Making the Desert Bloom

We started the day off continuing our painting in Yerucham until lunch time. After lunch we drove down south further into the desert to do an hour and a half hike. It was beautiful to see the natural desert. At one point I hiked up a steep hill and was able to look down in all directions from the middle of the nowhere – I was on top of the world! After the hike we visited the grave of David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. He is buried in Sde Boker overlooking the desert we had been hiking in. After being Prime Minister he moved to this city and joined a kibbutz which fulfilled his dream to develop the desert in Israel. Such a well respected and important man in the beginning stages of building Israel as a country took up regular jobs in the kibbutz, where is first job as the past leader of Israel was a sheppard. We learnt about his vision and foresight to realize that Israel’s greatest challenge as a country in able to succeed as a nation is to develop the destert, which makes up 60% of the country. Israel must find a way to cultivate the land and make the desert bloom if it is going to succeed.The hill I climbed (I'm the speck on the top sitting on the left). Our tour guide Yishai is in the forefront of the picture.

The grave of David Ben Gurion and his wife Paula. The desert mountains can be seen in the background.

In the evening we had dinner and went to a bar where David Broza was performing (somewhat comparable to John Mayer, but much older). We had a great time and partied well in to the early hours of 2009.

The city of Be’er Sheva, as well as many other cities had decided to cancel school for the day due to rocket attacks reaching the city for the first time ever. Thank G-d for this because Hamas had fired many rockets today including one that hit a school in Be’er Sheva. Had school not been cancelled, the damage would have been much more than structural. Additionally new years eve parties were cancelled, and a limit of 100 people were allowed in one place for security reasons. Be’er Sheva like many other cities has now become a ghost town as people are staying close to or in their bomb shelters.

First day of work!

Today we heard from the mayor of Yerucham where he spoke to us about the troubles facing this community. The city was established in the early 1950s and there have been difficulties trying to get people to live here because of its location. As the mayor said – ‘drive to the middle of nowhere and turn left’. The majority of the people here are new immigrants and the city is one of the poorest in the country. Yerucham is seen as a city that nobody wants to live in and a big problem is self image. To start our volunteer work we spent the day painting a bomb shelter and a number of other buildings around the neighbourhood. Despite its necessity, it is horrible to have to picture the need for bomb shelters right next to a nursery school. Anything that we were able to do to change the image of that bomb shelter by painting pictures on it can put the children at ease, and bring life and colour to the community.

One side of the bomb shelter

In the late afternoon after a long day of working we went outside the town to the makhtesh hagadol (large crater), which is unique to Israel. Despite its name, it is not the largest one in Israel. It was amazing to be able to look out in all directions and see no civilization whatsoever only a 5 minute drive from Yerucham. This really put into perspective where we were.


Today rockets were fired from the Gaza strip to Ashdod and Ra’an, the furthest north and east respectively that Hamas has ever reached with rockets. One person died in Ra’an.

Travel Day 2

Still not there yet. Long story short, I get out of the airport in Tel Aviv at 4PM local time after a layover in Zurich, Switzerland. Amazingly everything went smoothly and I even got my luggage! From the airport it was a 2 hour drive south to Yerucham where we would be staying for the next 3 days.

I had a chance to shower and then we went for dinner in the hostel where we were staying. They advertised an Israeli dinner, but there was only bread, humus and salads at the table, which was disappointing. After about 10 minutes they brought soup which was surprising because we did not know there was more food. Then came the fries and rice. Five minutes later they brought schnitzel. Then I started to get full – I should not have eaten so much bread and humus had I known there was going to be schnitzel. Five minutes later they brought out the shwarma. I was not prepared for this much food!!! And lastly desert! The food was great and plentiful as it continued to be for the entire trip.

We had orientation after dinner and then we were given free time. Yerucham is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Israel and thus there is nothing to do here. We spent the rest of the evening at the park and hung out at the hostel.

The Amazing Race

The blog title is misleading – there is nothing amazing about this race. 5 airports, 4 countries, 3 flights… wait – that doesn’t add up…

My 6AM flight from Toronto to New York was cancelled and the only way I could get out of Toronto was by land, not air. They booked me on a flight from Buffalo to New York at 11:30AM, so I had to drive to Buffalo. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. As I was waiting in line to check in, the power to the entire airport goes out! They manually write me a boarding pass that isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Because of the last minute flight change, I was not guaranteed a seat on the flight. I check my luggage and go to the gate where someone might be able to help me. Since there was no power, the people at the desk were unable to confirm my seat – they told me to call their hotline to confirm my seat, but the hotline told me to speak to the person at the gate! This continued for almost 4 hours!

At 1PM (an hour and a half after the flight was supposed to leave) power came back on. After waiting in several lines they gave me a spot on the flight, and a real boarding pass! At this point I am continuing to freak out because I need to get on a plane ASAP which is not here! The plane was redirected to Rochester and is now scheduled to leave at 245. This is not good, as my next flight is leaving at 610. Once on the flight, I manage to relax for about a nanosecond. My stress level then skyrockets as the flight can be summed up by the phrase “screaming baby”.

My boarding pass! Unbelievable!

We land in New York at 430, leaving me an hour and a half to disembark, get my luggage, change terminals, check in, go through security and find the gate. I also have no idea where to go to accomplish any of these tasks! When I got to the luggage carosel I immediately went to lost luggage. I was fairly confident that my luggage had made it – but I did not have time to wait for it. I was watching the far carosel from a distance as the lady was doing the paperwork; all the while I did not see any luggage! After the paperwork was done to re-route my bag to Israel I left the room and saw people on my flight at a different carousel! I immediately found my bag and told them they didn’t have to re-route it. To make another long story short I get to the gate 5 minutes before I get on the plane. Obviously I was the last person from the group to arrive. Ironically, had I made my initial flight from Toronto I would have been the first person to arrive.
At this point things started to improve. After a game of musical seats, I won by getting the aisle seat behind the washroom which had extra leg room!

Greeks Build Israel - Preface

I am going to Israel again! 4th time ever, and 3 Decembers in a row! This time it is Jewish National Fund (JNF) mission to do community service work for a week. A prerequisite for this trip was that I was required to raise $1000 for a rocket proof playground in the city of Sderot, which has been bombarded with over the past 8 years. This is one of the closest communities to the Gaza strip, only 1.5 km away from the border. Residents have only 15 seconds to run for cover once a rocket is launched. More info on the playground later in the blog. Money is still required for this project – you can still donate here. The trip was made up of 39 people in fraternities and sororities from all across the US and me as the lone Canadian. There were 3 of us from AEPi. Even before we left for Israel to help out the communities, as a group we made an impact in Sderot by raising over $40,000 for the playground.

Here is a map of Israel to give context to where I was. The light blue line is the current range (40 km) that Hamas is able to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip. On this trip, Hamas fired rockets into Ashdod, and Beer Sheva for the first time ever – the furthest they have been able to reach. Approximately 15% of the population of Israel lives within the rocket range of Gaza. Since 2000, over 8700 rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel – an average of 3 rockets EVERY DAY!

Ahmadinjad Protest in NYC

Along with approximately 140 other Canadian students, I went to New York City to protest the Iranian President - Mahmoud Ahmadinjad's presence at the UN. We left at 10PM on Saturday and returned at 130AM on Tuesday. A trip of about 50 hours, in which 20 of those were spent on the bus. We arrived in NYC at 830AM and we still had the entire day ahead of us. Before we went for brunch and programming I went for a quick tour of Times Square with my sister, as our hotel was right around the corner.

The morning was spent doing some advocacy training and learning about Ahmadinejad and his threat to the world. At 4PM we got back to the hotel and we had the rest of the evening of. For the evening I hung out with my assigned hotel roommate and neighbours. With only the evening available to enjoy New York, we had to make the most of our limited time. We walked around Times Square, past the Empire State Building, and then to dinner at the 2nd Ave. Deli. We ended up sharing a deli platter which was said to serve 3-4 people. LIARS! - there must have been enough food to feed 6-8 people. The platter included pastrami, salami, corned beaf, roast beef, chopped liver, egg salad, tongue, and turkey. Despite the abundance of delicious food, I was determined not to leave any uneaten; Against all odds, I succeeded in my quest to finish the dinner - but barely. After the dinner, bought tickets in Times Square for a comedy show, where we were told Dave Atell, and 2 other known comics were going to be performing - LIARS!!! We got there and found out it was ladies night, and there would only be female comics, and that the people that were advertised to us had performed the previous week. They comped us one drink and since we were already there, we decided to stay. Only one of the comics was funny and on the whole the entire show sucked. After the show it was almost 11 oclock, and we started walking around the area thinking of something to do, as it was still to early to call it a night. We ended up taking a cab to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, and we walked the bridge to Brooklyn. This took a considerable amount of time, as we stopped to take pictures approximately every 25 feet, not to mention the bridge was long! We ended up subwaying back to our hotel in Times Square at about 1AM.

Amy and I at Times Square

Elana, Me, Dan, Hailey on the Brooklyn Bridge

After heading to bed at 130, we were woken up at 730 in order to get ready for our day. Before we went to the rally, we went to hear from a number of speakers who represented organziations who helped to fund the trip. We then headed out to the rally, where there were over 2000 people there. There was a fairly extensive list of speakers at the rally, however, neither Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton showed up due to Clinton's stubbornness. The list of speakers included Irwin Cotler, Natan Sharansky, Elie Weisel and Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik. The reason for the protest was to show the world that Ahmadinejad's genociadal statements cannot be tolerated, and that he should be denied a platform to spread his hate speach. After the rally, we walked back to the hotel where we boarded our busses and headed back home. It seemed as though the trip was over before it started.

Elana, Hailey and Me at the rally

Chicago boat tour

There was some AEPi convention stuff going on today, however I decided to skip out on it again - didn't really miss much. Instead I went on an architectural boat tour of the city. I took the city bus downtown, and just as i stepped off the bus it started to rain. Just my luck, as I figured I would be soaked while on the boat tour, and end up with crappy pictures. I had to pre-order my ticket, so I was going on the tour rain or shine without an umbrella or raincoat. Luckily 15 minutes before the tour started, the rain stopped, and the sky was blue as could be. The tour was an hour long and awesome - the tour guide talked non-stop, and there was a lot of interesting information, but there was too much info to absorb any of it.

Chicago from the riverCrazy mirror bean

After the tour, I got back to the hotel and got ready for the banquet. After 3 hours of dinner and speaches I got bored to tears and left to party. The speaches ended up continuing for another 2 hours. We partied late into the night, fell asleep for about an hour before we had to get on the bus at 6AM to come back to Toronto.

Me, Craig, Matt, and Josh before the banquet

Take me out to the ballgame

Another early morning full of AEPi stuff, and now skipping ahead to after lunch... Instead of going back to the AEPi stuff, which I had done last year, I went out and about around town in the daylight. This time we walked around the same areas of the city, however in the daylight it was completely different. We managed to get back to the Chicago Theater and get a picture in the daylight.

Joel, Jon, Jon, and me at the Chicago Theater

We got back to the hotel in order to get ready for our early dinner before we went to the Chicago White Sox vs. Boston Red Sox game. This was an ideal 5-star hotel pre-baseball game meal: burgers, dogs, giant pretzels, peanuts and Cracker Jacks! The game was a lot of fun. The White Sox won 4-3, and the game became close when Boston hit a 3 run homerun in the 7th.

The Chicago skyline from the baseball stadium

Sightseeing and Second City

This morning started off early, after a long night of partying. This morning started off hectic as I found out I had another interview with RIM this afternoon. In between the speakers all morning I was trying to track someone down in order to let them know that I can't make the interivew! We sat down for a nice banquet style lunch and awards. After lunch I ran back to the room to try and track down someone from RIM. Luckily I was able to finally get in contact with the interviewer. I had the interview on the spot and it went well (I found out the next day that I got the job!). It was perfect timing as right after the interview ended, I headed back to hear from the next speaker who was Jerry Reinsdorf - Owner of Chicago Bulls and White Sox, who is an AEPi Alumni. He talked to us about his experiences in AEPi and left plenty of time for Q and A.

There were a few more sessions in the afternoon before we all boarded buses to the famous comedy club Second City, where many Saturday Night Live stars start their career. We had the entire show booked out for AEPi, and it was non-stop laughter. After the show some of us decided to walk around downtown Chicago and see the city. We did some wandering with the hopes of eventually finding the famous Chicago Theater. Without luck, and the night getting late we decided to head back to the hotel. We hopped on a subway, and long story short we got lost and just decided to get off the subway and take a cab. Due to dumb luck, when we turned the corner after getting off the subway we were right at the Chicago Theater! The light weren't on, so we had to make a point in coming back tomorrow. We hopped in a cab and headed back to the hotel where we again partied the night away.

The city skyline at night

Chicago - The Windy City

AEPi convention #2!!! This time in Chicago. During this trip, I was scheduled to be writing 3 final exams. Luckily, I was able to reschedule them; I wrote two yesterday, and one the day before. It has been a very stressful past few days, but I'm happy its over with and that I'm heading to convention. Unfortunately once I get back I still have one last exam to write.

The day started out early, as we left for Chicago at 730AM, and left on our 10 hour bus ride. We rented a greyhound bus for 25 of us from different AEPi chapters in the area. The bus ride was long and the scenery was extremely boring. We stopped for lunch at a Burger King in the states, and one of us tried to apply for a job. Additionally, I had a job interview with RIM while on the bus.

We eventaully arrived at the hotel, and checked all out stuff into the hotel. We went out for dinner to a famous deep dish pizza place, where the food was amazing. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where we heard some speaches and then began our first night of partying.

The Canadian Delegation

Canada Day Long Weekend

I had a five day long weekend for Canada Day, so I decided to spend it in Ottawa. I got a ride into Ottawa at about 8PM where I met up with Joel, who I stayed with for two nights. The first evening was pretty low key – we went to a pool hall then hung out at Joel’s house. On Saturday, the first full day, we managed to accomplish nothing. We watched a terrible movie – There Will Be Blood. The only good thing about the movie was that it killed a lot of time. In the evening, the Supreme Master (Gary) and Executive Director (Andy) of AEPi were in town for a conference, so they took the Ottawa AEPi chapter out for dinner – I tagged along. After the dinner, Gary and Andy had to go back to the conference, but we were going to meet up with them again at the Casino in Hull, Quebec which is just outside Ottawa. Until then we went over to someone’s apartment then out for a few beers. We made it to the casino and had a good time, except for me losing money.

Sunday morning Joel had to leave at 830 to drive to Toronto for a wedding, so he drove me to Jason’s house where I spent the next day. We went downtown to a bar to watch the Germany vs Spain Euro Cup Finals. Spain won 1-0 and the game was really entertaining. In the evening we went to go see a movie. Once at the theatre, we decided to rent a movie because the movie was sold out. It took 6 of us 45 minutes to come to a consensus on a movie. We saw Into the Wild, which was another long disappointing movie.

Monday morning I woke up, and began to watch another movie; this one was actually great. I watched Catch 22, but the only problem was that I had to leave with less than 5 minutes left!!! I walked around downtown Ottawa for the afternoon before I had to meet Darryl at the train station. It had poured the previous 2 days, so to my disbelief, it started to rain again! I went into the parliament building and decided to go up the peace tower (200 meters) to get a good view of Ottawa. The long lineup killed an hour, and I managed to stay dry. Not even 10 minutes after I got back outside it began to pour. Without an umbrella or raincoat I stood under a tree for half an hour – thank goodness no lighting. The rain was coming down so hard that if I ran to a building it would have been soaked to the bone, so the tree was my only option. For dinner, Darryl took me to the best burger place in the world – The Works. I had a burger topped with Montreal smoked meat, sauerkraut and an onion ring – AMAZING!!! After that we took it easy for the evening because Canada Day was going to be a long day. We downloaded You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, which was absolutely hysterical.

Tuesday was Canada Day – the 141^st. We went to a BBQ at one of Darryl’s friend’s for the afternoon. In the evening we went downtown, first to a bar then to catch the fireworks, which were great. After the show we met back up with Darryl’s friends at a bar. I had to catch the 6AM train from Ottawa in order to make it back to Waterloo in time for my afternoon class at 430, so I decided to stay awake all night. On the way home, I only managed to get 3 hours of intermittent sleep. Oh well, all around a great weekend despite the lack of sleep.

AEPi Midwest Conclave

Yet another AEPi road trip. This time again to Ohio State University for a regional conclave. This time we rented a coach bus to take 50 of us down there. This was ideal because 1 - I didn't have to drive, and 2 - I was able to relax and watch movies during what turned out to be a 12 hour drive due to the detours to Guelph and Hamilton and the crappy weather. We finally got there at around 10ish. After checking in and finding a place to grab some food it was time to start partying.

The next day was full of standard conclave seminars which I am very accustomed to at this point, having previously attended three conclaves and a convention. After the dinner banquet we started to party - which lasted well into the morning - 5AM to be exact. Partying until 5AM was a must; The need to stay awake was pinnacle as the bus was leaving at 5 to take us back home. This was ideal because we didn't have to pay for an extra night at the hotel, and we needed to get home in time for the super bowl. Once on the bus, everyone passed out, and before we knew it it was 11AM, and time for a rest stop for breakfast. We finally got home - well in time for the superbowl, and it didn't take close to 13 hours!

Banquet dinner: L-R: Jon, Yuval, Cory, Josh, Lee, Victor, Me, Harris

The Last Day

My flight back to Toronto via New York City did not leave until midnight, so I still had the entire day left. I took the train into Tel Aviv University where I walked around the campus and went to the Diaspora Museum to learn about the diaspora Jews - those living outside of Israel. I made it back to Rechovot in time for lunch, and took it easy for the afternoon. I packed my stuff and watched President Bush arrive in Israel, and in Jerusalem. Bush was staying in a hotel in Jerusalem about 200 meters from where I had stayed. It was a good thing that I was nowhere near Jerusalem, as it was pretty hectic and crazy with all the security there.

Beautiful Tel Aviv University campus.

In the evening I met up with a friend of mine, Yuval. I had met him in Waterloo when he came on a campus tour of Canada, meeting Jews at different schools as well as sightseeing. We went out for dinner, then for dessert had a last falafel before he took me to the airport.

Rechovot

I stayed with cousins in the city of Rechovot, which translates to 'the streets'. Rechovot is located half way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Today I went to the Ayalon Museum; Now a museum, this kibbutz (collective community) was secretly making bullets in the 1940s before Israel became an independent country. The bullets were manufactured underneath the bakery and laundromat. The bullets were stockpiled for the resistance fighters in the event that the British left Israel. When Israel declared independence, the British left the land leaving the Israelis to defend themselves with the ammunition manufactured in secret on this kibbutz.

The bullet manufacturing plant below ground. This picture shows approximately half of the plant.

After a tour of the kibbutz, Yithak took me to the Weitzman Institute; Chaim Weitzman, the first Israeli President. I had a tour of his house - now a museum, and also around the university campus founded in his name - Weitzman Institute of Science. In the evening we went to visit some relatvies near Tel Aviv and then I called it a night.

Chaim Weitzman's house

Last Day in Jerusalem

Today's plan was to travel to Rechovot to stay with cousins - Yitzhak and Shoshana. Before I left Jerusalem, there was still some sightseeing to be done. I went back to the Western Wall in the hopes to do the underground tunnel tour, where you go underneath the current ground level to the base of the Western Wall. I get to the ticket counter, and the ticket agent tells me you need to book tickets 3 months in advance!!! I pleaded with him to sell me a ticket, as I was only one person, and it was my last day in Jerusalem. Thankfully he did - for 4PM, which meant I had the entire day to kill before the tour. I walked to the ancient city of David (5 minute walk from the Old City walls). I had just missed the first tour, and I was not able to do the second one because of the conflicting times. Something to do the next time I'm there.

Finally 4PM - the tour starts. What you see of the Western Wall is only 1/3 of the actual wall. When the city was destroyed numerous times, people began to build on top of it, thus there is constant excavations going on, and things being discovered. The tunnel tour took us all along the Western Wall below ground. An underground portion of the Western Wall. The brick at the height of people's heads is ONE piece - and it didn't even fit in the entire picture. Still about 10-15 feet extra beyond the size of the pic!

At the 'market' area of the time of the first temple. The pillars are indicative of separation between stores.

The tour took us all the way across the old city to the other end of the Muslim quarter. Once back at the existing ground level, guards led the way back to the Western Wall Plaza area, where the tour ended.

After a long day of walking, I had to go back to the hostel to retrieve my luggage, and then I headed off to Rechovot. I had to catch a public city bus to get to the main bus terminal, and then a coach bus to Rechovot - about an hour and a half away from Jerusalem. Amazingly I didn't get lost! Exhausted, I finally arrived, and Yitzhak picked me up from the bus stop.

We got to their house, and food was ready for me! I relaxed for a while had a nice meal, and before heading to bed, we planned out tomorrow's activities.

End of the trip

Today was the last day of the trip :-( The morning was spent listening to the last few lectures, but after that we had more free time. For the afternoon I began an impossible mission: I was looking for a restaurant that was on a street corner in the market area. The last time I was in Israel I went to said restaurant and the food was amazing - amazing enough to go looking for it only remembering it was on a street corner. Believe it or not I did not find the restaurant, however, I did manage to pick up some fruits that I saved for the next few days. I also stumbled upon the bakery that my sister had told me to go to. I picked up some food from there, which definitely made the long trek a success.

After the semi-successful mission, I was back at the hotel waiting to head off to the final banquet dinner. With the itinerary coming to the end, I still had another 3 days before I had to go back to Toronto, where the group was heading to the airport after the dinner. I was excited to have some time on my own, however I had not made ANY plans for the next 3 days. No accommodations, no sightseeing plans, NOTHING!

I was kind of hoping that some people on my trip, or a different trip would be doing the same thing as me, and that we would do some traveling together, however those plans didn't pan out.
I also got in touch with the Israeli soldiers that I had met on my last trip to Israel, however plans to meet up with them didn't work out either. I got in contact with some relatives, and they were more than happy to host me for a few days. phew.

We headed off to the final banquet, and after that we all said our goodbyes. Everyone was sad that the trip was over, however I was ecstatic to be staying another 3 days. I had one final night in Jerusalem before I would go to my second cousin's house in Rechovot the next evening. A few other people from the trip were also staying so we decided to head out for another night of partying in Jerusalem.

It was 9 oclock, but before we could go out, I had to find a place to stay for the night. Not a problem, so I was told. One of the guys that was on the trip, Cory took me to a hostel that he said would have availability. Great! We get there, and they said that the last room had just been taken. However the lady said that there was still one room available on the roof. After the accommodation nightmares on the trip, I knew I was going to regret asking for more details about this room. The lady showed me a picture of the rooftop bungalow - it was advertised as "cheap and romantic". With my options very limited, I hesitantly took the bungalow. The "cheap and romantic" rooftop bungalow

As you can see, the rooftop bungalow is a shed. And yes, you have to duck to get inside it. Inside the shed there are 2 beds, a window, a light, and a personal space heater because it gets cold as hell. We get up to the "room" and I meet the neighbours. After about 15 minutes of laughing hystarically about the "room" we all go out for drinks. I definitely did not luck out in the accommodation depatment on this trip. It was hard to believe the accommodations could have gotten worse and worse, yet the worse it got the funnier it was.

Shabbat

We woke up and went for lunch. A number of families hosted lunches for us, so we were split up into groups, and were taken for lunch at their homes. Lunch was great - it was very relaxed and friendly. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and shmoozing. It was nice to get a break from the busy week. As Shabbat came to a close, there was another concert featuring the hippie Rabbi celebrating the start of the new week. After the concert we packed our stuff up and moved out of the horrible Armenian youth hostel, and back into our hotel. After settling back into the hotel, we went out to party as it was our last night on the trip.

Shabbat in the Old City

Today was quite relaxed. We heard from Khaled Abu Tomeh - a Palestinian journalist who report on Gaza and the West Bank. He talked to us about media bias against Israel in the newspapers and television, and how foreign reporters in Gaza and the West Bank require tour guides while reporting because of their safety and the language barrier. Because of this, they are often dictated where to go, and what news to report on, thus only reporting on the news that the Palestinians want them to, which makes Israel out to be the bad guy.

After the seminar, we were taken back to the Old City where we switched accommodation. We moved from our hotel to an Armenian Youth Hostel, which is located inside the Old City - Only 5 minutes from the Western Wall! This was the ONLY positive aspect of the hostel. Firstly, the place was nearly impossible to find - I don't know how we ever managed to find it. We finally get there, and try to get in - only to find that the door is locked, and nobody is answering it. With 15 of us standing outside and nowhere to go, one person starts making phone calls to try and find the phone number for the hostel. After about 5 minutes of standing there frustrated, we hear a voice from above. We look up, and there is an old lady looking out the second floor window - directly above the door. The next thing we notice is she drops a key tied to a piece of string down towards us so that we can unlock the front door. At this point we realized that our accommodations just got downgraded. This turned out to be an understatement of epic proportions. She also throws us keys to the hostel - one per each room, leaving 80% of us no way to get back inside the hostel - great. We get inside, and instantly notice that the place looks not so much like a hostel, but more like a bat cave! There were 4 or 5 of us to each room - which wasn't too big of a problem.


The next part of the bat cave tour was the washrooms. The first problem we noticed that there were only 2 washrooms for all 15 of us. - I guess that was marginally better than 1 washroom for 10 people we had in the first hostel, but nonetheless not a good situation. This next aspect of the washroom could either be convenient, or horrible, depending on your preferences. You can shit, shower and shave all at the same time, because the washroom was at best 25 square feet - not too much room to move around, yet alone even stand. Oh, did I mention no hot water. Wait - it gets worse. The sign on the back side of the washroom door reads "Please don't flush the toilet paper". Thank goodness we are only here for 24 hours!

Before Shabbat started, I had some time to walk around, and enjoy the old city. Three of us started walking, not really knowing where we were going, but it wasn't to difficult to find your way around. There are a number of recognizable places that help you keep your bearings. We walked around and started taking pictures. We had turned a corner and walked past a Birthright tour group. The groups guard stopped us and told us not to continue walking in that direction, as we would be entering the Muslim quarter of the old city. We quickly came to a consensus that we should probably take his advice, and we stopped for a photo-op, then continued our way back.

We got back to the bat cave, and got ready for Shabbat. We had a pre-shabbat concert led by a a crazy hippie Rabbi. The concert was supposed to be outside, but unfortunately it was raining. After the concert, it was time for Shabbat prayer services, where we went to pray at the Western Wall. I was soaking wet and freezing cold, but it was a great experience. We had a big meal followed by a relaxing evening spent snacking and drinking.

Gush Etzion

Today we took a tour Gush Etzion – a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, not far from Jerusalem. We had a chance to see the landscape and see how the people live in the hostile environment. We watched a documentary on the city and about how the city was restarted on three different occasions due to wars. We also got to hear from the Mayor of Gush Etzion.

Later in the evening we heard from the father of Koby Mandell. Koby and a friend were brutally murdered in 2001 at the age of 13 when attacked by Arab terrorists while hiking near their home. The family has since set up a foundation to help families who have been affected by terror.

We headed to the Gush Etzion Winery where we had a quick tour of the winery, followed by a fantastic dinner.

The Big Day

Today we heard from a resident of Sderot and the founder of Sderot Media. Sderot is the closest Israeli city to the Gaza Strip. In the past 7 years, over 8000 rockets have been launched from the strip into Sderot. We learned about the lives of the people that live there, and how they are being terrorized daily by the kassam rockets from Gaza.

We also heard from the founder of Palestinian Media Watch - an organization that monitors things like tv shows, radio, schoolbooks, newspapers, etc. that is shown to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The findings shown to us were shocking to see the hatred that is being taught and preached by the Palestinian Authority.

The remainder of the day was filled with other lectures and discussions about the anti-Israel propaganda that is spread throughout the media, and especially on university campuses across Canada and the US.

We had some time to walk around during lunch, so here are a few pics of the old city.

Me at the Western Wall

Zimmy and I at the Cardo (used to be a street with shops set up waaaaay back in the day)

Zimmy and I walking the streets of the Old City

In the evening there was a semi-impromptu AEPi event. Through word of mouth in less than a week and a last minute change of location, 50 brothers managed showed up. The group consisted of brothers from all over the US, and me - from Canada. Many people there had since moved to Israel, and others were there for vacation, or other organized trips. I managed to see some guys that I had bumped into earlier on my trip, and also from other road trips and conventions I had been on in the States. After the event I met back up with the majority of my group to party the night away.

Tel Aviv

We were heading back to Jerusalem in the evening, and we still had a lot to see and do in Tel Aviv. I was not particularly excited about waking up so early - having been up late enjoying the first few hours of 2008. Our first stop was a university - the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), where we heard lectures titled Encroaching Islam, and Counter-terrorism.

From there we learned about IsraAID - an Israeli organziation that is committed to humanitarian aid around the world. We also heard about Save A Child's Heart - which is an organization that performs life saving heart operations on children from 3rd world countries. They bring the child and their family to live in Israel while the doctors perform the necessary operations and give treatment. Following the introduction, we went to the house where the children and their families were living. We came with balloons and candy for the children. This was a great experience to be able to meet these kids. Communication was difficult because the families were from all over Africa, and the Middle East; Neither English nor Hebrew seemed to be a middle ground for conversation. What we did learn from the families was that none of them knew much about Israel, and if it were not for Save A Child's Heart, their children would definitely have died due to their heart conditions.

After the visit, and the long day we headed back to Jerusalem. Due to our previous horrible accomodations (having 10 people crammed into a room with one bathroom) we got upgraded to a hotel with 3 people per room - which was a major upgrade. The hotel even served a great breakfast, which in itself is much better than our previous Jerusalem accommodations.