November 16, 2005
Shalom :)
Hello!
I feel terribly ashamed for not having written, especially when I see that people are actually still visiting this website. I always mean to blog (once a blogger, always a blogger), but ...
So anyway, I just came back from the most amazing trip to Israel. The only thing I regret is the fact that I didn't have nearly enough time to do even half of the things I would have wanted to do, or to meet all the people I would have wanted to meet. I spent considerable amounts of time trying to fit coffee with David & Orly into the schedual, but I ended up barely having time for drinking coffee myself! The good news is, that I will be going back to Israel next summer, for (what I hope) will be a slightly longer trip. So who knows what will happen then.
This trip was crazy, busy, and planned from morning to evening. I travelled all over to meet Shlomi's relatives, went to a big Jewish wedding (and had a great time), went to Tzfat, Jerusalem, etc. A bunch of crazy little things happened, which would take far too long to explain. Instead, I've uploaded some photos from my trip, and hope you'll all take a look.
Photos from Israel - November 2005
I'll try write again soon. In the meantime, I've missed by blogreaders. How is everybody doing? David, David, David, Orly, Torbjörn, Kantor, Jeffrey, Alice, Lisa, JP, Max, Reb Lazer (naturally), and the lovely Miri?
What a lovely set of pictures - glad you enjoyed!
Gilly
Posted by: gilbenmori at November 16, 2005 10:16 PM PermalinkB"H
Maria, you have a soul that can thaw all of Iceland. Let us know the next time you come. Warm regards from Ashdod!
Doing okay here. Glad to read you again!
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at November 18, 2005 09:16 AM PermalinkI'm great. Been quite a bit busy, actually, as you know :)
Glad you had a great time in Israel.
Posted by: Dave at November 19, 2005 06:02 PM PermalinkGlad to hear you had such a wonderful trip! While you were there I was watching movies set in Israel pretending I was there. : ) Jacob is chubby as can be and sings bubbly operas in his crib, staring up at his mobile.
Posted by: Alice at November 20, 2005 01:07 AM PermalinkHi Maria! I'm glad you had such a wonderful trip!!! :-)
Thank you for the interest in me - I'm fine, only much too busy.
Your photos are really lovely. I was smiling all along. You always know how to find the *important* things (eg. the halva factory :-)) The hotel in Tzfat seems nice. It's great to see Shlomi. :-)
So, you've been to Haifa... Well... I surely hope we can meet on your next visit.
Anyway I'm happy for you and Shlomi :-)
Posted by: Orly at November 20, 2005 01:36 PM PermalinkI am glad you had a great time,
keep on visiting our lovely country
: )
Nice to hear your trip was a success! Regarding the sentence written all over Tzfat...it was written all over the country when I was there this summer. Some religious thingee, someone told me when I asked.
A funny thing was brought to my attention recently. You see, I wrote a paper about Markov Chains (mathematics) and also held a lecture at the Botanical Institute here in Gothenburg on the topic. This was about a year ago. Now it turns out that a palestinian guy, Amir Hadadi, at Tel Aviv University found my paper and presentation rewarding enough to more or less copy it:
http://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~bchor/seminar05.html
His presentation is "based on...by Torbjörn Karfunkel".
I wonder if he even noticed my jewish name or the Israeli flag on my web page.
Posted by: Torbjörn Karfunkel at November 21, 2005 10:47 AM PermalinkHi Torbjörn, how are you? When are we going to see YOUR pictures from Israel?
No offence, but I don't see any big deal in your story above. Your paper was used in a student seminar, it's not as if someone stole it. I don't know if that student defines himslef as Palestinian, but what does it matter? He studies in Israel, so your Jewishness is surely no issue for him. The only peculiar thing is the images he used for the Markov chain: A Palestinian flag and a Golani emblem - Now that's an interesting choice!
The sentence written all over Israel for some years now is Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'Uman, related to the Kabblist Rabbi Nachman from Breslov.
A nice day, everyone!
Posted by: Orly at November 21, 2005 03:50 PM PermalinkThanks everyone! :)
LOL. Orly you really are priceless with your honesty. We must meet next time I'm in Israel.
And I will have you know that we put in great effort finding that halva factory! :)
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