Unlike anything i've ever experienced...

So work has begun, at least the meetings and the prep.. students show up next monday. Today I rode my bike to school. Its a mere 15 miles, and the only real concern is, "will i get another flat?" Prayer works well though, and I was able to make it without popping my tires.

The story then begins when riding home. I was pulling out of our parking lot and I was made uncannily aware that something was wrong. I didn't feel right. My mouth- it was going numb. Was I dehydrated? Yes, of course.. but is that what the problem was? I couldn't get over this numbness on my tongue, in my mouth, on my lips. Worried, I rode faster- thinking I would somehow magically poof an hour into the future. I continued riding, it continued getting worse and worse and worse and worse. I should also note that it was getting hotter and hotter and hotter. I couldn't decide if it was actually hotter- or if my mouth was colder. hmmmm.

Then it hit me. I totally tripped out on this one. You know how when your snowboarding in the winter, and your hands are freezing, so you breathe on them, and the hot air swirls out of your mouth, and hits your hands and helps warm them up? And really its not that your breath is any hotter then its ever been-- just outside is SO cold?
My mouth WASN"T going numb. My breath was SO cold compared to the air outside- it was literally cooling my mouth and my lips off, the exact same way it warms me up in the winter. The high was only 112, however, I was on the asphalt and I have a sneaky suspicion it was probably hotter there.
Cold breath. mind you, not while i was making an O with my mouth and blowing "cool" air. No, when I was panting, and in any other situation, would have been heating up things.
Arizona is kinda its own thing.

Oh Canada!

I feel it important to finish the tales of my travels before showing up for work tomorrow. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to road trip to Canada with Aislinn to visit her family for a week.
The Kelly's were GREAT and made Canada feel like home. We got homemade Granola every morning! We did Yoga at sunrise on the dock. We rode bikes around, ate sushi... which tasted like... well, i'll let Aislinn tell you what it tasted like. It was just very chill, and very nice.
Alberta is of course BEAUTIFUL! Green prairies intermixed with Technicolor yellow fields, with the Canadian Rockies off in the distance. Then because Aislinn is an Angel, she took me to Banff National Park- which I seriously think might be heaven. i thought the names were ugly, but the views-- well, lets just say the photos don't even come close to doing them justice.
We went first to Lake Louise which is the lake with the milky turquoise color. From there we hiked up to Mirror Lake, then further up to lake Agnes. Then we drove over to Lake Moraine, which has cliffs that I could have stared at all day and been happy, with a blue in the water, brighter then any I've seen recently. I would like to disclaim that while I did mess with some colors with my camera- any of the blues and greens are true to life.
At lake Moraine there was a cute hitchhiker that I told Aisy to pick up, but she chose to ignore me. He was probably my future husband. I guess we'll never know now.
We finished off in the town of banff which is very parkcity meets Jackson hole. We saw some more rivers and mountains and then the rain sent us home.
I LOVED IT!!
We drove home a few days later, a mere 16 hours-- then I hung out with my Family for one more day-- and drove the rest of the way home to Phoenix.

So I, in the past two months have ALMOST circumnavigated the globe, and I did some major driving North and South across the North American continent. I would like to say my travel bug is appeased for the moment.. but, I'll keep you posted of course.

UTAH- my love

Nothing is more sweet then those mountains, after living a year in a flat desert. Cool mountain air, green grass, waterfalls... come on people. Utah is Zion. I realize you just get used to the beauty of it- but coming back, man, its breathtaking. And NO, its not hot here. I thought I would be here long enough to be able to see everyone, do everything, and have time to just chillax. Wrong. I forgot that I have a rather large family, that I kind of love their guts out, and haven't seen for a long time. So, I actually didn't get to see most people, and I actually didn't get to do most of the things I originally planned. Although I have tried to jump on the trampoline every day, there is a lot left undone. My apologies to everyone I didn't see.
I will mention that the bubble was a little more abrasive this time then its ever been before. A wall that your face sort of slams into right when you get here. Funny. Its never bothered me before.
Brooke- Thank you for driving up with me, the day after i blew in from Israel
Tomorrow I am off to Canada with Aislinn.


WANNA TAKE RIDE WITH ME???

The holy land... or so they say-

I would have written a blog from the geographical location of Israel, but all the websites were in Hebrew, including blogger, and I couldn't figure out what it was telling me to fix...
When people ask, "So how was it?" I guess the only thing i can tell them is--It was crazy.
In short- I spent time in Galilee, Tel Aviv, the dead Sea, and Jerusalem. We played in the Mediterranean, splashed in Galilee, floated in the dead sea, walked the streets of the old city, walked the streets of the new, walked the walls of the old city, ate falafels, played with Sheri and Family, explored Tel Aviv with Tal...and had adventure after adventure.
I guess what I would really like to tell you about is the texture of the experience. In some ways it seemed pretty normal outside the "old city" but then i forget: its a little different then america when EVERY where you go, your bag gets searched or put through an X-ray machine, you get wanded, or your car gets searched. Security at the entrances to everything,(including corner markets) and all the way along the road- Check points, check points. Soldiers with their guns over their shoulders- and it wasn't so much the automatic weapons, loaded and carelessly strung on the backs of the soldiers that was disturbing, but more the age of the soldiers. In Israel everyone, boys and girls, have to join the army at 18 and serve 3 years.

There is the call to prayer that happens 5 times a day, including a 4 am call to prayer, where a voice sings a melodic verse through the loud speaker of every mosque. Its quite enchanting. From the top of the mount of Olives, you can hear many many calls to prayer echoing off the hills.

The Christians have built cathedrals over every flipping thing. Grr.
The Jews are starting to build a wall, yes, when the rest of the world is tearing down walls they are building them, i guess to further divide themselves from the palestinians...

We could only drive through the west bank during daylight. Our friend who has lived there his whole life had never even driven through at all.

I guess apart from the things to see, and the friends we got to play with--the thing that sticks the most is the severity of the conflict between the Jews and Palestinians... We took a photo to express the unrest. Its a photo of Erin, with 2 different coke cans. One in Hebrew, one in Arabic. A kind cabbie explained to us that arabic coke is made in Ramalah (west bank-Palestinian city) while Hebrew coke is made in Tel Aviv. They don't even trust each other with their coke. (Arabic coke is better) (this photo is at the end of the slide show)

To conclude my long, yet informationless ramble, I would like to say that getting into the country took 10 minutes. However getting out took almost 3 hours, NO lines, but going through X-ray machines, metal detectors, being interviewed, having all our luggage searched by hand, and tested for explosives, along with every liquid item being tested, searched, searched, searched. I felt quite safe getting on that plane. sheesh.

Home again. Jetlag heaven.