Blogs from Israel, Middle East - page 3

Welcome to Israel! It's...raining I had big plans for today, a jaunt up to Caesaria, a famous Roman ruins site, a head-first dive in to Israeli culture, history, and the bus system. But instead, I’m snuggled with my boy on a foldout couch in my friend Uri’s apartment, after he and his flatmate have left for work, wondering if it will stop raining. Last night, when I walked out of the Tel Aviv airport, I was greeted with an enormous clap of thunder. Though I was all business, looking for a taxi cab while trying not to look too much like a callow tourist, I couldn’t suppress an inward gleeful shake. I whine often about the sad dearth of thunderstorms in California (if you live in the Central Valley or the SoCal coast), missing my Texas ... read more

New York was windy, and after a bouncy landing, we found Dianne's friend, Julie, and our ride with Percy began. Percy is some sort of UN Ambassador At Large Extraordinary Plenipotentiary (I don't make this stuff up)and his driver whisked us into the city to meet Dianne's other friend, Toby. Toby was waiting with cosmos in hand - I could have kissed him, I was so excited! We walked a few locks in the oh-so-gorgeous city to eat Italian, then back to the airport... El Al airlines believes in safety and security- and that takes time. We were all questioned separately before being allowed to stand in the check in line. For what ever reason (maybe I do fit the profile!) I got more questions than the others, but finally I joined Hagit and Dianne. next ... read more

Jerusalem: During the first few month of my program, we have had several travel/educational days in and around Jerusalem, so this blog will be dedicated to the highlights of those trips. I have now visited Jerusalem 4 times during my trip. It is the strangest and most historical place I’ve ever been to. Arriving in Jerusalem is a unique experience in itself, as I get off the bus from the relative ‘normality’ of Tel-Aviv; I am surrounded by either orthodox Jews, Israeli soldiers or a few tourists. From the central bus station there’s an awesome light rail that takes you through the city, across the Chords bridge and to Mt. Hertzl, Israel’s national cemetery. Most of the city is hilly makes learning the busses essential. Mt. Hertzl: Mt. Hertzl is significant in that it was one ... read more

Bus 21 sieht um einiges abgewrackter aus, als die grünen Intercity-Busse von Egged. Die Klappen der Lüftungsschlitze sind kaputt und eisig kalte Luft bläst mir in den Nacken. Zu dumm, dass ich mein neues Palästinensertuch erst ein paar Stunden später kaufen werde. Um mich herum sitzen braun gebrannte Männer mit Silberketten um den Hals und Frauen in langen Gewändern und Kopftuch. Die Schilder vor dem Fenster kann ich nicht lesen. Das hebräische Aleph-Beth existiert in den Straßen um den arabischen Busbahnhof in Ost-Jerusalem kaum. Die Fahrt dauert vielleicht 45 Minuten. 40 Minuten davon schelte ich mich selbst für meine gemischten Gefühle und das beklemmende Gefühl, dass mir sämtliche Vorurteile gegenüber der arabischen Welt, in die Brust gezwängt haben. Schon von Weitem ist die massive Betonmauer zu sehen und ironischerweise springt mir das Wort "Ghetto" in den ... read more