Rays of Light

VYSOKE TATRY

2010-04-08T20:17:00.004+03:00

I went on a 4 day hiking trip with one of my friends here in Slovakia, her name is also Lucia :), and we had such a fantastic time. Such beauty to be seen and then just fresh fresh air and one night we were out late and so saw how the sky was filled with soooo many stars! It was quite amazing. We stayed in a little village called Strba and even though the transportation to and from the village was few and far between. We had to catch the bus to go to our destination every morning at 6:16am so that meant we had to wake up around 5:30am which is my normal time but it still felt rather crazy that that was time we had to catch the only bus. So we always started our hikes with the sunrise, which was pretty nice. I love watching the sunrise, one of my favorite things in life, when I watch the sunrise I feel that I have all the time in the world during that day. It truly felt that way being in the mountains. Now it was still fairly cold and I was glad that I had brought my winter jacket, I almost didn't because as I was leaving my apartment to go catch the bus to the train station I thought it was ridiculous to be carrying this big jacket, but it pretty much saved me. :) There was still snow and ice and we had almost all forms of precipitation while we were out hiking; rain, snow, wind, sun, cloudy. It was also a great time to spend with Lucia and get to know her a bit better, she is Slovak and is studying medicine here. So the highest that we climbed up to was around 1750ish feet high. This was on Saturday and the last day we went hiking, it was quite a beautiful hike. Through the forest where it was still a bit winter wonderland and very quiet and beautiful...and then out in the sun and on the edge of the mountain. We also climbed to a couple of lakes on different days, which were still frozen over. Hopefully in the future I can come back and do more hiking here when it is not frozen because it is supposed to be very very beautiful (anybody up for a trip?!) Here are some pictures from that trip! Enjoy! :)

SNOWBOARDING ADVENTURE

2010-02-14T18:45:00.004+02:00

Today was the day I learned how to snowboard or at least made the attempt. I have never snowboarded before so leading up to it I was both excited and apprehensive. Excited because I really want to learn but apprehensive because I had never done it before and did not want to get hurt. :) We met up with our friends, Daniel, Lucia, and Lenka. Out of the 5 of us only Lenka knew how to snowboard, the rest of us were going to learn. It took about 45 to an hour drive to get out there and as we are going up the mountain on one side we can see across the snowy ravine the hills for skiing and snowboarding that we will be going down. As I see them I start to get a little bit nervous because they look big and steep and I wanted to start out on a baby hill. We arrive and jump out of the car and head to get our gear. We then follow Lenka to a spot at the top of the hill that you can practice on. As it is the boots for snowboarding are a little heavy and then you attach the board and it gets even heavier and more difficult because now you are strapped in. I think I fell at least 100 times today, both frontwards and backwards. However, do not get anxious about me because it was never really hard because I would never let myself go that fast because I didn't feel that I could handle the speed and keep my balance at the same time. Keeping your balance is a very tricky thing. Back to the story....so we practiced just getting up and going a little bit down this area that was a slight incline. This was for about half an hour. Then we proceed to the hill, and this is I believe the smallest hill they have....to me it seemed more like a mountain, but it was probably only as high as Green Mountain back home. So we proceed down this steep hill/mountain and it took me about half an hour to get down...seriously. Because of the falling and because of just getting used to having my feet strapped onto a board and trying to move them as one. So we all finally make it down, some faster than others, I think I was the last one down. Then the not so fun and tragic/hilarious part happens, but not only to me Imogen as well, we are at the bottom and have to go up to the top via the lifts, except these lifts are not seats, they are boths with hooks on the bottom that drag you up. Now as I come to my turn I have one foot out of the hold on the snowboard because I saw others doing this and it seemed logical. As I get to one side and pull the pole thing between my legs it starts moving up and I am not ready at all and it basically is starting to drag me and my feet are not ready to come. So i fall on my face, not really embarassed because I am foreign and I don't really care, most of these people have been watching me go down the mountain and that was already bad. Then I try again and again I fail. So some nice workers direct me to the other one and let me try that one and that fails as well. Until one of them who speaks english and is on ski's helps me out. So he sits on one side and I am on the other of this pole with two arms on the bottom and finally I am able to ride the thing up the mountain. The man was very nice and we had a nice conversation going up. Then I met some of the others up at the top and we rested a little bit and then headed down again. Again slow going. Then the group is off to one side halfway down and Lenka is helping us and giving us pointers. So we practice and practice and practice. Imogen and I are doing the worst but we are definitely trying hard. Now we decide, because Imogen also had a bad time of falling off the lift a few times, that we would just climb back up the hill halfway and go down again and do that several times instead of taking the lift all the way to the top. We don't want to take the lift until we have to. After a while Daniel, Lucia, and Lenka decide to go check out another hill. Imogen and I stay put on this hill and continue going up and down. We would go down as best we could (actually getting better everytime we went down), all the while watching kids as young as 2 1/2 go speeding by on their ski's. Which made us laugh at ourselves, but hey this was our first time, these kids probably have been doing this for a while, or at least more than us. Imogen and I were on our last legs and decided to go down one more time from the halfway area and go up using the lifts. However, mishaps happened again and again I had to go up with someone because I couldn't get it on my own and kept falling flat on my face :(, but this time as well the gentleman could speak english and was very nice. So thank you to the two slovak gentlemen who kindly took pity on me and helped me up the mountain. By this time we were all exhausted, cold, tired, and ready to go home we had been there since 10:30am and it was now 2:30pm. My back, bottom, ankles, knees, and wrists are hurting and I know I will be totally exhausted and sore tomorrow when Imogen and I head up to Prague. But I am glad that I did it and thankful that our friends had a car and asked us to go along. Maybe in the future I can do this again. Imogen had a camera so hopefully pictures of the day will come soon. Looking back I can say Snowboarding rocks! if I was able to just practice more or have an instructor I am sure I would get it in no time. Just looking at the improvement that happened today, going from never having done it before to being able to go down half the mountain was an accomplishment for me. :)

The end

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW SOME MORE

2010-02-13T17:17:00.002+02:00

So it is still cold here and it is still snowing, the last couple of days it has been very windy as well. This morning when we woke up it seemed like a galestorm outside, it was really crazy. I don't know how much longer this is going to last, in most regards I hope it does not last much longer, I keep getting sick from it. I have never been more sick anywhere else than I have here. However, for this weekend and the next 8 days the snow can remain because we have a packed holiday that must include snow for it to happen.
Here is my schedule for the holiday:
1. Tonight go to ballet
2. Tomorrow go snowboarding with friends
3. Monday - Wednesday go to Prague to visit Emily
4. During visit to Emily go to Opera
5. Thursday - Sunday go to Zilina with Danka for visiting and skiing.

Snow snow come again
Stay a little while
So I can have fun with my friends.
Let me go skiing
Let me go snowboarding
Then leave again so I can stop sneezing.

ODE TO JANE AUSTEN

2010-02-13T17:13:00.002+02:00

I love Jane Austen's books. (full stop)

I also love the movies that have been made out of Jane Austen's books and I love the movie that has been made of her life. I am not ashamed to say it, but I cry whenver I read or watch them. The reason I am writing this is because I just got finished watching 'Becoming Jane' and so I had to write about it. Sorry if this seems random, it is. :)

The end.

LEARNING TO PLAY GUITAR

2010-01-23T15:08:00.003+02:00

So today I started to learn how to play guitar....my fingers on my left hand already hurt :) ouch. I'm looking online and trying to find basic lessons and songs that I can learn to play, I need to find beginner beginner stuff as I have never played before. I used to play the violin and so I can read music, although guitar is a bit different when it comes to reading music, but I think my music knowledge will help me out still. I want to learn so that I can play songs for the kids and also just for myself, give me something I can do instead of wasting my time just sitting at home doing nothing. My brother plays the guitar and he is really good and so maybe one day I can get as good as he is and we can play together, that would be nice. It will definitely take a lot of practice and hopefully I can stick with it. Just need to set time aside everyday, at least half an hour, and pick up the guitar and practice scales or some exercise. If anyone knows good sites to go to for beginners please send them my way. Wish me luck! :)

THE SNOW!!!

2010-01-22T19:24:00.003+02:00

This is the winter wonderland that we see as we step out of our apartment in the morning. Yes it is still dark when we leave in the morning, although it is now starting to get better, used to be even darker although it was already 7ish. It's quite cold too.

LOVE REMAINS

2010-01-13T19:01:00.002+02:00

Beauty stands before me

I breathe in sweetness

A transport beyond words overtakes me

Wraps me in an embrace of warmth

My soul feels nurtured and restored

The person I used to be is no longer

A new creation is born

A new purpose is soon to be discovered

No longer waiting but prepared to move forward

Already missing this place and these friends

But knowing that it won't be the last time

This will always be my home

Till I see you again.

SOME PICS FROM HAIFA...STORIES TO COME LATER

2010-01-05T20:53:00.008+02:00

These are in reverse order, i always put them in wrong for some reason and then it's too much to go back and fix it, so just look at it from the bottom up :) Anway, more pictures to come, but here is a little teaser.

RETURNING HOME

2009-12-23T17:02:00.002+02:00

My heart sings here
I am at peace
There is a calm that surrounds me
and holds me
Everything is in bloom
The sky is blue
The wind is sweet-scented
The joy is indescribable
Too see old friends again
I don't think a smile can leave my face
My eyes well up with tears
It is good to be home.

FIRST SNOW

2009-12-20T23:28:00.005+02:00

The weather had been getting really cold here and I was wondering when it was going to snow seeing as it was already negative degrees celsius. Well, it was not too long ago that the first snow happened, actually it was either thursday or friday of this past week. However, it was only a little bit, but this weekend it was much more and it looked wonderful. Wish I had more people here so we could have a snowball fight! :)

(walking through town on a snowy night)

(look Mom and Dad I am wearing my jacket, hat, and gloves!)

(view from our balconey)

(notice the little sparrow type bird, they were flying around outside on that morning)

(Martina, one of Mrs. Monika's students, having fun.)

(Imo and me excited that there is snow and also cold because it is in the negative)

(the upstairs children looking at the snow)

VIENNA CHRISTMAS MARKETS

2009-12-19T14:01:00.007+02:00

The pictures are in reverse order....sorry about that. This is a trip I took with my friend Danka a few Saturdays ago. In Vienna every year they have a few Christmas markets. It's basically a few areas with tons of booths set up with anything from food, sweets, handmade objects, and other Christmas things for sale. We took the train in the morning, rode the 1 hour out, and got to Vienna about 11 in the morning. We then proceeded to walk into the centre of town, which is about a 2o minute walk. Tons of people all over as these markets draw crowds every year, not to mention the regular tourists that are there. We walked around for a while went into a few shops before going to the markets. Wonderful smells of frankfurters and chocolate filled the air (not necessarily together, just in the air) and a couple of hours later we were getting really hungry. Danka got a huge potatoe with toppings and I got a hotdog type food, it was really long and in a bread roll, not a hotdog bun. Didn't remember to take pictures so can't show what I actually ate, but it hit the spot. Then we just continued walking around until we were getting too cold and decided to go to a cafe and have some hot chocolate :) After sitting and talking about many subjects and having a very relaxing time we ventured out again into the cold. It was getting closer to dark and we wanted to see the lights. One of the huge cathedrals there in Vienna puts banners in it's windows with numbers on them...basically counting down til Christmas and each day they take down a number. It is also lit up magnificently. When it got dark I proceeded to take pictures of about everything that was lit up. It was just so pretty. It was all in all a lovely time. I'm glad I got to go at least once to the Christmas market in Vienna. We have one here in Bratislava but it is not as big as the ones in Vienna. Anyway, here are some photos from that trip.

ANOTHER VISIT TO VIENNA

2009-11-08T10:01:00.003+02:00

Imogen and I went to Vienna last week for a day again. We love going to Vienna and especially since it is sooo close...just one hour by train. We go shopping or just walk around and observe the people and look at all the magnificient buildings and love the cleanness of the city. So here are some pictures from our adventure.

(This photo is for my dad because he loves starbucks.)
(found my name on a sign and had to document it)

(majestic)

(up at the sky cafe looking out on all the rooftops)

(what a beautiful day we had)

WALKING HOME ONE NIGHT

2009-11-08T09:33:00.003+02:00

These are images from a walk home from the old city center to crossing the Novy Most bridge to get home.

FARENHEITH TO CELSIUS AND OTHER SUCH THINGS

2009-10-25T22:45:00.003+02:00

Living in Europe I have to learn many new things, of course there is the new language that I am trying to learn, the lifestyle here, the customs, but also I have to learn to read the temperature in celsius and how to understand things in the metric system. Also, when did 46 degrees farenheit (or 7.7 degrees celsius) become nice weather to me?!! It's crazy that I am getting used to cold already, maybe because we had a crazy cold spell after it was really hot and so this is not as cold as that was. But 46 degrees would be cold back home and so it's quite funny how I don't really think it is cold anymore. What's happening to me!! :) Anway, learning a lot of new things here in Slovakia. :)

HALLOWEEN PARTY!

2009-10-24T12:13:00.004+02:00

Yesterday we had a Halloween party at the kindergarten because we would be on break for when Halloween actually was. The kids all dressed up and some of the teachers did too, they were all very cute. I carved a pumpkin and had the kids make ghosts. We really just partied all day, it was nice, the kids had a great time. As you can see by these adorable pictures. :)

(spiderman, clown, pirate)
(fairy, clown, fisherman, spiderman)

(not sure exactly what Kaan was)

(obviously Lili is Snow White)

(our four pirates: Oskar, Aymeric, Martin, and Natalie)

(Frida: bride, Martina: princess, Natalie: pirate, Hana: fairy, Rebecca: night fairy)

(my attempt at carving a pumpkin)

(second time ever carving a pumpkin, first time by myself)

Kindergarten sign fail!

2009-10-24T12:11:00.002+02:00

The other day I was going up and down the stairs of the kindergarten and I was looking at the display board that is on the way up and I was trying to figure out what was wrong. Can you tell?

BUS/TRAM SYSTEM

2009-10-24T11:16:00.002+02:00

The bus systems here are very interesting to me because I have lived largely in a country where you don't really have that great or any public transportation and so you have to have a car. Now I have lived in two countries where public transportation is great, Israel and Slovakia. However, even these two countries their public transportation methods differ. In Israel you always spoke to the driver of the sherut, bus, or taxi. Here in Slovakia you don't talk to the driver in buses and trams at all, they are actually enclosed in a little box in the front of the vehicle and you don't have them stamp or punch your ticket. In buses and trams you time/date stamp your ticket on a little machine that is in several places on the bus. Also you can buy either 15 minute bus tickets or an hour bus ticket and all you have to do is stamp it once during that whole time that you are on the bus and even when you transfer buses or a bus to a tram you don't stamp it again, you just have the original time stamp. If you are within the 15 minutes or the hour, depending on the ticket, then you can use it for however many transfers you need. At first Imogen and I thought you had to stamp it everytime you got on and off, but then we were told otherwise, so we dont' make that mistake anymore. There are also random checks for tickets, we have only been checked once in all the time we have been on a bus. You can usually tell who the ticket conductors are because they look like bouncers at clubs. They are usually pretty muscular young men. They get on at one stop and check tickets and then get off at the next. But I guess that way of checking is good because you have to be sure to always have it because you never know when you are going to get checked, keeps you on your toes. I love public transportation :)

IMO + ME + VIENNA

2009-10-14T20:15:00.008+02:00

One weekend, now a while ago, Imogen and I decided to go to Vienna. We were supposed to be going with a couple of other people but they decided they couldn't do it the day before and we thought, 'well, we can go on our own, we are capable travelers'. By the train, which is 5 minutes away from our flat, it is only an hour ride to Vienna. We live very close to the Austrian border and you know you are in Austria when you start seeing these giant windmills out the window. I can even see some from my apartment balconey, we live on the tenth floor. Anyway, so we head out about 9ish and get to Vienna about 10ish. At first we just walked out of the train station and I guess just expecting to be in the middle of Vienna and see the sights...however, this was not the case and we soon realized about 50 feet away that we needed a map, and so we headed back in to the station to the information booth. We got a map and headed to town. It took us a little while to get there, but we finally made it. We walked everywhere! We saw all the major buildings that were on the map. It made me want to get up and move there instead of living in Bratislava...Bratislava is nice, but nothing compared to Vienna :) I took a bunch of pictures, some I will put up here, others are on my facebook. We hope to be able to go back sometime and go to a show or see an opera or something cool like that. We still have to do those things here in this city...our schedule is just so busy and we are tired after kindergarten that sometimes it is hard to find the time and energy. Anyway, here you are! (sorry they are in reverse order)

THE WEATHER

2009-10-14T19:53:00.003+02:00

Well, I just realized today that I have moved to a rather cold and windy and unpredictable place. Last week or this weekend actually was in the 70/80 degrees..however, in just a day it went from being one day 27 degrees celsius to 8 degrees celsius. WHAT! and in some parts of Slovakia it has already snowed...what happened to autumn? I miss that from home, we have a lovely indian summer. Already have pulled out gloves, hats, and scarves, and boots. Today was extremely windy! I was supposed to have futbol class today (i coach at the kindergarten) but because the wind was sooo strong I knew the balls and the kids would get blown away, not to mention I probably would too. It was also cold and so that being added it was a no go. I'm glad I bought and brought those winter coats and stuff....they will definitely come in handy. Thanks mom and dad! Anyway, just wanted to update you on the weather :) love!

HOW AM I?

2009-10-08T17:34:00.003+02:00

Ok, so I know I haven't updated since in early september, so I am doing so now. I am doing very well, getting more and more used to the routine of the school. Both the kids and myself are getting more and more accustomed to each other and more settled. It has only really been a month, seems much longer, but really just a month of teaching. It's been a whirlwind adventure and already a big learning experience. So if you ever move to another country really make sure a lot of things are already in place, such as living arrangments and work permits and the like. It's not a huge problem if they are not, but it makes things sooo much easier if they are and also it just makes things less complicated once you get to that country. I like the cuisine, at least what we have at school for lunch which are typical slovak food. I have never seen so many different ways you can cook a potatoe and combine it with other things. Quite interesting. Imogen and I are getting used to the buses and getting around, we mostly walk everywhere, but if it is far we are able to get to where we need to go. Not that hard. Also I am learning the language, kind of harder, but still picking stuff up here and there and feel like I have actually learned a lot for only being here a month, I have learned more slovak than in all the 3 years of being in israel and trying to learn some hebrew. I've gone to Vienna already as well, quite a nice trip with Imogen and she speaks a little bit of german and so we were able to get around easily. It was only one day and we did lots and lots of walking. We hope to go again though and see a show or something later on in the year. I love how transportation between countries is so easy in europe. :)

COMMON PHRASES/QUESTIONS THESE DAYS

2009-09-07T22:06:00.003+03:00

"Go wash your hands"
"Did you wash your hands?"
"Does anyone need to go peepee?"
"Change your shoes, time to go outside"
"Are you finished eating?"
"Do you want water?"
"Come here"
"That was very helpful, thank you"
"Please go sit on the red bench and wait"
"Lay down, time for rest"
"No running"
"Do you remember our rules?"
"Do you want me to read you a story?"
"Do you need help?"
"How do we sit in circle time?"

Just a couple handfuls of phrases and questions that are now second nature for me to ask. :) I'm sure there are more that I repeat during the day, but can't remember.

OCTOPUSES, STARFISH, AND WHALES

2009-09-03T19:05:00.003+03:00

Every year in the Kindergarten the classes come up with names for the classes and they change from year to year. So this year, the teachers decided that we would have names that were about sea life. There are 6 classes and the names are: Starfish, Octopuses, Whales, Dolphins, Seahorses, and Clownfish. Can you guess which one is my class?....it's the Octopuses!!! There is a bulletin board downstairs that Janka and I are in charge of and we decided to put the names and pictures of the classes that are upstairs on it. Look at the picture. Sophia, I did the artwork :), I hope you are proud of me! I have 7 children in my class and their names are: Klara, Hayden, Hana, Lucia, Martin, Kaan, Maria. All of them are soo cute and I hope to get a group picture of them tomorrow :) Yesterday we made little octopus badges, although most of them did not want to wear it, but some wore it today so that made me happy. C's in Slovak are pronounced as ts's...so Lucia's name is pronounced Lutsia. My kids call me Miss Lucia. Lucia doesn't speak english and I don't speak Slovak, so it's a bit of a challenge, but kids learn fast. She already responds to commands I give her, but it's harder when I ask questions to the class, she doesn't understand. Hayden is a bit of a handful, kind of wants to do things when he wants to do things and his way, so will have to be patient with that. The rest are pretty much good and loving children. :) It's going to be a challenging and growing year though and so looking forward to it.

(my children's lockers)

THE KINDERGARTEN!

2009-09-01T08:37:00.006+03:00

School has not started yet, it will start tomorrow, but here are some pre-school pictures that I took of my class and the people I will be working with. We have been preparing all last week and yesterday.

(This is one of the playground areas, the other one is behind the school, this is in the front.)

(This is the front of the school, it is two stories tall. My class is on the second story.)

(These are all the teachers, from left to right we have: Janka, Monika, Jan, Imogen, me, Nava, Lenka, Monika, and Lucia. The J's are pronounced like Y's and in Slovak C's are pronounced like TS...so Lucia is Lutsia. However, because we have two Lucia's I am sticking with the spanish pronunciation of my name. I work on the second floor with Janka and the first Monika. We are actually sitting here in my classroom area, we had just had a bit of a training session. I will be teaching the 4 year old class.)

(This is Imogen putting up Little Miss Sunshine and friends cutouts on the wall leading to hers and Jan's classroom. They have the 6 year olds.)

(Right now I am standing in Monika's classroom area and looking towards my area. In the middle is the circle time section. Every year the classes come up with names to represent their class, this year the teachers decided on sea life. My class this year will be called 'Octopuses'!!! The other classes are Starfish, Whales, Dolphins, Seahorses, and Clownfish.)

(And here I am standing in my area and looking towards Monika's section. My area gets really hot during the summer months, even I was hot. I hope we don't freeze when we get to the winter!)

LEAVING HUNTSVILLE/FIRST WEEK IN SLOVAKIA

2009-09-01T08:13:00.003+03:00

The following are picture taken from when I left Huntsville and then also my first week in Slovakia. :)

(This is Nura, she is one of the daughters of the Jahanpour's, the family I am staying with, wonderful youth.)

(Here we are sitting in a courtyard in the town of Stupava, we had just gotten ice cream cones. I had just gotten a strawberry one, but it tasted horrible, like medicine not at all like strawberry, and so the youngest, Hoda, had just gone to get me a new cone with chocolate.)

(This is a church that is opposite from where we were sitting, quite a beautiful color.)

(This is at an pizza place in Stupava after a long day at the school preparing for the coming week. Starting from the man and going around clockwise: Mr. Omeed Jahanpour, Munirih Jahanpour, Mrs. Venus Jahanpour, Nura Jahanpour, Imogen Floyd(from ireland doing a year of service here), and Hoda Jahanpour. We had very delicious pizza here.)

(This is the view from the balcony of the bedroom I am staying in. It is on the second floor of the house at the back. It's quite beautiful and it faces the direction where the sun rises in the morning, so I am able to get up with the sun :) However, one thing that is not so good about this as you can probably see is the neighbors new house being built right next door, they have blocked half of the view looking to the right, not very nice.)

(Waiting in the airport for Roya to arrive so we can go upstairs and sit at my gate.)

(My going away party, the three of us unconsciously all wore purple that night. Purple rocks!! It was a beautiful, fun party and if you look really hard you can see my red puffy eyes, I had just lost it about 10 minutes before this shot.)

CLOUD PHOTOS

2009-08-29T14:25:00.003+03:00

These are photos of different types of clouds that I took along the way to Slovakia. :) Enjoy!!

TRAVELING TO SLOVAKIA

2009-08-28T18:33:00.004+03:00

Welllllll.....what an interesting trip that was. I have now been in Slovakia for 4 and a half days and it seems longer because of the massive jetlag I have been having. So here I will start with leaving huntsville and details my adventure. Early Sunday the 23rd of August I woke up to finish getting all last minute things ready, since the night before had been my going away party and I did not have time to do those things. The family, (parents, brian, and amelia) hop in the car and get to the airport. Roya joins us after we have already checked in. Check-in was crazy too because one of my bags was a little bit overweight and so I had to rearrange things and leave something behind. Anyway, so it is a sad and semi-tearfull goodbye, I had sort of cried myself out the night before. Then I hopped on the flight and went off to Detroit. It was an uneventful flight up. Upon arriving in Detroit I knew I had a lot of time before I had to be at my next gate and so I first went to the area of where my flight was and then I wanted to eat. I went to a Mediterranean restaurant and had a falafel sandwich, but it definitely failed to impress. It was quite dry and there was very little sauce....so word to the wise do not go to that restaurant if you ever go to the Detroit restaurant. Then there was a lot more waiting around before I got on my flight. On this flight I sat next to a nice fatherly man who was flying to Sweden for meetings. We had nice conversations and got along fine. I watched 3 movies and did not sleep, I guess it was because I was watching movies but I definitely should have gone to sleep because I am currently dealing with some bad jetlag. One thing I didn't mention about this flight was that we were pulling away from the gate and going to the runway but then something was wrong with one of the toilets. So we went back to the gate and had to stay there for about half an hour or longer. Because of this we were late arriving in Amsterdam and I missed my next flight because also there were long lines...so then I had to get transfered to another flight later in the day. By this time because I had not been sleeping I was totally exhausted. So I get on the flight later that day and my carry-on was too big too fit in overhead and it had to go into a standing cupboard, but it was weird because the stewardess didn't really help me. So I just went to sleep on that flight and that would be the only sleep I had for more than 48 hours. I arrived in Vienna about 12:30pm and finally got my luggage although I thought it was never going to come. I had a cart that was hilarious, I should have taken a picture of it. Anyway, so I go out to the area where I am supposed to meet Venus, however, I don't see her and then I walk outside and sit for about 5 or so mintues and then I go back inside and look and look among the people who were waiting for people. Finally I see a man in a yellow shirt who looks like Venus' husband Omeed, whom I had seen before in pictures. Sure enough it was him and so we finally meet. Then we drive to Bratislava, go and meet Venus at the school. Then I was taken to their house which is in Stupava and take in my luggage and try and stay awake to try and get over jetlag.
The end.

COUNTDOWN: 7

2009-08-15T16:04:00.003+03:00

Wow! 7 days! I know I missed 14-8 and I am very sorry, just crazy doings going on over here to get ready.

Interesting fact:

There is an exhibit in the Poprad Museum of a Neanderthal skull molding, which was found in the village of Ganovce. "Ganovce Man", as he is affectionately known, dates back to around 200,000 B.C., and is the earliest evidence of people living in Slovakia.

Other archaeological discoveries, tell us that the Celtic tribes came to Slovakia at the beginning of the Iron Age and that the Romans invaded the region in 6 A.D.

There is a Roman inscription still engraved on the rock of Trencin Castle, which was written in 179 A.D. and marked the most northern point of the Roman Empire at that time.

Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the region that is now Slovakia was raided by various different tribes, including the Huns, the Lombards, the Avars and the Germanic Goths, a phenomenon commonly known as the "migration of people".

p.s. Look at those cool classic cars! oh and the awesome architecture :)

COUNTDOWN: 15

2009-08-07T16:08:00.003+03:00

Interesting fact:

The main latitude and longitude of Slovakia is 48 o 40'North and 19 o 30'East. The total area which falls between the first and the last latitude and longitude of Slovakia is 48,845 square kilometer. The country of Slovakia is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle. The latitudes of Slovakia pass through the temperate zone and as it is near to the Arctic it has cool summers and cold humid winters. The mountainous terrain is also to an extent responsible for the extremely cold winters. The latitude and longitude of the capital of Slovakia , Bratislava, is 48 o 09' North and 17 o 07'East. The longitude of Slovakia lies of the east of the Prime meridian. The standard time is thus one hour ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time. From March to October one hour daylight saving time is kept. The time difference of Slovakia with Washington DC is around six hours.

Slovakia is situated in a mild climate zone with four distinct seasons. January is the coldest month and July the warmest month of the year. The average rainfall in Slovakia reaches 700 mm. Rainfall averages from 450 mm in the south-western part of Slovakia to 1,500 mm in the mountainous areas of the High Tatras. Twenty percent (%) of the total annual precipitation is snowfall. The highest volume of rainfall occurs in January and February and the least from May to July. Slovakia receives an average of 34.3 billion m3 of rainfall annually.

p.s. I will definitely be getting my own picture of this hotel in Bratislava, called Spirit Hotel.

COUNTDOWN: 18

2009-08-05T00:18:00.002+03:00

Interesting fact:

The music of Slovakia has been influenced both by the county's native Slovak peoples and the music of neighbouring regions. Whilst there are traces of pre-historic musical instruments, the country has a rich heritage of folk music and mediaeval liturgical music, and from the 18th century onwards, in particular, musical life was influenced by that of Austria-Hungary. In the 19th century composers such as Jan Levoslav Bella began to write romantic music with a Slovak character. In the twentieth century there were a number of composers who identified with Slovak culture. After the fall of communism in 1989-90 the country also began to develop its own popular music scene in Western style.

p.s. Brian I will get you ones of these :)

COUNTDOWN: 20

2009-08-03T05:27:00.003+03:00

Interesting fact:

Terrain and Environment: Slovakia boasts rugged mountains in its central and northern regions. The High Tatra alpine range houses Gerlachovsky stit, the highest peak at 8762 feet (2655 meters). The southern region is made up of fertile lowlands. There is, however, air pollution and acid rain. The extent of environmental danger posed by the controversial Gabickovo dam (which diverts water from the Danube river) remains an issue of debate.

p.s. I am definitely going hiking in Slovakia :)

COUNTDOWN: 22

2009-08-01T01:13:00.003+03:00

Interesting Fact:

Bratislava: It has gone by many a name

The Slovak Republic capital has seen many names over the years, often dependent on who is calling speaking about it. Pressburg is one that pops up a lot and in many English and German texts this is still prominent. Latin, Greek, Czech, French, Italian, Croatian, Hungarian, Slovak all have their own versions of the city but as of 1919, Bratislava officially became Bratislava.

p.s. I will also be taking a picture of this when i get there. :)

COUNTDOWN: 23

2009-07-31T06:18:00.003+03:00

So I know I haven't been able to do a countdown every day, but you get most days :) It's the end of day 23 and I am going to bed soon, but just wanted to give you some more interesting Slovakia facts.

Interesting fact:

Like the Italian or Chinese cuisine, there is nothing as in Slovakia which is known internationally. However, there are Slovak foods and meals that you would encounter more often in Slovakia than elsewhere in the world. Although rice does not belong to the crops grown in Slovakia, it is imported and widely used in the modern kitchen. Potatoes, wheat flour, cow and sheep cheese, cabbage, onions and garlic are the bases of the traditional food and Slovakia recipes. Pork, beef, chicken and fish are the most popular meats. You will often find beans, corn, lentils and other vegetables. Slovak has also a number of fruit items like apple, pear, peach, apricot, cherry, plum, grape, orange, kiwi, grapefruit, banana etc. Bread is very a important item in the Slovakia food. Most people in Slovakia eat bread for the breakfast and also quite often with the dinner. The bread differs from region to region, town to town, baker to baker, just like elsewhere in Europe. Just come on and devour the taste of Slovakia food. Slovak foods are really tasty and easily affordable that make it worthy option for the visitors.

National Slovak food - bryndzove halusky - little potatoes dumplings boiled in water with soft sheep cheese.

p.s. let's see if i can give this a try. :)

COUNTDOWN: 26

2009-07-27T19:08:00.004+03:00

Interesting Facts about Slovakia:

Official name: Slovak RepublicName in native language: Slovensko ("Slovakia"), or Slovenska republika ("Slovak Republic")

Capital city: BratislavaCurrency: Euro

European Union and NATO member state since 2004

Official language: Slovak (a western Slavic language, very closely related to Czech and relatively close to Polish and the languages of the former Yugoslavia)

DemographicsPopulation: 5,350,000Nationalities: 85% Slovak (western Slavic in origin), 10%

Hungarian, 3% Roma. Significant smaller nationalities include Czechs, Ruthenians, Ukranians, Germans and Poles. Religions: 63% Roman Catholic, 9% Protestant, 4% Greek Orthodox, 2% other Orthodox churches.

History and identityModern Slovakia was born as an independent nation-state in 1993, when it peacefully separated from the Czech Republic, splitting from the former Czechoslovakia by mutual agreement. (There has been no organized conflict of any kind in Slovakia since 1945.) Many foreigners still confuse Slovakia with Slovenia of the former Yugoslavia.
GovernmentType of government: republic, with parliamentary democracy.Head of government: Prime Minister, generally the leader of the largest party in parliament, this post holds most real executive authority.Legislative body: National Council, a one-house parliament elected at least once every four years.Head of state: President, elected once every five years (next election in 2009), largely ceremonial.

p.s. I would love to visit these castle ruins! :)

COUNTDOWN: 28

2009-07-27T04:03:00.002+03:00

Interesting Fact:

Slovak National Anthem: The score for "Lightning over the Tatras", the Slovak national anthem, was written in 1884 during a trip by students of Bratislavas Evangelical Grammar School to Levoca in support of Ludovt Štr. The author, Janko Matška, set his words to the Slovak folk song "A Well She Dug" and the work became the favourite song of Štrs young followers. It was circulated in hand-written copies and is found in many manuscript song collections. Based on a popular melody and written in standard Slovak, it became known across the nation and was adopted by the Slovak volunteers of 1848, who printed it as a pamphlet. In December 1918 the first stanza became part of the national anthem of the Czechoslovak Republic and since 1st January 1993 the first two stanzas have constituted the national anthem of the independent Slovak Republic.

COUNTDOWN: 29

2009-07-24T22:01:00.004+03:00

I bought my ticket yesterday!!!! Ohhhh so exciting! I will be leaving on the 23rd of August!!! Here I come Slovakia! :)

should I get a traditional outfit? :)

COUNTDOWN: 30

2009-07-24T00:37:00.003+03:00

Short but interesting fact:

Štefan Banič (1870-1941) invented the first actively used parachute, patenting it in 1913.

p.s. Amelia I will get you a scarf with the Slovak flag :)

COUNTDOWN: 31

2009-07-22T00:58:00.003+03:00

Interesting fact about Slovakia #2:

One of the most colourful character in Slovak history is Móric Beňovský (1746-1786), a nobleman who during his relatively short life managed to be an adventurer, globetrotter, explorer, colonizer, writer, chess player, a French colonel, Polish military commander, and Austrian soldier. Above all, he managed to get himself elected as King of Madagascar (!) by the natives in 1776. His memoirs were a bestseller at the turn of the of 18th and 19th centuries. His life was a source of inspiration for many writers, poets, and composers.

p.s. A castle I will be visiting :)

COUNT DOWN: 32

2009-07-20T20:42:00.004+03:00

Yes, that is how many days I have left on this continent, then it is bob's your uncle and fanny's your aunt and I am off! Then it is to the continent of the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, leaning tower of Piza, colliseums, castles, and the Audobon. I will using such words as Ahoj, Prosim, Nerozumiem po slovensky, and other such things in a far away land. Where the Tatra mountains are tall and the winters are longer than I have ever been in, and art is abundant. I am really looking forward to this new adventure, hence the countdown....however, I will also miss everyone, watching my cousins, niece and nephew, and everyone else grow and change. I will miss birthday parties and other memorable occassions, but please know that my heart and thoughts will be with my loved ones on those days.

Ok, so everday I will post the countdown and something interesting about Slovakia.

Interesting Fact:

-Tennis champion Martina Hingis (born in 1980), former World No. 1 and winner of five Grand Slam singles titles and nine Grand Slam women's doubles titles, was born in Slovakia to a Slovak father and a Czech mother.

p.s. I will be hiking in these moutains :)

MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!!

2009-06-18T02:12:00.004+03:00

This is definitely something I have trouble with, almost in all aspects of my life. Because when you take a step in one direction and pursue something, you have either put on hold those other options or totally cut those other options out of the picture. Some options can only be open for a short time and so then are no longer available in the long run. I really think it is ok to change ones mind, this life is very transitory and this life is from God and there for us to experience and enjoy. Of course God wants us to make good choices and decisions that will benefit not just ourselves but mankind as well. So if you take that into consideration sometimes it can get harder to make a choice :) because then you are not just thinking about yourself there are others in that train of thought that you are taking into consideration. Is my logic convoluted?

In society women are often portrayed and faulted for changing their minds. I say...so what!!! It's ok to be uncertain about things and change your mind. We live in an ever-changing world and circumstances and events make things change, so not entirely our fault. :) Everyday I probably change my mind at least 20 times...what I am going to eat, what I am going to wear, what I am going to read, what I am going to do that day, what I am going to watch, who I am going to talk to.

One big thing for me lately has been what direction, career wise, I am going to be following. I have plans A to D and even though A comes before all the others I am not certain if I don't just want to go ahead with plan C. People always say "if you want to make God laugh, make plans", well I am not exactly making plans, they are more like options that I can try to take. How do you really know which plan/option to take? Is there a rule book or a book for assembly ? I wish there were because that would make all these decisions much easier and then maybe I wouldn't be able to change my mind so much. :)

YEARBOOK MEMORIES

2009-06-06T21:34:00.002+03:00

Can you remember what you wrote in peoples yearbooks back in highschool? I certainly can't but I hope I wrote stuff that would last with people for a while, or at least when they came back to it years and years later then they would get a kick out of it. I am curretly sitting in my little alcove of my room and organizing a trunk of mine that contains my memories from childhood, and I came across all of my yearbooks from highschool. Being curious as to what I used to look like in highschool I started flipping through them. After seeing me when I was a junior I decided to look at the notes that people wrote in my yearbook. These are from the sophmore to seniors years, although not in order. WOW! some of them that is the only word you can say about it. These will all be from boys, they were the more interesting entries. :)
Example 1:
"The first time I heard your name I thought of the world-famous flamenco guitarist, Paco de Lucia; so I decided I liked you. English has been fun/death. I wish I could have gotten to know you a bit better. If you ever feel the urge to get married or make babies, just give me a call:###### (left off to protect this insane boy)
Example 2:
"Hey super cool girl, so these last 2 years has been great knowing you. I hope you have a great time next year too at GHS (thumbs down), Been great knowing you. Maybe you could go on the boat some time this summer. ########"
Example 3:
"Lucia, You need tell the world about us! wink, wink."
and right next to that
Example 4:
"Heard that Jive Turkey."
Example 5:
"Lucia, keep playing soccer and I will keep coming to the games. I am really glad we got acquainted, no maybe I'll see you this summer. bye "
Example 6:
"Lucia, It has been wonderful talking to you over the past couple of years, even though yu might not have the same ideas that I have. thanks for being my date to the auditorium all those times to see plays and dances. I hope you have a great summer, and I will see you around sometime."

Well, that certainly took me down memory lane, try it sometime :) You will at least have a good laugh.

LIFE PLANS

2009-05-05T00:06:00.003+03:00

You know how you set out to have one path and you plan and you plan and try to stick to it. But sometimes those plans just don't happen and so you have to make new ones and you should be flexible in your plan making because you never know what is going to come your way. Be open to all possibilities and take chances. If you have to change careers in order to get to where you ultimately want to go then maybe you have to do that. This is what I am now having to look at. I was in one field and looking at a future there but nothing was coming of it, no opportunities coming along and so I have to switch my thinking. I never have thought that I would be with one career my whole life because there are just to many things that I can do or try to attain and learn. So this changing of the path/plan is ok. But when you do change don't go at it timidly, go charging ahead and try to do your best and reach the highest you can reach. I have a business management degree, however, I think I am going to be switching and getting a medical assistant degree soon. What a switch, eh? :) Well, sometimes this is what needs to be done in order to really find out what your purpose in life is. What do you think about that?

New Beginnings

2009-03-14T17:41:00.002+02:00

A while ago I was working on applying for jobs, and anyone who is doing that now knows what kind of a headache that is at the moment, and then I got the idea that "hey! instead of sitting waiting around for a job or job offer (to the many many jobs I have applied for), why don't I just try and start my own business!" And that is essentially what I have started doing. Now it is still in it's very beginning stages but it is something for me to aim for and work on. Of course I am still applying for jobs and I have an interview on Monday, but at the same time for the future I can slowly build this other thing that is mine. I already have one client, which is promising. Now it is hard and takes a lot of work and committment, but that is part of it all. What kind of business is it you might ask, well it is a professional organizer business. A lot of people do not know what that means, so let me explain. A professional organizer is someone who helps others organize their life, whether it is a room that needs to be decluttered, or a home office, or even a small business. Someone who organizes others stuff :) I feel that I am fairly organized person and I do like order and helping other people get rid of stuff and organizing their stuff. I always felt that it was more fun to organize other peoples stuff that it was my own families stuff. I guess it was because of the whole detachment that you have when organizing others things. Also my family have always told me that I am probably the most organized in the family and I have that kind of skill. So they fully support this idea of mine. Right now it is the job, but if I get a more full-time job it will become my side job. With this job I can really move around because people all over the world need help organzing things. I also like to organize events and so further down the road I might try adding that on to the business. Who knows, but I do know that doing this has helped me become more of a self-confident because it is my thing and I am the only one responsible for it. Here is to new ideas and new beginnings! :)

p.s. if you know of anyone that needs help organizing their clutter, tell them you know someone who can help :)

MEMORIES

2009-02-27T17:24:00.002+02:00

Last night I went on a walk because it was a beautiful evening. It was in the 60's and the wind was blowing and it felt great. It was pretty late, but I just felt compelled to go. I got my ipod and into my exercise clothes and headed out. I started listening to Dave and it was just perfect with the wind blowing. Halfway through my walk I got te most interesting sensation, I got the sensation that I was back in Haifa. Weird huh? walking on the back street in my subdivision can make me feel like I am in Haifa. I guess it was everything combined, the wind blowing, the sky being dark (i used to walk early early in the morning and it would look that dark sometimes when I set out), and then listening to Dave (a usual choice when I went walking), also the feeling of being alone and content. All this combined to take me back to Haifa. I also got the feeling like I could smell the smells of Haifa, not the dirty trash smell that was there a lot of the time, but just a smell of Haifa that those who have been there or lived there know. I miss walking around the streets of Haifa and knowing that that was my home and I felt so comfortable there. I will go back one day, not to worry my heart, I will come back to you.

CAREER

2009-02-25T02:02:00.002+02:00

I have no problem changing from career to career because each one will bring its own challenges and experiences that help you in one way or another. However, what I do not like is the fact that I got a really general degree, I kind of hate it, why didn't i do something specific? Like in marine biology or something with the environment or ecology? I have a friend overseas who works for WWF, http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/index.html, which is really cool. I would love to be a part of this and make a difference in the world. Why didn't I chose a degree that would give me skills to make a difference in the world in the way that I now want to? Why do some people know what they want to do and some people don't? How are we wired differently, what is the wiring that lets you know what you are interested in from an early age? Why is finding a job so hard? I know these are a lot of questions, questions I don't have answers to. Does anyone else have these same questions or anyone know the answers to these questions? I don't even have a dream job because I don't know exactly what I want to do or what is all out there to do. But I know that I want to do something that I want to get excited about everyday, or at least most days, and that I feel like I am making a difference in the world. Is that too much to ask? :)

HOUSE RESOLUTION 1008

2009-02-22T16:18:00.000+02:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwaglgNjYgs

WATERCOLOR MONSTERS

2009-02-20T19:03:00.002+02:00

I am definitely not a great artist, but this is an incredibly fun and simple art project that a good friend taught me recently. What you do is get sketch paper, or something kind of thick because you are using watercolors, and then you take a tab or the watercolor and put it on the paper. Make it more liquidy than paint. Then you get really close to the paper and you just blow really fast and voila! you have pretty cool images. You can of course leave the images like they are or you can create creaturs or as Sophia calls them...MONSTERS! Try it and have fun!

European Union expresses “deep concern” over seven Baha'i prisoners

2009-02-19T17:11:00.002+02:00

18 February 2009

GENEVA — The European Union yesterday issued a statement expressing its “deep concern” over Iran’s plans to bring seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders to trial for espionage and other charges soon. The Baha’i International Community has called for their immediate release, maintaining their innocence and characterizing the regime’s claims as an “escalation of its systematic crackdown on the Baha’is.”

The EU statement coincided with increasingly sharp anti-Baha'i rhetoric from Iranian officials, who said a trial for the seven might come within a week.

The seven Baha'i leaders have been imprisoned in Tehran for more than eight months, during which no formal evidence has been brought against them and they have not been given access to their legal counsel, Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi. Another 30 Baha’is are imprisoned in Iran, while 80 other prisoners have been released on collateral.

The European Union said it was concerned that, “after being held for so long without due process, the Baha’i leaders may not receive a fair trial.

“The EU therefore requests the Islamic Republic of Iran to allow independent observation of the judicial proceedings and to reconsider the charges brought against these individuals.”
The document was endorsed by the entire 27-nation membership of the EU, along with Turkey, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Ukraine, and Moldova.

Separately, in Brazil yesterday, the president of the Human Rights Commission of the Federal Chamber of Deputies sent an open letter to Iran, asking for the release of the Baha´i prisoners.
“The peace-loving, humanistic principles and practices for which the Baha’is are known in Brazil have earned this community respect and credibility among the country’s human rights supporters,” said Deputy Pompeo de Mattos. “There is therefore no reason to doubt the credibility of their claims.”

Other such strong statements of support have been issued over the past several days from governments and parliamentarians in a number of countries, including Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Meanwhile, an official Iranian news agency report yesterday quoted a judiciary spokesman as saying the seven Baha'is “would attend their hearing sessions within one week.”
According to an Islamic Republic News Agency story, the spokesman, Ali-Reza Jamshidi, told reporters at his weekly press conference yesterday that the “seven committed criminal acts including spying for foreigners.”

Mr. Jamshidi stated that the Baha'is would “definitely be allowed to use legal counsel," though they have had no access to their lawyer to date.
His statement followed a harsh report on Sunday that quoted Iran’s prosecutor general as saying the government plans the “complete destruction” of Baha'i administration in Iran.
“The administration of the misguided Baha’i sect at all levels is unlawful and banned, and their ties to Israel and their opposition to Islam and the Islamic regime are clear,” said Iranian Prosecutor General Ayatollah Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, according to a report in Fars News.
“The danger they pose to national security is documented and proven and therefore it is necessary that any substitute administration that acts as a replacement for the original be confronted through the law,” said Ayatollah Najafabadi.

Diane Ala’i of the Baha'i International Community said the activities of the Baha’i leaders had to do with meeting the minimum spiritual and administrative needs of the 300,000-member Baha’i community of Iran. She said Ayatollah Najafabadi’s attempt to portray their actions as “dangerous” was baseless and that the government is well aware that there is no truth to such allegations.

“How can the chief prosecutor equate something so harmless as a group of individuals who get together to give spiritual guidance and administer such things as marriages and burials and children’s moral classes with something that threatens Iran’s national security?” said Ms. Ala’i, the Baha'i International Community’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
“After they banned Baha'i administration in Iran in 1983, the government has always been aware of and informed of the activities of these ad hoc groups.

“In the eyes of the government, the only real ‘crime’ of the seven currently in Evin prison – along with the some 30 other Baha'i prisoners currently held in Iran – is that they hold a religious belief that is different from the majority in Iran, and that is something that the current regime finds intolerable,” she said.

Ms. Ala’i also discussed remarks made yesterday by Mr. Jamshidi in response to a question about Ayatollah Najafabadi’s statements. Mr. Jamshidi was quoted as saying: “Any acts which could be taken as propaganda against Islam, Iran and its Islamic establishment is definitely considered a crime and its perpetrators would be legally encountered.”

“The fact is that the Baha'i Faith is the only independent world religion other than Islam that accepts the divinity of Muhammad and reveres the Qur’an – along with the holy books of all the world’s great religions. There is nothing anti-Islamic or anti-Iran about the Baha'i Faith, its teachings, or the practices of its followers. The government cannot impose its own interpretation of Islam on the Baha’i Faith and conclude that the Baha’i Faith is anti-Islam,” Ms. Ala'i said.
“Indeed, the lives of the seven leaders currently in prison reflect lifelong efforts to promote the best development of Iranian society as a whole, through the promotion of education, social and economic development, and adherence to moral principle,” she said.

Earlier this week, the British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell issued a statement saying the Iranian government “appears to be increasingly using vaguely worded charges to target human rights defenders and religious minorities.”

“It is hard,” said Minister Rammel on Monday, “not to conclude that these people are being held solely on account of their religious beliefs or their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association.”

http://news.bahai.org/story/695

Commentary: Stop religious persecution in Iran

2009-02-18T16:39:00.002+02:00

By Rainn WilsonSpecial to CNN

Editor's note: Actor Rainn Wilson plays paper salesman Dwight Schrute in the television comedy "The Office."

(CNN) -- Why is Rainn Wilson, "Dwight" on "The Office," writing a news commentary for CNN? Good question.
It's a bit strange for me, to say the least; a comic character actor best known for playing weirdos with bad haircuts getting all serious to talk about the persecution of the fellow members of his religious faith.

Dear readers of CNN, I assure you that what I'm writing about is no joking matter or some hoax perpetrated by a paper-sellin', bear-fearin', Battlestar-Galactica obsessed beet farmer.
I am a member of the Baha'i faith. What is that, you ask? Well, long story short, it's an independent world religion that began in the mid-1800s in Iran. Baha'is believe that there is only one God and therefore only one religion.

All of the world's divine teachers (Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, etc.) bring essentially the same message -- one of unity, love and knowledge of God or the divine.
This constantly updated faith of God, Baha'is believe, has been refreshed for this day and age by our founder, Baha'u'llah. There. Nutshell version.

Now, as I mentioned, this all happened in Iran, and needless to say the Muslim authorities did not like the Baha'is very much, accusing them of heresy and apostasy. Tens of thousands were killed in the early years of the faith, and the persecutions have continued off and on for the past 150 years.

Why write about all this now? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see there's a 'trial' going on very soon for seven Baha'i national leaders in Iran. They've been accused of all manner of things including being "spies for Israel," "insulting religious sanctities" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic." They've been held for a year in Evin Prison in Tehran without any access to their lawyer (the Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi) and with zero evidence of any of these charges.
When a similar thing happened in 1980, the national leadership of the Iranian Baha'i community disappeared. And this was repeated again in 1981.

In fact, since 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed, holy places and cemeteries desecrated, homes burned, civil rights taken away and secret lists compiled of Baha'is (and even Muslims who associate with them) by government agencies.

It's bad right now for all the peace-loving Baha'is in Iran who want only to practice their religion and follow their beliefs. It's especially bad for these seven. Here's a link to their bios. They're teachers, and engineers, and optometrists and social workers just like us.

This thought has become kind of a cliché', but we take our rights for granted here in America. Imagine if a group of people were rounded up and imprisoned and then disappeared not for anything they'd done, but because they wanted to worship differently than the majority.

There is a resolution on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran being sent to Congress. Please ask your representatives to support it. And ask them to speak out about this terrible situation.
Thanks for reading. Now back to bears, paper and beets!

I LOVE YOU

2009-02-14T07:51:00.004+02:00

Afrikaans : Ek is lief vir jou Ek het jou lief

Albanian : Te dua
Amharic : Afekrishalehou

Arabic : Ana Behibak (to a male) Ana Behibek (to a female)
Bavarian : I mog di narrisch gern

Bulgarian : Obicham te
Chinese : Wo ie ni, Czech : miluji te
Danish : Jeg elsker dig
Dutch : Ik hou van jou
Estonian : Mina armastan sind
Esperanto : Mi amas vin
Flemish : Ik zie oe geerne
Finnish : Mina" rakastan sinua
French : Je t'aime
Gaelic : Ta gra agam ort
German : Ich liebe Dich

Greek : S' ayapo
Hebrew : aNEE oHEIVET oTKHA

Hindi: Mein Tumse Pyar Karta Hoon
Hungarian : Szeretlek te'ged
Indonesian : Saya cinta padamu Saya Cinta Kamu Aku tjinta padamu Saja kasih saudari
Italian : Ti amo
Irish : taim i' ngra leat
Japanese : Kimi o ai shiteru
Kazakh : Men seny jaksy kuremyn
Korean : Tangsinul sarang ha yo
Kurdish : Ez te hezdikhem
Latin : Te amo Vos amo
Lao : Khoi huk chau
Latvian : s Tev milu
Lithuanian: Ash miliu tave
Maltese: Inhobbok!
Mandarin : Wo ai ni
Norwegian : Jeg elsker deg (Bokmaal) Eg elskar deg (Nynorsk)
Pakistani : Muje se mu habbat hai
Persian : Tora dost daram
Pilipino : Mahal Kita Iniibig Kita
Polish : Ja Cie Kocham or Kocham Cie (Pronounced Yacha kocham)
Portuguese : Eu te amo
Romanian : Te iu besc
Russian : Ya lyublyu tebya Ya vas lyublyu
Slovak : lubim ta
Spanish : Te amo
Swahili : Nakupenda
Swedish : Jag a"lskar dig
Swiss-German : Ch'ha di ga"rn
Thai : Phom Rak Khun Ch'an Rak Khun
Tunisian : Ha eh bak
Turkish : Seni seviyorum!
Welsh : 'Rwy'n dy garu di. Yr wyf i yn dy garu di (chwi)
Yiddish : Ikh hob dikh lib
Zuni : Tom ho' ichema

Iran Announces Trial of Baha’i Leadership

2009-02-12T15:52:00.001+02:00

The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) announced today that charges had been laid against the seven imprisoned members of the national-level committee that coordinates the activities for the Iranian Baha’i community. The report quoted deputy Tehran prosecutor Hassan Haddad as having said “the case will be sent to the revolutionary court next week” and that these Baha’is are accused of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic.” Agence France Presse (AFP) has posted the following piece, Iran to try Bahais for spying for Israel.
The Baha’is deny categorically these charges. No evidence against them has been brought to light. The seven members of a national Baha’i coordinating committee were arrested in March and May of 2008 and have been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison. At no time during their incarceration have they been given access to their legal counsel, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi. Mrs. Ebadi has been harassed, intimidated, and threatened since taking on their case and has not been given access to their case files. The prosecution of the leaders is just one step in a 30-year-long systematic campaign orchestrated by the government to eliminate the Baha’i community as a viable entity in Iran, the birthplace of the Bahá’í Faith. Documentary evidence exists on this campaign, http://iran.bahai.us/documents.
At this time, some thirty other Baha’is are imprisoned in Iran solely on account of their religion. Close to 80 more Baha’is, have been required to post deeds of property and business licenses as collateral for bail. They have likewise been falsely charged and are awaiting trial.

Morning walking

2009-01-18T19:16:00.004+02:00

Today was the first day in about 4.5 months that I actually went on a walk, I haven't been able to go for walks here, not sure why, I just don't have the motivation to do it around this neighborhood like I did in Haifa. Last night I had gotten out my clothes and set my alarm so that I could get up early and go for a walk. However, when the clock went off, I hit the snooze. I had definitely had enough sleep, but I was still so tired, probably from the cold I have been having. I went back to sleep and forgot about he walk until I woke up a couple of hours later and got on my computer. Started talking with my sister, Amelia, and we made a pact to both go on a walk at the same time. This did push me out of bed and I did get a nice walk in. So I am really happy about that, because also I was wanting to get back into the habit of going for walks and in the morning. I plan on doing a marathan in April and so I definitely need to start getting back into shape. Pilates every now and then is not good enough. Hopefully this mornings walk will push me back into making it a routine thing as it used to be in Haifa.

Something you shouldn't do on a regular basis....

2009-01-08T17:45:00.003+02:00

Something you shouldn't do on a regular basis is have a small teapot of black tea at lunch, and drink it all by yourself, and then when you get home from work that night late do not eat 3 cups of mint chocolate ice cream. The result is disastrous and leads to sleep deprivation. YOU WILL BE UP ALL NIGHT. Although you will be comforted by watching episodes of Friends, it is still small compensation for all the sleep that is lost and the wasted next day because of it. Just some friendly advice. :)

MY TOP PLACES TO LIVE

2009-01-04T18:37:00.003+02:00

Chile
Ireland
Spain
New Zealand

random but true :)

and of course France is included in that list. I would never leave France out!

Snapshot of My Life

2008-12-12T19:32:00.004+02:00

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go I can't do it alone I've tried
And I don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but I don't show it
I can't figure it out
It's bringing me down I know
I've got to let it go
And just enjoy the show

-Lenka

Where do I start?

2008-12-11T16:29:00.004+02:00

I sit and I wait
Though I should be doing
What am I waiting for?
First comes movement
Then the fruits of labor will appear
I know I should not be waiting
But it is tough to get started

Where do I start?
Over here, over there?
Where?

Waiting is like stagnation
Things get old and moldy
Rusty even
It's time to get started
What am I waiting for?

Where do I start?
Over here, over there?
Where?

Am I afraid of the results?
I don't know what will happen
Or if I can do what I am supposed to do
How do I get out of myself and just trust?
It could be a hard road
But I like challenges
so why do I wait?

Where do I start?
Over here, over there?
Where?

Relying on God
Is the key
I know I can and I know I should
So I am going to pray
And then just get up and go!

BACK IN ALABAMA

2008-10-22T00:34:00.004+02:00

Here are some pictures from being back in Alabama as well as visiting my sister Amelia in Nashville. :)

Sunrise, as my dad and I head out to do one of his jobs.

Three of the "Fantastic Four" together again!
very happy to see my sister again
out in the country this is what you will see :)

TWO SPECIAL INDIVIDUALS IN MY LIFE

2008-09-27T15:57:00.002+03:00

This post is to two special individuals whom I forgot to say Happy Birthday to.

Dear Amelia and Navid,

I love you guys sooo much and wish you a very very belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope you both had a fantastic day and are doing wonderfully. I will definitely see you both really soon. Navid again congratulations on your upcoming marriage, a marriage to a extremely wonderful, amazing woman. Amelia congratulations on making the steps to go after new challenges and adventures. I miss you both so much!

About Amelia: Amelia is an outgoing, spontaneous, energetic, loving, and crazy sister who I have always looked up to and also have on many many occassions taken the strength that I needed in that situation from her inner strength. She has always tested me to make me be something good and helping me to succeed. It was so amazing to share the experience of 2 years in Haifa with my sister. A huge learning experience together. She is one of my best best friends. I love her beyond anything.

About Navid: Navid is an outgoing, spontaneous, energetic, loving, and crazy cousin who has always been there for me and offered great advice and helped me keep my head above water. In a lot of ways he is like an older brother to me instead of a cousin. He is very artistically talented and just amazing to be around. I don't know what life would have been like not to grow up with him around and I don't think I want to know. I am very blessed to have him in my life.

I can't say enough about these two incredible individuals who share the same birthday and birth place. They are my family and they will always be a much needed part of my life. I can't wait to see you both soon and give you huge huge hugs. Love you two beyond words.

THE MANY FACES OF GEOFFREY

2008-09-27T15:32:00.002+03:00

In leaving the World Centre, I left a very dear and special person behind. One who I look up to and one who I respect sincerely. He is a comfort and a challenger, he is relaxed yet intense and passionate about many things. He is a person that I cannot do without and am finding it hard to believe that I won't be seeing him everyday anymore. It has truly been an honor to call this fellow family and this post is dedicated to my truly wonderful and brilliant brother, Geoffrey. Sorry I left on your birthday...twice :) I hope you are doing well and growing and taking advantage of all your experiences. I love you sooo much!!!!

WORKING IN THE GARDENS

2008-09-05T08:58:00.004+03:00

In the month of August I decided to take some vacation, but remain in Haifa, because I had the days and I was soon to leave. So I took two weeks off of work. However, one thing I did was volunteer in the gardens department for a couple of days each week. I had always wanted to volunteer in another department and I new the guys in the crew that worked around my building so I decided to work with them. It was sooo much fun! The work was very different and it just felt good. I would recommend this to anyone who has been working in one job for such a long time, to just take a little time off and go do something else, it really helps to give you a different perspective on your work and allows you to appreciate even better the work that others do. The crew that I worked with were: Justin (crew leader), Roy, Simone, and Ehsam (a local worker). In the group picture below Roy is not there because he is on vacation, but he is in the first picture by himself. I am in the second picture pulling weeds. You may look at the other pictures and say, "what are you doing in a skirt Lucia?, you don't look like you are working", and you would be right. That was the day after I volunteered. I have a few other pictures of me with the crew, some of which are down in the post about my birthday, which I hope to post later where I am actually in working garb. What a great experience! :)

NIGHT SHOTS OF BAHJI

2008-09-05T08:40:00.004+03:00

~TURNING 26~

2008-08-27T16:37:00.005+03:00

I started the day off by volunteering in the gardens department with the crew that work around my building and who I see every morning, this includes; Justin, Simone, Roy, Esam, Noly, and Shahyad. During a break Simone gave me a birthday cupcake with candles in it, although there were only 7 candles, it's the thought that counts. Then in the afternoon I went home and cleaned up so that I could go to the Shrine. Later, I met some of my friends at a bus stop to go to the new mall, called Cinemall, where we were to have dinner and see a movie. We ate at a cool burger joint called Black where we had our own private room because of the size of our group. Geoffrey and I shared a nice juicy burger and some chicken wings. Then whoever could stay and wanted to see a movie stayed and watched Hancock. I had such a great time and was so glad that I had a lot of my lovely close friends around me to celebrate the beginning of this new year of being 26. I have a really good feeling about this year, I am very positive about it. :) Here are a smattering of pictures taken from that day.

CYPRUS - MARCH 2008

2008-08-27T15:09:00.004+03:00

Soo I finally have the pictures and have time to put them up of my trip to Cyprus earlier this year, this will just be a random selection. It was pretty chilly in Cyprus as it was non-tourist season still.

A BEAUTIFUL STRANGER

2008-08-27T08:36:00.004+03:00

A stranger comes from a distant land to make a humble pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
With wavy dark brown hair and eyes of brown, he smiles as if to say "hi, nice to see you today", but then passes on his way.
We meet but a few times, no words spoken save only the polite, "Hello" and "my name is..." "nice to meet you, I must go"
He seems like a phantom appearing here and there but never in a place for longer than a moment.
Those chance encounters, wishing something more would emerge, yet nothing does.
One of those sweet imaginations one has of something new and exciting that could possibly happen at any moment.
He was here and then gone.

VACATION

2008-08-18T13:27:00.002+03:00

I am on vacation right now.....VACATION!!! you say :) yes, I am taking two weeks off of work and today is day 2 of vacation. During this time I am finishing up all those little details I need to finish up for leaving and then also just relaxing or chilaxing and going to the Shrines as much as possible. Right now I am sitting at my old haunt, Greg's, sending emails and surfing the net. I wish my girls were with me right now, you know who you are, sharing this time with me. But hopefully I will see them soon. The countdown is now 26 days, kind of crazy to think that in that short of time I will be sitting on a train taking me to the airport where I will get on a plane that will take me away from the life I have gotten used to for the past three years. What an experience! :) I would not change it for the world. I learned and grown so much here, it will definitely be hard to leave.

CLEANING UP AND MOVING OUT

2008-08-14T17:36:00.002+03:00

So at the end of today I cleaned my desk and moved all my papers and pictures and trinkets and things to a different desk. Why you may ask....because my replacement will be moving to my desk as the desk she occupies will now be occupied in about 2 weeks time by another new staff member. I have now been religated to the scanner desk, which means that if anyone needs to use the scanner I will either do it for them or I will have to move to let them do this. How sad is that? Actually not as sad as one would think because really I will only be there for one week. This weekend starts my two week vacation that I will be taking. I am not going anywhere though, just staying here and volunteering in other departments, I had a bunch of holiday and so have decided to take it now at the end so that I can just relax and make sure everything is ready for my departure. So even though it was a little bit sad cleaning out my desk it was ok. I am ready or I will be ready by the time I am supposed to leave.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN G.

2008-08-12T15:12:00.003+03:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN G.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you had a wonderful day!

WALL-E

2008-08-10T11:25:00.002+03:00

Have you seen this movie? you definitely should! I have seen it twice now and just love it!

pictures of my two wonderful viewings will be coming soon......

35 - WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE?

2008-08-10T11:23:00.002+03:00

What is the significance of this number:

1) I am 35 years old

2) I have lived in Israel for 35 years

3) I leave Israel in 35 days

what do you think?

ANTS

2008-08-10T09:46:00.002+03:00

Have you ever just sat and watched ants? They are just really interesting creatures. Hard to figure out where they are going to go and what they are going to do next. Ok ok, so they follow a certain pattern, but sometimes they look lost and so it is hard to figure out what pattern they are following. I sat for a good 20 minutes a week ago watching the ants that were on the steps with me in the gardens. Mind blowing. Just watch them :)

AN AYYAM-I-HA FAMILY TRIP

2008-04-05T10:44:00.011+03:00

The days of Ayyam-i-ha are the days that preceed the Fasting period for Baha'is all over the world. These days, either 4 or 5, depending on how many days are left over in a year. A Baha'i calendar consists of 19 months of 19 days each. So these left over days are days of celebration and preparing for the Fast, a month of spiritual reflection in preparation for the next year. One of these days my family, Geoffrey and Roya, and I decided to take a trip to the Galilee and while there visit the Baha'i cemetary there. We rented a car and drove the hour and a half or so and visited the graves of those special souls who were laid to rest here in the Holy Land. Here are pictures from this trip.

CHILLIN' AT GREG'S

2008-04-05T10:35:00.006+03:00

Last friday afternoon two of my favorite ladies and I went up to Greg's, one of our favorite hangouts, taking our laptops and prepared to just sit, chat, surf the net, and eat some delicious food. It was a fantastically relaxing time. And what made it even better was when Soriah joined us, who had been working out. By the way, this beautiful young lady is getting married this summer!!!! She is marrying Anis, a guy she met here from Brazil. Congratulations Soriah!!!!

EARLY MORNING

2008-04-03T08:50:00.002+03:00

I look at the sky and how amazing it is with the pitch blackness overhead and the dark, rich navy blue creeping up to it, looking like a canvas that someone is painting. One star, a crescent moon, a peaceful city, the sea meeting the horizon to where you can't tell the difference between each. Only sound are of a few cars here and there, my footsteps, the beating of my heart, my inhale and exhale, the sweet melodic tunes of Dave. As time ticks on slowly the sky changes, on the horizon colors start blending into the one above it....soft greens and yellows, burnt sienna. A joyful skip has crept its way into my step and I feel so alive and happy. The world is waking up to join me in this feeling of movement.

So yes I have not blogged in a while and soryr for that, there will be some things coming your way very soon. :) I just have to be in the mood to do it and today is that day.

PETUNIAS

2008-02-25T21:15:00.001+02:00

Petunia is a, trumpet shaped, widely-cultivated genus of flowering plants of South American origin, in the family Solanaceae. Petunias are really nice flowers and I have recently received this type of flower from a friend as a gift. One time it was just because and the other was to make me happy. Petunias are a nice flower, they can look like little faces.

ODE TO RELAXING DAYS

2008-02-15T18:30:00.002+02:00

Oh how I love
Those relaxing days
A day of contemplation
A day of sunshine and no exasperation

You bring joy and ease
Those happy little moments that please
Me and relaxing days are like two peas
In a pod on a tree with leaves

Floating through the day
With a sense of calm that will stay
Me and that relaxing day
Doesn't it just take your breathe away

--Lucia

A WONDERFUL SURPRISE

2008-02-14T23:01:00.002+02:00

Today is Valentine's Day, however, it doesn't really feel like that here in Israel. Why? Because there isn't signs in all the stores saying "Valentine's Day Sale" or just in your face advertising for it, like there would be in the states. I really like it that it is not. It has turned into another consumer holiday, where you have to show your love for another person by buying expensive things or what not. I love love and think you should show it to your loved ones all the time, it is nice that there is a day set aside for it, but should there be? I don't know. I am not a person who would put much emphasis on this day.
However, the real story that I am going to tell you is about my evening. A few friends were getting together tonight to have a dinner...a small simple, quiet evening together. Khatereh invited all of us to her flat to have a dinner of some really spicey thai fish curry. It was really good, but because my sinus' do not like spicey things a lot, I had a little problem with it, but Khat, if you read this, it was delicious! So Khat invited myself, Geoffrey, Roya, Mona, and Sheila to dinner. When we girls arrived Khat was pretty much done with cooking and so we were waiting for Geoffrey to arrive. However, because he was going to be late we went ahead and started eating without him. But he arrived about 10 or so minutes later anI d when Mona went to open the door, what did she find?! She found Geoffrey with 5 beautiful roses/flowers in hand!!! Now how wonderful of a brother/friend is he?!! So very unexpected, but also not unthinkable, for him to be soo cute and sweet! I was at that moment extremely proud and beaming that this was my brother and how thoughtful and generous he is. So he comes in and gives the flowers to all of us girls and then sits down to eat. Pictures will come later. But then after dinner we proceed to the living room and take more photos and eat a delicious brownie cake that Sheila had made and then just sit and chat. It was a wonderful evening and especially on a day of showing love and appreciation for others, this was a fantastic night!!! :) So that is my Valentine's day story that I will probably remember for a very long time. It was soooo nice that I had to come right home and write about it. I wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day! and if I haven't told you, I do love you!!!!

TWIN HOLY DAYS OF 2008

2008-01-25T19:20:00.000+02:00

Hiking at Bet Oren

2008-01-25T19:08:00.000+02:00

So this past saturday a few old friends and I decided that it was about time we went hiking. So we got in Bauback's car and drove not too far away to a place called Bet Oren and went "hiking", it is not like hiking in Roya's backyard, and those of you who know Green Mountain where her house is and how the hiking is actually hiking can see the difference between that and what you will see in the pictures. Now don't get me wrong, it was awesome! Mainly because it was outside in NATURE!! yeah!! I love that word! It was fresh air and green grass and trees...stuff you don't have a lot of in Haifa itself. So we, Bauback, Mona, Roya and I, went hiking about 10am on Saturday morning and had a wonderful time :)

GOOD DAY AND COMPLIMENTS

2008-01-13T13:24:00.000+02:00

who is having a great day?!!! meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!! don't you just love it when that happens!! First I was able to get up and go for a walk again, finally...it was pretty darn cold, but it was well worth it...then I got to work and decide to call my mom. She was just about to go to bed, had just turned off the light, but she stayed up to talk to me. Got to love those moms :) It was a good 45 or so minute conversation and then I went right into work...and tackling projects and time was flying by and it felt great...and then came lunch and that was a nice time with friends and then i went outside and read. I am on the second book in the series of "The Revelation of Baha'u'llah" by Adib Taherzadeh, trying to read a book a month. All the time throughout the day as well I have been getting compliments on my shirt...it is a regular button down shirt of sea green color (at least i think that is the color), but people have been saying it is a good color for me to wear, that has been really nice. Doesn't it feel good to get compliments? and unexpected ones at that. It's also good to give compliments...so remember to do that as well :) I am also going to a dinner tonight for some friends and so that should be fun as well and then later calling one of my sisters...i have a phone date with her :) exciting!!!

NAMES

2008-01-09T09:40:00.000+02:00

In my job I have to sign and send out a lot of letters to people all over the world and I see some very interesting names. It got me to thinking about names in general and pronouncing names and how sometimes people have a hard time either pronouncing foreign names or those people who have foreign names have a hard time if they are in a new country and trying to get others to correctly pronounce their name. I had to deal with this a lot growing up with my name...some would say "what! you had a hard time with your name?" yes i did. Teachers, friends, and other random people would always mispronounce my name. They would say things like; lusha, luchia, or other variations that I would only be able to tell you in person. Anyway, I was thinking about this and how sometimes I feel that for parents to name their kids names that are hard to pronounce that it is not very nice, but then I think you know this is actually good. Reasons being because it lets others be exposed to different sounds and creates a feeling of uniqueness for that individual, but also it is good because it teaches others something in world culture..does that make sense? My thoughts are not exactly coming down on this "paper" correctly. hmmm.....basically it gives the kid that has that "weird/different" sounding name character and at the same time it exposes the other person to something different. Because my name would always get mispronounced I would most of the time take the time to correct the person and then it would sometimes turn into a discussion of how I got that name and its origin and then a lesson in cultural diversity in my family would be next and that person just got exposed, whether they liked it or not, to something different.
So I am going to give my kids unique names...none of these common sounding names like: John, Jane, Mary, Bob :), which are all good names in themselves, I have known some very nice people with those names. I would just prefer to have special names for my kids. World sounding names :)

the end

GOOD MORNINGS

2008-01-02T07:45:00.000+02:00

I just had a wonderful morning...ok, I know it is not over with yet...but I was able to get back up at 5 this morning, which hasn't been happening for the past two weeks, and do some exercise. I haven't been going running because it has gotten colder and I just haven't had the will to get myself out of bed. But anyway, I was able to get up this morning, do some exercise in my room and then get ready and get to work by 6:30am. When I got to work I had a thought and counted the hour difference that it is from here to back home, and when I determined it was not too late, I decided to call my mom. We, as usual, can talk for hours, however, since I wasn't able to this morning, we only talked for about an hour. I sat here in my office which has huge glass windows across one wall and watched as the sun rose and how it slowly but beautifully turned from a red/orange brilliant color to glorious yellow and rose higher in the sky. When I watch the sun rise I just always have a good feeling that the day will be nice. It reminds me that it is a new day, a day when, hopefully, no mistakes have been made yet and anything can happen.

Engage ye in the remembrance of God at dawn; rise ye up to praise and glorify Him.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 95)

Sunrises
Sun rising on the horizon as I breathe in the fresh, cold air. Gleaming brightly, reflecting golden off the clouds above. Illumination comes into the world. Contemplating my life and my surroundings I sit there. Waiting, watching, wondering

-Lucia Tyson

HAPPY NEW YEAR?

2008-01-01T10:32:00.000+02:00

A new year begins, at least on the gregorian calender...for the last 3 new year's eve's I don't think I have done anything, just haven't felt like it. Last night we had a devotional at my house, my family (Roya and Geoffrey) were in attendance so that was nice and of course a few friends came. Afterwards had a long profound conversation with my brother, I love him so much, he is so smart and such a good brother. I also went to bed early and did not stay up to watch fireworks.
This past year has been one of struggle for me having to do with figuring out relationships, who I am, what I want, where am I going, how do I serve the Faith to the best of my ability....the whole shabang, you name it, it happened. These of course were all tests, many I failed, and some I believe I have passed, but do we ever really know if we passed a test? Not sure...

There is a quote from Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i Faith, which talks about tests and the necessity of them:
Yea, such things as throw consternation into the hearts of all men come to pass only that each soul may be tested by the touchstone of God, that the true may be known and distinguished from the false.
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 52)

So tests only make us stronger and pure and bring us closer to God, because we have to rely on God to be able to pass them, no getting around it.

Let's recap with this year....
January: Meeting new people, missing old people who had just left.
February: Went to Spain for one of my bestest friends weddings, Geoffrey came to serve, lost a member of the fantastic four :(
March: the Fast, lots of family time, Naw Ruz!! Mommy turned 55
April: A month of reflection
May: started Gamenight, fell in love
June: went on a lot of excursions, had fun in the sun
July: lost one of my best friends and a flatmate, Daddy turned 58, Alicia turned 31, Katrina turned 29
August: Roya and I turned 25!!, Brian came to visit again
September: Katrina had her baby girl, Taleh! Geoffrey turned 23, Amelia turned 27
October: Amelia leaves/moves to New York, went to Greece, good friend Karen visits, Navid comes to visit/pilgrimage, Brian turned 20
November: Hosted two bridal showers for two really good friends, found a possible career path (event planning)
December: ended gamenight, two good friends got married, Justine left

Soo...an eventful year...let's see how this new one turns out, as it is I am a little sick which doesn't exactly bode well for the first day of the "new year".

SALON APPOINTMENT

2007-12-28T23:40:00.001+02:00

Last friday one of my best friends, Lauren, got married!! She married one of my other best friends, Rafaan!!! :) soo exciting!!! It was a beautiful wedding ceremony and the reception was just a blast, haven't had that much fun in a really really long time. However, the wedding story and wedding day pictures are for another blog entry, this blog entry is about the friday before that. Lauren, Rafaan, Sholeh, and I went to the salon to have Andre, our hair stylist, give a demo for what he would do for Lauren's hair on the wedding day. This was very exciting. It was also on a rainy and windy evening....which was awesome as it turned out for the pictures that Rafaan took of us. We of course had to document this occassion and we three girls went to town with posing and acting goofy. It was just us and Andre in the salon so it was ok :) So the following are only a few photos of the tons that we took. Half the time I am laughing because I am trying to do the kissy lips and am finding it very hard to do, because I think I look ridiculous doing it and so can't stop laughing and as you can see Lauren trying to help me and Sholeh just making faces :)

THE HERB FARM

2007-12-28T23:21:00.000+02:00

The Herb Farm is not what you think it is...one might think that it is an actual farm where they grow herbs. Well, ok in a way it is because they do grow their food, but it is more importantly a restaurant. A delicious, expensive restaurant, that I had the pleasure of going to with some other friends last night. It was a ways away, but the food was really yummy and the atmosphere was quite quaint and the company was the best. It was actually kind of like a dinner for the newlyweds, Lauren and Rafaan, two of my really good friends. All involved were Lauren, Rafaan, Nava, Sholeh, Jared, Joe, Ray, and Rafaan's brother Nadim (who is visiting because of the wedding). It was a 3 course meal and plenty of food. It kind of reminded me of Cracker Barrell and Macaroni Grill combined. Now time for some pictures compliments of Sholeh's camera, doesn't that food look delicious!!! :)

NEW BEGINNINGS

2007-12-13T16:45:00.000+02:00

Starting something new can be nerve racking, frightful, and scary. But it can also be wonderful, exciting, fun, and fulfilling. This is the phase of my life I am embarking on :) What new adventures await me? This is what I will find out.

DAWN PRAYERS

2007-12-08T10:41:00.000+02:00

Today I woke up at 5am, some would say that is normal for me, but it is Saturday and usually the general normal populace sleeps in on Saturday. However, I probably would not be lumped into that category by a lot of my friends. A lot say I am crazy because I like to get up, what is to them, super early and either go for a run and then go into work early or just get up early. There are many reasons why I like to do this, I will explain, no there is too much, I will sum up :) (anyone get that reference? hehe) I like to get up because:

I like to feel like I am able to use as much of the day as I possibly can.
It is when I can do my exercise, I don't like to do it after work because I am really tired.
Nobody else is up, so it is peaceful and quiet.
I am an early bird.
I like to be able to watch both the sunrise and sunset.

These are just a few reasons. Anyway, I am getting off the topic of why I started writing this entry in the first place. This morning I got up at 5am because I was going to dawn prayers in Bahji. :) I went with a few friends, one of whom is leaving very soon :( It was not raining this morning, thank goodness, although it was chilly. It is finally starting to get cold and we are now in December, we have a late winter this year. There were actually quite a few people there at the Shrine already when we got there, but it was just so peaceful and calm. It was one of the best visits that I have had. I hadn't been to dawn prayers in Bahji for a long while now, I was very happy that I went. It is going to be a great day today, I can just tell :)

CLARITY

2007-12-07T07:41:00.000+02:00

Clarity: clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.

I have been seeking clarity on many a subject lately and it just amazes sometimes when you just have that one moment of "clear blue sky and the rays of the sun beaming down on you" feeling. It's times like this that just really make everything seem good. You just have that moment of clarity, something you have been striving for and trying to find in your life. This just happened to me.....one instance you are just all confused and looking looking for answers and the next bam! you have it. You know what your actions have to be, you know how to control a situation. It is your reactions to it that affect you, nobody else controls your emotions and you shouldn't let them. You are the master of your own life. It also helps if you talk to other people and get a range of advice that you take into consideration and weigh. Advice from others is good because it gets you thinking of things that maybe you didn't think of before. However, the final decision is of course yours, you can either take of leave those well intentioned pieces of advice. Because who is really in the situation and who has to make the final decision? You do. Plain and simple, you have to make the last, fin, final, the end decision. So I have made that very hard, but very necessary decision after listening to all the wonderful advice that was given to me. It also makes a difference when you are the one asking for the advice than if people just give you advice. Because when you ask for advice you are being open to their thougths on the subject, but if someone just gives you advice without you asking for it, the majority of the time you weren't seeking it in the first place and so you wouldn't necessarily listen to it as much as you do when you are actively seeking that advice. Did i just confuse you? :) Well, it is perfectly clear in my head, whether or not I can put my thoughts down in writing and have you understand them is another thing. Oh, and this is a big general thank you to all those that did give me advice, all of it has been quite helpful.
Yesterday I woke up and I was in a blah mood and it really lasted a long time, but then in the evening after hanging out and being goofy with some friends I was much better. Then today as I woke up, although it was raining, I was in a great mood, ready to go out and take care of things and be happy. Clarity also gives you a sense of calm as well because now you aren't worrying about that situation anymore, you are free from it. Detached if you will.
So it has been a long struggle, but now I have clarity. :)

Isn't it amazing as well that I am actually writing a blog entry about this, I usually only write about events that happen in my life. This in a way can be considered an event, but it is more of my thoughts. But when I got up this morning one of the first thoughts was "I need to blog about my clarity" :)
so here it is!

EARTHQUAKES

2007-11-20T13:48:00.000+02:00

Today apparently there was an earthquake that happened, that sent tremors throughout Israel, some at the World Centre felt it, but I certainly did not. In the 2 years I have been here I don't think there has been any earthquakes or anything like this, so interesting eh? :)

Below is a report from the news:

"Two earthquakes, measuring 3 and 4.2 on the Richter scale, were felt across Israel on Tuesday morning. The Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII) reported that the quakes shook the entire country and originated in the northern Dead Sea. According to the Magen David Adom rescue services, there were no reports of injuries or damage.
The first quake was felt at around 11:19 am and the second one at 11:30 am. Ynet received reports from readers in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and southern Israel, who said that they had felt their houses shake for several seconds.
Rami Hopshteter, manager of the GII, explained that "this was a moderate earthquake, but was strong enough to be felt in many areas across the country. We received reports that the quake was felt in Haifa, Ashkelon, and of course Jerusalem, which is close to the quake's origin. We are certain that our Jordanian neighbors also felt it.
"The quake is not surprising," he added, "As there is a lot of activity in the Dead Sea area… However, it is impossible to draw any clear conclusions about the future. The State of Israel has been preparing for an earthquake since 1999, but more can be done to improve out preparedness." …
The strongest recent earthquake to strike Israel took place about three years ago, measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale. A number of people were injured and damage was caused. About a year ago, two moderate quakes were felt in central and southern Israel. "

RANDOMS OF 2007

2007-11-15T06:58:00.000+02:00

Ok, so this is a tribute to 2007, I know it is not over yet. But I just was looking at some pictures and wanted to post them. So here we go :)

I will tell you what they are from bottom to the top.

The bottom one is a picture of some of the group that went to go see 'Transformers' one of the best movies I saw this year, also Brian was visiting at this time.

The next up is from the Fasting period and when Sacha was still here and we invited people over to break the Fast.

After that we have Kent and I posing like gangsta's because we roll like that.

Following that we have a picture of me and one of my bestest friends, Lauren. This was at her bridal shower.

Next up, we have a dinner thrown in honor of Khat's parents who were visiting.

This next one is a photo of a hiking trip to a place called Yehudia, it was a hike along a stream that had waterfalls and pools along the way, it was great.

Next we have when Navid just visited in October and we went out to eat one night.

To end the series, we have a picture of one of my good friends, Justine (the blonde one) from France, who is leaving soon.

KAREN'S VISIT

2007-10-20T18:19:00.000+02:00

After Greece Karen went to Turkey with Alex, but then came to Haifa for 3 days. Roya and the guys, Nathan and Geoffrey, were able to take her to Akka, I was not able to go with them. But I do have photos from a relaxing evening that we had together. Saturday Roya, Karen, and I went to breakfast at Greg's, walked down the Terraces and then into the gardens, this being the evening that Karen was leaving we decided to play a game of monopoly. It was a very long game that lasted many hours and was actually never finished in the end because the last two left playing were Karen and Roya. They had slaughtered Geoffrey and I, taken all our possessions and essentially we were living on the streets. They being the last two playing and it being quite late and Karen had to be going soon to catch a taxi to take her to the train station, they stopped playing. So we really don't know who is the better monopoly player. We need to have a rematch! It was really nice that Karen got to come and visit us here, it had been quite a while since I had last seen here, so this was really nice. Love you Karen!!!

LOTR BREAK

2007-10-20T17:54:00.000+02:00

So taking a break from Greece updates, I went over today to Nathan's and Jared's who were in a LOTR (Lord of the Ring) marathon. They had started the viewing at 10:30am! At this time we have watched 3 discs :) 3 more to go! It is now 6pm.....hehehe.....what a day! I woke up today and made breakfast for a friend of mine, Luis, whose birthday it was and then lazed around my house til I found out that the guys were doing this marathon watching. So I joined them :) and have been here since about 1ish. So I am not as bad as they have been today, I at least got up and went somewhere, albeit not that far, but still I went somewhere. Here are a few pics from today :)

MORE GREECE!!

2007-10-20T14:13:00.000+02:00

So day 2! We wake up at a reasonable hour, go out looking for breakfast and we find this kind of cafeteria type place where we get some tasty pastries and Roya gets a waffle with 2 scoops of ice cream. She doesn't eat the ice cream, but both Karen and I sample it :) It was yummy! Then we head to the National Archeological Museum. This was a fun excursion! We were there for several hours going through this huge museum looking at grecian sculptures and artifacts. After a while Roya and I got tired of looking at the same kind of sculpture after another and so we sat down to wait for Karen and Alex, Roya drawing one of the sculptures in her notebook and I watching her do this and other people walk by. When we all got back together it was time to leave and then we headed to meet up with George, who was a friend of a friend, who we would have lunch with. We ate at a nice restaurant. I just want to say at this point that I love the food in Greece because it just always feels so healthy and light. After this hour lunch, he had to go back to work, but the rest of us were going to climb, or rather walk, up the mountain to see the Acropolis. This was a long walk up, but also an enjoyable one because it was a beautiful day. We reached the top and had to stop to rest before we went all the way up to the Acropolis and to see the Parthenon and all the other ruins up there. It was quite amazing to see these ruins and to realize that a civilization used to live here and then the amazing grandeur that it all was. So we stayed up there for a little while before heading back down to go look at some more ruins before they were closed for the evening. After this we went back to a restaurant to have dinner. Karen and Alex were tired that evening, but Roya and I and I decided to meet up with Jesse to go and hang out. He took us to this really cool spot up on top of another mountain where you could see Athens at night. It was beautiful and we stayed up there for a couple of hours and just sat and talked. End of day 2!

GREECE!!!!!! part 1

2007-10-19T15:28:00.000+02:00

August 21st and August 29th were both my birthday and Roya's 25th birthdays respectively, and because of this we both had since high school wanted to take a road trip together when we turned 25. However, neither of us being in the states, this was going to be a little bit hard. Plus there were various other factors that made it where we could not go at this time. Amelia was also leaving in a months time. So we decided to go the first week in October to Greece, of all places, to meet up with our childhood friend, Karen, and a friend of hers from Uni. Roya and I were immensely excited because we had actually looked at Greece as a place to go for pioneering or year of service after we had graduated from uni. So this was going to be great.

The trip: Roya and I hop on a plan at 6am on thursday morning, the 4th of October. We arrive in Athens airport at about 9:30ish am that same day. We then take the train into Athens and from there we are going to walk the 5 minutes that it is supposed to take to get to our hotel, the Hotel Carolina. However, we don't take the right turn and so it takes a little bit longer to find the hotel. But we are in no way worried or bothered by this fact because we don't have that much luggage, we are in Greece, and this is supposed to be a very relaxing, rejuvenating trip and so anything goes. We find our hotel eventually and go to our room, put our luggage down, refresh a bit and since we are a little hungry and Karen doesn't arrive til about 2pm and Alex at about 7pm, we decide to go out. Now the way in which we head out of the hotel goes like this. We step outside and look both ways and then say "which way? right or left?" one of us said "right" and that is the way we headed. Then we come to another fork in the road and again we said "right or left?" and that is the way we took. This went on for about 4 turns before we decided to sit at a cafe and have lunch. It was a simple lunch, sandwich and fries, but it was very yummy and seemed very fresh. After lunch we decided to go back and check and see if Karen had arrived. She did and she had gotten all cleaned up as well because she had just come from the states. We then needed to feed Karen :) and also it was time to explore. Now this whole time Roya and I had not seen where the Acropolis was and it was so funny when we were walking and Karen says "girls, we're in Greece!" which we already know but then she says "look up" and from where we were and had been all morning when we looked up there was the Acropolis! Now why Roya and I had not taken notice of this is beyond us, but we hadn't. It was a very amazing sight. We proceed then to roam around Athens in kind of the touristy area and looking at excavation sights here and there that are lying around. Then we go to the metro station because a friend of Royas', Jesse, is going to be meeting us and showing us around a little bit more. Poor Karen! the reason I say this is because she had not expected that we were going to do as much walking as we did and had worn heels, not really high ones, but ones that are not meet for the extensive walking that we did do. Jesse actually showed us basically the same stuff we had just gone around and saw, but at the ruins he was able to tell us more because he used to do some tour guiding. After many hours of walking around and sight-seeing, we go to a restaurant and have just a light dinner because we were all tired and so didn't want to eat a lot before we went to bed. We sat at one of the many cafe's that were all over the place and had a nice meal of salads and different small dishes of things that I can't remember :) After this we go back to the hotel and our 4th member of our group has finally arrived. However, because we are all exhausted we end us just going to bed early. End of day 1!

.........................................................to be continued...............................................................................

MY NEW NIECE!!

2007-09-16T07:52:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I became the proud auntie of a new, tiny, pink, and cute little girl!!! My sister, Katrina, had her second child yesterday 15, September 2007 at 1pm in Nashville, TN. Nafeh and Katrina named her Taleh Maria Fananapazir. Taleh is an arabic word meaning "O Rising One", this is from a Baha'i prayer, and Maria is my mother's middle name as well as her mother's first name. So it is a combination of both of the families backgrounds. I am soo happy for Nafeh, Katrina, and little one Jameh that they have a new one in their life. I can't wait to meet this niece of mine, and I will be able to do this in June of next year, when Katrina and family come here on pilgrimage. How exciting!!! Felicitaciones mi hermana!!!

THE ERA OF GAME NIGHTS

2007-08-30T09:40:00.000+03:00

Game night a.k.a. "Monday nights with Lucia" affectionately called so by my good friend Khat. Back in the day...actually back in May...a friend, Jared, and I were planning on cooking together and then watching a movie. We made some meal, can't remember what it was exactly, but then watched a movie. The next monday we decided to do it again, this time Nathan came, or rather stayed seeing as it is his flat too. So then the next day I said to Jared, "you know we should make this a regular thing and invite more people, I want to practice my cooking skills, so I need guinea pigs." Thus 'game night' came into existence. we invited other people, close friends and family until now it has exploded to a huge event. It is really a lot of fun and I have not repeated a meal once. I have only had to cancel once as well. So we have had game night since May every Monday night. We first have dinner and then we play various and asundry games. It has been a lot of fun, I have cooked lasagna, chicken stir-fry, spaghetti (making my own meat sauce), pizza, tacos, gumbo, chili, and other quite delicious food that I can't really think of the names at the moment. I guess I should keep a log of what I now know how to cook. I never used to cook before I came here, I remember one time my mother was tired and sick and so I was supposed to make dinner, I was like 15, and so I was going to make macaroni and cheese. That was a disaster! I mean who messes up mac & cheese! Me apparently. Well, now I have a pretty good handle on cooking I believe, but I really only like cooking for other people. If I have to make a meal for myself, it is usually something to warm up or a sandwich, never anything big. At game night we play card games, board games, or games I get off the internet which are large group games. Some games work and some fail, but all in all I have a pretty good time, I think others do and I hope they do. :) Here are some pictures from the last couple of game nights! Enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROYA!!!

2007-08-29T15:11:00.000+03:00

My intelligent, wonderful, amazing, and beautiful cousin!! This girl is the best friend I have ever had! We have been together since we were babies, I am just a week older, but sometimes because of her maturity I think she is older than me. She is truly an inspiration, she has goals and ambitions and she goes and attacks them and tackles challenges that get put in her way with grace. The strength that she has just puts me in awe. I love her more than anything and would do anything for her. We have been inseparable pretty much our whole life! We were born in the same town, small Hohenwald, Tennessee and lived in the same city our whole life. For the majority of the time no more than 10 minutes driving distance apart. We have even come here to Haifa, Israel together. Of course, not too soon from now we will be in different locations and lifes' twists and turns will probably separate us, that time will be one of the saddest in my life, I am sure. But for now I have her here with me and am soo privileged to be her cousin and best friend. My true friend throughout my life! She has today turned 25, a quarter of a century old! How wonderful those first 25 years and lucky I have been to be a part of them. I love you sooo soo much Roya Linda Foroughi-Beyouki!!!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!

2007-08-21T08:57:00.000+03:00

Well, I know that I have not written in a while, but today I feel compelled. I guess because I am in such a good mood, it being my birthday and all! YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
Quarter of a century old! I am so far having a wonderful birthday, I woke up a little bit later than normal, and then my flatmate, Christine, made me french toast! It was delicious and then I came to work and it being Tuesday, we had Tuesday Morning Prayers and that was wonderful. As I was walking up to the gate this morning, who do I see getting out of a taxi at that exact time, noone other than my amazing, handsome brother Geoffrey. We went to prayers together. Also this morning I got a text message from a friend wishing me a Happy Birthday before I came in. Then since I came in it has been nothing but happy birthday wishes :) I feel soo happy!! My office mates gave me a cake and sang to me and I have a banner at my desk, it is in Hebrew, but pretty sure it says happy birthday. The rest of the plans for today are of course to finish working today, then I am going to go to the Shrine after work. Then the exciting thing is that Roya is going to cook me and a few others (family actually) a 3 course meal!! :) I am farely excited about that!! can't wait!! I have always loved birthdays, no because they are about me, but because it is just such a special day because it is the day on which God gave you life, and birthdays bring joy not only to yourself but to many others as well. I just love birthdays!!!! Thank you everyone who has sent me birthday cheer! I love each and everyone of you!! Besos y Abrazos

FAREWELL TO A FRIEND AND FLATMATE

2007-07-20T09:14:00.000+03:00

Ode to Sacha

A girl once came

She was small and bubbly

She got into your heart with her smile and laughter

Such a kindred spirit

We shared laughter, we shared tears

She went away after a year

Oh, how i miss this friend and the comfort she gave

One of my best friends and flatmate, Sacha Stephens-Avery, has now left, it has now been a week since she has been gone. It feels a little bit like she is on vacation, but then not because my other flatmate moved into her room. Might take sometime getting used to. She was a girl who was 19 days older than myself, which she liked to rub in. :) But also such a true and wonderful spirit, one of the funniest people I have ever meant and one of the most sincere. Everyone loved her who came into contact with her and since I lived with her, I got to know her soo well that it is so hard not to have her around. Isn't it funny how you just connect with some people, and I know this connection will last forever. So this is my little ode to a most beloved friend.

CATCH UP

2007-07-20T08:44:00.000+03:00

Yes, I am back and hopefully can stay on track and writing again...sometimes it is just too hard to sit and write, I guess though I should do it at the end of everyday and then it won't be like 4 months since the last time I wrote. But isn't that always the crux of the issue making time and being disciplined enough to take a seat and stare at a computer to write all your thoughts that you have been having down. In my job I sit at a computer all day, occassionally getting up, but basically I am a stationary object and so it is not that enticing to want to go home after a long day and sit and be on the computer again. Also because now pretty much every night is fille with something to do. My schedule now is:

Sunday- (our days start on sundays) free night, but usually something comes up, or I just go to the Shrine and catch up on reading.
Monday- Gamenight, a night that started out about 5 or so weeks ago with just me and two of my friends and has now mushroomed into an actual event. I wanted to practice my cooking and so one monday night went to a friends' place and cooked and then another monday. Then I said we should invite more people and I will cook, and so that happened and then games got included and voila! Gamenights appeared. It is very fun and I love to cook now! That is I love to cook for a group of people, still don't like to cook for myself that much. I have made such things as Chili, Lasagna, Fried Rice, Potatoe Wedges, Chicken Stir-Fry, and some other dishes. If I find some photos I will post them from these nights.
Tuesday-I have a class on "The Tabernacle of Unity", this is a book which Baha'u'llah responds directly to questions asked of him by Manikchi Sahib, a Zoraostrian. This is an amazing book and the class is now halfway over, two more sessions to go. :)
Wednesday-Study class, in this study class we a group of us are systematically going through the books of Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi. The original group started a while ago, I have only joined for the study of the last two books which were 'The World Order Letters' by Shoghi Effendi and the Kitab-I-Aqdas by Baha'u'llah. Next we are studying 'Tablets of Divine Plan' by Abdul'l-Baha.
Thursday-This is night of Mr. Dunbar's class, or like this past thursday night, or last night, I went out with the girls and did some catching up. We had not been out in a while and it was about time, all of us have been sooo busy.
Friday/Saturday-these are whatever comes up days and also days to go to Bahji.

So I think that catches you up to date on my busy schedule, and take into account that I get up at 5:30am to go running and then get to work between 7-7:30am, although work is from 8-5:30pm. So next will come pictures from a couple of past events that I have not shared. :)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

2007-06-03T08:10:00.000+03:00

Know of a certainty that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation hath been vouchsafed unto men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity. Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appeareth above the horizon. How gradually its warmth and potency increase as it approacheth its zenith, enabling meanwhile all created things to adapt themselves to the growing intensity of its light. How steadily it declineth until it reacheth its setting point. Were it, all of a sudden, to manifest the energies latent within it, it would, no doubt, cause injury to all created things.... In like manner, if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages of its manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the providence of the Almighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste away and be consumed; for men's hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they would cease to exist
(Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 86)

SOLITARY

2007-05-12T10:16:00.000+03:00

Blazing red sun rising over the mountain top

Its rays caressing my face in light and warmth

At the moment I stand here alone and solitary

I stand in a desert, waiting to be joined

Turning in every direction, but not knowing which way to go

Which way will lead me out

Which way will take me to the true path

Who can help me?

Who will walk this path with me?

This path of true understand, true knowledge

I stand here waiting.