Israel and Palestine Trip

Good morning!

Yesterday was our first full day here, and it was packed! First before we left Jaffa we walked up to aview point where we could see Tel Aviv in the distance and Aaron went over the brief history of the past 3000 years (VERY brief)! Then we got on the bus and headed north and met up with Aaron friend, Giel (sp?), who used to work with PISCO at OSU for 3 years and now just started working at the National Institute of Oceanography here in Israel (his home country). His expertise is in marine ecology so we went down to the Mediterranean Sea and got a leasson on the ecology of the area. We spent time by the water, getting our feet wet and enjoying the beautiful view! Next we drove to the National Institute of Oceanography building in Haifa where Giel works. We got a tour of the building and some of the work that goes on there. The coolest thing I learned was that they are growing coral to be transplanted into rocks later once they are larger (so awesome!). Following this, we went to the Baha’i Gardens which over looking Haifa. We learned that Haifa was in the missle range when Lebanon was firing in 2006…it is amazing to see what a largly inhabited city it is that was having to evacuate during this time. After this, we started to head farther north towards Tel Hai (where we are staying for two nights), on the way we stoped up near the border, in an area where to the left was Lebanon with Syria in the background; this was right at sunset and it was gorgeous.

We are going south today to the headwaters and et cetera. We’ll update you again when we get back! Hope all is well in the states and Anthony says “what up to the 301.”

-Tiffany