I have seen small communities “slow down” for Shabbat, but I have never witnessed an entire country come to a hault. Today I had the amazing opportunity to spend my Shabbat celebrations at the Kotel, or the Western Wall, in Jerusalem. Visiting the Kotel twice, once during the day and once at night, brougt two differernt experiences. During the day, the Kotel was very open and I easially made it to the wall. I was amazed by the amount of paper stuck into every crack of the wall, one even folded into a tiny heart and placed deep into the rock. I said my prayers, took some pictures, and absorbed as much of the surroundings as I could.

That night (tonight) the exact same place took a completely different turn. The only way to explain it was one enormous singing Jewish mosh-pit with Jews of every demonination dancing in circles, singing with iron lungs, and smiling from ear to ear. It was certainly an experience that I’m sure will never be repeated back in the States.

My time at the Kotel, and experiencing Israeli Shabbat in general, was absolutely wonderful. What next? Oneg!

More posts from my trip to Israel are coming soon!

As I promised, I want to give you a little info about my trip. I am going to Israel as a gift from Taglit-Birthright and the state of Israel. I will be spending the next 12 days all around the country from the shores to the desert and get a taste of what Israel has to offer. My itinerary covers riding camels, floating in the Dead Sea, climbing Masada, tasting wine (drinking age is 18), visiting countles memorals and holy land, and even, yes, just nothing at all! This is the biggest undertaking I have ever gone through in my young life, and I am eternally greatful to Taglit, Sachlav, and Hillel for this wonderful gift. I will attempt to blog whenever I can and upload everything once I have WiFi access (thank goodness for my iPod touch!).

There are several things I have learned from my trip so far:
1. Trans-Atlantic trips are not fun when you can’t sleep.
2. Airplane food can be decent.
3. There is no such thing as personal space.
4. French dubbed movies of plane crashes with Hebrew subtitles are hilarious when you’re tired.
5. Never trust domestic flights to be on time. Ever.
6. Always talk to random people on your flights. It makes the flight much more enjoyable.
and many more. Once I arrive in Tel Aviv airport in 4.5 more hours, I’m sure all of this will melt away and I’ll be running on a “Hebrew high” for the remainder of the trip.

Once you read this post, you’ll know that I have landed safely and reconnected with the digital world. Stay here for my new series: “Blogging From Israel” where I will not only talk about my trip, but also dive into the real Israel and see if it is just like the news makes it out to be. Also, follow my antics on Twitter: Right Here (@C_Dubbs). Until then, I think I will try another attempt at sleeping before they serve breakfast. Bon Voyage!

And lastly,

Wash, rinse, repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat …..

Anyone else feel this way right now?

After much deliberation and testing, I finally came up with a tea that I not only enjoyed myself, but  non-tea drinkers did as well. The flavor of vanilla is universal and warm, and my tea became popular among my family and circle of friends. It was at this time that I submitted my tea for review at Adagio.com (the largest online tea retailer in the USA) to see what their reviewer, Zack Luye, would say about my tea. As the time went by, I forgot that I ever asked for my tea to be reviewed and continued with my life. Tonight, out of a total whim, I went to the Adagio website, only to find my tea proudly on display with a video review! I nearly jumped out of my seat! Here I am, just surfing the web, and I pull up the exact review page on accident.

Review as displayed on Adagio

Please checkout my blend of tea, Vanilla Temptation, by clicking here, and watch the video review below! Thank you again to Adagio and Zach for taking the time to review, drink, and enjoy my tea. I hope that their review, coupled with my own passion and excitement, will open the eyes of many more people to the wonders of tea.

Adagio TeaV: Episode 41 from Zack Luye on Vimeo.

If you are not yet an Adagio.com member, send me an email for a free $5 coupon (good off my tea, or anything else)! Chandler (at) ChandlerWeiner (DOT) com.

I’m so excited, words cannot begin to describe my feelings right now (unfortunate for me as a blogger). Drink up and enjoy!

Update: My tea was also just reviewed by the wonderful Stephanie Harkins on her website, The Tea Review Blog. It will also be sent to her “panelists” to get all kinds of reviews from different sides and taste buds. From the review:

Vanilla Temptation, in the words of Chandler, consists of 30% Rooibos vanilla chai, 30% cream black tea, and 40% vanilla black tea.  Therefore it goes without saying that this is one seriously vanilla tea.

The chai base is warming but not overly spicy, with most of the stronger spices like ginger being muted considerably by the addition of cream and vanilla flavored Ceylon tea.  Everything about this tea is creamy, soothing and mild.

If you are looking for a very light chai, with a lot of creamy overtones, this is the tea for you!

Stay tuned for more reviews!

First off, I am happy to report that the initial headache that stemmed from my school’s Financial Aid Office has subsided a little. Even with our inflated dollar, I still managed to actually make money my first semester here by having financial aid over and above the cost of attendance (thank you high school transcript and caring private donors!).

Never the less, the classes are interesting, the professors are hard to understand, and the Honors College is one of the best organizations I’m in. Forget about Knightcast for moment, the Burnett Honors College at UCF. Not only is this the center for all of my vast printing needs (did I mention how awesome free stuff is?), the people are genuine, intelligent, and all-around awesome. Even though many people from my high school also came to UCF, socializing with them has become a chore. With the exception of the random friends showing up from out of state, the “new” people I’ve met in the Honors College have taken up much of my social time. To be honest, I don’t think I would enjoy UCF as much as I am now had I not been a member of the Honors College. It is just me, through and through, from the Social Media lectures (yes Mom, my teacher told me to go on Twitter in class), to the lunch meetings with influential central Floridians, to the small classes that easily shrink down this huge school and give a more one-on-one feel. There is still something I miss about high school though; the random bouts of approval:

With all of the activities I’m doing now, that has not stopped me from keeping my head on the horizon. There is always that one extra club, the one additional executive position, the single “extra” even that you want to tack onto your day, but all you’re missing is that lone additional hour. That is the predicament I see myself in. For those who know me, you are all aware as to how many activities I like to dive right into. Who knows where I might be at the end of these four years? Director of Knightcast? President of Hillel? Symposium Team Leader? Only time will tell. For now, I’m enjoying my freedom and having a blast at UCF. Go Knights!

College... a pile of money

This summer was definitely not the most relaxing or soothing I have had in the least bit. Even though the beach was at my disposal daily, I rarely brought myself to go. I was always preoccupied with everything that seemed to pop up in my path. At the very start of summer, my brother had a major operation and I was with him for all six weeks of his recovery. Money became a little tight, so taking a trip was going to be difficult. I took the time to collect my thoughts and relax around town as much as I could. Who knew the mall wouldn’t get boring after the 300,000th time going there?

While I was enjoying what my town offers me, close friends and family members were very ill. Its always disheartening to see those that you love fall ill and there is little to nothing you can do to pull them out of this crisis. But, life must go on, although these experiences have heightened my desire to become a medical doctor.

Today, college began. Well, the living-on-campus part anyway; haven’t gotten to the run-to-classes stage yet. I moved in today to my apartment at UCF and was really pleased to see everything laid out nicely and the place clean. I was half expecting it to look like a parade of rabid elephants made my appartment their home.

My Room

My roommates had moved in earlier, so I was the last arriving member of this ragtag group of kids. We seem to be diverse people covering a wide array of interests and a spectrum of ideals. It was a little odd shopping for my own food today and trying to buy “group” stuff like toilet paper, paper towels, etc. This is just one huge learning experience for me. I’m 100% positive that my first attempt at doing my own laundry will be disastrous, but hay, I’m here to learn, right?

Oops....

For now, my new bed looks so inviting. Stay tuned for more of my college blogging. FOUR MORE YEARS!