Shalom, Israel!

Two months ago, I took a couple weeks vacation from work and met my parents in Israel. It was an amazing break from teaching and a great time seeing my family again. It had been more than 7 months since I had seen my parents (and brother, who came out for part of the time I was there) and 3 years since I had seen the extended family.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't as hot as I had hoped for, but it was still enjoyable in comparison to the cold, Korean winter. This was my first time in Israel not during the summer. We spent most of our time in Herzeliya, some time in Tel Aviv, a couple days in Eilat and a day at the Dead Sea. Dale Chihuly (the man responsible for the blown glass ceiling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas) had an art gallery in Tel Aviv that we got to go to. His blown glass art is absolutely breathtaking. I hope one day I will be able to afford a simple paper weight. I also was able to soak up enough sun in Eilat to get a little sunburn and attempted to heal it in the miraculous minerals of the Dead Sea. I covered my whole body in the mineral mud, as I do upon every visit, and rinsed it off in the salty sea.

After a few days of bonding with my parents in southern Israel, I finished off the trip back in Herzeliya spending some time with my brother and the rest of the family. It was also my parents' 37th anniversary as well as a big birthday for my mom. I was happy to be there to spend it with them.

The food in Israel was spectacular... even better than I remembered: every kind of cheese imaginable, tzitziki, tabouli, hummus, falafel, Israeli salad, passionfruit, starfruit, etc! That probably has a lot to do with being in Korea for half a year. The produce and dairy products in Korea and very disappointing. They have such simple foods here and a very small variety of fruit and vegetables with little flavor. I've definitely been missing the food!

Before I knew it, I was back in Korea. It felt like I had been away for a long time, but it only felt like I had spent a short time in Israel. I returned to face the butt end of the Korean winter and the same group of Korean children I taught before I left. The twelve months I signed up for was then down to five and now just over three! Wild.

In five weeks, my sister will be visiting, and then a mere two months until I start my travels in Thailand. I can hardly wait!

We Are Trees - "Sunrise, Sunset"

3 + Pub Golf

This weekend, some people put on a pub crawl with a golf theme - pub golf. Basically, nine different bars turned into nine different "holes" with a pre-determined alcoholic beverage to be consumed at each location. Each beverage was assigned a "par" - number of sips - and individuals and teams with the lowest scores would be crowned winners. Apparently, this round - round 3 - was made easier than previous rounds, and all of the competitive players, or drinkers rather, finished something like 14 below par. Also, golf attire was a requirement. I, of course, did not play competitively since it would take me 2 days and 65 above par to finish. It was a fun event though. The guys made two trophies for the winners - a smaller one made of Hite beer cans for the lady champ, and a tower of Hite 40s for gents champ.