More Tel Afeq, Jerusalem, and more

Since my last post, some things have changed with locations for my internship. I will still go to Bet Shearim, but it will be either on rainy days to photograph caves or just a different week. The week before last, I spent more time at Tel Afeq and photographed the fortress. The second of the two days there, I was able to spend some time with Tsvika, my boss, and discuss how things are going, eat lunch, and talk about the upcoming Sepphoris dig in April, which I am looking forward to!

One night, I went to a Hebrew play at the theater near where I live (and where I have ulpan - Hebrew lessons) about the Holocaust. It was interesting; I could not understand much!

On Tuesday, February 13 our group went on a tour of Jerusalem. We first went to the Armon Hanatziv viewpoint and heard about the history of the division between east and west Jerusalem. From there, we continued to the Gilo neighborhood and talked about the fence, the conflict between Arabs and Jews, and the problematic borders of the west bank. We went through the Jewish quarter to the western wall, where we talked about the conflict between orthodox and reform Judaism regarding the right to pray in the Kotel. Afterwards, we went to the most Hasidic neighborhood in Jerusalem and talked with Rabbi Wineberg, an orthodox Jew there, who talked about his ideas of Judaism.

Armon Hanatziv viewpoint

 Gilo neighborhood view

 Western Wall (Kotel)

     Western Wall (Kotel)

Last week I did not photograph sites. On Sunday it rained at Belvoir, which is the one I will travel to next, and on Wednesday I had an exciting opportunity in Jerusalem. On Sunday I took a much needed day to have some fun at the mall and saw a movie. On Tuesday, I traveled to the Carmel Coast. We visited Maagan Mikhael Kibbutz and one of the members took us on a tour. Then we went to nearby Caesarea (which I will also photograph for my internship at some point), and heard a little of the history. Herod built Caesarea around 25–13 BCE, and what remains includes some of the amphitheater, mosaics from the palace, and more. Currently they are reconstructing the theater area where races were held.

 

Kibbutz Tour

Caesarea

Mosaics at the palace at Caesarea

The construction in the background on the theater

After Caesarea, we went to Jiser A-zarka, a small impoverished Arab village that is working on growing its tourism, and visited a guesthouse as well as an area near the sea with some Roman ruins.

 

 Bridge remains - the bridge was built for a general

 

 

On Tuesday night I stayed in Tel Aviv and traveled to Jerusalem on Wednesday with another volunteer from my program. We participated as extras in a film, which I cannot say anything about (sadly), but it was a lot of fun! We walked through the city a bit before heading back to Haifa.

 Mt. Scopus views

Also, I found a really cool beach in Haifa:

 

Next week I will be at Belvoir Fortress photographing. Tuesday we do not have a trip, so I'll get more days at Belvoir, which will be nice since I missed last week. The weather here is usually nice, and while it sometimes still gets a bit cold and rainy usually it is sunny and fair temperatures. I am enjoying Haifa as well as exploring and having the opportunity to see more of the country!