Homesick/adventurous

A break from all the text! Here are some of the photos I've been taking, with notes.
This page does have a lot of photos, so you might have to wait for them all to load.

Living Arrangements

The student village's south gate. On the left the security entrance.

Twins? Well, between them they have two good eyes...

Congregating cats!

The entrance to my building.

The view from my window.

My room.

Homesick/adventurous

A view of the "kitchen", with the dad of the girls who lived here before us, come to pick them up.

The "family" dining table and the view from our window,

They left flowers in my closet. Also, I don't know how to use hangers

Night from my window, I.

Night from my window, II.

The gardens, and -- although you can't see them well -- filthy exercise machines.

Valeria poses in front of the window, looking somehow like a true Hebrew!

Flora

Israel's flora: spiny shrubs, tree-like shrubs, and regular shrubs, with some trees in the background.

The first, and for a long time the only, cactus I've seen. Not very spiky.

"I can't believe it's not lavender!"

Octoplant.

A hairy tree... but not the last we shall see.

The world has a designer.

"Yet I tell you, not even South America on the Cinqo de Mayo was dressed as finely as these."

On the campus of Tel Aviv university. Red trees are where it's at

My dad will appreciate what I term "super-mullen".

Eye candy for my female readers

Tuning fork tree.

Typical hill. I dunno, I find it really scenic. Reminds me of Bible illustrations.

This is a very spiky plant. Do not step on it. In sandals. Ouch.

Some blue flowers on campus.

This tree is so ... a-peeling.

Pomegranates! The tree that holds these up looks really spindly, given how big these will become.

I finally encountered my second cactus today. The father of the first one? Or its extended family?

If I owned land here, I would definitely want this little garden on my property.

The British Military Cemetery

"ALL the people of Palestine?!" Valeria asks.

Their name liveth for evermore. But which name? This earthly one, or the one only they know?

For some reason the Bible verse here I found very moving.

Looking out from the cemetery over the city.

A cat may look at a king, and a rose may grow on a grave.

Goodbye, goodbye.

Sunset on the cemetery wall.

Tel Aviv

Shadows on the surf.

Morrowind mushrooms! Amir?

People here look so.... normal. Although if you could see and hear them dancing...

So much fruit! It must be a juice bar!

They should probably update their depiction of the seashore.

Coffee, indistinguishable from Toronto except for the jar of sugar water.

Construction going on... somehow seemed like a cool photo. Also, Hebrew poster.

The view from Valeria's apartment door.

Here it is not a hand that stops you. It is ... your doppelganger.

One of the nicer streets in Tel Aviv.

Say what you will about the grammar, it's a charming slogan for a laundromat...

"Direct from Israel to Moldova?" thinks Valeria. "Why did I bother going through Canada??"

Israeli art...

The entrance to the promenade, with a guy running heroically into the sunset.

The promenade.

The marina.

The West.

Salt shakers here have these big plastic rings around them in case you... needed a big plastic ring.

We spent way too much time theorizing on how this candle is able to burn (it's floating in this clear liquid).

Oh, gross... hairy palms.

So-called mashed potatoes. Thank you, restaurant, for surprising me. (It's actually cauliflower.)

A pretty girl in a pretty dress on the promenade :)

A regular boy in a regular shirt on the promenade.

The Tel Aviv beach. I debated whether to post this or not; pretty standard beach

More Israeli art...

One of those divided crosswalks, at a miraculous time when they are both red at the same time!

Beit Hhatfutsot (Museum of the Jewish People)

The eternal light. lit since shortly after the Holocaust. They said they didn't know what it symbolized

There were many such pages. This was my favourite. They also had abstract illustrations.

Model of the inside of a historical synagogue in I forget where.

Middle Ages statues (replicas): Christianity symbolized as a regal woman over the sad, blind Jewish woman.

Menorah carved in the wall, with some mural visible through it.

Palms

There are many different types of palm. This is a shy one.

Fat palm.

Sad palms in Tel Aviv.

Blanket palms. They don't drop their dead leaves, so they grow in thick blankets around them.

Explosion palms.

Palmlings?

Bad neighbour palms somehow comes to mind.

It really all comes down to these two kinds of stereotypical palm.

Lumps

They're very fond of lumps here. This elegant arrangement might have a use. Can you guess it?

Maybe to help people feel uneasy.

Some of the lumps are yellow, but these ones peel.

Many lumps are second-rate lumps. Too smooth to be dignified. This one is a mere SLAB.

Apparently there exists a company that is proud of producing these lumps.

Miscellaneous

A view of (mostly) the Old City, from our dining room window. Best view on campus.

A nice sitting place in the botanical gardens.

Probably really old and significant or something, but the inscription is in Hebrew, so yeah... -shrug-

Something about how the default ground is golden rather than green makes me really happy.

If you leave the campus, you can only come back in through a gate with security and metal detectors.

Even the parking lot stairs are epic in Israel.

These were all over the street in Tel Aviv. I wonder what makes power lines so deadly here.

Israel's basic scenery. Oh, what, the hill? No, I meant the impassable fence...

I had to break up this catfight many times before they gave up.

These beautiful birds are everywhere here.

Another view of the city... I think this is looking north?

The elevator has an emergency Sabbath key!

These serve as speed bumps here.

Unlike the speed bumps, the buses are exactly the same as in Mississauga... down to the squiggle design.

But waiting for the bus? At least three times as colourful.

Mezuzah. They have one outside every door here. Keeps out evil spirits, solicitors, etc.

Jerusalem by night.

This is actually the same room in the botanical gardens, but now you're in it!

"Hebrew punctuation is just like English's!"

Einstein wrote an introduction to some book or other about the university. Some good thoughts in there.

The facade of one of the Nicanor tombs, which is... on campus!

Inside the tomb. I love the upside-down root system.

Claustrophobia.

Ossuary relic, I.

Ossuary relic, II.

Ossuary relic, III.

You pass through this tunnel with running water on the way to campus.

Israel\s favourite decoration, hiding out among the foliage.

SPIKES!

Oh. So there was a good reason for that sign. Aww, it was funnier when it was random.

Israel's water pipe system takes its design from the acclaimed Super Mario Brothers style.

This guy opens his tent all day every day to sell modern conveniences to students.

The fire hydrants are weird too, wouldn't you know it.

Painted cubes! If the medium is the message, then... I'm confused.

The outer reaches of the city, and the true desert. I want to visit.

Valeria and I were looking at this and hoping people don't live there. But it is in the Arab section.

A man wrangles a horse while some children watch.

I really liked the visual effect of these little puff-flowers.

I discovered the second-highest view in Jerusalem today.

A painting of the university's opening and dedication, before the creation of the state of Israel.

The building in which I study.

A nearby city.

One of my favourite stray cats. He is wearing stockings, Valeria says.

Could this be...?

Ah! The amphitheatre where that opening ceremony, the one in the painting, took place!