Yesterday I played frisbee for a little bit with a couple of friends after class and then went to a local foodbank that gives food to needy families on shabbat to help sort food. There really wasn't very much to do, and it ended up being more social time than anything else, but I'd like to go back some other time. Later we went to a bar downtown for someone's birthday here--where there was a 90s dance party--such great music, very reminiscent of all the bnai mitzvah I went to...

Unfortunately we didn't get back until 2:30 am, and we were going on a trip this morning at 7:30---so not so much sleep last night. Today we went to קסריה (Cesarea), זיכרון יעקה (Zichron Yaakov), and נחל תיון (crocodille stream). Ceseara is a port that was built by King Harrod (yep, that same jewish construction king from Tziporri), back in the day it was a huge port, and an immense work of labor. Today it's partially reconstructed ruins that are pretty neat. I didn't like so much how the story of Cesearea we heard skipped from the crusaders (1099) to to 1930s, or how they were clearly highly influenced by the fact that the site was funded by Baron Rothschild (like much of this country), giving him a full 3 minutes out of the 11 minute video on the history of the city. They also played up, in video and multimedia, the size of the enterprize---as in making the site look significantly bigger than it actually is, because it was a jewish enterprise...I think the truth speaks for itself when you see the place.

After Ceserea, we went to Zichron Yaakov (it means memory of Jacob, Jacob being the father of the founder--there was some reason this made sense, but I chatted through the explanation...oops). The exciting thing about Zichron is that it was the first Jewish settlement in Israel (1882) as part of the modern zionist movement. Aside from that it's a nice little town where we ate good schwarma, I finally found a pair of נעות (naot--the israeli birkenstocks that are cheaper) which I bought, and we played on the best playground ever while waiting for the bus! They have playground equipment here never dreamed of in the states--we think it's because the kids here start training for the army at a young age.

After that, we went to Nahal Ta'ion, where we saw a really cool partially rebuilt dam that was used to run flour mills, went on a nature walk, and then had some knowledge dropped on us by Gal. Walking out of the beautiful nature preserve we were confronted by a field full of trash, rubble, sheep, and apartment buildings up a little hill. Gal explained that this was an muslim village, probably the poorest area within the pre-67 borders of Israel (that is Israel not including the west bank and gaza)--these are, at least from what many people I've talked to seem to think here, the proper borders of Israel. Apparently the people here were brought to Israel from Morocco in the 1860s and again in the early 1900s when the zionists were trying to dry the swamps covering the Mediterranean coast of Israel because they're naturally resistant to malaria. Because they have darker skin than many arabs, other arabs and bedouin refuse to intermarry with them, leading to a lot of birth defects, and the area has rampant unemployment and crime. A really eye opening experience--the juxtaposition of the two.

Now, it's nap time, then making a potluck dinner, then most likely having a relatively quiet night with people, maybe going to the Bah'i Gardens tomorrow.

Looking across the port of Ceserea--that debris out to the right is the remains of the man-made breakwater that enclosed the bustling port.

The hippodrome! This is where chariot racing happened, until the far end was separated to turn it into an ampitheater, and then later opened back up.

This was once a palace--and the pool-like thing that takes up most of the picture---a swimming pool from 2000 years ago. This used to be above the water, but the water level has risen 6 feet since then.


Me, and my friends Neri and Mara posing with our new naots! In the background you can see what can only be described as the greatest playground ever created.


The stones are all original, but the wood work is new---a dam system that ran several flour mills.