By: Rebecca

Jason's mom Sandy visited us for 2 weeks this month. It was great to see her and to unpack all the American goodies she brought us (Ziplock bags!, our favorite peanut butter!).

Perhaps the best part of her visit was that we got a chance to visit many places on our to-see list. I'm not going to recap the entire list (you can read that in her guest post), but I am going to mention a few things I really enjoyed. 

Our trip to Jerusalem was my first visit to the Old City. The weather could not have been better and since we had planned for a full day of exploring, we were grateful that it wasn't too hot. We took a free guided tour, had lunch, and then spent the afternoon wandering back to some of the major sites (the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,  the markets). We had a great time. I'm looking forward to the next visit - there is so much to see!

Jason and me on the ramparts

The Dome of the Rock and the Kotel

Wandering through the Jewish Quarter in the Old City

The other trip that I really enjoyed was our visit to Zikhron Ya'akov and Ein Hod. It was one of the clearest, most beautiful days we have had since we arrived! We went to the Rothschild Gardens in Zikhron Ya'akov, which are absolutely beautiful and far more accessible than the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa. We walked around for well over an hour soaking in the sights and smells. There is even a special section of the garden for the visually impaired which has the most fragrant herbs you can imagine.

Roses at Rothschild Gardens

Map of all the communities Rothschild helped establish

View of the valley from the road to the Gardens

After the garden, we headed to lunch downtown. We had no particular place in mind and ended up at a fantastic Yemenite restaurant called Ayelet and Gili.  It was absolutely delicious and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Thanks to Sandy for bringing the great weather, great company, and the great excuse to get out and explore the country!

More photos from our adventures in our albums.

By: Rebecca

We get tv via an Egyptian satellite feed. We have 600 channels and 590 of them are in Arabic. The English language channels include a couple of Fox stations, the BBC, CNN, Aljazeera, and a bunch of movie channels. 

One evening we were watching Master Chef and they kept bleeping out words. Finally we realized that the bleeps were where "pork" should have been. They also bleep out "wine" we think, there was only one time that we noticed that and we haven't figured out if all references to alcohol are taken out as well. Not in the US anymore.

Most places in Israel you cannot buy pork. In our neighborhood, the Russian grocery stores carry what is slyly referred to as "white steak" so it is available, but not common. Pigs cannot touch the ground in Israel, so farmers raise pigs on wooden platforms (another example of kombina!).

Since no one eats pork, there are not even pork substitutes like turkey bacon. I am going to miss a good turkey bacon BLT now that there are beautiful fresh tomatoes at the market! Those will be on the list of things to eat when we are back in August.

Jason's mom Sandy is visiting us for 2 weeks. We asked her to write a guest blog post about her experience in Israel. Here's what she had to say...

I’ve been here visiting Jason & Rebecca since May 6 and will be leaving on May 21.  I cannot express what an incredible and inspiring time I have had.   Thanks to Jason & Rebecca’s great planning and Rebecca’s uncanny sense of direction and map reading, I feel like I’ve had my own personal tour guides.  

Jason and Rebecca at Caeserea

We’ve traveled by foot, bus, train, light rail, taxi and a rented car to see 3,000+ years of history of the world!  We’ve visited Haifa, the Old City in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, a Druze village, Akko, Caesarea, Ein Hod, Zichron Ya’acov, Michmoret, Afula, Nazareth,and Zippori. 

Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem

Yad Vashem

Mosaic in Zippori

At those towns I’ve seen universities, shuks (markets), magnificent ancient ruins, churches (Church of Holy Sepulchre, Monastery of the Cross, Church of Annunciation) Tower of David (with bullet holes), The Wailing Wall, emotional Holocaust museum, wineries, artist colonies, gorgeous Mediterranean beaches, incredible fortresses, ancient  mosaic floors, coliseums,  birthplace of the Mishnah (Talmud), miles of banana & orange orchards, and must have climbed 5,000 steps to get there!!

Jason and Sandy in Akko

I still cannot believe I was sitting in a pizza restaurant in Jerusalem with my brother Gary, and for the first time had a chance to meet his sons Mordechai and wife Orly and their adorable 7-month old son; and his son Yisrael and his wife Ariella. 

Mordechai, Gary, Jason, Rebecca, and Sandy

I have eaten falafel (which I love) and hummus (served with tons of side dishes) at Arab restaurants; Israeli salad which consists of tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, olive oil & lemon (and herbs); halvah, baklavah, Turkish coffee, fabulous olives, pita bread, dates, dates and more dates!  

Baklavah!!!

A 5-kilo (11 lbs) box of dates!!!

I have enjoyed visiting with my niece Sharon, Akiva and their 4 kids, cousin Cookie & David, awesome conversation with Israeli soldier on a bus from Jerusalem to Haifa, Jason’s unforgettable professor and advisor Ehud & partner Bat-Sheva, and many Americans. 

Israeli soldier and Arab Muslim
crossing a street in Jerusalem

It was important that I visit my Aunt Faggie’s gravesite, and with Rebecca & Jason’s help, we not only found the cemetery, we also found her house and walked on the beach across the street from her house!  

Aunt Faggie's house in Michmoret

This has been a trip of a lifetime, and it has changed my life!!

A visit to the Wailing Wall (the Kotel)

By: Jason

This is J.J. - short for Jonathan Gottleib (don't know what the second 'J' stands for). J.J. deserves his own blog post for the simple fact that he makes me laugh, a lot! J.J. is one of my colleagues at the University and seems to be involved in a multitude of projects. On any given day you may find him gluing together 4,000 year old pottery, trouble-shooting a new microscope camera, or building a large wooden lobster trap in his wood shop. 

Although J.J. and his family made Aliyah many years ago from the U.S., this Detroit-born Jewish "homie" is one funny dude. He speaks "Hebrish" fluently and has an abundance of movie and t.v. quotes on demand. 

We visited J.J. on Purim in the artist community of Ein Hod (that's the story you have to ask us about...). Let's just say he makes one hell of a martini!!

J.J. at work photographing my lobster dissection

By: Jason and Rebecca

This will most likely be the first of many posts about Jerusalem. We had the opportunity to spend a weekend with another Fulbrighter and a free place to stay so we jumped at the chance.  The house we stayed in was in a great neighborhood and within walking distance to much of the city. 

Aside from Yisrael's wedding and our Obama visit, it was Rebecca's first trip to Jerusalem. It was nice to finally get to see the city itself, not just the inside of hotels and convention centers. 

The Chords Bridge -
for the new light rail and pedestrians

As you probably already know, Jerusalem is city with an amazingly rich history and each turn reveals another layer. It was a very hot day, but we managed to see quite a lot. 

One site we visited was very close to the house we stayed in, but off the usual tourist trails. The Monastery of the Cross. Founded in the fourth century, with frescoes added in the 17th century, the Monastery is believed to be the site where the wood for the cross was harvested. 

Monastery of the Cross

The main chapel

By: Jason

I have yet to post one blog about my research and work here -- for that I apologize.  However, this post combines both a bit of adventure and work all in one.  Unlike back home, there is a season for lobster here, which has just gotten underway.  One of the best and most reliable places to obtain these strange (very different than you what you are probably used to seeing) creatures is in Akko (Acre), an ancient crusader city, captured by the Turks and presently a predominantly Arab fishing port just north of Haifa.  Akko boasts a surreal experience with its impenetrable walls, twisting alleyways, and local Arab flavor.  

The City of Akko (Acre)

Feels like an Indiana Jones movie

Ehud and I decided that the best place to buy some live or semi-live lobsters would be at the very good fish market in the Shuk.  Seafood comes in throughout the day from both commercial operations and artisanal fishermen.  One character we met was named Johnny Halwani, a jovial and large raw shrimp-eating Arab fish monger who worked hard to sell us his catch.  Ehud, eventually bought some really nice Grouper from him.  Johnny seemed to like us and wanted us to come back later for lobsters -- making a long story, short, we did and came up empty and we were lucky he did not feed us raw shrimp.

Mediterranean slipper lobsters are found throughout both the eastern and western Med. and are an exceptionally important marine resource in many coastal areas.   Part of not getting totally screwed here by the fish mongers is to: a) not speak English, b) look very serious, and c) don't get excited.  How hard is this for me to do????!!  Are you kidding, almost impossible!!  So, I hung back having to wait another time to practice the 10 or so Arabic words I have learned so far. 

Fresh fish - quite a variety

We picked up a couple of these guys (one guy and one gal) that were freshly dead, and very cold.  Amazingly, passing by later, there were some 'other' lobsters there to join them -- American clawed lobsters!!  I was completely floored by this.  Let me tell you -- for the limited time I have been working with these slipper lobsters, they are tough critters.  As one person calls them, 'Israeli tanks without guns'.  

Mostly dead Mediterranean slipper lobster

The Akko Shuk is truly like going back in time with it's twisting turns, under-ground tunnels and museums (still have not done this), vendors selling spices, fruits, vegetables, shoes, baklava, and one of the best hummus places in Israel -- Hummus Said (yes, we ate lunch there for about $5/person!). 

All in all, a successful day for both research and adventure!

Ehud and me on a tide pool adventure

By: Rebecca and Jason

A few weeks ago we traveled to France for a mini vacation, a relatively short and inexpensive trip from Israel. Jason's childhood friend Shannon lives in Paris with her husband, their two sons, dog and cat. We arrived late on Thursday night and spent Friday doing errands in their neighborhood and had a lovely lunch with Shannon. We were in wine and cheese heaven!

Friday afternoon we all left for Shannon's father-in-law's "country house" about an hour and a half outside of Paris. "House" is a bit of an understatement. The 16th century chateau sits on 30 acres of rolling French countryside. It was in ruins when he purchased it about 15 years ago. After 8 years of renovation, the building is beautifully restored in the original style (the law in France, but he would have done it anyway), but with modern conveniences.

Chateau Daniel

We  spent the first hour wandering around in shock. The two fireplaces alone are practically bigger than our apartment. One of my favorite parts of the house was the tiny door that lead into the kitchen from the stairwell. They kept the original size of the door frame - people were smaller in the 1500s! Our room (or should I say suite) was right out of a movie. The shower had 6 shower heads. The bed had 6 pillows.

Any more pillows and we'd have to find another bed!

Saturday morning we all went to the nearby town to the farmers' market. It was awesome. Produce, meat, seafood and cheese - lots and lots of cheese! Everything was beautiful and everything was displayed like it art. Jason and I were in heaven. We could have stayed there all day, but it was raining and cold and we had the kids with us. I was lucky enough to get to use all these delicious ingredients to make lunch and dinner in the fabulously equipped French kitchen. 

Fresh and local veggies - displayed the French way

CHEESE!!!!!!

The house also has a beautiful stable. The 5 resident horses are trained for dressage and other carriage racing events. The horses train every day and we were lucky enough to go on a training ride. Shannon's father-in-law took us all over the place - through the village, down muddy carriage roads, through fields. The scenery was gorgeous and even though it was raining on and off, we had a blast! I think our grins say it all.

Horse stable - the other house

Our ride :)

Sunday was beautiful and we had a really relaxing day hanging out with everyone. It was great to spend time with friends and take a much needed break from our everyday lives.

Sunday night it was back to Paris. Jason and I took a long bike ride through the huge park (Bois de Boulogne) near Shannon's house. We stumbled on a beautiful garden and enjoyed the spectacular spring evening.

Shakespeare Garden in Bois de Boulogne

Jason's borrowed bike - it was like driving a Mercedes

Monday morning we dropped the boys off at school and played tourists for the day. The obligatory visit to the Eifel tower, a museum visit (the Quai Branly), a stroll through Montmartre, lunch at a creperie, a climb up Sacre Couer Basilica (Sacred Heart) for a great view of the city, and coffee and pastries at a cafe. Paris is beautiful. We found everyone to be friendly and helpful. We would highly recommend a visit and we can't wait to go back. 

The view from Sacre Coeur
(can you spot the Eifel Tower?)

In case you haven't seen enough pictures, the rest are in our photo album.