Blogs from Israel, Middle East - page 139

Ahhhh... Jerusalem. One of our favorite places on the planet. The sites, the sounds, the smells.... Last night we met with Prof. Sami Adwan and Prof. Dan Bar On from PRIME whom we are planning on partnering with for the educational dissemination of this years program. We start our interviews today here in Jerusalem. We have about 70 applicants to interview over the coming weeks. Woke up early this morning to walk through the Old City before the crowds start coming. Today is Friday - the muslim holy day - so it will be fairly busy with everyone going to the mosque to pray. ... read more

Today I got up early and got the bus across to Jerusalem. Adil joined me and it was nice to have the company because they held us at the border fo 3 hours because we had been in Syria. The border was really strange because it is completely run by 20 year olds who are doing their military duty. All these kids walking around with machine guns--quite startling. They took my passport and asked me to sit in a chair and wait, then (after an hour) a guy about my age pulled me aside and we had a lovely chat about my travels..haha. It was very informal, and then I was asked to sit for another 10-15 minutes (1 hour in reality). Finally, we were given our passports and then we had to go and there ... read more

I'm not even sure if that's the correct transliteration for the Hebrew word excuse me. There doesn't seem to be a free transliteration website. Well, I've never written a blog before. I don't even read other people's blogs. Everyone else seems to have a litany of go-to web sites, blogs, and such. I don't. When I work at a desk job I go to facebook, gmail, and maybe vogue.com. I have no idea what else is out there and frankly find it hard to get worked up enough to nose around anywhere else. So if you're reading this, you are far more internet savvy than myself. I will now stop blogging about the blog. It's too meta. I'm in Tel Aviv at the moment. I wish I had started this earlier. I've been in Israel for ... read more

We made it safe and sound. It wasn't too long getting through the Israeli security relatively speaking. We were pulled aside and questioned for 45 minutes - that could be a record for Adri and I. Amber picked us up in the car that we are renting - it was great to see her. After dropping her off at her place in Ramallah, we made the 45 minute trip to the village. One of the checkpoints, that usually open with maybe a couple of IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers, was being blocked by several soldiers, so our trip took longer than usual. Hey, this is the Israel/Palestine/West Bank/Occupied territories! We spent a wonderful day with Adri's family, with no visitors. Some some reason everyone thought we were arriving today. Tonight the thousands of family members will ... read more

Israel's day of remembrance for fallen soldiers was last Wednesday, and I sang in service our program put on last Tuesday night. The next day, Hilary and I left early in the morning for Eilat. On Yom Hazikaron and Yom Hashoah, a siren goes off every year, and the whole country stops and stands for a minute and listens to it. On Yom Hashoah I was in class, a siren went off during our Yom Hazikaron service, and our bus to Eilat pulled over and we all stood up for the siren. Eilat is interesting. The city is really small, the beach is the main attraction. The beaches aren't as nice as Tel Aviv beaches though. Hilary and I hung out on the beach for Thursday and Friday, and Friday morning we went scuba diving with ... read more