DON'T FORGET....

...your passport.

Are you packed yet?

The weather forecast for Jerusalem

Wednesday 45/38, 60% chance of rain
Thursday 46/38 60% chance of showers
Friday 48/38 cloudy, 20% chance of showers
Saturday 50/36 partly cloudy, 10% chance of showers
Sunday 54/36 sunny, 10% chance of showers

Woo hoo!

I bought some of these compression bags at Erehwon (but you can get them at REI, Target, or probably also Uncle Dan's). I think they'll make it easier to fit everything into my bags!

I picked up some very light slippers at Target for about 5 bucks for the plane.

I really like those face-wash wipes for travelling, a nice way to wash your face on the plane.

Some interesting travel packing ideas: duct tape, mailing tube for posters, bubble wrap to carry stuff home in (although as I said, ship not shlep), extra ziptop baggies (all sizes, i ♥ the 2-gallon ones for all my toiletries)...what are some of your best travel tips?

See you at the airport!

Greening in Israel

Just as we are all getting together to use reusable shopping bags, so too is the trend starting to catch on in Israel...

Check out this article about Machane Yehuda market, where we'll be on Friday! And more here on plastic bags in Israel.

(above articles are from the Green Prophet, a great blog about environmental issues in Israel.)

and this one from the Jerusalem Post.

Let's see how many "green" things we can spot while we're in Israel...

Ethiopian Children Need School Supplies

Here is the list of items as we discussed, that Ethiopian schoolchildren are in need of supplies. 45% of Ethiopian-Israeli children lack the basic school supplies essential to learning: books, pencils and other necessities. Israeli schools don't supply them and Ethiopian families can't afford them!

NACOEJ (North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry) collects the school supplies and distributes them in Israel.

The List:
(New and unopened packages...)
• Markers
• Construction Paper
• Calculators
• Post-it Notes
• Crayons
• Pencil Sharpeners
• Safety Scissors
• School Bags (Backpacks)
• Scotch Tape
• Metric Rulers
• Glue Sticks
• Erasers
• Pencil Pouches
• Geometry Sets
• Jump Ropes
• Deflated Balls
• Small Black Dolls
• Checker Sets (not Chinese checkers)

Do NOT send:
• Binders
• Notebooks
• Loose paper
• Pads of paper
• Clothing
• Chalk
• Thumbtacks
• Non-educational toys
• Games requiring English
• Paperclips
• Food of any kind

Feel free to bring as much or as little as you'd like. I recommend packing some extra garbage or plastic shopping bags to transfer the items into after we arrive in Israel. Joanne will arrange for pickup of the items.