life continues...

date: Jul 31, 2006 11:18 AM
subject: life continues...

Dear Family, Friends, and Frisbees,

Hope things are going well on the home front. Thanks so much for all of your words about the last e-mail. Despite the images you see on the news and my emails, life here in Israel is continuing. People still go shopping and out to dinner and Ziggy Marley even had a concert here a few days ago (though his concert was moved from Nahariya to Ra'anana, much farther south).

The whole country is in a sort of weird limbo, balancing on the edge of keeping their normal routine and figuring out what's going on in this War in the North. Though Israelis are better at living on the edge of a volatile situation than most people in the world, things are starting to normalize now only because no one can stand this type of uncertainty for so long. Shops are beginning to open in Haifa and more cars are starting to fill the streets. After all, a city has to live.

I just wanted to touch base and let you know that I am still doing OK, living in Jerusalem, working at the soup kitchen Carmei Hair. We have more than a few people eating here who are from the north of the country, especially Tzfat. I visited Yotam's parents during the Shiva (mourning period of seven days after a funeral) and they are such strong, wonderful people. They were so happy to hear anything we had to say about Yotam and listened to the stories from our Nesiya summer over and over.

On another note, you are all part of history as Melanie's Mass Mailings will be published for the first time when "The Summer of Two Processionals" will be published in the August/September issue of Hadassah Magazine. So everyone ask your (Jewish) grandmothers for their extra copies.

So thats all for now, hopefully my next e-mail will be a little more entertaining and exciting as I try to make the most out of my last two weeks in Israel. Everyone stay safe and stay happy, and live every moment.

Love and bourekas,
Melanie