I want to write, I do, but nothing comes out when my fingers hit the keys…
I want to tell you all about Israel, about my family, about everything that has happened the last few weeks…
But I can’t…
Hopefully I will be able to soon, when this damn writers block pisses off!
So, here is the story…
I arrived back in Johannesburg to a very cold and miserable Friday morning.
I also arrived back in Jozi with a severe nose and ear infection, so bad in fact the doc thought I may have burst my eardrum. Thanks heavens I didnt and after a hectic course of antibiotics my infection has cleared up nicely.
Then…
A while back I had a very bad ovarian cyst and was put on a course of Provera, a progesterone tablet. This work very well until now. Yesterday the pain hit so badly I couldn’t even drive. One of the lovely ladies I work with drove me to the Linksfield Clinic where I had a scan done. I am still waiting for them to send the results to my gyne at Sunninghill. Yesterday I was completely bed ridden and in agony. Today I am much better but still sore. Now its just a matter of waiting for the doc to see the results and tell me what we do from here.
So, that’s where I am at. Cant get any worse. Right?
Some photos I uploaded to Flickr!
Ok, ok, I know I owe you all a big post.
Internet access was sporadic, mainly due to the fact we were in session or touring from 8:30 to 23:00 almost every day!
The trip was amazing, the places and people were awesome.
Im hoping to have my pics edited and uploaded to Flickr tomorrow and a proper post as well.
Its good to be back!
We arrived at about 10:20am and made our way to the hotel, where we had time to shower, change and relax before we were picked up to be taken to Beit Halochem.
We were fetched by our driver Arye, a wonderful and very knowledgeable man. He picked us up at 4:30 and took us to Beit Halochem Tel Aviv, a rehabilitation centre (one of 4 countrywide) devoted to assisting soldiers wounded in action (and also recently victims of terrorist attacks, IDF and civilian).
50% of the funding raised is through donations from around the world including bequests and wills, 20% is government funded and 30% is raised through membership fees.
We were given an extensive tour of the facilities including, basketball/badminton courts, tennis courts, heated pool, art and craft rooms, shooting range, hydro therapy rooms, weight training room, various presentation/conference rooms, a billiards/pool room, ping pong room as well as a creche and outdoor play area that included a children’s pool.
Besides the members, their immediate family members are also entitled to use the facilities, making this an incredibly beneficial project.
We met some truly inspiring people today, including a women wounded in the Dizengoff bombing, as well as meeting the tennis coach, a man who is by no means disabled but who coaches from a wheelchair so as to better understand his students.
Not all the wounds we saw today are physical, we met a few people who are suffering from PTSD, the centre allows all these survivors a chance at a normal life.
The overall feeling I got from the centre was one of happiness.
Having seen the work they do firsthand, it only makes me see how very important it is for us to support our brothers and sisters in Israel!
Hello and Shalom from the Holy Land!
I’ve been here 2 full days and am having an absolute blast, I don’t have access all the time so for now I will just give you a rundown of my first few days.
We arrived at the airport very very very VERY early, like 2 hours before check in opened… We sat and had coffee/lemonade and then made our way back to the check in area where we met up with Dominique who was up from CT for the WIZO SA conference. We checked through and made our way through passport control. We did a little browsing, Dom bought some jeans and had an early dinner as she doesn’t eat on planes.
We eventually boarded and got ready to take off. The Turkish airways plane was very comfortable and the entertainment was not to shabby. I was a bit disappointed that one of the advertised movies was not in fact a selection and landed up reading most of a novel I had bought. I managed to sleep for a few hours and of course after waking a few times during the night, I slept straight through the cabin lights being switched on and breakfast!
Dom made an excellent travel companion as she slept through most of the flight and didn’t insist on chit chat!
The only downside to the first leg of our journey was the incredible ear ache I developed on our descent into Istanbul. I really thought I was going to burst an eardrum and need to be hospitalised on landing!
The second flight was relatively painless, from the security check point and passport control, to boarding and the flight itself. I ate the snack with gusto as I was starving at this point.
My brother Matthew was at the airport to great us and I couldn’t help but almost squeeze the life out of him when I hugged him. He bargained with a taxi driver and didn’t win, 160NIS was a bit steep for a taxi ride to the hotel so we opted to catch a train into Tel Aviv at 14NIS this was much better, we then caught a taxi from the station to the hotel which only cost 35NIS.
I had a small battle with my cheque card at check in and Matt rescued me by putting the hold on his credit card while I sorted out the shit with my bank. Damn Std Bank had put a hold on my card because they thought it had been stolen, Paul contacted Std Bank and within half an hour the issue was sorted.
We spent a fantastic day together, it was great to catch up with him, I love his sense of humor and I think he was very happy to have someone here who actually thinks he is funny and gets his sense of humor! He went back to Jerusalem as I had a full day of touring the next day and we met up again for dinner on Thursday night and he slept in my room so that today we could travel together to Jerusalem to spend Shabbos with family!
My room was is lovely. Very luxurious but all the way at the end of the passage so a bit of a trek, I need the exercise though so I don’t really mind. The delegate from India was supposed to arrive on Wednesday, she never rocked up and didnt pitch on Thursday either, I hope that I don’t have to pay for the full room…
On Wed afternoon we were taken to Beit Halochem which is a post all on its own.
Keep checking back for more updates!
Tonight I leave for Israel.
I am so excited. My brother is meeting us* at the airport tomorrow and taking us to our hotel and then according to my itinerary I am free until 5pm, so I will get to spend some quality time with him!
Now, I have heard that Israel is basically one massive WiFi hotspot so hopefully I will be online more than I am offline but incase Im not…
Don’t do anything I would do while Im away.
*I am traveling with the delegate from Cape Town, a lovely women I met on Sunday, I think we will get on well and have a blast together.
On Tuesday I leave for 8 days in Israel. With travel it works out to be 10 days away from my family…
Read about the agony that is leaving them over here on Jozikids.
Sally posted a today about books and asked how many on the list we had read. So here is my list. the ones in bold are the ones I have read so far, the ones in red are the books I would like to read quite soon.
THE BORDERS 100 FAVOURITE BOOKS OF ALL TIMES
1. Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice
2. Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird
3. JRR Tolkien – Lord Of The Rings
4. Jodi Picoult – My Sister’s Keeper
5. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga
6. JK Rowling – Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone
7. Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
8. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
9. George Orwell – 1984
10. Raymond E. Feist – Magician
11. Khaled Hosseini – A Thousand Splendid Suns
12. Paullina Simons – Bronze Horsemen
13. Gregory David Roberts – Shantaram (never finished it, found it very boring but got just over halfway)
14. Margaret Mitchell – Gone With The Wind
15. Bryce Courtenay – Power of One
16. Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code
17. Dan Brown – Angels & Demons
18. Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist
19. Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
20. Tim Winton – Cloud Street
21. Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner
22. Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
23. Arthur Golden – Memoirs of Geisha
24. LM Montgomery – Anne Of Green Gables
25. Joseph Heller – Catch-22
26. Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love
27. Niv Mass Market Bible With Bible Guide – International Bible Society Staff and International Bible Society
28. JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit
29. Yann Martel – Life of Pi
30. AB Facey – Fortunate Life
31. Douglas Adams – The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
32. Lewis Carroll – Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass
33. Diana Gabaldon – Cross Stich
34. Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
35. David Pelzar – A Child Called It
36. Li Cunxin – Mao’s Last Dancer
37. John Marsden – Tomorrow, When The War Began
38. Frank McCourt – Angela’s Ashes
39. Frank Herbert – Dune
40. JD Salinger – A Catcher In The Rye
41. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
42. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years Of Solitude
43. Bryce Courtenay – April Fool’s Day
44. Ken Follet – Pillars Of The Earth
45. Patrick Suskind – Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer
46. Matthew Reilly – Ice Station
47. Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow Of The Wind
48. Stephen Hawking – A Brief History Of Time
49. Christopher Paolini – Eragon
50. Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
51. Mitch Albom – Tuesdays With Morrie
52. Jane Austen – Persuasion
53. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
54. Ian McEwan – Atonement
55. Leo Tolstory – Anna Karenina
56. George Orwell – Animal Farm
57. Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
58. Antoine de Saint Exupéry – The Little Prince
59. Roald Dahl – Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
60. CS Lewis – The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
61. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Love In The Time Of Cholera
62. Bill Bryson – A Short History Of Nearly Everything
63. Fyodor Dostoevsky – Crime And Punishment
64. Anthony Bourke – Lion Called Christian
65. Arundhati Roy – The God Of Small Things
66. Paullina Simons – Tully
67. John Grisham – A Time To Kill
68. John Grogan – Marley & Me
69. Vikram Seth – A Suitable Boy
70. Alexandre Dumas – Count Of Monte Cristo
71. Neil Gaiman – American Gods
72. Cormac McCarthy – The Road
73. Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
74. Brendan Shanahan – In Turkey I Am Beautiful: Between Chaos And Madness In A Strange Land
75. Tim Winton – Breath
76. Bryce Courtenay – Jessica
77. Graeme Base – Animalia
78. Donna Tartt – The Secret History
79. Mario Puzo – The Godfather
80. Anne Rice – Interview With The Vampire
81. Steig Larrson – The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo
82. Stephen King – Stand
83. Helen Fielding – Bridget Jones’ Diary
84. Eckhart Tolle – New Earth
85. Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
86. Jung Chang – Wild Swans
87. Nicholas Sparks – The Notebook
88. Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho
89. David Eddings – Belgariad Vol. 1: Pawn Of Prophecy; Queen Of Sorcery; Magician’s Gambit
90. Louis De Bernieres – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
91. Melina Marchetta – Looking For Alibrandi
92. Celia Ahern – PS I Love You
93. John Irving – A Prayer For Owen Meany
94. Colleen McCullough – The Thorn Birds
95. John Kennedy Toole – A Confederacy Of Dunces
96. Terry Pratchett – Good Omens
97. Hunter S. Thompson – Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas
98. Joanne Harris – Chocolat
99. William Goldman – Princess Bride
100. Charles Dickens – Great Expectations
I have read 25 of the above… not sure Im too happy about that, definitely need to read more!
EXCLUSIVE BOOKS 101 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE
1.The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
2.The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
3. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
4. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
5. The Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
6. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
7. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
8. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
9. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
10. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
11. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
12. Spud – John van de Ruit
13. The Power of One – Bryce Courtenay
14. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
15. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
16. Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
17. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
18. Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
19. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
20. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
21. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
22. Disgrace – J. M. Coetzee
23. My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
24. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
25. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
26. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
27. Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
28. Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
29. Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
30. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
31. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
32. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time – Mark Haddon
33. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
34. Atonement – Ian McEwan
35. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
36. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
37. The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
38. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
39. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
40. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
41. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
42. I Know This Much is True – Wally Lamb
43. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
44. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
45. War And Peace – Leo Tolstoy
46. Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean M. Auel
47. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
48. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
49. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
50. Possession – A. S. Byatt
51. Perfume – Patrick Suskind
52. The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
53. Chocolat – Joanne Harris
54. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
55. Q & A – Vikas Swarup
56. Dune – Frank Herbert
57. Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
58. Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
59. River God – Wilbur Smith
60. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
61. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
62. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
63. Mort – Terry Pratchett
64. Crime and Punishment – Feodor Dostoyevsky
65. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
66. East of Eden – John Steinbeck
67. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco ( reading at the moment)
68. The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory
69. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
70. The Prince of Tides – Pat Conroy
71. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
72. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
73. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
74. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
75. Animal Farm – George Orwell
76. The Red Tent – Anita Diamant
77. Watership Down – Richard Adams
78. Magician – Raymond E Feist
79. Middlemarch – George Eliot
80. The Day of the Jackal – Frederick Forsyth
81. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
82. The Magus – John Fowles
83.The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Agaat – Marlene van Niekerk
85. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
86. The Shell Seekers – Rosamunde Pilcher
87. The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
88. The Beach House – James Patterson
89. Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
90. Kringe in ‘n Bos – Dalene Matthee
91. The World according to Garp – John Irving
92. Northen Lights – Phillip Pullman
93. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
94. Shades – Marguerite Poland
95. Kane and Abel – Jeffrey Archer
96. Fiela se kind – Dalene Matthee
97. Story of an African Farm – Olive Schreiner
98. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
99. The Magic Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton
100. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
101. Winnie-the-Pooh – A.A. Milne
29 from this list, better but still not great.
I am an avid reader, I enjoy losing myself in the world created by the writer. I can read an average sized novel in a weekend if I am enjoying it.
I must admit that lately I feel that I dont have the time to read. Perhaps I should read a chapter or two in bed instead of playing backgammon or Bejeweled on my iPod…
What books have you read on the lists above?
For various reasons we have decided that we will stop actively trying to conceive.
By this I mean I will not be going back on the pill but I wont be taking Clomid for the next few months. I also wont be charting and peeing on OPK’s and I will try very very hard not to pee on HPT’s unless I am very very late.
I have also stopped visiting my online communities. In order for me to come to terms with the implications of not actively trying I cant be on those boards, I need a clean break…
So for now, no more password protected posts.
