Shabbat is a holy time for the Jewish people. It is a time to reflect on the past week and “live it up” for one night. Once the sun sets on the horizion, all of the Jewish stores close down and the entire country of Israel comes to a hault. It is forbidden to do any work on Shabbat (for those who follow Jewish law very strongly), so from Friday night to Sarurday night there are no open stores, no cars on the road; and very few people to be found.

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!

Being from from south Florida, I’m used to seing names such as Hilton, Double Tree, Mariot, and even Ritz, but in most of Israel these names are no where to be found. However, after this trip, I will no longer look to these “plush” hotels as the definitive place to stay. I learned early on this journey that small whole-in-the-wall places have water just as hot, beds just as comfortable, and people just as friendly. During this trip, I have slept in hostels (spelling?), motels, guest houses, a massive tent, and the occasional friendly shoulder. Any flat surface will do! At the beginnng of my trip in the north of Israel called the Golan Heights, I slept in a room roughly the size of a walk-in closet with a roommate. As the trip progressed, we (myself and my roommate) entered Jerusalem and stepped into a huge room fit for six people. In the end, the housing on this trip has been great and I’ll no longer be affraid to try someplace unfamiliar!

More posts from my trip to Israel are coming soon!

This blog post is proof that I cannot sleep on insanly long plane flights. I write to you, sleep deprived, from inside a pressurized tube sailing off the coast of Spain. In advance, I appologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes that will certainly cover this post. When I am awake for over 24 hours, words tend to get fuzzy….

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!

This week has been absolutely wonderful! Not only was I approved to go on my Birthright trip to Israel this year (much more on that soon!), but I was recognized for one of my passions; tea. I have been an avid loose tea drinker for about a year now and I am not looking back. It has become my ritual to start and end my day with a nice cup of loose tea from all different corners of the world. One day, a thought crept into my mind that I could make a tea and hopefully drive more and more people into the loose tea culture, and thus Vanilla Temptation was born.

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!

The day is finally here! My new radio show that I have been working on for the past few months, Bass Boost, is finally going LIVE today on WKNT Knightcast.org. Bass Boost is a weekly two hour radio show covering the best techno/trance/dance/drum and bass, etc. music found anywhere. It will be live on Knightcast.org from 3-5PM every Wednesday. To listen to the show, request a song, or just find out what Bass Boost is, keep your eyes on my other website DJCDubbs.com. Be sure to also join my Facebook fan page and let me know what you think about the show! I hope you will enjoy the show and please shoot me an email at any time with anything you want to say about it!

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