Fastest Cars in the World in Jerusalem

Formula 1 race cars from around the world are coming to race in the outskirts of Jerusalem in a program called "Formula Jerusalem: The Peace Road Show." Ella and I went to the Old Train Station where three of the Formula 1 cars are parked and out for display. Two of the cars you can go inside the red rope and take a picture of you standing next to it. We also saw Nascars, an English racing car, and a couple of Ferraris. All the cars I just talked about were inside a huge white tent. There were a couple of other cars outside the tent. There were go-karts that were an inch above the ground, a car that looked like a helicopter without the propeller, and a car that looked like a giant Jeep. Everyone in Jerusalem is really worried about how much traffic the race will cause because some of the roads will be blocked off for the race so that regular cars can't go on the "track." My family and I are going to line up on the sidewalk and watch the cars race and I'm sure I'll post about the race on the blog after it happens. You don't often get to see a car race in the middle of a city, and I'm very happy that I'm here for the race.

Soccer

Last night, Noah and I went to an Israeli soccer game with our friends at Teddy Stadium. It was Israel versus England in the Under 21 World Championship. Israelis love soccer and go insane at the games. It was loud, wild, and big. There were 22,874 people at the stadium and it wasn't even full! Israel won 1-0 and everyone was really excited when they scored a goal. We were sitting pretty close to the field and could see the players really well. Most of the people there were Israeli fans, but I did see some English fans there, too. It was an awesome experience and it was for sure a highlight of the trip.

Crater Day

Last week my family and I went to Mitzpe Ramon. Mitzpe Ramon is in the Negev. It’s the biggest crater in the world. We stopped there on our way to Eilat. We went hiking to a lookout point on the first night. It took about twenty minutes to get to the top but it was worth it. I sat on the “head” of the lookout because the lookout point looked like a camel, so I sat on the head of the camel. In the morning, we took another hike down into the crater. It was a hard-ish hike because the path was really narrow and there were a bunch of rocks, but it was fun. We were supposed to hike into the crater and all the way to the Visitors’ Center, but we didn’t have time. Instead, we drove there and we saw two rooms dedicated to Ilan Ramon who was the first Israeli astronaut. He was also a fighter pilot for the IDF and he led an important mission against Iraq. One of the rooms is dedicated to his career as a pilot because he trained in Mitzpe Ramon. The other room tells the story of how he flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia and died when it blew up. At the other part of the Visitors’ Center we saw in a 3D movie how the crater was formed. It wasn’t created by a meteor. It was created by natural causes over thousands of years. We also saw a movie about all the animals and plants that live in Mitzpe Ramon. Mitzpe Ramon was really fun and I hope I go there again.

The "camel" lookout over Mitzpe Ramon

Sitting on the head of the camel lookout

Ilan Ramon display at Visitors' Center

 

In Eilat

My family and I just got back from Eilat. Eilat is at the bottom of the country and across the Red Sea is Jordan. It was amazing. We stayed at a great hotel called Dan Panorama and we were right across the street from the beach. The first day we mostly just hung out by the pool. We relaxed and had a nice time. The next day we snorkeled in the Red Sea, which was really fun. We saw fish and coral of all sorts and we saw some scuba divers. We snorkeled for three hours before we packed up and headed over to the Underwater Observatory. The Underwater Observatory was really cool. It is a museum under the water where you can see all the fish and coral under the water. The coral is very colorful and the fish are active. The fish barely notice you when you are there. It's fun to see the fish go about their everyday life. We also saw some HUGE sea turtles and some sting rays. We saw sharks too. They were really cool, but freaky. It was really fun to go to Eilat because in my Hebrew class at Weizmann Day School we learned about Eilat and the Underwater Observatory, so now we actually got to go there and have a nice time.

The Night Spectacular: Sound and Light at the Tower of David

Last Wednesday, my family and I went to an outdoor light show. The light show was about the history of Jerusalem. We saw the Canaanites, Israelites, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks. We also saw the Romans, Early Christians, Early Muslims, Crusaders and the Mameluks. There was also the Ottoman Empire, British Mandate, and last but not least, STATE OF ISRAEL! The show was at the Tower of David Museum which is an ancient citadel that’s just inside Jaffa Gate at the Old City. It was really cool because the show was on the walls of the Tower of David. It was awesome and I loved it.

photo courtesy of GoJerusalem.com

Kibbutz Gezer

Last week, my family and I went to Kibbutz Gezer. We learned about Kibbutzim in school and how all the members participate in farming and different jobs, but today not all Kibbutzim are like that. There are many Kibbutzim where they don't farm anymore and they have swimming pools, gyms, factories and modern technology. On Kibbutz Gezer, they don't farm themselves, but they have workers who do all sorts of gardening. They have wheat fields, orchards and dairy cows. They also have the first baseball field built in Israel, and they still play on it. It's a really beautiful place and the members are lucky to live there.

Camping at J.L.

In the last post by Ella, you learned about the music, booths, and swimming at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival. But you didn’t learn about the camping part of the festival. You can camp anywhere so everyone was camped really close together because everybody wanted to get a good, shady, flat spot. There was also football lights all night which was fine with us because we didn’t bring flashlights. But it was NOT fine when they were still on at 2:00 in the morning. It wasn’t like the camping we usually do because we usually have a cooking stove, lantern, and a tent that can fit 9 people. Even though we didn’t have all of our gear, camping at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival was really fun and when you all go to Israel, I hope you will go to the Jacob’s Ladder Festival too.

Jacob's Ladder Festival: The Water Works

The Jacob's Ladder Festival was one of the most fun experiences of Israel so far. The festival was a camping music festival right next to one of the nicest hotels in the north. There was music all day and it was all sorts of music, such as classic rock, folk and blues. There were tents with all kinds of food, there was a juggling tent for kids, but for me, the best part was the water. The whole campsite was right next to the Kinneret. The Kinneret is the lake of the Galilee. It's a beautiful spot to swim and have a nice time. We swam a lot in the Kinneret and it was so much fun. My mom and I swam out really far and I jumped off the dock eleven times (don't worry, everyone was doing it)! It was so awesome. There was also a pool that was open because it was so hot. It belonged to the hotel and we went in there a lot, too. It was all really fun and I had a blast!

Ancient Akko

Last week me and my family went to Akko, the ancient city next to Haifa. Akko was important to the Romans, Crusaders, and the Ottoman Empire. The first thing we saw was the dungeon. You would think the dungeon would have individual cells with iron bars. It's actually one room and all the prisoners are together. And if the Romans or Crusaders were under attack, they could hide in the dungeon as a last resort. The Knight's Hall was the next thing we saw. The Knight's Hall today is one big room with a high ceiling. But when the Knight's Hall was in use, there were three stories. The first floor was for the knights, the second floor was for the knight's servants, and the third floor was for the servants of the servants. The last thing we saw was the bath house. The bath house is where you go to get massages and special treatment. I'm glad I went to Akko. It was really fun.

Seeing Caesarea

A while back, our family went to Masada (as Noah wrote about), the tall mountain where King Herod built his palace and fortress. This week we went to Caeserea, another place built by Herod except instead of a fortress, this was a port. A port city where people could live and where they brought in cargoes from Rome for the king. We went there to see all the ruins of the city. We saw tunnels, a horse racing track called a Hippodrome, an arena where men fought lions, parts of the city that had been destroyed, a palace, and all of this was right next to the Mediterranean sea. The whole time I wanted to go and swim. It was very fun there and I thought it was so cool that you could just walk around on all the ancient things. Noah and I had a lot of fun exploring. Caeserea was an awesome place and it was one of the highlights of the week.

King Herod's Palace

Ella, my parents, my grandparents, and I went to Masada on Thursday. Masada is the remains of Roman King Herod’s palace, fortress, and warehouse. Masada was and still is on a high mountain. When you go into the rooms of the palace, you see black lines on the walls. When archeologists found the palace, there was only half of the walls and no ceiling. The black lines indicate that everything below them is original and everything above the black line is not.

There are two ways to get up the mountain. One of them is taking the gondola. The gondola is like a ski lift but you’re not outside. The ride from top to bottom is only two minutes. The other way is to hike up the Snake Path. The Snake Path is a really hard hiking trail up the mountain. We all took the gondola up, but Ella, my Dad, my Grandma, and I went down the mountain on the Snake Path. It took about 45 minutes. It was not very hard because we were going down, not up.

            If you like hot weather, very old buildings, and high places, then go to Masada because you will love it!!!!!!!

Day at the Dead Sea

On Thursday, our family went to the Dead Sea. Our grandparents are visiting and we've been saving this experience for when they were here and now we finally did it! It was an experience of a lifetime. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. Also, when you you look across the water, you can see Jordan on the other side. The border is right in the middle of the sea. It is also called the Salt Sea because it is so salty that you can float in it. Fish cannot survive in it because of the salt and if you taste it, it's bad luck for you because it tastes really bad. You can't splash or swim in the Dead Sea because if it gets in someone's eyes or in their mouth it will sting. All you do is float. Another subject the Dead Sea is famous for is its mud. The mud at the Dead Sea is so soft and so nice and it has minerals in it so people put it on their skin and faces. To me, it's a little gross. I tried a little, but only on my arms. It feels hot and soft and I didn't like it. We had a great time there and it was so fun for everyone that my parents said we could definitely go back.

Yom Hashoah

This week was Yom Hashoah. This is the day where we remember the Holocaust. Six million Jews were murdered, and in all twelve million people were killed by Hitler and the Nazis. It was a horrible time period and it happened the same time as World War II. In Israel, Yom Hashoah is an important day, and everyone is very sad. On the radio, there is no happy music. On TV, there are no shows that aren't related to the Holocaust. Also, at ten o'clock in the morning, there is a siren. During this siren, the people of Israel stand silently and remember the horrors of the Holocaust. The siren lasts for two minutes and usually there is a ceremony after. It was amazing to finally hear the siren and even though it was a sad day, it was pretty neat to be in Israel for this.

Cars stop on the road during the siren

The First Bite of Matza

This week is Passover and in Israel it is very different. First of all, there is only one day of Chag. There is only one seder and all that day, all the shops and restaurants are closed. All the markets are closed. The shuk is closed. We went to the shuk and we could run up and down the streets where it was usually packed full. Another change is that our seder went until two in the morning! We stayed up all night discussing Magid and telling stories and answering questions. I was falling asleep by Tzafun. Also, a lot of restaurants go kosher for Pesach and you can order matza instead of bread. Another thing is that, walking down the street, you can just say "Chag Samach" to anyone. It is a very different experience to be in Israel for Pesach, but it is fun all the same.

The President of the USA

Wednesday through Friday, our president, Barack Obama has been in Israel. He was here to try and make peace between Israel and all the countries around it, which are Israel's enemy. He went to many different places to do many different things. He met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres. He talked to a lot of people, but we got an experience of a life time. We happen to wriggle out a way to get tickets to see the President's speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center. We were in row ten and could see the President like he was right in front of us. It was amazing. We were treated like VIP's and got all the service of the press, which is the newspaper. It was really cool! I don't think we will ever get an experience like this again because it was so amazing and hard to get, but who knows, maybe one day, we'll see the President of the USA again.

Amirim

Over the past three days, our family went on a tiyul (which means "trip" in Hebrew) to a great place near Tzfat called Amirim. Amirim is a moshav, which is like a kibbutz, but sort of different. We lived in a small cabin, only two rooms, and it was actually not that bad. There were restaurants that we went to to eat, hiking trails to do during the day, and it was fun just to climb trees in the front yard. It was very beautiful there. The first day was the relaxing day. We walked around the area and looked out over the Kinneret and Galilee. We didn't swim in the Kinneret because it was pretty cold there. We saw the gardens around the moshav and had a nice, easy day. The next day we went to a beautiful hike in a park called Nahal Amud, and it was really fun. We saw an ancient building and a running river. We hiked down several mountains and climbed many trails. It was really fun! We could see the stars very well in Amirim since there were no lights, and it was quiet because there was no noise of traffic and construction like in Jerusalem. It was a great experience, and I hope we'll go back there while we're here.

Hiking in Nahal Amud

Math on Mondays?

In Israel, we have to go to ulpan, like I have said before. In this case, we do not have English, social studies, or math. So, we have found our own ways to learn these subjects.

For English, we have our mom teaching us writing and we both read a lot every day. We have been learning chunk paragraphs, hoping to keep up with our class back at Weizmann. We have recently decided to create a blog, where we write stories about what's happening here.

There's not much to say about what we're learning in social studies because we basically are in history. We don't learn that much social studies here since where we are is a historical place.

Math was a little trickier. At first, we didn't know what to do about math. Then, we decided to get a math tutor. Not to help us with math, to keep us fresh will all the basic math skills. We interviewed two math tutors and decided on one. She is a very nice woman and is really helpful.

We have math twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday, after ulpan. We use the computer a lot to do our work. We use Kahn Academy and another program for math. It's very helpful and we are keeping up in math.

I think it's good that we didn't let our school subjects slip away from us instead of just going to ulpan to learn Hebrew. I think we made a good choice on this math tutor and when we get back, we'll be caught up with math.

Weird Sunday

 In Israel, Sunday is Monday. People go to work and school on Sunday. It's a regular work day. I don't really like this because when I wake up in the morning, there are loud drilling noises from the construction site next door. Are you planning to go on a nice, relaxing ride? Think again. You'll have to deal with the traffic. There are no kids shows on TV because all the kids are in school. Israel is on a Jewish calendar. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is Shabbat for the LORD your God; you shall not do any work." (Exodus) This is the special thing about Israel. It follows a Jewish calendar. Fun Fact: Friday is really a half day because half of the day, you are working. And the other half of the day, you are getting ready for Shabbat. It is very interesting because it's different.

Around the Neighborhood

Our neighborhood is large. There's so many things to see around it. There's office buildings and gardens and restaurants and cafes and so many other things.

Our apartment is smack in the center of Jerusalem. We can walk everywhere. We can walk to the shuk and the old city. It's very loud and noisy, but that's city life. Right next to us, there's a street called Azza, and that's where all the action happens. There's several different restaurants and cafes. There's an ice cream place and a bakery and a supermarket. Then, ten minutes from us there's Ben Yehuda street, and that's the touristy street. All the really cool shops and restaurants are there. Then, there's the old city, which is a fifteen minute walk. It's always really busy there. There are big malls all over town, and there are many different people walking around.

Now, that's all the city life, but there is some country living here. Not far from our apartment there's a small farm where there are goats, chickens, roosters, and ducks. It was a really fun place to hang out. There are beautiful gardens everywhere with almond trees that are blooming, flowers of all sorts, beautiful green grass, and fountains with clear water. There are birds of all kinds here, and there's even a little forest where we like to play. It seems like Jerusalem is a huge city where it's never quiet, but just ten minutes out of the city, there's a beautiful wild life waiting to be noticed.

So, that's all around our neighborhood, and I really like it. We live so close to all that we need. It's fun to walk and see all the different people and places. It's fun to go around different parts of Jerusalem. It's really interesting here, and I like it.

Cat City

Fun fact: there are 2 million wild, feral cats in Jerusalem. The cats were brought in the middle of WWI and WWII by the British to control all the rats. But now there are too many cats. There are two reasons that the Jerusalem cats are a problem. First, they eat all the garbage and make a big mess. Second, when you are trying to sleep at night, they yowl and keep you up. But, it's fun to look at all of them on the street. They are either in a garbage can, walking down the street, or just sitting on a wall looking at you. Last week, we were watching a marathon and there was a cat sitting on the sideline watching too. Even though the cats are a problem for the city, I'm glad they are here!!