Something's coming...

...or rather, someone!  Tomorrow afternoon I will take a bus to Tel Aviv and spend the night in a hostel or the airport (to be determined, hmmmm) and greet my sister when she flies in at 4:20 on Thursday morning!  Recalling how overwhelming it was for me to navigate the airport -- even when I was with a group and had just gotten off a direct flight -- Kat and I agreed that it would be easiest for her if, after her ~24 hours of traveling solo, I met her at the airport to help her find transportation and get her into the Student Village.  (I was lucky enough when I arrived to have a charter bus and two Hebrew-speaking guides -- she'll have to make do with my limited, broken Hebrew and a shared taxi to Jerusalem!)

Highlights of our upcoming adventures in absolutely no order may include:

* visiting Yad Vashem and the Israel Museum

* a day trip (or overnight stay) to Nazareth

* shopping in the shuk and wandering around Ben Yehuda

* meeting some friends of the lovely Jess Deshayes in Bethlehem

* a Shabbat dinner with a local family (thanks to the lovely mother-daughter team of Miriam and Lisa for hooking me up with Danny!)

* traveling to Eilat and Petra, Jordan

* visiting Masada and swimming in the Dead Sea

* a trip to the Old City (of course!)

* hiking in the Golan heights

* a quick visit to Tel Aviv

* who knows what else could lie in store?!?

I couldn't be more excited to see my sister, a little piece of home when I'm 7,000 miles away from those I love!  I may update once or twice while she's here so that I don't forget to share things, but I'm planning to be largely off the grid.

Finally, I leave you with some food for thought.  Hag sameach!  (Roughly translated, this means "have a good vacation!")