A Weekend in Jerusalem with Desert Scientists

Last Tuesday (Nov 2nd), I received a call from the conference coordinator of the Drylands, Deserts, and Desertification Conference to be held Nov 8-11th, asking if I was still available to volunteer (and thereby attend) the conference.  She asked that I meet a group of incoming participants in Tel Aviv Friday morning November 5th and escort them for the weekend, a pre-tour that seven individuals had elected as part of their visit to Israel. 
How did the conference get my name?  I shared a book on sustainability with the Wellesley Club of Israel, to which one of the members responded.  Turns out she's the PR Director for Ben Gurion University, the host of the conference.  I agreed (and Dan rescheduled my birthday dinner to Thursday evening before I left). 

I met five individuals at a hotel just 10 minutes north of our apartment, tracked down our bus driver, and we were on our way by 11:10am.  We drove the hour to Jerusalem (top pic), where we met our tour guide, Noa Karmon, who works in Shimon Peres' office during the week.  Tour guiding is a weekend side-gig for her, and based on the receipt she gave me to pass along to the conference coordinator, it is a lot more lucrative than her 6,000 shekel/monthly salary (less than $2,000, for which she works 12+ hour days). 

Our first stop was the Jerusalem Shuk (outdoor market).  It was not unlike the one here in Tel Aviv.  At the opportunity to split up for lunch, I encouraged Noa to show us a place that she recommended (to try to get something more authentic).  The little home-cooking spot she chose was excellent.  I suggested we order for the table to share, and the others seemed greatful for the chance to try a variety of local arabic dishes, including kibbe, mousaka, rice and chicken. 

After lunch we walked through the neighborhood across the street from the shuk.  This historical district (2nd pic from top) has gone through many changes, but thanks to a little foresight, has maintained it's character.  A cheap place to live in the 1970's due to newer, more modern developments elsewhere, it is now one of the hottest neighborhoods in town.  As part of it's historical significance, there are plaques on the outer walls of some of the homes with photos and stories of the families that lived in/owned the properties during the establishment of the state of Israel.  Tel Aviv has a neighborhood like this which is walking distance from our place, Neve Tsedik.                                    

We spent the late afternoon on Friday at the Israel Museum, where the dead sea scrolls are housed.  In order to create an environment that would mimic the cool, dry climate of the caves that they were "lost" in for over 1000 years, the museum built a water cooled underground space that looks a bit like a white spaceship on top (3rd from top).  Two hours here wasn't nearly enough time, but luckily I can go back.  I walked through the ancient civilizations section and the modern art section (rather quickly).  My favorite piece in this wing was the floating band (see right).  The large square building (right) is the Knesset, or Parliament building, the seat of the Israeli legislature. 

Noa left us from the museum, so I was in charge of helping our driver get us to the hotel, Ramat Rachel Kibutz, where we were staying two nights.  The bus driver wasn't familiar with Jerusalem, but luckily he asked for directions from other vehicles, as I wouldn't have been much help.  (As an aside, I have heard that the joke about men not asking for directions doesn't translate here.)  At the hotel I spent a little time sorting out the reservations, as we were missing two who had cancelled, they had my name wrong, and they didn't have our driver's name.  After a few phone calls we worked it out, and put in a request to track down one participants luggage (El Al lost it on the way in from Africa).   

Once everyone had a chance to get settled, we met up in the dining room for dinner.  Buffet style, it included hot dishes and a variety of salads.  Turns out this was the same cafeteria that the guide brought us to for lunch a few weeks ago, when I was out in Jerusalem with Dan's work colleague's wife from Dubai.  The participants were happy with the variety and quality, which worked well, although I am not usually one for mass produced cafeteria style food.  It wasn't the best, but it was convenient.  Of the five participants, there were three from the U.S. (one born in China), one from Australia and one from Africa.  The Americans were two professors and a grad student in agricultural sciences.  The Australian and African were from the public sectors in their respective countries.

On Saturday we met Noa for a full day in the old town of Jerusalem, including a visit to the Western Wall /Wailing Wall.  At our lunch break the group split off for coffee so I had a chance to go with Noa deep into the Muslim quarter where we ducked into a little 3 table eatery where the chef brings in home-cooking and sells until it's gone each day.  We had hummus with meat, pita, pickles, rice, and boy was it delicious!  In the evening I escorted the Australian and African women to a multimedia performance at the Tower of David, back in the old city.  The Americans decided to get some rest, due to their jet lag. 

Sunday morning we said goodbye to our driver Riad, and joined several groups of incoming conference participants for a full 35 person bus tour day in the old city again. This was a bit repetitive, and gave me the first taste of the disorganization that was to follow.

The shuk on Friday mornings

Yesterday we took a 15 minute walk down to the big outdoor traditional market in the city of Tel Aviv.  It runs 6 days a week, and has several blocks of the cheap chinese made clothing and kitchen items that you can find in many third world markets.  But it also has 4 or 5 blocks of fruit and vegetables, and several side streets with meat, dairy, bakeries, and dry goods, which haven't been open during other times of the week.  I should have expected a crowd, as everyone does their shopping on Fridays in preparation for Shabbat (or because it's one of the few non-work times that people have to do their shopping).  Luckily we weren't in a hurry. 

We've been going here once every 1-2 weeks to load up on fruit and veggies.  This time we spent a little extra time exploring the side streets, which paid off nicely.  We discovered a pork vendor, with fresh cuts of all kinds of pork (they had bacon but couldn't slice it, so we only purchased a couple pork chops for the week).

We also walked into a dry goods store with asian writing outside, but discovered much more than asian sauces and noodles.  They had tortillas, quinoa, and much more.  I was reminded of an observation I have made while shopping here - there is more variety.  Take quinoa, for example (top pic).  Besides the fact that this is a south american grain that I didn't expect to find in Israel, this living room-sized store carried 3 different varieties - royal, red, and trio royal - all organic, and priced similarly to the U.S. 

And speaking of variety (and quality), there are the bakeries.  We discovered an amazing one where all the loaves were 10 shekels (about $3).  And pitas are sold on every block.  There are the traditional Israeli pitas which are the most common (on the right side of the middle pic).  Then there are Arabic pitas, which are larger and not made to open into a pocket but rather used like a wrap.  And then there are the Druiz pitas which look more like a large crepe (you can see one of these bubbling up on the hot plate with the Druiz woman in the background.  They slather these with various spreads.  Dan almost bought one, but they wanted 15 shekels for one here, and he wasn't that hungry.

The shuk, while not terribly efficient, can be quite fun when you have time, a sharp eye, and an adventurous spirit. 

In the Negev

A Floating Band

At the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Getting hired in Israel

Leave the U.S. and you will be reminded that while we have crossed the line of common sense with litigation, the original intent for having some legal recourse is a good thing.

I have been hearing some of the "horror stories" from job hunting first hand from a friend here.  While most of the major public corporations follow international hiring standards, she has had some interesting experiences with a few private firms. 

Not long into a recent interview, she was asked, "What does your father do for work in the U.S.?" and then, "So, are you married? Do you have any children?" She handled this as gracefully as she could, by replying with, "How will that be relevant to the position?"  The hiring manager apparently viewed this as an open opportunity for debate, as his response was, "Well, if a woman comes in for an interview, and she has four children, don't you think I have a right to know this?"  A few minutes of this back and forth made it quite clear that she wasn't interested in working with these people, so she gave him the best response she could - "Well, I'm single, have no kids, and would you like to know when I'm ovulating?"

On the other hand, she has had better luck getting an explanation when not selected, whereas in the U.S. the standard response is, "we had many highly qualified candidates and had to choose the one who was the best fit for the position."  And that basically means, I'm not telling you a thing because I don't want a lawsuit.

I have been networking a little here so far, but haven't gone on any official interviews.  I'll let you know what I discover first hand, although my meager Hebrew skills will probably preclude me from access to the good story-making interviews.

A day in Jerusalem

Last Thursday I joined Dan's colleagues for their tour of Jerusalem.  We left Tel Aviv about 8:30am, and drove the hour in reverse traffic, luckily, as the inbound traffic to Tel Aviv was at a stand still. We arrived in Jerusalem via some off-highway roads that were used to get the women and children out of Jerusalem during the occupation before the 1967 reunification.  Our guide, Yuval, was one of the babies taken out of the city, because his family had already made Jerusalem their home nearly 40 years earlier, having immigrated to Israel from Poland before WWI.   

We also drove a steep, winding old street that was the original road into the city before modern roads were built.  Jerusalem sits on top of a series of hills.  We started with a view of the old city from an adjacent hill.  The valley between is a large Jewish cemetary, however along the wall to the old city there are Muslim graves, put there in an attempt to keep the Jews out, as Orthodox Jews are not allowed to pass through this type of cemetary.  It had something to do with being "unclean." 

Inside the old city is the Temple Mount, a holy site for Muslims, the Western "Wailing" Wall, a holy site for Jews, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a holy site for Christians.  The old city is made of layer upon layer of construction, so the archaelogical digs that you can tour are fascinating.  They go back to Herod's temple, built over 2,000 years ago.  This was at a cultural turning point from polytheism to monotheism.  If you're interested, there's a lot more on Wikipedia.  It is fascinating to see the solutions that Israel has come up with since the last bombing of the city in the late 1960's in order to allow those living there to rebuild, while creating access for the archaologists to uncover the history below. 

Unfortunately, at street level it has become in many ways like every other tourist destination on earth - vendors hauking clutter, looking for suckers.

It was nice to come back here, having spent a day in 2006, and this time not worry about "seeing, doing, and buying" like I'd never be back.  I'm looking forward to exploring more of the country so that I can provide  an insiders guide when you come to visit us.  

A day in Bethlehem and the Dead Sea

Last week Dan's colleagues were in town for a business meeting.  Two came from Dubai, and two from Dearborn, MI.  One of the guys from Dearborn brought his wife and they stayed a few extra days, as this was their first visit to Israel - a "trip of a lifetime," she indicated on several occasions. 

A tour of Jerusalem was scheduled for the Ford team on Thursday. But because she expected to be on her own for Wednesday, she had scheduled a tour guide then as well, to see Bethlehem and the Dead Sea.  I offered (via Dan) to take her to dinner in the evenings and show her around Tel Aviv, so she reciprocated and invited me on her Wednesday tour.  It was my first time out toward Jerusalem since 2006, which was the only time I have visited Israel before we moved here. 

We started with a drive up through Jerusalem, to the Scrolls of Fire monument that is a memorial of the Holocaust. It is in the Martyrs Forest, comprised of 6 million trees, representing the lives lost. 

Then our guide, Yuval, took us to the border of the West Bank where we transferred to another vehicle (a border shuttle service for tourists).  I had my passport with me, but it turned out not to be required.  The border guards obviously knew the driver, a Christian Arab who lives in the West Bank but has ID allowing him to go back and forth.  Yuval did not go with us, likely because Israeli's are not generally allowed into the West Bank.  Crossing was easy, and once over there, we transferred cars again to join a guide who took us into the Church of the Nativity.  This is where they say Jesus was born.  There is a church built over the site, as with all the bibilical locations here.  It is a combination church, in that the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic each have a side to the building. 

Next we transferred to yet another guide in order to go about 5 minutes away to the Shepard's Field.  The Arab guides in Bethlehem have specific sites that they cover, not unlike a gangster's territory, however, these guys were focused on cycling through the tourists referred their way to earn their share of the daily fees.  I asked how things are over there for them.  Recent relative peacefulness has increased the number of tourists, and that's good news for them.  40% of Bethlehem is working in the tourist industry.  So they have a strong vested interest in peace.  One of the guides said he was able to freely go back and forth before 2000, when the suicide bombings in Israel drove the government to start restricting travel.  That is what lead to the building of the Wall that now restricts most Israeli's from the West Bank, and most Arabs from the rest of Israel.  But I met others there who do have access to travel back and forth.  They just weren't young men.  Profiling is a way of life here, unfortunately.  But it's working, for both sides, from an economic standpoint at least.  I don't see that it helps cross-cultural understanding.  Business and tourism seem to be driving forces in cross-cultural interaction, which from what I have seen tends to break down stereotypes.  We did pass by an interesting settlement outside Jerusalem (before we got to the West Bank) where Yuval explained that Christians, Jews, and Muslims are purposefully coexisting peacefully.  He said their model is based on the education system - they go to their own religious establishments for religious education in the morning, and have a co-educational environment all afternoon.

After the Shepard's Field our guide took us to his tourist shop and tried to sell us his over-priced goods.  Unfortunately this is standard operating procedure, as are kick-backs for taking your tourists to specific restaurants and vendors (as we learned once back with Yuval, who ate and drank for free everywhere we paid).  Once back with Yuval, he took us to a Kibutz for lunch and then we drove out to the Dead Sea and floated around at 1500 meters below sea level where the salt concentration is 8.6 times that of the ocean.  When I say float, I mean float!  Once you lift your feet up, you can barely get them back down to the mud.

From there, it took about an hour and a half to drive home.  This will be a guaranteed stop on your local Israel tour, should you decide to come visit us.