Dead Sea & Red Sea

... the rest i wrote yesterday already.

But lets start at the beginning... i slept to long / fall in sleep before i could get up... perfect start... so we reached the Dead Sea slightly after sunrise... but it was still incredible. Afterwards we jumped in the Dead Sea... shit i forgot my Bild newspaper... so no perfect photo :-D
the feeling is unique... and when you get a drop in your eyes or mouth... too!

Hereby we shouldnt hide the thing that someone lost the key for our rented car in the way he put it in his bathing trouser returning form car and forget to take it out before going in the sea... later we met 2 nice israeli ladies



Ok after Dead Sea we drove down to Eilat. A few photo stops on the way are obligitory... Eilat welcomed us with 45 degrees in the shadow - unpack the sauna car and jump into the sea!!! in the evening going out.... well how if you hostel is closed at midnight?
next day i woke up so early that i enjoyed a beautiful sunrise of the mountains of Aqaba.

btw Aqaba should every one know form movies ;-). i will go to Aqaba when i pass the border to Jordan.
In the laste morning we went into the sea underwater observatory... great! afterwards to a close by diving and snorkeling station at the beach - what then happend i wrote it alreday.

roudn about 4pm we started our trip home... and around beer sheva we tried to see #the border# between israel and palestine... the part we saw is like the border to Jordan... a fence on the whole way... but here with military control :-o

dead sea & red sea.. and teh hospital

moin moin!

i wil start at the end. at the beach in Eilat i stepped into a really sharp coral or glas in the sea... was nice bloody at the beach afterwards... ok where is the first aid? other tourists ask at the lifeguard station... they dont have... they got a few kind of napkins with jod for me... ok i have to go to hospital... taxi!
after i arrived at the hospital i had to go to the reception... my ID card and 849NIS (ca. 150EUR)... even before they had a short look at my foot... no comment
next day a co worker told me taht an emergency is fixed... if i had to stay overnight and kept the doctor busy for ages... it woudl be still 849... ok...
after i had to clean my leg and foot on my own i got 2 anesthesia injection... uuuuuaaaahhhhhh they were more than painfull... the poor pillow on the treatment table... after these roudn about 4 min. i havent felt anythign anymore expect the last stitch... the made 3 to close the wound...

well... and the comment of other trainees... its my left foot so i still can drive the automatic car back to Tel Aviv (i was the only signed driver...)

more with pics comes later!

impressions from tel aviv

Bus map & routes


Area of Old Jaffa


Drying...

hmm...

... i just came back from lunch - and i couldnt enjoy nor relax during my break

2 co workers asked me if i want to join them - for lunch! yes of course!
at the table the spoke hebrew... after a few minutes they realized it and said "sorry for the hebrew"... but continued. 5 minutes later again "sorry for the hebrew"... and of course the spoke only hebrew too... some others around realized that and talked english with me. even this hasnt influenced them...

i left without them

The holy city

Moin moin!

living abroad keeps me more busy as i always thought... well ok...
last weekend we went to jerusalem - what should i say an impressive city but so touristic....
after arrival we went walking form the mount of olives, where the dom is located form whom Jesus went to god. we went down to the old city where the western wall the jewish most holy place is and right when we came there the ceremony for shabat started. impressive, unbelievable...

respecting the jewish people it was forbidden to take picture - when we left our digicam sin our bags. but being inside while they arre praying and enjoying - i cant find words to tell you what i got´by this!
we walked also thorugh the arab quarter - and tried to see the golden temple on the rock - but we were not allowed because the arabs started there ceremony also.

other stations were grave of jesus, his way woth the paiungful cross, the last places of him, ...
i can write more here... but i dont want, because you need to catch it on your own... you know some things in the world... to get a bit of it you need your own 'sensors'

just a small thing...

... to smile or think about

cars driving on the right side... trains on the left...

just a crazy thing or a hidden sign of their history?

a down&up day

moin moin!


last night we went to a park m0re or less close by because they had english open air cinema for free :-) after teh movie we ended up at and later in a huge playground.

today i think i had a lot of stages you pass through when you go abroad.

in the morning i was frustrated. i asked sth. to IAESTE by email and i felt i only got a too much generalized answer which were not really helping me.
later my co workers went to lunch - they invited me to join - but spoke just hebrew... only if i was with one alone he spoke in english. when the others returned to our table... only hebrew...
also i had to change my desk twice today. first i stayed in the office and just moved to an other table because the owner came surprisingly back from a business trip. 5 min later our secretary moved me again because there are meetings in the office now. i got an other desk in an other office room. but there i was sitting in the direct line of the air con. i talked with the other lady in the room and we agreed to switch air con of. later she had meeting and switched it on because we were 4 persons now. i was freezing and afraid to get a cold. i switched off - 3 min later they switched on... think about how it ended... when i asked her how to solve the problem because i dont know how long i will be there i said joking that i will stay till end september and switching on and off means 3m sprint always... her reaction 'i hope not'
hmm... 3 times i didnt feel welcomed...

i left work ealier... the air con was too much for me.
and my luck started even before i left home for work... my stomach was running crazy and kept me clos eby our toilet for almost half hour... yesterday i had the same at work... ok the food adaption process started...

on my way back i decided to go out for sight seeing - on my own... wanted to be a bit alone.
the oldets skyscraper in Tel Aviv, Shalom Tower, has a observation desk - better i should say had. its broken... forever. but the friendly guard told me i should go to Azreli tower. this has one. but not around the corner... an other day i was looking for the indepence hall and the kamel market... at last one i bougnht cheap fruits and got to k now cheap places for shopping. on my home ride an old man was sitting next to my - ca. 80 years young. after a few seconds we started to talk. surprisingly his 1st question was not wher ei am from. and later when he aksed i replied he took no manner of it... great. when we passe dthe rabin square, where the former prime minister was killed in the nintees, he told me many details about that and Tel Aviv. Also why the have a head over pyramid as a monument. he was really nice! like a star on my today's day...

on my sight seeing trip i saw a lot... many different architecture styles and pragmatic solutions of life... have a look at my pics... and make your own thoughts
do you know what is typical for Tel Aviv? I think impressions were mordern skyscrapers and cdentury old building standing next to each other...

Kindergarten at work

moin moin!

today i will make it short - its summer break time in israel. that means all kids are at home. but what to do when the parents can not take off? YES the kids coming with them to work. during the day HP organizes day trips for them... and round about 4pm they are returning, the parents can pick them up in the entrance area and take them to the office if they havent finished yet. and then these kids playing around, crying in my room... imagine who much concentration and work is possible for all of them... but its accepted!

not possible in germany!!!!!

the first week is over

moin moin!

my first week is over. for 2 days i wont have view...
time to review my first impressions... doesnt matter if they will change or not in the future

- taking care about environment or just using single-use dishes... last one is more comfortable
- train station and a train arrives: no one is faster when entering the train before the exiting passenger could get off... honestly dear Israelis!
- the first country the population is knows more english as there signs and prints...
- israel isnt cheap
- the population has different opinions about the situation with the arabic neighbor countries
- laws existing but no one is interested to control them
- traffic is more aggressive than german one
- the weather is great, almost no clouds, no rain till now
- more immigrants as i can recognize
- security everywhere!!! EVERYWHERE! but right now i ask myself if they really can do sth. when someone wants to place a bomb anywhere... honestly

ok what else... in front of the train station in rehovot is a construction site... with an interesting scaffold for the workers...

the real start

ok yesterday my small vacation was over and i had to go to my first day of work... before moving in, buying a monthly ticket and finding the way... in sum it took my 7h...

ok some more details:

I am working in the headquarter of HP Indigo in Rehovot. The Indigo devision is the group which develops, produces and sells big printing machines for commercial use. Like we have at home but much much bigger

i am in the strategic marketing team. my job is to find out 'interesting' data about the top 50 printing companies in north america. they are also dealing with europe ;-)
ok today i got my notebook for work - why i brought my one form home??? :-D anyway besides this everything is free there - water, coffee & cakes. a huge lunch (respective dinner) buffet is waiting everyday... the last time i saw it so big and good - i was in a 4* hotel... today we had also breakfast.

i dont have real working hours - i have to do my task - when??? its (more or less) up to me :-)

but 1h commuting per direction is... scheiße

my 1st day

... was my arrival day (3rd Aug) - just to make it clear

After being picked up form train station and stopping at a mall we ate. Later we went to the beach... wonderful - this is something i really miss in GER. Warm water, good waives (up to 1.5m).

In the evening we went to a beach birthday party with small campfire and always swimming... - and guess what - I was the only international.. but they all spoke English... sometimes after showing I am here too ;-)
The beach party lasted were long - anyway at 3am or so the birthday child asked me if I want to go home or stay and sleep there - guess what i said - yeah i stayed and till sunrise I didnt need a blanket or so :-) ... the whole night we were just wearing our swim clothes...

now its 1pm and i am back, took a real wonderful shower and rest till 5pm - the IAESTE trainees in Haifa meeting then - guess what is planned :-D

Arrival in IL

Moin moin!

a few hours ago i arrived safely in Tel Aviv. the journey itself was not spectacular, just a few delays, snoring neighbor, ...

and the climate shock was not as worse as last year... nice 38 degrees... 70 rel. humidity... i already saw the Mediterranean Sea.

directly form the airport i went to Haifa, where Boris, a trainee from 2004, picked me up :-)

ok more comes later...