Day 7 - A friend of a friend of a boyfriend of a friend...?

Today I slept late. It was wonderful. I checked my e-mail over cereal to discover that Ortal and Roi had e-mailed me back. Kacey's boyfriend Alec had met Ortal when she was in the army on his birthright bus and kept in contact with her, and Kacey had given me their e-mail addresses for when I got here. I am so glad!

The e-mail said that they would be at Palmahim beach today and that I should join them. I asked at the Weizmann front gate about getting a cab, and the security guard called one and also asked on the phone how much the fare should be (in Israel, cab drivers love to cheat you and usually do it to foreigners by pretending not to speak anything other than hebrew, so this was a really helpful gesture). The drive was longer than the expected 15 minutes, due to a long line of cars waiting to get into the beach gate. I got out before that point, after about 10 minutes of going very slowly, and paid the driver.

I got to the gate to discover that the beach was still about a mile down the road. I set off, and in a few minutes the air began to become cooler. As I rounded the last corner into the parking lot, the breeze and smell hit me, and I got a great view of the Mediterranean. It was gorgeous.

I found Roi and his friend at the restaurant getting some fries, then we walked back to where Ortal and the friend's girlfriend were sitting with their umbrella. I met everyone, we chatted and they ate some fries. After I got on my sunscreen, I sat for a bit then went into the sea with Roi. It was surprisingly rough! Roi said this was unusual. There was no undertow but the waves were substantial; people were surfing, and near the rocks at the end of the beach where people usually snorkel it was too choppy to do that. But the water was warm and clear, and the day was beautiful and breezy. See below for pictures.

I got out to sunbathe a bit. We just chilled a while, and I talked to Ortal about how I came to be in Israel and such. I found out about her life as well as Roi's. They're moving north to go to school again in the fall, but will be going to the U.S. for more than a month before that, so I gave a few recommendations, about D.C. as well as Disney World. It was really nice.

Roi and Ortal's friends left about a half hour before we did. Ortal's sister had left her car, so they drove me back to the institute. I thanked them profusely as they dropped me off.

Upon my return I realized that a) gum had gotten on my towel and b) I had not yet purchased another one. So I headed to the mall at around sundown. On Shabbat it opens back up around 8, so I went to the pharmacy then to a bed/linen store, where I picked up a reasonably-priced towel set, including two hand towels, one bigger hand towel, and a shower-sized towel. I wandered for a bit more before returning home.

The rest of the night was spent chilling. I watched the better part of a Michael Douglas movie entitled "The Game" on TV with some grad students. We had tea and cake towards the end of it, then I headed to bed.

Beach pictures!

Day 6 - Prayer is the Answer

First, so you don't think you're being cheated: pictures will still be included as much as possible, but will now come at the end of posts so as not to ruin the stories. So have no fear! They're coming. Also I changed the other posts retroactively because, of course, I'm a bit anal.

So here we go!

Today I woke up much later than normal. I get to work around 9, but today we (me, Joel, Mike, Stephen and Jonathan) were supposed to meet in the kitchen at 10:45 (which of course has jewish standard time built in, so really means 11:00) am to catch a train to Tel Aviv. We walked to the station and got on the 11:30 train, and got off at the Merkaz stop, which put us sort of in a weird part of town. We found a bakery, where the nice people directed us to a hummus place. When I say that, I mean it; the only thing they served there was hummus! So that was delicious.

We walked a bit more and decided to find a bus to take us to the beach (Mike headed back to Rehovot at this point), which was only mildly successful at first, in that we found the bus stops but had no idea which bus to take. We asked one bus driver who gave us a non-existent bus number. Stephen then went over to the Hassids at a nearby stand (they set up these things to try to get passersby to put on tefillin) and asked them for help. They said they didn't know, but that prayer was better than the beach anyway and if he put on the tefillin they would find out. So Stephen, being ever prepared, pulled his own from his backpack and put them on. As he began saying the shema fast, the bus we needed arrived, so he had to run to catch us, still wearing them! See below for a photograph; it was a good thing he had his own! So we're on the bus, getting very odd looks, and he's removing them, and this 15-year-old kid comes up and asks him in Hebrew if these are tefillin and if he can wear them. So Stephen teaches him how.

After a few stops, we reach the end of the line - the beach! See below for photographs of this awesome event. We wandered, I dipped my feet (I had brought flip flops), and then Jonathan and Joel walked to the end of this huge rock jetty. I made my way along it more slowly, and we just took it all in. After a bit, Jonathan had to go to meet some friends, so Joel and I made our way back to the beach to find Stephen.

Stephen had of course disappeared, at about the same time we both realized neither of us had his number. This was disastrous, as the last train before they stopped running for shabbat had left an hour previously and he was supposed to be taking us someplace for shabbat dinner. So I called Greta, our program coordinator, and asked her if she had his number. She said no but that she was good friends with his aunt (!!) so she said she'd call back. Four minutes later she did! We reached Stephen, who said he had run into some long-lost friends (one of whom, Jackie, goes to Trinity and says she knows you, Allison!) and would meet us near the green umbrellas in 10 minutes. So we sat and chilled, then Stephen took us to meet his peeps. When they had to go, we headed for land.

Stephen's friend David, who he knew from MIT, picked us up in his car, then the rushing began. We drove to the grocery store, only to find that it had closed 2 minutes before for shabbat. So we went to the pharmacy and found some of the same things, then David dropped us off at his place and headed to the airport to pick up his girlfriend Irene. During this car ride I talked to Mom and Dad, which was wonderful and which the other people in the car greatly enjoyed. Fyi, guys, the plane was on time and David got there only 5 minutes late, so it was all good; thanks for looking up the El Al info!

Back at David's place, we helped his roommate, Itzamar, and friend (also from MIT, who had extended her birthright trip) Dina to prepare the dinner and meals for the next day), then went to services at Bar Ilan (a nearby university). Itzamar, Joel, and I got sort of a late start so we had a brief tour of campus before arriving at the services.

Afterwards we went back to David and Itamar's place, with a few new people from services in tow. There were 9 of us overall at dinner (David, Irene, Dina, Itamar, Stephen, me, Joel, Etay, and Omry). It was a great time! Everyone was really nice, the food was delicious, and it was just fun overall. Itamar is a composer in his spare time, and he plays the clarinet and bass clarinet!!!!! He has a bunch of trios and quartets for clarinet(s), bass clarinet and piano, and he wrote one clarinet/bass clarinet duo which we would have tried had he had a printed copy. This reason alone would be enough to motivate me seeing everyone again. He also said he would arrange his stuff for me or a small group any time! It was really great. Highlights of the dinner conversation included discussion of the supposed rule that stacking plates on the table while clearing them is rude, and is grounds for breaking off an engagement (according to Itamar's mother), Britney Spears singing jewish songs, and other ground-breaking ideas.

Anyways, after dinner I did a bunch of dishes in an attempt to be helpful and erase my feelings of being in the way in the car earlier. We chipped in a bit for dinner, and as everyone was setting up mattresses to stay the night, planned our exit. We had intended to call a cab to take back to Rehovot, but Etay offered to drive us! We had a lovely chat in the car, thanked him profusely when we got out, and then I wrote this before bed.

Enjoy the pictures: Stephen and his tefillin on the bus, a picture the bus driver requested with Jonathan, the Tel Aviv beach, and Jonathan and Joel running along the rocks.

Day 5 - Why I love climbing. And Israel.

This morning I hit the snooze a few times. After a slight panic that the bathroom light was out and I'd have to use a strange shower (which sometimes emits brown water) in the dark, the light flickered back to life and all was well. Yogurt, cereal, then work.

All morning I worked on the computer analysis of the images. I continued work I had done on Tuesday, then once I decided which methods I wanted to compare, started completely from the beginning, while taking notes and printing things for my lab notebook. My lab notebook is seriously going to be the best thing ever. Well ok, there are better things (like ice cream!) but it might be close.

Lunch was in the airport cafeteria again. They had real mini pizzas with sweet potato, so I had to try it. Verdict: yummy! We also had fruitful discussions about Monty Python and the Golden Compass. After XiaoMeng stopped at the bank we returned to the lab. Asof gave me the e-mail of a Nitzim, a friend of his who he knows is part of an informal group of people who climb around here, so I e-mailed him.

I reverted to reading more articles as the afternoon wore on. Highlights: a call from Nitzim, the climbing dude, saying they were going tonight, and a (much too short) call from BEN!!!!! HI BEN! Miss you.

Needless to say the rest of the afternoon was LONG. I left around 6:00, hoping to get some brownie points for coming in early and staying late since I won't be in tomorrow, and apparently many people from my group come in then (in Israel, weekends are Friday-Saturday, and for many, Friday is only half of a weekend-day. I guess my lab friends are part of "many") so I don't want to appear to be a total slacker. But I do work hard while I am there (so far)!

I got back to the dorm and chilled for a bit in the kitchen, as always. When people came in and cooked we had a brief collective facebook stalking session, then I had to get ready to go climbing.

So I was supposed to meet Nitzan at the front gate on the right. I stood there for about 5 minutes, holding climbing shoes and realizing I didn't know what this dude or his car looked like, until someone pulled up and rolled down the window. "Is one of you Nitzan?" I asked as I got in? The driver said yes! The other's name was Yaron. We got down to business: turns out they are both chemists, and Nitzan works on the floor above me. Then I say, "So do you two boulder or top rope?" And Nitzan says, "We lead." Oh goody. They said the gym had all three though, so it would be fine. Then the two of them taught me some important hebrew climbing words:

lamala = up

lamata = down

kach = take (a very important climbing word in leading meaning for the belayer to pick up the slack so you can rest. As Nitzan said, this word is usually pronounced "[frantically] KAAACHHHH")

We next went to pick up their friend Ran. He got at the car and met me, then asked, "How do you know each other?" And all of us simultaneously replied, "We don't."

When we got there, we prepared to pay 40 shekels each, but then I was informed that that night it was only 20 shekels, with a free beer! I love this country.

So we all began by top-roping, because there were no lead ropes available for the guys. After a half hour or so they got one, so we all just took turns, them leading a few and then belaying me on a top-roping route. As we hung out, I learned the colors and some other random words. Somewhere toward the middle of the night we claimed our free beer. We climbed until we were pumped, then went to boulder. There were no routes marked, so basically one person got on, and the other pointed with this long wooden dowel to the next hold to go to. The person climbing had to go to that hold, could use any feet, and preserve the order of their hands. It was great; we climbed until we were really pumped, then left.

On the way back Nitzan and I discovered that we have THE EXACT SAME taste in music. Let me name a few of his favorite bands: Andrew Bird (!!!), Ivy, Rilo Kiley, The Flaming Lips, Sufjan Stevens. I am going to make him a CD! And give it to him next time, because I definitely want to go back.

When I returned to the dorm, a bunch of people were watching The Golden Compass. A bunch of people were giggling at parts so I found myself filling in the omitted information, especially when the DVD skipped 5 minutes ahead. Afterwards we chilled in the kitchen (where else?) for a bit, then went to bed.

Enjoy pictures of the plums from yesterday, then climbing! The first two are the gym, then Ran belaying Nitzan, then Yaron climbing, then the caribeaner they gave us with the ATC (belay device). Note the scotch tape, which they assured us was for "marking purposes."

Day 4 - Chips and...

Today I had to get up sort of early to get in to work by 9 so we could be on the TEM by 9:30. XiaoMeng operated it, and Petro came along again, but the samples were ones XiaoMeng and I made yesterday. OH! I forgot to mention that in my post yesterday about my morning. Oops.

< .science >

So we examined single-walled, double-walled, and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Turns out the single-walled ones clumped together too much for us to be able to see much of anything, the double-walled ones were really triple-walled or more, and the multi-walled ones were beautiful. XiaoMeng is also really good, so we got some great images for me to process. Yay!

< / science >

I had thought I would be able to take a class to learn to use the TEM, but it turns out it doens't start till too late, so I will be consulting with the TEM expert/person who teaches the class and is the TEM god as he operates it and takes images for me. That was slightly disappointing, but it does cost like millions of dollars so I understand the rules.

After the TEM work we went to lunch, at another cafeteria on campus. They had schnitzel, which was delicious. And there were plum trees outside, from which we plucked (with great effort and lots of help from Asof, our tallest friend) tasty yet cherry-sized plums. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading again; I didn't even finish!

Upon leaving work, I decided to go on a postcard quest, but was unsuccessful and got a number of quizzical looks from shopkeepers. I got home and began cooking. I made chicken with soy sauce and peanut butter (Rebecca, it totally worked and was delicious!) and cooked rice, in a pressure cooker. Has anyone ever used one of those? It was scary, but I made rice successfully for the first time in my life.

Anyways, I ate and drank pomegranate juice and then changed, and we went salsa dancing! Our new friend Ran drove us to the place; Baila Salsa. The first half hour was warm-up, then there was an hour of lessons. I was in the beginner group with the two other summer students who came with us, but Ran was off with the moderate/advanced people. After that it was mostly free dancing but there were a few line dances, which were more fun. I wasn't bad; of the two friends who came as well, one was the same and the other was from Columbia. She was very popular :) After a few hours we finally pulled her away and came back here.

Pictures today: enjoy some views of my dorm! This includes, in order, the lobby, my room (which is one floor below, in the basement), the communal kitchen, and the refrigerator room (a technical term, of course). I have a picture of the aforementioned plums, which you will see tomorrow maybe. Also notice that although my room seems spacious, the photo was taken from the hall, and to enter my room I have to open the door completely or take small steps, as the door path passes very close to my dresser (not pictured).

Day 3 - Lost In Translation

Aren't the names of my posts creative?

Yesterday, or my third day here (second full day), involved going to work. I know, exciting. I sat and read papers to catch up on stuff, and began image processing of some test images of tungsten disulfide nanotubes. It was exciting. But no, really!

We walked to Jubilee Place, on campus, for lunch. XiaoMeng, another PhD in my group, warned me that it looked like an airport cafeteria, and she was right. I had some Israeli pizza (kind of a slice-shaped calzone-type deal) and watermelon for dessert. Yum. Afterwards I discovered there is a bank in that building, as well as a book/office supply store owned by OfficeDepot.

After lunch I went to Greta to turn in all my paperwork, asked her all my remaining questions, and then went to the Materials and Interfaces department office to set up my e-mail account. After some more work with the test images, at 5 (or 17!) XiaoMeng took Petro (a new post-doc) and I to the TEM, where we looked at some of her samples. I have to say, the TEM is pretty awesome. The two of us stayed with her for about an hour and a half, then went on our way.

After dropping off my bag in my room, I decided to get some more shekels and make the trek to the grocery store. I was told to exit Weizmann and go right, which I did. After a while, I passed some construction, a McDonalds, and a bowling place, and eventually found it. I was hot and disgusting, and I don't speak Hebrew, so I wandered for about an hour, aimlessly examining the bowls of spices, frozen squid tentacles, and other items before getting it together and grabbing a basket. I grabbed some veggies, pasta, chicken, and a few other basics. As I was looking for rice, a pair of Israeli guys asked me if I knew where to find vinegar. As I had been wandering around for a bit, I had a general idea. One of them asked me how old I was. When I said 22, he said, "Oh, you look 17." Thanks. But he was really nice and together we found the rice. Yay.

So then I had to walk back, uphill. I was so overheated when I got back that I turned on my AC then went and stuck my head in the freezer till my room cooled down. I ate some yogurt as Jonathan attempted to remove one frozen fish from a bag of them without defrosting them. As I ate my yogurt he struggled, sawed, and pried, and eventually dropped the whole thing of frozen fish on the floor. So of course he had to wash it off, which defrosted them and therefore meant he had to cook and eat them all. I witnessed all this because I caved and cooked my newly purchased zucchini.

So we chilled and ate and cooked, and later a bunch of us went out for a beer. Hilarity ensued as the place was very loud, so I ended up repeating things as the people on either side of me attempted to talk to one another. Also, the bench we three were sitting on was along the fence bordering the sidewalk, so throughout the evening whoever was on the end kept squeezing out and walking around until I was in the middle again. Very exciting. I met a bunch of people and a good time was had by all.

No specific pictures happened, so enjoy some flowers from campus!

Day 2 - So Much Soup

Hi again!

Much has happened since we last spoke. Yesterday I went to work for the first time in the Perlman Chemical Sciences Building, on the fourth floor: Materials and Interfaces. I met the other researchers in my group, including PhD and post-doc students. The PhDs gave me a tour of the labs, then took me out for lunch.

After lunch I met my professor, David Wagner. He asked me to review my resume for him, then told me what he wants me to do: make a huge catalogue of TEM images of carbon nanotubes, of various diameters and numbers of walls, and attempt to determine the thickness of graphene sheets in the nanotubes. I also am aiming to determine whether this thickness has any dependence on the radius or number of sheets in the nanotube. In the future, if I discuss this in any depth, I will warn you all so if you are non-sciencey, you can tune out. I will of course also let you know when to tune back in.

Anyways, after that I spent the rest of the afternoon printing and reading papers. Around 4, Noa, one of the PhD students, took me to the ESEM (Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope) and I watched her look at her electrospun epoxy samples. After a bit I left.

I was so tired when I got back that I napped until after dinner time. I woke up and arrived in the kitchen as Jonathan, one of the other summer students, finished a huge pot of soup. He forced me to help him eat it. The rest of the night was spent talking and chilling on the roof. Topics ranged from furniture porn to how to meet people here (one answer: sit in the lobby and eat salad all the time). There were a bunch of summer students as well as other building residents, including masters and PhD students from pretty much everywhere. Eventually a security guard showed up and told us to keep it quiet.

Today will come later. For now, enjoy pictures of campus buildings! In order, top to bottom: the coolest particle accelerator building ever, the Chemical Sciences Building (where I work), and my dorm (where I live).

Arrival

I am here!

My flight left an hour late, but we took off at 10 pm EST and landed at 3:30 pm in Tel Aviv. I got my bags and grabbed a taxi (Mom, brilliant idea about giving me some shekels ahead of time!). I got to the Weizmann Institute gate at around 4:30, at which point I was supposed to call Greta for information as to getting in. After a few minutes, during which the cab driver got kind of pissed and I told him to leave, we located a packet with a key in it, and one of the gate people helped me get my bags to my room.

After changing I went on what turned out to be a very long walk through Rehovot. I found a supermarket, a bunch of shops, and eventually the mall, where I got toilet paper, soap, some paper to write on, and an adapter for the outlet. I decided to take an alternate route back to Weizmann, which resulted in a lovely but longer than expected tour of the residential part of town.

After the miracle that was me reaching the gate once again, I returned to my room and plopped down my stuff, then went to the kitchen, where a bunch of other kids were. They were all American, and all but one was in the same program as me. One even goes to Penn, and just finished her sophomore year!

The rest of the night was spent in chatting, setting up my internet and making this lovely blog post. I will put more pictures on flickr if the above does not satisfy you. Hope you enjoyed reading this!