Tel Aviv

the day after rocking the casbah

Palestinians living in central Hebron were amazed to hear the sounds of music emerging from their street at 4 am. 'We ran to the window and saw soldiers dancing,' one of them says. 'We used to be afraid of them, but today they are part of the neighborhood'

"The soldiers were singing out loud a song we never heard before and dancing with their rifles in their hands", Naoul recounts.

"It looked like a dance group in uniform," adds 15-year-old Rima. "At first I laughed, but it's not entertaining at all. It shows their ridicule towards us."

"We have gotten used to them. They have lost any sense of shame and so they allow themselves to dance in the middle of the street."
Rima has already encountered Israel Defense Forces soldiers dancing or singing on the streets of Hebron in the past. "Sometimes, when the muezzin announces a prayer, they imitate him or repeat his calls. This is another symbol of their contempt, but we have gotten used to that too," she says.
But both the mother and daughter admit that the soldiers sometimes manage to make the local population happy. "For example, when the small children play football, the soldiers join them and they play together. That's actually nice. For us they are already part of the neighborhood."

Rock the Casbah: Behind the scenes - Israel News, Ynetnews
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3916366,00.html

israelis are fun

"The situation in Hebron now is pretty calm, and when you don't have any incidents, soldiers get bored and this is what they do"

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/soldiers-to-face-punishmetn-for-youtube-video-of-hebron-boogie-1.300241

And here's the original video:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIrVofeRh0g

winter in Israel

I think it's almost fair to say that this year Israel is experiencing a winter that's almost worth the name. It has actually been raining a lot, and today we have maybe the coldest day of the year.

Of course I'm saying this now because starting tomorrow the temperatures will increase and the sun will shine again.

So, here's the forecast for next week:
(the temps are in F. In degrees Celsius it ranges from about 13 to about 24)

And, to be able to understand what this means, take a look at the Israeli annual averages:

Amazing, isn't it?
Notice that from May to September (and also April and October in some places) there's pretty much 100% of sunny days. And that doesn't mean some clouds, it means really sunny.

Yom Kippur 2

Yom Kippur, 5 p.m. - I saw the first two cars driving in 24hours. Since yesterday afternoon all the traffic stopped and people would either walk or ride bicycles.

As the gentile I am, I had two options for Yom Kippur: either go to the Kinneret Lake for a rebel barbecue (pork served, of course) or simply stay home, rest and work something. With my injured foot, the 3rd option of going to see how people who don't go to synagogues walk the middle of the roads and how they gather in the social centers in the city was just not possible.

I ended up staying home, so the only thing I noticed about this holiday was in fact the absolute absence of cars. I admit: I kind of enjoyed the silence. The dorms in the Technion are also almost empty because everybody goes home to "celebrate" the holiday.

Anyway, it's funny to remember the european movements that promote days without cars. Environmental friendly and stuff. Nahh.... that's no good motivation. Replace it for some religiousness and the social pressure of everybody doing it and you'll see the cleanest roads you could ever imagine.

And more, no one can have a smaller ecological footprint than a Jew on Yom Kippur: they don't drive, they don't turn on electrical devices, they don't make fire, they don't do anything, they don't even shower, they don't even eat! It's a day to make up with God.
Do that for an entire year and it will be like you weren't even here. I'm guessing you won't be...

Anyway, those two cars I saw were kind of lonely, there's no traffic yet. Let's wait another hour. Can't wait to see people and ask how does it feel after a day like this.

Yom Kippur - these people are insane

I didn't write anything for a long time. Had planned on posting about the trips to the desert and the Dead Sea, but it has been indefinitely delayed.

Anyway, last friday/saturday it was the Jewish new year which I celebrated with one of my friends' family. It was a very nice dinner with lots of food, mainly chicken and the traditional dish Gafilta Fish, and lots of apple with honey to have a pure and sweet new year.

The new year, רוש השנה (Rosh haShanah), also marks the beginning of the so called holiday season. It is followed by יום כיפור (Yom Kippur), the Day of Atonement, which will be next sunday/monday.

Here's a short description of the holiday, from Wikipedia:

"Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn of the Jewish Holidays. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.

Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the month of Tishrey. According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a "book" on Rosh Hashanah and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend his or her behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God (bein adam leMakom) and against other human beings (bein adam lechavero). The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public and private petitions and confessions of guilt (Vidui). At the end of Yom Kippur, one considers one's self absolved by God."

So far so good. Actually I know some people who usually don't care about any of the religions aspects, nor are they believers but in this day they spend 25 hours without food, ten of which are spent praying in a synagogue.

The insane part is that, unlike other religious days when people are allowed to not observe them, on Yom Kippur you actually CANNOT drive or eat outside or do anything. ALL stores are closed because on this day it is actually forbidden by law to work. It's not just a holiday when you don't have to work, you are FORBIDDEN.
I can't invite my friends for a barbecue (the ones who eat on this day) because probably the people around will go insane at us. Well... either we go spend two days in the middle of nowhere or we stay at home and eat in the dark so no one will sabotage us. Of course the eating in the dark is made up, but all the rest is actually true!

Let's see what happens anyway.

Some links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_kippur

The Holocaust Day - יום השואה

At 10 sharp this morning the sound of a siren was heard all over the country for two minutes.
I knew this would happen, so I stayed in my room. It's not war, relax, everybody already knew.

"On Yom HaShoah and Yom Hazikaron, the air-raid sirens are sounded throughout Israel to mark national moments of remembrance/silence. The accepted practice is to stop and stand at attention, no matter where you are (even cars on the highway just stop in the middle and the drivers stand outside their cars!)."

Of course I couldn't resist looking out the window to see if people actually stop doing whatever they are doing - including driving - and stand up in memory of the holocaust.
They do! (at least the ones who were at the gate of the Technion)
It was amazing to hear the sound go down and see the people in the streets getting in their cars and starting to move, all at the same time as if everything was alive again. It was like a ghost-movie moment.


Note: in Israel today is the Holocaust Day and next week, one day before the Independence Day, is the Memorial Day which is a national holiday. These days are observed according to the jewish calendar, so they float in the gregorian calendar.
14 Nisan: Holocaust Day (יום השואה, Yom Hashoah) - Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day
4 Iyar: Memorial Day (יום הזכרון, Yom Hazikaron) - Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day
5 Iyar, 5708: Independence Day (יום העצמאות, Yom Ha'atzmaut) - anniversary of the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948

happy jews - נחמן מאומן

There is an orthodox jewish movement known as Breslove. They follow the teachings of rabi Nachman (נחמן), who said that above all we must be happy.

This is the result:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1JpugIrFKI&feature=related
"I was standing in line for some Shawarma in Israel when all of a sudden I look over and these guys are dancing to music in the middle of traffic!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laqhK1aknvE&NR=1
Yes, they really stand and dance in the middle of the traffic. And yes, it really is trance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd5ykj6gbG0&feature=related

That's it, their purpose is to be happy and make others happy as well. Generally it works, but i'm pretty sure that every now and then there's an angry man pissed of because they stopped the traffic...

Notice also the always present van, all covered in "נחמן מאומן" (Nachman Meuman) stickers and fully equiped with the sound system! ;)
Once again, this is a religious movement, as weird as it may seem.

PS - for more info check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Nach_Nachma_Nachman_Meuman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breslov_(Hasidic_dynasty)

IAESTE

Btw, the organization that first allowed me to engage in this adventure of spending one month in a foreign country both working and enjoying deserves at least a citation, so here's the link to the international, Portuguese and Israeli sites of the IAESTE organization:

http://www.iaeste.org/

http://iaeste.ist.utl.pt/

http://www.admin.technion.ac.il/IAESTE/

And yes, I know those guys on that picture on the Dead Sea. I've also been there ;)

human rights

In a few days it's the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' 60th birthday, let's celebrate!

Yep, it was in December 10th, 1948.

Another very important thing happened in 1948: George Orwell wrote his book! Cool, huh...?

It's a great book. A bit of an anti-climax though...

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories." 

(http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)

There's a nice animation with the Declaration written on a human silhouette here:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/12/departments/human-rights-interactive

I'm optimistic: someday this Declaration shall hold everywhere in the world :)

As for that piece of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, here's a little history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine

It's quite general, not specifically about Israel, but I enjoyed reading it a few days ago.

;)

pallywood

I was shown this video while I was in Israel by one of the boys from Technion.

I ask you to watch it and then give me your comment.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=3330818905742409257

Jerusalem

Last week I took Thursday off work and went to the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi with Kyriaki.

The weekend was spent in the amazing wonderful city Jerusalem.
Not only there is the most amazing mixture of different cultures and the old city seems to be a market itself, it looks like every piece of stone there has a thousand year history to tell.
We're not talking about nice medieval things here, we're talking about the so called center of the universe for at least three different religions.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures with my own camera, but here's the link to Adrian's blog. He takes really good pictures :)
http://niekoniecznie.blogspot.com/

Hopefully, I'll be able to gather some photos later and post them here to show a little of this astonishing city that everyone must visit.

Trip to the North

Still in time for a little description of last weekend's trip: we went hiking.
Ok, done!

After having a hard time with the car rental company, all the three cars left Haifa heading the north of Israel.
For Friday, we went on a hike in the national park around the Montfort Castle. The castle itself is just a ruined ancient castle, but the hike is great.
About half the hike is at the side of a very small river that we can jump over. There's a huge natural wall where the very old layers of sediment can be clearly seen, like steps.
But, apart from the amazing panoramic view from the castle, the star of the trip is the tiny and long cave that leads into the start of the river.
For those who went inside, like I did, this cave makes it worth the effort: clear fresh water with little fish swimming around your legs. I actually tasted the water and it's perfect. Of course there are no pictures of the cave... But you can see the waxing gibbous moon next to the castle and some people smoking a "nargilla" there.

After the hike, some went to a small town where there is a bar/restaurant called Chocolata. They only have chocolate: chocolate with coffee, with ice cream, chocolate lasagna, chocolate soup, chocolate more-than-you-can-imagine.
The rest of the people, like me, went directly to Yehudia, to the camping to have showers and settle for the night. It was a nice night, with the essential vodka and "nargilla".

Few hours after going to sleep, a new hiking trip is waiting. Actually, almost everyone of the 15 people went for sight-seeing and only the remaining 5 went for the hike.
Absolutely amazing hike! Astonishing! Basically we went down the river in the Yehudia National Park. There was a place where we really swam with our backpacks because there was no other possible way!

The hike first attraction is the waterfall. We sat there to eat and rest a little.
After the waterfall, the path is through the river for a long time. At least in the summer, it's a very small river, that we can easily cross jumping. However, here and there are natural pools where people can stop to swim and rest on the sun.

The biggest of the pools has to be crossed... swimming. There's no way around. Everyone must swim or go back. And that's not all, to reach it, you must go down some scary vertical metal stairs. Incredibly nice!
Of course, once again I don't have pictures of the best part because the camera had to be inside the back-pack in a special plastic bag so it doesn't get wet. (Luis, you didn't read this, ok? The camera didn't suffer, not a single drop of whater, perfect.) Yes, we knew we'd have to swim, so we where prepared: some empty bottles of whater, water resistant plastic bags and you have a little water resistant boat.
After the pool, we sat once again to eat and rest and take some sun and bathe and dry clothes.

This was a real hike. You can't just walk straight, many of the times, you have to use your hands to hold on better, climb, jump... All on rocks, no dust to interfere and make it dangerous.

Main attractions done!
Now all we have is some more walking on the rocks side by side with a residual river, some more natural swimming pools and the return.
The return is something like climbing a few hundreds of meters to the top again at the 1pm sun. Hard climb, half an hour. Great great view. This was the last attraction of the place: the view. All of us, even burning in the sun, promised to get back. For me, I promised to get back if I come to Israel again. May happen.

postal

Amores,

estais porventura interessados em receber em vossas casas, de forma completamente gratuita, um postalinho da terra santa?
Entao tendes nada mais nada menos do que dois fabulosos dias para enviar-me um emailzinho com a vossa moradazinha. Enviai-ma e recebereis os vosso estimado postalinho nas vossas residencias ou em geral onde bem vos apetecer ;)

Beijos malta

and the big star is: The Rocket Lab!

Who hasn't done at least one little joke about building a rocket in Israel?...

I've met some of the people who actually work on it at the Technion. And I've seen them at work!I can tell you that even I would become a pyromaniac if I worked there. It's absolutely amazing and thrilling.

Here's a small record of a static experiment with a solid propellant (a kind of wax). This propellant is very strong but the problem is that a part of it melts instead of burning. They are now trying to figure out ways of reducing the amount of melting propellant and they have to try it over and over again.

A burning rocket produces a deafening noise and a flame of approximately 3000K (equivalent to 2730°C). Remember that at the surface of the Sun the temperature is around 5780K, equivalent to 5510°C.
The burning takes only about 10 seconds, but watching it gives you an adrenaline burst. Please watch the movie, it's worth it.

Movie by Sebastian, all rights reserved ;)
(If you can't see the movie, please leave me a comment and I'll send it to you.)

The Turbo & Jet Engine Lab

Despite what you may think, we work here. I don't work as much as in Portugal - far from it, thank whoever - but I get up at 8 every morning to go to work. Actually, some of the other students are really working hard. For them there's no going to the beach after work and no posting in blogs during it.

Until now, I've only worked at the computer, but there are engines and airplanes (big toy airplanes...).

You can find some of the airplanes in these pictures.

The orange engine is the 10m one. Maybe you can't notice it here, but it's huge.

This engine doesn't work. It's just a model to show students how it is inside.

Here's a control platform for tests. Each big engine has one of these platforms. I've seen two. I never saw any of them working, but I can imagine that everything else must stop when these little boys are running.

And yes, they are old and expensive. Prof Yeshayahou [Eshaiao] told me that they are planning to renew them.

Of course my job has nothing to do with these toys. What I do is only computer simulation: I have to program some precise equations for the thermodynamic cycle of an engine. Kyriaki, the girl who works here too, is handling the general design of the engine with a comercial software.

Apart from our simulation jobs, we may also take part in small practical experiments.

The example of this morning was not the case: today we only watched.

One of the guys who works here is a PhD student called Yladi. At the moment, he and his partner are watching an action movie in the computer.
But during the morning he did an experiment with the engine he's working on. The aim was to measure the combustion gases under various conditions trying to find out what are the best conditions for that specific engine.

Believe me, being in there with the combustion gases at a temperature of 1200 degrees and all the noise is an exciting experience.

There's more to say about the surrounding labs and other experiments, but I guess I already bored you enough for today.
Hope now you believe that I also work.

weekend in Haifa

The first weekend in Israel was spent mainly here in Haifa.

Friday morning was the only morning I slept since I left Portugal. (Yes, I went to bed late on Thursday...)
In the afternoon we went hiking in the Carmel National Park.

It was very good, very good, got lot's of scratches in my legs.

That is not really a cave, but is something similar. Martin took us there.

Friday night is disco time.
Didn't take pictures inside the club because I didn't have pockets and I preferred dancing. I must say it was huge but the building looked somehow like a tent, something temporary, despite being famous a Club for several years.


After a 2 hour sleep, let's go and visit one of the main touristic attractions in Haifa: the Bahai Gardens.

This garden was recently included in the list of World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO. I think the best word to describe it is unbelievable perfection! Everything is taken care, to the smallest details.
For the Bahai religion everyone is equal - there is no difference between races and the world should be united as one only country - and they only search for peace between people (hum... what about civil wars?). There's no such thing as homosexuality and women can't show shoulders or knees because that's disrespectful.

You wouldn't believe how tired I was. After going down the 653 stairs (oh yeah, six hundred and fifty three stairs) of the Bahai Garden I couldn't stand still because my legs would start shaking. It was a good idea leaving the rest of the group and going to sleep. They went downtown, to the German Colony and to the Muslim Area.
After sleeping four hours, I went to the Technion's pool for the first time. Next time I'll take some pictures. The pools are really great.

So it's Saturday. Tomorrow we all work... Let's make a barbecue!
There were the usual salads and meet: hamburgers and chicken. Did you know that somewhere in the bible is written that pigs used to be men in previous incarnations? ;)

The picture shows a drinking competition: you put 2 tampons in your mouth and then drink a beer as fast as you can. You only win if you can say: "I win!". It was worth seeing.


So, let's think again: Tomorrow we all work. Hum... let's maybe go to another club tonight.

This club was near the city. It was amazing. Huge as the other one, but much better. The dj's were also very good.
But well, we came home early.

This is Olga, and she's a great dancer.

weekend

And for who hasn't noticed yet, I'm just going on weekend now.
weekends here are Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a working day.

On Sunday I'll post some news about the weekend.

4th September - Beach

Well, after having spent three days here, having done almost zero work, having slept few hours per day, we went to the beach for the first time during daylight.

Yes, on Sunday, the day of my arrival and of Kyriaki's, there was a great party on the beach. I didn't take the camera for it's own safety. On that party we met almost everyone we needed to meet, on the side of the students.
On Monday we went to the lab for the first time, but this is the subject of a next post.

So, even under the killing heat, only on wednesday do we go taste the waves of Haifa's sea.
The water is hotter than the one I use for shower! It is! It's amazing!!
And there are also waves, great and nice waves. I entered the water one minute after arriving at the beach and left who knows how long later.

Anyway, the "nargilla " follows us everywhere, so just after leaving the water, the good smell and taste are waiting. (Nargilla belongs to Slava, a Israeli guy who somehow manages to be with the IAESTE people.)
Don't be mistaken by those pictures: it was already sunset and it was as hot as at 2pm in Portugal. And this was the coldest day of the week.

Oh yes, the ship. The guys told us that probably there was a military exercise going on because there were some helicopters and then came the ship.

At night at Slava's place:

Yes, the naked one is Slava. No, I won't give any further details. (Just note the happiness in his face.)

First impressions

Summarizing:

So, one waits 10 hours in Barcelona airport before entering the flight to Tel Aviv - Ben Gurion. This is what i do in an airport... Take stupid pictures of myself sleeping.

Ben Gurion is a nice airport.
Getting a train to Haifa is the easiest thing on Earth. Everyone is very nice and speaks perfect English. After having been among Spanish people for an entire day, I really feel comfortable here. And they are also beautiful.

All Israeli people do military service: at least 2 years for girls and 3 years for boys. Also, they wear their uniforms all the time. I've been told it gives them free bus rides and other advantages. So, all around in the trains you see very young people in uniform, but relaxed as if they wear it since they were born.

Some of them also carry their guns.
(But they really don't look aggressive. Really.)

In the train I hadn't realized yet how hot this country is. It's HOT, the humidity is terrible. Here we are anxious for colder days. You know: 2 or 3 showers a day...

Train -> Bus Station -> Technion

The campus is amazing. It's huge, trees all over, it's beautiful. One can really live here: there are supermarkets, restaurants, bus, etc inside the campus.

As for the religions, there are the Orthodox, the Muslins, the Jewish and the ones that don't really take very seriously.

Attending to the fact that most of people are Jewish, I still feel like one of the girls who really hide their skin and I'm comfortable with it.

The MAKAK - our meeting place - is part of the Canada Dorms, where the students in IAESTE internships live.

The girl on the left is Kyriaki (Sunday in Greek) and we are like soulmates here: we arrived on the same day, work in the same lab and live in the same apartment. Briefly: we're together all the time.

Oh, people here only drink beer and vodka. If you want, you can put beer in your vodka, but never put juice in it, juice ruins every drink.

Haifa is an interesting place where many different people "live happily ever after", in the words of Prof. Yeshayahou Levy (should be read: Eechaiao Levy). The landscape is very irregular, which makes every bus ride very very long.

Here are two stores in the center of the city. First is a falafel and shawarma place. You pay for the meet and then fill and refill your pita with as much vegetables and sauces you want.

This is a candy store.
Oh sweet candy, it's great.

There's no chocolate neither the usual cakes and it's oh so sweet.

Yesterday the Ramadan started, so now the muslims only eat at night.

We went to the Muslim neighborhood at sunset and everyone was sitting in the balconies waiting for the sun to go, so they can start eating.

This is us sitting on the entrance of the neighborhood playing silly.

They are really nice guys.