Jordan

When Froy was finished with his program (MEET, teaching computer programming to a group of Israeli and Palestinian students) in Jerusalem he came to visit me at Lotan and then we went to Jordan. While at Lotan, he got a little taste of kibbutz life, gardening, and how to make goat cheese/yogurt. We then set off to Eilat to cross the border and then on to Petra. Once we got to Jordan, we tried to bargain with the cab drivers to take us to the nearest, but they were not giving us a reasonable price. Finally we met two girls from Boca Raton who were also going to Petra, so we made a deal with the cab drivers to take us straight to Petra. We stayed at the Valentine Inn, and there were a lot of Korean and Japanese tourists there as well. After our buffet dinner and a good night's sleep, we were driven to Petra where we spent the entire day. The place was breathtaking. We made friends with some Bedouin-with-donkeys and I got to ride on the donkey for free. My Bedouin friend, nickname Eagle, told me about his life in Petra, in really good English for never having studied it. We all had Bedouin tea in a little river hideout that the locals know about and we shared our pancakes and fruit. After the day, we returned to the inn and in the morning I returned south to Aqaba and back to Lotan, while Froy, Lauren, and Veronica went north to Amman. I walked around Aqaba because it was Saturday and I didn't want to get stuck in Sabbath-inactivity in Israel. It is a nice little town with a dirty public beach, a nice Greek Catholic Church (I met the priest and we shared lunch), nice parks, and a quaint outdoor market. Not to mention all the touristy places and hotels.

Enjoy the pictures.

Froy and Stephanie on our private tour of the cheese house at Lotan

Bianca and Jinju hard at work

Mr. Shtrickman and Fernando

Froy, Lauren, and Veronica en route to Petra

Froy and Fernando in Petra

Awesome rock structures

Better in person, for sure

Posing with some camels

Wow

Little cave rooms

More caves

Bedouin and donley

Bedouin tea time

More wow

Fernando with Jordanian flag

Notice the relative sizes

Froy being Froy

Fernando being Fernando

Lauren and Froy checking out the view

Los tres amigos

Arab Fernando and Lauren

Park in Aqaba

Greek Catholic Church

Jordan was a lot of fun and I am glad to have met some awesome people and to spend some time with Froy before he went back to the states.

Greece

So in July I went to Greece for a week. I flew into Athens, and at their airport they have free internet booths, awesome, if you are patient enough to wait for one to become available. Also, four year of MIT has definitely improved my ability to read Greek letters, so I was not completely lost and I was able to read and learn some Greek by just reading the signs, something that I cannot do here in Israel because I do not know the aleph-bet (Hebrew alphabet, well I can only recognize 5 letters...not very helpful). So from Athens I went directly to the island of Kephalonia to stay and visit the Countourises. The little town where their house is is rather amazing. There is a great view of the nearby mountain and the sea. The food was also very delicious, talk about the best feta cheese and some very good local wine. I went to the beach almost everyday (I know this is very surprising coming from me since I do not like beaches) and it was very nice, with not-sandy ground and clear water. It seemed like many of the locals and vacationers would meet at the beach, talk about events, just chill, and socialize in the sun. I met a couple of teens that we hung out with that week, from America and France. One great night was when we all went to the town to experience the nightlife. Basically we went to this club and although it was pretty packed with local Greeks, I was the only one dancing at times (other times some people from our group would join me). So the entire club just stood there talking and staring at me for being a weirdo or something, but the music was good so they were missing out. On the beach I also met an engineer named Dmitri who worked at the wind farm on the mountain. So he kindly gave us a tour and even took us up on one of the windturbines. Amazing experience. Other highlights included an underground cave/lake, Mrs. Countouris almost drowning and having to be rescued, driving around the entire island, and going to the burial place and church dedicated to St. Gerasimo.

After my wonderful week in Kephalonia, I went to back to Athens and had a day to tour the city. I went to the new Acropolis Museum, walked around various neighborhoods, and ate amazing food. For what I saw of Athens, I really enjoyed the city and the vibe, so hopefully I could return and see more of it in the future.

Now for some pics:

When I arrived, nice and sunny

The front of the house, and Paula

Tree in front of the house, at night

Just look at that water, and the trees

Diving attempt gone pseudo-tragic

The Countourises...yes they do enjoy wearing matching outfits

Ceiling of the church

I loved the artwork in the church, this looks like the kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane (by the Mt. of Olives which is a 40 minute walk from where I am staying in Jerusalem)

Geared up for the tour; Dmitri, Paula, Malamo, Fernando (l-r)

Yeah, I was up there

Evcharisto (Thanks) for the tour!

Interesting graffiti in Athens

Greek soldier...

Ruins at the entrance of the Acropolis Museum

The Acropolis, with the ancient Greek cranes

So great trip overall, highly recommend Greece if you ever get the chance to visit.

Yiasou Greece!