dreaming of green plants

So yesterday I felt the most useful that I have since I got here, which was nice. Not that I haven't been useful per se, but this was the first time I had something to do that was unique to my skill set. I wrote a grant proposal!! Quick background: A more recent project of Lilach & Guy is Tomer's Farm, an eco-resort that will be staffed by local disabled individuals, offering them educational as well as employment opportunities since in Israel, they have no support (governmental or NGO) post-age 21. (I may or may not have mentioned this earlier, but all of the profits from Chalet Nimrod Castle go to fund better education programs for autistic people in the Golan). Construction will hopefully begin next June, but right now they are fundraising and getting final approvals and all that. So anyway, when applying for grants from US based foundations, there's a lot of specific lingo and things that need to be included, plus its difficult to write anyway if english isn't your first language. So, I'm working on stuff like that and trying to figure out what the Israeli version of 501(c)3 status is and how to apply for it. Once again, Simon's POL 524 proves to be the most useful class I've ever taken :). I'm also going through UNEP's Sustainable Tourism criteria to (a)put them in more understandable language for Lilach, (b)see which ones they already meet, and (c)come up with ways to meet the ones they don't. So this is all very good, and I feel very useful. I'm also answering Lilach's english emails for her, since she claims her grammar sucks and she doesn't get the american way of being polite....lol.

I spent the afternoon reading and sunning myself (it was actually HOT for the first time) and watching LOST. I am currently rewatching the second season, and having the strange desire to create a parody leadership series based on these characters (Jack vs. Locke vs. Ana Lucia vs. Ben vs. Jacob, etc). ANYWAY....I watched like, five episodes yesterday. This is what happens when I don't have roommates. I need to get out more.

Today I went to work with Gilad to do strawberry transplanting, which turned out to not be so bad. I didn't end up having to go to the field at all, which meant NO bending or squatting for hours on end, so Gilad would go and get the cuttings, then bring them to me to be trimmed/separated, then we would plant them all in the greenhouse. It was actually quite therapeutic No joke, I planted the beginnings over over 1000 strawberry plants today. Gilad says the green plants are going to haunt my dreams. Maybe, but I'm more haunted by the use of child scissors for hours at a time today....its insane how bruised my thumb and first two fingers are.

Picked up Rez and Ziv from preschool and ran some errands in town. Met a guy who Lilach described as "the Crocodile Dundee of Israel". Came back, and have been watching more LOST.....I seriously need to stop.

In other news, a year ago today I left for Alaska. Well, I guess that's old news. Those of you that know everything else that means will recognize how blessed I am to be where I am, how I am, and with whom I am a year later. Hence the phoenix; God is good.