After the Storm

All is quite now in College Station. It is hard to believe that 48 hours all was chaos weather wise. I spent part of the afternoon raking my yard for fallen leaves and branches and moving my patio plants from my garage to back outside. Some of my friends in Houston are still without power and water but we here in BCS are back to business as usual. I am thankful for God's protection this past weekend and that the storm is long gone, though I fear some will be dealing with the aftermath of days to come.

Outside the Eye

Hurricane Ike moved north and greeted Brazos County early this morning (sometime after 6am but I am not exactly sure as I was asleep). Fortunate for us, and not so fortunate for others, the eye of the storm shifted east and so missed us. We have had some significant gusting winds and quite a bit of rain but all is well besides that. And we still have power, yeah!

I spent the night in my closet so was as snug as bug in a rug and able to sleep through the night. I awoked a bit before 9am to some howling winds and lots of leaves and a few branches down but beside that all is well. The only slight concern I have is that the creek behind my has flooded,which is actually quite typical. The walking path (next to the tree in the pic) is under water and I had to take picture because the city want to put a paved & lighted biking and foot path right there which would turn my lawn into a swimming pool as the creek usually rises and often overflows during a storm.

We're not in the clear yet, high winds and pounding rain are expected for the next 4 hours but so far I feel safe and blessed!

Waiting for Ike

Hurricane Ike has made landfall, though the eye of the storm is not expected till about midnight. One blessing is that is has been downgraded from a category 3 to a 2 and should only be a 1 by the time it reaches college station. I have had several calls today from friends worried about me being on my own. But the idea of being with 5 other crammed in a bathroom and panicing sounds about as much fun as being refugee in a bomb shelter staying with a stressed out family during the war in 2006 in Israel. I plan to sleep the night in my walk in closet and have set up a nice little bed an survial pack of snacks, water, flashlight and a radio. The storm will hit around 4am or so and I pray all will be able and that I will sleep safely through it. Am praying the winds die down and that the storm moves through quickly. So off to my closet...

Hurrican Ike Watch is on!

Hiya. I am sending out a call to my praying friends to remember Texas (and me) in your prayers the next few days.

The Southeast of Texas is hunkering down for a category 3 hurricane...Who would have thought I would have to deal with hurricanes when I moved to Texas! At this point the storm is larger (aapx. 350 miles long) and stronger (winds up to 100mph) than Katrina which hit New Orleans in 2005. This one is expected to hit the Texas shore and Houston straight on tommorrow pm and the eye of the storm is now aimed to pass right through my town in the early hours of Saturday am. They are predicting 30-50 mph winds, lots of rain and chance of tornados.

I have done my prepping (got extra batteries, flashlights, lots of bottle water and tinned food) but would also appreciate your prayer that Hurricane Ike dispates and its winds slow down and heads east of College Station where I live. Though we could really use the rain (we have been in a drought since June) the idea of things flying around and possibly penetrating mine or my neighboors windows is a bit scary. Also there are predicting a 90% change of power outages in my area, and with the temp today reaching around 100 degree F the thought of being withoug A/C for even 24 hours sounds quite grim!

I know and believe God can intervene in all of these circumstance so would appreciate your prayers in this matter. Will keep you posted on my blog, as long as I have power!

JLM if I forget you

Am finishing up things in JLM today and head back to Haifa this afternoon. In my travels the last 2 weeks I think I have discovered a secret that will help facilitate peace in the middle east. In the words of an old advertisement, I would like to buy the Middle East...a deodrant! I am confident that the small gesture of buying everyon one in Israel and the greater Levant region a stick and require them to shower and use it daily would greatly help faciliate an air of cooperation and greater tolerance. If you have ever sat on a public bus in Israel, Turkey or behind the green line uin the summer time, you know what I mean! But I digress.

Yesterday was Hebrew Univ. day for me where I spent the day meeting with Several Profs in the Comm department to talk about my research and academic life in Israel. Also spent time in the library and working with my friend Oren and exploring Orthodox use of the Internet. Last night we ended the day with some of Oren's friends watching a very silly movie and eating non-kosher pizza (the pepperoni is made of beef as pigs are not able to live on israeli soil). Now it is off to meet with an Israeli Scholar who works on Shas & Sephardic Judaism. More later

Back in Eretz Yisrael

So I have now been back in Israel for a week and it has been a full one at that. Landed in TLV July 5 and spent 24 hours with a friend in JLM mostly visiting the mall for some esentials and then doing a facinating interview with the editor in chief of Aish.com. Sunday night I headed to Herzylia and visited friends there for a few days while attending a conference at IDC on Communicating Across Borders. On Wednesday I headed to Haifa an settled into the dorms in CRI so Thursday I could get down to work. On Friday I headed back to JLM for a working shabbat with my friend Oren as we together are trying to explore the Jewish Orthodox use of the internet. Yesterday I headed to the UltraOrthodox neighboorhood of Rama Eskhkol for another interview with a couple who are religious web designers and then to the old city to meet a dear friend Ina from Scotland visiting Israel this week. We had a good catch up after not seeign eachother for 1.5 years, wandered the old city together and visited her favourite artist Motke Blum and slurgged and bought art! Today I head to Hebrew Univ for meetings while my friend Oren lectures on fandom in a class on internet culture. So as you can see never a dull moment!

What I learned in Turkey

Well due to computer filtering issues I wasn't able to blog in Turkey and have been so busy my first full week in Israel that I am way behind in blogging, so this is a catch up entry on my time in Istanbul.

What I learned in Turkey:

- My name Heidi sounds like the Turkish phrase for let's go, so when I was introduced to new people, they took much joy in saying, "Heidi, Heidi"!
- I love the Asian side of Istanbul, which has a much slower pace of life, but the European side though it has the history and grander architecture is too crowded for me.
- Come to Turkey to eat great meat and salads, but for those with a sweet tooth the selection of deserts is somewhat disappointing.
- I love Turkish coffee, but can live without Turkish delight!
- The Turkish people are very friendly and helpful esp. to people like me with no Turkish and a deficient sense of directions.
-Having a cell phone and a local friend to call for help is essential when travelling!

I successfully managed to navigate public transport in Istanbul on my own on several occasions and excet for getting lost in the new town for 2 hours on the 4th of July manag4ed to get aroudn quite successfully. Some of my trip highlights were:

-A Bosphorus cruise with my friend Rebekah (who I knew in Scotland) and her 3 month old Emily.
-Visiting the Haya Sophia and marveling at the grand architecture and mosaics.
-Eating dinner with Nuri's family and learning about the Muslim celebration surrounding the conception of Muhammed.
-Attending a concert of a Band led by Rebakah's husband Charles at a coffee shop in a 7th story bulding and watching the sun set over the Bosphorous.
-Getting lots of writing done in the ISAM library!

All in all it was a full be great week in Turkey!

Day 3...posted a week and a bit later

I am wrıtıng thıs at the end of day 3 (though ıt probably won,t get posted tıll tommorrow as I am stıll lımıted by thıs Turkısh keyboard where I can,t get the at symbol to work
. The call to prayer ıs echoıgn aroudn the cıty lıke th drone of bees busy wıth actıvıty and ınternet For 15 mıns the world ıs a hum wıth the call to prayer and then settles back ınto a quıte dull rum of traffıc.

Thıngs I have learned so far on my trıp
-Turks are very frıendly and ıf you are not careful you wıll overdose on caffıne from the constant offers of Turkısh coffee
-Just because the restaurant has a pıcture menu doesnşt mean what you get wıll be anythıng you ımagıned from the pıcture but thıs ıs often a pleasant surprıse
- Most Turks on the European sıde do not speak Englısh so ıf you get lost and need to stop and ask for dırectıons good luck aka I have done a lot of out of my way walkıng so far

Today was spent travelıng around the cıty for ıntervıews. My research collegues Nurı and Yusuf Devan from Yedepte have been so kınd as to help me make connectıons wıth some religıous medıa outlets and esp. 2 TV channels that have ınterestıng connectıosn wıth relıgıon. Today they served as tour guıdes and translators on thıs medıa tour. . Nurı and I met Yusuf at the Uksdar port early thıs am for a travel across the Bosphorsu to the European sıde to vısıt Chanel 7 whıch was started by a Muslım but has not morphed ınto a commercıal maınstream chanel. I got a tour and even almost made ıt onto TV when I walked ınto theır 24-hours newroom not realızıng they were fılmıng but luckıly the camera at that angle was not lıve. I learned so much ın our 1 hour vısıt about the medıa ın Turkey and dıd an ıntervıew wıth the Genreal news dırector. We then headed back to ISAM for lunch and a short break before headıng off to 2 hours at STV run by the Gullen movment (a group connected to moderate Islam) another tour and a very useful ıntervıew later I am now ready to start wrıtıng tommorrow am.

As you can see thıs ıs not a holıday so far but I am do have 1 and a half days of sıghtseeıng hopfully to come. I am looıng forward to momorrow and a trıp to see my old frıend Rebekah (a Canadıan I met ın Scotland that marrıed a Kıwı wıth whom she now lıves ın Turkey... gotta love ınternatıonal frıends) for a bosphorus cruıse and some turkısh cuısıne. Also all beıng well I wıll head to the old cıty on my own for some tourıst tıme on Frıday.

Day 2 in Istanbul

I actually wrote this post yesterday but was having trouble posting from the Turkish based key board so here it is a day late.

Well ıt ıs offıcal I am totally knackered and totally fed up with this Turkish keyboard...

I have been in Istanbul for 7 hours and have been up for 31 hours without rest and feel a desperate need for a nap. After a whirlwind day in JLM I got on a sherut taxi and headed for my Turkish adventure. I receive what I like to call as the Israeli "hotel california treatment" when trying to exit the country (aka you can check in easily but we will give you hell when you try to check out) which included a personal escort to my gate by security, well that says something though what I do not know!

anyways I landed just before 8am into Istanbul and after an slow but no hassled entry was greeted by my colleague Nuri Tinaz and his wife at arrival who picked me up at the airport
My first 7 hours were spent moving into ISAM and then joining Nuri and his extended family for a breakfast brunch a lovely restaurant right on the Bosporus sea. Nuri said it would be a 3 hour brunch and I though he was joking but in the end we did have a lovely and very leisurely 3 hour breakfast of chatting staring out across the sea and going back to the buffet again and again for wonderful cheese to die for fresh fruit and veg and breads and even a straight from the hive slab of honey comb which I enjoyed generous portions of spread on chunky wheat bread.

On the way back to ISAM Nuri pointed out a number of religious sites such as a synagogue an armenian church and a mosque and then he said we will now visit a most sacred secular site as his wife pulled into a large modern shopping maul His wife daughter niece and sister in law all went to a dress shop while he helped me get cash form a Turkish ATM and buy a Turkish sim card for my phone Am now back at ISAM typing this and realizing I need to rest before I fall asleep here at his computer more later...

well day 1 was great, I even ventured out on my own for dinner and treated my self to a donner kebab dinner (thank god for menus with pictures on them) before retiring for the evening. Got a startling 4am wake-up call and am now aware that there is a mosque right next to the institute whose loud speaker for the call to prayer seem to face directly at my window. Today it is down to business, with meetings scheduled with potential research colleagues and articles to read.