CAARI - A unique Israel travel experience: 01/24/15

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Thursday - Community Service, Tour and Speaker

Volunteers at the Botanical Gardens - Esther, Laurel & Joel

Thursday, January 22

Greetings friends! Another full CAARI day and the end of the week! Friday and Saturday are the weekend here! The weather continues to be lovely - sunny iwth temperatures in the 70's - cooler in early morning and evening!
We are really getting the 'knack' of the schedule and enjoying our 'jobs'. Each is different but all rewarding - we feel like we are making some contribution. And...no matter where we go and people ask us what we are doing here, they say - 'Wow' and thank us! What could be better than that?

Rosalie's Report - On Thursday, I went back to my original school (within walking distance) and the day was more productive. We helped the English teacher complete her lesson by working with small groups of kids....I especially loved being with the students I had worked with 2 days before.....and getting their hugs as they showed how pleased they were to work with me again.

After lunch we toured the Botanical Gardens, ....not like places with similar name....as this one is associated with Tel Aviv University and is devoted to research.....the director took us through the many diverse environments in Israel, as well as in the world......They even have a tropical rain forest environment in a huge greenhouse. I feel we are seeing so much of Israel that most people from other countries ( and even many Israelis) never get to see. We have 3 people working in the Gardens.

Professor Uri Shalit

Professor Uri Shalit
Enjoy pictures - great day to tour Botanical Gardens!

In the evening, our speaker, Dr. Uri Shavit, a professor of Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv U. spoke with us about the Muslim Brotherhood and how unpredictable the situation is when dealing with small groups within the brotherhood. His talk was a no-nonsense approach to terrorism, and he was full of factual material which he presented very well. He stayed until every question was answered.....and so far, the speakers have surpassed expectations.

Wishing all a Shabbat Shalom,

CAARI 2015

famous black iris - just beginning to bloom for spring

Community Service, Haganah Museum & Yemenite Dinner

Burt & Marianne and their taxi driver

Wednesday, Jan. 20 - Day 2 of the community service. We are getting in 'the swing' of things - breakfast, get into waiting taxis, off to work, back to hotel for lunch and off to afternoon tour. And, today we were treated to a dinner 'out" that means outside the hotel - for a little variety.

Burt and Mark at Haganah Museum Entrance

Report from Rosalie - The afternoon was spent touring the refurbished Haganah Museum with an excellent guide, who went through the history of the Haganah in detail. I had not known that Golumb was the Israeli who started the Haganah......and two years ago, I had spent some days working at a school named for him. Stories about the early members of the Haganah are truly so inspirational.....another time for lumps in the throat.

Miriam, Esther, Laurel, & Rosalie at Maganda!

After the museum, we toured Tel Aviv, seeing the new plaza near the rebuilt Habima theater and the Mann Auditorium (now the Charles Bronfman Auditorium), as well as, Rabin Square and the new port area.

We enjoyed an excellent dinner at one of Tel Aviv's famous Yemenite restaurants, Maganda....from which we were able to walk home.....a good thing, considering how much we are eating.

Hugs from CAARI 2015

See more pictures of the days activities