It's tougher than I thought to keep up a personal blog when my weekday evenings are spent recuperating from a day's worth of work and my weekends are spent exploring a different area of Israel (note-to-self: joint blogs with friends are the way to go). Since my last blog post on July 9th, quite a bit has happened as one can imagine, and I am determined to document it all within the next week before I forget the sequence of events.
The program that is heavily sponsoring my trip this summer is called MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives), and part of their MISTI Israel program is a fully-funded, six-day seminar, officially titled "Seminar for Global Leadership: Israeli Society, Culture and Technology," which took place last weekend. It's essentially an almost-weeklong retreat with the other 35+ MISTI Israel kiddos to travel around Israel and gain a deeper understand of Israeli politics, society, and technology by interacting with different groups of locals in Israel.
The Itinerary
In order, these were the places and sights we visited over the six days:
Begin in Jerusalem
Visit Mt. Zion and Mt. Herzel
Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum)
Lecture with Dr. Shany Mor to discuss Israeli politics
Tour of Caesarea
Meet with Dr. Rachel Korazim to learn about the impact of the Holocaust on Israeli society
Nof Ginosar
Shabbat dinner at Nof Ginosar
Surprise evening activity with Maje and Sima (our awesome seminar tour guides)
Tour of Kibbutz Ginosar
Private concert with Amnon Abutbul: actor, musician, songwriter, with a fascinating personal story
Company visit to Moona, A Space for Change, in Majd El Krum
Druze hospitality and lunch in Peki'in
Parents Circle - Families Forum
Tour of the Golan Heights, understanding its history and strategic importance to Israel
Rafting at Kfar Blum, along the Hatzbani, Banias, and Jordan Rivers
In six days, we did...all of that, and now looking back at it one week later, I am amazed at the stamina we had to take on this jam-packed retreat right in the middle of our already busy summers. Because we did so much in such a short amount of time, I am going to dedicate each of the next six blog posts to one day of the seminar. Here goes:
Day 1: A Day Off
I took Wednesday off of work to pack and prepare for the commute to Jerusalem where our seminar started. I woke up at a reasonable hour, and Zach and I hauled ourselves over to Jaffa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv and an ancient port city in Israel. This was my second time in Jaffa, and while the first time was spent wandering the streets in the evening, I had a mission this time around: to eat the (supposedly) best hummus in all of Israel at Abu Hassan. And so we did. I'm no hummus connoisseur, but this hummus was definitely superior to the rest I have eaten, and I'm not quite sure why.
The thing about hummus is that a small plate like the one pictured above seems unassuming and light but will demolish your appetite and sit in your stomach like a dense stone for a couple hours. Any plate of hummus is mighty, and shortly after this meal, I wanted to sit in the shade and vegetate for approximately two hours. Another thing I learned about my relationship with hummus over the last two months has been that one plate of hummus a week is sufficient to curb my hummus-needs; any more than one plate a week will be overboard.
As I digested my plate of hummus, the rest of the day occurred as follows:
Pack one carry-on bag of enough clothes to last a week
Explore the mall attached to our apartment and spontaneously purchase two dresses for $20 USD each
Darted to the bus stop and then to the other bus stop and then finally to the nice hotel in Jerusalem where we spent the first night of the seminar (how nice? free, bottomless wine at the concierge)
Visited the Shuk again with Jenny, Eileen, and Eileen's Jerusalem friend, Arthur (who just finished serving in the IDF that day!)
Ate malawachs at Jahnoun Bar for the second time. Malawach is a fried bread and a staple for all Yemeni Jews. Looks like a thick pancake and consists of thin layers of dough, greased and baked in a frying pan. Served with hard-boiled eggs, chopped or crushed flavored tomatoes. After eating malawach for the first time last month, I've had serious cravings.
Ran into a street with a bunch of rainbow umbrellas shading the pathway. Jerusalem is prepared for the 0% chance of rain it will get this summer!
Went back to the hotel where we met Maje and Sima, our two tour guides for the next six days. Played some icebreaker games, ate some (three) nectarines, and met some new MIT folks that I would later befriend during the seminar.
Day two coming soon...