Getting Stoned

No. 8: Stand inside Stonehenge
No. 9: Spend the weekend in the country

...I was dragged to Stonehenge that first time kicking and screaming. I saw no point in visiting, didn't want to spend the hour-and-a-half it took to get there by train, and was naturally affronted when I arrived at the site's hometown of Salisbury to discover I wouldn't even be able to rub the rocks like they were a great big belly of Buddha. Not only are you forbidden from touching the stones, but you can't even stand next to them! A tiny gate circles the formation, and tourists are made to snap photos and point from a safe distance.

To me, the site was nothing more than an old pile of rocks, put there for God knows why, taunting me with a giant 'Please Don't Touch' sign.
Obviously, two years on, I had to right this injustice...

To read the full column follow this link and turn to page 19: http://www.totallyjewish.com/the_jewish_news/view/c-11878/jewish-news-jn-587-280509/?no_login=1

Bye Bye Buddies

A farewell to my three dear friends, Becky, Lauren and Rebecca- because they came with me.

...Who else but true friends would dress up in medieval garb in Salisbury, spring for the grand tea at the Orangery or stand in the cold with me to catch a glimpse of Daniel Radcliffe parading around Piccadilly Circus for a scene from the next Harry Potter film?
I’m reflecting on these zany and sometimes ridiculous excursions with great appreciation right now, as by the time you read this, these charming girls will have migrated home to the states. If there is a season for everything, now would be the season of Virgin Airlines, and I currently find myself in a flat fit for four but housing just one...

To read the full column follow this link and turn to page 16: http://www.totallyjewish.com/the_jewish_news/view/c-11878/jewish-news-jn-587-280509/?no_login=1

The Sahara: It's Sandy!

Greetings from sunny Tunisia! I recently returned from a five-day press trip to the lovely North African country, where I was able to take part in one of the most exotic holidays I could imagine. I've included some photos and videos below to try and describe the experience, though I'm afraid words and images don't do it justice. It was really incredibly amazing!

We spent our first day at a Jewish festival on the island of Djerba. We visited a synagogue, a yeshiva (Jewish school), and joined in a little market set up for the event with rabbis passing out glasses of liquor. It was very different than any shul experience I've ever had.

After our Jewish festivities, we visited a 1,000-year-old mosque and met Tunisia's head imam, who spoke about the great relationship beween North African Jews and Muslims, where the two religions live not just peacefully, but as good friends. I kept noticing signs in the villages, with Arab writing right on top of Hebrew.

Tunisia is filled with some of the most vibrant pottery. Residents use their immense supply of sand, mix it with water, fire it then paint it gorgeous colors. Everywhere you looked there were hundreds of bowls, plates and lamps and they were all unique looking. I got to go into an underground dwelling (that was really more like a cave) and watch two men make the stuff. It was dark and the floor was all sand with flickering candles. It felt like Aladdin's Cave of Wonders.

This was an area with 500 year old mud huts. You could climb in and out of each hut by tiny little ladders, and a man there showed me how to jump from each one to walk on the roofs, where you had the most amazing view of the entire desert.

We spent a lot of time driving through mountain terrain, and we would stop every now and then to look around. There are small clusters where people live in tiny homes carved out of the actual rock of the mountain, and the peopl we met there were incredibly kind, often inviting us inside to look at their houses.

In the villages we stopped at, women were weaving rugs and they would stop to show us their work. It made for a very colorful backdrop to the cream colored desert.

We rode camels through the Sahara; mine was named Caramel. We were surrounded by sand, you couldn't see anything but the dunes, and it was very cool. You felt completely isolated and couldn't hear anything but the sand whipping around.

Fancy That

My mates and I have a habit of dressing in costume. A lot. I blame this on my years in theatre. I don't know what their excuse is...

Distress Signals

#6: Paddle around with parasol
#7: Be a damsel in distress
...Zeddy is towering above me trying to figure out how to move.
"I don't understand why we're going backwards," he states as he juts the pole into the riverbed below.
I would use this opportunity to make fun but I have no room to mock, as I soon take my own turn at the sten and have to resort to sitting down and using the pole to paddle as if it were a pair of oars. I look like some sort of modern day Sacagawea without the poise...
To read the full column follow this link and turn to page 25: http://www.totallyjewish.com/the_jewish_news/view/c-11796/jewish-news-jn-585-140509/?no_login=1

Hats Amore!

In an effort to use up a back log of highly unusual photos, I'm starting a weekly feature of themed pics. Let's call it Photo Friday, cause I like alliteration. This week's theme: Funny hats. And no, I have no idea why we have so many...

Rebecca at the London Zoo. We also think it's creepy.

At a vintage shop in Salisbury. Mine has eyelashes.

Not sure why I look like a saloon girl, but what can you do?

At Koko's in Camden. Lauren's piece also had a top hat above the netting. It was fabulous.

Trying on hats in Camden market.

OK, I know Becky and I don't have on head gear here, but we really liked what was happening behind us.

Getting knighted after Stonehenge.

We were celebrating Purim at a pub in Kentish Town. Those leaves were difficult to spray paint. But it was worth it, Rebecca is so Jewish now!

It says Deutschland. Guess where we were...

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Facebook, Twitter and Blogs, Oh My!

A recuperating editor saw a hectic schedule this week, and today's issue has no new Erica from America. I did however fill in for Zeddy's weekly column, as he heals at home...

...“It’s called Twitter, and you could use it to let people know when you’ve updated your posts.”
Twitter?! Now this I knew to truly be an evil, soul-killing website. My three flatmates had become virtual slaves to the thing of late, posting messages all day every day, be we walking through Hyde Park or eating some Tex-Mex in Leicester Square. I refused to be taken down by this cyber zombie!
An hour later, Rebecca had my Twitter account up and running. She asked me what I would like my first post to be, and when I told her to type in “I hate Twitter”, she promptly took up the duty of writing my messages for me.
How had this happened? I now find myself uploading silly photos to my blog, decorating my Twitter page with purple glitter stars and taking incessant Facebook quizzes like ‘Which Steel Magnolias Character Are You?’...

To read the full column turn to page 16 at this link: http://www.totallyjewish.com/the_jewish_news/view/c-11750/jewish-news-jn-584-70509/?no_login=1