who gave that kid a drum?



i went to a poyke party friday. Poyke is a stew they cook for three hours in a big cast iron pot on a bonfire. its a tradition that started in the army due to its flexible recipe. they just throw whatever they have into the pot including, in this rendition, a bottle of wine, 2 beers, honey, hot sauce, coca cola, 4 whole bulbs of garlic (skin and all) beef, potatoes, yams, onions, squash, and whatever else was in reach. i helped ben (guy to my right) chop up the piles of vegetables to cook it, although i dont think i could replicate the recipe. i dont know if it was just the wait, but its was so good when it finished cooking at 2am. i guess its also important that its dark outside when you eat it.



ben threw the party in his 'village' for his friends and also to reunite the soldiers that met each other on my birthright trip of which he was one. the other guy in the picture with me is yonnie, another birthrighter who stuck around after the tour.



tomorrow... back to yerushalyim! (jerusalem).

also a special shout out to all my NRSDers for finishing their SRPs!!!! and a speacial special shout out to Shannon and David for getting hitched! Salud y buena suerte!

We visited Hammat Gader on wednesday. Its a hot springs that has been in operation since the Romans were here. To get there we drove past the Sea of Galilee and practically into Jordan.

Here some photos from the immaculately maintained Bahai gardens. The garden goes directly up the mountain in a series of 17 terraces. They spent $250 million on this over ten years. I guess in addition to the gardens, which the public can go see, they also extended some of their private (for believers) buildings deep into the mountain. Only BåB knows what they do down there.







And at night from below....

A sign in front of one of the private non-descript Druze temples in Daliat al Carmel. click on the picture to read the sign...



Israel has the greatest number of actively spoken languages of any place in the world (feel free to challenge that). Not long ago I thought people spoke english here and Hebrew was just for show. Hebrew is a tough language coming from the romance side of things. My mom lives in a russian neighborhood so signs here are usually in Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian. Most everybody I've come in contact with can speak a little or allot of english. A guy at a fast food joint asked me which of five languages I would like him to speak. I am again ashamed of the US. At least we'll all speak spanglish in a couple years. "Sababa" is easy to pronounce and means something like "awesome" in Hebrew so I use that allot.

In Akko, an ancient coastal city 30 minutes north of Kiriat Yam (mom's town) all the signs were in Arabic. Here's a square in Akko. This city has a ridiculous amount of history. Napoleon got done in here. more on akko HERE.



Ahhh... the Mediterranean. Its really nice a little south of the Haifa Bay.



Today I'm going back to the Bahai gardens...

During my last day in Jerusalem on the Taglit trip, we visited one section of the security wall that separates Israel from Palestinian lands on the West Bank. The wall does not completely encircle Palestinian territory and is used around checkpoints or in high risk areas. The majority of the territories are separated by a fence. Here you can see the end of one section of the wall and the beginning of the fence.



This barrier is often used as a symbol for Israel's oppression of Palestinians. The wall has fulfilled one purpose in greatly reducing the ability of Palestinian militants to enter Israel and kill Israelis. The wall also has also significantly damaged the Palestinian economy and society. Here's my guide Mordechai explaining the complicated levels of Palestinian control over their territories.



Israelis are generally not allowed to go into Palestinian lands, although there are levels of exceptions obviously for the IDF and others. Palestinians can cross over to work in Israel but need special passes and clearance. Young Palestinian are generally prohibited from crossing into Israel. The Israeli logic for this is clear, this is the demographic that has perpetrated the majority of attacks. However, in my analysis of Israeli policy, this seems like a clear barrier to long term peace as this denies any possibility for communication and exchange between future generations.

Another thing to consider...
When Israel pulled out of the Gaza strip, they had to remove some 8,000 Israeli settlers from the territory. Some went along peacefully and some protested and had to be forcefully removed. The West Bank is a completely different story as there are over 250,000 Israeli settlers, living among 2.5 million Palestinians, who have vowed to fight the Israeli government if they attempt to remove them, and yet this is a prerequisite to a Palestinian state.... Know Hope is tag seen on many walls here.

Mom's House

The house is on a quiet pedestrian walkway and is just blocks from the beach (Mediterranean). The swimming is not the best due to the industrial port just a little ways south in Haifa, and the huge jelly fish that sting and dry up all over the beach. The sunsets are magnificent and end with the green flash.



She calls it her "doll house". There are three cats in the back, three in the front, and one who lives inside. I'd say she has become a crazy cat lady if I had not already seen all the countless stray cats that roam the cities here. I guess the British released them to get rid of the rodent problem... Here's Cinderella in the window.



It was pretty eerie walking into her house. She shipped all of her stuff here so its like I'm back in Cambridge on the inside.



We visited a goat farm today and also went to a "pick your own" berry farm in the Golan (Near Lebanon).

Farfur has been replaced.... LINK

Tel Aviv Graffitti....