In the Beginning

To Blog or not to blog ,this is the question. (apologies to Shakespeare)

Ten Reasons to blog :-

1. I have the time
2. I enjoy creative writing,
3. Its an easy option to writing long emails to family and friends keeping them updated on my whereabouts and health.
4. Its a diary / journal that lets my grandson know me
5. It could be a social history.
6. Its less fattening than eating ( another of my hobbies!)
7. Its self indulgent ( Is that allowed? )
8. Its a way to reflect
9. Its therapeutic.
10. I want to!

So let me Introduce myself, my name is Rachelle , AKA Corinne Rachelle, AKA BYM ,( British Yosef's Mother) Or Mum, Ima, Safta. depending on who you are. I made Aliyah ( emigrated ) from the UK four and a half years ago and found Bat Ayin the village where I live, three years ago.

Apart from two brief adventures with Jerusalem landlords, I have lived in the rolling Judean hills since June 2007.

Yes, before you ask Bat Ayin is behind the green line , but like so many accidental settlers ,I came here for social economic reasons ,( I needed a job and somewhere to live at the time) and returned because I love the surroundings, the people, plus the history which is seeping from every rock within the Yeshuve. ( Village).

Gush Etzion the area and in particular Bat Ayin has been subjected to a lot of media hype,the people here are meant to be:- radical, hippy, Idealistic , to an extent that is true of some people, both here and all over the country; However , Bat Ayin is home to people from all walks of life, Doctors, Estate Agents, Computer Nerds, Nurses, Rabbies, Carpenters, Builders, Cooks, Shopkeeper,Gardeners, Farmers Teachers, Electricians,Aromatherapists,Medical practitioners, Bus Divers , Musicians, Artists, all rub shoulders with each other and form the 160 family strong Dati ( religious ) community. The main language spoken is actually Hebrew but 25% of the population are anglos. we are very supportive of each other and share in each others highs and lows.

It is amazing to me that this self professed city girl, who was born in a city by the sea, who felt she couldn't exist unless there was a shop within one minutes walk, who needed the stimuli of of a cosmopolitan inner city area, has settled down and is more than happy with the pace of life in my ecologically friendly, modest hill top home.