My homeland is not your headline...

 A lot of people hear, "Zionist" or "Zionism" and they immediately respond with: 

"But Israel causes oppression!" 

"You must be anti-Palestinian!" 

"You're colonialist!" and other awful things. 

Those are the only topics that they can bring up when they discuss this ideology. No matter how much cognitive dissonance their point of view requires, this has become the chosen narrative. 

What if I told you that this perspective is privileged? 😲

The concept of Zionism came about with two things in mind:

1. That Jews all over the world were being indiscriminately murdered for the "crime" of being Jewish. 

2. That we *already* had a homeland and a safe space that we'd been kicked out of over and over again, and we knew this based on thousands of years of first person history, language, currency, etc. We knew where home was. We now know that even a blood test or spitting out some saliva proves this.

What if I told you that the beginning of this story WAS NOT the Holocaust, but the Holocaust was just one of many horrors of Jewish history the proved how necessary the concept was. That much like the Amendments don't GIVE us our rights, they just clarified that we have them; Zionism didn't establish the Jewish homeland, it just reminded everyone where it was and why we needed it. 

So why is it "privilege" to focus on anything *other* than Jews when we discuss Zionism? Especially when most of the negative associations are media invented (and hurtful to all parties!) 

Because our lives depend on it. 

Zionism is what protected and saved Jews for hundreds of years- technically thousands before it became a legitimate ideology unto itself. 

As we speak, it's protecting and saving the lives of French Jews...African Jews... Asian Jews. Right now! It's protecting Middle Eastern Jews. Not figuratively, literally. Those people aren't safe being Jewish where they lived. 

Zionism means ONLY that the indigenous Jews want to live in their ancestral lands. PERIOD. It means nothing else- not about anyone else, not about anything else. 

To misunderstand and misappropriate what Zionism is requires an immense amount of privilege. It means that you don't see, acknowledge, or value the lives it saves. It means YOU'RE removed from the oppression. 

Ironic, right? Since not acknowledging the value of Jewish lives was why we needed to establish it officially in the first place.

Love,

Ladysingin

The New Not Normal

Humans thrive on a sense of, "normal."

It might be different for each individual, but it's consistent as a concept. 

What is truly unsettling right now isn't necessarily a specific economic or health fear.

It's all of the above- unknown.

It's that, "normal" has been so rattled. 

It has not yet been replaced with anything. 

Living in a state of limbo, where even experts disagree with one another.

Where people at the top are fighting against one another, instead of FOR us.

Where it's unclear who, and what to believe. 

Where we're pretending to be a cohesive, giving society,

But the allure of angry politics and blaming and naming is still untouchable. 

It's time to find a temporary normal. 

To face, head-on the things that are the scariest. 

Even if the light at the end of the tunnel is a flicker, and really might just be an optical illusion.

Time to allow normal to be one foot in front of the other.

To sink into that.

To be present now, here; not then, or when. 

To let faith be king. 

To just be. 

To be given the chance to feel ok with Not Normal.

Love, 

Ladysingin 

Ode to the Indigenous...

The beauty of ambiguity.

I'm not quite whatever you think I am when you first see me.

And this conversation has become a competition.

A race for who is more deserving of public pity.

But I'm tired.

I'm tired of being told what I am

Who I am

What belongs to me

How many people should or shouldn't feel badly for me because of my outside.

I Am Indigenous.

I repeat: I Am Indigenous.

And my status, my connection to my homeland and the land of my people doesn't change.

It doesn't change because of your invented narrative.

Or because it's currently convenient to preach tolerance while marginalizing, dehumanizing, and delegitimizing me.

Or because you would accept the status of ANY. Other. Minority. Without question.

First person historical account- Dayeinu. Archeology- Dayeinu.
DNA- Dayeinu.
Language- Dayeinu.
Currency, Dayeinu...
Kingdoms, dayeinu...
LEGALITY- DAYEINU!

But your hatred and bigotry force you into a life of cognitive dissonance.

Where everyone BUT...
has sovereignty.

Where everyone BUT...
is to be accepted as they are, for who they truly are.

But we WE must fit YOUR confines.

Follow YOUR rules.

How we look, how we speak, how we function.

Who we support, how we vote.

Even though

You put us in this position in the first place.

You took from us our home and threw us all over the world.

It is because of you that we are now wanderers- separate from our homeland.

But...

I am indigenous.

And you should take responsibility.


Because my homeland belongs to me.

And I know who I am.

I know what I am

And I'm tired.

Of being told that our story isn't enough.

We are enough

We are Jews.

I have, you have, we all have...

The obsession with "privilege" seems benign and logical- the idea that we should be aware of the things we never had control over, and how it affects our place in the world in comparison with others. But as usual, it's not so simple.

In truth, many people (as well as the media) are taking an important concept (i.e. gratitude for worldly things) and turning it into the demonization of success. Of wealth. Of hard work.

It's the antithesis of what America stands for, and does more to bring less fortunate down than raise them up. It gives an, "out", and takes away the empowerment that comes with feeling like you have some semblance of control over what happens to you. Instead,  everything is happening,  "to" you.

The WHOLE point of this country, and it's beauty, is the fact that we can all be successful, wealthy, and work hard toward a goal. That we define our own success- be it monetary, or otherwise.

For some it will be harder than for others. Much harder, in fact, and I'm NOT SAYING privilege isn't real.  It absolutely is. I'm saying it's not that important if you decide it's not.

Ask anyone who became successful, but was NOT born within the current ideal of privilege.  They'll tell you that it's your mindset and decisions under seemingly impossible circumstances that determine what your life becomes.

It's a hard concept to swallow because it doesn't feel automatically fair. And we like fair! But reality isn't always fair, and instead of focusing on what that means you CANNOT do,  it's far more productive to choose to focus on what is possible.

I hope that anyone who isn't in a position of privilege, and has been made to feel that they do not have ownership over their future as a result will read this and know that mentality is nonsense. And if you've been told that you were born privileged, but you're coming up on challenges that you know within your heart are very difficult- I hope you'll power through and see the light on the other side.

There's space here for everyone.

And for when you need to be a better internet human...

OHHHHHHHH, boy. We all talk about it, then we all turn around and immediately do it ourselves.

Dun, dun, dunnnnn...trolling! I do it. You do it. We ALL do it at some point. And if you're already offended...well, I'm probably talking about you.

It comes in many forms. We do it on our own pages, on other people's pages, on pages we follow, to celebrities, to strangers, to friends and family.

But guys, it's out of control. It's one thing to have a heated debate about a concept, or idea with someone you don't share an ideology with. That's great! That's healthy! It's even fun if you do it correctly!

I started this blog in an effort to share my life as an adult- to share the ups and downs and everything in between. I'm not seeing a lot of adults online, though. Sure, a lot of them are over the age of eighteen. Most of them, actually, are over the age of thirty...

Here's the deal: We were dropped into a universe that allows us to be relatively anonymous. We can say things behind a screen and get them off of our chest at the drop of a hat, to a huge audience. Whether or not that's actually helpful or healthy is debatable. I'm mainly on the side of, "nope!" But I digress.

Here's what I decided to do- for myself and for whomever else may need this. I decided to write a list of how to be a, "BIH"...a, "Better Internet Human."

Step 1:
Remember that people are whole beings.
On the internet, we see snippets. We see one line, one post, one moment in time. We don't get to see the whole person with their mannerisms and facial expressions. We don't get to remember that they like the color blue, or find out that they have firefighters in their family like we do. We don't get to know that they have two kids and one has severe disabilities. Or that they've been trying to have children for 10 years with no luck. We don't know that they just lost their mom. Or that they're caring for an ailing sibling. We don't know that they just won an award. Or that they are the most successful person in their field on their side of the country.

The entirety of what we know about them in that moment is based on that snippet. This, of course, falls into categories- people that we know in person (friends, family, or acquaintances,) or people that we don't know in person.

This new era of social media comment wars have led us to a place where we're bonding with strangers but unfriending our family. Doesn't that strike anyone as weird? The former, of course, is why we loved social media as a concept to begin with. We have the ability to easily communicate with people  from around the globe with the click of a button. But this also means that people you don't know at all see tiny little portions of who you are with no context- and vice versa.

So how do we solve this? By giving ourselves a little bit of perspective. By asking, "is it worth it?" If you are about to post about what an IDIOT this guy is, ask yourself why you're doing it, and if the end result is really worth it. And as a side note- is he really an idiot? Or does he just disagree with you? Can you share your point of view in a way that will help him learn, instead of insulting HIM?

Which leads me to...

Step 2:
Share, don't insult. 
It seems like we've lost the ability to have constructive, solution and idea-oriented conversations. Now we have arguments about people and groups. Remember how Eleanor Roosevelt made great commentary on small people (who discuss other people,) verses great people (who discuss ideas?) Well let's agree to be the latter. Instead of seeing someone's statement and telling them how horribly stupid they are, (unless of course, your goal IS to start something...or...shut it down? Oh, who am I kidding, been there.) Try to come at the situation by attacking the ideas they're representing- not the people themselves. I was going to list some names that are used in this context, but I'd better not give anyone any ideas.

Which leads me to...

Step 3:
Stop assuming that everyone in the whole world falls into a box.
Did you know that pro-gun, pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion people exist in the world? I know, it's shocking (unless you're one of them, in which case, "Uhhh, hello? Right here!") Did you know that people who are Christian and pro-gay marriage exist? No, like ACTUALLY Christian. Yep. Did you know that there are religious Jews with Muslim best friends? (I have many! They're awesome.) Did you know that there are Liberals who own guns and are members of the NRA?

My point is that just because you hear one opinion from one person in one moment, it doesn't mean that you can automatically guess whatever else they believe. Or, frankly, that you understand the complexity of that particular belief. When every issue becomes a, "hot-button" one, and we all have opinions on all of them- keeping step 1 in mind, means that we almost never fit into a box. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's a pretty awesome thing. It means that we can find things in common with all kinds of people- sometimes people we never thought we'd have anything in common with.

So the solution here is to try freaking harder! No, I'm serious. Go out of your way to learn about the people you know in real life. Figure out the boxes they check, if it's important to you. Appreciate them for the complex and interesting human being that they are. And when they make a statement that pisses you off? Use the rest of the information that you now know about them to remind yourself why you thought they were awesome in the first place. STICK TO THOSE THINGS! That's what we did before the invention of the internet, remember?

And if they're strangers? Assume that you know nothing about them. Because you don't.


Finally...
Here's what I am not trying to do:
Censor you.
Here's what I am trying to do:
Problem solve.

Huh?

What I mean is- we're not goal-oriented anymore- it almost feels like a lot of the time we just want to hear ourselves talk. Our only goal is either to be mean, or to find the droves of people who agree with us and everyone else can sit on it and rotate. It's GREAT to be in a community. It's awesome to find like-minded people! It's really awesome when these people are far away and you would have never had a chance to meet them without the internet.

But not so great? This hole that we've yelled ourselves into. I see it seeping into real life. Friends, family members, people you meet in the middle of Target, (yes, this happened.) ENOUGH! So to stop this, we need to all agree to be BIH. Please, and thank you.

Love,
LadySingin'

Soccer and Futball and Football, oh my.

Dear Ann Coulter, and everyone who thinks like her,

Let me educate you. Because I'm nice like that.

1. Not only is individual achievement applauded in soccer, but it's absolutely necessary. Ever heard of the golden boot? Probably not because you didn't actually research your article. You had an intense feeling about something, as has become the trend in America, and you blathered on without a whole lot of fact to back you up. 'MERICA!!

There is an amazing and very true-to-life function for each player. Just because you don't understand the function, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Don't blame the entire sport for your ignorance.

2. "No serious sport is co-ed"....HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Have you seen the women's national team? Hope Solo was just arrested for BEATING UP HER FAMILY MEMBERS. This sport is NOT for sissies, period. Unlike football, there are no helmets, no padding and NO FAT PEOPLE. Just skin to skin, head to head, elbow to chest and so on contact. It is 45 minutes and another 45 minutes of CONSISTENT PLAY. So to say that because, as kids, in THIS country some places let girls and boys play together makes it a sissy sport? Cool, Ann, let's play. I would love to show you my, "sissy" side. Reeeeeeeeally I would. And better yet, I'd love to see some of the male members of my family playing some of the big mouth american guys who are bad mouthing this, "sissy sport". I would very much enjoy seeing that. Very, very much.

3. "GOALLESS, OH NO!" Yes, this is spot on, but again shows your lack of research and understanding, not a flaw in the sport. Unlike other games, soccer requires a little something called, "endurance". That means that you are CONSTANTLY being challenged on every front not that you have to deal with ADD. IF you understand the game, scoring becomes insanely exciting, yes....but ALMOST scoring? Seeing the ball travel on the pitch at high speeds? It's a thrill unlike any other because what the other team does to prevent the goal is often so filled with skill, or so strategic that you can't believe it actually happened. This is a game of strategy and opportunity. I can understand why, as a conservative, those concepts are foreign to you, since we have NONE of those things in our gov't right now, and that's a big part of why we keep FAILING! :) YEP, I SAID IT!!! Maybe if you guys watched a little more soccer, your campaigns and strategies wouldn't suck SO BAD!

4. "The prospect of either personal humiliation or major injury is required to count as a sport." Were you mentally incapacitated when you wrote this? A little too much of that strawberry margarita, maybe? Have you seen a real soccer game? Where people break bones, come off the pitch bleeding from all kinds of places, collide at high speeds, somehow jump the height of a grown man? Have you seen a cleat dig into someones skin, seen the result of that? Didn't think so.

"Sport: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment." THAT is what a sport is. Again, much like with politics, and what you always blame Liberals for- you can't change the definition to only suit what YOU ARE TOLERANT OF! Hurts, doesn't it, when the shoe is on the other foot? Yea.

5. "Can't use your hands..." This is too stupid to even respond to fully, but I'll try. No, you can't use your hands. Which makes it far more difficult than other sports because there is a huge restriction on a much used part of the body. You are considering the position of your body at all times while going really fast and often paying attention to multiple people around you and not even looking at the ball at your feet. Remember, though....you CAN use your chest, your head, etc., etc. Go watch videos of  goals of the greats and tell me that what their feet do are not some of the most skilled, impressive things you've ever seen, I'll call you a liar.

6.  Let me clarify something for you. No one is PUSHING soccer on you. K? NO one. We like it and we get to enjoy it, so SHUT UP and leave well enough alone. Much like with TV, internet, etc. if you don't like it, CHANGE THE DAMN CHANNEL. Don't want to read about it (or, for that matter, support your own country? Who isn't patriotic now, blondie?) Fine, not my problem. I am not a person who fits into ANY of the categories you just mentioned, neither do about 60% of the soccer fans I know! Period. You have preconceived notions, none of which are true, and you're willing to bend the truth to fit your view. So, once again, based on your own stereotypes, you're taking an entire segment of your country and dividing them into these little categories that fit YOUR narrow narrative. Should I have expected anything different? I guess not. It's another reason that we keep losing stuff.

7. It's foreign? So am I. So are a whole lot of the conservatives and conservative libertarians in this country. Maybe none of us should vote, either. Thoughts? I wish you the best of luck continuing the ideals this country was founded on WITHOUT young people like me. Without a lot of the foreigners that happen to be soccer fans. And if you dumb idiots keep posting crap like this, you will CONTINUE to alienate people like me and force me even deeper into Libertarianism. You sure you want that? Yea, that's what I thought. FYI, the US Open Cup is one of the LONGEST RUNNING COMPETITIONS IN AMERICAN HISTORY!! LOOK AT THAT! FACTS!!! THEY SUCK, DON'T THEY!!

You can express your opinion, your dislike of the sport itself. But once you make it personal? You can go screw. I love this country a whole lot more than a lot of people who were BORN here. Take that and shove it.

8. Let me make a quick correction. See, soccer is all over the world, it's not, "European", that idea is, once again, showcasing your utter ignorance. It's one of the only things that has significantly diminished terror (READ ABOUT IT. READ ABOUT IT!) and brought down the amount of suicides, etc. all over the world. It's united countries, which is fantastic, period.  But most importantly, it brings feelings of immense national pride. Have you ever seen the way that players and managers sing the national anthem before the game? There is nothing like it. It's amazing to see.

But yea, "Europe is EVILLLLLLL" so let's ignore all of those things.

9. Soccer is catching on, and there's really very little you, or people like you can do about it. You don't have to watch it, you don't have to like it. But don't be an asshole, otherwise, I will spend all of football season mocking fat men rolling around in spandex, and I will do it with joyful glee, as I've been wanting to for years.

I refrained, you see, because I understood something that seems to be a foreign concept to American Soccer Haters. You don't have to LIKE something for it to be acceptable. The world doesn't revolve around you or your view point. And very few people care, just like you couldn't care less what I think of football.


Love,
Ladysingin

Las Las Las Las, Las Ramblas....

I decided to type out my diary that I wrote on my trip to Spain in the summer of 2013. Unfortunately, a bunch of something sticky dripped on it, so I'm not sure what all of it says....

July 18th, 19th, 20th- NYC to Toledo: 2013

After a failed attempt to get to the flight on time, a miracle allowed Delta to get us on an air Europe plane. Well. We thought it was a miracle....until we actually got ON the plane. TEENY tiny and crowded! But what do you expect from Air Europe?! Both the process to get up in the air and the flight itself were pretty harrowing, but we made it to Madrid in one piece! At that point, we needed to take the RENFE, the really super fast train, to get to Toledo. We bought tickets, intending to take the bus, but realized the only way we'd get there on time was to take a Taxi. We managed to get to Puerto de Atocha (the train center) with minutes to spare. We then easily found our way to Toledo.

Upon arrival, we found ourselves in a beautiful train station, followed by a beautiful hotel- the Princesa Galiana:

http://www.hotelprincesagaliana.com/en/fotos/

Complete with tiled walls and gorgeous winding wood and tile staircases. Our room was small, but comfortable. Although it took us some time to figure out how the clever air conditioning and lights worked. Sort of forced, "green" behavior. When you left your key in the slot, everything in the room operated. When you took it out, there was about a ten minute wait, and then the air and the lights shut off. Pretty clever! We spent some time napping (as the turbulent and cramped plane did not allow for that so much!) and woke up up around 9pm. We wandered around the outskirts of Toledo, familiarizing ourselves with the area and taking in the beautiful views. We were at the bottom of a mountain!!
http://www.mostbeautifulpages.com/2012/10/toledo-spain-photo-by-manuel-lancha.html
From a close by bridge, (and from the outside of our hotel) you could see the hills, roads and buildings above. Some lights and reflections, and many gorgeous homes. We were taken aback by how clear the top of the Catedral was in the middle of the city! It was so far away! We managed to find a little joint with some food and drink- this would be our second meal in Toledo (I skipped writing the first- it was a quick one- we all ordered a tomato and onion salad with oil and vinegar and a thin layer of tuna- BEST BREAD I've ever had.) Dinner was, ironically, a little joint with American and Turkish food! It was the closest for the best price....and open! Surprise: it was both delicious AND the service was great. I had this awesome sandwich with grilled chicken.

The next day, we decided to go to El Sinagoga de Transito and Santa Maria de La Blanca.
A little history:
http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Central_Spain/Toledo/Transito/Transito.htm
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sinagoga_del_Tr%C3%A1nsito_interior2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Sinagoga_del_Tr%C3%A1nsito_interior1.jpg
El transito is the oldest Synagogue remaining. It was built in 1391 (the date is contested) by Samuel Ha Levi and included the congregation of Jews that had been in Spain since the 7th century. Inside is now the main shul and the woman’s gallery. The rest had been turned into a gorgeous museum filled with relics from the ancient times, including siddurim, torah scrolls, torah covers, various shabbat items, items for chagim, etc., which were lovely. There were also some old items of clothing there. All in all, it was a nice experience- but not a particularly emotional one. For some reason, while the shul itself was a beautiful site, the fact was that, to me, it didn't seem right that in the Juderia....there were NO JEWS! Very weird. I took loads of pictures though- more for the beauty of the visuals.

We then got some lunch- keep in mind that we had a heck of a time finding the actual bus that we were supposed to be on....so at this point, we'd been walking (from the bus stop....alllll the way around Toledo) for a few hours in very high heat. Although it's a dry heat, which I don't mind at all. We got a snack and some water, I had a very yummy strawberry fruit bar, mommy had a white chocolate Popsicle, and Eevry had a brownie ice cream sandwich (what?!) We then continued on (without GPS this time, the phone died! Uh oh!) and got quite lost looking for Santa Maria de la Blanca- we gave up at one point and decided to sit down for lunch. We found a cute little restaurant and had some salad....then chicken and potatoes....it was beautiful, truly, but I'll give the taste about a 5/10. Mostly because I'm not a fan of rosemary or so very much butter...! Potatoes were delicious though, and I truly enjoyed them. It seems many restaurants here have a flat price for 2-4 courses and you can choose what you want from a list. Interesting idea! After we asked the man where we could find SMDLB, and he showed us .

A little history....
http://carolkiecker.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/spain056.jpg
SMDLB is an old synagogue turned into a Church by the Catholic Church. I assumed, based on the fact that it's called a, 'sinagoga', on the list of Jewish things to see in Toledo that it would feel like more Judaism. You walk in, the ceilings are a million feet high...frankly, it takes your breath away. After a few pictures of things, you take a real look around....again, in an attempt to connect, Jewishly. Nada. Nothing. Nothing good, anyway. Although the Church is kind in keeping it up, I felt physical pain on those walls. It felt like the church whitewashed the blood of my ancestors right off the walls and washed their hands of the inquisition by making a museum out of it. I love all of my friends of different faiths, and my religious Christian friends are often the most supportive of my Judaism, but this felt NOTHING like that. And it hurt. At some point, we noticed that there was artwork on the walls, and a nun who had a kind face, sitting with books around her. A cursory glance at the images and the language,\ would lead you to believe it was celebrating Toledo Jewry. No such luck. Although it reference Judaism- Sefaradi- "The Jerusalem of the Sephardics"- it actually was in the context of Messianic Judaism, not Judaism. Even asking, in nicer terms when, "Israel would figure it out". Using the word, "unity" and so on. Upon even closer inspection, the paintings were mostly depictions of Jesus himself. A few were of Israel, and there was a rendition of Eshet Chayil. However, overall, I felt a bit cheated. It was nice that within the Juderia, you saw remnants of Jewishness- names of streets, etc. It was lovely to see chai in Hebrew and the seven pronged menorah on tiles on the ground...but I'm not sure that the whole show did the suffering justice. Nor did the fact that what was preserved gave any inkling to the amount of suffering that the Jews of Spain and Portugal experienced. 

The Museo de Sefaradi- El Sinagoga de Transito- attempted...with a laminated history and Jewish lessons in many languages in each room. But they virtually changed history. There was little mention of torture or thieving of Jewish land and belongings. Little mention of how we were the scapegoat in the wars between Moslems and Christians (AND they white-washed those wars....especially Cordoba!) Virtually NO mention of forced conversions. If I had gone to that museum with no prior knowledge, I would have left thinking that the Spanish Inquisition and the years prior were anywhere from an inconvenient nuisance, to an unfortunate mishap.
However, I will say: They CAN'T take away what is ours. I will always know the incredible strength that it must have taken to be those people. To go from being hard workers, educators, translators, business men- to being tortured in a room, told to give up your own family so that they could be tortured, too, or simply suffer, until a slow death was your best option, if only to make them STOP. THAT was reality. And if they don't want to upkeep history, it is up to us to do so. Not just Jews, but others who understand the truth of history.

Purely for the visual- the fact that we were up very high, in beautiful and crowded streets, (well.....riiiiight up until siesta...) I enjoyed it. I loved the walking, the people were interesting- pushy, but nice. There were a lot of really lovely shops with Jewish items, which I loved. Conclusion- if you are going for a tour, to SEE some nice places and things- go! If you're looking for REAL Jewish history, you must go with a Jewish tour group. Preferably religious/sefardic, if only because it's older, no other reasoning here.

We managed to get ourselves back to the bus in one piece (during siesta, so most things were closed) I definitely feel good about my sense of direction, even after getting lost after that trip. Back at the hotel, we cooled down and we rested. Then we got food, showers, and sleep. The next day, we were off to Barcelona!

_____________________________________________________________________

After a quick bite in the hotel, we were off to catch our train. The way it works is, you must take a train from Toledo back to Puerto de Atocha in Madrid. From there, there is a 3 hour train to Barcelona. (Toledo and Madrid are in the central part of the country, while Barcelona is closer to the coast of the eastern part of the country.) The train ride (which I'm writing from right now) is gorgeous. Spain is a mixture of plains and mountains. Some places are very green (now yellow! it's HOT!- but not terrible. Very Mediterranean climate.) and almost sandy/rocky areas. Between the hills are little houses/cottages, as well as small villages. Cities often seem to have those plains and mountains as their backdrop.
Things I'm learning:

People here seem inquisitive and hard working....
1. If you don't go green here, it's okay, they'll make you green- this attitude applies to other things as well.
2. This is a gorgeous country with mostly gorgeous people. However, aforementioned attitudes mean I would not choose to live here myself. 'MERICA!
.....HOWEVER.... 

3. Americans could learn to have more respect. Period. Here, people take care to make sure things are kept clean (even in the huge, crowded, busy train station). Aside from cigarette butts, people put garbage....IN the garbage! Little things like that. Also, waiters and workers give more of a crap to do their job well and respectfully. They are serious about getting the job done and are not immediately lazy (as I've come to expect from MOST places in the States). This makes for a generally more relaxed, and in some ways polite environment (hot country polite. Not Southern Belle polite.)

July 21-22: Barcelona
Upon arriving in the airport after the train ride (where someone stole our seats...so we stole someone elses. Didn't end so well. Apparently the Spanish are strict about those things.) We ended up at the Barcelona train station. It was HOT and, unfortunately, we couldn't figure out the bus system. Sooooo....we took a taxi. That night, we mostly rested, explored a bit and desperately tried to find food.

 This is where my diary ends. The other pages were ruined in the spill. So I will attempt to reconstruct the rest from memory....

This hotel was quite possibly the fanciest thing I've ever seen in my life. So much so that my mother nearly had a panic attack. After some very sad attempts to find food, we ended up eating upstairs at the fancy restaurant in the hotel. I don't know what it was about Spanish food, but it was really not my thing. We had some fish and so on, and again, it was gorgeous....but I wasn't a huge fan. Also, in the salad, there were these crazy yellow tomato looking things and the waiter said they were amazing....oh, they were awful! Someone find me some Paella in this country, man!
We had a tour planned for the next morning, so after  the food, we went to sleep. We woke up bright and early to pick up our tickets, and this was the very first time we realized that us and Barcelona transportation were not such good friends, we would continue to be reminded of this for the entire trip. After a failed attempt at finding public transport (note we were OUTSIDE the city itself.) and ending up in a little park with drug paraphernalia....we decided to go back the hotel and ask the workers how to get where we needed to go. They sent us to the subway (although to say that it was a simple process for them to explain it would be a lie) Annnnnnnnd....they led us astray. Somehow, at some point....(with a taxi) we finally made it there after walking all over and we got our tickets and waited for the bus. Again, food was scarce. I do not understand the Spanish and their food. And pork is on everything, everywhere. Oh well. Anywho, so we got on the bus and started this really interesting tour where we got to see all of Barcelona! It was gorgeous! We got to take a cable car over montejiuc, the Mountain of the Jews, and it was made completely of glass! Totally amazing. We got to see the ports and the different statues, the loooooong road, Las Ramblas (we would find out later just how long when we inevitably got lost...again.) and a bunch of really interesting historical places, including the Gothic architecture. However, once again, once we got to the King's square....history was white washed. She mentioned, "Kings Ferdinand and Isbella" about a million times....in reference to many different things...explained the history of Castilian Spanish...but barely made any mention of the Inquisition. What, if you ignore it, do you think it's like it never happened? Nice try. 

After the tour, we were hot and I was not feeling so well, so we went to a little place for lunch and water. I almost passed out (fun!) and everyone was exhausted, but we realized that it was technically our last day there, and we couldn't leave without seeing Camp Nou! We had gotten tickets ahead of time so we didn't have to wait in any crazy lines.

Getting there....I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Once we finally found the subway itself, we went in the wrong area about 5 billion times (give or take, we were hot and tired, it felt like billions) we almost wasted our fare....then we thought we found the train, but ended up in the wrong direction while a few sweet passengers helped us figure that out. I think normally, we'd see the humor in this, but in this case, it was just torturous.
When we finally got out of the train and started the trek to Camp Nou, it was like a victory march for us. I'm pretty sure there was singing involved. Also, I've never seen my brother walk so fast. What a BEAUTIFUL stadium! And so much history. The museum was amazing as well and we took tons of pictures. After that, we decided to get some food in the food court....they had a Spanish Burger King....or MacDonalds or what-have-you....and it was the only thing open with options that were pork. I hate to say this....but that was some of the yummiest food I ate in Spain. And that's sad.

On our way back, we somehow got off at Las Ramblas and ended up walking almost the entire length of the street. That wouldn't seem like such a big deal....except....well here, read for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rambla,_Barcelona

On our tour, we were warned about pickpockets and told they were very sophisticated. Eh. Some might be, I guess. But the ones I saw tried to use whistles to distract, while another person scoped out the targets. They didn't get anything though! And I found them right away.
We found the ONE kosher restaurant (maybe in the entire city?) and we headed back to the hotel. We realized that we had about five minutes to eat and sleep before our flight (at 3am), so we ordered room service, had a dance party and tried to sleep a little bit. Of course there were issues getting on the fight, oy. It was fixed, though, thankfully.

While I feel lucky to have visited Spain, I was very, very happy to touch down in Tel Aviv. There is nothing- especially after days of feeling a disconnect from your people- like walking out to Ben Gourion and feeling like you're finally home.

Here are my pictures from all the trips, if you're my FB friend, you can see them. Otherwise, use your imagination ;) 
https://www.facebook.com/talia.goren/media_set?set=a.932017836829.1073741829.20803283&type=3