Yesterday, I woke up in Jerusalem. After breakfast, I cabbed over to the Central Bus Station. The CBS in Jerusalem is a three story building that is so closely modeled after a European train station that there is even a large clock on the outside. Pam already described security. Buses depart from.....the third floor! Travelers line up at one of 17 gates (there may be more, but I could only account for 17), and everything is automatic from there. At approximately 12 minutes prior to departure, passengers move from the gate through the door to the bus which is locked. Three minutes later, the driver arrives, gets on the bus and closes the door. He inspects the inside of the bus and dons his tie (blue and white, I thought it was a talit at first!). One minute later (8 minutes prior to departure, he opens the door, and passengers get on. Soldiers flash their ID's, rifles are stowed under the bus. Luggage doors are activated by the driver INSIDE the bus (Catlin Gabel needs to get this installed!) I told the driver I wanted to go to Masmiya and asked him to tell me where the stop was. He said OK and reminded me to take my ticket. There was no reason to take the ticket, but I did. At 10:30 (departure time) on the nose, the bus pulled out! Talk about punctual!! We were quickly out of the city heading down. Jerusalem is a high point, so every way out is down. Passing villages, I was amazed by the vehicle traffic heading towards Jerusalem. It was literally a solid mass of cars and trucks for about 20 minutes! Villages became smaller and smaller. The driver would pull over to a bus stop, but nobody got on or off. Finally, after about 30 minutes, single passengers would get off. Jay had sent me a great map, so I could track where we were. I knew we were close to Masmiya, got ready to get off, and was waiting for the driver to tell me we were there. My phone rang and Jay asked if I had missed the stop....I asked the driver if we were at the stop AFTER Masmiya. He said "Ken," which meant I grabbed my bag and raced off the bus. Jay arrived three minutes later, and said it was a good thing I had gotten off since the next stop was a long way down the road! The whole area had a very rural feel about it.
After working for a couple of house at Akhava College, we left for Be'er Sheva. Talk about straight roads! And, if the Florida orange crop is damaged this year due to the cold, we will all be eating Israeli oranges. They are growing a lot of them....lemons, too! arriving in Be'er Sheva, we stopped at "the best falafal stand in the city." Jay had asked students to create a Google Map showing their favorite falafal places, and this was the winner! Falafal was very tasty!
According to many, the Be'er Sheva campus resemble the University of Chicago....I didn't think so, but it did resemble a lot of high schools built in the 70's. Concrete building, courtyards, open stairs, etc. The plaques were often ONLY in English, a testament to American support in the construction of the campus. The quad area was gorgeous with an artifical stream running through it. Boys were flirting with girls, and a traveling marketplace had set up shop.
After Jay's class, we headed to Kibbutz Hatzor, stopping to pick up his oldest son and a friend. Hatzor is home to about 600 people, housing is in duplexes. After a delicious cheese omlette, fresh vegetable dinner, Jay's daughter, Jay, and I played Set. The Hebrew word one says when one finds a set is "Set." Jay and I managed to collect 8 sets....Hila, a precocious 12-year old, collected the other 15. Sigh. After Jay and I had eaten, his two sons foraged for food. Both teenagers, they grazed the refrigerator. Finally, Tzipi, Jay's wife arrived home. We figured out sleeping logistics for me, they figured out water logistics (showers before washing the dishes, downstairs shower before upstairs shower), and then it was off to a good night's sleep after a very long day.
Breakfast today was 6:45-6:53, then it was off to Tel Aviv. 90 minutes later, we arrived. Everything about horrific Tel Aviv traffic is true. I'll leave it at that. Normally, Jay commutes 10 minutes to work....enjoy the pictures...falafal stand, Be'er Sheva University, Jay's house. The plant pictures are of a plant at Hatzor. No, Jay and Tzipi are not green thumb types, but the neighbor is . If anybody recognizes the plant, please let me know what it is.
I'll post the return bus trip later today or tomorrow.
First part of the trip was uneventful, just traveling through Jerusalem. Then, life became interesting, we passed a police checkpoint, a major border crossing, and then we were on a brand new road with a wall on one side. Yep, guardtowers, too. We pulled into the first stop, went through a gate, let one person off, made a very tight circle around the roundabout, and were off again, through the same gate. We reached Alon Shvut, I got off, and called Reuven. He knew where I was (I had once again, gotten off at the wrong stop), and said he would meet me in a couple of minutes. Looking just like his profile photos, he showed up, we drove to his high school. Neveh Channah. Neveh Channah Torah High School for Girls is in the Etzion block. Gush Etzion dates back to the 1920's, has seen more than its share of conflict in the past 80+ years, and seems to be off the table in the two-state border negotiations. What is still to be negotiated is what will happen east of Gush Etzion. Back to Reuven, the guy is simply amazing. He has been active in edcuation technology from the beginning, serves as the technologist for his school, collaborates with schools around the world, and is quite simply, a font of wisdom. He shared his wiki site which contains most of his recent projects. Reuven also edits a whole section of the Mofet website. A couple of Neveh Channah classrooms have newly installed ActivBoards. Here is a photo of one of two physics classrooms. His projects are totally student centered. Kids are using complex tools to create projects about everything from the geology of their region to their reactions to texts read as part of a joint Israeli-Canadian project A teacher with an idea comes to Reuven, who says of course it can be done, Let's figure out how to do it. What a great job! At one point, I asked Reuven about the whether his students could do their homework electronically. He said they could, but they usually preferred to check their Facebook accounts instead. Sound familiar? Computers keep Neveh Channah connected to the world. There really isn't much around them. Jerusalem is 1/2 hour by car or bus. No walking. It reminded me of communities in Central Oregon. The schools were clearly the focal point of the community. They were also the largest buildings I saw. After a terrific morning with Reuven, we talked briefly about the politics of modern Israel. There has been much fighting in the 80 or so years since the first Jews returned to the area. Former students of his have died. We talked about what needed to happen in order for peace to come to the area. I'll be forwarding Reuven's views to Senator Mitchell. George is going to need all the help he can get. Returning to Jerusalem, I began reflecting what life must be like for young Israelis. These folks take the bus everywhere. Every time they leave their home, they get on a bus with extra armor.....and it seems normal.
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