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...

Dear Citizens of the World, Living in Israel means being disconnected with most of its neighbors, but Jordan and Israel have quite good relations. Lucky for us, it is possible to cross the border and visit Petra in one long weekend - one day there, 1.5 days to visit and then back to Tel Aviv. Unfortuntely, our visit to Petra and Wadi Rum were at the end of January when it was very cold and cloudy... but I guess that it is better than 40 degrees (100F) in the summer. A few shots from our first day at Petra... Thanks to these two, we were able to get a nice hot tea with mint - great when you are in a desert and it is cloudy and cold! A wider section of the canyon with fantastic light. Fantastic texture that looks like dripping paint. There is plenty of information on visiting Petra, however, in my next post, I will give some tips that I did not find in any of the on-line guides. - The United Statesian A parting shot... Cloudy day in the city at the gates to Petra.

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...

Dear Citizens of the World! After a heavy subject in my last post, I have decided to turn towards the brighter side of living in Israel as an expat... Escaping from Tel Aviv on weekends and seeing the country. This weekend was rainy and cold in TA... the perfect time to drive down to the Negev desert and go for a hike. We chose to go down to the area where the first Prime Minister of Israel started a Kibutz after his first stint in office. Our destination was an oasis at the end of a narrow canyon called En Avdat or... depending on the spelling, Ein Avdat. This shady oasis in the desert guarantees pictures of wildlife. There are plenty of birds for bird watchers. If you want to go... the link for the GPX file is uploaded to Wikiloc. Happy trails! -The Unitedstatesian

Dear Citizens of the World! The outlook is bleak! Israel is at war, but not with another country. It is at war with its own brand of extremism. Many believe that the Arab Spring will unleash the extremists in the Arab world, long held down by dictators, causing Israel to be more at danger. Thus far, this has not been the trend. I personally believe that the Arab Spring will be a positive thing for the region and Israel. The threat, as I see it, comes more from a homegrown extremism. Although small, it is quite vocal. Being Jewish is more a race than a religion. Only about 20 percent of Jewish Israelis consider themselves religious. And, the extremists are only about one percent of that 20 percent. That one percent of the 20 percent gets many of the headlines inside...and outside of Israel. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4162611,00.html The 0ne-percent have many privileged here in Israel. Most do not work or do the three-year mandatory ...

Coffee break during our 15km walk along the coast Dear Citizens of the World, Although less exciting than my last post about seeing rockets and long-range missile tests, I think that these photos of a November walk along our beach in Tel Aviv are worth a post. I try to highlight the positive side of living in Tel Aviv as an expat. One advantage is the weather. Not many people can say they walk along the beach in mid-November and still see tons of people in bikini - not me though... not my style. Leaving Tel Aviv going North you not only have the beach. There are lots of other sights. You can wait at the bottom of the runway and let the plains buzz you as they land. Enjoy the Boardwalk around the Old North Port of Tel Aviv A cool, long-green, hair-like algae on the rocks at low tide The advertising for ice-cream leaves a lot to be desired...the least being ice-cream. These haggared costumes did not make me think of food... Sunset over the old port with fisherman in the background The S...

Sunset from Ia, looking towards Fira Dear Citizens of the world! Life as an expat often means that you are on airplanes, packing bags, going from country to country, but not actually on vacation. After months of flying back and forth over the Med, we finally got a week off to go on vacation to Greece. Athens was nice, but Santorini was great! A paradise island that was created thousands of years ago by the biggest volconic eruption in history. Still active, it could cause a big quake or erupt at any moment... just makes it that more exciting ;-) If you are going to Greece, make it over to Santorini... - 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

"1/2 Torso - Lento" -- Keep looking at the picture until you see it... Dear Citizens of the World! Being an expat has ups and downs. One up-side is getting to meet interesting people from around the world. One such person, "Hans some" is a hard-working metal artist from Germany who is based in Alicante Spain. His sculpture "1/2 Torso - Lento" has become one of my favourite works of art. It has a subtle genius to it that reminds me of MC Escher, but in 3-D. It really plays tricks with your mind. Fantastic! Since I do not have a permanent home -- one of the downsides of being an expat -- I will keep a digital gallery of my favourite works of art. It is free, takes no space, and travels well. Check out more here: http://hans-some.com / Have any suggestions of other pieces of art that I should add to my collection? - The United Statesian

Eco products in Spain that are better for Chemical Sensitivity sufferers like myself Dear citizens of the world, I started to write this post last year while suffering from pneumonia. It was a bad experience, but I actually suffer more when I have an allergic reaction to chemical products. Unfortunately, I am very sensitive to chemicals in cleaning products, air fresheners, perfumes, paints, etc. Some doctors label it "Chemical sensitivity". My "allergy" is not fully recognised and the only treatment seems to be to avoid chemicals as much as humanly possible. As long as I avoid chemicals I can lead a normal life. It is not as easy as it sounds, especially when you are travelling or living abroad as an expat which is my case. The picture above of products is thanks to years of searching throughout Spain for products that would not affect me as much as popular brands. They are actually cheaper than the more "chemical" brands. Now, after moving to Israel, I h...

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

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...