And I mean that both in the way the kids of today (or more likely 7 years ago) use the term, and in the most literal sense. We're currently on a bus heading to Beer Sheva, trying to make our way down to Eilat. One ear has popped while the other is stuffed up and ready take over my entire brain in a haze of mountain roads. We're surrounded by soldiers, asleep with guns on their laps, and intermittent bouts of desert and greenery. Brian is snoring quietly beside me. I'm so envious of his ability to sleep absolutely anywhere at the drop of a kippa!

We arrived in Israel on Christmas afternoon, and I remarked on how interesting it would be to spend the day somewhere that does not acknowledge the holiday. I didn't take into account, however, that Christmas this year fell on a Friday, and this country very much observes Shabbat. We raced for our hotel in Jerusalem just in time for everything to close.

The city is eerily quiet on Friday nights and it was an odd introduction to Israel- no traffic, shops, restaurants or people around. We went for a wander in the old city and hunted for food, settling on burgers since the burger shop was actually open.

We got up in the morning and there was no doubt that I was quite unwell! Poor Brian had to deal with an achey, snotty, mess of a girl. I guess the stress from the move and finals had finally caught up with me. But being the stubborn thing that I am, I wasn't going to stay in bed and rest, so we spent Saturday at the museum, Yad Vashem, checking out the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was very strange; at 4:00 it was a ghost town then at 5:00, boom!, a bustling city awoke. We went for falafel and a tour of the tunnels under the Western Wall. When we finally got to bed close to 1:00am, the area was still going strong with merry makers enjoying their weekend. And I was feeling about as disgusting at anyone could.

Brian, who was starting to be on a short fuse from dealing with a sick and cranky woman, had been suffering a little from the lack of meat available at many restaurants. Staunchly stating that he would NOT eat pizza for the entire trip if they refused to put ground beef on it, he conceded and went for a slice (or three) twenty minutes later; my explanation of kosher rules equals no meat with your cheese, resulted in a harrumph and then a sigh of acceptance.

We went for a proper tour of the old city on Sunday morning, explored the alleys and souk, and started our hummus sampling. Yum!! After being laughed out the door when trying to rent a car between Christmas and New Year's, we decided perhaps we should head to Jordan first. The bus schedule showed that there were plenty of tickets available to Eilat, where we would spend the night, so we headed to the station this morning, only to be laughed at even more derisively than the day before. So, back to where I started, we're on a bus to Beer Sheva and hoping we can catch a connecting bus to make it in time to enjoy a little stroll on the beach and get a good night's sleep! Here's hoping we make it without incidence! I'm not in the mood for an adventure today!

Happy Holidays everyone!!