Basel Hotel Tel Aviv

got to the airport around 7 pm. over the last few days I couldnt escape the feeling that I'm supposed to be nervous. I said goodbye to my family and friends, bought a new camera in the duty free and got on the plane. <br>A fun game - guess where a person is heading. <br>I was seated next to a guy who smokes a packet a day, or 15 cigarettes right before the flight. Taking advantage of a confusing booking I changed seats 10 rows behind. Saved.<br>

... of an 18yr old being nasty to you) I had to beg and plead with her and after 15 mins or so she was so irritated and couldnt really do much else she let me through! Phew!<br><br>We hopped onto another bus and then we were back - this will sound stupid but it is like crossing the border from an Arab country into a European one - the difference is so striking and this is only a fictional border. (with really big walls).<br>

... br><br>In the afternoon I met Walt, a guy whose whole family, from great-grandparents down, had gone to UVA (except Walt himself &#8211; though that hardly diminished his enthusiasm for the place.) He taught his girlfriend Mary-Katherine and me the UVA fight song while we sipped beers with our feet in the sand at midnight. <br><br>At two in the morning, I headed to the airport (more on that below) knowing that once again, like ...

... park: a tropical bird sanctuary (we saw the green parrots flying about); a catcus garden; a children's area; an amphitheatre; a water park. That last one we really could have used, but again--closed. D'oh!<br><br>Exiting the park, we took what turned out to be the long way to Tel Aviv University, in search of the Diaspora Museum there. As we had lunch on the way, a much-needed, air-conditioned break, we had less than an hour there ...

... dance clubs in Israel often get started around 1 AM. I can barely keep my eyes open to midnight, so there is a club in Haifa that is supposed to be gay on Friday nights, but we didn't make it there. We did, however, try to find the "gayest" café in the city. Our GPS led us down a long and winding residential road to the address given, but it was definitely not a café. It was more of a neighborhood shop selling 7-11 types of things. However, the Internet said 49 and our ...

... quad of U of I). The wall is having an effect here, too, as many students are stopped for prolonged periods of time at the checkpoints between their homes and school. <br> <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br ><br>They explained to us the difficulty that they are having attracting professors to their university, since the West Bank is stigmatized as such a dangerous place. There was a guy from Colorado there who has set up an organization to link foreign ...

... with big hotels and people walking around in white bath robes. Despite this, the Dead Sea was an amazing experience. It's a strange feeling floating around in the salty salty water. I was worried that the cuts on me feet were going to give me grief in the water but it was actually the friction rash from walking so much the day before that really stung. Tolerable, but you certainly notice it. Its also cool to think that this is the ...

... t really dawn on me why so many soldiers would be going to the Gaza strip until I got to the hotel room and turned on the news to find out that Israel had just bombed the Gaza Strip and killed around 200 people. It seems as though Israel may be gearing up for a ground war. I am thinking this may be a good time to leave the Middle East and head to Canada for New Years Eve. Happy Shabbat Love Teresa

... Standing next to me was a woman from Russia or Eastern Europe. I felt bad for her because her story was strange to even me, and the Israeli security were not buying it. She allegedly had been in Israel for two weeks on holiday. They asked if she had a camera; she said she didn't take pictures. Come on. Then they were asking for an itinerary or hotel bills. She said they were all taken care ...

... with a hard "o") which is some mix of Scotch and something else. We could only understand about every other word because of his accent, but he was a big animated dude. He pulled himself up on a ledge in the bar, rocked his feet up and held his body there by his toes...that is, until the cement block ledge gave way. He was arrested a few nights later for bashing a car after he thought the driver was after him. He ...