napped, and showered ahead of their 24 hour journey back to Michigan. 2 airlines, 3 changes of planes (because they stopped to visit friends in Germany on the way to Israel, they had to return through Germany).

I will post the link to the vacation photos on Picassa when available.

May 2009 Update

Well, life continues here pretty much at a steady, predictable pace. I finished the last (for now) of the stack of books I had collected (about twice as many as I started out with in April), around 10 for those who are keeping track, and was able to create an outline for my dissertation today AND write two and a half pages, all in one day (the book was finished yesterday)! Hooray!! There was a nice potluck and Bible Study last night at Vina's. Bryanna read from a book that was titled something along the lines of "The Final Conflict", which deals with a battle between God's Army and the forces of Satan. It reminded me of what I have read of Revelations, yet have yet to finish. Then we played a name game where evenly divided teams were handed out little pieces of paper with our name on them in random order and the goal was to get one team off the couch and your team on the couch by remembering who had what name. (Every time you called a name, you switched cards with the person who held the name you called on their card). The group met on Wednesday night because of the Shavuot holiday that started today. Shavuot marks 7*7, or 49 days, since the end of Passover, and is evidently the last holiday for quite some time (Maybe even September?). I'll have to check. The weather has cooled off to a more comfortable range this week after being in the mid-90s most of last week. One more month of Hebrew class left to go. As much as I struggle (and a good part of the blame must fall on me for putting my dissertation ahead of spending more hours learning Hebrew/doing homework), I have come a long way since November.

Dawn is currently presenting at 2 conferences in Canada and the U.S., COSY (Canadian Operators Symposium) in Regina, Saskatchewan, and GPOTS (Great Plains Operator Theorists Symposium) in Boulder, CO. I hope her talks go well. Recently, she found out that one of her papers was accepted for publication in the Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics. Hopefully, she will receive similarly good news with the second paper she submitted, though the approval process usually takes several months.

Finally, I have been enjoying the NBA playoffs online at NBA.com. (I paid for a subscription, I was in such basketball withdrawal). Unfortunately, the two teams I have little to no interest in, the LA Lakers and the Orlando Magic, look poised to head to the NBA Finals. Oh well, whatever happens, it should make for exciting games. The first four games of the conference finals (2 Western, 2 Eastern were separated by a combined 7 points!!! (Two one point games (Cleveland-Orlando), a two point game, and a three point game (LA-Denver). Hopefully Denver can come back and win their series, but in reality, I expect an LA-Orlando NBA Finals. Cleveland has almost no chance at this point.

Pictures from Germany Trip

Please see the following link:

Germany and Israeli Independence Day

(The first several pictures are from Easter egg coloring with Dawn and her student Hannah, and Dawn's aborted trip to the zoo with Hannah and her family, which ended up at the Negev Brigade Monument). Pictures then follow in chronological order, beginning at Tel Aviv Airport (refer to post on trip to Germany for specifics).

Dissertation Update

Since I returned from Germany, I have been busily reading and brainstorming on my doctoral thesis. The Berlin conference (see previous post) gave me several intriguing ideas to pursue. Following a meeting yesterday, Thursday, May 7th, with my advisor, I am happy to report that I now have a topic! It still deals with Stefan Zweig's novellas and novels, but now it is more concrete.

Specifically, I will be researching Stefan Zweig's philosopy of freedom as expressed across several of his novels and novellas, and comparing them to the views of some of his contemporaries, probably including Rudolf Steiner. For those that are wondering what books they should read of Stefan Zweig's, I recommend:

Clarissa
The Royal Game (or Chess Story) Original: Schachnovelle
The Post Office Girl (published for the first time in English in 2008) Original: Rausch der Verwandlung

Trip to Germany April 15th-26th, 2009

OK, I've been slacking off on the blog. I'm trying to focus on research to get as far as I can in the PhD before we leave Israel in August 2010. I was also in Germany for 11 days in April.

On Wednesday, April 15th, I flew to Germany to visit friends, and most importantly, attend an international Stefan Zweig conference co-organized by my PhD advisor along with another Dr. from the university in Potsdam. What followed was an exhausting yet rejuvenating 11 1/2 days. I took the train to Kaiserslautern when I arrived in Frankfurt, and spent 3 relaxing nights (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) in Rodenbach, the village near Ramstein Air Base where I lived with my family from 1983 to 1986. Peter and Edith, the couple with whose son Marco, I went to kindergarten with, were wonderful hosts as usual. I also saw Heiner and Ilse, another couple who are good friends of my family's. It rained most of the time, but I was able to get a fair amount of Hebrew done and rest for a change.

On Saturday, April 18th, I took the train from Kaiserslautern to Augsburg to visit Sabine and her boyfriend "Sigi" (Sigfried). Sabine and I met during my junior year study abroad in Erlangen in 2000-01. On Sunday, they took me to the cloister of Oberschoenenfeld where some 21 nuns still reside, along with a restuarant, a religious-themed gift shop, and a beutiful 1700s era church. Also on the site is an 18th century recreation of a straw-roofed house. We also visited Sabine's parents nearby on their beautiful old farmhouse in the country.

On Sunday evening, April 19th, I left Augsburg for Erlangen, where I stayed the next 2 nights at Christina Hein's, one of the tutors from our junior year program and now the Director of the Erlangen Kalamazoo College exchange program. On Monday, I had lunch and chatted with "Mutti" Stark, Mom's host mother from her Kalamazoo College days at her retirement community, and had Kaffee und Kuchen with Christina, her friend Julia, and Britta (the other junior year tutor) and her 1 yr. old daughter Nerea in the afternoon. I also found time to visit Kaufland and pick up the requested varieties of chocolate and some Multivitaminsaft (juice) for the train the next day.

Tuesday morning, April 21st, I left on the train for Chemnitz to visit Nadine, her boyfriend Herbert, and Nadine's parents, Karin and Frank, who had invited me. Nadine and I worked together in the German Studies Center at BGU here in Israel, and her parents visited with her in February after the Gaza War ended. Tuesday afternoon, they took me to Miniwelt (Miniworld) in the countryside some 25 km. from Chemnitz. In the evening, we had an amazing variety of grilled meats for dinner and sat by a large fire in their backyard afterwords. Their backyard also had several fruit trees, as well as a sizable garden plot ready and waiting for planting.

Wednesday, April 22nd, after a large, late breakfast, we packed up and Karin drove Nadine and me to Berlin for the Zweig conference, where she also had a work related meeting Thursday afternoon. From 6 pm Wednesday evening until Friday at 4 pm, was one long series of lectures on Stefan Zweig. Thursday evening I took the subway almost an hour to the FU Berlin, where I checked out what resources the library there had on Zweig until the library closed at 22:00.

Friday afternoon, April 24th, I walked to the DDR Muesum (Deutsche Demokratische Republik... the former East Germany) across from the Berliner Dom on the Spree (pronounced Shpray...the "h" is intentional) before heading back to the hostel to get my stuff and walk the "15 minutes" (more like 30) to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) for the ride to Goettingen and Julia and Joerg Meyer's. I met Julia in Bonn in 2002-03 and Joerg and Julia came to our wedding. At the time (2006), Joerg was a finishing his PhD in physics while working at Fermi labs near Chicago. He is now a post-doc at Uni Goettingen.

Saturday, April 25th, after a large, late breakfast, we went downtown and they gave me a brief tour of Goettingen's Innenstadt, including the St. Jacobi Kirche, the Gaenseliesel Fountain, which tradition has that newly minted PhDs must come to bestow a bouqet of flowers to the statue upon successful defense of their dissertation. The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the 70s, as it had been since four days of rain ended Saturday, April 18th. We enjoyed fancy ice cream desserts in an outdoor cafe, before heading back to Julia and Joerg's for another "Grillabend" of delectable steaks and and homemade potato salad.

Sunday, April 26th, I said goodbye to Julia and Joerg at the train station and took the 11:17 ICE (InterCityExpress...Germany's fastest and coolest trains) to Frankfurt/Main Hbf, where I switched to the 13:10 ICE to Koeln/Deutz and the 14:30 RE (Regional Express) to Bonn Hbf, where I arrived on time at 14:56 and met Jan and Wilfried, both current PhD students whom I had met in 2002-03 in Bonn. Jan successfully completed a half-marathon in Bonn's annual marathon earlier in the day, and we settled in to a nearby outdoor cafe to watch the last of the marathoners finish the race. Then, it was 5 minutes back to the Hbf (Hauptbahnhof) for the 17:01 RE to Koeln/Deutz follow by the 17:40 ICE to Frankfurt Flughafen (Airport), where I checked in for my 20:45 Swiss Airlines flight to Zurich and connecting flight to Tel Aviv. (There's a non-stop Lufthansa flight, but my frequent flier ticket made me change planes on the way back rather than fly non-stop both ways, as I did on April 15th from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt.

After perusing the duty-free shops in Frankfurt, both flights went off without a hitch and we arrived on time at 3:30 am Monday morning in Tel Aviv. Swiss Airlines even handed out little swiss chocolates to every passenger on the Frankfurt-Zurich flight. Once I was back in Be'er Sheva, around 8 am, I wrote and prepared 4 pages to give a short presentation that afternoon in our Contemporary Topics in Literature Seminar on Abraham Cahan's The Rise of David Levinsky. Whew, what a trip!

Josh's dissertation

In response to a request for more information on this subject, I am tentatively writing a dissertation which will compare and contrast the Austrian-Jewish author Stefan Zweig's long and short fiction. Much has been written about his novellas, with comparatively little about his novels, which were largely published after his death in February 1942, some of them remaining unfinished. Zweig was the most widely read and translated German-language author during the 1920s, and continued to remain widely popular in exile in England, the U.S., and finally Brazil. Zweig, who suffered from life-long depression, commited suicide along with his second wife in Brazil in 1942, unable to wait and see if Hitler would be defeated, and unwilling to start anew after having lived through World War I, when Austria was also a defeated power.

Pictures from the parents' visit

1st picture: The Dome of the Rock
2nd picture: On the shores of the Sea of Galilee
3rd picture: On approach to Tel Aviv/Ben Gurion International
4th picture: Animals at Ein Gedi Nature Reserve

Dawn's parents visit

A few days after my St. Patrick's Day post, Dawn's parents arrived for an 8 day visit. We had a great time, but we were all thoroughly exhausted by the end. They arrived on Sunday, March 22nd, and Dawn met them at the airport in Tel Aviv.

On Monday, the 23rd, we visited Tel Be'er Sheva National Park, the ancient site of modern Be'er Sheva's predecessor, and one of two sites in the area claiming to be the location of Abraham's Well. Then we showed them around the campus of Ben Gurion University, followed by a "Meet the Parents" party Monday evening at our apartment.

On Tuesday, we headed to Jerusalem, where we were greeted by rainy, windy weather with temps in the low 50s. Boy, did I feel bad about my weather predictions for their week in Israel! We visited the Museum at David's Tower/The Citadel and cozied down in our youth hostel for the evening after an economical but tasty dinner at an Old City restaurant.

Wednesday we headed to the Western (Wailing) Wall, followed by the Dome of the Rock, which was closed to the public for interior viewing, but we got right up to the mosque itself. Jewish law forbids Jews from visiting the site, which is on the Temple Mount. Following the Dome of the Rock, we visited the Church of St. Anne (mother of Mary), and walked over to the Church at the Garden of Gethsemane, taking time to ascend part way up the Mt. of Olives for the view of the Old City. After a lunch of cheese sandwiches, we caught a taxi back to the bus station and returned to Be'er Sheva, arriving back home shortly after 4 pm.

Thursday morning, Dad and I picked up our rental car while Mom and Dawn finished packing our food and provisions for our Galilee adventure. We left about 9:30 in the morning, navigating through Tel Aviv with just a couple wrong turns. We stopped about 1:00 pm at Meggido National Park, where the ruins of the ancient city on the border of Egypt and Assyria stood. According to the Revelations, this site will be the site of Armageddon, the final battle between Good and Evil. It was also the site of the first recorded battle in history. Then we proceeded on to Tiberias, with a stop at Yardenit, the baptismal site of Jesus on the River Jordan, before arriving at our hotel shortly after 6 pm, checking in, and then finding a good, yet not expensive restaurant in downtown Tiberias to have dinner at, where Dad tried the famous St. Peter's fish, freshly caught from the Sea of Galilee.

Friday we stopped along the shore of the Galilee to dip our feet in the water, before continuing on to the Mt. of Beatitudes. Then, we had lunch at the Capernaum Restaurant (there's only one), where our table overlooked the Sea of Galilee and we once again enjoyed St. Peter's fish. (Mom and Dawn had chicken kebabs). Then, we visited Capernaum, followed by a stop at Tabgha, the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes. All along the way, Mom and Dad picked up souvenirs to take home with them.

Saturday morning we checked out of our Tiberias hotel and drove to Nazareth, where we toured Nazareth Village, a living history village that is supposed the re-create Nazareth as it was during the time of Jesus. Then, having used up most of our energy over the previous days, we headed back to Be'er Sheva, arriving around 4:30 in the afternoon.

Sunday, March 29th, we had a leisurely morning at home, before setting out for the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi National Park just after 11:30. After stopping at a pull-out to enjoy Mom and Dad's first glimpse of the Dead Sea, we continued to Ein Gedi, where we enjoyed our picnic lunch of hummus and pitas, and various fruits and snacks, before setting out on our hike through the oasis past flora, fauna, and waterfalls. We emerged from our hike around 5 pm, and returned to Be'er Sheva.

Monday morning, March 30th, was spent packing up for their trip home, followed by lunch at home, before we set out for the Maine Friendship House in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Yoni, the overseer of the house, which was restored by Americans interested in preserving the history of Jaffa's American Colony (Jaffa is some 4,000 years old, while Tel Aviv was first founded in 1909), took us on a two and a half hour walking tour of Old Jaffa, passing several interesting art galleries along the way, as well as the outdoor/indoor markets. Along the way, he described the history of Jaffa, before bringing us back to the Maine Friendship house for a tour there. Yoni is a young Israeli artist who utilizes the basement of the restored 1860s house as his art studio, where he paints oils on blackened canvases. The American couple who bought and restored the house belong to the same church as Mom and Dad Ashley, whom they had met at a church world conference some years before. After a wonderful tour, Yoni found us an inexpensive place to enjoy Mom and Dad's first Israeli falafel for dinner, before heading to the airport for their return flight to the U.S.

March 2009 Update

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Strangely enough, we will be having a friend from Ireland and her fiance over for dinner this Thursday, Serena from my Hebrew class, and Vitaly, a mechanical engineering student in his last year of undergraduate studies.

Dawn's parents arrive for a visit in less than a week. We are both looking forward to their coming! No adventures to report as of late, unless you count mattress shopping for the parents, and dental fillings. I did finish the last of my 5 Stefan Zweig books this week, and look forward to meeting with my advisor in the next few days to decide on a thesis topic for my MA thesis/dissertation. I need to get going on Hebrew homework (no surprise there). We are invited to a potluck birthday party this evening at Jacob and Tiffany's, friends from Bible Study. Plans are pretty well set for our adventures next week with Mom and Dad Ashley. The weather is gradually warming up, with some days pleasant, some days a bit too warm, and some days kind of chilly. So the weather can't quite decide what season it is!

Flying off cliffs in Norway

This has nothing to do with our goings on in Israel, but it's a very neat video of wingsuit jumping off the cliffs of Norway sent to me by a good friend at the Air Zoo. With all of the traveling Dawn and I will be doing this year, we don't plan on using this mode of "transportation"!


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Reading, writing, and Hebrew surviving

Dawn is now walking again, more or less normally, and without crutches, though not for super long distances.

On Feb. 16th, we enjoyed the musical Guys and Dolls (in English) by the Light Opera Group of the Negev, including our friend Jacob playing the lead character, Sky Masterson, and his wife, Tiffany, in the chorus as part of the "Save a Soul Mission". See

http://www20.brinkster.com/lightopera/index.html

for more info. We also enjoyed meeting Nadine's parents on their recent visit to Israel. Nadine was an intern in the German Studies Center during Fall Semester. She left early for home about a week after the war started, but came back with her parents as originally scheduled at the end of the semester. I recently went to see Slumdog Millionare (English with Hebrew subtitles) at the movie theater downtown in the mall with some friends from Bible Study. Hebrew continues to frustrate me, but I continue to do the homework and learn a few new things each class. I have now read 5 of the 6 Stefan Zweig books I set out to read on my dissertation advisor's instructions. I also recently enrolled on the thesis make-up track for the second semester, which starts April 16th.

Andreas (a friend of Sonja's and a chemistry post-doc) had a birthday dinner at a nice but casual restaurant in the BIG shopping center (yes, that's its name) last Thursday evening. The amount of brainpower among the 20 or so people must have been staggering. From post-docs in chemistry and physics to foreign exchange students from Ohio State and Indiana University, there was quite an array of people. Unfortunately, Dawn stayed home sick with a stomach bug.

Saturday night we had Jenny (a Hebrew classmate and fellow Foreign Lang and Lit PhD student from China), and her husband Max, a chemistry post-doc, over for dinner. Sunday night I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Andreas and Sonja and some of their friends at the campus movie theater. It is almost half the cost of a regular theater (19 NIS = $4.75 instead of 35 NIS = $9). Sonja, our friend from Austria, recently introduced us to Andreas, a post-doc in chemistry from South Africa whose parents are Austrian born. He attended German-speaking schools in South Africa, so he is fluent in both German and English. Today, we enjoyed our weekly lunch with Sonja, Andreas, and their friends Silke (from Germany, a chemistry PhD student who is here doing lab work for 2 months), and Silvia, from Italy, a post-doc in biotechnology, but by training a physicist. Andreas and I have plans to go see Valkeryie, the new movie with Tom Cruise as Col. von Stauffenberg, who attempted to assasinate Hitler unsuccessfully.

Airfare Searching, travel planning

Recently, both sets of parents decided to make plans to come and see us in Israel. We are excited! But this has meant that is has been hard for me to set aside my penchant for searching for good airfares constantly. My mom hopes to find a more reasonably priced airline ticket to Germany this summer (the Israel portion is already taken care of), but it is proving frustrating, not to mention time consuming. As is my lack of motivation to struggle onwards with my Hebrew homework. Dawn's ankle is slowly improving. She's started physical therapy and has started using one crutch. (Around the house she walks without them). Hopefully by the time our parents come in March, she will be up to trekking (or at least walking) around! I need to start the next Stefan Zweig novel and get to my Hebrew homework. We're looking forward to the opening performance of Guys and Dolls by the Light Opera Group of the Negev (LOGON) Monday night, starring a friend of ours, Jacob. Last week we went to a jazz concert in the auditorium on campus. It was a youth jazz orchestra, with 2 singers alternating as soloists. They were quite impressive. Computers are both a gift and curse. Recently, the latter has been true for me! This marks my staying away from my computer for a few weeks, except for e-mail (I hope)!

Dissertation prep and ankle sprains

No exciting news or travels to report, but 2 weeks ago Wednesday Dawn fell off a curb on the way to school and badly sprained her ankle. So, she has been taking a taxi to and from campus a couple times a week since then, as well as to our Friday night Bible Study group. She also has crutches. This has meant an increase in the amount of work I've been doing around the house. I've also been reading, reading, reading, in preparation for finalizing a topic for my MA thesis/chapter of my eventual dissertation in Foreign Languages and Literatures (German), and slogging through my Hebrew class after 4 weeks of no class during the war in Gaza. On the urging of my PhD advisor, I'm attending a conference at the Uni Potsdam from April 22nd to 24th, and purchased my airline ticket and rail pass this week. Dawn will stay behind here to focus on her research. I will go to Germany a week early, in order to visit friends and probably do some research while there as well. My dissertation topic will deal with the novels and novellas of Stefan Zweig, an Austrian writer of Jewish heritage during the first 4 decades of the 20th century and avowed pacifist and believer in European integration. He lived from 1881-1942.

Escape to Eilat and tour to Petra, Jordan

When last I wrote, I tried to give a view of things as they are seen by Israelis, as best as I can determine. I realize the current war in Gaza has stirred many emotions, large protests, and the loss of civilian life on both sides is tragic. I won't go into that any more here, except to suggest reading the Jerusalem Post at www.jpost.com for the Israeli perspective, and reading papers from multiple other international sources, and if you can find it, an Arab newspaper.

To get away from the sirens and incoming rockets in Be'er Sheva (pronounced "Bear" Sheva), sometimes written as Be'er Sheba (the Hebrew letter for "b" and "v" is the same), Dawn and I escaped to Eilat, the Israeli resort town on the Red Sea for four nights last week. Eilat is the southernmost city in Israel and Israel's only access to the Red Sea. From Eilat, you can see 4 countries: Israel, Egypt to the south and west, Jordan to the east, and Saudia Arabia to the southeast, some 27 km/15 miles distant. You can view photos from our trip at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/airzoojosh/EilatIsraelAndPetraJordanJanuary2009?authkey=-fp9Pizd1JU#

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and walked along the North Beach, in front of many high rise hotels and vendors selling everything from clothing and toys to ice cream. Eilat enjoys 359 days of sunshine per year, and year-round water temperatures between 70 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit, regardless of the time of year. Eilat is a tourist town extraordinaire. There are 40-50 hotels within the city of 70,000 people. Our hotel was across the street from the Eilat downtown airport, where charter and commercial flights arrive carrying vacationers from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, a 4-4.5 hour drive north. Larger planes from Europe and Russia must use the larger Eilat airport 25 miles north of town, though I was surprised that a 757 managed to land at the downtown airport. Our hotel room overlooked the runway. Planes must back taxi on the runway to reach the terminal, as there are no taxiways. (Sorry, I'm an avid aviation buff and long-time Air Zoo volunteer!).

On Friday, Dawn and I met up with Jenny and Max (anglicized names), a Chinese couple we know from the university. Jenny is in my Hebrew class and working on her PhD in Russian Jewish Literature, while her husband Max completes a post-doctoral fellowship in the chemistry department. We spent the better part of the day at the Underwater Observatory and Marine Park, where we saw the sharks and sea turtles get fed, enjoyed a movie in the Oceanarium, saw countless fish of all colors and sizes, and (the highlight for me!), the coral reefs and the amazing variety of sea creatures from 6 meters (about 20 ft.) below the surface of the water in the Underwater Observatory.

On Saturday, we went snorkeling at the Coral Reef Marine Reserve, an Israeli National Park one bus stop before you get to the Underwater Observatory (coming from Eilat in the north). I didn't feel strong enough to go out into the deep water, but was able to see a few fish among the corals closer in to the shore. Dawn made two trips out into the deep area, as the current carried her swiftly along the reef from the northern pier to the southern pier. Saturday is Shabbat, the Sabbath day, but buses still run in touristy Eilat, unlike other Israeli cities. Don't let the taxi drivers tell you otherwise. They are best ignored. If you go though, be advised that buses do stop running for the day sometime between 3 and 4 pm on Friday (the Sabbath Eve) and Saturday (the Sabbath).

We were originally going to return to Be'er Sheva on Sunday, but decided to stay one more night so we could take a day-long tour to Petra, Jordan. This involved packing up and leaving our hotel at 7 am, as we could not extend for an extra night without doubling the cost of the room per night. So I found another hotel on the opposite side of the airport and north of the North Beach for the fourth night. We were picked up at 7 am and taken to the Yitzhak Rabin border crossing, where they had to cancel my long-term tourist visa, as I had not thought to get a re-entry visa before leaving Be'er Sheva. A re-entry visa costs $45, and so does the long term tourist visa, so in reality, I didn't lose any money. It's just a hassle. After about an hour, and payment of the border takes of $45 per person to leave Israel, enter Jordan, leave Jordan, and return to Israel, we got on a mini-bus and headed for the ancient Nabotaen city of Petra.

Our guide's name was Ali. His English was quite good, except that he said "governmental" and "economical" when he should have said "government" and "economic". Half of our group fell asleep while he was talking on the way there, as many of us had gotten up very early, or even, in the case of a law school student from D.C., taken the 1 am bus from Tel Aviv to Eilat. After a quick drive through Aquaba, the Jordanian port city opposite Eilat, which is much less developed, we had a 2 hour ride to Petra. Then we walked about 1.5 km (.9 miles) through the Siq (gorge) until we arrived at the Treasury. The Treasury was actually the burial chamber of a Nabotean king, but legend has it that the Naboteans buried their treasure in the rock, so people have shot at the rock, hoping that treasure would spill out. Along the way, one can see other burial caves carved into the rock, the ancient Nabotean water system, which is being studied by researchers today to improve water usage in the desert. The population of the Naboteans at their height was several times that of the current population. They controlled the trade route from Yemen to the Mediterranean on the ancient Spice Route, and were experts at guiding the caravans across vast stretches of desert. No one else at the time (3rd century BCE-2nd century CE) had this knowledge. The Romans did not conquer the Naboteans until 106 AD, due to the many natural fortifications that the surrounding mountains provided. Carved into the stones are images of camels and men heading in both directions.

After leaving the Treasury, we continued for another 1/2 kilometer to see the Roman Amphitheater and a re-created Nabotean market, along with more caves which used to be used as houses, though most caves we saw were used as burial sites. Then, it was an hour walk back uphill to the entrance. You can ride a donkey, horse, or a cart pulled by a donkey or horse, but the Bedouins expect a tip of $5-$10 for this "included" service. (The entrance to Petra National Park is 21 JD (about $30 USD). Our $159 per person ($140 for students) day trip included transportation to and from our Eilat hotel, assistance at the Israeli/Jordanian border, a buffet lunch, the entrance to the park, all taxes and tips, but NOT the $45 per person border entry and exit fees. We had lunch around 2:30 pm, and returned to the border crossing about 5:45 pm. The border closes each night at 7 pm.

What happened to the Naboteans? They continued to exist after the Roman conquest in 106 CE, but the trade routes gradually moved north of Petra, and two earthquakes in the 4th and 6th centuries destroyed what was left of Petra, which had gradually fallen into decline with the decline of Petra's importance on the ancient Spice Route.

The View from Israel

Dear family and friends,

Dawn and I are both safe, and staying largely in our apartment, as instructed by the Israeli Homefront Command. No rockets have landed in Be'er Sheva since Thursday. Other cities, however, closer to the Gaza Strip, continued to be hit on Saturday, with a total of 35 rockets striking targets in Ashkelon, Ashdod, and other towns.

It seems that the U.S. is the only country supporting Israel's right to defend itself at the moment. For the latest news in English from an Israeli perspective, visit the Jerusalem Post at:

www.jpost.com

Starting back in Summer 2008, Egypt brokered a 6 month truce between Hamas, labeled as a terrorist organization by the U.S., and Israel. Hamas, elected in democratic, internationally monitored elections in 2006, controls the Gaza Strip, while the internationally recognized Palestinian government (Abbas and the Palestianian Authority) controls the West Bank. The West Bank is actually on the eastern border with Israel, as it gets its name from the West Bank of the Jordan River. The Gaza Strip is a small strip of land bordering the Mediterranean and Egypt, and sharing its eastern border with southern Israel. (A World Atlas may come in handy here right about now).

Hamas, it turns out, used this truce to re-arm with longer range rockets supplied by Iran and Syria, and smuggled into the Gaza Strip through underground tunnels along Gaza's border with Egypt. Hamas' avowed goal is the destruction of the State of Israel. Before last Tuesday night, Be'er Sheva had never been targeted by rockets from the Gaza Strip before. Israelis had not thought it possible, though in an article around Dec. 21st or 22nd in the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Intelligence Arm warned that Hamas now possessed rockets with the range to strike Be'er Sheva. Hamas also uses Gaza civilians as human shields, and stores rockets and munitions inside of mosques. The people of Gaza are dependent upon humanitarian aid, which Israel has continued to allow in during the crisis. Meanwhile, Hamas spends its money on weapons and training, some of whom go to Iran to train with Iran's elite forces.

Tuesday night, an empty kindergarten in Be'er Sheva was hit, and last Wednesday, an empty high school, on the opposite side of the university from us.

Ask yourself, if towns on the U.S. Southern Gulf Coast found themselves the recipient of rockets launched from Cuba, would the U.S. military stand by and do nothing? Then, I ask, how can European and Arab governments expect that, having endured hundreds of rocket launches on it's southern towns, Israel's military is unilaterally supposed to cease-fire, while rockets are still being launched towards Israel from the Gaza Strip?

The situation, in a nutshell, is not as simple as a cease-fire by Israel. Mechanisms need to be put in place to prevent the re-armament and re-supply of Hamas by Iran and Syria, thus (hopefully) bringing a sustainable peace to the region. Israel has called for international observers to be placed in the Gaza Strip following cessation of hostilities to ensure that future truces aren't
merely opportunities for Hamas to re-arm. The U.N. Security Council Resolution condemning the Israeli air and ground assault was blocked by the U.S., as it provided no such assurances. Israel has vowed to continue the offensive until no rockets are being launched at Israel.