WOW - IM BACK HOME!!!

interesting reverse culture shock

craziness

ill be happy to see you all soon 

Now Playing: idioteque - radiohead
(due to popular demand)
so, yeah
mom and grandma are coming to visit in about a week -i am excited for that, it will be very nice - i can introduce them to all my friends here, which i didn't really get to do last time my family was here during pilgrimage, what with being busy with pilgrimage and being sick as well
turkey plans are back up there in the possibility phase - hopefully i can make it there at the same time as that crazy amelia
what else is new ...
im enjoying a kitab-i-iqan class with my buddies, it's really quite interesting and i'd be totally up for those kinds of things when i move to montreal and stuff - wow study groups rule
this weekend im planning on hitting the beach at tel aviv - actually im just going to visit the old city there (called Jaffa/Yaffa), apparently the bazaar is quite cool - with my security team
and they also have this thing called "mini-israel", which is a miniature version replica of every major attraction in israel - apparently there is this mini shrine and terraces and everything, quite cool
needless to say, good times will be had
thinking more and more about going home, not because i want to very badly, but because i guess it's getting closer - i've got just under 3 months left - wow
james, if you're reading this, i love you
wow, that was spontaneous
in other news, please, everyone i know on the face of the planet, come to the ABS conference in mid-augugst so i can see you guys, and we can all together partake of divine knowledge and such things
it's bound to be cool and we'll all look smart taking notes and everything - very cool
allright, catch you guys on the flipside - everything is well and swell here, in truth

pictures from Eilat:
there were also signs concerning DNANGER: firing zones on both sides and DANGER: camel crossing

this is massada, from the west side, and with a visual of the ramp that took the romans 3 years to build to assault the fortress

me at the top of a water cistern

me looking awesome

dead sea antics

the jordanian heights at sundown over the dead sea - they sort of glow red and there's the moon

beach resorts on the shore of the red sea in eilat

our camel caravan before departure

desert trees = they're not dead, they're just dry

my camel, gili was her name - i think she was senile and depressed with life

the view from the edge of makhtesh ramon, the biggest erosion crater in the world

sunset view over the crater

Now Playing: parviz
good times in eilat
pictures will be forthcoming
i basically did a three-day tour of the entire southern end of Israel: we visited Masada, the Dead Sea, Eilat (i rode a camel and swam in the red sea), Makhtesh Ramon
good times all in all
i've never been in a desert before and it was basically awesome the whole way through
during the fast it was pretty intense, but we survived
im coming to the end of my first read through the bahai authoratative works, and im moving into the re-read and study phase - real stuff begins
ilya out

hello o people who read this thing
exciting: im going to a full-out, straight-up, southern Israel tour this weekend!
me and a few buddies are going to rent a car and visit Massada, the Dead Sea, Eilat and Makhtesh Ramon.
Massada is this fortress on top of this gigantic cliff overlooking the dead sea and the west bank - from the pictures it looks amazing - you hike up it and there are things you can visit up top there
the Dead Sea is of course the super-salt sea where you can almost walk on water
Eilat has many activities, we plan to do the following; swimming with dolphins, visting the world-famous red sead coral aquarium/museum, riding camels at night in the desert and snorkelling
Makhtesh Ramon is this grand canyon sized natural site - apparently it's extremely beautiful and worth the hike - 40 km long and 9 km wide - the largest erosion crater in the world! i've heard from reliable sources that it's worth the visit
all of this during the fast! WOOHOO intense
my good buddy edward is leaving soon, and he never got a chance to make it to eilat, so we are doing this before he leaves ... good times, im going to miss him - oh boy
everything is going well - im excited for the trip and for the fast - tonight i hung out with two portugese guys and we ate waffles after work - sweet
life's going well, im playing a lot of guitar, i recently picked up blackstar by radiohead (heart)
im practicing more piano, and in this new security orientation, there is this guy that can play really nice classical piano, so hopefully i can jam with him sometime
as to reading, im currently making my way through memorials of the faithful and then it's a traveller's narrative, and then dawnbreakers - that mostly covers all the writings i wanted to cover this year - that's awesome, then i can move on to studying them
my new roommate is this guy from Vanuatu who was actually in my pilgrimagre group in early january! so cool - the world is so small
the best is when you do good things for people for nothing and no reason at all - it's awesome
need to figure out where im living next year ...
thinking more and more about Mcgill and life after service - it was so vague a few months ago, now as i reach the half point of my service, it materializes before me slowly
good times all in all
ilya out

im having pancakes! sweet
I got new strings for my guitar, got all stringed up, im very happy about that one
i got a non-stick pan! oh my goodness that one also makes me very happy
and i'm enjoying this huququllah class to bits
and talks here and there - i basically want to learn arabic now - investigating into mcgill's arabic classes ...
pics:

update!
i am now 19 years of age! oh my goodness! teenage years are slowly fleeting! ill need a cane in a year!
things are changing i guess - i hope i can glean something useful from the transition, and learn life lessons and all that corny business
i had a wonderful birthday - my grandmother sent me this email about this reference in the Bab's writings concerning turning 19 and i checked it out and read it in the shrine of the Bab, it was awesome
special place to become 19, i tell you
im getting used to work in Haifa again after Bahji, and all the things that have to do with the big city
im in this Huququllah class that is blowing my mind! it is so interesting, it's awesome! and our facilitator is basically one of the best people to give huququlah classes: the coordinator of the office of huququllah here in Haifa!
ill be volunteering in the cleaning maintenance department soon, so im looking forward to that! they start work at 6am! i hope i make it on time.
things are good and working here just gets more and more wonderful as friendships get stronger and i learn more about the baha'i faith and myself

Now Playing: sufjan stevens - the seer's tower
wow - lots has happenned
i moved successfully, to 64 Hatzionut, very close to the shrine, and very close to many friends, so it's good times
i had pilgrimage with my parents - the first four days were wonderful, and then i got terribly sick (and im still recovering, i haven't started work again yet) - it was still okay afterwards, but i spent a lot of time by myself and being sick
we just celebrated the birth of the bab today (go lunar calendar!) and tomorrow is the celebration of the birth of Bahaullah in Bahji - which will be nice
it's strange to be back in the city and surrounded by everyone, i'm still going to have to adjust, and i need to keep reading again
tonight i have a dinner at dr. steven phelps's which will be nice - because dinner is followed by board games! scrabble!!!!!! yes.
ilya out

Now Playing: the predatory wasps of the pallisades are out to get us - sufjan stevens
im moving back to haifa soon - on january 7th, to get ready for my pilgrimage on the 8th! excited! going to see my family!
visiting with the hammond-collins, the moradipours, the alibabaiys and the camerons was nice - brief but nice - i got a little bit of a chat in with almost everyone
more pictures soon
ilya out

Now Playing: matt costa - astair
UPDATE!
im moving back to haifa soon - my pilgrimage is coming up quite quickly - less than two weeks now!
right now the hammond-collins, the moradipours (ottawa ones) and the alibabaiy's are on pilgrimage - too much!
i think i will see them all tomorrow, and definitely the day after, so hopefully it will be nice, but not too distracting for them ...
the camerons are also on pilgrimage, i haven't seen blair in ages ... maybe 5 years or something
im living alone now, my roommate left, so i have this two person flat to myself, it's pretty sweet, although i did see a cockroach earlier, and that made me angry
i think there is something deep at the root of all human beings that just doesn't like cockroaches. at all. it must be specific to our race - no one likes them.
i bought this new camera tripod, so i was able to pull off some cool pictures at night - that's been really interesting, experimenting at photography a little bit - one out of like 5000 is cool - sometimes
here are some pictures from the last two weeks or so:
some macro action:

collins gate in the late afternoon:

the shortest (Monalyn from the Phillipines) and the tallest (Heinrich from Germany/Malaysia) security guards - Heinrich is 6'6" and although i don't know mona's exact height, she's probably a foot and a half shorter or something like that:

sunset on the akko sea wall:

sunset near the mansion of Mazara'ih:

this strange statue on the Akko sea wall:

a tripod shot of a nice flower in bahji:

excited to see my family!