I have just had a lovely Shabbat. Yesterday I spent a large part of the day playing with my friend's 4 year old little daughter, Navah. I have completely fallen in love with her. At first she was very shy and didn't want anything to do with me, but bit by bit she came to and we became very good friends. She is just like my niece Gudrun, only younger, browneyed instead of blueeyed, and speaks Hebrew all the time, instead of Icelandic. The last bit has forced me to speak Hebrew. A child doesn't understand that somebody might not have spoken Hebrew for a long time, or might have limited knowledge or understanding. She constantly asks me questions and demands answers, or she does things that necessitate comments, so I have to speak Hebrew. Last night when I was cuddling with her she said the cutest thing to me. She said: "You are not my mother, but you are like another mom". Then she asked "do you have a little girl?". I said no. Then she said: "Do you have a little girl like me in America?". That was so adoreble! Her mother is originally from America, so she hears us speak English, and I sound just like an American when I talk, so of course the 4 year old child would assume that I come from America. It was just a charming little question "do you have a little girl like me in America". Then she wanted me to read her story books. Matters got complicated when she got children's books in Hebrew. Like most of you probably realise, people who are inexperienced when it comes to Hebrew (such as I am), read Hebrew slowly and with difficulty. But she insisted I'd read it. So I read it! And she was very pleased. She then got a children's book in German (that her mother uses to teach her Yiddish). I don't know any German, so that's harder. The book had photos of all kinds of objects: Food, garden tools, clothes, everything. She kept asking "ma ze, ma ze? (what is it). If I told her I didn't know the word for a particular item, she told it to me. If I made a mistake, she corrected me and quietly moved on. She conscientiously went through the entire book! So I got a Hebrew lesson from an adore little 4 year old Israeli girl. How sweet is that?

I have actually had several funny incidents with Hebrew already. My Hebrew is FAR from what it used to be, but it's very easy to learn a language that you have once known. For instance, I might not remember the word for something, but if somebody says it to me, I'll understand, and then I'll remember it again. The other day for example, I got into a conversation with a female security guard in Jerusalem. She was going through my things and she saw I had bought a book with Hebrew verb tables. I'm nervous to speak Hebrew, so I addressed her in English. She saw my book, smiled and said: "Ahh, ba'ulpan at lomedet?" (You study at ulpan?). So I think to myself: What the heck, I might as well speak Hebrew... I've had similar experiences when people ask me questions. My first reaction is to get nervous and think that perhaps I should just say that I don't speak Hebrew. Then I realise that I know exactly what they're saying, and what to answer, so I might as well answer. If the conversation were to get long and complex I would end up having problems though, since my Hebrew is limited.

Next week is quite booked. Tomorrow I intend to take a trip to the north, to visit the city of Tzfat. If anybody reading this has not been to Tzfat, I definitely recommend it. It is absolutely amazing. Monday is Tel Aviv day, and after that Jerusalem for several days.

Here's a photo gallery of her in the film

Then her co worker left, and became more honest, and she said:
I had a religious experience in Israel. I just felt just like I was coming home. I went all over, to Jerusalem, Masada, everywhere. There is just something about that country that other countries don't have. I've always wanted to go back.

So I pointed out to her that Israel really isn't as dangerous as people think, and we started talking about media, palestinians, etc. And she said "there is just so much propaganda". She said that she has always "worshipped" that country (Israel). I was so happy to hear somebody say that in Icelandic, for a change. Some one else than myself.
She told me about her tour guide who was a holocaust survivor from Auschwitz, and she said she's disgusted by people who deny or belittle the holocaust.

"ilan's mission gave israel a much needed escape from the daily reality of suicide bombings and intifadas and lifted their spirits literally to space."

Wow yiddishe, you didn't come up with that yourself, did you?

She posts some extremely interesting parts from nasa's official profile on Ilan Ramon. 

Notable People Who Died in 2004

Monday, January 03, 2005 PHOTOS PHOTO ESSAYS OTHER Click image to enlarge Photo Essays: • Year in News 2004 STORIES • Mourning in America: Ronald Reagan Dies at 93 • Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat Dies • Actor Marlon Brando Dead at 80 • Ray Charles Dies at 73 • Actor Christopher Reeve Dead at 52 Ronald Reagan (search) changed history with his tough-minded stance on the Soviets and his insistence on the importance of tax cuts. His influence rings throughout the White House, the Congress and the nation's state capitals, and seemed to sound even louder this election year. Yasser Arafat (search) was a hero to the Palestinian people, bringing their cause to the world stage, but was a terrorist to many. It could be years before we learn whether his long-term influence will be for the good or ill. Uhm yeah whatever. Call me nuts, but refusing to accept peace and instead ordering increased terrorism, encouraging jihad, stealing, lying, and everything else he did... How can it be the public opinion that something, anything, good can come out of it? I mean really. I'm open to suggestions here.