TO: Dr Rice FROM: Prateek Khamesra DATE: Jan 29, 2015 SUBJECT: Israel Journal Day 1 8th Jan 2015: TRAVELING We boarded the bus at 5 pm and reached Washington Dulles airport at around 7.30 pm. It took us a lot of time due to too much traffic, but it was good as I got to know my team better. While in the bus, everyone talked about their hometown & how it was to grow up in a particular area. For instance, Abby was born and brought up in NY, Raymond, born in Guam and his father served in the navy, so he stayed in many places & now his family has settled in Maryland. Sam grew up in Pittsburgh and every summer her family goes to their Lake house in South Carolina for family bonding. Katheline is also from NY but now her family is settled in Florida. She told us about her recent trip to Florida. The interaction gave me a deeper insight of the culture and values of each team member. (Group picture at Dulles Airport before boarding) Our flight was delayed by 20 minutes, but surprisingly, we reach Frankfurt 40 minutes early. In Frankfurt, we had a layover for 6 hours. Sadly, I had to stay at the airport due to Visa issues, but my teammates went to Frankfurt. I saw the pictures, they were amazing. Most amazing part of the Frankfurt airport was its beds, yes, you heard it right. They had sleeping beds lined up in series. After 8 hours of sitting in one place in flight with your body in a state of complete discomfort, nothing can beat the joy of stretching your legs and sleeping for 3 hours. I had the best sleep. (Above is a pic from Frankfurt, where Mercedes is ordering hot dogs) At the airport, I met a Canadian girl who was also traveling to Israel. She has a brain tumor since the age of 15 due to which her right hand was paralyzed. Her story made me realize that how blessed we are and how diminutive my problems are. She inspired me. Before boarding the flight, I went through one of the toughest security checks, they were literally frisking everyone. I boarded the plane at 6 PM and reached Tel Aviv at 11 pm. It was a comfortable journey unlike the previous one. Lufthansa airline food was good, especially the dessert. In Tel Aviv, the lady at the airport asked me the purpose of my visit along with few relevant documents. Tel Aviv airport is very modern and has lots of modern architectural design with important historical pictures on the wall. You see those pictures everywhere that depicts Israel is very proud of its history and wants everyone visiting the country to know about it. (Tel Aviv Airport) Outside the airport, we were received by our cab driver who drove us to Haifa. It took us an hour to reach there, but the roads were smooth, with instructions at regular interval in English & Hebrew. The weather was similar to Baltimore. We reached our hotel, Hotel Marom at 1 pm. It was freezing outside as well as inside the room. We turned on the heater but I couldn't sleep due to the jet lag and woke up early. DAY 2 – 9th Jan 2015 "Shabbat Shalom", Haifa. I woke up at 7.30 am and got ready for breakfast. Here, people actually believe in the philosophy of eating breakfast like a King. Typical Israeli breakfast comprises of eggs, cheese and different variety of breads. Raymond and I befriended the waiter (see the picture below) who told us that the jams were homemade and told us to try them & they were delicious indeed. He also made Omelette for us when we told him that we like eggs. We learnt Hebrew word for 'Thank You" - "Toda" from him. Interacting with him was a good experience. We went to our room and slept like a pig. We were a lot sleep deprived due to the jet lag. We woke up at around 12.30 PM for lunch. We both didn't want to wake up, but we didn't want the team to wait for us so we got ready quickly. We went to the Burger place nearby, which I observed to be completely empty at 12.45 PM. The waitresses were really sweet to us, initially they brought a menu in Hebrew, but later gave us an English version. The best thing about Israel is that most of the people speak English. Luckily we didn't have to use hand gesture anywhere. We ordered burgers, the veg burger was awful, but the non-veg burger was good as per my team. I observed that by the time we were leaving the place, it got full that indicates that Israelis prefer to eat their lunch late, around 1.45 PM. At 2PM, we met our student guide, Alex, who was an architecture student at the Technion University. Funny, intellectual and friendly are the words that come to my mind when I think about him. He took us to Carmel centre Metro station. The subway was inclined 45°. The subway network was unique as it had only 7 stops since Haifa is a topological place in a hilly region. It took lots of effort to build that metro. It is definitely an engineering marvel, building a train track at 45 degree inclination can't be easy. As he was telling us the story, a person came and told him in Hebrew that it's closing time. Alex told us about the Jewish tradition of 'Shabbat' where everything closes early on Friday evening till Saturday. Hence, Israel weekends on Friday and Saturday. (Carmel Metro Station – 45* inclination) Then he took us to the highest point of Haifa, providing a view of the Mediterranean Sea. It was one of the most blissful views, I have ever seen. Different shades of blue reflecting the sun rays. He also told us about the British blunder of making a port, which blocked the water front line. Then, he pointed out a different part of Haifa such as German colony and ministry area. Then he showed us mountains across which we could see Syria and Lebanon. This made us realize how closely Israel shares its borders with its neighbours. In terms of demography, Israel is about the same size as that of New Jersey. (Mediterranean Sea in the background) While we were walking towards the Baha’i Garden, he showed us many war memorials & told us story about different wars such as the War of Liberation 1948, 1967, Lebanese war 1 and 2. He gave us lots of cultural introspection, told us about their land schemes, compulsory military training, different architectural style and history of Israel. We reached Bahai garden. We couldn't go inside as it was closed due to rain & slippery stairs. He told us stories of the Baha'i religion, its founder Bob (that means gate) and his son who spread the faith after his death. The garden is one of the most well maintained gardens in the world and offered a spectacular view. We got to know about different ideas and views of the Bohemian religion. (Baha’i Garden) Then we went to Carmel church, Mercedes told us the Biblical significance of each symbol on the gate of the church. It was 5.30 PM and it was getting dark outside plus it was really cold outside so we decided to go for a coffee, but instead we ended up in a bar where we tasted wine from Golan Height (see pic below) region in Israel. The region has volcanic soil and high bauxite content. As Alex joked "we are drinking gunpowder" & I would say it was one of the most tasty gun powder drink, I ever drank. After enjoying our drink, we got to know Alex better through his personal stories. He told us about how he proposed his wife near a freezing lake in Chicago, the different countries, he travelled, his views & travel experiences. He told us an interesting fact that Israelis love hiking & most of them after their military duty take a year off for hiking. He went to Chile for hiking after his training. We really bonded with him over the drinks. Then at 7, we left for dinner at Asian fusion restaurant 'Giraffe' where we met the Head of Technion International Affair, Arial, an amazing person and an avid traveller. He said he has travelled almost all the continents in the world and more than 51 countries. On Monday, he would be traveling to China. He gave us quite an insight into the Chinese culture, his INSEAD experiences, hiking experiences in Nepal, India, and Latin America. The sushi and noodles we had for dinner were amazing. We had a great time there. At 9.00 pm, we left for our hotel. (At the restaurant called Giraffe with Alex and Arial) After we reach our hotel, we played "card against humanity". This game helped me know the funny and quirky side of my teammates. It was fun. Now it’s 12.45 AM, time to go to bed. Day 3, 10th Jan 2015: North Israel We had the typical Israeli breakfast of cheese, bread and omelette around 8 AM. At 9 AM, we met our tour guide, Yacob. He came to Israel from Poland in 1957. He told us about the plan of covering the north of Israel and told us a lot of biblical stories over the day. He had a unique way of telling a story, he used to ask us questions.