Galil Netanya

... commanders refer to the enemy simply as "terrorists." What I mean is, they neglect all else, which I suppose seems reasonable given Israel's location in the Middle East and the enemies they face. For example, when one person asked the commander giving the lesson for the reason why a certain Lebanese man had killed three Israelis in cold blood, she replied: "What reason? He's a terrorist." This commander also happens to be the one who allegedly speaks Spanish fluently, which I find ...

I've decided to try keeping two blogs here. This one will be primarily reflections and spiritual stuff, the new one will be about other travel stories. I just think it will be good to keep them separate. So you may want to go check out the other blog as well. I'll call it "Sabbatical 2009 Travel/"

... was called over and interviewed before proceeding. When it was my turn, I walked up to the interviewee, poised for my interrogation. I was disappointed to find out her questions were similar to the ones all airlines ask, and she seemed to be barely listening to my answers. I resisted the urge to make any sarcastic comments, and was soon on my way to the gate. When we got to the gate, rumor starting coming down from others in the ...

... lots of TV - thank goodness they air The Weakest Link here to give me a much-needed trivia fix. I was meant to meet up in Netanya at night with Talia from my Poland tour but I couldn't get hold of her. As the family was out, and Brendan went back to Jerusalem, I stayed at our cousins' place on my own for my quietest Saturday night (quitest any night) for a long time, before preparing for my next pilgrimage to Jerusalem.<br>

... though there's plenty for me to keep myself occupied with. I went for a walk on Rothschild St and picked up some good sushi where the guy who served me looked like Sacha Baron Cohen - the street culture's pretty interesting, with quite a few bars here, though I was pretty tired and headed to bed after half an hour. Tomorrow I'm spending the day with Rebecca Stern, but it's Israel's election day, effectively a public holiday, and I'm not sure if everything will be open.

... I did not plan for starting one, either. While I was looking for tools to make my planning easier and effective, I found this little blog service that lets you write entries and attach a map to each one of them, and I decided what the heck, let's give it a try. So, as you can see, I'm not interested at all in planning any trips, just in finding the best collaborative, cross-platform, online and cloud computing tools available for the task. So yeah, I'm a nerd.

... narrow cobblestone streets built up and down a steep hill, very old buildings all piled on top of each other. Now, it is a series of art galleries, cafes and small shops - very colorful. We stopped at a famous Israeli sculptor's museum/gallery - Ilana Goor - she lives in and has a multi-story studio/gallery along one of the little streets that has been completely renovated but still retaining the old cobblestone walls. It is decorated with her art works ...

... He has a rooftop deck area off of his apartment which is awesome, and I almost just want to lay out here rather than go walk around, but I know that is boring. I am going to take a quick shower and get started with my day. Thanks a ton to Tatyana for the cell phone (it works perfectly)!! Ari had a SIM card to give me that he doesnt use, so I have a cell phone for my time here which is pretty awesome so I dont feel totally stranded when ...

... went in a little car with all 5 and the air conditioner at full blast! First off was a drive through the kibbutz that Dumameit grew up on.   I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity!  It was not what I had imagined.  I was thinking that it would be more desolate and fields.  That wasn't the case at all.  This has a hotel, water park, businesses, and lots of beach area.  This kibbutz is the most prosperous one in Israel.  From there we drove into ...

Well, what can I say...I survived my first week of what some would consider paradise and others would consider hell. I've been assigned to some pretty disgusting jobs, but all the more character building. Time is very limited but I hope to post pictures and write soon. Just remember society is functional...and in order for it to go round somebody has to do that disgusting dirty job! All is well and despite some new experiences, I am having the time of my life!