Photos of the end of the session

I got behind again! :) There's just too much to write about for the amazing end to the Career Israel program, and I'd rather spend the time sharing my reflections about the current Gaza confict, so I'm going to just put up photos and let them do the talking! Sorry they're so jumbled -- Firefox sucks for uploading photos.

The big news item is that I was offered a job with my company, and I've decided to stay at least one more year here in Tel Aviv!

Adi and I hiking on the Banyas River

Swimming in the river was forbidden, but we went for a quick dip. Rules meant to be broken...

My sister Arielle visited me for ten days and we had a great time!

Arielle and I visited our sister Leila's friend, Lee, in Haifa. It was a great trip -- we went hiking in the  Carmel mountains, toured the Ba'hai Gardens, and drove around the city sightseeing.

Ba'hai Gardens

Haifa is basically built into the side of a mountain, so the entire city is super steep

Overlooking the port in Haifa

Arielle also came with us for our program's trip to the north. It was an awesome experience, with great hikes, delicious food, and a lot of interesting interactions. We visited a teaching college in an Arab village to interact with Israeli Arabs and learn how they feel about Israel. Their opinions, as you would expect, ran the whole gamut, from supportive of Israel and feeling they are safer here than anywhere else in the Middle East; to being generally satisfied with the current situation but still feeling like second-class citizens and upset about the state of affairs with the West Bank and Gaza; to completely against any Jewish State, denying the Holocaust, death to Jews, etc. 

We finished off the North trip with a delicious lunch and relaxing on the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). My favorite part of the entire trip was a visit to the Kibbutz right on the border of Lebanon, which sustained heavy shelling every day for years from Hezbollah. We heard from an old guy, originally from Ohio, who made Aliyah and fought in the army, then spent the rest of his life as a farmer on this Kibbutz. He was about as radically right-wing as you can get! A few of his choicest phrases: "Out here, we're Jewish Rednecks, and if you mess with us, we'll break your bones. We won every single war, it's our land, and if you don't like it, tough. Over that border is Hezbollah-Land, and I greet those assholes every morning (holding up his middle finger to the window)." Whenever we tried to argue with him, he would just talk over us and repeat his talking points. He was certainly an entertaining character.

Tel Aviv has one of the biggest gay pride parades in the world. The starting point was at the park right next to my building! We walked with the parade all the way to Yafo, where there was a huge free outdoor concert.

Another sunset on the beach on my bike commute home

The coolest part about bike commuting is going through the port and seeing all the cool events going on. There are outdoor concerts, events for kids, etc. On this evening, I ran into a free outdoor yoga class!

Book Fair in Rabin Square for Tel Aviv book week.

Last month Tel Aviv hosted its yearly "Layla Levan" festival, translating to "White Night," in which cafes and restaurants stay open all night and there are lots of free concerts and other events. This is a view of Rothschild Street around 2 am.

Closing Seminar in Jerusalem.

Adi's company did the PR for the Israeli Conference on Peace, so she was able to sneak me in. The conference happened to be on the same day Hamas began firing long range rockets at Tel Aviv. Sadly ironic.

When I went home to the states for a few weeks, my grandmother showed me this savings bond she bought in 1973 to help Israel defend itself during the Yom Kippur War. Very cool.

Got myself a nice second-hand hardtail 29er with hydraulic disc brakes. If I'm going to be here at least another year, I'm gonna hit the trails!

Shabbat dinner in Haifa with Lee and her friends! Afterwards we were playing drinking games, and we introduced the Israelis to "King's Cup." They loved it! Problem was, we soon ran out of beer, so we switched to arak (Israeli liquor). They  insisted on following the rules of the game, drinking every time they were supposed to, and they got extremely, ridiculously wasted. It was funny. 

You see a lot of cars parked on the curb in Israel -- but I never knew it can be  legal! 

I decided to lay off the crossfit for a while, and instead hit one of the free outdoor gyms on the bike path home from work. I also do yoga sometimes on the grass. Can't beat this as a place to exercise...

All the roofs of the cabanas were decorated with rainbow colors for the Pride Parade. Almost every bar and many buildings also raised rainbow flags in solidarity with the LGBT community.

Overlooking the Jezreel Valley. We met with a representative of the HaShomer organization, which is a volunteer group that watches over farmers' land -- both Arab and Jewish farmers -- to protect the farms from vandalism and theft by Bedouins. It was crazy to learn this is actually needed, and that the government doesn't do more to help. In the Western USA, cattle theft carries a high punishment, if you're fortunate enough not to get shot by the farmer first. Different rules here in Israel...

More hiking in the north! 

We came to this incredible spring on one of the hikes on the North Trip.

Sunset from Adi's rooftop.

We went on a day trip to the West Bank to meet with groups of the Israeli Far Right. The general line of propaganda was that  there aren't nearly as many Palestinians living in the West Bank as they lead people to believe, that Israeli companies and factories enjoy large amounts of Arabs, giving them a better life, and often times they live together as neighbors and friends. There was no mention of occupation, displacement, or "price tag" attacks. I confronted our host about the real reasons behind the settlements, but didn't really get anywhere with her. It was really interesting nonetheless. I just wish we could have met with Palestinians. 

This is the incredible Shiloh archeological site, an ancient tabernacle of the Jews on their route towards Jerusalem. This is also the site of Hanna's prayer, one of the first biblical indications of "how to pray."  

With Lee in Haifa 

At the Justin Timberlake concert. Or, as the Israelis say, "Justeen Teemberlayyke." It was a huge crowd! Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si3xFMXe90o 

A sea of people at the Justin concert 

With my friends Lee (another lee) and Natan out on the town in Tel Aviv 

We did an awesome camping trip on the Kinneret (Galilee). I brought all my camping gear with me on my return, so there will be a lot more to come! 

The Kinneret at night, the lights of Tiberias in the distance 

Love the lights of the hotel at Rabin Square 

For Shavuot, my office had a cheesecake competition! 

My friend Shir invited me to a lovely Shavuot dinner with his family. Not the best holiday for me, since all the food revolves around dairy, but I made due. It's been really tough for me cooking in Israel in general, actually: I realized that about half of my recipes involve shrimp! And even though Israel is on the Mediterranean, all the grocery stores seem to only sell frozen fish. It's so dumb. But recently I discovered a nearby supermarket that sells cod, which is a fish I can do a lot with. So I'm on the right track...

Mountain biking with my colleague Eran. My old beater bike held up, but my new bike will be a lot better! 

My favorite day-drinking spot is Il Visino wine bar, in the north of the city near Hayarkon Park. They have a sweet outdoor patio, awesome wine and delicious tapas. In this photo, we were fortunate to be there for an off-the-charts New Orleans swing band. The in the purple dress was the best tap dancer I've ever seen in person. Amazing!