By Jason and Rebecca

We've been committed to exploring Tel Aviv (Israel's largest city) the past few weeks. There's tons to see and do, and we've only scratched the surface. We wanted to share a few highlights from our most recent day trip.

The easiest way to get to Tel Aviv from Haifa is the train. It's fast, cheap, and efficient. Once there, we can walk to almost everything we are interested in seeing.

One of the many bike and pedestrian trails in Tel Aviv

First stop on this trip was the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Surprisingly spacious (especially for Israel), they have an impressive collection of art. We spent most of our time in the Impressionist section, but also toured contemporary (lots of Andy Warhol) and photography. There was a special exhibit commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war. It was small, but intense and captured the feeling of that moment in history. 

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Next, we made a long trek to the Nachalat Binyamin market - a weekly craft fair showing the works of Israeli artists: jewelry, ceramics, paintings, textiles, glass, and seasonal items. Surrounding this pedestrian mall are a variety of restaurants, cafes, and shops, making it a great place to spend a few hours. We have been on a quest for a Chanukah menorah (technically called a Chanukiah since menorah literally translates to lamp). Last time we visited the market, we had spotted one we liked and, since Chanukah is right around the corner and a chanukiah is on our list of items to get while in Israel, we decided to go for it. 

Our Chanukiah - stained glass and an
unusual round design

Street performer at the market - a wannabe Joni Mitchell?

After perusing the market, we decided to get some food while on the walk back to the train. Trying to be healthy, we got a delicious fruit smoothy at one of the ubiquitous smoothy stands. We followed that up with another Chanukah treat - sufganiyot! Basically a jelly doughnut. To redeem ourselves, for dinner we stopped at a small restaurant called Fresh Kitchen and split a delicious cheese and roasted veggie panini and a salad. 

DELICIOUS sufganiyot!

We also stumbled on one of the best music/movie stores we've ever seen. They had every movie you could think of organized by genre, actor, director, and country - even an entire shelf of Canadian films! We browsed the extensive music collection and Jason picked up a CD of instrumental middle-eastern flavored jazz by a native Haifa musician. 

It was great to explore Tel Aviv and enjoy the beautiful weather. We plan to go back again soon. 

Just one example of Tel Aviv's interesting architecture

By: Jason

After a long day in the field (see previous post) I came home to get cleaned up. A hot shower felt great, but I decided to take a short nap. Not 5 minutes into my slumber, my phone rang loudly.

Jason: "Shalom?"
Caller: "Hi Jason, this is Oz. I have a lobster for you."
Jason: "Who, who is this?"
Caller: "Dr. Oz" (not the one on American TV)
Jason: "Oz? Oh, right, sure that's great."
Oz: "I bring it over to your house. We go to University. I drop you off."
Jason: "Oh...okay. Call me when you are on the way." 
Click.

This was obviously a big surprise, but I was elated to have another lobster for my research. However, I was exhausted and not looking forward to making the trek back and forth to the University. I started to think of how I could keep the lobster at home for the night instead. Then it hit me, eureka! I happen to have a battery powered air pump, a bucket, and nice cool spot on the balcony. I think this might work. I just hoped the lobster was in good shape. 

Two hours later...

Dr. Oz calls. I meet him on the street with the bucket and some cash (yes, I still had to pay for the lobster). He motions at me to unstrap a bucket from the back of his pickup truck complete with salt water (now I'm set) and one very large and feisty slipper lobster. I'm hurrying because the truck is blocking traffic, but Oz seems unconcerned, chatting with my neighbor who he apparently knows from school. I hand him the money - there's not even any time to make change - and he drives off. Mission accomplished. 

The lobster was quite happy on the porch overnight and made it to University in one piece the next morning. You never know when you're going to need a bucket, sea water, and an air pump!

Oz the lobster

By: Jason

You may ask: so what does a typical field day look like here in Israel? This post is one I should have written a while ago, but it took a long time to understand what "typical" meant. Here it goes:

Tuesday

5:30 am: Get up; grab lunch, water, coffee, cooler, toolbox, bucket, dive booties, change of clothes, towel; walk to bus stop.

6:00 am: Transfer to second bus. By now, plenty of weird looks - I'm carrying all kinds of unusual items.

6:30 am: Arrive at University Sadna (Dive Facility). Meet the guys (Amir and Mosheko); load the truck and the boat with gear and equipment; and, just when you though you were ready to go, relax with a cup of Turkish coffee (now I'm awake!!!).

7:30 am: On the road to field site. Unexpected detour through residential neighborhood. Involving a 3-point turn by an F-350 towing a 20-ft boat on a trailer. 

8:00 am: Arrive at field site. Get wet and start the military-style boat launch. This involves lots of yelling and being ordered around, but it works - just hard at 8 in the morning. 

Boat launch in Nahariyya, northern Israel

8:30 am: Collecting data, doing research, diving, launching nets - the best part of my day. The guys are helpful, creative, and fun to work with.

Hauling in the net

Capturing the critters

10:00 am: One more station to sample. But... alas, Amir decides it's time for a coffee break. From beneath the deck, he unpacks a toolbox. Out comes a camping stove, finjan, and glass cups. The water boils and the Turkish coffee flows. Amir transforms the workbench into a coffee bar and installs himself as the barista. If coffee isn't your thing, feel free to take a refreshing swim instead. 

Variations on the coffee break include: Anchoring the boat and swimming to the beach to have coffee with the local kibbutz sailing club. Or, picking up acquaintances, friends, colleagues, or the former chief admiral of the Israeli navy.

10:30 am: Finish with plankton tows, moving on to diving.

10:45 am: In the water diving, dodging jellyfish

11:00 am: Get your ass in the boat by hauling yourself through the tuna door. If you fail, you will be left behind when Mosheko takes off like a bat out of hell. 

12:00 pm: Lunch time! Variations on this include: no lunch, packed sandwiches, hummus at a gas station, or dock the boat at a busy fish pier send runner to best hummus place in Israel for takeout. While this happening, watch culinary show filming at fish pier. Are we really on TV? Ask the Dutch guy, he's the producer. 

If anyone sees this on the Food Network, let me know

12:45 pm: Back to the boat launch and time to extract the boat - stressful times! One person on the boat, one in the truck and the rest in the water. Lots of yelling and getting wet. Pull the boat, yank the rope, gun the engine, spin the tires, cross your fingers. Chances are you will repeat these steps more than once.

The R/V Zvi - finally on the trailer!

1:15 pm: Head home to Haifa. 

2:00 pm: Arrive at the Sadna. Unpack and wash the boat, truck, gear, etc. 

3:00 pm: Finish up and, if you're lucky, get dropped off at a more convenient bus stop. 

By: Rebecca

One of our goals for the fall and winter is go to on more tiyulim around Haifa. We took a step (or 316 of them) toward that goal last week on an exploration of one of Haifa's many wadis.

Called Nahal Siah, this hike starts from a nondescript trail above a school. It is impossible to tell that you are about to enter a lovely stretch of forest, but then suddenly you look up and see no buildings at all! At the end of the hike we had a choice: Walk to the road and take the bus home or, climb the crazy stairs up a steep hill to the Kababir Mosque. Guess which path we chose?

I thought this time I would create a little photo gallery of our hike. If you want to see larger versions of these photos, visit our photo album. Enjoy!

Starting the hike

Through the forest

Jason

A view of the mosque

The spring

The spring and wadi

Looking down the steps

Kababir Mosque

Rebecca

The view from the top - it was worth it!

Can you see the stairs? Look closely

Fossils in a cliff make of chalk

By: Jason and Rebecca

We thought we'd take an opportunity to give you a unique perspective of our neighborhood. One of the largest neighborhoods in Haifa, Hadar stretches from the commercial district near the port, about halfway up the mountain. We live in the upper reaches of Hadar and have a great view of the city below us. Hadar is a very diverse area and our street in particular is very mixed. There are Russians, Christian Arabs, Jews, Ethiopians, Baha'i, and several ex-pats. This makes for some interesting interactions and great people watching! 

Despite being a narrow, one-way road, our street is a major thoroughfare connecting two major roads that go up and down the mountain. This provides an added dimension of chaos and amusement. In addition to the usual delivery and garbage trucks, everything from tow-trucks to ambulances to tour buses (and even the occasional off-duty city bus) squeeze by our apartment - and no, there's not a lot of room. One of our friends was asked by a bus driver to help by turning in the side mirrors of numerous cars so he could fit around a particularly tight corner. 

There are always a few old Russian ladies sitting outside our building on a bench, not sure what they are talking about - maybe world peace or whichever vodka is on sale. They don't even get up when the watermelon truck drives by on a hot summer day yelling through a megaphone loud enough to wake the dead. One day I watched as two men parallel-parked a car with a dead battery (impressive!). The neighborhood shul, just a few doors down, even held evening services on the sidewalk one Shabbat. 

The watermelon truck and some creative parking

Parallel parking a dead car. I don't know how they
managed this with only two people!

Besides humans, we have resident cats of course (too many!), birds, geckos, jackals, and even a hedgehog! 

All in all, it's a great place to live. There's never a dull moment! Hillel street is really a microcosm of Haifa, and Israel as a whole, and allows us to immerse ourselves in the vibrant culture and atmosphere