Petra

This weekend I was Indiana Jones, searching for the Holy Grail.
We traveled by camel, of course.And bought some goats from the back of a truck when we got thirsty.We arrived at Petra.Wait a minute, that's very pretty, but not what I drove 6 hours to see.
Ah, here's what I was looking for. We walked 1500 meters along the Siq...(keep going)
and saw lots of great colors.Finally we turned the corner and saw the Treasury! It was amazing.Of course we took many pictures. Look how small the people are. By the way, they carved them from the top down, and those holes on the sides are where they attached the scaffolding. Our guide explained to us all the symbols, but as I am not your guide, you can Google it if you're interested.There are more facades in the city, the Treasury is just the most famous (and with good reason).We climbed lots of steps.But the view of the desert from the top was worth it.I even made a friend along the journey.We finished the day by taking a quick tour of Aqaba, Jordan, on the Red Sea (before we crossed the border back to Eilat, Israel).I didn't end up finding the Grail. But it was a great trip nonetheless!

Hanukkah

Tuesday night was the start of Hanukkah.

At the hotel that evening, there was a big celebration (which made CNN the next morning). There were hundreds of people in the lobby awaiting the lighting of the first candle. A rabbi sang to us, and then everyone sang (except me, I still haven't learned Hebrew, except to count from 0-9 and say "hello" and "thank you"), and then they lit the candles. An angel led the kids away; apparently the Jews have angels too... with pointy ears. And then they handed out free donuts and chocolate. And when I say chocolate, I mean huge chunks of chocolate that they used a hammer and chisel to hand out:
When I went upstairs to my room, there were more donuts waiting for me! Mmm, free dinner.
Last night we ate dinner at Mike's Place. It is pretty much an American bar, on the beach. They had a Christmas tree! It was exciting for me. I am having a slightly difficult time getting ready for Christmas here, because it's warm and sunny and I live on the beach. Not that I'm complaining though!

Baha'i Gardens

Today I visited The Shrine Of The Bab Terraces And Gardens. They buried the Bab here, who is one of the central figures of the Baha'i faith (you didn't know that, did you).
First there were some cacti.

Then lots of pretty flowers.

I suppose this is the shrine. It was closed so we couldn't check it out.

Then we stopped for lunch. On the way to lunch, we had a good view. I think I would like to live in that house.
Then we saw the gardens from the top. Perhaps we should have stopped up there first... oh well, now I know that for the next time I need my first look at the Baha'i Gardens.
Also I love lampposts, and this was a cool one. I wanted to wait until it got dark to watch the lights come on, but I am not that patient.
It was very green. Also there were some black and gray birds.
This is my artistic shot. That is the city of Haifa in the background (well, part of it).
Check this out! Upon closer examination I believe it is normal, real grass.

Flooded roof/Thanksgiving/Jerusalem v2.0

My coworker lives in a 7th & 8th floor penthouse with a couple balconies, a bomb shelter, and a nice view.
It rained really hard for 3 days. When we walked upstairs after those 3 days, we discovered that the drain was blocked. This is not good for the balcony, or the apartment.
First he went to see what the problem was:
Then he danced back inside:
Then he got a big metal rod to try to clear the drain:
This didn't work, so he called a plumber. That done, we walked to dinner, and saw this cool building on the way:

Thursday night was Thanksgiving in America... not so much here. But, I took myself down to the beach and ate a meal as close as I could find to Thanksgiving dinner: chicken, salad, potato, apple tart. It was a good dinner, and a nice view of the water, and my waiter was cute. Not quite the same as being at home, but it'll do for now. At least I get to be home for Christmas :) That's more important to me.

Yesterday we went to Jerusalem again, because it's cool. First we had to wait for a bunch of crazy marathon runners to go by.Then we went to Jerusalem. Here are some religious people:and some frankincense and myrrh
and a street in the old city, with a tractor signand a random Erin in Jerusalem picture.

The weather lately has been a little chilly (notice the jacket in the picture above). But this morning it was sunny and warm! so I went outside to lie in the sun, and it was very nice. Then I went hashing again, and it was good exercise.

Now back to work tomorrow, less than a month left here.

Birthday Dinner!?

Today I had my birthday dinner... a few weeks early. This is because my coworker (the Australian one who climbs up on the bar when I suggest to him that would be a good idea) is leaving for a few weeks, and when he returns we have other big plans for my birthday, so we had to get dinner out of the way. It was really good! I had steak and wine and chocolate souffle, yum. And it was on the top of the second tallest building in Tel Aviv, so a great view!
You can't really see the lights when you have the flash on...
so here's a dark one so you can see the view behind me:
Very good dinner.

Also today a huge thunderstorm rolled in. I hid under the bed.
But the guys on the roof next to me kept using their fire to do something, weld perhaps:
I guess they don't care about getting struck by lightning. It was entertaining to watch anyway, so thanks, welding guys.

Ikea

No pictures today...forgot my camera.

Random fact: Everywhere you go here, they search you for bombs. Hotels, malls, shops, sightseeing areas, etc. they always check in your bags, and sometimes you walk through metal detectors. And they check your trunk before you park in any garages, etc. The guys at the checkpoints on the road and at work have big guns, but the ones at the hotel don't.

Well, tomorrow's Sunday, so back to work. Time for bed!

Eilat (Red Sea)

Today I got up early and traveled all the way down south to Eilat. You can't get any more south than that, because you run into the Red Sea.
That is not a problem though, because the Red Sea is cool. Here I am being surprised at how cool it is, actually.
I didn't just stand in the Red Sea, and try to part the Red Sea, but I also went under the Red Sea to eat lunch. I felt bad for the little fishies who were soon to be dinner, so I had steak instead. I don't think they got that from outside the window.
This trip was neat because it goes through the Negev desert. There is a very large crater in the desert.
Also, there are dangerous camels. I was so scared that I almost fell over while looking around making sure they wouldn't attack me.
While driving through the desert to the southern tip of Israel, you have to keep in mind that Israel comes to a point at the Red Sea, so it is very narrow. This means you have Egypt on one side of you (notice the barbed wire border)...and Jordan on the other (notice the Jordan flag). You can see all three countries at once if you open your eyes wide enough.
On the way home, we had to stop at the Fountain of Youth to make sure we didn't get too many gray hairs from the stress of watching for attacking camels.

But it's okay, no camels caught up to the car. In fact, I got a nice picture of the sun setting over the desert.