Locusts!

So we thought we had seen it all here in Israel...until we were surrounded by a swarm of locusts from Egypt. That's right--locusts. From Egypt. Does this sound weird to anyone else?

Driving back to Tel Aviv from our trip in the Negev we ran into one of the many swarms of locusts that have been arriving to southern Israel from the Egyptian Sinai (read more here).

These are large insects, harmless to humans, but they can do serious damage on crops.
Israel is hoping to prevent this, but they are in the millions now.

We found it quite ironic that as Jews prepare to celebrate the passover, they will recount how God brought them out of Egypt using the 10 plagues,  one of them being locusts. Also, the Hebrew word for locust is הארבה ("harbay"), which sounds exactly like the word for 'many'. Indeed...

Some Yeminite Jews even eat these little guys as a delicacy. Apparently there are four different species that are considered kosher in the Torah. Bon Appetite!

Shalom Y'all, Stew

Assignment News

Well, it's official.  Or as official as it can be in the military:

We are moving back to DC this summer!

Stewart no longer gets to moonlight as an Israeli jazz musician who studies middle eastern politics & travels on the side.  Come this July, he will actually have a real job... at the Pentagon of all places.  First, they trusted him with airplanes, now foreign policy.  What is this world coming to?!? All kidding aside, we are extremely proud of him.  Gaining a master's degree in Modern Middle Eastern History, taught entirely in a foreign language that looks like hieroglyphics, is no easy feat. This grand Olmsted experience has perfectly prepared him and our family for what's next.  Or so we hope.  Either way, he's really excited to get started.

We are all absolutely thrilled to be heading back to the East Coast and our old stomping grounds in DC.  This is familiar territory to us since family is only a state away, and this will be our third time living in the greater DC area.  We might even take a gamble on the housing market this go round.

But, with all the sequestering going on I doubt anything like this is in our price range....

Shalom Ya'll,

E

Purim 2013

Here we are again, celebrating Purim, the Jewish holiday which most closely resembles Halloween. The kids decided to dress as a ballerina and...you guessed it....Spiderman. Again.

Despite our children owning multiple costume options, several of them quite clever and unique in my opinion (how many girls own an authentic Moroccan belly dancing ensemble?!)..... Lydia decided to go with something she wears every week to dance class and Will went in the exact same (now borderline too small) costume as last year.  Deep breath.  Choose your battles.

 That's "Spy-dare-meen" in Israeli-speak

 This young aviator known as "pilot boy" moonlights as Samuel ("Sam-Well"). He is Will's only English-speaking friend in gan.

                                                                        Solidarity.

                                                Lydia and her dearest friend, Danielle.

Lydia enjoys some bubble-time with her friend Tali, who I'm convinced will one day be the Israeli Prime Minister. She already has a head start on the current administration.  

And besides, who doesn't love a feisty flamenco dancer?

Shalom Ya'll, EJ & Stew