Residence Beach Netanya

... It's described as the Middle East's only (or at least first) subway, but it's basically an underground funicular, running in a nearly straight line past its six stops. The cars seats and door entries are level, but the rest of the cars are diagonal, so there are stairs running through them as you walk from one end to another. Anyway, up we went, getting out at the end of the line, not far from our hotel. We agreed to skip our drive to neighboring Akko (Acre), in ...

... while making funny comments to certain limits. A few times, my commander has told me bluntly that she "is not my friend." I even love the punishments, or some of them. When you get uniform infractions for an undone button, a forgotten shoulder icon, or a hat left on for one step too many walking inside, you get "migdal techniot." Each night, every person with this punishment gets their only long break (one hour) of the day cut short in order to do sprints. I started referring to this ...

... a swarma (I think it's called) which is Turkey roasted on a vertical spit (like greek gyros) and served in a pita with vegetables. I've been getting to know the folks in this group some, though, I haven't been making a huge effort to do so. I find that the sites and history and local culture are taking enough energy that when I get on the bus, I'm not much for ...

... outside their windows and the streets did not put a smile on my face for sure! Anyway, on we went - got the car, puck up mama, and deda and drove to visit Babushka. The last time I was at a grave site was at the burial ceemony in LA and felt sick, weak and disturbed at the thought of the feeling of death beside me. This time, IM 'm standing in front of MY grandmother, my deceased loving grandmother who I remember making pilmeni with. At first I didn't cry, but then the ...

... 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.

... don't succumb to alcoholism or overeating. They work toward their goals, with all the energy they have. Thus, they're also quite: "successful". Israel's architecture and landscaping, for example, are spectacular. Midnight-purple skyscrapers in Tel Aviv tower with webbed, pointed awnings on each story, like something from The Forbidden City; and palm trees and rock fountains make apartment complexes look like paradisical dwellings. An American Jew who'd ...

... also makes beautiful metal and leather furniture and chandeliers. I had to indulge myself and bought a beautiful bronze candle holder/sculpture by her which is being shipped home - too heavy to carry. We went to a couple of bazaars, a flea market where i got a freshly squeezed glass of pomegranite juice - just a small stand with a large squeezer and a huge pile of the largest pomegranites i have ever seen. Most of the day was just strolling around looking ...

... 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 ...

... would mean no TV, no computer and nothing to do! I accepted the invite and took the last bus out of Ra'anana at 16.10, which took about 20 minutes to travel North to Netanya. Netanya is a seaside town that reminded me of Venice beach in California, with high rise apartments and activities such as basketball and an outdoor gym along the sandy sea shore. It is populated by a lot of retired jewish people from the UK along with Russian immigrants (who have ...

... around with guns. In fact everyone walks around with a gun. Girls younger than myself decked out in military uniform, with a huge rifle strapped to their back, boarding buses and carelessly swinging their guns around, bumping people down the isles....scary. Woke up early on Wednesday to catch a bus to Jerusalem. This time we decided to get a little taxi bus into Netanya. I loved the way they worked. These taxis seated about 10 people. There were no designated ...