My family went to Israel for winter break. Now there are lots of cool things there, but what mostly caught my eye was the cats they were everywhere. And don’t even get me started on the kittens they were so cute, but they were starving on the streets and eating out of garbage cans, most of them were covered in fleas.
All I wanted was to save them and give them to my bubbie [grandma] Sheila who really needs a cat or kitten. There was one kitten in particular who was not much bigger than my hand. She was meowing like crazy as she tried to get out of a garbage can. Finally she fell out and into the street. I wanted to go pet her so badly and give her some food and maybe just maybe get my parents to give her to my bubbie, but we were on a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. Also my mom felt unsafe in that spot, which made sense since the tour guide did have a gun in his pants. So I wasn’t even allowed to pet that tiny helpless kitten so she was left all alone on those streets meowing like crazy.
Just so you know my parents never let me keep a cat/kitten for my bubbie.
The Stangeroo Family Adventure in Rome 
Tillie, you are so kind to think of the needs of all of those cats. Ava and Max were amazed by all of the cats everywhere we went in Morocco. Apparently in Islam, the prophet Mohammad prohibited the persecution and killing of cats. Supposedly he even allowed a cat to give birth on his cloak and cut off the sleeve of his prayer robe rather than wake his favourite cat who was sleeping on it.
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Ah – that explains all the cats!
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Tillie, I love this blog! I remember thinking, when I travelled around Europe, that there were an abundance of small dogs (and scooters) underfoot in the streets. I didn’t notice many cats…however, the lone day I spent in Rome, I had a ridiculous case of hay fever (and even visited a pharmacist for eye drops). Perhaps that’s why? 😉
We were thrilled to receive a letter from you the other week! (It seems that it took over a month to reach us) The kids were quite indignant on your behalf regarding the unkindness of the boys at your school, but must confess that we’re a little glad that you miss Selkirk because we miss you, too! Some time in the future, we will send you letters in return. Ever since winter break it’s been non-stop activity — we performed A Midsummer Might’s Dream, prepared for FSA tests (bet you’re glad you’re missing those), practised for the junior musical, and immersed ourselves in Explorer Simulations. Yesterday was the swim meet at Commonwealth Pool. Today was a snow day! It’s even more amazing that it’s the SECOND one this school year! Our first one was on December 9th. Anyway, we’ve certainly enjoyed the unexpected treat of snow deep enough to go sledding on! Stay well, keep exploring (and writing about it), and do a little dance with Eva for me 🙂 Hugs!
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Hi Jhoanna! Thanks for the response. I’m happy that you’re reading my blog. I like telling Italians about how awesome Selkirk is. I always tell them about World Class Tours and how sad I am to miss the explorers project that Eva told me was really fun. Enjoy the sledding! I’m sad I missed all the snow. We haven’t had snow here but we’ve had lots of earthquakes- three weeks ago we had three in one day and I was scared the building was going to fall over. But no one was hurt in Rome. And yet, I thought I was escaping earthquakes when I left Victoria! From, Tillie
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