You Mean There is a World Out There?

I finally took a moment to read Haaretz, Israel's daily paper. Seems that there is actually a world out there. I read about the earthquake in Asia and its effects on the world's internet (not much said, surprisingly, about people who were harmed by the earthquake). I read about the snow in Jerusalem, and in the north and south (yes, at Maktesh Ramon, where we toured by jeep yesterday, they had snow too). I read about the few Qassam missles shooting into the South from Gaza. Apparently one missle injured two Sderot teens. The government instructed the Israeli Defense Forces to again destroy the missles when and if they can identify the exact location. You wouldn't know any of this is happening from where we sit. My daughter just commented, "It was interesting to hear this. We have no idea that any of that happened. It feels so safe here and everyone I talk to feels very safe!" We walked through Jaffa last night. If we weren't so tired, we would have hung around in the Tel Aviv mall like everyone else in the city. But we needed to get some sleep instead. After a day of archeological digging

and a tour of the Ayalon Institute (the secret underground factory where they manufactured bullets in the days before the Arab States invaded nascent Israel), we were just tired. Here in Israel, you are more likely to get injured driving in a car than from a terrorist attack. No one is worried. No one is concerned. At least on the trip. So if you are worried. Don't be. We are having a great time and cannot wait to tell you all about it.