Blogs from South District, Israel, Middle East
May 25th 2012
We trekked up to Tel Arad on Wednesday the 23rd. To illustrate the height of my nerd-dom in the ancient world, the highlight of the day was visiting the Arad house, which demonstrates the typical house layout from the Early Bronze Age. The doorway presents itself on the long end of the wall, and the dwelling had no windows. Ah, you want more trivia about this fascinating site? How about the fact that a small clay model of the exact same dwelling was found within the Arad House, which helps us confirm that this design was in fact a standard design for this time period. Brian (our fearless class instructor) made an excellent point at this site. We read so often about the various types of sacrifices which were performed throughout the Old Testament. Though the ... read more
Masada, the Dead Sea, and Qumran
Published: May 25th 2012Middle East » Israel » South District » Masada
May 25th 2012
I must first mention this evening that I am sitting in my top floor hotel room in Old Town Jerusalem, beverage in hand. The Sabbath is in full effect here, as it is every Friday night at sundown, which means that the town almost falls silent. Earlier a large group of us congregated up on the roof as fireworks echoed around us, but the lack of crowd noise and the background noise of cars once per week is such a contrast to the norm. But something must be open a few floors beneath me on the street, as I can still hear the din of a crowd socializing. Saxophone, of all things, wafts up through my open window. Jerusalem never seems to disappoint or fail to surprise. The final day of our trip down south was ... read more
I can't believe I'm halfway done in Eilat
Published: April 15th 2012Middle East » Israel » South District » Eilat
April 13th 2012
מה קורה (Whats up!) Well, it has taken me much longer than I had previously anticipated to make my second blog entry here. A variety of issues contributed to this delay. The small laptop I chose to bring on my travels had difficulty charging with the adapter. My iPhone served as my only other piece of technology but is not conducive to long body texts. My dad visited me a few weeks ago and solved the issue by presenting me with an iPad (how lucky am I!). The last hurdle that needed to be jumped was the inconsistent Internet connection in my apartment. Last week my program coordinators solved the problem. Now that you understand why I have been absent for two months I can relive the last two months in Israel for you! Today marks ... read more
April 3rd 2012
As you know, my visitors live in almost-ever-amazingly-green Tuscany. they wanted to see the desert. I don't like the desert. It doesn't keep me calm and relaxed as it is for others, for me it's stressing and depressing... well... I was always a Nordic person... I'm into green. I have a good Friend who lives in the desert. We've known each other for over 20 years; I haven't met her for over 10 years, since she moved to the desert. It's not easy to explain someone why it's easier to fly to Africa or Europe than drive 3 hours to visit her. For me it's clear. She lives in ... read more
February 14th 2012
Leaving Israel, I’m left with a few lasting impressions of this small country and its big personalities. One of the first things that struck me – and stuck with me – is that Israelis are sticklers for anything and everything you can be a stickler about, but especially for traditions and rules. If it was written 3,000 years ago in the Torah, it still stands today – even if no explanation was ever given and practicality petitions for change. So it is written, so shall it be. If the bus has left it’s official stopping zone by a mere ten meters, you’ll have to wait for the next bus, because there’s no way that one is going to let you on. The same rule follows for hitchhiking. It’s easy, but it has to be done from ... read more
February 11th 2012
I left northern Israel looking for warmth and I found it in Ein Gedi: the Lowest Place on Earth and, for that week, the Warmest Place in Israel. I hadn’t found a couch to surf in the area, but there was a beach, and a warm breeze. I didn’t need anything more. I cleared a little area of rocks, unrolled my sleeping bag and watched the full moon rise over the Jordanian Mountains, feeling happy and instantly at peace. It was a feeling that would become more intense the longer I stayed. The Ein Gedi air was making me high. Sitting at 400 meters below sea level, Ein Gedi is subject to extremely high barometric pressure. As a consequence, the partial pressure of oxygen in the air is higher, which means that you take in more ... read more
July 18th 2011
The other day we went on an underground tunnel tour beneath western wall. It was very interesting to do. The tuneless were discovered by one of the first biblical archeologist Charles Warren. I was shocked to see that the western wall was mostly under ground. My two favorite parts were the spot were you could see the two rocks Charles Warren removed when he tried to escape when he trapped in the Tunnels. my other was the spot were people pray above people were praying underground below . We saw how big the rocks used to make the wall and they were huge! It was like 100 feet wide! Crazy hu?!? The other day we went to the north of Israel here are some of the things we did while we were there. First was Gomla ... read more
July 18th 2011
Last week we went to Bethlehem. We had a nice tour guide named Yamen who showed us the separation wall. The wall was covered in political graffiti and has many words of peace and power. I spray painted a peace sign a heart and my name on the wall with all the other graffiti. Yamen brought a bag filled with marbles and balloons and together we handed them out to the kids in the Aida refugee camp. Yamen showed us how the West Bank is broken up into three zones area a, b and c. Area a is controlled by the Palestinians, area b is shared control between the Palestinians and the Israels and area c is controlled by the Israelis. Then we went to the church of the nativity were we saw a Catholic ... read more
A Crazy Trip, A Great Play and a little country
Published: June 27th 2011Middle East » Israel » South District » Be'er Sheva
June 27th 2011
Today we went to Mini Israel. It was like going into a miniature world. Mini Israel is a model of the whole country of Israel made very little. It has little cars, trucks and people. It is the big-est model of its kind covering many acres. We all had a great time seeing all the places we had gone to, in miniature! At ten o clock last night last Tuesday, dad drove us through the Negev desert to Eilot (about 3 hours from Be'er Sheva). We were on our way for a 24 hour trip to Cairo, Egypt!We went straight to the Taba border crossing and waited for our tour group... but nobody was showing up. Finally our tour operator came at 3 o clock am and took us to through Israeli customs. Then we had ... read more
June 27th 2011
Last week we went to mini Israel. It is basically what it sounds like - a miniature version of Israel. You could find most of the basic landmarks such as the skyscrapers in Tel Aviv to the underwater observatory in Eliat. In fact, it was altogether like walking through a giant 3d map of Israel. The day after that we went to see the oldest arched city gate in the world. It belonged to the city of Ashkeon which means shekel (Israeli money). It was a very rich city in it's time and it was really cool to see it. The arch was almost in perfect condition which really gave one a feeling of what it must have been like to live back then. The city was very close to a wonderful beach were we spent ... read more
