Blogmeet Jerusalem

When I started blogging in January I 'met' a whole community of parent bloggers in the UK. I joined their clubs, I participate in their blog carnivals, I tweet with 'friends' I've never met on the most intimate of matters. In the past few weeks they have all got together at BlogCamp and then again at Cybermummy. All the blogs and tweets were full of it. I understood, however, it was a little difficult to be 3,000 miles away with no chance of attending either.

Then I read from Sally (Who's The Mummy?, Tots 100, BlogCamp): So it's settled then, Rosie (Rosie Sribble), Jane (Diary Of A Desperate Exmoor Woman) and I are going to Israel. I knew that Sally was one of the organisers of BlogCamp Manchester so it was conceivable that after this event and Cybermummy, she badly needed a holiday. But it didn't sound like a holiday. First of all Israel is an unusual choice - it's expensive and it's far. If you need a rest it makes much more sense to sit on a beach in Spain. People who come to Israel usually come for a reason, either religion or to go scuba diving in Eilat.

I was surprised but excited. Three giants of parent blogging in the UK were coming to Israel. Maybe I could meet up with them in Jerusalem? I've noticed that some of the other mummy bloggers know each other in real life and sometimes meet up. I wanted to actually meet some of these women too.

When I found out that in fact they had been invited on an organized tour, I admit I was worried for a while. If you know Israel at all, or if you've been reading Sally, Rosie and Jane's posts, you'll be aware that everything here is political. Not just the laws and governmental issues, but where you can eat, how you dress, swimming hours at the pool, where you live, where you pray - it's all political. Who could have invited them? What was the agenda? Would a moderate Jewish teacher/mother living within the green line be allowed anywhere near them? Were they even coming to Jerusalem - maybe it was a Gaza/Ramalah thing? (I swear that the threatened repeat of the Turkish Flotilla debacle only crossed my mind once.)

Following the tweets, I gleaned that they already knew Susie (New Day New Lesson), a fellow Israeli blogger, and that she would be seeing them. (Jealous? Okay, a bit.) I emailed Susie asking if they would be in Jerusalem at all, and if I could pop over, only if it were convenient, even for five minutes, not to interfere, just to say hello... Think like you've just started drama school and Debra Winger is in town (actually she came for the film festival one year and we sat at adjascent tables in the Cinemateque cafe, and I met sat behind Phyllida Law but that's another story). Kitsor* Susie passed on my missive to Kinetis and I was invited to join them for a tour of the shuk (market) after lunch on Thursday.

Well spotted! Who are Kinetis? I asked myself the same question and quickly clicked my way to the following information. Kinetis is an organisation that makes the statement: Kinetis - Accelerating Creative Energy. Our mission is to raise awareness of Israel as the creative energy capital of the world. My reactions were: I never knew such an organisation existed, thank God, and it's about time!

Reader, I made the rendezvous and I was not disappointed. I met Sally, Rosie and Jane, and Susie aswell. We talked about blogging and writing and living in Israel. We had a quick march through the shuk, I tool a photo (see below), and then they went off to the Old City while I ran off to pick up DD from nursery.

It was short and sweet. I'd love the chance to meet again and shoot the breeze in less hurried circumstances, but until then, this was good. The only downer was that on the bus afterwards I suddenly thought: what an idiot I am, I should have taken a photo of exotic Middle-Eastern spices, etc. for Silent Sunday! Oh well, I didn't but Rosie did.

*Kitsor = to cut a long story short.