United Statesian

Beach on the border between Jaffo and Tel-Aviv. Muslim Women co-existing with Jewish women  in Bikini on the beach in summer. Dear citizens of the world, The past couple of weeks here in Israel have been stressful but not as bad as it is shown on the media: First of all, the stabbing attacks have been in and around Jerusalem mostly. Secondly, most of the targets are police, military and Orthodox Jews. Living in Tel-Aviv means being in a bubble and immune to the crazy side; however is does not make you immune from the stress. Life goes on but you second guess each choice to go out, you are more aware of your surroundings, any young Israeli Arabs are watched as if they could make you the next headline.  Plans for a Friday dinner in Jerusalem have been put off indefinitely and the last hike in the mountains near the city was cancelled as well. All in all, these flare-ups of confrontation between Bibi and the Palestinians is not what worry me. The threat comes f...

Dear Citizens of the World! Today, I have decided to take a break from being the target in other people's target practice to post the second set of pics from our weekend in Petra. Seems fitting since Petra holds so much beauty.... This was my favourite spot in Petra. It is a very colourful tomb below and to the left of the Tomb of the Kings. A detail of the area below the entrance of this tomb. Ceiling detail... As promissed I have some tips for your next visit to Petra: First , choosing the correct time of year is crucial. Winter evening get quite cold at 1000m elevation in a desert. Summer days would be worse. Second : when making the long treck up behind the tomb of the kings (some of the stairs in the pic above) to see the Treasury from the rim of the canyon, make sure you plan to be at top when you have the right lighting. I went quite early and it was still mostly in the shade. Third : Plan to stay at least 1.5 to 2 days. There is plenty to visit and it is best to take your t...

Father and over-dressed son play on the beach Dear Citizens of the world! It has been a rainy January here in Tel Aviv, but February has started out sunny and warm! While friends and family are digging out from snow and sliding down icy roads, we spent Saturday walking along the beaches of Tel Aviv. Hi Beauti-Fool! There are plenty of nice beach scenes along the Israeli coast, but I focused on some of the details where city meets the beach. A good example is some of the best grafiti that is simple and too the point. This grafiti is part of a massive, abandoned...least-taken-advantage-of section of the Tel Aviv coast. How could such valuable terrain go to waste? Luckily there are some picturesque parts of the city to leave you with a warmer more positive feeling. Jaffa at sunset... Main street in Jaffa at twilight just at the end of Shabbat I hope I have succeeded in making you snow-bunnies jealous ;-) -The United Statesian PS A parting shot...

Santa? or is it Bill Clinton in disguise? Dear Citizens of the World! Being an expat in the very Western Tel Aviv you often forget that you are in the Holy Land...Whereas Jerusalem is the front-line of the battle between religions. Personally, the stress of living on the front line would not be my choice location, but going for the day is well worth the time, and easy to do since it only takes about 45 minutes to get there from Tel Aviv. However, on this visit, we were only had time to visit the Holly Supulchre and to have lunch at a restaurant the Pope John Paul ate at. Ray of light in the Holy Supulchor Cathedral I love how the intense beam of winter sunlight shoots across the church. Women praying, deep inside Jesus's tomb. The low amount of light and the one-meter thick wall makes the shot look like a drawing... Natural light from the eye of the Pantheon-like dome of the Saint Supulchor Church Christmas decorations on sale in the Christain quarter. So, if you are in Tel Aviv a...

Dear Citizens of the World, Traveling the world, not only do you get to see the countries from a different perspective... but the sky changes as well. Luckily, it was a clear evening and the early 4:30 pm sunset made the lunar eclipse from my terrace easy to watch. Lunar eclipse with the Manhattan in the background. The refraction of the sun's light from the Earth's atmosphere makes the moon look like a l0w-watt lightbulb, shining similarly to the terrace light across the street. A close-up ... proof that I need a better camera for kings day ;-) Have a nice week! And don't forget to look up to the heavens while you are travelling...it might look different. - United Statesian

Dear Citizens of the World! Welcome home! Yet again, I am making a new home in a new country and learning a new language. Each time I fly into Tel Aviv, I see this retro sign welcoming immigrants during their "accent" to the homeland. Each time, I am reminded of my many homes around the world. Being an expat...the notion of "home" takes on a new meaning. I once felt that the increasing number of homes was a wearing me thin by trying to be in many places at once. However, I now see it as an enriching experience -- the more you expand you physical horizons, the more you expand your inner horizons. In any case...I am happy that my new home is not on a street with a name like this one: Is that pronounced "Bear Sh*t"? The United Statesian

First rain in months... Dear Citizens of the World, Tel Aviv has seen rain! This is news indeed. After three months in Isreal we have not seen a drop of rain...until last week. It was not much of a rain -- only lasted ten minutes and it only got things wet enough to make the months of dust become mud after evaporating ten minutes later-- but it was enough to actually be called rain. What would be a non-event in my other homes, is a big event in a desert. Tel Aviv's total average rainfall for the months of June, July and August combined is Zero! See Wiki on Tel Aviv ... Our reason for being here is directly related to Israel's lack of rain, but it is one thing to see it on paper and another thing to experience it in real life. I sudenly feel thirsty.... -The United Statesian

View at night from the 14th floor of the Leonardo City Tower Hotel In Tel Aviv, Israel Dear Citizens of the world! First impressions are important when moving to a foreign country. This is the view from our hotel room. The highway, train line, and luxury apartment towers can not compete with the Mediterranean sea views that are typical of the posh hotels that are only 3kms away...but it could be worse. Last-one-out turns off the lights! Later that same evening... This poor guy was the last one left in the office building. Late on a Sunday evening (Israel's Monday), I could feel for him because were were still working as well. The United Statesian

Ethics book on top of a recycle bin...green irony? Dear Citizens of the World! While walking through Tel Aviv on my hunt for a new home, I saw this garbage bag sitting on top of the recycling container. A few Ethical questions came to mind: Isn't it ironic that this student decided to photocopy the Ethics course book instead of buying the original? Would you fail the course because of this? Is it Ethical to recycle it...wouldn't it be better to reuse a few times before recycling it? --It honestly does not look like it has been read. Would it be Ethical to reuse an Ethics book without paying royalties? Would the environmental ethics outway the economical, property-rights ethics? The bag of recyclable materials was deposited on top of the container...no effort was made to put it inside--even though there was plenty of space. How ethical is this half-ass recycling? Just some food for thought. What do you think? The United Statesian

The Diamond Exchange Building...the shape resembles the cut of a diamond. The West-facing, almost-windowless facade glimmers in the afternoon sun. Dear Citizens of the World! As promised, here is a look at the shiny side of Tel Aviv. The shiny side is a stark contrast to the gritty element of TA. However, they are not seperated by areas...they actually co-exist. The Azreily Towers...gorgeous!...more pics later. Very shiny office building... A small part of an apartment block in the centre of TA. Reminds me of a Beehive. Our hotel and a shiny, rounded office building. The hotel's reflection makes it look like the windows are missing in part of the office building. The big question is... Will our new apartment be shiny or gritty? The United Statesian

Pigeons in Tel Aviv go on strike! Dear Citizens of the World! I will have to admit that I do not understand why...but the pigeons in Tel Aviv have decided to go on strike. Any ideas? After taking the picture above, I walked down to the beach and found this guy: Hanging out on Tel Aviv's Beach soft-sand beach He obviously stopped off at the hair-dresser to get the puffy-hair look. Then he decided to spend his "strike" sinking his feet in the super-fine sand. His blood-red, beady little eyes make him look quite scary -- despite the hairdo. Note: The sand on the beach in Tel Aviv is the finest, softest sand I have ever seen. It is actually quite nice. I have only walked by part of the beach...still haven't had time to chill out on the beach yet...one day maybe...when I get a job...then go on strike to join the pigeons in their fight. The United Statesian

Chicken man! Don't know what your selling...but you've got my attention. Dear Citizens of the World! My last post might have given a lopsided view of TA. The city has two very distinct facets that live side by side: the gritty and the shiny. Today I will start with some images of the gritty side. Later some shiny ones for contrast. "Decoration" outside a building...one part of an eclectic mix. Cool graffiti door painting next to a Tattoo parlour. More traditional graffiti near the beach. A home-made graffiti which is done on recycled paper and glued up. Better quality, but less time on the street. This artists has quite a few glued up around town. they are about four feet tall. More photos in future posts... The United Statesian

Flowers in the garbage can in Tel Aviv Dear Citizens of the World! Today marks the end of my first week here in Tel Aviv. The focus of my days has been on looking for an apartment to call home the next two or three years. The search has not been easy. It is hard to look for an apartment when you don't know the city and it is double hard when the prices a very high. Tel Aviv is a relatively new city where most buildings came about over the past 50 years, but the first impression is mixed. Most of the buildings are four-story, off-white and very dusty buildings. Old apartment being remodelled...are they paying for those colours? However, many of these older buildings are being renovated inside. Therefore, you never know what you will find on the inside -- much like the flowers in the garbage can in the picture at the top. Reflection of our hotel in a shiny office building There are also lots of nice shiny, new buildings mixed in with the rest. Maybe - if we are lucky -we will end up...

Sabbath elevator...it just keeps going and going and going... Dear Citizens of the World, One of the great wonders of traveling is to see first-hand how people live. Something that seems logical to one person would be odd for another. Case in point: Sabbath elevators. Sabbath (Friday evening to Saturday evening) has some basic rules to live by. One rule has to do with not using machines. But wait...what if you live on the 14th floor of a highrise building?...ahhh, Sabbath Elevators solve this problem through an ingenious loophole. The trick consists in not touching anything; therefore, the elevator goes up and down for 24 hours while stopping and opening on every floor. Thus you can get on, touch nothing and wait for the elevator to stop on every floor until you get to your destination. Saturday we plan to rest a bit and continue looking for an apartment in the city, have lunch downtown and then see the sunset on the beach. We will have to go down 14 floors to get out of the hotel, bu...

Flying machine...a Rolls-Royce, but spam-like food Dear Citizens of the World, We have made it to Tel-Aviv! Tired and stressed from the long list of tasks that come with a making a new country your home. The first flight went well and dinner in Neve Tsedek at Suzana Restaurant was fresh,healthy and with a great ambiance. First view of Tel-Aviv from the air...I can see my hotel from here! The first ride across the city was punctuated by a wonderful sunset along the coast, with views of Jaffa Port. Doing tai-chi at sunset along the coast in Tel-Aviv First sunset in Tel-Aviv See you soon, The United Statesian