More lies from the duck pond...

I will return to Helle Kleins lead article one more time. It constitutes a great example for when someone makes a non-supported request coming from a loony sound like something the whole nation supports. Helle Klein mentions Avigdor Lieberman, the new foreign minister in Israel, who is the leader of the nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu. She is then telling the reader that he is demanding all citizens to swear loyalty to Israel as a "Jewish, Zionist and democratic state", a suggestion which could have grave and existential consequences for Israeli Arabs.

So far so good. Avigdor Lieberman and his party did make progress in this last election. This is among other things a reaction to the last operation in Gaza and an overall call for security. However, it is a minority of the people here who think only with their flee-or-fight brain. Avigdor Lieberman is already tripping on his own stupidity over and over and will not last for long, and the role as foreign minister has unofficially been taken care of by the president Shimon Peres.

Helle Klein writes her article as if this idea of a new law has a great chance to be accepted and implemented, but that is very far from the truth. Truth is that today the ministerial legislative committee rejected this loyalty oath bill with great majority. Only Yisrael Beiteinu voted for.

Helle Klein also writes that there is a new law to be implemented that bans commemorations of the "Naqba" by Israeli Arabs and this is a pure lie. What was decided was that organisations that want to organise this kind of event, will not get governmental funding for it. The commemoration is not banned in itself and they will keep on getting funding for all other activities. It can of course be discussed if it is the right way to go, but let us at least keep to the truth...

Kosher swines...

A kite flying above the sunset...

Recent genetic studies, based on Y chromosome polymorphic markers, showed that Ashkenazi Jews are more closely related to other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than to their host populations in Europe (Nebel et al., 2005). This would mean in common language that also the European Jews originate from the Middle East. This could be used as an argument for them belonging to Eretz Israel, but that is not where I am heading.

I went to the beach last evening with Yoram, to have a few beers and watch the sunset. We went down just South from Haifa and were hoping for some space, but of course it was packed. No wonder, going to an official part of the beach! It was quite windy and we did not go into the water, but enjoyed watching people, dogs, joggers and swimmers, while sipping on a cold beer.

In Sweden everything is so controlled and that brings neuroticism to everything and everyone living being. Take dogs as an example. In Sweden people are frantic about keeping dogs on the leash and dogs are not even allowed everywhere. When the poor animals are finally let loose once in a while, they are so socially deprived and fucked up that they create trouble with each other. Yesterday, dogs were enjoying the feeling of freedom at the beach in just the same way as people and I did not see even one argument. They met, greeted and parted in a very natural way. It reminded me a bit about Christiania, the freetown in Copenhagen, where all creatures are free to roam the surroundings.

What did not impress me as much is that the Israelis are lacking respect for this beautiful nature they have around them. They leave their garbage right on the spot where they sat and take for granted that someone else will collect it. I guess that someone will do that on this official beach, but what about the more remote parts, like where we were the other day? This behaviour is not different from any other Middle Eastern country, or Mediterranean for that matter. Had I been less educated in genetics, I might have argued about whether this is in the genes and that even the Ashkenazim did not clean that out during the Diaspora in Europe. However, I am afraid that they are not released from the responsibility that easily...

Returning to the Swedish duck pond

One more time I have to reflect over a statement made by a Swede on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Helle Klein is the head political editor for Aftonbladet, an independent Social Democratic daily newspaper in Sweden. Yesterday she changed the history, by revealing a great scoop. She was explaining the word "Naqba" by saying (free translation from Swedish):

"the large deportation of 700,000 Palestinians during the formation of the state of Israel"

No historian has ever claimed this. Not even the Palestinian ones. Even the most radical Middle East historians admit that between 80 and 90% of the Palestinian Arabs who fled the new-born Israel did it on their own initiative or encouraged by their Palestinian and Arab leaders. Truth is that most of the Palestinians were not deported by Israel but instead encouraged to stay and become citizens.

It is neither true that they fled upon the formation of the Israeli state. They fled as a consequence of the war that immediately broke out when the surrounding Arab countries decided to wipe Israel of the map. During the following 19 years, the surrounding Arab countries occupied what could have become a Palestinian state.

It is also worth mentioning that no Jews were allowed to flee from the Arab side. All civil Jews were put up for execution on the spot, in Jerusalem and what is now known as the West Bank. The Arab open declaration was to commit a genocide on the Jews and to eradicate the state of Israel. The other Arab countries expelled about 850,000 Jews and deprived them on all their belongings.

I know that I claimed in an earlier post that "resolving" history is not the solution to this conflict, but when someone uses this kind of severe lies, as Helle Klein, then I need to speak up. I neither deny that the Israelis truly were responsible for many horrible things during that process. I am just stunned by the poor and highly non-objective journalism which borders to propaganda. I wonder if she is deliberately lying or if she is plain ignorant, or maybe just stupid. No wonder so many people are ignorant and biased, when this is what they are fed with by the main Swedish news sources.

Helle Klein finishes the lead article by saying (free translation from Swedish):

"EU could push Israel more strongly, but in contrast to the attitude that is held by the democratically elected Hamas government, the Israeli extreme-right government is treated with silk gloves"

Clearly Helle Klein prefers a terrorising "government" that has grabbed power in a society with no other alternative than an already corrupt Fatah, and who promised the Gazans infrastructure, economy and growth, but instead only delivered rocket firing, oppression and martyrdom, and in the end war. And worst of all, Helle Klein compares Hamas to the EU, as if they are two equal democratic institutions. Is it possible that a journalist is this ignorant and is it possible that a journalist can deliberately lie that ruthlessly? I doubt either one, and that leaves only one more option...

Some animals you love and some you eat

I did one big mistake! I forgot to authorise my parents so they can access my Swedish bank account if something would happen, like if the digipass would break, which it of course did when I was supposed to access the internet bank for the first time since I arrived. And no, it was not only the battery. I have tried to change that! Not only this, but the telephone bank has also been deactivated since I have used the internet bank for so long, so the lady I talked to in the bank office could only say that there was nothing she could do. Luckily I am returning to Malmö for a few days in July and then I have to fix both a new digipass and authorisation for my parents. Until then, all I can do is to kindly ask my parents on my bare knees to pay my bills. What would I do without them..?

Yesterday we went for Shavu'ot dinner at Yorams mothers place. His sister also came with her husband and three kids. A traditional Shavu'ot dinner does not contain any meat products, but instead we had several dairy dishes, as well as a salmon dish, since fish is not really defined as meat. This is not a family that keeps kosher, but they still eat the traditional holiday meals the same way as we eat our specialities for christmas, easter and other highlights on the calendar. Yorams brother-in-law is Moroccan and the food made in this family is a fascinating mix of Ashkenazi, Sephardic and contemporary Israeli cuisine and we all ended up completely stuffed. I think I passed the test and I am now officially part of the family.

Yorams mum has a 1 year old dachshund cross-breed named Choco who is completely crazy and over-energetic. Although the discrepancies, she reminded me of Ichiban and I realised that I miss him a lot. I cannot wait to see him when I get back. This afternoon we are picking Goshen up from the other house, a female Shepherd of whom we have shared custody. Sneakers on and a 5 km power walk in the fields below. Beach '09 here I come!

Shalom Yam...

Almost the whole Israeli coast line from North to South comprises the most amazing beach. We went to a quiet and remote part in between Tel Aviv and Haifa, but closer to Haifa, and it is just great coming to a place where there are at least 50 metres in between every group of people, no large houses, perfect sand and just the big turquoise ocean. Anati joined me and Hadar and the girls had a wonderful time in the sun. I am so sorry that I am not showing any picture, since that was actually my plan, but I promise that from the next beach day.

The water is about 24 degrees now. Still cooling, but you can stay in as long as you please. The wind created playful waves and it brought up a strange feeling inside of me when I was thinking that from now on I will be close to this completely exquisite environment, which up until now has been associated with very temporary experiences on occasional holidays.

I covered myself in SPF 20 before I left home and we stayed on the beach for over three hours, but I did not burn at all, so my worried boyfriend can now relax. I have been in the sun for a few days already in Sweden, so the worst "first-sun-for-this-year-reaction" was already dealt with.

Tonight, HaShavu'ot dinner with mother-in-law and sister with family... Report tomorrow!

Only cold thing is the fridge

I have the privilege to jump in to an ulpan class here in Tivon, 5 minutes from home. The participants are mainly immigrant workers from the Philippines but also a few other people with different background. Only thing is that this group has been studying every Wednesday afternoon the whole spring semester, so my first lesson was not really basic level, but I just relaxed and went with the flow and since the teacher is a highly qualified Hebrew teacher I immediately felt the effectiveness in her methodology. I am in the state where I know quite many words and I start to know the alphabet, but since I have not had anyone to really practice with in Sweden, the flow with the language will first start from now. I could actually follow quite good when she taught by talking Hebrew constantly, but I have to practice the reading more and that is the real hard part. Hebrew is written only with consonants, just like Arabic, both being Semitic languages and that means more of a challenge. They have the niqqud system, which is dots and bars to annotate vowels after the consonants, but it takes a lot of practice to learn it... However, it is loads of fun and I am very motivated.

Tonight we went for my first aikido practice during summer season in Israel. I am sweating like a horse even when I practice in Sweden, so this was ridiculous, but I was surprised to discover that my shape was not as bad as I feared. I have not practised on a regular basis the last few months and it tends to make a huge difference, but I did well. Here it is no Sunday walk and every class ends with 10 minutes of jiu waza, which means free techniques, and we also change and do jiu waza with different partners. The two big fans are very nice right now, but in August they apparently feel like hot hair dryers blowing in your face. I guess my shape will be better than ever in a short while. Now I am laying naked by the window at 22.30 in the evening sipping an excellent local Belgian-type beer, with the mac on my lap blogging to you. Life is great!

Tomorrow I am going to the beach with Hadar... It is 24 degrees in the water already!

Bad girl writing untrue things...

Yoram corrected me this morning after having read my post. We DO have air-condition in the house, but not in the bedroom, but even if we had we would not use it while sleeping. However, we might cool down the living room during the hot and humid afternoons in August...

Oscar, is this an appropriate length for a post..?

Full schedule for the blueberry

Yesterday I went to Hagaparken in Stockholm with one of my dearest friends, Johan. We had a lovely lunch in the sun with a refreshing Champagne. I ate a delicious halibut and Johan had zander. We also exchanged some music and literature and had coffee. Could not have spent the day in a better way. Later on I met up with Lisa for a stroll in Gamla Stan and a short review of the last period of our lives before my departure. The evening I spent with Katina in her roof-top apartment, but we went to bed quite early since I had a long day ahead of me. The last day in Sweden pampered me nicely!

My plane ride was as smooth as can be. I took the bus from Stockholm to Arlanda Airport and checked in without any fuss. I had 7.5 kg overweight and had to pay for 3, which I accepted. No hustle with the security either. You could argue that it is ridiculous when the plane is half full, but on the other hand it is Luftfartsverket and not the airline that sets those rules.

In the gate I met the loveliest lady from Stockholm who looked slightly confused since it was a bit unclear on where we should enter. I told her that I had it under cover and we started talking while we waited. It turned out that she had reached the respectable age of 80 and she was heading to Israel to spend a week with her granddaughter with family. The lady spoke no English and her relatives had sent her off with a note written in English to show off at the different stations during the travel! It was refreshing to see and she is a good role model for other ladies (or people in general) in the same situation who wants to come and visit. No names mentioned...

They had boarded the lady down to row 30 and I had row 9 and since the plane was half empty I asked if the seats beside me were empty and they were so she sat down with me instead and we had wonderful conversations about life and love and everything. Couldn't have asked for a better travelling company. The passport control went smooth. The girl asked about my purpose and I said that I was going to stay with my Israeli boyfriend and she stamped me for three months. This time it will only be 1.5 months, but when I get back after our summer holiday in Sweden it is time to apply for something more permanent.

As I said before, we went to Zikhron Ya'akov to pick up wine and the main street was shut off for the Shavu'ot celebrations and it was full of people, although Shavu'ot is not really until Friday. Shavu'ot commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Not that we will celebrate it in a much more religious way than Swedes celebrate Christmas, but there will be a family dinner on Thursday. No time to waste! Better get down in the lions den all at once.

We are sleeping under a sheet only now, since the night time temperature has also stabilised. It goes up towards 30 in daytime and stays well above 20 in the night-time but this is only the beginning. They are offering really cheap fans at an outlet and we will go and buy a couple. This house has no air-condition, but I am not such a big fan about that anyway. The air gets too dry and cold and you catch a cold in no-time. It is enough to use the air-condition in the car.

This afternoon I have my first Hebrew lesson, or Ulpan as they call it here. The guys I am going to join is about one semester ahead of me, so this is the big test to see what I have achieved on my own at home. I have looked at the Hebrew by different means since last summer, but the last few months it had to give in for my thesis. Now the Hebrew is my focus! I can tell that I have learned the Alphabet since I was here the last time. I cannot read, but I can at least recognise the letters, which is more than nothing...

Reunited with my man after 4 months...

I will write more about my last day in Sthlm and my flight down here, but now we just came home and I certainly have more important stuff to do than blogging tonight. We passed Zikhron Ya'akov on the way home and filled up the bottles with Tishbi wine and now Yoram is standing in the kitchen making Shakshouka. It is about 25 degrees in the evening. Life is great!

Middle-landing in a sunny Stockholm

It was not easy to close the suitcase this morning. I repacked it yesterday evening and sorted some stuff out to get it to work. There is a double zipper on it and when I tried to use both, one of them did not close properly, but instead separated, and then both me and my mum panicked for a short moment. It is a 400 SEK suitcase so I guess I cannot expect a too high quality, but still, please let me use it once... I succeeded to close it using only one zipper and then we put two belts around it to secure it. It weighs 5 kg too much, but I am hoping that they will see through that. I guess it depends on how fully booked the flight is. If I have to pay some extra, so be it...

I left my parents place in a cab at 5.30 in the morning. The cab driver was very friendly and talkative and since he saw that both me and my mum were very emotional when he picked me up, he asked where I was heading and for how long. I started telling him about it all, moving over how I met Yoram through the aikido and over to the Israel/Palestine conflict. He started out by referring to the story about Babel's tower where the people got different languages and was spread out over the world. Then he shared his opinion that people that are of different origin with different cultures and religions can never get along. When we turned around the last corner before the central station he said that Hitler was crazy but probably very close to the truth. You might think that this was a blond blue-eyed Swedish nazi jerk, but no. He was an immigrant, from Balkan somewhere, I think. He kindly carried my heavy suitcase up the stairs of the main entrance and finished off by saying that he would never want to live in a country like Israel, not even for a holiday, because it is way too dangerous. His basic attitude had nothing to do with any of the parties being more right or wrong or the normal stories you otherwise hear. He was simply convinced that these people cannot live together and there will never be any solution. It felt strange to leave him there in his whole context. A South-European nazi living in one of the most multi-cultural Scandinavian cities. He must be very discomforted living there.

As soon as I sat down on the train I felt that my body is about to develop something. All duties are over and now I only have to see to that I get all the way down to Israel and home go Tivon and then I can crash as much as I desire. My poor man will pick up a total wreck at the airport tomorrow...

Now I have carried the heavy suitcase four stories up to a friends huge apartment on the roof top in Gamla Stan and it was nice to relax for a while. The weather is great in Stockholm and I will suck up some Swedish summer by meeting up with a friend in Hagaparken for a nice stroll in the sun. It is after all the last day here for a while...

Thank you and good bye...

Today I left my apartment keys to my tenant and finished off with a last latte at my coffee bar down at the corner, together with my best friends, followed by a very emotional good bye. I do not have so much to say and feel very empty. Tonight I spend at my parents place where the atmosphere is anything but cheerful. Tomorrow morning I leave with the train to Stockholm where I will spend one day before I fly with the Sabra Express direct flight to Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning. I will see a few good friends in Stockholm tomorrow afternoon and spend the night at a friends place in Gamla Stan. I will maybe write a few lines tomorrow too...

Sky is crying when Jojo leaves

We had a very successful farewell picnic yesterday. We reached to grill the meat before dark grey clouds grew up and covered the sky. The rain was first merciful, but we soon realised that it would not stay that way, so we cleared one part of the bike shed and simply lifted the whole party in there. It was raining cats and dogs and there were floods under our feet, but we crawled up in the chairs and it was actually very cosy. We drank wine and a friend played guitar while the rain was playing on the roof of the shed. Even a couple I know that got their beautiful baby less than a week ago decided to come in spite of the weather and I was both flattered and impressed by that. I was above all happy to conclude that my following months will not include much of that kind of weather, possibly only the two weeks we will spend in Sweden.

I went for aikido this evening, which was great. I was supposed to get my yudansha passport and diploma, but my reminder sms never reached my dear Sensei, who left the things at home, but that means that I have to go for a last practice tomorrow, which I did not plan, but it does not hurt at all. I only have to compress the day differently than I had planned. It is nice when higher circumstances see to that you do the important things, like practice aikido, even though you are completely stressed out. It will inevitably make you feel better. The fresh air was as usual completely absent in the dojo, since the ventilation is very poor, and the last half hour we were pale as sheets, but I reminded myself how it will be to practice in 40 degrees under the late summer in Israel and then it felt much better.

My other boyfriend

Now I think the worst part of the sorting process is over. Wardrobe checked, bathroom checked, desk checked. I bring only the summer clothes this round and bring some other stuff for the fall and winter when I return to Sweden in the summer. Now I have a lot of non-clothes stuff I want to bring too that will take space in the suitcase...

Ichiban, my little Alpha male, is with me these days and he most certainly realises that his darling Jojo is soon about to go somewhere. He is sitting on the bed in the middle of the mess and looks at me with big watery eyes and it is completely heart-breaking, so I pack a bit, cuddle a bit, cry a bit, and back to pack a bit... I just want to give him all the necessary shots in express speed and pack him down in the bag and bring him. He would love the climate... Although I think that would make his real mum very sad.  

                                               

Time to dig for gold...

My small apartment starts to look like someone threw a bomb in there, to be a bit politically incorrect. I have cleaned out my desk, the bathroom and a few other storage furniture and lots of things went straight to the trash. Tomorrow the time has arrived for my wardrobe, where I also plan to remove the sentimentality goggles and leave a lot to charity. I was disrupted before lunch by a sweet friend of mine who came and surprised me with a Champagne breakfast to celebrate my degree. Pink Champagne, Truffle Brie, Gorgonzola Fiore, Jamon Serrano and Salami Fiasco. How I will survive without having these un-kosher delicacies on crawling distance from my home is an enigma, but my friend promised to bring both cheese and the refined piggy products when she comes for a visit. We drank the wine, laughed and had fun and even sipped on the single malt I got as a fare-well gift from the group at the university. Suddenly it was afternoon and we were pretty round under the feet. Time for a strong coffee and back to packing things. Tomorrow evening I will have some friends over for a picnic on my back yard, because believe it or not, the summer has arrived also to Sweden! One thing I am planning for this week is to have as much of Swedish new potatoes as possible, because compared to these small yellow marbles from heaven, boiled with care and butter on top, all "new potatoes" from Mediterranean countries can go and hide somewhere and feel completely inadequate and dull...

Master of Science in moving boxes

I don't remember if I said it before, but I have never felt my life accumulate as much as during the last period. Yesterday I ticked off one of the biggest accomplices of my life, my MSc graduation, and I am proud to say, with the top grade. The rest of the day I spent drinking wine and I woke up today with a mixed feeling of ecstasy and vacuum. But no time to waste, today I am starting with my attic storage to clear some old crap, to make place for newer crap. The rest of the week is framed in to a strict schedule for me to reach everything before I am leaving Monday morning. For some reason I think the procrastination will not have such a tight grip on me this week. Moment is getting closer! Tonight I am going for aikido to wake my body up again...

Time to get grilled!

When I started this blog, I said that I will not start to write seriously until I have arrived in Israel, or at least, not before I have defended my thesis. Being a huge fan of procrastination, the blog instantly became my greatest escape from the must-do's. Anyway, tomorrow at this time I will be a graduated MSc in biotechnology and today I am walking around with the demeanour of a greyhound, tummy pulled up and ready to go after the hare. So, at least today I will not procrastinate by any long blog post, but instead try to focus on my performance. I will get back to you tomorrow with a review...

Bearded men and the seductive power trip

What is it with all these bearded men? No matter what religion they are seduced by, they are blindly committed to harassing every single person that is not following their path. A path that they argue is paved up by God! Religion has in this case become corrupt by the eagerness to stay in power and control, and the true spirituality is falling into the shadow behind more earthly desires.

In the Kabbalah, which is a philosophical tradition that has evolved in parallel with Judaism, one does not address God as an authority. Instead you talk about the essence behind the driving force of nature, the Creator. The Creator represents a pure will to bestow, while we, the creatures, are born with a will to receive. The Creator is completely altruistic and loves unconditionally, while we are born egoistic. When we feed the will to receive, we will never feel fulfilled, but instead continuously seeking more satisfaction, whatever it might be, money, power or honour. If we correct this behaviour and redirect our intentions to instead become driven by the will to bestow, we will create a feedback loop by returning light to the Creator and we will rise on the spiritual ladder. This is a very short summary of something you could develop endlessly, but for me this is simply a brilliant terminology that perfectly describes the phenomenon when you become filled up with a pure sense of happiness and fulfilment when you have committed an altruistic act. Although, don't get fooled! If you commit this act merely to receive the reward, you are mistaken. It is the intention behind the action that matters, not the action in itself. This has nothing to do with breaking down the ego, merely correcting and connecting it to the rest of the human meta-organism, by developing and strengthening our own soul.

This is only one example of an esoteric tradition, which empowers the soul, instead of subduing it. No wonder that the religious leaders of all times have forbidden these kinds of teachings, or tried to scare people from indulging in them, by mystification and false threats about what terrible things might happen if you gain access to this dangerous information. Or, maybe not..?

I had a completely different idea in my mind when I started to write this post, but this is what came out, and so be it. I want to end by stressing that this is not criticism to all religious people, only the ones that are so caught up on the power trip that they have forgotten what it is all about, love, compassion and unity, and not prejudice, condemnation and segregation...

Stripped-down science lecture

During the last five years or so, I have more or less regularly jumped in as a model for the croquis drawing groups at the arts school. It is probably the easiest money I have ever made. I am merely laying/sitting/standing there under the warming piggy lamp, contemplating about life and love and other things.

I have heard that other nude models (more or less professional ones) make prestige out of keeping themselves objectified by never talking to the drawing students or catching their eye and similar things. I am just the opposite. Nudity is anything but charged for me, and I am laughing and talking, making fun of the sometimes weird interpretations of my own body and so on, and I have a feeling that this approach creates a more relaxed atmosphere in the studio than if you keep it too serious. Because the bottom line is, that it is certainly not me who is embarrassed about myself being naked. It is the students - at least the ones that are new to drawing croquis.

Yesterday was the last gathering for a more independent group of people with various creative background who have had some croquis sessions for the fun of it and to get some proportions practice. This last evening only four participants came and we had a very informal and nice evening. All four of them decided to work with soft pastel crayons instead of charcoal and the drawings were amazing! I so regretted that I did not bring my camera to shoot some of them.

Anyway, while they were drawing colourful images of my body in different positions, I was telling them about the nature of my MSc research project, and since three of them were landscape architect students, they actually had had enough plant courses to follow me quite well. Then we moved over to the controversial subject of genetically modified crops, since that is a question that will always pop up in such a discussion. We ended up with a naked woman laying there killing myth after myth about whether it is dangerous to eat foreign DNA (!) or whether there will develop mutant man-eating flowers after some generations, by simply explaining basic evolutionary dynamics, as well as what kinds of measures that are taken today with these crops, as well as the environmental benefits you achieve when you can reduce the use of chemicals to protect those crops. Although the need for common sense in the use of this technology cannot be stressed enough, if you ask the naked woman, she feels that this is a gift rather than a curse...

Rearing up...

I have my MSc defence in four days and way too many unnecessary and foolish things are invading my mind-space. All I need is some good old TLC and someone that can make good coffee and pet me on the chin occasionally with silk gloves and say that I am a good girl. Everything else can turn around at the door... Just to avoid wakening up the bitch!

Climate changes in unicode

Today I went together with my mother to buy a new suitcase. A very large suitcase, so I can basically move without missing out on too many necessary things. On the way to the mall, the atmosphere in the car, that had been standing in the morning sun, was quite sweaty, but I quickly reminded myself that I will soon be in a place where the temperature is about 20 degrees more than what we had today and then it all seemed pretty foolish. I am very tolerant against both warm and cold temperatures, and as well as I enjoy winter bathing, I have no problems with long-term tropical heat with high humidity, so I guess I will hear more complaints from my sabra then from myself when the summer season peaks in August.

Luckily I only need to bring summer clothes now, which will not fill so much, because other things take up more space, like aikido gear for example. Two thick gi's and the hakama is no joke. Then there are some other things I need to bring, like my mocca pot. I am a heavy coffee addict and even though Yoram has one mocca pot already, we need two, since I easily empty one myself. Then I cannot survive without my Global knives. A kitchen without sharp kitchen knives drives me crazy, and I have checked with the flight company that it is OK to bring them in the check-in luggage.

Then of course the mac... But he comes with me in the hand luggage of course! He already types in Hebrew on request, thanks to the genious unicode and I am considering whether I should engrave the Hebrew letters with laser when I arrive in Israel, which makes them lit up in the dark just like the default letters. Speaking of mac, I have just finished my MSc defence presentation in Keynote, which is the mac alternative to Powerpoint, and I could just go berserk on all fun effects and fancy animations, but my extremely sensitive creative eye keeps me a bit low key and excludes the most crazy things. The manuscript is also prepared and all I have to do now is to learn the stuff, which is the most boring part. Reading and repeating, over and over again! I cannot believe that I will be a graduated MSc in 5 days! Seems like yesterday I was a fresh-woman...

להתראות

יאללה ביי

Flash of tahina

I calculated that I have consumed approximately 4 kg of raw tahina since I came back from Israel on the 1st of February. How many kg of hummous, I can only dream of. I have started every day with a pita with hummous, tahina and parsley, and of course coffee! Clearly an addiction started there and soon I will be back in the epicentre of the tahina/hummous belt again. I tend to make my own hummous when I have the time, but with the amounts I now realised that I was going to consume and the limited time I would have, writing thesis and all, I found a ready-made one that actually tasted OK. Time flew and a few week ago I caught myself thinking the incredibly stupid thought that I would miss that Swedish ready-made hummous when I go to Israel... Duh..? If there is something that corresponds to the counter-event of "flash of genious", that was clearly what I experienced at that moment. That proved to me that I have spent enough time away from Israel and it is time to return.

Six years ago I broke up from another home and since then I have stored some boxes of stuff at my parents place. During the years I have picked up things now and then, but never sorted out what was left or how much. Now I need moving boxes and I raided the basement. One hour later I had reduced five boxes to one, because almost all of them were half full. One box contained merely one top and a scarf. That's what I call space economy! I filled one sack with clothes that will go to charity and now I have four empty boxes with me home tomorrow and first project next week will be a raid in my attic storage with the same purpose.

I feel much better about leaving the apartment and look forward to packing and clearing it up. Now the critical moment of realisation (signing papers) is over and the limbic system has realised that there is no way out and has settled with trusting the cortex. It is a privilege to have human abilities. Too bad many people still let the limbic system rule the show...

Have to let some steam out...

This is not, and will never be, a political blog. Nevertheless, politics is part of life and this becomes even more clear when your base is in the middle of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. There is no way around it. And it did not even start there for me. From the first day when I came back to Malmö from having met Yoram for the first time, I have constantly found myself in situations where I have to defend having a friendly relation to the state of Israel. In Malmö there is a strong tradition of having a very biased attitude when it comes to this conflict and the anti-Israeli movement and the anti-Semitism is certainly not negligible. If you don't actively look up the non-biased news sources, you will be left with a very one-sided propaganda machinery, which in my point of view constitutes a great threat to democracy. People get desensitised and cannot anymore perceive what is actually going on around them. The same person can in one moment agree with me about the repulsive nature of the growing anti-Semitism, while in the next moment attend a folk festival with kids and clowns and barbecue, where they somewhere in the program have squeezed in a small manifestation from the "stone-throwing faction" who wants to eradicate the state of Israel...

The Social Democratic Mayor of Malmö, Ilmar Reepalu, was interviewed by a representative for the magasin "Judisk Krönika", and after a talk about the ways that the Davis Cup game in Malmö was handled (which Ilmar wanted cancelled all-in-all), the interviewer asked how he would react if Sudan wanted a sports exchange with Sweden. Ilmar replied like this (free translation from Swedish):

"I have only read a little about Sudan and I don't know exactly how it is in Darfur. But on the other hand I know a lot more about what is going on in Israel. I have been there with the family and also worked there ... I had the impression that Jews were talented people who have the most Nobel Prize awards in the world, and then I got to see how they treated the Arabs on the construction site. During breaks, the Israeli construction workers sat in tents in the shadow, while the Arabs had to sit on the ground in the sun. A very uncomfortable experience for me."

Not only does he admit that he has no clue about the situation in Darfur, where you really can start using terms like genocide! (By the way, many of the refugees found an exile in Israel). He also draws a direct parallel to Israel/Palestine. He continues with placing stereotypic characters on the Jews and you are just waiting for the next step where he mentions a big nose and a huge d**k... Then he explains how this aversion against Israel and the Jewish people originated, namely after a case of discrimination at a construction site, which does not differ much from what you can see frequently both in Sweden or any other place. Don't get me wrong, discrimination is a plague that needs to be fought, wherever it occurs, but one would think that you could expect a slightly more noble and juste character from a people's representative, but clearly not. No wonder the people in the street cannot separate things properly...

This is the core issue that preserves the conflict, the increasing polarisation. Every time I have to defend having a good relationship with the state of Israel, and its inhabitants, I feel sadness and pity. Trying to decide how to solve a conflict through evaluating historical events, or discussing who did what, where or when, is a dead end street. There will always be a counter-argument since every coin has two sides. The solution must be to look forward instead of backwards and rise above the surface. The huge amount of trauma that has fallen over the native Israeli and Palestinian people have made them cynical and it is understandable that it is hard for them to see things with an objective eye, or even with any hope at all. Therefore, we have an obligation from the rest of the world to be this neutral mediator and supply unity and love and not more separation and hate, offering constructiveness instead of destructiveness. That is more cosmically correct. My sweet friend Assi calls me a hippie, and I take that as a great compliment. What if there was no faith left in the goodness in people? I might be a hippie who looks for the good in people, but don't mistake that for being naive. I have strong opinions about things and I will kick in the direction necessary! Just ask my Israeli friends...

Primal fear and the healing aiki...

Today I signed the papers, together with my tenant, to rent my apartment in Malmö for the coming period. This put me in a state of excitement mingled with terror. I consider myself being a laid-back person, but in this moment of realisation all the primal instincts bloomed, and the innocent animal that rather preserve things as they are showed its face. All the same, reason won, and now I am overjoyed by the fact that in 16 days I will be reunited with my man. The first period will also be nothing more than a vacation, since I am not allowed to work before I have a working permit. We will apply for what is called a partner visa, which includes a working permit, but most likely that is not something we will do until we get back from the visit to Sweden in July. Not that I object, since 6 years of full time studies creates a certain urge to just be lazy for a while, or at least think about things other than biological systems and DNA sequences.

Things like aikido. The number of times I have tied the hakama on during the last few months can easily be counted. I needed to bury myself to perform, and I also saw the phase as a good possibility to let some over-worked old injuries heal properly. Now I am healthy, but in a bad shape. That will change dramatically once I get back to Israel, where I have a boot camp waiting for me of both frequent power walks in the marvellous surroundings of Tivon, but above all lots of aikido. We will practice both with the Tivon group, but also on our own on a few mats at home, as well as paying visits to our friends in Tel Aviv. But that is only the beginning. The ways that the principles of aikido can be extended is almost mind-blowing and the healing power of the human touch is endless. What better place to extend this blessing than in the Israel/Palestine conflict? It is too soon to share the details on this matter, but prepare for some interesting stories about border-crossing initiatives.

Sounds of the Universe

Today Depeche Mode opens their world tour at Ramat Gan stadium close to Tel Aviv (except the warm-up show in Luxembourg on Wednesday). The error in the picture is that I have not arrived in Israel yet. On the 30th of June they play in Copenhagen and guess where I am then..? Of course, Israel! Could the timing be worse? Their new album is brilliant and I have listened to it over and over again the last two months, and I really wanted to see them now! The album smells of the good old days, but still with an innovative and modern sound image. But what to do..? I might comfort myself with Leonard Cohen in Tel Aviv in September instead.

Have some faith in nature

I might as well be edgy and provoking already from the beginning, since that is a thing I am quite good at, and today I had a long-distance discussion about the abuse of antibiotics. This is a problem that is particularly severe in the welfare states, where people blindly trust their MDs, who sometimes are corrupt by the pharmaceutical industry or often just plane ignorant and conservative. Inappropriate prescription of antibiotics can lead to the evolution of bacterial resistance, mainly by selective pressure, which causes an increase in adverse drug effects and an increased financial burden. Even worse is when the patients quit a treatment half way in because they feel better, and then even pop the leftovers next time they get a sore throat, like it was an aspirin... That is a perfect recipe for creating multi-resistant bacteria!

I can count the number of times in my life where I have had to take antibiotics on one of my hands, and I am certainly not against using it when there is a true indication, but I have a strong belief that our natural immune system is best developed through a natural exercise and not by sliding through in the VIP lane.

I found a scientific article about this problem in Israel and in the beginning of this decade an educational programme improved the antibiotics prescription practices, but I presume that they still have a long way to go. I might as well prepare for fighting for my principles the day my own child gets a slight throat infection.

My channel to you all...

I have decided to start this blog to be able to share my adventures with as many of my friends as possible. I will do this in English, since I know more than Swedish-speaking people by now.

As most of you know, I will be leaving Malmö and Sweden on the 26th of May, to live side by side with my dear Yoram, in Qiryat Tivon outside of Haifa in Northern Israel. But first, I have my MSc thesis defence to get out of the way, on the 18th of May. That also means that I will be slightly more infrequent with my blogging until after that is over.

Right now I feel more emotionally bipolar than ever. I am all happy and excited about leaving and I am in no way worried about what I have to come, but my less comfortable emotions have got to do with breaking up with everything I have here, most of all my family and my friends. Packing up my apartment is not a fun job either, but that is a small thing compared to leaving my loved ones, and preparing to see them much less frequent. Luckily the first stretch is not that long. Both me and Yoram will be back in Sweden in July, both to visit Malmö and to go to the summer aikido seminar in Lillsved, which is actually to blame for this whole turn in my life... That's where we met, on the tatami. One look into each others eyes, and after that we were both lost!