Pavel In Israel

Jerusalem, We Hardly Knew Ye

2009-06-17T01:32:00.009+03:00

The past three days (one day removed) marked what will probably be my last trip to Jerusalem- by many accounts the world's holiest city. I had two big ticket items on my agenda: to go up to the Temple Mount and to check out the Israel Museum. Both goals were accomplished and were as amazing as I had hoped.

On Monday morning, Elan ( a buddy who I stayed with in Jerusalem) and I went up on the Temple Mount, located behind the Western [Wailing] Wall in Jerusalem's Old City. The complex is currently controlled by Islamic religious authorities and admittance is limited to certain hours of the day. Currently, the Temple Mount (30 acres in size) houses the Dome of the Rock - a structure that is built around the rock that Abraham supposedly brought his son Issac, at the behest of God, to sacrifice, and the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third most holy site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

Thanks Elan!

The Temple Mount originally housed the Great Temple (the holiest place for Jews), built by Solomon in 960 B.C.E., which was destroyed by Babylonian invaders in 586 B.C.E. The Second Temple, was built under Persian occupation- beginning in 540 B.C.E. and then vastly expanded between 37 B.C.E. and 4 C.E. under Roman occupation by Herod, who's father was a Jewish convert. Upon completion it was the most massive religious complex in the Eastern Roman Empire (Frommer's). The Second Temple was famously destroyed during the years of Jewish rebellion against Roman occupation in 66 C.E. resulting in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.
In the 7th and 8th centuries, respectively, under Muslim rule, the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque were constructed.

That's the briefest possible way to describe some history about the Temple Mount. Let's just say it is incredibly important, controversial, and I'm leaving out lots and lots information. The Dome of the Rock is marked by it's amazing gold-gilded Dome, seen from many points in Jerusalem. I heard the Al Aqsa Mosque once had a gold dome as well, but the dome was not maintained.

Currently, non-Muslims are not allowed entrance into the Dome of the Rock or Al Aqsa Mosque because of the political situation, but in the past, visitors had been allowed inside and were even allowed to take pictures.

Approaching the Dome of the Rock.

A very impressive site.

On the grounds of the Temple Mount.

Al Aqsa Mosque- notice the crescent moon on top (symbol of Islam).

One of the amazing views from the Temple Mount looks out onto the Mount of Olives. In the foreground you see the Church of All Nations. To the left of the Church is the Garden of Gethsemane (Olive Tree Garden) where Jesus supposedly prayed the day before his arrest and where the apostles buried the Virgin Mary. In the background you see the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, built in 1888.

Monday afternoon I headed to the Israel Museum. Unfortunately, the majority of the Museum (including the permanent collection) is closed due to an expansion and is only set to reopen in 2010. Even still, the museum was one of the coolest places I've been in Israel. The first thing one sees upon entrance is a 1:50 scale of Jerusalem in the years before the destruction of the Second Temple (seen in the image as the largest structure in the model on the right). The model is a really interesting and well-researched piece that has been changed and added to as more is revealed about Jerusalem in the early part of the Common Era.

Second Temple Period Model.

The museum also features a great sculpture garden with large pieces of artists from around the world.

Mike D should recognize this piece. After Robert Indiana's "LOVE" piece was a success (in English) he was commissioned in 1977 to create a similar structure in Hebrew for the sculpture garden. Love in Hebrew is "Ahava."

This is a Pablo Picasso piece which I cannot for the life of me find the name of online. The piece is a tall concrete structure with two panels each featuring a face. I'm not going to go into great detail about why the piece was so cool, but believe me, it was.

A couple of mummies that were found in the area of the current Gaza Strip. They were about 3,500-years-old.

Friends in New Orleans will find this particular piece interesting. The Fleur-de-lis, seen here, was actually an ancient Jewish symbol before it converted to Christianity (take that Wikipedia!).

The most incredible attraction at the Israel Museum is the Shrine of the Book- the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls visible to the public. The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest existing copy of the Hebrew Bible aka the world's oldest preserved Monotheistic text! The scrolls, dating to roughly 2,000-years-ago were discovered in a cave about 30 km from the Dead Sea by a Bedouin. Prior to the discovery of the scrolls in the 1940s and 50s, the most ancient Jewish texts only dated back to the 9th century.

The Aleppo Codex (which has as cool a history as its name would imply) is also displayed in the Shrine of the book. Written in the 10th century, the Codex is considered to be the most authoritative Jewish text in the tradition of Masorah - the way that canonical Hebrew texts were copied and passed down. One of the reasons the text is so cool, besides its historical and religious importance, is that it was plundered during the first crusade and brought to Egypt, then it was brought to Aleppo, Syria in the 1400s, then in 1947 Muslim rioters burned down the synagogue where it was believed to have been held. It was smuggled back into Israel in 1958 (because it had been taken out of the synagogue only days before the rioting) and has been made public and studied ever since.

Unfortunately, but understandably, pictures are not allowed inside the underground, temperature-controlled Shrine, but I did take a couple of pictures of the cool architecture above ground on top of the Shrine.

Under this dome are two of the (arguably) most significant pieces of Jewish religious history.

From another angle. The colors and shapes of the building are based on the imagery of the Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness ( a manual on conducting war- very end of days). It is believed that when writing the scrolls, the scribes viewed themselves as the Sons of Light and the others (even some Jews) as the Sons of Darkness.

This trip would have been perfect had I not gotten food poisoning from that shawarma or hot dog, or something else. We'll call it "Sam in Egypt" bad. At least it wasn't "Pavel in Egypt" bad. Also, it's looking like this will be my last post in Israel (wow!) because the rest of my trip is going to be away from a computer in the North. I'll try to keep twittering some updates and pictures in the meanwhile, but otherwise my followup and catchup posts are going to be in Needham, MA (yay....).

I went to the North....

2009-06-12T22:29:00.011+03:00

And all I got were like 70 insect bites!

[I was going to insert a picture here of my back, but decided to spare you the gory details. I counted like 40-50 bites on my torso alone.]

I have to say I am impressed with myself. One night in Tzfat and two nights in Qasrin without a traveling disaster spells success (for disaster see Sam and Justin in Jerusalem). Tzfat, a city dominated by Orthodox Judaism (the birthplace of kabbalah) and one of Israel's four holy cities (don't get caught here on Shabbat!), was my first stop. It's a bit tough for me to describe how my family in Tzfat is related to me because we are related through marriage and not blood and it involved my great grandmother, but, nevertheless, like all of my family in Israel they were awesome. I arrived in the afternoon and at a little before sunset we set off for a walk near their home. Tzfat is 837 meters above sea level, making it Israel's highest town, and is surrounded by some of the most beautiful terrain in Israel. Unfortunately, a hamsin was blowing through and the visibility was rather poor on the mountains, but on a clear day you can see Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan from points up in Tzfat.

Mila, Isaac, and me.

Everything looks awesome in Sepia tone.

During the war with Lebanon in 2006 a lot of rockets were fired at the Galilee. Tzfat has several major and active military bases that were clearly the target. Upon recommendation from my family I did not take any pictures, but there are areas with dozens of satellite dishes directed north towards the Arab neighbors intended to pick up transmissions. Much of the area is also fenced off for security reasons. There was one point during our 7 AM walk the next day that Issac brought me to a tunnel that had been built into the mountain and is currently being used by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

Tough to see, but the trees to the left are sparse because of fires started by rocket fire. Luckily, Tzfat was mostly spared from Hezbollah rockets.

Sitting on the patio after lunch.

The following are a few landscape shots I took while walking around Tzfat's nature.

I went into "downtown" Tzfat my second day. The city is pretty small and the population is primarily elderly or religious. I had been here on birthright and sure enough saw another birthright group walking through the streets. According to Frommer's, Tzfat's "known history began in 66 AD," so you can say it's been around for a bit. Though it was a popular tourist attraction in Israel's early days, the 1960s brought the development of the tourism industry in Israel; coupled with a strengthening religious community that staunchly observes Shabbat and rules of Orthodox Judaism the town is now a touristic afterthought. Attractions are now pretty limited to the old synagogues, Artists' Quarter, and Jerusalem Street- the main thoroughfare through the town. Don't get me wrong though, it's a really cool city with winding streets and alleys built on the side of a mountain where one can feel the history oozing out of the old buildings.

This stairway, built by the British, divided the Arab and Jewish parts of town until the War of Independence in 1948 where a battle ensued, ending in Arabs fleeing the city. Fighting in this city started, literally, the day the British withdrew [Iraq, January 1, 2012 anyone?].

View from the highest point in the city (this was a hike!).

Tzfat was a great combination of city, nature, and homemade meals. Mila (who I had seen in 2001 in St. Petersburg, Russia) and Issac were great company and hosts. A lot of our conversation was political and religion-oriented and with permission from them I'm hoping to make a blog post devoted to those conversations (maybe in my "trip review" segment when I get home).

From Tzfat I set forth to Qasrin- the "capital" of the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967. Qasrin, from the estimates I got there is home to about 7,000 people. Alec, Lena, and their son Grigoriy are related to me through my grandmother. Alec is my maternal grandmother's cousin which makes him my first cousin twice removed. Alec and Lena have been in Israel since 1992 and in Qasrin since about 1993-94. I have to be honest, Qasrin kinda sucks. There's really no other way to put it. It is the biggest city in the Golan and you can tell it was built by the government. The whole city looks one big subdivision in the middle of nowhere. When I wasn't hanging out with my family I spent a lot of time walking around Qasrin and let me tell you I 'm pretty sure I saw everything--on my first walk. Tzfat's main attractions, which have a slight degree of cool are an archaeological site with a 1500-year-old synagogue (according to the brochure: "Jewish life on the Golan blossomed during the Byzantine period (400-700 C.E. Katzirin existed alongside twenty five Jewish villages built near springs [in it's current incarnation Qasrin is 32-years-old])." There is also an industrial zone with a winery (Hey, Frommer's--it's not that cool of a tour), and an olive oil factory.

Oh yeah, and I checked out the (probably?) only bar they have. It's called the Golan Brewery and they actually brew their own beer there. Beer was decent, but not worth 30 NIS. Almost 8 bucks for a beer is what I would pay in Boston or NYC, not in Qasrin, population 7,000.

I think the buildings look like pseudo-futuristic structures. Like what people in the 70s though buildings would look like now. Thank God they don't.

Views from the family's balcony at sunset.

Artsy picture from same spot.

This is a microcosm of the ridiculous Israeli signs everywhere.

The ruins of the ancient synagogue on top and a painted glass view of what the synagogue may have looked like (this was cool--you look thorough the stone circle through the glass at the synagogue from 20 meters away).

Lena, Alec, and me on their balcony.

Last Israel Itinerary

2009-06-07T20:58:00.003+03:00

Dear Sir or Madam,

Well, I only have fifteen days left in the holy land. Today I planned out how those fifteen days are going to look like.

On Tuesday I leave for the North - to Safed (Tzfat, Zefad) in the Galilee and Qasrin (Katzrin, Kasrin) in the Golan Heights. [Israel has a funny habit of transliterating Hebrew cities into multiple English spellings so that on your way from Ra'anana to Kefar Saba (Kfar Saba, Kfar Sava) you could see road signs with several different versions of the city.

I'll be spending one night and day in Safed visiting family friends. Like many of you recall, Safed was one of the first stops on my birthright trip four years ago. If I recall correctly [you may need to check a source outside of Wikipedia for this one because I'm not sure] Safed is a city of historic Jewish importance. Currently, a large elderly and religious population resides there.

After the 3+ hour bus ride to Safed, I take another (2,3?) buses to get to Qasrin in the Golan. The city is considered the capital of the Golan even though only an estimated 5,000-10,000 people reside there. Here I hope to stay for two days and two nights with my grandmother's cousin, his wife, and their son. I am, of course, excited to see family and friends of the family I have never met, but also to experience the beauty Northern Israel. From the pictures I put up four years ago on Webshots [Wow, haven't been here in years] one can see that Northern Israel is bucolic (take that SATs/high school English), with pastures, rolling hills, and lots of vegetation.

Following my adventure through the North, I am making one last stand in Jerusalem [Strength and honor!] staying with Brandon, one of Justin's good buddies from back home. There are still several major things I have not done/seen in Jerusalem such as going up to the Temple Mount (where the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque stand--the third most holy site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina). I also hope to see the Israel museum, which is supposed to be one of the best in the country and get up to the Mount of Olives where many significant Rabbis are buried and where Jesus allegedly ascended to Heaven.

Post-Jerusalem I take two days off and then Friday the 19th Benji and I rent a car for three days and "freewheel" (as Frommer's describes it) around the Sea of Galilee. We don't have any concrete plans yet, except swimming in the Galilee and this walking trail called the Jesus Trail which supposedly recreates how he would have walked from Nazareth to Cana (first day which is free and what I am interested in) and further on as well. I have noticed that as a Jewish guy (keep it on the DL) with no real interest in Jesus I've done a bunch of Jesus-related stuff here. Regardless, the guide for the trail is free and the countryside is incredible.

Finally, on Tuesday the 23rd (at 6 AM) I fly home. I'll certainly be in touch with everyone when I get home and in the meanwhile you guys can stay up-to-date with the posts and the twitter feed on the sidebar of my blog. Take Care; I'll be seeing you (plural) soon!

With Warmest Regards,

Pavel Leykin

T.I. said it best.....

2009-06-04T11:34:00.007+03:00

"Big things poppin' and little things stoppin,

Ball on these suckas, shawty losin's not an option."

If you can't clearly make out what that nonsensical chorus in the rap song "Big Things Poppin' (Do it)" by rapper T.I. means then you must not know 'bout me, must not, must not know 'bout me. Wow, after reading this ridiculous rap analogy (is it an analogy?) I still have no idea why it's in the blog, buuuut there are large things happening....and small things stopping to happen...?

Sam, who last night stated that he hasn't made fun of me enough in his blog, just left for the U.S. of A. He had gotten to Israel a few weeks before me and left Israel a few weeks before I am set to jet. I don't know how he is going to survive his flight seeing as how we were out till 3:45 AM-ish last night and his alarm was set for 4:20 AM for his 8 AM flight. Aaand he is flying to Los Angeles to visit some friends, aaaand he has a flight to Philadelphia in 6 days from L.A.

If you haven't noticed from the blog, we have been together like Kobe and Shaq or Jordan and Pippen, except that we don't win championships, but that's the only difference. Because Sam's internship schedule was a "not going to my crappy internship" schedule, he was free to hang out quite literally whenever. So, now I will be flying a bit more solo, visiting museums, cities, nature, etc. now that my internship is finito, but I will also be traveling with Benji and others too.

In my last 19 days I still hope to see my family in Quasrin (in the Golan Heights), do another Jerusalem trip, check out some museums (I haven't been to any yet!), visit the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (which is supposed to be really good b/c of the vast numbers of musician immigrants-mostly Russians), and much, much more! I'll also be updating the blog, which, by the way, I am really proud of keeping up with for this long (b/c I spend a lot of time on these posts even though it might not appear that way). So take that doubters...that means you Simon Cowell! [This image was used without permission, please don't sue me.]

Now, let me get to some blog content. For Sam's last night we went first to my bosses birthday party (Happy Birthday Noa!). It was another Tel Aviv rooftop party (not another one![sarcasm]) at the place of a friend of her's. Coming in from Ra'anana, Sam and I wanted to eat at the 14-Shekel restaurant where---guess what?! everything (except cheaper drinks) is 14 shekels. Aaaand the food is really really good. Unfortunately, because of time restrictions we met up with my buddy Brian and went to Noa's party.

Me and Noa on a rooftop, with Sam trying to sneak out of the picture in the back.

Me, Sam, and Julia, a coworker at Peres who is moving to Boston.

Welcome to the blog Sivan!

Brian and Sivan.

After the party, we went to the Namal (port), which used to be a decrepit piece of land until it was turned into a happening spot with bars, clubs, cafes, etc., to meet up with Holden, a friend of Sam's from back home Conch-aww-hawken (sp?), PA who had a night out on his Birthright trip. After a few drinks at the Namal we ended up at another bar where the Bartender took my camera and started taking pictures around the bar. I included her in my set of pictures b/c you can't just take my camera, take a picture of yourself, and not have it end up on the internet, especially if I don't know your name or the name of the bar I was in, or any idea of where the bar is (in Israel?).

Last drinks of the night with Benji and Sam.

Hey there, people we barely met at the bar.

Bartender.

We're heading for the exit.

What night would be complete without an uncomfortable closeup on Sam's face. (Thanks to Benji for this one).

Then it was really late and we took a 100 shekel cab ride home. The End.

Orthodox Briss 09'

2009-05-29T18:03:00.009+03:00

Hey guys, as many of you may have read from the previous blog post I have a new baby nephew. :) My cousin, Alissa, gave birth to a healthy baby boy less than two weeks ago and the briss, held in a synagogue in the religious city of Bnei Brak, was this past Monday. For those you not familiar with Orthodox Jewish practices (like me until coming to Israel) here is the one key that I would say guides this particular lifestyle: you dress and act modestly.

Though different sects of Orthodox Jews believe in slightly different interpretations of "modestly," it generally means the men wear black suits, shoes, full-brim hats, and kippas and women (always) wear skirts that go below the knee (most often to ankle) and stockings so as not to show leg skin (too hot for TV), tops that cover the elbows and chest, and head covering so as not to expose the hair.

In addition, men and women who are not married or directly related cannot touch each other. This also extends to married couples in public where embracing, hugging, kissing, and generally showing affection are considered inappropriate acts.

Orthodox couples are typically introduced through a matchmaker (like my cousin), they "date" for a few weeks to a month, which consists of supervised meetings where they get to know each other. Once they are satisfied with dating, they get married and pretty much as many babies as possible. The rule is generally to be fruitful and multiply up until you can no longer afford to do so.

I won't get into the aspects of the life as it related to the Torah and synagogue because so much can be written regarding the complexities of Shabbat and their relationship to Judaism that it's just not worth my time, buuuut I will explain the briss ceremony, which I had never been through and found interesting enough to write this post on.

Sorry about lack of pictures, but I didn't bring my camera. Next time I see my cousin I'll make sure to get the baby's picture and post it here.

I arrived at the synagogue with my aunt and uncle around 10:45 AM. The briss was supposed to held at 11 AM, but my cousin and her husband were running late, only arriving at 11:20 AM from Jerusalem. According to a certain rule (not sure if it's religious) the baby cannot be fed an hour before the circumcision and my cousin hadn't slept because the baby was demanding to sleep during the day and cry and eat at night. Soon after, the baby was prepped by being placed on a big pillow. Then, all of the men went to the front of the synagogue (women are not allowed in the front) and my cousin-in-law put on a Tallit, a prayer shawl, and read a bunch of prayers. There appeared to be a lot of call-and-response, as oftentimes something would be head by a Rabbi-like figure and all of the other men would repeat it or say something else in unison. [Really interesting fact: Yiddish is still alive and well because after the ceremony almost all of the Orthodox men were speaking Yiddish, rather than Hebrew, to each other.] After several minutes of prayer the baby was circumcised and quickly pacified. The whole process was rather quick lasting only 10-20 minutes. Afterwards, there were cookies available in the synagogue.

There were two circumcisions on the agenda for the day and after the second one we went downstairs to the reception area. Men and women sat on separate parts of the hall, separated by a removable wall, and had a great lunch that was punctuated by long bouts of singing and toasts on behalf of the fathers. I was not over on the women's side, but most of the kids were there running mad from what I heard.

Interesting to note: Though I was dressed nicely for the event and of course wore a kippa, I stood out like a sore thumb, and never felt that I got a dirty look for being secular.

Overall, a very interesting experience. I want to thank Zaev and Alissa for inviting me to the briss and I want to congratulate them on welcoming not quite two-week-old Zelman Moishe Epstein to the family.

Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day)

2009-05-24T17:14:00.005+03:00

I'm really glad I get to catch two independence days this year. This year Israeli Independence fell on April 29 (Wednesday) and like many Israelis we went out to a party the night before and made a BBQ at Hayarkon Park, a long stretch of green space in North Tel Aviv. My flat mate, Jack, invited a bunch of us to his boss' rooftop party on April 28. The apartment is near Kikar Rabin (Rabin Square--named after Israel's assassinated Prime Minister) in Tel Aviv's downtown with a great view of the city. The party had hundreds of people (very crowded) and a live band playing covers of American and Israeli songs.

Me and Jack at the rooftop party.

Me and Sam at the rooftop party.

The aforementioned rooftop party.

The next day Benji (my Swiss buddy) and I organized a BBQ at the park. Much like the States' everyone in Israel either goes to the beach or the park to grill kebabs, veggies, hotdogs, burgers, etc. The weather was phenomenal (typical Israel) and we got a big group of friends together.

Grillin' buddies.

More grillin'.

Friends pic 09'.

Big news from the family--my cousin just had a baby boy and the briss is on Monday. Congratulations to her and her husband, I'll hopefully be seeing them tomorrow to congratulate them in person.

Just had a great weekend in Jerusalem too. Did some serious Old City touring including the "scary" Muslim quarter that was not scary at all. (Don't believe the locals-I wouldn't get lost there at night, but it wasn't a problem during the day. Saw some really cool spots--the first Church ever (maybe) and Jesus' trail from judgement to burial (maybe) and Jesus' jail cell (maybe)...also snuck up onto the wall of the Old City at night and walked around (really cool). All the maybes are b/c none of the events are proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but you better believe that the people who have faith are really into it. That stuff is coming up.

Exodus

2009-05-18T19:51:00.015+03:00

Wow. It's still pretty crazy to me that I am in Israel. I'm sorry that I have not been more active on the blog, but things have been moving pretty quickly. I have been updating my twitter almost daily to keep you guys in-the-know between my posts and there should be several more up here before I get back to the States. Speaking of the old U.S. of A., I just bought my plane ticket home. I should be getting in June 23rd in the early evening, just ahead of Independence Day, after four solid months abroad. Feeling that I have a somewhat limited timetable here I have been frantically trying to do as much as possible. All of that recent traveling (to Akko, Jerusalem, and Haifa) and going out (in Tel Aviv) has left my laundry unwashed, my fridge empty, and my blog unwritten in in two weeks [those things got done today]. Things are getting busier at work, as well, as we get pushed for an important grant deadline May 31 for our MedTales project. As if that wasn't enough I am also planning my life post-Israel. Graduate school, GREs, going abroad again (hopefully) are all on the agenda.

This is the final Egypt post, but I have many more cool trips to share with you. Barring laziness, busy-ness, and bad internet-i-ness (sp?) I will keep cranking out posts until I'm back in the America.

Now, onto the post:

On our first day in Luxor our handler picked us up from the train station, dropped us off at the hostel, and agreed to pick us up at a designated time in the afternoon for our first tour. Having spent the morning sleeping, we were famished and decided to eat an hour or so before our tour time. When we realized we would be late for the tour we asked the restaurant manager to make a phone call to our handler. After the manager assured us that he would make the call we sat down to lunch. What we didn't know was that he never ended up making the phone call and Muhammed (our handler) waited on us for half an hour (very pissed even after apologies). Fast forward two days--Muhammed picks us up to take us to our overnight train back to Cairo and says, "You don't have the tickets?!" We felt thoroughly flustered and slightly pissed knowing that he was supposed to have gotten the money to purchase our tickets. After more confusion and something about a flight being arranged for us from Luxor to Cairo he revealed that he was messing with us--to get back at us for our first day lateness. Justin wasn't happy, Sam though it was comedic genius (wanting to give a big tip for the joke), and I was somewhere in between.

Our train ride was, obviously, uncomfortable and tiring, and upon arrival to our hostel we found that we did not have a room. We walked to the Canadian hostel which had been reserved for us instead and crashed for an hour. This was supposed to be our day in authentic Cairo. We were going to visit the Arab Suq (bazzar) and a bunch of mosques, but this was our last day in Egypt and we were exhausted. Somehow mustering the strength to move we got into a cab and got to the Suq. The area of the market was large and we wandered in and out of the crooked, winding streets. Like often happens, we met an Egyptian who showed us to an authentic (only Egyptians) hookah cafe and then to a spice shop where we spent somewhere around an hour bargaining with the shop keeper (it's a cultural thing). [Trip Advice: Don't leave the spices you just negotiated an hour for in the cab on the way back to the hostel] We also went into a 500-year-old mosque, which in a country where every mosque is a historical treasure, is not such a big deal.

Justin and Sam and the middle of the Suq.

Me, somewhere where I don't know where I am.

An honest [not sarcastic] picture with our Egyptian Suq "guide"--an interesting fellow.

Some historic mosque--big whoop, whatever.

The next morning we began what seemed like an endless journey. It began before 5 AM to catch the 6 AM bus to Taba (Egypt's border town). Sleeping soundly, we were woken up because our bus had broken down and our replacement was less than adequate (seeing as how it was missing half the seats--seen below). I won't even get into the ripoff lunch and snacks we got (probably four times the actual price). At the lunch place we switched onto another bus and a few hours later we were back in Taba! Our enthusiasm for leaving a dirty, polluted, and challenging country to a "Western" one quickly waned as the Israelis held the line on the border for about an hour (took two hours to get through) for what amounted to something like a bunch of change in a backup and a laptop battery (details are fuzzy). This would have been fine had the hundred Egyptian tourists been searched as thoroughly, but seeing as how the line stalled at three Americans and an Israeli family of four you have to wonder about the efficacy of the Israeli border control.

Riding Dirty.

Upon crossing the border we got a bus ride (one hour in vacation traffic--Eilat is a hotspot during Passover) to the bus station. When the bus arrived, people who had bought tickets in advance got on first and sat in their assigned seats. The bus driver then proceeded to oversell the remaining tickets on the bus and we ended up sitting/standing in the aisle for about four hours of the bus ride. All said, the trip took an estimated 20 hours from the 6 AM bus to the 1 AM cab ride back to Ra'anana. I never though I'd miss my bed [cot] at the absorption center as much as I did.

Luxor - quick and dirty

2009-05-03T15:59:00.009+03:00

Luxor, Egypt contains about 30% of the world's antiquities.

Let me repeat that: Luxor contains about 1/3 of the ancient items ever discovered. It is considered an incredibly important historic site surrounded by monuments to Egypt's past greatness. The city is a 10-hour train ride south of Cairo also on the Nile River.

But, Wait! Before you buy your first class (seats in a traincar) tickets remember these fun facts:

1. Egyptians will talk loudly, play music on on their cellphones, and watch TV from a portable set. This problem can be solved with a well-charged iPod loudly playing soothing music.

2. The lights don't go out. Yes, for some reason, the bright lights in the car are not dimmed or turned off at any point throughout the night. To remedy, bring some sort of eye covering, you will need it.

3. In the middle of the night you will wake up freezing cold because the A/C is cranked to make the train car feel like a meat locker. Wear long sleeve shirts, pants, and bring a blanket.

4. Your train ticket will look like a baby scribbled on the third carbon copy you got at Kinko's:

This would be tough to counterfeit....

4. Most importantly, make sure you get off at the right spot. You won't be sleeping well, so this shouldn't be a problem when you roll into you final destination, but remember people barely speak English so get clarification from someone who looks like they know what they are doing.

Keeping these points in mind should make your train trip through Egypt pleasant and relaxing. If that doesn't sound like fun then suck it up and pay extra for a sleeping cabin.

Most famous among the sites at Luxor are the Karnak temple and Luxor temple located on the east bank of the river and the Valley of the Kings and Queen Hatsheput's temple on the west bank.

[Note that these sites are the must-visit locations in Luxor if you only have two days, but given more time Luxor has many more amazing sites to offer]

Luxor, probably because of it's size, is far less hectic than Cairo (and a bit less polluted). Crossing the street is less dangerous and the streets are not nearly as packed with cars from the 1950s spewing out smoke, like Cairo. We stayed at the Bob Marley hostel [Best Buy!]; the cheapest and most hospitable hostel that we stayed in on our trip [4 USD per night per person]. Every Friday they treat everyone staying at the hostel to a free dinner with an amazing amount of food- fresh salads, rice, bread- basically a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet. I urge you to attend this free dinner if you end up here.

View from the Bob Marley hostel rooftop.

On the train we also met two sisters from Britain who we invited on our private tours. We booked two days of private tours with an English-speaking guide and private car for about $40/person. Though we probably got ripped off in Egyptian terms, spending $20 a day touring is a damn good bargain for what we saw and for the quality of our two respective tour guides.

Here again, I must apologize for my lack of Egypt knowledge. I tried listening as attentively as possible, but with scores of Kings and monuments everything kinda morphed together.

Karnak is a complex that was constructed over many years by many different kings - each adding a new site of worship or hall resulting in a tremendous and vast historic site. Most incredible is probably the hypostle hall. With 134 columns, 122 being 10m high and 12 being 21m high it is a well-preserved and awe-inspiring site.

Hanging out in the Hypostle Hall in Karnak.

These guys were for symbolic protection. The complex has scores of them.

These guys were goofing off.

Luxor Temple Obelisk....kinda tall.

Ancient Christians painting over the hieroglyphics.

Hall in Luxor Temple.

The next days' highlight was probably the Valley of the Kings. When Pharaohs found that their large and available tombs were being robbed they secretly planned the valley in the mountains. The site was so secret that even those that worked on the tombs were blindfolded on the way there. Currently the valley contains 63 tombs with the latest being found in 2008. The site is currently being excavated and tourists are not allowed inside, but we did see the outside which is still really cool. Photos were not allowed inside, but the paintings on the walls and the hieroglyphics are incredibly well-preserved and colorful (and they are literally thousands of years old...amazing).

Brutally hot day (wear sunblock, drink water, enjoy Valley of Kings)

One of the tombs in the valley.

Following the valley we went to Queen Hatsheput's Temple, more famous for the type of construction (very unique to Egypt) than it's ability to inspire awe (it is still totally awesome).

It's built into a mountain, that's badass.

Here's the mountain.

Me in Hatsheput's temple.

Our last stop was Ramses III war temple which he made as a monument to his success in war. During his dynasty Egypt was under siege from land and sea. Aside from his additions to the Karnak and Luxor temples he order construction of a war temple to show his success in battle. Unlike anything we saw in Egypt the groove for the hieroglyphics were several inches deep, supposedly so that no one could come after him and wipe away his accomplishments. Alexander the Great (after taking over Egypt) also added a piece to this temple depicting himself, like previous Egyptian kings, as a God in an effort to win over Egyptians.

Welcome to the War Temple.

Ramses built a sweet war temple.

Observe how deep the grooves are.

Well-preserved and exposed to the elements.

Luxor was also where Sam and I came down with a rather terrible stomach ailment. I'll spare you the details, but I would suggest that you bring something along that might help you with your digestion.

The following night we took the train back to beautiful Cairo, hung out for a day and headed home...that story next time.

Egyptcast 09'!!

2009-05-01T16:20:00.010+03:00

So...Sam and I made a 3-part podcast about traveling in Egypt. It's filled with fun and informative tips on recommendations and warnings!

You can listen (and download) the podcasts from this blog:

Part 1: Listen to this episode
Download this episode (right click and save)

Part 2: Listen to this episode
Download this episode (right click and save)

Part 3: Listen to this episode
Download this episode (right click and save)

The podcast is also now in the iTunes music store. To find it, just follow this link or open the music store and search "gogoisrael." If you use another application to download podcasts, here's our feed:

http://gogoisrael.podbean.com/feed

We'd like to know if you think we should more of these. Take the poll on the right, please. And don't forget to check out the post below on the White Desert in Egypt.

The White Desert

2009-05-01T14:08:00.012+03:00

"It's like snow fell on Dr. Seuss."

-Aliza

Rather than describing it in my own words, I think the above statement captures the essence of the White Desert. The landscape is stark, varied, and extraordinarily beautiful. The limestone formations mushroom out of the sand like relics from millions of year ago. Like much of Egypt, photographs do not do this area much justice.

The White Desert, though an unexpected part of our trip itinerary, turned out to be the best (and only) natural (not manmade) experience of our trip. After two stressful days in dirty Cairo the desert was exactly what we needed to to relax. About a five-hour bus ride Southwest of Cairo we were dropped off in an oasis town called Bahariya. From Bahariya we were taken by 4x4 through beautiful sites and vast landscapes until finally arriving at our destination, deep in the White Desert, at sunset. Unfortuantely, our Bedouin guide couldn't tell us much about the geologic events that created such amazing sites, but I did learn two important things:

1. the white structures in the desert are limestone
2. millions of years ago the Desert was actually an ocean (there are fossilized shells in the stone).

Bye dirty Cairo!

Only rest stop between Cairo and Bahariya.

The crew.

Included in the price ($100/person) was the roundtrip bus ticket, tour through the desert, lunch, dinner, and campout. We were also fortunate to ride with a French couple- Marie and Owen who had spent an extra day in the desert to visit the hot springs. Our guide Muhammed, arranged our trip- preparing our delicious dinner and setting up our camp site.

First we drove through the Black Desert (black b/c of previous volcanic activity) and then made our way to our campsite, stopping occasionally to take pictures.

Note: Off-roading in a 4x4 in the Egyptian desert is awesome!

Me and a mountain in the Black Desert.

More Black Desert.

And more.

Man on ridge ($80,000).

Welcome to the White Desert.

Opposite view from previous picture.

Three Amigos.

And their shadows.

Sam in Desert.

Justin in Desert.

One of the most incredible sights was watching the Moon rise in the east and the Sun set in the West at the same time. We were lucky that the moon was full because at night it was so bright that we could still see our shadows. At night we lay out in the desert with an amazing view of the stars, only slightly obscured by the light from the Moon. In most of the desert, it was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop. The silence was a welcome respite from the endless noise of Cairo, a city that really never sleeps.

Sunset and Sunrise:

What came first? The chicken or the egg?

Dinner: soooo good.

Hanging out after sunset.

Justin woke up in time to catch the sunrise.

I'm up. I'm up. Oh, God, it's 6:15 AM.

This post took forever, it looks like internet might be out for good in my room. Hope someone is reading these....

Pyramids!

2009-04-26T15:34:00.010+03:00

It's hard to write about the pyramids because:

a) it's tough to describe the only remaining ancient wonder of the world in a blog post

and

b) we learned so much on our trip to Egypt that my ancient Egyptian history is a bit of a mess.

Nevertheless, I'll do my best and I'll let the pictures do the rest.

To begin our tour we saw King Djoser's (step) pyramid at Saqqara. Constructed around 2650 B.C.E. it is the oldest standing step pyramid in the world. I know that what amazed me most, not only about this pyramid, but about all of the pyramids that we saw is how well-preserved they are. Considering they were constructed in a time before industrial adhesives and automated stone cutting it is incredible that they are in such good condition. I would also say that their condition is good in spite of the efforts of Egyptian authorities. Until only a few years ago tourists were allowed to climb the broken parts of the Great Pyramids and while we were there we saw some punk kids doing just that. From what our tour guide told us, the stones stay in place not only because of their tremendous weight, but also because they were sanded so effectively that a vacuum was created between the surfaces of adjoining blocks.

Saqqara is not only a Pyramid, but an entire complex dedicated to the king. The structure that one walks through to get up close to the pyramid is a hypostyle hall [a flat ceiling supported by columns] where the king was supposed to place gifts for the Gods. There are also numerous other structures for burial or ancient rituals that are now in various states of disrepair though it does look like some restoration work is in progress.

The hall that one walk through to get to pyramid.

Djoser's Pyramid.

It's me! And something in the background.

General awesomeness.

Ruins near the pyramid.

Cheese!

The size of the pyramids is greatly exaggerated.

Find Sam and Justin in the Hypostyle Hall...they could be anywhere!

Our next major stop was, of course, the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Though it had been implied that the camel ride to the pyramids was included in the tour, (Ripoff alert!) it was not. So we proceeded to "bargain" down the price to a more affordable $30 ish dollars/person. Included in the price was the opportunity to approach the pyramids from the desert side and take some incredible pictures (seen below). Camel riding was a blast, and though we were mad at having to go through the whole negotiating process we all decided that it was well worth the money. Near the Great pyramids there are also six other pyramids that were built for the family of one of the Pharaohs'.

Camel rides are Sam's favorite! OK, I lied. Second Favorite.

View from the camel.

Yalla! Yalla! Yalla! (Hurry in Arabic)

I can't believe they gave Justin a whip for the camel.

Only thing missing is the cowboy hat.

Me! And some distracting triangles in the background.

At the encouragement of the camel guide we took a bunch of goofy pictures when we got off the camels to admire the view:

Some general tomfoolery.

I think according to Egyptian law, if you walk like an Egyptian at the pyramids you don't get ripped off.....just kidding.....you get doubly ripped off.

The second Pyramid built...it's the tallest. Over 4,000-years-old.

Another shot (Justin's editing).

B-e-a-utiful.

An imposing construction.

Next to the the aforementioned pyramid.

OK, OK, it's big.

Hey...I think that Sphinx is checking me out.

Bye Giza!

Following the pyramids we rode down to the Sphinx, only a minute or two from the pyramids. You cannot get as close to it as you can to the pyramids, but the view is still really impressive.

Later that night, after some rest from spending the day in the desert sun, we took a dinner cruise on the Nile. There was a smorgasbord of food, a dancing midget, and a terrible belly dancer who probably got hired because she was sporting some very largely "enhanced" breasts.

This was an amazing day....you can't beat a day at the pyramids. This alone was worth the trip to Egypt. If any of you out there get two weeks or so and have the cash I strongly suggest going--you'll have a blast.

There are a lot more pictures, but I think what I've put up is overwhelming enough. I'll try twittering in between blog posts to let you guys know what I'm working on. I might also use it to let you know what I'm doing (although not why I got it and that's what the blog is for).

Next blog post: White Desert!

Stay Tuned....

First Day in Cairo

2009-04-18T20:41:00.007+03:00

Monday, April 6--

Traveling 80 mph on both sides of the road in a car with a suspension on par with the Ford Model T with a chain smoking Egyptian driver who barely speaks English through the Sinai desert to Cairo is a fairly stressful experience; particularly on one's first day in a new country. As a result, Sam, Justin, and I found ourselves exhausted. (Sam had also contracted a virus which he later passed onto me) Upon arrival to the hostel we grabbed a quick bite, came up with an idea for our EgypTrip! movie and crashed for the night. Unfortunately, for one of the three of us (me) crash was a literal expression of what my bed did. In the middle of the night my bed started splitting sideways and the boards holding my bed together started popping out. After much struggle I gave up and took up the floor.

Don't be afraid of the maybe smoldering, roof ripped off, burned out bus on the side of the road (we were), you're in Egypt now.

We spared no expense traveling in Egypt (lie).

First night in Egypt: comfortable.

When we awoke we decided to seek out the Wakeup! Cairo hostile that we had booked in Israel. Though the location was only a five minute walk away we ended up driving for over 20 minutes with an English-less cab driver (trend?). The accommodations at the new hostile were significantly better. Air conditioning, working beds, (sometimes) hot water, free Internet, and a beautiful view of the polluted city were all included in the price of a night's stay. For breakfast we were directed to a local restaurant that served koshary, a popular local breakfast food primarily consisting of macaroni, rice, black lentils, and tomato sauce. Though the origins of koshary are shrouded in mystery it is believed that the recipe was found in a cave of wonders. Either that or it was brought over by Indian soldiers during WWI or that Coptic (Egyptian) Christians invented it for fasting because it is healthy and doesn't contain animal byproducts.

I'm eating koshary!

After a filling breakfast, Peter the hostile co-owner, took us to smoke Shisha (hookah) and drink delicious Egyptian tea (strongly brewed and served very sweet) and hibiscus juice followed by a tour of the Egyptian Museum, considered one of the premiere museums in the world and containing some of Egypt's greatest historical treasures. One of the most incredible displays contains the insides of King Tutankhamen's tomb. Though the tomb was grave-robbed [extravaganza--shameless shout out to Evan] thousands of years ago only the perfume, which was of great value at the time, was taken. When the tomb was found in 1922 by Howard Carter all of the modern day valuables--gold, precious stone, jewelry, etc. was intact. The sarcophagus and mask are incredibly detailed, well-preserved, and meticulously made with a very high concentration of gold. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed in the museum so you'll just have to take my word for it...or visit yourself.

Justin and Sam smoking an authentic Egyptian hookah.

Me and Justin in front of the Egyptian Museum (Aladdin's lamp was behind glass).

That night we got together with a friend of a friend of Sam's- Aliza. She works for a mini-publication that caters to English speakers and provided us with some useful tips about Egypt.

Drinks with Aliza

Note to travelers: Egyptian beer sucks.

Upcoming: Day Two in Cairo--Pyramids!!

More Upcoming: All the other stuff I promised.

XOXO,
Pavel

Egypt Trip Day One

2009-04-16T14:44:00.003+03:00

Saturday, April 4--

On our first day of travel our destination was Eilat. The southernmost city in Israel is located on the Northern tip of the Red Sea and is known primarily for its beaches and resorts. When we left Ra'anana the sun had not set and the public transportation (Shabbat-related) was not running. We cabbed from Ra'anana to the Central Bus Terminal in Tel Aviv and arrived just in the nick of time to catch the five o'clock bus to Eilat. This initial bus ride began a journey back to the country from which my ancestors escaped; an impressive task considering Egypt is so hot and so big. Though the trip as a whole was phenomenal, one of the exceptions was the incredibly bad luck we had regarding transportation (much more on this in upcoming blog posts).

Red Sea, mountains, beach...What more does anyone need?

The first bus ride was foreshadowing. Soon after we got on, two wasted Russian guys (for those of you who know it's not a surprise) got on the bus and proceeded to hit on half the girls on the bus, play obnoxiously loud music on their mobile phones, talk so loudly the whole bus could hear, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. Most likely they were traveling for the night for the big party. Every year in Eilat one of the biggest DJs in the world (from Europe) comes to Eilat to spin a huge party. Thousands of young people come out to party and by the time we got to the city it was on. We found our hotel, grabbed a quick dinner and got together with Brandon, a friend of Justin's from back home who is also on a program in Israel. Brandon brought a couple of friends and we hung out with some drinks at our hotel room before hitting a bar. Needless to say, beverage consumption ensued and the next day we woke up exhausted (hungover). We grabbed food and hit the beach. The beach was crowded like any major resort (Eilat is Israel's Cancun) and we agreed that it has to have some of the most beautiful women in the world.

Sam likes to sleep with a frying pan on his head...weird.

Justin, Brandon, me, beach.

After a couple of hours on the beach Justin found out the last bus left Taba (Egypt's border city to Eilat) at 4:30 pm and we only had 1.5 hours to cross the border and get on the bus. We rushed like crazy, took a cab to the border and started going through security. Going through Israeli security was fine, but once we got to the Egyptian side things slowed down noticeably. Apparently the guys stamping passports to get into Egypt are allowed unlimited chat breaks. Chat breaks can happen anytime; like when three Americans are rushing to catch the last bus of the day to Cairo. Once we got through security we were in such a rush that we paid 30 Egyptian Pounds (EP...the exchange is 1 USD : 5.5 EP) to travel about 1 km, which for an Egyptian would have cost less than five pounds. Upon arrival to the bus station (loosely used) we couldn't figure out why the guy behind the counter was saying the bus was leaving in an hour when it was 4:30 now! This line of conversation continued until Sam had the brains to ask what time it was in Egypt. It was 3:30 pm. Egypt was an hour behind Israel time. Meanwhile, we kept getting harassed by an Egyptian with a minibus saying he could get us to Cairo in five hours (whereas the bus might take seven) for 300 pounds. After a bit of bargaining we got a price of 250 pounds. We sat down for our first meal in Egypt (flies everywhere) and then were off in a minibus that looked like it was barely drivable.

The first of many Egyptian meals.

The crazy guy driving the bus spent an hour trying to pick people up (beeping at everyone). For the course of the ride I am guessing he beeped over 1,000 times (literally). After an hour we set off for Cairo. Now it might seem strange to you or me, but in Egypt drivers are allowed to drive wherever they like and go as fast as they like. Speed limits, traffic lights, and lanes are merely suggestions. Note: Not knowing the aforementioned will grey your hair faster than Sam Wachs (too soon Sam?).

Couple of badasses in front of the minibus of death.

After a few hours of private bus we stopped by a rest stop where Sam said "At least we are the only ones on the bus." No more than five minutes later the bus was full of off duty Egyptian policeman chain smoking cigarettes (another of Egypt's charming qualities). We drove on like this, dropping people off, picking people up (sometimes on the side of the highway, which has bus stops because that makes sense). Needless to say it was probably the most stressful ride of my entire life. Egyptian drivers are maniacs, veering, beeping, tailgating. I think if American 16-year-olds sat in a cab in Egypt for five minutes they'd crap their pants and drive like grandmothers the rest of their lives. We got dropped off God knows where (we never actually had a map of Cairo the whole time we were in Egypt) and got fooled with the old how much do you want to pay for a cab ride trick. We paid 40 EP to get dropped off at the wrong location. Luckily we found a hostile (with no hot water...a trend in Egypt) and 2.5 working beds. My bed broke in the middle of the night and I got a painful splinter trying to fix it. In short, if you plan on arranging transportation in Egypt on your own...don't...unless you want to go into a coma from culture shock.

To be continued...

Day Two: Egyptian Museum

More Pictures Coming...

Upcoming posts include:

It's just a cultural thing; you don't understand.

EgypTrip! The Movie

Back in Israel

2009-04-14T21:59:00.003+03:00

Hello from the Holy Land,

Well, I got back 2 AM Tuesday morning exhausted from eight days in Egypt. The trip was crazy/incredible/exhausting. We traveled 60 hours in eight days on buses and trains and made three major stops...Cairo, the White Desert, and Luxor. Justin and Sam (on my blog roll) have already posted about our trip and I think Sam and I will be doing a joint podcast or blog entry shortly. I plan on doing a day-by-day blog post (to provide a breakdown of our trip-including pictures) and also post some interesting/hilarious adventures and hijinks we went through. I also have a couple of pre-Egypt posts I plan on putting up so look out for those. All in all, it's great to be back in a non-polluted, safe, clean city going through Passover (impossible to find bread anywhere): Ra'anana. First Egypt post is tomorrow...

Salaam (hello/goodbye in Arabic),

Pavel

P.S. I know 3-4 words in Arabic

Egypt Trip Itinerary

2009-04-04T14:43:00.002+03:00

Hey everybody,

Wanted to give you a quick update on our trip details to Egypt. Sam, Justin, and I are leaving Tel Aviv tonight (April 4) and taking a 4-5 hour bus to Eilat. Eilat is a premiere beach resort town with dolphins, coral reefs, etc. so we are planning on having a relaxed first day before we set out tomorrow evening to Cairo. The bus to Cairo from Taba, Egypt, the border city across from Eilat, is about 6-8 hours so we expect to get in very early Monday morning. In Cairo, the highlights will be seeing the Pyramids at Giza and the Egypt Museum. After three days and two nights in Cairo we take a 10-hour train down to Luxor, an entire area with historic religious and Egyptian monuments, tombs, and basically everything else that is a testament to Egypt's history. From there our plans get fuzzy as we may spend two or three days in Luxor. After Luxor we will going back, spending one more day and night in Cairo and then moving on the Sinai peninsula. I may be heading back home after that depending on what day it is or will stay with Sam and Justin to climb Mt Sinai. That's all I got for now...if possible I may be updating here and there from Egypt, but if not you'll hear from me within a week.

Take Care,

Pavel

Israel Draws Greece 1-1

2009-04-03T16:56:00.005+03:00

Hey everybody,

The football match (soccer game) was a blast. Renting a car was key that weekend so we did not have to worry about getting to Ramat Gan Stadium with public transportation after Shabbat (public transport only runs after sundown)...and it also allowed us to tailgate before we got to the game. Maybe because four of us had lived in the States, but we were expecting a parking lot for the 40,000+ seat stadium, and it appears that there was not one. After much driving around we parked illegally like the thousands of others parking under bridges and on curbs; it was not uncommon to see one car blocking in a dozen others.

Tailgating with the gang (above).

When we got to the game you could feel the electricity. Like most other soccer-crazy countries in the world Israelis are really into their national team. The stadium was sold out and the roar of the crowd could be heard from afar (where we parked). The atmosphere was phenomenal and we all ended up getting into the game. Greece scored in the end of the first half, but early in the second Israel scored the equalizer and the stadium erupted in cheer.

The stadium had some of the heaviest security that I have seen in Israel and whether for terrorism or riot-control reasons every two sections were fenced off from each other and alcohol was not being sold. Regardless, for $20 (80 NIS) we had a blast and a true Israel experience.

Pictures from Section 7, Ramat Gan Stadium.

Update: Israel lost 2-1 in Greece on April 1 and it looks like they will probably not be making the World Cup. They have four games left so anything is possible, but the likelihood is not good.

Stuck In A [World Wide] Web

2009-04-01T16:23:00.002+03:00

Hey kids,

I have resorted to cheesy blog titles because I have not been able to get blog posts up. Between the weak wireless signal and my schedule (spent night at my aunt's yesterday) I have not been able to get as much up this week as I would have liked. Though I am working on this (at work now so no pictures) I cannot guarantee that I will have more posts up before the following weekend because [Spoiler Alert!!!] I am going to Egypt this weekend with Sam and Justin. The plan is to spend a night and day in Eilat (Southern-most Israeli city on the Red Sea) and get on a bus to Cairo on Sunday night (12ish hours). I am hoping to catch up on my blogging before then, but it's a bit crazy at the moment and I am not sure if I will be able to get to a reliable connection between now and then. Either way I promise to get back in the business of providing quality content in the next week or two instead of updating everyone on my internet situation.

Frustratingly Yours,

Pavel

Shabbat Shalom!

2009-03-30T18:03:00.003+03:00

Hey everyone,

Like advertised, I had a great weekend. Thursday I picked up my first stipend check and I don't want to brag, but it was 400 NIS. For those of you who don't remember the exchange rate it's about $100!!! On Friday night a lot of the people in the Stagerim (internship) program, mostly from Tel Aviv and some from Jerusalem, got together at a fellow intern's apartment in the Florentine area (pictures from Purim were in Florentine). The apartment is on the sixth floor and is, by far, the biggest apartment I have seen in Israel. The balcony alone could fit at least 20-30 people. In short, it was a blast. Hooray New Friends!

The pictures from Friday night are below:

Benji, me, and Margarita (a new intern who is living in Jerusalem) (Above).

Rahel (Israeli), Abby(American/intern living in Tel Aviv), Sam (Below).

The two girls above with Eliel (French guy who made Aaliyah and is getting a PhD in Astrophysics) (Below).

Everyone listed in the pictures above and Justin (Sam's roommate) (Below).

Please Note: Internet in my room has been awful. The pictures and sentences from Saturday (soccer match between Israel & Greece) and Sunday (trip to Jerusalem) are coming up when I get servicable internet. This post was made thanks to (mi amiga) Gabriela's internet.

Visit to Ashkelon 3-22

2009-03-25T18:08:00.007+02:00

Hey guys,

I want to again thank everyone for visiting the blog...it's been getting a lot of individual hits lately and I'm sure that's because many of you have spread the word and have been avid readers yourselves. I should be doing and seeing some very cool stuff in the coming weeks and months and I look forward to bringing that to you in text and picture form.

--

Some funky, new age Israeli art work.

Ashkelon is a city of about 100,000 that sits on Israel's golden [Mediterranean] coast. Situated about 50 km (30 miles) South of Tel Aviv (one hour by bus) and 10 km (6 miles) North of the Gaza Strip the city has a beautiful coastline and beaches and a lot of new medium-rise construction. Villas near the water look, stylistically, like homes in Southern Europe and the Caribbean--red tile roofs, pastel shades of stucco, and architecture that mixes Middle Eastern and Southern European traditions. Though not a major historical site or port city the clean coastline and quaint feel of this Southern city does attract tourists looking to avoid the crowds and bustle of cities further North.

View of the hotels on the beach (above) and an amphitheatre next to the Marina where we met the highschoolers (below).

Mid-rise buildings and some villas to the right (below).

Prior to 2008 Ashkelon was not a target of Hamas rockets. (Hamas is currently the governing body and militant group located, primarily, in the Gaza Strip.) Last year the reality of the citizens of Ashkelon changed as rocket-fire hit the city for the first time. The first heavy attacks came December 2008 as the ceasefire that had held between Israel and Hamas broke down. The months of December, January, and part of February saw, on some days, dozens of rockets being fired in the direction of Ashkelon. Because of the primitive nature of the rockets and hence the difficulty of aiming them, many of them hit outside of the city or lightly-populated areas.

When Sam and I visited Ashkelon I think we were both anticipating something different. The city hummed with activity -- cars whizzed by in typical Israeli fashion- with exhaust fumes, beeping, and a lot of lane-shifting. Vendors were selling clothes and food and people were everywhere. Yet, not more than two or three weeks ago rockets had been hitting this very
town. We saw nothing that even resembled a rocket attack- no burned out buildings, no closed down streets, nothing. With the intent of talking to some of the local inhabitants I had taken a notepad and my audio recorder and fortunately (for me and the readers of this blog) got a chance to speak to two high school seniors (Shenhav and Inbar) who had stayed in Ashkelon during the bombings. They presented a very real and sobering account of life under rocket fire, the conversation moving from what daily life was like to their opinions on the military actions in Gaza. We spoke to them at the Marina, a popular hangout location on the shore with a few bars, restaurants, and boats. Until the girls said that a rocket had hit the Marina and had resulted in several business closures we had no idea that the area had been hit at all.

Shenhav (left) and Inbar (right), seniors at high school in Ashkelon (above).

The conversation was very real for someone coming from a place (Needham) that only gets close to the word "rocket" when people cheer for our high school sports teams [Needham Rockets]. Though some of what the girls said was serious, the conversation was punctuated by laughter and what seems to me as the Israeli spirit. When I asked whether people wanted to stay and raise families in Ashkelon the response was one of courage and defiance--

It's the Fact that they are here, there are [many] more places in our country that people can go, safer places, cheaper places to live in, but I think that if [we keep moving] then...it will never stop.

Powerful words that, to me, define the mentality of Israelis.

--

I am currently working on the audio portion of my trip which (I hope) will be up by next week. I want to thank Shenhav and Inbar for taking time out of taking pictures for their yearbook to speak with me and I want to wish them the best of luck in the Israeli military later this year.

UPDATE: A Quassam rocket landed just South of Ashkelon yesterday (Tuesday 3/24)...no casualties were reported and no damage was done...it was the first rocket attack in ten days

Link: Quassam lands in Ashkelon

Big Things Poppin'

2009-03-24T17:31:00.002+02:00

Shalom,

I got a good bit of updates coming up this and next week on the blog....I went to Ashkelon in the South on Thursday and spent all day there...I got a chance to interview a couple of high school seniors about the bombings and took a bunch of pictures so I'll be putting up a written piece, pictures, and an audio bit soon.

I'm also going to a World Cup 2010 qualifying match between Israel and Greece in Tel Aviv on Saturday so I'll hopefully have some cool pictures and a story to tell.

Finally, my first trip to Jerusalem since I've been in Israel is on Sunday. I'll be getting together with my cousin who lives in Jerusalem and she'll be showing me around.

...Stay tuned....

-Pavel

Life...immortalized on photographs

2009-03-21T12:32:00.005+02:00

The first two pictures are from a couple of nights ago in Tel Aviv, hanging out with (Philly) Sam, Gabriela (going to college here...from Ecuador/New Jersey), and Benji and Ortal who live in the city.

These three pictures are from a club that a big group of us went to on the waterfront in Tel Aviv the day after Purim. Me and Guille(pronounced Guishe from Argentina) below....everyone says we look a lot a like, but I think my skin is just a tad darker [sarcasm].

Travel Update: I'm going to the South this Sunday (not quite sure where yet)....look for the post early next week.

Work update/ travel update

2009-03-18T21:47:00.003+02:00

Hey kids,

Sorry about the dearth of updates the past few days. Between hanging out with some kids and a lack of interesting events I have not had much to post. I have been working quite a bit at the Center to prep for my boss' trip to Italy for the Book Fair so I have been staying a bit later to deal with some issues that have popped up.

I will be getting extra days off next week because I worked this past Sunday . So....that trip to the South is on hold until next week I think. Between now and then I am still hoping to get to Jerusalem (Sunday?) and post some pictures of some shenanigans with some kids you guys haven't seen yet. Stay tuned....

-Pavel

Skype Update

2009-03-14T22:44:00.002+02:00

Hey kids,

One more thing. I just got Skype on my computer yesterday, after much difficulty, so get a Skype account! Look me up in the directory, I'm sure I'm the only Pavel Leykin on there. Whenever I have internet in my room I will be on Skype (weekday evenings EST and weekend morning and afternoons EST). Look forward to seeing and hearing from those of you with webcams soon!

-Pavel

Peres Center Update

2009-03-14T21:43:00.002+02:00

Hey Guys,

I wanted to let you know what I have been doing at the Mediterranean Dept at the Peres Center for Peace so here goes... The project that we have just started (and submitted a funding proposal for) is called MedTales. The idea is to have a web portal accessible anywhere (schools, hospitals, homes in particular) that has videos of famous Mediterranean idols, easily identified by children, reading children's stories from different Mediterranean countries that carry values of cultural understanding, tolerance, etc. The proposed website will also have an interactive section that will include games, and other tools for children to explore other countries in the region (southern Europe, North Africa, Mediterranean Middle East). The project has, in part, been inspired by a Screen Actor's Guild Project called Storyline Online.

We are currently in the process of partnering with publishing houses, authors, illiustrators, translators, and others from the region to be able to launch the project with a minimum of six nations involved, and hence, have each story translated into six different languages. My boss, Noa, is travelling to Bologna, Italy to meet with potential partners at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the largest in the world (I think). I have been researching organizations to contact, helping plan the development of the website (and project in general) and drafting letters to send out to set up meetings at Bologna. The work has been pretty interesting so far and I'm looking forward to being onthe ground here when we do get the money and partners to get this this going full swing.

We have also been brainstorming other ideas for another project in our dept. and we have one kinda in development - essentially creating workshops and seminars to discuss the concept and idea of a Mediterranean "union" (not in the sense of an EU or NAFTA) where countries are more interconnected socially and economically. The idea of a Mediterranean union is not really on the minds of people in the area and we are trying to get it out into the ether so people actually think about the countries here as having something in common. This idea is a possibility, but nothing definite has been decided yet and I have asked for as much input for an idea as anyone would have in the organization.

It's been a good few weeks getting adjusted and I think that the more used to the organization that I am the more I will be able to contribute.

Thanks,

Pavel

P.S. I should have some more cool stuff coming soon if I end up going to the South this week on a day trip. My goal is to interview some people and take pictures...really get a sense for what living under rocket fire is like.

Some words on Purim

2009-03-12T21:15:00.002+02:00

Hey everyone,

If you saw the Purim pics then you can guess it was a lot of fun. For the holiday we went into Tel Aviv to an area that is famous for it's Purim celebration - Florentine Street. The entire street, was packed (as you saw) with the bars open to the street and convenient stores selling tons of overpriced beers. There were people from all over the globe as well, lots of Americans and French in particular all dressed up in crazy outfits. As you can see from the pictures I lost my costume pretty quickly. With that many people in the street it was impossible to keep a child's Zorro cape on my back and as I said before my mustache fell off after one drink.

The street reminded me of New Orleans (those of you that have been understand) with people drinking in the street, loud music blaring, and lots and lots of people. We were out until 4 am and at work the next day I found out several people in my boss (boss included) had been out just as late in the same area as me. Great way to celebrate an arrival to a new country.

Not anything crazy planned this weekend, we went out enough this week, but I'll be blogging about some interesting stuff I have been doing at work - I've been asked about it enough that it deserves it's own blog post. In the coming half week I'll also be putting up a link to a blog that a couple of buddies of mine from Philly (also living at the Absorption Center) are writing and some pictures of friends of mine that I haven't put up yet, so look forward to those.

Best,

Pavel

Purim Pics Vol. 2

2009-03-10T19:29:00.003+02:00

This guy was dressed up as a transformer and transformed in the middle of the street (Above)

Israeli girl I met on the street (Above)

Natan (dreads), Benji (pink boa), and Ortal (girl) with some random guys (Below).

Natan and Celine (friend of Ortal visiting from France) (Below).

Girl that had awesome glasses, me (wearing her awesome glasses and Benji's boa), and Benji.

Purim Pics Vol. 1

2009-03-10T18:46:00.003+02:00

Benji, Ortal, me, Celine, Natan (above)

For those of you familiar with the "Excuse-me Ladies mustache" (below) you can see who I went as...cape, top hat, curly mustache...unfortunately after the first drink my mustache fell off, I lost my cape soon after, and then ended up switching hats with the Israeli girl I met (hence gold sequin hat above).

The Frenches dressed as a Vikings (below).

Purim, Family, Protests, and Pics

2009-03-08T22:30:00.004+02:00

Shalom everyone,

Had a great weekend and the week is about to get really great. Purim, the only Israeli holiday that encourages drinking heavily (so that you can't tell Mordechai from Haman...story here), is essentially a Jewish Halloween. Kids have been walking around dressed up already and setting off small fireworks on the streets and tomorrow night I am going go to into Tel Aviv where I here the party will be pretty fun.

Thurday after work I grabbed a bite and a drink with a girl from work, Sivan, originally from L.A. On the way we saw a large group of Sudanese men standing with signs outside of an Israeli military base chanting pro-International Criminal Court (ICC) and anti-Omar al-Bashir slogans (because of his recent indightment for crimes against humanity in the Darfur region. I didn't talk to any of the protesters, but I did take some pictures...

I got to spend Shabbat this weekend with mom's cousin and her husband (Katya and Dima) who live in Holon, about 10 minutes south of Tel Aviv. They got to Israel about three years ago and have been living in Holon the entire time. Holon is not unlike Ra'anana in the sense that it is a peaceful and pretty "exurb" of Tel Aviv. The exception between cities being Holon is experiencing somewhat of a housing boom - a lot of highrise condo construction. Dima showed me around the city on Friday night and I went for a run Saturday and really like what I saw...pictures below. For family I had never met they were incredibly nice and friendly preparing dinner and a bed and some really interesting conversation. It's great to know that even in Israel I have somewhat of a support system.

Thanks again for reading. I'll be putting Purim pictures up soon.

-Pavel

Rocket attacks into Israel

2009-03-05T21:41:00.004+02:00

I am having difficulties loading the pictures onto the blog so in the meantime I wanted to say something a bit serious. Though I imagine it doesn't make the news in the US (or in Europe for that matter) rockets get fired every day into southern Israel from Gaza. Today, several rockets from Gaza landed in the Negev desert in the South and luckily no one was hurt, but rocket attacks earlier in this week led to the closure of schools in parts of the South (mostly b/c of parental pressure). Though I have not been to the South yet (I'll let you know when I'm going), I have spoken to Israelis who point to the fact that this is a part of life. Sderot, a city in the South that has been under bombardment for ten years (don't quote on that figure) has a pile of rockets in front of the police station that have been fired into the city. Recently, Ashkelon and Ashdod, also cities in the South have made news as Hamas militants have targeted those cities as well. I am not writing this to be biased towards one side or another, but I did want to point out something that I felt was important that some people may not have been aware of. I also want to note that I am living (safely) only a couple of hours drive from these attacks and yet I do not feel that I am in any danger.

Check out this article on the Haaretz website:

Rocket fired from Gaza hits near Netivot synagogue

-Pavel

P.S. Thanks for all of your comments. I have been reading them and appreciate you guys taking the time to read the posts and write responses.

Beach and Star Wars-like building Pix

2009-03-05T20:36:00.007+02:00

Here are the pix I promised...I went to the beach with the girls that live downstairs and my Turkish roommate (pictured with me) Nathan. We are supposed to get some very hot days this weekend- reaching the low 80s is a distinct possibility.

One of the very rainy days I snapped a picture of this cool looking building outside my office building.

Beach, Rain, and New Job

2009-03-02T22:39:00.002+02:00

Shalom everyone!

A lot has happened since my last full blog post and I know I am either not going to get to it all or forget to mention something. Please note pictures are forthcoming in the next posting. I have been busy, tired, or have had crap internet which has been slowing my posting times.

Thursday I went to the beach in Herzilya, a town on the coast north of Tel Aviv. The weather was incredible- talking about 70+ degrees, not a cloud in the sky and best of all the water was (cold) but warm enough to swim in...I didn't bring trunks, but I did wade, and it was very wade-able.

Thursday night we went out in Tel Aviv, had a big night staying out till 3:30ish....it was a get-together for the Stagerim kids (internship) where they received their monthly $100 stipend. Because I had not been here a month I did not get one, but met a bunch of interesting people here from all over Europe (France, Germany, Hungary, etc) some that are making Aaliyah (see one of previous posts) or are here for a few months working or studying Hebrew.

Nota Bene: The program I am on has been cancelled b/c of budget cuts (thanks economy), though I will not be impacted I am one of the last interns to go through the program.

The weekend (till today and maybe beyond) has been a deluge (of rain). It has been raining, thundering, pouring, lightning-ing like whoa. Seriously, like two nights ago, in the middle of the night it thundered so hard that a car alarm went off. Really, it's been miserable weather.

I also experienced what Shabbat means in Israel (in Ra'anana at least). Sundown Friday to sundown Saturday everything shuts down. I mean everything. No public transportation. No restaurants. No supermarkets. Barely any cars on the road. It's like a Jewish ghost town. Very frustrating for secular Jews (me) b/c one is very limited is one's activities.

B/c offices have Friday and Saturday off the work week starts on Sunday. So Sunday, not knowing how to get to my office I took the bus into downtown Tel Aviv....then after going into my buddies office to figure out the bus route I proceeded to walk around for 3 hours going the wrong way (no map), not finding a bus, until finally giving up and walking to my office. Pretty brutal trip, musta been at least 5 or 6 miles.

Today was my first real day in the office and everyone is great; very nice, friendly, and I am starting work on my first project tomorrow- doing some research for our International Children's book project (which I'm too lazy to write about). Buuuut...to who ever I was having the conversation with about knowing someone on Wikipedia...the director of our center (who I am working with) was the Chief Israeli negotiater of the Oslo Peace Accords..... Uri Savir

I might be going to my Aunt's (mom's cousin) for Shabbat this Friday. I've never met her so that should be cool. Also might try to go into Tel Aviv on Thursday. Stay tuned for the next installment and look forward to some pictures soon. Thanks for your readership, I heard the Northeast had a big storm this weekend. Enjoy the snow...

Peace,

Pavel

One more Superhot car!!

2009-02-28T17:34:00.004+02:00

Hottest 2010 Car Models!! Exclusive!!

2009-02-28T17:22:00.004+02:00

Israel is known for it's incredibly styled and fancy cars...cars here are often the newest and fanciest. Enjoy the following pictures of cars with sport-tuned suspensions, hottest paint jobs, and sports-car inspired engines.

Apartment and Neighborhood Pics

2009-02-26T07:45:00.007+02:00

These are some pictures from my new place...we were moved from the first place yesterday because it will be undergoing some work which is why I am not unpacked. It's a pretty bare bones accommodation - two-inch thick mattresses, no heat (really want to stress this) but we do have (crappy) space heaters, a tiny fridge, and supposedly we are going to have five people here soon...which means two people each in the bedrooms and one living in the common room.

I'm living with two guys right now; Jack from Arizona and Natan from Istanbul, Turkey, both of whom are making Aaliyah (which is a commitment to live in Israel a minimum of two years, go through Ulpan (seven months of Hebrew classes), and become a citizen. I've also met some girls living in our building- a couple of Canucks and a Brit. Two of which are going home in the next few months and one whose father is Israeli and is working here.

I went for a run yesterday to find the gym and the city is quite pretty all around...though it's a suburb of Tel Aviv it is very much a small city with decent public transit and stores and shops within walking distance. Also, because of it's proximity to Tel Aviv and it's relatively affluent locals prices here are pretty high for real estate and essentials like food.

The following pictures I took from right outside the center...the area is really beautiful and these pictures don't really do it justice. There is quite a bit of foliage, from palm trees, to some regular conifers/deciduous ones. There has not been any rain since I got here (which is bad for Israel) and it's been between the high 40s/low 50s at night to the mid-60s during the day. I am going to the beach in Herzilya today and Tel Aviv tonight and I'll be putting some pics up from that in the coming days as well.

Shalom from Israel!

2009-02-24T04:48:00.001+02:00

Shalom Family and Friends,

Wow, I am writing this blog at 5:00 am (Israel time) because I am so jet lagged (7 hours) that I can't sleep. The last day or so has been pretty stressful, but I got to the absorption center in one piece and am resting comfortably.

My traveling went something like this:

1. Flight to London Heathrow - If you haven't been to London's new Terminal 5 it is monstrously large...getting from my first flight to second flight probably took 45 minutes to an hour including walking, train-taking, and another security screening

2. Flight to Ben-Gurion Tel Aviv

3. Train to downtown Tel Aviv - 12 NIS (New Israeli Shekels), the exchange rate is currently a little over 4 NIS : 1 USD which is pretty solid considering not even a year ago the dollar sunk to 3.3 : 1 ...one upside of the crap economy is the relative strength of the USD to currencies such as Israel's Shekel

4. Taxi from Train Station to Israel's Central Bus Terminal (according to Wikipedia the largest in the world) - 30 NIS

5. Bus from Tel Aviv to Ra'anana - 12 NIS... big thanks go out to the guy I met on the bus who is in real estate, very friendly

6. Taxi from Bus stop to Absorption Center - 20 NIS, interesting story here...the taxi driver is a big fan of American music and has a dvd player constantly playing music dvds in his center console...the first song he showed me was "Massachusetts" on a BeeGees live concert dvd

NB: I was carrying an ungodly 120lbs or so in four different containers (two suitcases, laptop bag, and gym bag). I don't know how I didn't get something stolen, lost, or otherwise.

Pictures of my accommodations (no heat in my room) are forthcoming. Today I'm going to look for a mobile phone, a pillow, some other basics and I go into my office on Thursday (Peres Center). I'll put some pictures up of the area today or tomorrow and a new blog post in a few days when I get settled in.

I'm going to try to post updates at least once a week with pictures or stories, but I am going to be doing some traveling so bear with me as I figure out a schedule for the blog. Thanks again for all of your well wishes. I appreciate all of your support and hope I can keep you all in the know about what's up with me in Israel.

Best,

Pavel

P.S. I've already talked to a lot of you about Skype and Gmail video chat, but if I haven't then I strongly suggest you get an account and a webcam. Video chats are really easy to setup and free and I do want to see and hear from all you in the States and beyond.

P.P.S. Google Maps and Google Earth give you a good idea of where I am living...take a look:
13 Ha-Sharon Ra'anana, Israel