Metropol Grand Netanya

... soap. Now, though, it was weird. It was the first time the commanders had ever put forward something funny, though they certainly did not laugh. Essentially, we would have to sing the entire time while cleaning that morning. A number of times, I was ordered to do push-ups for "not singing." I do not know how the commanders managed to maintain straight faces. In one funny episode, a commander walked into the boy's bathroom as I was cleaning the sinks. She began to inspect the toilets ...

... jews (with features like Barak Obama), the russian jews (most of them blondes and with slavic looks), red-haired irish-looking jews (that are just missing a Guiness), and even the ones that look facially like arabs. The ones that conserve what we would say the distinguishable jewish features are the members of the hassidic community (an ultra-orthodox jewish community). This broad genetic diversity makes walking in Israel similar to walking in New York.

... him for a late-night Tish (Charadi gathering) with the Sanz Rebbe and a few hundred of his followers. I'll never forget the experience. Some of the highlights were:

* We were the only people, amongst hundreds of men, who didn't have black coats, furry black hats, massive sideburns and a beard

* I felt like I was at a hardcore European soccer match - the followers stood on large portable grandstands singing passionate songs, while bowing violently ...

... to call the Australian Embassy. All this while my taxi was waiting outside, for close to an hour. Finally they let me out of the hotel, and I was ready to leave Egypt for the Promsied Land. Jordanians are just as bad Once again I changed flights in Amman, Jordan. I spent a few hours at the airport, reading newspapers with articles such as "Israel's new terror on America", claiming Israel actually conducted terrorist attacks on the USA (!!), then blamed the Arabs and ...

Don't get me wrong, I'm a noob when it comes to trips. My perversion is that before I start planning I must find the most appropriate tools to use. I wanted everything to be online, so I can access all my information from everywhere. I also wanted to put all my tools together in one site preferably, or in several services that will be able to interact with each other. I began with Trip Advisor. Being the best site for hotel reviews, it's not the tool for ...

"Four tickets for the beach please." "No" answered the young Jewish-Israeli girl at the ticket desk bluntly. "This beach is reserved for families." "For families?" we answered. "Is it always like this?" "Yes." "Okay" we said. "We'll go to the next beach." As we walked away, we (3 internationals and 3 Palestinians) looked beyond the gate at what we were missing. Nice place, but wait... there were no ...

... November sun. I thought. Then smiled. I finally had a better understanding of Judaism's influence on Israeli society! I recalled Ohad's words: "The Jewish people were chosen by God to follow a new discipline He was handing down." I thought of Ohad, who'd experienced the egalitarian spirit and brotherly love of Australia, and who now welcomed everyone warmly. I thought of my friend Ran Dor in Tel Aviv, a newly religious guy who thought the goal in life was ...

... open when I got here, but things started opening up after sundown. There are stray cats all over Tel Aviv- its gross. I hate cats to begin with, but this is nasty, even for cats. We grabbed some coffee at a cafe and came back to his place for a little while and set up the Wii. Around 11:30 or so, we started walking into a more main area of Tel Aviv. The buildings here are are so cool - I feel like I am on a movie set when I am walking ...

... They were even willing to put the fan on us so we were sold! Actually, the menu was more Slavic than Scottish so Barb had the stronanoff, Les had spaghetti and I can't remember what I ate. After dinner, the boss sent over some local ameretto that was so smooth, I wish I could have had more. A taxi was in order for getting home and then we watched TV for a while and then went to bed as the next day was going to be a busy one with Eddie as the tour guide.

... week. To get there I took the bus from Tel Aviv which was filling up as I arrived at the stop. I stood round waiting to get on and suddenly found it had filled without me and it almost left with my bag! Another drew in and I took my place in line. I was near the front so no worries here. Five minutes later I realised that this bus was also in danger of filling without me. How had this happened?? I looked ...