There is no hiding that I sort of have a thing for my name.  I love it... I follow it.  So - when I found out that I was going to be in UK on Saint Davids Day - and when I found out that Saint David just happened to be the patron saint of Wales - with an name like David Welch (Welsh!?!) I couldn't stay away.  I made my way from Ireland to Manchester and after a nice night there, I headed for Cardiff.  Wales was a VERY patriotic place.  Everywhere I looked, I could see daffodils (the national flower), and the flag of Saint David - a yellow cross with a black background - was everywhere.  Streets, Buildings & Basically everything else revolved around Saint David... OH YEAH!

 
IRELAND 03/11/2009
 

Many of you remember how excited I was when I found the amazing price on my tickets by flying through Ireland... well, I've more than made up for it the price difference now after having spent 3 days there... IRELAND IS EXPENSIVE... In hebrew - the word for expensive and the word for priceless are the same... YAQAR... Well, it was both.  I had a great time.  I rented an Avis rental car and in 3 days, I put 1300 kilometers on it.  I basically drove around all of the south of Ireland.  I LOVED IT!!! WOW!!! It is such a magical place.  The first night I ran out of fuel and all the gas stations close until 7 in them morning... I had to sleep in my car at one of the gas stations... a memory maker... Then I continued on to Mizen Head - the southern-most point in Ireland.  This area is closed until March/April, but I snuck in...  After that I headed up to the world-famous cliffs of Maher, and watched the sun go down over the cliffs. YAQAR - in the non-monetary sense of the word.

 
GET MOTIVATED! 03/11/2009
 

The day before I left California, I had the privilege of going to the Get Motivated Seminar with my dad.  The seminar was fantastic.  I felt like it was the perfect end to my time in the States. I I had the opportunity to meet Rudy Giuliani (I even snuck a picture with him) and I was chosen to go on the stage for a dance competition! LOTS OF FUN.  
The day was strange, however, because Uncle Tim ended up in the hospital (following Alexa's 10th birthday party) with some chest complications.  Thankfully, lots of people were praying for him, and praise God, he is feeling a lot better now!!!

 
 

The video above is of my grandmother helping prepare the Shakshuka for one of the two parties I helped to host at my parents' house well I was home in California.  A friend from Israel, Tsachi, is visiting his sister in the bay area, and they came up for the weekend.  It was a blast (I have attached some pics from Snowboarding with Tsachi and from the parties).  

 
 

I probably won't be blogging for another 3-4 weeks because I am back in California.  I will update the blog when I am back in Israel.  Right now, I just want to enjoy sitting by a nice fire at my parent's house.

 
Bratislava 02/07/2009
 

I decided to take advantage of my time in Europe, and conquer another country.  SO - Slovakia was  the victim.  I took the train from Krakow and arrived at 5 in the morning - My train left at 10 to Warsaw, but I got in a few hours of sight-seeing and I actually got to enter the President's Mansion.  I got kicked-out, but I still wandered inside.  That was cool!  I wanted a traditional Slovakian breakfast, but the city of Bratislava doesn't wake-up until about 10, so I resorted to a panini at Coffee & Co (about the only place that was open).  It was still lots of fun.

 
 

The cheapest flight to Israel this time was with LOT, the polish airline.  I decided to make a holiday out of it, and I took the train down to Krakow to meet-up with my friend Katarzyna who lives there.  While in Krakow, I was able to have Shabbat dinner at the Jewish Community Center that Prince Charles and World Jewish Relief built.  I ate, drank alot of Polish hot chocolate (it is amazing), and toured Krakow's beautiful streets and buildings.  I even slayed the dragon of the Castel of Krakow.  On Sunday, I decided to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau - where the German Nazi's executed/tortured over 1,500,000 people.  1.5 MILLION PEOPLE, mainly Jews.  It was hard, but I am glad I have experienced it.  While there, I slipped on the ice and fell pretty hard.  My camera was smashed - and is now broken, but I was able to get some photos with my iphone (thankfully).  
Here are some of the photos I took there.

 
 

I decided, because I am so close, to celebrate my Golden Birthday (turning 25 on the 25th) by visiting the city of gold: Jerusalem.  I had a wonderful time visiting the old city, followed by a time of prayer at the Kotel - the Western Wall.  Then I took a bus with the Ultra-Orthodox and rode to King David Street.  I photographed everything with my name on it.  Then I had dinner at the King David Hotel - Israel's finest and most famous hotel.  Afterward, I returned to Tel Aviv and met up with some friends to go Salsa dancing for my birthday.  It was lots of fun!

 
 

Head coverings are a normal part of life in Asian, North Africa & The Middle East... They can be practical, religious, political and even socio-economic.  One thing Americans tend to be insensitive to is the differences between turbans and their owners.  These differences are vast!  I thought it would be helpful to post the following descriptions and illustrations for people to see the different types of turbans you may or may not come accross in the US or while traveling.  Oh, and it doesn't matter which culture it is - the term "towel-head" is NEVER appropriate!

Sikh men commonly wear a peaked turban that serves partly to cover their long hair, which is never cut out of respect for God's creation. Devout Sikhs also do not cut their beards, so many Sikh men comb out their facial hair and then twist and tuck it up into their turbans along with the hair from their heads. Sikhism originated in northern India and Pakistan in the 15th century and is one of the youngest of the world's monotheistic religions. There are an estimated 18 million Sikhs in the world, with some 2 million spread throughout North America, Western Europe and the former British colonies.

Iranian leaders wear black or white turbans wrapped in the flat, circular style shown in this image of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The word turban is thought to have originated among Persians living in the area now known as Iran, who called the headgear a dulband.

Afghan men wear a variety of turbans, and even within the Taliban, the strict Islamic government that controls much of the country, there are differences in the way men cover their heads. This Taliban member, for example, is wearing a very long turban — perhaps two twined together — with one end hanging loose over his shoulder. The Taliban ambassador to Afghanistan, on the other hand, favors a solid black turban tied above his forehead. And some men in Afghanistan do not wear turbans at all, but rather a distinctive Afghan hat

Muslim religious elders, like this man from Yemen, often wear a turban wrapped around a cap known in Arabic as a kalansuwa. These caps can be spherical or conical, colorful or solid white, and their styles vary widely from region to region. Likewise, the color of the turban wrapped around the kalansuwa varies. White is thought by some Muslims to be the holiest turban color, based on legends that the prophet Mohammed wore a white turban. Green, held to be the color of paradise, is also favored by some. Not all Muslims wear turbans. In fact, few wear them in the West, and in major cosmopolitan centers around the Muslim world, turbans are seen by some as passé.

Desert peoples have long used the turban to keep sand out of their faces, as this man from Africa is likely doing. Members of nomadic tribes have also used turbans to disguise themselves. And sometimes, the color of a person's turban can be used to identify his tribal affiliation from a distance across the dunes. This man's turban is a very light blue. In some parts of North Africa, blue is thought to be a good color to wear in the desert because of its association with cool water.

The kaffiyeh is not technically a turban. It is really a rectangular piece of cloth, folded diagonally and then draped over the head — not wound like a turban. Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, has made the kaffiyeh famous in recent times. However, the kaffiyeh is not solely Palestinian. Men in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Persian Gulf states wear kaffiyehs in colors and styles that are particular to their region. Jordanians, for example, wear a red and white kaffiyeh, while Palestinians wear a black and white one. And a man from Saudi Arabia would likely drape his kaffiyeh differently than a man from Jordan. The black cord that holds the kaffiyeh on one's head is called an ekal.

Indian men sometimes wear turbans to signify their class, caste, profession or religious affiliation — and, as this man shows, turbans in India can be very elaborate. However, turbans made out of fancy woven cloths and festooned with jewels are not unique to India. As far away as Turkey, men have used the headgear to demonstrate their wealth and power.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY PAUL SCHMID / ARTICLE BY THE SEATTLE TIMES

 
 

Tonight I went to a very interesting lecture by Professor Bernard Lewis of Princeton, who is also a Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University.
He was discussing the Zoroastrian/Iranian themes of good and evil, of grace and oppression which he believes are recognizable in the the Jewish Bible, personified as King Cyrus (almost viewed as a messianic figure, according to Lewis), and Haman (viewed as the evil Jew hater in the book of Esther).  
He went on to say that this dichotomy or divide between themes of good vs. evil is present today in the Islamic Revolution of Iran which has spread to other Islamic societies and factions, including Hezbollah and Hamas.  Evil is exemplified (to them) as America and American power centers such as Israel, and Good is exemplified by Islamic Republics such as Iran.  
He referred to the cold war in which he said the West and the Soviet Union were effectively deterred from pursuing the destruction of the other because of MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction, but this is not the case with Iran, says Lewis.  For Iran's leaders, as Islamic Revolutionaries, maintain an End-of-Days scenario, where they believe, like the Zoroastrians, that there will be an Apocalyptic battle between Good and Evil, and that those who perish as martyrs, fighting for the cause of Good (Shiite Islam), would have a free pass to the "Great brothel in the sky" (as Lewis put it)!
It was incredibly interesting to hear his perspectives, and though I don't agree that Judaism, and then Christianity are copy-cat religions of Zoroastrianism, I do think that the Muslim extremists have a more dangerous mentality than what has threatened the west before.
One thing I went away with that was refreshing, was the concept of (rather than immediately attacking Iran militarily), creating a war of ideas in Iran through media and propaganda, and create disunity among the Iranians.  A house divided cannot stand!  Professor Lewis hit the nail on the head.  If Israel or America attacks Iran right now, Iran has no reason to hold back - on the contrary, they will feel like it is their chance to fight to the bitter end, and there would be a terrible loss of civilians - but if the West and Israel can create factions in Iran, which could lead to the collapse of the current regime and Coup, then the West and Israel would be more victorious.  BUT - Bernard Lewis and I both agree that military force cannot be ruled out (because it may be too late for the former to effectively work).