A Sad Day

Today I leave Israel after having an incredible adventure here. However, it is time to return home to my Zion. I guess I have to work sometime. I hope that I am still needed at ZAC and Simply Birkenstock.

I leave for the airport today at 4 p.m. local time. My flight is not until 11:35 p.m. Once I leave the Ecce Homo Convent where I have been staying I have about 36 hours of travelling to look forward to. This morning I thought I had a tragedy to deal with. When checking in for my flight, my account said I was on STAND-BY for my Toronto to Las Vegas segment! I was in tears, as that is the last thing I wanted to deal with. However, upon calling the airline, I was informed that because it was still more than 24 hours before that flight departs, the status is listed as such. I think there has to be better wording than "stand-by" for such an instance. Stand-by does not conjure up good images for me.

I think a lot about whether or not I have changed while on this trip. I would like to think so. Perhaps the changes have been so incremental that I do not notice them. However, upon my return the changes will be blatantly obvious to everyone else. I hope that whatever changes have occurred will be for the best. I know at least that my face has changed. I had someone tell me that my face looked "heavy" in my passport photo.

Monday I hiked to the top of Mount Sinai in Egypt. That was crazy to say the least. It was so cold! Tuesday I visted Petra in Jordan. The pictures you might have seen absolutely do not do the area justice. I commented to the couple on the tour with me who had visited Zion that people back home will not believe that the pictures I have from Petra were actually from there. The landscape looked very much like Zion, almost uncanny in a way. I saw pictures of Wadi Rum, a canyon in the area, and it could have been the Narrows. However, I did notice that the people in the canyon did not have on the 5.10 Canyoneer shoes. So perhaps there is an untapped market for those.

The project for next week: Finally getting photos posted! I've had issues for Picassa for years for some reason. Also the computer in Nazareth was very slow.