olympic achievements

so if any of you missed it, the olympic games were on for a while, ~2 weeks actually. it was a little bit strange to be here and not following it as intensely as I used to, but there was still time and opportunity to enjoy some of the amazing achievements made. my top 3, in no particular order:

michael phelps - eight (yes, eight) gold medals, of which three were relays and five individuals. in all but one he beat the world record, although he did set a new olympic record there. two of them were absolutely amazing comebacks - 100m butterfly where he won with literally his last stroke; and the 4x100m free where jason lezak came back from behind to beat alain bernard by 0.08 seconds. alain bernard happened to win the individual 100m later on...

usain bolt - lightning bolt struck not once, not twice, but three times during the olympics. although again, in the last race, 4x100m, he obviously got help from the rest of his team. world record on 100m (9.69), with his seven last steps already stopped running; world record on 200m (19.30), beating michael johnson's old record by 0.02 seconds - with a headwind of -0.9! this record was deemed to be "impossible to beat", as it stood for 12 years. just while they were at it, the jamaican team also set a new world record for 4x100m by 37.10. amazing to watch this guy run, and he's only 22 years old, so there's plenty more to go.

with a bit of swedish patriotism, jörgen persson - who finished 4th in individual table tennis competition. what's so amazing about this feat? well, first of all, he's 42 years old... in 2000 he finished 4th, and the same thing here again. china usually subscribes to these medals, and the same thing happened this year again. in 4 years he's 46, will he make it?

how her shadow falls

interesting post on the hockey stick

here's an interesting post on the hockey stick often referred to in climate discussions, about how the temperature is going up. also check out the comments on page 5, specifically the ones by david holland and jpj.

300!

no, not the horrible movie, but the number of days I've been here. almost been 10 months now, which is one third of my total service time here. wow! I'm not going to do a summary or reflection or anything of that kind, simply because I can't be bothered, but to put it briefly, it's been absolutely amazing. and recently I've gotten a few more things to think about, so I think it will only get better from here. I'm excited about the future!

lighting leads the way

mercy, justice and the golden rule...

... in a new format:

If thou lookest toward mercy, regard not that which benefits thyself, and look to that which benefits all mankind. If thou lookest toward Justice, choose thou for others what thou choosest for thyself.

- Bahá'u'lláh -

persecution of Bahá'ís in iran

two videos on the persecution of the Bahá'ís in iran... one from the united states congress, where it's called "the crime of the century":



the other from the The Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights:

Christ returns

last week I picked up thief in the night:


the author, william sears, finds himself in the largest quest of his life - the case of the missing millennium. in the first half of the 1800s, people were convinced that the return of Christ would take place, and everyone was expecting it. 100 years later, "Christ returns" was also deemed to be one of the most exciting newspaper headlines ever. but what happened to it?

thief in the night describes william sears' ten year long journey in his search for proofs, evidence, prophesies, questions and answers. did the return of Christ happen? if so, when was it? and why did so many miss it?

it's a very interesting personal and revealing story, and well worth reading, regardless of your beliefs. will it change your life? possibly...

flickr

so here we go... I got around to it, created an account, and uploaded my first picture yesterday:


the title? flowers make me tingle. I think I'll be keeping it up with weird titles. this is from the sunrise on tuesday morning at terrace 19. I absolutely love it. more pics will be coming up, but here is the link at least!

it's been a while

a lot has happened in the past week, and it's been a bit too much other stuff going on at the same time as well, so I haven't really had time to write about it.

first of all, I finally cut my hair:


it had been almost exactly a year since I cut it last (august 21st 2007, the day before seeing the love of my life), and now it finally happened. I'm really happy about the results, and it's also really funny to see the reactions of other people when they see my hair. some even say that I look good! ;)

I finally also managed to go to the beach last weekend, after being here for almost 10 months. there'd been many times when a lot of people had gone, but I had just had other plans that constantly kept me from being able to go. well, I finally went and it was very much worth it. quite heavy waves (it was windy), and so nice.

we also made it out to Bahji afterwards, and it was a very special experience. since the Shrine and Mansion are closed for summer cleaning, we couldn't go inside. but it was still really nice to go in the evening and say prayers. and since not too many people were out there, it was quite a calm and relaxed setting. I took a shot which I really like:



in other news, there've been a few people leaving as of recently, so there's been a few activities with them, and also a few sad farewells. but that's how life is here, it goes on, and you eventually get used to it. but I'll definitely miss those people...

I also got convinced to get my own flickr page. will update with more of that later on...

cooking

I have decided people should be cooking more. it is a really relaxing exercise, and you'll also practice your culinary skills. besides that, there's also the added benefit of cooking for more than one meal. or one person... ;)

it is also an excellent ice breaker when you're in a group of people where not everyone knows everyone else. get something simple going, and suddenly you have people talking back and forth, asking for this and that, and sharing their tips on how to go about with their cooking. it works perfectly, every single time!

besides that, you also know (more or less) what ends up in your stomach, which is not always the case when you go out to eat. and it's also cheaper...

at least once or twice a week, try it out!

this is still funny

I don't know how many times I've seen this, but it's still funny. so they're doing some roadwork on one of the streets here, and usually at night. and if you're not really careful, this could happen to you too:


only in israel...

talents, movie and piano

that's a pretty good summary of my weekend, which turned out into a really good one.

friday evening sported an open mic. with around 30-35 appearances, it was bound to be long. but it was good. and fun. there was everything to enjoy, from singing and dancing to poetry recital, story reading and the random talk. it's an amazing amount of talent here, and I'm sure there were a couple of people more who could've wowed the crowd. maybe for next time.

afterwards we went to have some pizza and watch troy, but that's not the movie I'm thinking about. no, something better was to come...

much better indeed. we went to see batman the dark knight after having it recommended to me by quite a fair amount of people, and I found it to be as good as it was made out to be. I really enjoyed the characters, the plot and the action. one thing I also really enjoyed was the level of sacrifice among many of the characters. I don't want to spoil the plot if you haven't seen it already, but it's really encouraging to see how many that are wiling to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. something really inspiring actually.

in the evening we went to a piano recital, which was just absolutely amazing. two of the youth here decided to share some of their talents with us, and it was really breathtaking. they started off with this quotation from Bahá'u'lláh:

We have made it lawful for you to listen to music and singing. Take heed, however, lest listening thereto should cause you to overstep the bounds of propriety and dignity. Let your joy be the joy born of My Most Great Name, a Name that bringeth rapture to the heart, and filleth with ecstasy the minds of all who have drawn nigh unto God. We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high; make it not, therefore, as wings to self and passion.

watching them play made me wish that I hadn't stopped playing piano some 10 years ago or so. there's something soothing about being able to sit down by a piano, just play something and relax. beyond the beauty and enjoyment of the music (there's also something special about listening to piano being played live), what made me enjoy this recital even more was how they themselves were so into the music they were playing, the facial expressions (we got to sit quite close), and just their engagement into their playing. it was a really nice ending to the weekend, and I think we all left there feeling happy, relaxed, and uplifted. thank you guys!

pilgrims are gone

this group was the last pilgrim group for this season. now it will again be a bit empty over the summer (although it's been very hot for two months or so). it's special to have pilgrims coming here, they bring so much joy and happiness, and I'm really looking forward to them coming back, as I have quite many close friends in the first few groups coming.

here's a picture from sunday morning. a friend of mine was on his last shift, so I got up a bit earlier to hang out with him for a while:


I really like the bright blue colors of the sky early in the morning. it was a really beautiful sunset as well, but unfortunately I wasn't able to take any good shots, was busy eating breakfast :)