I'm taking my next vacation in Florida

Harry Potter Theme Park Headed to Fla.
Thursday May 31 10:53 AM ET (Yahoo News)

Universal Studios is opening up a Harry Potter theme park in Florida complete with the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade village.

"The Wizarding World of Harry Potter," will open in late 2009 in Orlando, officials said Thursday.

"The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting, and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," said author J.K. Rowling, who has been working with a creative team to make sure the park resembles the books and films.

More than a dozen artists and designers lead by Stuart Craig, the production designer of the movies, have set up house in the studio where the movies are being filmed to make sure every detail is considered, according to Scott Trowbridge of Universal.

"We're really going to the people who know this world best to ensure that level of authenticity," he said.

The Potter park will allow visitors to view the iconic locations in Rowling's magical world, like Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts and the shops in Hogsmeade. Some locations may be in upcoming books, Trowbridge said.

Trowbridge said while there would not be any character lookalikes at the park, fans wanting to see Harry Potter and his magical friends wouldn't leave disappointed.

"This is Harry's world," said Trowbridge. "Most every fan wants to have an encounter with the star of the show."

Mundane errands

I swear, I have never spent more time in waiting rooms than I have this week. We had pretty much postponed all of our medical appts for a year, so this week I've gone to the: dentist, doctor, obgyn, podiatrist, optometrist, and hairdresser. Then I have a cavity, so that's a follow-up visit to the dentist. Then my vision is deteriorating, so a follow-up appt with the doctor who did my PRK two years ago (it was like LASIK, but more invasive. Before the procedure I was legally blind). So it turns out my eyes are now reverting, so I have additional surgery scheduled for week after next. Jonathan has the same type of follow-ups, so we've definitely been grateful for the use of my mom's car.

We saw Pirates of the Caribbean, which I quite liked. Stay til the very end of the credits, that's all I'll say.

We've had lunches and dinners with people, and I'm falling back into totally unhealthy eating habits. And (Nicole and Joe, you'll love this) we became such tea people in Israel that my mother bought herself a kettle. Apparently she was laughing at us putting our mugs of water in the microwave, and decided to rectify the situation. :)

Oh yes, and the cats are adjusting much better now.

Simcha on the left, Osher on the right. "The sinks are our new home!"

Sleeping and cuddling and grooming. Oh what a difficult life.

Wow, this cat must be tense. See how he can barely relax?!

More comparisons

Reverse culture shock, cont'd:

- Friday night I went to services at my home Temple, and there was *minimal* Hebrew. I'd forgotten what Classical Judaism was like! The rabbi asked me up to do the candle blessing, which was nice.

- I wore a skirt today, and was the only person I could see wearing one. At the movie theater ticket line, it was a sea of blue jeans and short shorts.

- Memorial Day here is *so* different than Yom Hazikaron. Instead of visiting cemeteries and mourning, here it was all about sales and "click it or ticket" (seat belt safety).

- Spanish is everywhere. I heard more Spanish in In n'Out (burger joint) than English.

- It's depressing how ubiquitous SUV's are. No more small cars. But at least people stop for pedestrians here.

- Candy bars are the new fruit and vegetables.

- Cell phones are just as popular, but are much more shiny and new. We're entitled to upgrades on our Verizon plan, and I almost feel wasteful. What do I need a camera phone for, when I had the lousiest Israelphone in Jerusalem and it worked perfectly?

One cool thing that I had completely forgotten about: I got invited to a free movie again! I love the LA area, where lots of times free tickets are given out for upcoming movies. The way it works is you see a mostly-finished movie (maybe the musical score isn't all there, or the ending will be changed, or a voiceover doesn't have the actor's voice yet) and fill out a survey on it. The studios incorporate the information, change the movie accordingly, and then it comes out months later. It's fun to see the work-in-progress and then the final version, we've done it with quite a few.

This time we got invited to "The Invasion," the one coming out in August with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. But I'm sad, we can't go! It's next week, and by then we'll be in Northern CA with Jonathan's family. We're road-tripping it from Long Beach to north of Sacramento - it'll be 10 hours up and down by the time we're through. Amazing that you can cross multiple states in that time back East.

Off to have lunch with Becca, who's in for a couple of days...

Anyone out there?

Is anyone still checking this? Not sure if I should still be updating since we're home, or if everyone's assumed that *since* we're home I've stopped updating, so no one's reading.

Anyways, comment/email if it's interesting enough to continue.

Never travel with cats

1) The last day in Jerusalem we hung out with Deborah and went to the top of the YMCA tower. Pretty view. Then we said bye to Joe and Nicole at night. Sniff.
2) My dad picked us up at 9am, we went down to Holon and spent the day there.
3) On the plane the cats meowed 10 hours out of 15. We were not happy. Our seatmates were even less happy.
4) We're now in California. Were I less jet-lagged, I'd say hooray.
5) My mother's cats do not like two new male cats in their territory. This is bad for them, but actually extremely amusing to watch.
6) I unpacked most of our six suitcases directly into boxes for Cincinnati. Oyness.
7) I *still* haven't had a chance to look at the Scotland pictures! But pictures are coming. Eventually.

And since I'm in list mode, here are some things I'd forgotten about the States:

Freeways are huge.
Fruit and vegetables are waxy.
Toilet seat covers!
Sunday is not a workday, but Friday is.
Starbucks is everywhere.
Jacaranda trees are gorgeous.
Young girls wear miniskirts.
You don't have to turn on the hot water an hour before you do dishes or take a shower.
Bacon and cheese are together. Everywhere.

And that's all for now. Jonathan and I will be here for a month, at my mother's number, before we move cross-country. We're toying with the idea of starting a "Year(s) in Cincinnati" blog. To be honest, I think I may find the Midwest just as foreign as Israel!

We're back!

And oh my god, it was amazing. Truly and honestly, I've never seen such a beautiful country. So lush, with hills and valleys and lakes (or should I say lochs). And (because food is all-important) I even ate myself sick on Scottish breakfasts. They offered cereal, tea and toast... and then eggs, fried bread, sausage, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, fruit pudding, blood pudding, haggis, yogurt, cheese, and fruit. Jonathan and I never ate lunch, breakfast lasted us til at least 5pm.

We've been home for a whole day, and we've spent all of it cleaning and packing. Would you believe, we haven't even downloaded pictures yet! But have no fear, as soon as we see them, you all will too. :)

Picture post

Mara, Judy and I at Cafe Rehavia

Jonathan with Simcha the Mighty

Cheese pastries in the bakery. Just because.



More cheeses. I love the shuk.

Me posing with Israeli Coke.

Judy and Jonathan in the Old City.

Spring flowers outside our building.

More pretty flowers.

Where did the time go?

My apologies, I've been extremely lax about posting. We've been busy, and nothing particularly fascinating has been happening. But I'll record it anyway.

We went down to Arad to see my grandparents this weekend, and swam in the Dead Sea. Floating is fun. Mounds of food is even better.

Judy left today. Bless her for taking one of our bags with her.

We went to the Knesset for the last day of Israel Seminar, and heard a Member of Knesset speak. He's an Orthodox rabbi, but shocked me when he said that he thought that Israel should recognize Reform conversions, because being a Jew and being a citizen are different matters.

It's gotten very warm here, and the cats are melting. They don't even jump up to say hi anymore when we open the door. They just look up from their perch on the cool tile floor, then go back to sleep.

I finally finished all my papers, and took one final this afternoon. I have one Hebrew composition and five tests left. I'm jealous of my classmates - because the way the schedule worked out, most of them are done by Tuesday. I have my last final Thursday morning.

Lag B'Omer, the day of bonfires and the traditional unveiling of the Zohar, the Kabbalistic text, was yesterday. (Thanks Mara). I completely forgot about it - we were so tired we didn't go out to see anything, but stayed in and rented a movie instead. I think we got old somehow when we weren't looking.

Last but not least, Scotland on Friday. I can't wait. I just have to get through finals first.

Books are my personal Messiah

As a stress reliever I just finished "The Autobiography of God" by Julius Lester. By far, it's the most intriguing book I've read this year. I don't even know how to start summarizing it: a failed congregational rabbi works at a small rural college and receives visits from God and those long dead. Has anyone here read it? I'd love to hear what you think. A woman from Temple Israel sent it to me, it was on the reading club's book list. Man, what I would have given to be there that day!