Hi.

I'm in Jerusalem again, with the parents this time.  Its cold, its rainy, and people are getting cranky.  I've shown them some cool things, and yet, I have no pictures to prove it yet.  But, some will be coming shortly.  Did I mention its cold?  No?  Welp, its freezing, and we're about to go take a tour of the kotel tunnels.  Maybe I'll get some pictures...  if I can take my hands out of my pockets without shivering.  Did I mention its cold?

J'lem (Jay-Lem)

I finally got to Jerusalem today.  I had been there once before, but only on a technicality.  TODAY, however, I found out just how interesting J'lem is.  Now, mind you, I would never live in this particular city; given the fact that throughout the city's history, it's been known to become a maelstrom of violence and death.  That, and the traffic.  Wow.  If you thought NYC was bad, you're in for a shock.  Anyway, I digress.  Jerusalem is ancient.  Really ancient.  People have fought here for control of the city and its environs for thousands of years.  Everything regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict stems from this city...well, ok, you got me.  Almost everything.  But again, I digress :)

So, the purpose of this trip was to visit יד ושם (Yad Vashem – The Holocaust Museum) and The Western Wall (הכיתל), and the tunnels (ו המנהרות) .  I had been to Yad Vashem before, which is why I say I was technically in Jerusalem before.  Given that, and how much of a completely crushing experience I knew יד ושם was, I decided to go off with a friend (who also didn't feel like feeling horrible the entire day) and explore around the campus, and Mount Herzl (הר הרצל).  Soooooooo, here's some pictures and a virtual tour..sorta.

First of all, there is a path through the woods that connects the יד ושם campus to Mt. Herzl.  (I'll spare you, the reader, and not type in two languages anymore).  When you follow the path, the first place you end up is at Jabotinsky's tomb.

After that, you get to the father of modern Zionism, Theodore Herzl- hence the name, Har Herzl.

We also went to visit Yitzhak Rabin and his wife Leah

Paid tribute to Golda

and after seeing some of the soldier's graves and the memorial to the victims of terror attacks, we went into the old city ate some shwarma and felafel and hit the kotel.

one of the gates to the old city

street in the old city near the Kotel

mom and bubbie should like this..

western wall and the dome of the rock

staring at the wall.  to the left is a shul where there are torah scrolls and other people are praying.  took the next picture there.

old world meets new world?

mount of olives cemetery.  supposedly when the Messiah comes, the people buried here will be resurrected first.

There are sooooo many more pictures that I took, so I'm going to post them on my flickr account.  The link is in the right side column at the top of the page.  That's all for now!  Miss you all!

back, after a (much too) long delay

After a long and slightly unexpected delay, I'm back at the blog.  It's been a crazy month.  As I write this, wildfires are raging around the city of Haifa and the suburbs.  There's been thievery, there's been drama, there's been a move to the Negev, but I'm still very much alive. However, rather than delve into details right now, I'm just going to wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah, post a few pictures, and save everything for a bigger post on Monday.  Happy Hanukkah everyone!

Cool bridge in Petah Tikvah

the view from a rocky place I probably wasn't supposed to be on.

Found this parked on the beach in TA

The circle closest to you is where Yitzhak Rabin was standing when he was murdered.  The one directly behind it, looking forward, is where the assassin stood.  ALL the other circles are security people's positions.

שלום חבר

the view from the back of my new kibbutz.

Looking towards the front gate

we have an ambulance station here

the view from an open area

this is all going to be developed soon

veranda by my apartment

This is from Eilat, looking towards Jordan

Those are reportedly our date palms, at the other edge of the field is the Jordan border.

looking towards the kibbutz from the open desert.

commons area, this is where the store and the dining room are

new park and walkway

Another shot of the Jordan Mountains

Military humvee outside the Ulpan

The back of the kibbutz

Another one from the back of the kibbutz

another one on the perimeter road

not sure what this is supposed to be.  its in the middle of nothing.

Thieves! Damn Thieves!

My camera was stolen today from my locked room, along with my one roomies laptop and iPod, and my other roomies iPhone.  So, despite the fact that I haven't updated my blog recently, I lost all of my recent pictures.  More to follow when we hear back from the police that were supposed to come out here today to dust for prints.  Lugubrious.

Kibbutz Life

So, after some unexpected goading from my relatives, I realized that I had not yet posted any pictures of where I live.  I suppose a brief description is first in order.  I live on a kibbutz (suburban Israeli communal town) called Ramat Yochanan, which is located on the outskirts of a city called Kiryat Ata.  Its about 20 minutes from Haifa by car, and we can actually see the city lights from the road that leads to the Kibbutz.  Kibbutzim (Kibbutzeses) generally have an income-generating industry and the people all pay into a central bank and have the money divided up according to a person's needs.  IE: a family with 6 children would receive more funds and larger, or nicer, accomodations than, say, a 28 year old single guy.  There are certain benefits to this lifestyle though.  Generally, the kibbutz gives you free meals, provides cars, has leisure activities, supermarkets with reduced prices, post offices, banks, and in the case of Ramat Yochanan, a health care center and nursing home.

In the case of Ramat Yochanan, their "income generator" is an orchard, a dairy farm, and a multi-national plastics company called Palram.  Palram has a factory on the kibbutz, a factory in China, a factory in Allentown, PA, and one somewhere in Europe.  They are the largest supplier of plastic sheets to Home Depot, and they pretty much built China's olympic stadium.  Ramat Yochanan (the kibbutz) owns 78% of Palram, and is the second "richest" kibbutz in Israel.  The other being Magan Michael- which is on the sea, and therefore decidedly better (and harder to get into) than Ramat Yochanan.

Anyway..here's some pictures:


This is my room..its actually cleaner than normal in this picture


gated community

This is the health clinic

We have a school that teaches elementary through high school

This is a kibbutznik's house

The whole place is basically a giant park

We've got the dairy farm- and we sell all the milk, none of it is used on the kibbutz for some reason.

Tennis courts and basketball courts too

This is the dining hall, or Hadar Ochel, there is a resident artist that did the mural

There is a pub that is open on Thursdays and Fridays

This is the outside of the Ulpan rooms

We also have a covered, olympic-sized, swimming pool. Its currently drained of water due to a prior water festival that involved geese and ducks in the pool.

This is where we have bonfires and such

This is the grapefruit orchard

Cool view of the mountains. To the right of this ridge is Mt. Carmel
...and for the last entry on this blog post...there's the safety aspect of the kibbutz. Below is a video of the Ulpan bunker. I've never seen a bunker that was in use as a bunker until I came here, so until I hear a siren or explosion, I think its a cool place.

want to know what i love about Israel?

the sunsets.