Mugraby Hostel Tel Aviv

... Black by Pearljam, which nicely sums up a trend I'd noticed in Israel. While London was still running 80's themed party nights, and Europe was thumping out tacky dance anthems (Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro and Tonight's Gonna be a Good Night being the worst offenders) everywhere from Bunol to Istanbul, Tel Aviv was well into 90's mode, ahead of the curve on the inevitable 20-year retro rule. This is a heartening trend because, as I mentioned once to Goldie (most likely ...

... than it was before - take a look at the picture.
They say it took them 9h 14m 9s to finish, as for me... I think I'll need more than a day, to say the least...

It is getting hard to keep up but we are now in Tel Aviv. Barry arrived on Sunday and we took our apartment. Very nice and very central.

The last few days with my relatives were spent visiting more relatives, Uncle Benjamin and two sons David and Yacov.
We spent a day looking at the Wiesman Institute and house designed by Eric Mendelson. Being in Israel is a step backwards in the past with all the bauhaus architecture.
In the evening we planted grape vines at Kibbutz Tzuba ...

... The mediteranean sea is warm but unfortunately the jelly fish were stinging/ Nobody was there. We would die for a warm day at the beach when you weren't bumping into each other.

Todfay we went to Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park. Although hot as xxx outside, these caves were a cool respite. Deep limestone caves with these incredible formations, in which pigeons ...

... br>
We took a nearby train to the home of Bonnie's cousins in a newer community halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, called Modi'in. We were picked up at the station, and the warm welcome we received was wonderful. It had been a long time since we had last seen Nurit. Far from being the young recruit in the Israeli army that we had met 30 years ago, she now had a family, three great kids in their older teens and twenties, a beautiful home, and we were really pleased to ...

... enjoyed the Q&A session with four Lonely soldiers, one of whom had previously enlisted in our program. He had some interesting things to say, although our platoon's commander scolded him at one point and made him stop revealing certain things.



On one very interesting morning, before a 8-km hike through the desert, and before some fat kid spilled our huge water container there in the open field, one Nahal battlion allowed us to witness their real-time training ...

... and others I had met for the first time. Earlier that day Ahuvah and I spent the better part of the day cleaning out the kitchen getting ready for Passover. In order to make the kitchen Kosher and passover safe, you have to clean out all the crumbs that might be left behind from the year. Also, anything with wheat in it thats open has to be thrown away. Ahuvah has a decent sized kitchen ...

... maintain the drive for such a journey? How do you make sure your eyes do not grow accustomed to new sights? How can you keep getting excited over new adventures when every day is an adventure? And also, how do you cope with being always on the move? As time went by we realized we may never be able to answer all these questions, and as a matter of fact, we found most of them irrelevant for us. As far as we are concerned, a ...

... this work. I give a talk on the role of a think tank as an honest broker, convener and educator of decision makers in industry, government and the financial sectors. Jessica takes Marcia and Veronica to the beach and then they have lunch with the Elbaz family where I catch up with them by 2:30 PM. Jessica's program at Tel Aviv University (TAU) is focussed on the modern middle east -- Islam and Judaism, Israel's political and economic systems ...