Zoo Pics

When we first entered the park, we drove along the safari route that zigzagged around dozens of massive animal herds. These herds included hippos, rhinos, zebras, impalas, etc. We then entered the zoo portion of the park. During my visit in this area, I pondered if zoos in general are inhumane. I came to the conclusion that yes, zoos are trapping an animal in a tiny area that only appears to be like their natural habitat, but zoos also save endangered populations of animals from extinction. Also, zoos remind humans, the biggest danger to these animals, what is at risk when we don’t correctly control the growth of our industry. Therefore, I think that zoos are a net positive. These thoughts did not take away too much from the unbelievable range of animals that the zoo offered, and I recommend any Tel Aviv visitor to spend an afternoon there.

Here is a slideshow of some of my favorite pictures I took during my visit:

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Hummus Wars

After 70ish days of Hummus testing, I have come up with two of my favorite plates to compete head to head for the highest miLLbLog honor: Number one hummus in Israel. The contenders are both located in Yafo, a city that is combined with Tel Aviv on the south east side. Here are the pictures:

Abu Hassan Hummus:

 

Versus–>

[I forget the name of this place] Hummus:

 

And the winner is…..ABU HASSAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Congrats  Abu Hassan, your prize is in the mail.

Activity Packed Post

Wow its been a while since I’ve updated miLLbLog. All of a sudden I only have seven days left in Israel and four days left of work (including today). I assure you that this past few weeks has not been wasted, as I am one to always cram stuff in last minute.

My first “excursion” last week was with my friend Jeremy who was my original roommate before the Tamid crew came. We decided to go to the Azrieli towers, which are three geometrically perfect skyscrapers that are an iconic part of the TLV skyline. (see pic below)

The towers lie just a ten minute bus ride from our apartment, a distance that makes the trip even more enticing. We first entered the square tower to the sight of an expansive three story mega mall. This was a great surprise to us because we previously thought that the towers were just going to be populated with office buildings. After getting our fair share of Americanized Chinese food in the mall we made our way to the circular tower (the second tallest building in Israel) through a sky bridge. There we took an elevator to the top floor, sharing the ride with five work-worn accountants that got off on the second to top floor. The view from the top was like looking at a topographical map, and we spent about an hour looking at the city from all possible angles.

This is the only photo that I feel can do the view justice. [Photo credit to Ynhockey of the great wikipedia]:

Next came the Tamid day trip to the West Bank. We began by piling into the tour guide’s van and driving to Shiloh, a geologically and religiously important region. The people working at the site were 18-20 year olds who deferred their army duty for a year to ensure that they are mentally ready for their service. They spent their time digging up artifacts from centuries ago and studying religious documents to better maintain their Jewish identities when they go to work for the predominantly secular Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

We then went to an army base, where reserve infantry soldiers were stationed to help quell any conflict between Jews and Palestinians before anything escalated in the area. The soldiers were all around 30 and had wives and kids, but were not bothered at all to be at the base. In Israel, if you serve in the IDF when you are 18 (the age of conscription), you serve a month in the same unit every year until you are 49. This reserve army is what makes up the majority of the IDF. The Reserve troops number at around 565k while the standing army is only around 187k.

Our last stop was visiting the home of a settler family. To get there, we drove on winding roads cut into a massive canyon. We passed cars by a few inches on our left and the face of the cliff our right. The village itself was tiny–with maybe thirty houses max. We talked to the a settler family of eight for an hour about why they chose to start their lives so far away from civilization and in such a conflicted area. I won’t bring politics into the post, but it was very interesting to learn about the right-wing Israeli viewpoint first-hand.

The final highly notable stop is one that should be described solely in pictures. Unfortunately I forgot to put my cord in my backpack today, so I will leave the pics for later. I will just mention that the trip was to a zoo/safari in Ramat Gan (a large city next to Tel Aviv) with my Israeli friend Omer.

What’s Leather, Has a Dozen Plastic Cards, and Is NOT Good to Lose in a Foreign Country?

A week ago I saw a family of black cats huddled under a bench in the city. I’m not a superstitious person, but let’s just say that this week has been a little unfortunate.

The day after I finally got over a debilitating week-long stomach bug, my wallet vanished on the bus ride to work. Now misplacing your wallet is a terrible annoyance in the States, but it is a serious issue when you are thousands of miles from home. Life without an I.D., bus pass, or access to cash, however, has highlighted the generosity of my friends and the credit card cancelling abilities of my parents. But most importantly, it has shown me how far I have come. If I was in this debacle two years ago, I would have crumbled under the pressures of uncertainty and angst. Living on my own in a country where independence and self-reliance are two of the most cherished values has sharpened my wits and has tested my ability to adapt. I believe that an experience like this one will turn out to be a hidden gem to my maturation process, one that could only happen through living in a foreign country.

This is my venting/bad news post of the week. miLLbLog will have a positive/exciting post very soon to bring back the magic.

Bonus Photo Post!!!

I haven’t included pictures in my last two posts, so here’s a three random ones:

Click to enlarge [its worth it]

1st pic: At the Tel Aviv HaCarmel Shuk (Biggest open air market in the city 10mins from my apt). You will never believe the people you will meet there…

2nd pic: A sun set off of the coast (photo credit to my mom)

3rd pic: The Bahai Gardens in Haifa

Preconceptions and Misconceptions

When I knew I was spending the summer in Israel, almost everyone I knew told me to be careful. The Middle East is known for its bouts of violence and political uncertainty. My preconceived notions about the country’s security were tainted by growing up during the second intifada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Intifada) that ran from the early to mid 2000′s. Obviously, in Delaware I was never in the midst of conflict, so I just thought U.S. = safe while Israel = dangerous. This thought process was amplified even more by the international media’s description of the region.

I scheduled my trip so that I would first tour Israel with Birthright for ten days and then spend two months at my internship. As I stated in the inaugural post of miLLbLog, Birthright was the perfect introduction to the country, but there are certain factors that kept me from truly  “living” Israel. First, we had an armed guard with us at all times. Second, the only method of transportation we took was in a tour bus. And most importantly, there were time and location restraints during all free-roam periods.

Because of these intense safety previsions, Israel was presented to be more unsafe than I see that it actually is now.

Tel Aviv rarely sees any domestic street violence. After living here for a month, I know I would MUCH rather walk down the relatively sketchy Levinsky St. at 3 AM rather than in Detroit at night (or South Philly for that matter). When you have a group of people who are in danger of attacks from terrorists year round, they bond together and unconditionally protect each other. This makes me feel very safe in a way, especially since if you randomly choose an Israeli on the street, chances are they had some sort of combat training.

To sum up my current thought process: Israel is (currently at least) not a dangerous place. The IDF is one of the best trained defense forces in the world, and has more experience than anyone with dealing with the threats that guerrilla warfare presents. Very little violence has happened in this country over the past few years, and this trend is likely to continue with both sides trying to play their cards right in anticipation of the UN vote in September. I really do appreciate everyone’s concerns about my safety, but it is much more secure and calm here than what most of the world thinks. Trust me.

I Do Not Understand Your Words, But I Do Understand Your DribbLing SkiLLs

This past week has been filled with the arrivals of the other students on my program. We are now a pretty sizable group with eight so far, and almost everyone has begun their respective internships. The group is very busy during weekday mornings/afternoons, but luckily some of the best times to be had in Tel Aviv are after the sun goes down.

 T-h-i-s–e-x-p-e-r-i-e-n-c-e–i-s–o-n-e–t-h-a-t–I–w-i-l-l–a-l-w-a-y-s–r-e-m-e-m-b-e-r

Last night, three other Americans and I (including Jeff and Yaniv from Tamid) walked east through the dilapidated Levisky Street in South Tel Aviv. We wanted to blow off some steam through some pickup soccer. After passing dozens of closed fruit stands and a crowded playground, we reached the concrete soccer haven of the Florentine neighborhood. Occupying the courts was a demographic that I did not know was common in Israel previous to my trip. Dozens of non-Jewish African males were sprinting for the ball– some with soccer cleats, some with sandals, and a select few with no  footwear at all. As a white, Jewish, and poorly travelled kid from Delaware, this was quite an intimidating sight. We were determined to play despite the crowded courts, so jumping into an existing game was our only option. We approached a group of four, all who were around our age, and we communicated with hand signals and broken (essentially infantile) Hebrew that we wished to challenge them to a 4v4 match.

The match was intense, fast paced, and very clean. The exhausted Team America eventually came out victorious, with two quick goal after trailing the entire game by one. During the game, soccer was our only form of communication with the Africans. Even without any conversation, the game was spectacular, as sports truly are one of the few international languages.   One of the Africans could have told me the funniest joke they knew, and I would have been bogged down in confusion due to the relentless language barrier. But if someone tripped over the ball or made a comical shot that flew over the fence, all of us would break into hysterical laughter. This was an amazing experience for all of us, as despite having completely different cultures, lifestyles, and languages, all eight of us shared a great time.

After the game, the most English-savvy opponent approached me and asked,

“You come tomorrow for football, yes?”

I smiled, nodded my head, and told him,

“I’ll see you then my friend. Shalom”

Instant coffee, cubicles, and Hummus

I walked into my office the first day of work with unusual feelings of confusion. I didn’t know the employees, I knew very little about the company, and even less about Hebrew. As I was shown around the office of TransSpot, I realized that my demographic was quite rare in the Israeli start-up world. I am twenty years old, which makes me an anomaly because almost all secular twenty year old males in Israel are in the middle of their army careers. Because of this, the American sense of an “internship” is pretty much non-existent here.

I am writing this post on day 5 of my work, and I am starting to find my place in the company. The past few days I have been tasked with researching our competitors from different countries and seeing how their digital advertising solutions compare to TransSpot’s. Because the company is a start-up, it needs to enter the market with the notion that it must continually evolve the products that it offers to avoid suffocation by its established competitors. My American accent is a great asset to TransSpot, as it eliminates any fear that potential American partners might have when doing business with foreigners. My coworkers are often very busy with programming the company’s ever changing products, but they have warmly accepted me as their token American. I am excited to see if I can make an impact on the firm, especially since it is still in its fragile start-up stage.

Moving on to my life outside of work…

Living in the “White City” (Tel Aviv) is a totally unique experience. I live just minute away from hundreds of restaurants, fresh fruit stands, and clubs of all types. Most of the people in the city are bilingual enough to help you get around, but I often find myself lost in a flood of Hebrew-only signs and posters. At first I was too bashful to ask for directions and information, but in order to get from A to B in Tel Aviv you must sometimes ask ten different people to reach a destination. To thrive in this city, I know I must adopt the Israeli mindset of being blunt and maintaining a hard outer shell when trying to get things done.

My favorite part of the city is the food. One can find any type of cuisine or flavor in Tel Aviv, and each dinner proves to be better than the last. Zac, Jeff, and I have deemed “Sushi Tuesdays” a weekly tradition, one where we can enjoy the exquisite fish of the Mediterranean sea. And I would not dare to forget the food that is essentially the ketchup of Israel: Hummus. So far I have probably tried 100 different types of this magical Mediterranean dip/spread, but one restaurant really stood out as the front runner so far in my search for the country’s best. I now leave you with the picture below of a vastly complicated bowl of hummus which came LOADED with onions, whole chick peas, a plethora of spices, and a hard boiled egg submerged on the side. This hummus restaurant is a hole in the wall in North Ra’annana, just minutes away from where I work.

A True Israeli Plate of Hummus--> Click to really see the delicious details

My next post will come quickly, as I see enough amazing things in this country to fill fifty blog posts daily.

A Warmup: Birthright

WELCOME TO MILLBLOG: The one and only blog that follows myself , Evan Millman, through my adventures in Israel. To get more brief/frequent updates on my summer, follow me on twitter @MillmaMich.

After an intense and exciting ten days with forty UMich students, eight Israeli soldiers, and staff members, my Birthright experience has ended. It was a very eye opening adventure, as the trip was my first outside of the States. The trip was like an appetizer plate of Israel–one that gave me a tiny sample of eighty unique locations.

Some memorable places I went (excuse me for the misspellings): Masada, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Sederot (a town next to the Gaza Strip that is lined with bomb shelters), and an alternative energy Kibbutz (shown below).

Now I am starting the second phase of my trip. I will be starting my work at a startup company in Ra’anana called TransSpot. It is a firm that I will know much more about when I actually start working, so I will just wait till then to post details. Anyways, I’m off to set up my surprisingly classy apartment and explore my surroundings…