Professor Sharon

Another long, and interesting day in Israel. We’re beginning to get really tired! We get up at 7 am and don’t stop until 10 or later; often not eating until 8 or 9 pm. I think we’re beginning to look forward to a couple of downtime days in Sevilla next week.

We had to pack up last night as for tonight and tomorrow we will spend at a kibbutz. We’ve just arrived actually at 10 pm, but we don’t get a tour until tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the tour, as the place is incredibly upscale – I guess I expected some sort of rustic farm.

We started our day by going to a community where Israeli Jews and Arabs live together. They run a school for children together – which is unusual. They talk of how to get along and learning one another’s customs, etc. Classes for the nursery infants to 6th grade are taught in both Arab and Hebrew. They observe both holidays, including the Christian ones as Christian children live and attend the school as well. We weren’t able to tour the school, but a teacher told us about it for about an hour and we were able to walk about the community.

We then went to Independence Hall in Tel Aviv to hear the story of the state of Israel and see a film. We also went to tour an underground secret bullet factory.

And, let’s not forget the lunch stop for the most amazing falafel and shawarma you’ll ever have before our almost 3 hour drive to the kibbutz.

Here’s a photo of our tour guide. He was a middle school teacher before doing this; and he’s excellent at this. He has visuals and music on his iPod, and is really knowledgeable about his country.