Excited for Christmas

As the semester gets busier and busier and my ever-growing mountain of grading becomes increasingly daunting, I am becoming more and more eager for a respite. Whilst the pull of family and home are always present, this Christmas I could not pass up the alluring opportunity to visit a friend in Israel (at least I get to see Mom in February). When I found cheap tickets with a free 5 day layover in Istanbul, my Middle East trip to visit Gail become a reality. Even better, my friend Elizabeth (who used to work at TCIS with me) has arranged to meet me for most of my Israel adventures and we are planning to spend a few days in Egypt and Petra, Jordan! My worlds are going to converge in just a few weeks! SO excited. I am also stoked to be spending Christmas Eve in Bethlehem and to have several days for solo Turkey exploration.

The countries I get to visit:

Some of the places I am excited to see:

The friends I get to see! (pics shamelessly stolen from their facebook pages):


Playing with photos is way more fun than planning units or grading essays.