Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mum's out there! And especially to my own :)  I <3 you :)
This is the first Mother's Day that I have been in a completely different country than my mum - nothing like a holiday like this one to make you miss your family!  It doesn't seem like it is celebrated here in Israel (that or I couldn't read the Hebrew cards well enough yet, haha) which would be a shame because it's one of the good ones I think.

Speaking of reading, Zach and I start week two of our ulpan (Hebrew language classes) tonight.  I find that I can pick out little words here and there now, and am finding it much easier to study and try and learn new words on my own.  Turns out I'm not a self motivated or self directed learner when it comes to languages...

We've also been enjoying the awesome summer weather.  On days that are hard, and I miss everyone back home so much, it makes things a little easier to just float in the ocean.

To Japan for a Wedding

We've been away for a while! Feels like ages since Easter.  For the past couple of weeks Zach and I went down to Japan for a family wedding.  It was my first time in Japan and I loved it!  What a cool country.  It was funny to compare Japan with Israel: One is extremely orderly, polite and clean.  The other is, well, the opposite.  

~~Although a sidebar is needed here to explain that while someone may not come up to you at the train station and ask if you need help, Israelis generally tend to go out of their way to help you if you ask - it's sort of a difference between being "outgoingly polite, but reserved inside" (Japan) and sincerely helpful if you seek them out (Israel). This might also be because in Japan we were obvious outsiders, while here in Tel Aviv we aren't.~~

Also, it's sort of interesting to know that while disorder can be frustrating, it can also be a good thing.  I found myself being a bit more impatient in Japan as I stood in line for things and waited patiently for my turn - I guess I have gotten used to just elbowing my way in somewhere...  Got to get that in check when we return to Canada ;)

Anyway, Japan was stunningly beautiful - we made it just in time to see the end of the cherry blossoms in Nagano Province.  We missed them in Tokyo, but when driving home from the wedding (which was held in a super cute ski chalet in the mountains) we stopped by chance at a castle ruins park that we saw listed on the  GPS:

 The moat surrounding the castle ruins

 Part of the old tower

When we were in Nagano I tried one of the raw egg pasta creations (raw egg seems to be very popular there and it looked totally gross to me...so I tried it).  This was possibly one of the best dishes I have eaten in a long time at a restaurant - oh man!  I don't know what the little orange things were, but I think it was caviar.  Also it had bacon and cream - so really, you can't go wrong :)

Back in Tokyo for a couple of days at the end of our trip, it rained and rained -so I bought a clear umbrella which I was ridiculously excited about.  Unfortunately I couldn't take it back on the plane :(  Although that's not a big deal now that the rainy season is over in Tel Aviv :)

This is a picture from the waterfall that we visited up in the mountains.  The nearby active volcano heats up the groundwater which makes the falls a little warmer than normal.  Also, they appear to come out of nowhere as they are formed from groundwater seeping out - it was really spectacular!

We came back from snow in Japan - to beach season! yay!!!!!  Jet lag is easier to recover from when you are lying on the beach ;)

I know what I'm doing this weekend!