On News from Haifa: Love from Leila

We get a lot of love from leila in our house via Leila's loving comments on Bonita's blog. Leila spreads her love broadly to our dear friends on the East Coast and the Friends everywhere. Leila serves in Haifa. That's a pic of her to the left and more pics brazonly plucked from her blog below (except the katyushas pic).

here is a list of things that i am feeling:

1. calm, exhausted, achey (but that's very, very specific, if you know what i mean)

2. good in general, even when we're in bomb shelters, but i feel more solid if i'm in the same room as sam and shaun.

3. sad about this situation of people killing other people.

4. sad (but on a completely different scale) because mazidi left israel and i don't know when i'll see her again.{in fact, this is how serious i am. i don't normally post gratuitous photos of myself here, but this one almost makes me cringe. it's got a very Dark and Possibly Dangerous vibe to it?taken on friday arvo, while al fresco dining on the streets of haifa, which means that we shouted at one another over the industrial construction work across the road, held the tables stable between our knees, and avoided being trampled first by the bus and second by its passengers when our tables turned out to be a de facto bustop.}

5. on emergency alert. like, i hear the silent streets very distinctly. i also hear sirens when there are not any. no more fireworks is also very noticable.

6. jammed out to James Brown's version of "War: What is it good for?" abso-LOOLEY-lutely jamming out.

War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War is something that I despise
For it means destruction of innocent lives
For it means tears in thousands of mothers’ eyes
When their sons go out to fight to give their lives
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War
It’s nothing but a heartbreaker
War
Friend only to the undertaker
War is the enemy of all mankind
The thought of war blows my mind
Handed down from generation to generation
Induction destruction
Who wants to die
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War has shattered many young men’s dreams
Made them disabled bitter and mean
life is too precious to be fighting wars
Each day
War can’t give life it can only take it away
War
It’s nothing but a heartbreaker
War
Friend only to the undertaker
Peace love and understanding
There must be some place for these things today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But lord there’s gotta be a better way
That’s better than
War
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing

7. less rat-race than usual, actually, since my informal classes are on hold.

8. excited about going to germany next week FOR MY SISTER'S WEDDING!

9. touched by expressions of sympathy or love from fellow beans.

10. embarrassed (a) that i sneezed on myself before lunch, (b) that i spent a chunk of the afternoon hiccoughing like a soap-eating cartoon, and (c) that i turned shaun's breakfast loaf into a heap of collapsing cooked raisins in a slim hoola-hoop of bread.

11. a wee bit chilly about falling asleep to the occasional BOOm. Thud.

12. full-up on shaun's delicious cooking.

13. frustrated that i'm not finding Elizabeth Gaskell's "Cranford" utterly fascinating, like i was expecting.

14. all kinds of mixed-up about destruction in general (and by that i mean The Destructive Impulse) and the hovering sensation of doubt and will when the sirens sound.

15. i just wrote something about my flatmates, but it seems to have jumped ship. here, if i can remember it again: profoundly grateful for living with such a practical, generous and uplifting person as shaun, such a helpful, loving and calming sister as sam, and such an interesting, thoughtful and early riser as mel. and profoundly missing mazidi.

16. like i wish i had more time to write and reflect.

exploding with watermelon, love from leila