David In Israel . דוד בישראל . داوود في اسرائيل 

I'll upload more pics later... but this is a video I made about where I'm staying right now in Transylvania while I'm on a 10 day vacation between semesters!  What a blast! (by the way - all of the high quality pics are mine, so the place really is  that awesome)!

A few months ago, I found out that my University was adding a Masters in International Conflict Resolution in english.  My eyes widened!  I was so excited about the possibility of studying something so pertinent.  The department was unsure, however, about allowing me to transfer over to the program.  WELL... I just found out today that I have been permitted to transfer over to the other academic track.  SO - come this fall, I will be pursuing a Masters in International Conflict Resolution.  YIKES!  Well, I'm excited, anyway.  
Here is a copy of my letter of intent:

letterofintent-maicr.pdf
File Size:	1495 kb
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Haven't I learned anything regarding computers over the last 15 years as a user?  This weekend, my hard-drive crashed and I hadn't backed up everything.  I lost all of my notes from the whole semester... OUCH!  I know they are still on the hard-drive, but I guess I don't feel like spending 500 bucks to recover the info.  Thankfully, Tuvya's wife, Ifat, is the sales manager at the Apple Store Equivalent in Israel: iDigital... she got me right in and they replaced my hard-drive (doubling it's size) and finetuned my computer so it is as good as new - just without any docs.  I was really thankful, however, that I had kept all of my pictures on my external hard-drive - so no worries there.  BUT - the moral of the story is: ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA - FREQUENTLY!

Lilah Levan is a celebration in Tel Aviv celebrating the cities admission to the Architectural Hall of Fame for it's unique architectural style: Bauhaus, but really it was just an excuse to party.  It was an evening of white - many people dressed in white - and an evening of history - there were people dressed in gowns and tuxedos waltzing among other things. People stayed up all night celebrating in the streets.  I went to a friend's birthday party and then went with a friend Stephanie downtown to see what all the action was about... We had a great time, and we met up with our friends Ariel and Chaim!  Check out the pics.  Afterwards, we got some frozen yogurt - and I decided to put on a little skit.  Check out the video!

I was invited to the wedding of some friends here in Israel.  The setting for the reception was so beautiful.  It was at a Bistro hidden away beneath the cliffs at the sea, just north of Netanya.  They asked that everyone wear white, which is something I'm not used to doing at a wedding!  It was so much fun.  We danced the night away and enjoyed wonderful music and company.  The bride and groom were so happy too!

Shavuot is the holiday that reminds us of when God revealed to us His Torah.  Because of the kosher laws that were established from that, Jews around the world eat only dairy (no meat), and many stay up all night reading from the Tanakh (the Bible), especially the book of Ruth. People also wear something white - which doesn't work out to well when you spill tomato sauce all over yourself.  I spent Shavuot eve with my cousin Tuvya's in-laws, and then the next day we went up to Moshav Liman where my cousin Clarissa lives (Tuvya's parents).  It was a great time.  There were all sorts of activities for the children, and as always, good food! 

As you know, I recently moved into a great new apartment.  Today that status was threatened by a fire on the fourth floor... I guess everything is alright, but it certainly does smell like an ashtray now.