March 27, 2012 | 3:51 pm

Metamorphosis: The Website and I

Posted by Lisa Niver Rajna

“Just when the caterpillar thought her world was over, she became a butterfly.” I have always felt connected to science, transformation, and especially to the process by which fuzzy caterpillars become butterflies. Butterflies and their metamorphosis were even the focus of my Bat Mitzvah speech at the age of thirteen. I just did not realize it would take me three more decades to fill my own wings!

Change has been good to me. I have been evolving from having a fixed mindset to a more growth-based model, and from a heavy, single girl unsure of what to do next, to a sassy skinny married one who is a traveler, teacher, blogger, now appearing in a major women’s magazine!

Not only have I changed; now our blog has undergone a shift. We have joined our two web sites and left both Weebly and Blogger for the widely used WordPress. I hope you enjoy our new and improved site. Please send us your comments as we continue to finalize all the parts and pieces.

This transformation requires support. I must personally thank many of my friends, family members and mentors and would like to publicly recognize our website Advisory Council, including: Kit Herring of The Backpacker’s Handbook, Dave Thompson, Dave’s Travel Corner, and Dr. JessieVoigts and Ed Forteau from Wandering Educators. Also the technical wizard on our team, Ateeq Khan. Without them we would not be ready for this next step!

I also want to thank First for Women Magazine for including me in their story and the capable team that prepared me for my first Magazine photo shoot!

My First for Women Magazine Photo Shoot Team:

Photographers: Amy and Stuart

Stylist: Krystina Van Dyk (Banana Republic Gemma Wrap Dress, Laura Elizabeth Jewelry)

Hair : Stefanie Cuesta for Fiore Beauty

Make-up: Phoebe for Fiore Beauty

Hair Color: Mark LaRocco at the Beauty Collection

Thank you for joining us on our travels and for your enthusiastic support of our blogging journey!

More links, photos and stories at http://www.wesaidgotravel.com/

March 12, 2012 | 9:51 am

Lisa is a L.E.A.N Traveler! (video)

Posted by Lisa Niver Rajna

Staying Fit and Lean

Recently I was interviewed for L.E.A.N. Traveler about staying fit while traveling. I lost sixty pounds from when I first met George to when we got married!

Here is part of the L.E.A.N. Traveler interview:

What are your top three tips for staying lean while traveling?
My top three tips for staying lean while traveling are:

1. Don’t let yourself get too hungry. Take a snack or have a piece of fruit in the afternoon so you can say “NO!” to the breadbasket.
2. Walk everywhere you can. I personally lost weight while traveling in Asia for a year because we walked all the time.
3. Portion control: if you are traveling with someone, share a entrée since portion size in the USA has gone haywire and restaurants serve enormous quantities of food.

Read the entire interview

Look for photos to come in the March 26 glossy magazine: First for Women!

Our YouTube channel went over 10,000 views! Which of our 35 videos is your favorite? The most recent one Exploring Penghu Islands in Taiwan or Taipei with over 3300 views?

There is always more on our website: www.wesaidgotravel.com

0 Comments — Leave your comment

March 7, 2012 | 10:53 am

Revisiting the Mask of Purim

Posted by Lisa Niver Rajna

Last Purim, this was my first post for the Jewish Journal, I had no idea what would come next! I am happy to say it has been a year full of writing success! Our YouTube Channel just went over 10,000 views! We have hosted many travel events with over 100 people in attendance! Thank you so much for encouraging me to take off the mask! Happy Purim! Enjoy my article:

The upcoming holiday of Purim and the story of Esther remind me to reveal myself and take off my mask.  Many Jews celebrate Purim by dressing up and putting on a mask. The semester I lived in Jerusalem, was the first time I saw Purim could be as large a celebration as Halloween in Los Angeles. Wandering the streets of Tel Aviv, I was amazed at the number of Esthers, and Hamens that bumped into me in the celebrating crowds.

This holiday celebration includes being confused about good and evil. This shadow between good and evil and the line of intentions and when they become actions informs some of my travels and decisions. Sometimes we forget that at the corner where we work at the 7-11 is a man who is from Burma who speaks five languages and was a tour guide at Schwedagon Pagoda. We forget that this man in front of us has a history and wears a mask.  Most of the people we interact with have some issue that plagues them and causes them to wear a mask and hide some part of themselves.

While I have often picked easy costumes for my work, such as coming to school as a Crayola crayon, in other areas of my life I have proceeded differently.  Lately I have picked problematic travel destinations. Being in Sri Lanka this summer, so soon after the civil war ended caused me to really examine why I travel and where do I go. Being in an area with barbed wire around the beaches was nerve-wracking for me, but meeting people who were so happy to have peace and so welcoming to us as strangers to their country made it worth it.

Having recently watched, “Strangers No More”, the Academy Award-winning Documentary Short film about an amazing school, I am thinking about Tel Aviv, Strangers and Masks. In Billy Joel’s song, “The Stranger,” he sings, “We all have a face that we hide away forever, and we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone.” Travel allows us an opportunity to break from our every day routine and get outside ourselves.

When I travel, I hope to learn about the place, the people, the history, and the culture. Mostly I learn about myself. When my husband George and I were away for nearly a year, I cried in the beginning on almost every country. I even cried while snorkeling one time. I thought he would not notice.  When we travel, our masks are off and we are the strangers. I frequently need help to find the bathroom, the bus, the hotel; everything is up in the air. Our daily routine no longer is there to support us.

I think of the young students showing up at Bialik-Rogozin School, having survived long walks in the desert, seeing parents killed and now managing their first day of school in a language they do not understand. The teachers seem so kind, compassionate and willing to help. The children of Darfur, South Africa and Eritrea who show up and move forward with hope and potential inspire me.

Adam Rosenthal writes in Koach:

“Each of us has emotions, thoughts and aspirations which we conceal on a daily basis. We hide these parts of ourselves by presenting others with a prepared image. We wear masks, denying others, and sometimes even ourselves, a glimpse of the vulnerable “stranger.”

I am thrilled that our travel blog will have this new home at the Jewish Journal but now I wonder if I can really show my travel stories and travel foibles and take off my mask to reveal what our travels are really like. I ask myself: will anyone care to read about our adventures?

Travel has given me the opportunity to evolve from a sidekick to a superhero. I have learned so much about my relationship and myself. I did not want to quit my job and travel for a year as a test of our relationship. I wanted to be engaged or I would not go but I did go and eventually we did get engaged.

The story of Purim remembers Esther who hid her Jewishness in the beginning and Haman who hid his anti-Semitism. In the end, both must reveal their true selves. This is what travel does for us. We must show up as who we really are without our masks.

Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai foil the plan of Haman, King Ahashuerus’s prime minster, to exterminate all the Jews of Persia.  All secrets are revealed, all masks are off, and once again the Jewish Story continues. Join me March 24 to hear about the story of how the Jews have been welcomed and sent away for centuries in Morocco.

The Megillah Esther literally means “to reveal what is hidden,” join me as we wander and wonder about the history of the Jews, our planet and mainly ourselves.

There is always more at www.wesaidgotravel.com

0 Comments — Leave your comment

March 4, 2012 | 9:11 pm

International Educator: Lisa Niver Rajna

Posted by Lisa Niver Rajna

Dr. Jessie Voights interviewed me for the Profiles in International Education Section on her site Wandering Educators.

Here is the beginning of the Interview:

Lisa Niver Rajna is our Geography Awareness Editor, a world traveler, and a science teacher in Los Angeles, California. Think that science isn’t international? Think again! I’m impressed with the work that Lisa does with her students - exploring the world, and the people in it. She’s the publisher of two websites that combine her love of travel and teaching science - We Said Go Travel, and Science Isn’t Scary. She embodies the true meaning of international education - and practices it every day.

Want to read the full interview and see the photos? Click here! 

0 Comments — Leave your comment