More Spring Blossoms and the Pride Parade!

Wow, so much to catch up on! Here are some beautiful pictures of the trees blooming in Ramat haSharon, where my voice teacher lives. Walking to her house every week is always enjoyable...

Jacaranda and Bougainvillea blossoms

Lovely cascading blossoms

Once again, Pride Week descended during one of the hottest weeks this year. Tomer, Heidi, and I headed out to find the parade, but we had been misinformed about where the parade would start. This year, they started the parade from the beach, so it took us nearly an hour to find it! Then when we arrived, we had to wait another half an hour before it started. The three of us hid from the sun, but then Heidi and I "came out"...of the shadows once the parade started :)

I must say that the floats were a bit disappointing this year, but the energy of the crowd was great and it was a beautiful day for freedom of expression.

This was one of the better floats, but I can't tell you why they were dressed as bellboys...

Swedish Pride

It's too bad those cans weren't filled with sunblock - we could have used it!

I'm not really sure what this costume was about.

Little Brother was watching us from above.

The flag says peace and belongs to the guys in camo :)

American Pride :)

I liked her bag.

This float was pretty great.

I don't know if this was meant to be an egalitarian statement or an ironic grammatical error.

 Each float had this sort of set-up in front. I guess it was to keep people from getting hit by the trucks, but it made it look as though these guys were pulling the float...

Crowd of people walking to the beach to meet the floats

There were some very, let's say, creative outfits

The fan says "Love is something which must be waved"

Post-Everything Picnic!

Pictures from my Post-Everything Picnic in Park haYarkon

Human friends and their countries of origin :)

l-r Gilad (Israel), Duncan (UK), Dana (USA, now Israel), Peter is hiding (Russia, now Israel), Peter's mom visiting from Moscow, Marina (Russia, now Israel), Tomer (Israel), Heidi (Denmark)

Same as above except now Tomer is hiding...

(The rest of these pictures are from Marina and Peter - they have an amazing camera!)

I love this picture of Eleonora (Italy, now Israel)

Beautiful Russian women :)

Me and Chubby, the horse disguised as a dog :)

Debbie (Germany, now Israel) and Chubby, Duncan, me, and Heidi
Seated are Ran and Jeffri, Ran's dog - both from Israel

A rare moment of stillness for Chubby.

Springtime adventures...in Park haYarkon

Here are more pictures from the past few months. 

First, some of my friends at the little zoo in Park haYarkon...

A happy little dinosaur descendant

Heidi made a new friend (sadly, the friendship was short-lived)

I swear that these deer never move...they were in the same position when I visited a few weeks later.

Baby Bambi! :)

Some kind of otter-y creature that lives in the lake.

I don't know why these are here...

Springtime adventures...in the Negev

Hi, all! I have many pictures from the last few months, so I am splitting them into geographical regions :)

In April, I visited the Small Makhtesh - one of my favorite places in Israel
(a makhtesh is a special type of crater formed from erosion rather than impact)

We had a remarkably clear day for the trek

Dry riverbed

 

I don't know what kind of flower this is, but isn't it pretty?

This rock friend seemed out of place amongst all of the sedimentary rocks - 

just a reminder that Israel has a turbulent history geologically as well as politically...

Close-up of the rock friend with my hand for scale.
Amanda and Marcia, do you think these are chunks of malachite? 

As you can see, the desert really was blooming, thanks to all of the rains we had this year!

The Dead Sea and the mountains of Jordan on the horizon :)

I'm fairly certain that we went to this same place on my Birthright trip - 

Could this be Noisy Bastard's cousin?

Stay tuned for more pictures...

How to Grow a Daniella Plant

Hi, all! I'm still sorting through my pictures from the spring, but in the meantime, I have exciting news!

This past Saturday, I participated in my second "Poetry and Storytelling Slam Night," hosted by The Stage TLV (our English theater group here in Tel Aviv). The topic was "Roots," so I wrote a story about my very own tangly and messy root system. It was a very interesting experience for me because I was writing and speaking about myself and at one point, I was overwhelmed with emotion and began to cry. But instead of panicking or leaving the stage, I took my time and continued to breathe. My words continued to flow, as did the tears, and I finished my piece.

For the Slam, there are five judging groups, each made of four judges. Each judging group's score is an average of those four judges. Then the top and bottom scores from the judging groups are taken out and the remaining middle three are averaged together. I was happily surprised to receive high scores from four of the five judging groups, even getting a perfect 10 from one of them!

In the end, I tied for 1st place with another performer, so we are both going on to the Grand Slam in July, where we will be competing with the top performers from the previous 5 months of slam nights. The topic is going to be "This explains everything." I'm not sure what I will do with that, but I have a month to think about it.

I am so happy about this small victory because it was a culmination of many things. First of all, I would never have dreamed of participating in the Slam Night a few months ago because I was afraid of being judged and of the prospect of receiving a low score. But in May, my friend Heidi (or Heidi, the Great Dane, as I like to call her) challenged me to participate in the next Slam, so even though it scared me, I joined. In the end, I was happy because I delivered my story from memory without forgetting anything and I succeeded in entertaining my audience.

This month, I signed up, but was wait-listed since I had already performed in the previous month and the Slam Powers That Be wanted to diversify the line-up. I was told that I would know by the 20th if there was room for me. On the 23rd, I received an email stating that there was still room if I wanted to participate. In the spirit of improv, I said, "Yes." And then started thinking very hard about what I was going to write since the Slam was 4 days away. On Saturday morning, I started writing my piece, then I revised and practiced it for two hours. I put it aside, cleaned my apartment, did lots of Grinberg exercises, practiced again, and headed for the Slam!

In my Grinberg work and also in the improv workshop that I participated in a few months ago, we have been speaking about being vulnerable in front of an audience and sharing your emotions with them. Until this performance, I had never really succeeded in doing this. But on Saturday, I won my audience over because I allowed them to feel my pain and sadness and joy and I wasn't afraid of showing those emotions. It really was a beautiful experience and I am so glad that I had it.

And now, I would like to share my story with you. The video is a bit rough because my camera was propped up in one of these shoe/planters (the bottom left one, to be exact - there is no longer a plant there, just soil)...

 (Photo courtesy of Ktovt Bar's Facebook page)

Here is my piece - enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTuUa3VSRFc

Jellyfish and gluten-free cookies,

Daniella

Oh, p.s., I experienced my first, but probably not last, jellyfish sting on Friday. Happily, it happened after a 4-hour Grinberg workshop and it is healing rapidly. I am going to start carrying vinegar to the beach, though, because I don't like the alternative remedy that Israelis are so fond of...

June is bustin' out all over...

Shalom l'kulam!

I apologize for the recent lull in blog posts, it has been an eventful Spring: Pesach, Yom haShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), Yom haZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day for victims of war and terrorism not Holocaust-related), my birthday (which fell on Yom haZikaron this year), Yom haAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day), Shavuot (Israeli "Let's eat Cheesecake" day), revisiting with old friends, making new friends, and many other days in between!

Where to begin? April brought a lot of changes, not least of which was the passing of my dear friend, Mitch. I am still getting used to the fact that he is not physically with us anymore. Every day, I use the tools and advice that he gave me while he was here, and I am so thankful that I was a part of his life. With my Grinberg work, I am able to work through my grief and I am learning to trust myself more.

After all of the holidays (and my actual birthday), I hosted a "post-everything" picnic in Park haYarkon. Many international friends came (human and canine, alike) and of course there was more food than we could eat. It was a beautiful day for a picnic and I was thankful to be surrounded by friends from many walks of life. I also tried out a new gluten-free brownie recipe which has become my new favorite GF dessert to make.

Tel Aviv also had its annual International Documentary Festival in May. I saw "The Visit," which is about what would happen during a hypothetical alien landing on Earth; "The Poorest President on Earth," which is about the president of Uruguay; the new James Brown documentary; and also the much-acclaimed/controversial "Montage of Heck," a collection of Kurt Cobain's non-musical creations (artwork/poetry/films/animations, etc.). Most of the documentaries presented a lot of material but very little narrative, which I don't remember from last year's selections. I liked the cinematography of "The Visit" (although it was mostly people making different expressions towards the camera or moving in slow motion); the Uruguayan president was sweet and his story/vision was inspiring, and the James Brown film was interesting for the history and musical significance (of course, the soundtrack was awesome).

The Kurt Cobain documentary was very tragic because I saw how incredibly talented he was, yet because he was so turned in on himself, he burned himself out instead of learning how to work through his anger and depression. Having just passed the cut-off for joining the "27 Club" myself, I could appreciate that Cobain was faced with a crucial life decision, but he was scared and opted for the easiest way out. Not even his love for his young daughter was enough to motivate him to face his fears and stop his destructive lifestyle.

The film made me think about the stereotypical "tortured artist" image (or, in many composers' cases, the "dying of syphilis/consumption" image) and how people think that you have to suffer in order to create great things. Cobain and the other members of the 27 Club (Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse...) are perfect examples of extremely creative people who let substances control and destroy their lives. I don't believe it's necessary to be tortured or dying to create great things, I just think that the nature of one's creations (and probably, one's audience demographic) will change.

Bobby McFerrin doesn't need heroin to be one of the most prolific and creative musicians of our time.

I have really been coming to terms with this through my Grinberg work these past two months. When I see proof of my creative and personal power, I tend to stop working because it means that I am moving away from what I'm used to - using stress and adrenaline to get through life. But with Grinberg, I'm finding that I really am much more powerful than I realize and that I have the power to choose what I want and who I want in my life.

On that note, May also marked the start of a new adventure with Tomer, my friend from improv and life. We are finding that life is quite enjoyable together and I am striving to find ways to accommodate this new relationship. It is at times challenging, but I know that we will find the right balance between work and play :)

I hope that you are all well and enjoying this lovely month of June!


Jacarandas and gelato,

Daniella


P.S! If you haven't listened to it, here is a link to my performance from The Stage TLV's Yom haZikaron ceremony in April. I am the second soloist: https://youtu.be/kP4sPxRZdxc
Here are the lyrics and English translation: http://www.hebrewsongs.com/?song=shmoralhaolamyeled

You can listen to the whole ceremony here:

http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/0/4/9/04958fa49cdc2b35/MEMORIAL_DAY_2015_yad_lebanim_FINAL.mp3?c_id=8834474&expiration=1429747412&hwt=a1e86532fd39081d8b8d4927a57ea3b9