Day 75 - Drawn-out goodbyes

I woke up early and headed to Café Madaa, where I happily found Alissa and had a nice talk before going to the lab. Once there, I worked like a crazy person to finish processing and entering data from a few more images and adding the points to all my Sigma Plot files, then began cleaning up all my files so they’d be interpretable by a normal human being (a.k.a. one other than myself). By lunch I was only about halfway done, which depressed me as I had afternoon plans to head to Jerusalem with Jordan and Jonathan. I said goodbye to Erica as she left, then headed out to eat.

I was one of the first to arrive at San Martin for the real goodbye lunch, so started a movement by sitting at a very long table, hoping everyone would join. They did, in such numbers that naming them all would not only be pointless but also impossible, as I couldn’t even see everyone seated. Jordan sat near me and I told him Jonathan had texted me to back out of our journey, and that I would have to as well because I hadn’t yet found my professor, to whom I had to say goodbye before leaving. He was disappointed but understood, and decided to go anyway to pray for the last time at the western wall.

I was pretty bummed throughout lunch, and luckily Daniela spearheaded an effort to hang out with people later today. I had that to look forward to as I went back to work, where I photocopied my entire lab notebook and organized all my papers, then burned all of my TEM images and data files to a very large DVD for Professor Wagner. We kept missing each other when trying to say goodbye, though, so I was glad when he finally tracked me down in the photocopy room, shook my hand, and told me to write a draft of a paper. After this, there wasn’t much to do but turn in my keys and say goodbye to Noa, XiaoMeng, Patro, and Asaf. What a great group to work in, and a good building to be in. I couldn’t have asked for better.

It was about time, so I left, with all of my things, and met Daniela (successfully, this time!), Tamara, Rachel and Zvonimir for an afternoon coffee. Tamara had to leave after a bit to finish packing, but we lingered until the evening, then headed back to Clore. Everyone was chilling in the lobby, either doing nothing or making weekend plans for Eilat and Petra, and it was reluctantly that I headed downstairs to change and grab my climbing stuff. I did this slightly earlier than I needed so I could have plenty of time to say goodbye, especially to Clay and Tamara who were leaving tonight!

Finally I had to break away and go meet Nitzan, which I again did slightly earlier than I had to because I wanted to call Ben. I anticipated this being a rather short chat, but Nitzan was a bit late so it was much longer. We had a great talk, so I was in a happy mood by the time Nitzan arrived. I found, as soon as I got in the car, that Yaron had backed out, so it’d be us, and Giora and Tamar (a different Tamar, though, who they call by her last name to alleviate any confusion) would be meeting us there. It happened that they were both late as well, so there was no harm done.

For the second time, I was able to avoid the equipment fee by having all my own stuff. This was just one small positive thing at the start of a great night climbing. I mainly led, starting off by warming up on something I had already done. By the time I reached the top my arms were screaming, an alert besides my soreness of the past few days that I had really worked hard on Monday at Performance Rock. But somehow I still managed to feel great about my night.

I was the first of us to test a new blue route that became negative and had a huge feature, and Nitzan said it really showed how much I’ve been improving. He got farther than me, of course, but still wasn’t able to conquer it. Then we switched so I was with Tamar, and we top-roped quite a bit. There were plently of new, and as it turns out, challenging, routes for us to do, and I did some moves I don’t think I could have done before this summer. After a chunk of time, Giora had to leave, so we said goodbye, and soon after Tamar had to catch her bus. Nitzan then showed me a route he had told me about over the phone after the last time he was here: a blue one with overhanging steps. I didn’t get too far, but it was still fun to try. We cooled down and then went over to boulder.

Unlike other nights, I actually felt good about this bouldering session. At first Nitzan was suggesting ridiculous things, but this quickly changed into constructing routes which I could almost finish! Revolutionary. We had a good time and only stopped as the place was about to close.

We were both hungry as we approached Rehovot, so decided to go to the science park. Rapper, the Mexican place, was sadly closed, so we settled for Black Burger, a pretty decent burger place. I really amused Nitzan with the use of the Hebrew word for change, mostly because, I expect, he thinks I’m completely ignorant (when in fact that’s only 99.9% the case). After a bit we headed to his apartment, where I got the grand tour. He just moved in a couple of weeks ago, but it’s a really nice place. I looked at his photo albums from his trip to China as he burned me a ton of music, then he walked me back to campus.

Back in Clore, I had promised Jonathan to hang out, so I headed for his room. I found him slightly asleep, but woke him for a short chat which ended with me passing out mid-word. This I took as a good sign to go to sleep.

Zvonimir contemplating science 

(which is what the second word of the name of Cafe Madaa means)

Day 74 - "Ezra's plunging our toilet!"

This morning I headed to the presentations far more relaxed now that my own was done. I went to grab some coffee and found myself joining Tess and Ester. Only Eszter ordered coffee, but there was some confusion and they prepared two, charging her for one only. My free coffee in hand, we left together.

The presentations today began with Tamara, and ended with Daniela. Almost everyone went slightly over, so we finished rather late. Everyone gathered outside the auditorium for an official group picture, which made me happy and sad at the same time. Here we were, bantering with each other after really getting to know one another, together, in a comfort zone that would soon dissolve as each of us headed home to our various corners of the earth. We would never, ever all find ourselves in the same place like this again.

The photographer snapped a few shots, then we all got up. After a bit of chatting and making plans for the evening, everyone went their separate ways. Jonathan, Daniela and I lingered a few moments longer, but at that point Noa and Sari, accompanied by her parents and children, came up the path. They had apparently been looking for me all day, and when I returned to the lab it became apparent why: they had planned a surprise get-together for me to say good bye to the entire group, but, being as I was at presentations all morning, I had failed to show up. I felt incredibly guilty about this, but the food and drinks were still there, as was most of the group, so we sat and chatted and made up for the lack of party in the morning. Erica, who was apparently the driving force for the celebration, had already left for the day, but I would thank her tomorrow for everything.

At around 3:15, I headed with Noa and her friend to Café Madaa for a late afternoon snack. Tali, Noa’s roommate, arrived just as we got down to an interesting conversation topic: creationism, and intelligent design, which evolved into religion and prayer in schools. This carried us far into the meal and on into my next date, which also happened to be at Café Madaa: cake with Rachel, Lisa, and Daniela. Daniela didn’t show up, which was puzzling, but I couldn’t call her because I had left my phone in the lab, and consequently didn’t know if she was calling me. We ate our cake and Rachel told a very entertaining story about the one time they let a boy in their apartment (her roommates and she are relatively religious): to unclog the toilet so they wouldn’t be late to the ballet. It was an amusing tale, the upshot of which in my mind is the following: late to the ballet + poo in the toilet = legitimate emergency according to Judaism.

When we left the café, we found Daniela had been waiting for us somewhere else. This made me incredibly sad; not only had she been waiting and not met us, but she had missed delicious cake! Only our plans for a Tim Tam party later managed to make me feel even marginally better about this. We set off towards Perlman, where I left the other three to go grab my stuff and say some preliminary goodbyes. I also opened a card signed by everyone in the lab, which was incredibly sweet, and discovered they had gotten me a gift as well: a Weizmann tee shirt and mug. I was delighted as I finally managed to break free and head towards the Garden of Science, where our KKISS goodbye tour and dinner were about to begin.

I caught up with Rachel, Daniela and Lisa taking pictures near Jubilee Square, and was just in time to be a part of an awesome one (which I can’t share because it’s not on my camera, but I am sure Rachel and/or Lisa will put it on facebook). Soon we were at the Garden of Science, which turns out to be a big park with science-like installations that are fun not only for small children but dorky college kids. We split into two groups to take simultaneous tours, and got to play with gravity, sound, water, light, and wind, among other things. I can’t explain much better than that, so hopefully the pictures below will suffice.

After the tour we had a chance to play with the exhibits on our own, then all headed up to the cafeteria where a dinner buffet was laid out for us. After eating the meal and about five different types of desserts Greta kept bringing us, she thanked us all for coming this summer and presented each of us with a backpack with the Weizmann logo and the name of the summer program printed on it. We had a ball taking a “backpack picture,” and practically had to force ourselves to leave after entering the garden more than three hours previously.

Back at Clore, everyone temporarily went their separate ways. I recruited Jonathan, Clay and Zvonimir to help me buy tasty beverages for the evening of fun ahead, and we all kicked in and got a crate containing a mixture of different beers. As we returned and set it on the table outside the music room, we found everyone breaking out either their personal stashes or new purchases for the occasion, and accrued quite a selection within minutes.  Asaf helped us set everything up.  Once we decided it was time for the party to start, we all grabbed drinks and sat down in the lobby to chat.

Since the party wasn’t yet hopping, Rachel and I decided it was prime Tim Tam time. I called Lisa, Daniela and Tamara down to the kitchen to join us. Rachel was heating the chocolate milk in the microwave as I grabbed the cookies from their safe, bug-free spot in the refrigerator. I also grabbed a few tee-shirts for us all to put on so as not to soil ourselves. Dan, Asaf, and Oren all passed through as this was going on, wondering what we were up to, and I demonstrated first, to explain.

I took a Tim Tam and bit off opposite corners. The cookie is chocolate-coated, and filled with a porous, crunchy substance. I dipped one end in the hot chocolate and used the cookie as a straw, and as soon as it filled, shoved the entire thing in my mouth to discover hot, melted chocolaty goodness. My preliminary, mildly successful trial was duplicated and improved upon by all of us girls, and even Oren tried, but only repeated it to see if he could actually see what was happening in side the cookie. By the time the box was gone, we were giggly and filled with chocolate, and I had burned my lip, but it was an amazing experience.

At around this time Nitzan showed up. He didn’t seem to surprised at our experiment, asking how else one was supposed to eat Tim Tams. As the gathering broke up, Nitzan and I went to my room to grab my computer, and then had a great chat where I showed him Penn Band pictures and he called me a dork, and then I showed him climbing pictures, making him insanely jealous, as payback. At some point he decided he was hungry, so I accompanied him to a nearby pizza place for a bit. Our conversation carried us through the meal and back to Clore, where he left me at the door and went home. I re-entered and joined the party in earnest, which wasn’t hard because it had really gotten going by this time. Large groups of people sat and stood all over the lobby and spilled out onto the lawn outside. I was very pleased, but a bit sad because I had to start saying some goodbyes.

After this painful procedure, during which I negated the farewells by setting a date for San Martin at 12:30 tomorrow and making people promise to be there, I headed out to Hertzl Bar where a few people were waiting. First I stopped back at the store to return the crate, then I crossed the street to sit at an outside table and chat with Iris, Clay, Tanmay and Alex. I was far away from everyone because of the table, though, so soon headed upstairs and found Dan H., Ari, Jordan and Zvonimir having a great time. I ordered a milkshake and sunk into the conversation, which wasn’t very linear but covered many topics. Dan’s favorite waitress brought us free shots at one point, with which we all made random toasts, and at another, Jonathan joined the group and we really got going. It was a nice way to spend the last night out.

At the Garden of Science:

Standing on a large spring...

Bubbles in oil

An instrument used by Tibetan monks

Jonathan at the other end of a big "phone"

Bubbles; or, proof of thermodynamics

The breeze makes each pipe sound different

Alissa showing that distance from the center affects rotation speed

Things to note in this picture: Oren, to the left, 

with a gyroscope, and Eszter's facial expression

Ari simulating a moonwalk

Rachel flying!

Lisa doing the same

Zvonimir!

Tamara says hi

Greta got us backpacks!

...so we modeled them

Zvonimir and our party selection

The super-secret Tim Tam eating time:

Tamara and Rachel

Lisa and Daniela...

Oren giving it a go

Simultaneous Tim Tam eating

The Tim Tam Gang...

...plus Oren

Day 72 - Last time at Performance Rock...

After a quick coffee, I stopped at the lab before meeting Patro and Talmon at the TEM. This was a bonus session, after the training was technically complete, because the time happened to be free and I needed to look at some samples for Noa, so Patro and I each took turns doing various startup and alignment procedures, loaded the sample, and began taking images. After about two hours Patro had to go to his Matlab class, so Talmon and I started taking and saving images so I could calculate an average tube diameter for Noa.

We ended just in time for me to head to San Martin directly for lunch, where I met and sat with Rachel, Tamara, Stephen, and Asaf and a visitor to the Institute. I was very nervous about meeting with Professor Wagner in the afternoon so didn’t eat too much, but we still had a fun chat about Stephen’s feelings with regards to chemical engineering. We all had to be back at work soonish, so didn’t linger too much after eating. I made some last-minute touches on my presentation back in the office, until 2 pm, my scheduled meeting time with Professor Wagner.

I was expecting to go to his office, so I printed a handout copy of my presentation. This turned out to be an excellent idea, as he actually came to see me and sat down as I went through my slides on the computer. It was good that I could take notes on the printed copy, as we chatted about good points and ideas for adjustments for over a half-hour. As soon as we were done, I e-mailed Greta asking how late I could submit the final copy. She said I could just bring it on my own flash drive tomorrow, which was great and helped me to relax before settling in to make all the changes.

I worked on the slides, and the images for Noa, until almost 6:15, when I luckily finished both to my satisfaction. I left the lab and fell into step with Chen, a woman on my floor, on the stairs. Earlier today, when chatting with Nitzan in the hall, she had waved us into her office and shown us her recent art submission on Threadless. It was getting good feedback so far, and we both really liked it, so this gave us something to talk about as we walked out of Perlman. I wore a Threadless shirt today (“bobshoppers,” for anyone curious), so we moved on to how the shirts fit; as it turns out, the one Chen has ever ordered fit her really weird so she sent it back. I really hope her submission turns into a shirt. I won’t ruin the surprise, in case it does, but I would definitely wear it!

Anyways we walked out the main gate and along Hertzl. I needed to get a snack before climbing, so we went to the small grocery across from Clore and both looked over the yogurt selection. She recommended one with toppings, which I won’t say no to, but it was a bit expensive. After I lent her two shekels to cover hers, I realized I was two short myself. She promised to give the store clerk two shekels tomorrow, and made our way out. We said goodbye right outside Clore, and I went inside and directly downstairs to change for climbing.

I found Asaf waiting in the lobby, ready to go, and soon Tamara and Rachel had joined us. I told Stephen to meet us at the train, and we were off. We walked down Hertzl to the station, meeting Yaron and Nitzan on the way through security, and all bought tickets and got onto the train. Stephen arrived soon and sat with us. After the train ride, Nitzan, Yaron and Asaf were hungry, so stopped for falafel, meeting the rest of us at Performance Rock not much later.

Once there, I helped Stephen and Rachel find matching shoes of the appropriate size, which turned out to be a failure in both cases: Rachel’s were fine but ended up not matching, and Stephen ended up borrowing Nitzan’s spare pair because there weren’t any of his size in the barrel. I gave Stephen an introduction, and he seemed to be doing very well on the intro problems, so I migrated over to Rachel and Tamara for a bit. They had changed all of the routes, as Tamara had reported, which was exciting! Tamara recommended a bunch of things for us to work on together, and we found some things for Rachel to do, most of which she finished rather quickly. Nitzan and Yaron were working on some interesting things, one of which was in the cave and which Tamara and I attempted. Stephen at first seemed to be enjoying just climbing around, but eventually sort of stopped climbing. Dave came a bit afterward, and Tamara and I worked with him on a few problems as well.

We stayed practically until the place closed, then headed back towards the bus station. We didn’t have enough time to really justify running for the train, so got on two sheruts (one with me, Asaf, Yaron and Nitzan, and one with Stephen, Rachel, and Tamara). Theirs left slightly earlier. When ours got back, we headed to Benny’s for ice cream, then Asaf and I returned to Clore. And thus ended my last Monday in Israel, a day which included my last visit to Performance Rock.

Asaf didn’t climb, but came to observe, due to his recent recovery from tendonitis in his shoulder. While this is regrettable, I am glad he didn’t reinjure himself and even gladder he agreed to be the official photographer of the evening! Here is the best of his work:

Nitzan, as Yaron and Stephen watch

Stephen

Me (I ended up failing at this)

Asaf!

Rachel finishes a problem

Day 66 - Panic! at the office

I grabbed a muffin on the way to work this morning, but once I got there I realized that the flash drive where all of my work and documents are located wasn't in my backpack. I searched slightly frantically for it, then decided (/hoped) it was in my room somewhere, and walked home. I randomly ran into Asaf on the path to Clore, and we chatted briefly before I went on to my room. I looked all over my desk and still couldn't find it, which was awful. Luckily I peered underneath my desk chair, where it was. Phew.

I headed back to the lab and worked on my presentation all morning. Tamara and I met at Charlie's for lunch, where Lisa was almost done eating but stuck around to chat. I had chocolate milk with my meal, for the third time in Lisa's presence (and third total). Back at Perlman, I continued working for a couple more hours, then headed to the Physics Building for another talk.

The speaker was a professor in physics, and his presentation was titled "Massive Black Holes." It started out by being very interesting, but all the blinds were drawn and I had forgotten to take my narcolepsy medication, and together these factors led to a disaster which resulted in my not really knowing anything further about this talk. Daniela, who sat next to me, told me it wasn't too noticeable, and that she would have woken me if I had snored too loudly. I was terribly embarrassed anyway. On the walk back, though, we made plans to eat dinner the next day.

At work afterwards, Noa had found a really old sonicator in a corner of our lab, so we decided to make some more samples. I had to take some pictures of it, though, so I also took some other lab shots (see below). At around this time, Mom called to tell me they were back on campus for the evening. I told them to stop by Perlman, as they were about to walk by. They came up to the fourth floor. Between the elevators and the lab, Professor Wagner and XiaoMeng were chatting, so I introduced the fam to the Professor. I then gave them the three-minute tour of the office and lab, introduced them to Noa and Patro, and took them down one floor to meet Asaf.

Next we headed to the stairwell, where I showed them the Foucault's Pendulum as we headed up to the fifth floor. I made Nitzan come out and meet them, where there was an awkward moment where Nitzan told my mom he was kidding with all his jokes about not holding onto the rope when we climb, and my mom's blank and slightly confused face revealed I had not been telling her anything about these jokes. After this amusing occurrence, they left Perlman so I could do some more work before we met for dinner.

I had told my family we would have some of my friends as guests for dinner, but didn't know who that would be yet. Once I made it back to Clore, I ran into Jonathan, and asked him to come along with Stephen (who wasn't around, but who I called). After about a half hour, my family approached Clore, Stephen had returned to Clore and dropped off his stuff, and he, Jonathan and I headed up to the lobby. We all met on the lawn and started walking toward Tuk Tuk, the sushi/Japanese restaurant near the science park.

Jonathan and Stephen introduced themselves and such on the way. My dad complained mildly as we walked, because the science park is sort of far from campus. Finally we made it to the restaurant, where we figured out the seating arrangements and surveyed the menu. I ordered a sweet potato "photomaki" (futo maki) and a rainbow roll thingie, while my family also ordered sushi and Jonathan and Stephen ordered cooked things and/or vegetarian rolls. I think it was a great meal: the food was good and my "roommates" seemed to get along with my family. Jonathan is in applied math, so he and my dad talked about that stuff, while Stephen and my brother completely agree in their hatred of Million Dollar Baby. The latter relates to the following conversation:

Stephen: I used to be a real movie buff. I would watch all of the Academy Award winners, and everything...

Me: Andrew, you and Stephen can really agree on something.

Andrew: Is it that Million Dollar Baby is a terrible movie, and should not have won Best Film, and that you stopped watching the Oscars after 2004?

Stephen: YES! How did you know that?

So it was a good meal. We were off to our normal Goldman family roll, and our guests didn't seem to mind. When we headed back to Clore, pretty much everyone was in the lobby, so I was able to have my parents meet some new people, including Jordan, Lisa, Joel, Tamara, and Ari! We sat and chilled, then decided to try the other ice cream place, Tartufo. We all had more basic flavors tonight, before heading back to Clore. Andrew left with my parents this time, so I joined those chilling in the lobby registering for the GREs together, namely Ari, Tamara and Stephen. The registration session eventually degenerated into Ari and me watching a few episodes of The Office before I headed to bed.

Today's pictures feature Perlman:

Noa hard at work breaking ice...

...for the sonicator! It used to be white. I know because I found it online (they still sell it!)

Patro dipping silicon, held in clothespins, into solution

Day 60 - Math and TV

Our second TEM session was scheduled for this morning. After coffee, I headed to the lab to grab my samples, then went to meet Talmon. Patro had a doctor's appointment from 9 to 10 am, so we spent this hour looking at a sample of COOH-functionalized nanotubes for Noa. She asked me to gather images and measure the average outer diameter of the tubes, because the diameter she ordered from the company didn't match the diameter which corresponds to the lot number on the bottle. We captured a dozen or so images before Patro arrived, when we picked up where we left off in the lesson.

In the next three hours, we covered almost everything about the computer built in to the TEM, including every button in every sub-menu. This time we went almost to 1 pm before calling it quits. After Patro and I got back to Perlman, I called Dan and discovered that he and Ari had just sat down to lunch at Cafe Madaa. I grabbed my wallet and joined them for a meal which was a pleasant change from San Martin. There was a good deal of math talk, but other topics managed to dilute it a bit. Ari had to leave just after eating; his professor is leaving for the rest of the summer this week, so he has to finish up most of his work and stuff. Dan and I lingered a bit longer before heading back to Perlman.

I worked relatively efficiently after lunch, processing more images and compiling a spreadsheet with an average tube diameter and histogram for Noa. I stayed rather late, until I was too hungry to continue. It was rather dark when I left the lab, and I didn't find many people around Clore, so I ate leftovers, hummus, pita and fruit for dinner. Once full, I chilled and worked/blogged in the basement.

At one point Ari discovered me in the TV room (he had come in to see Olmert's statement, which ended up being about his resignation plans but was impossible to watch due to the TV's nonfunctionality) and we talked and watched a few episodes of The Office. Ben called somewhere around this point, and we had a great conversation which included a phone introduction to Ari! I had Ari tell Ben about Terry Tao's blog, which today basically discussed Ari's work here (having to do with Tate's proof). It was good to talk with him, especially before his family trip to California for a few days.

The rest of the evening was spent chilling similarly, and I went to bed pretty early, which was a welcome change.

Day 58 - Meeting my fans!

Today was fantastic.

I got in to work around 8:20, made sure my slides opened on one of the work computers, then had Erica get me the laptop our group uses for presentations. I set it up in the conference room, turned on the projector, and had everything ready to go by 8:40. No one else was there yet, though, so I decided to take a proactive question-preventing step, and drew a key diagram on the whiteboard next to the screen so people would have a reference up for the entire presentation.

A little bit before 9 (I was supposed to begin at 8:45), Professor Wagner entered. He introduced me briefly, and I began. I think it went pretty well! I talked for about an hour, and people asked me questions as I went along. By the time I was finsihed and got to my "Questions" slide, people seemed satisfied. Overall, I think the presentation was a success. It forced me to justify my decisions, and people's questions and suggestions gave me a lot more to do. I was glad I had finished this in the morning, because I still had most of the day ahead of me. As soon as I had put away the laptop and everything, I sat down to write notes about all the feedback I'd gotten and plan my next steps. Between Sari having come in today to see me present, and a visit from Asaf at one point, it was a fun and conversation-filled morning in the office.

Sari and Noa asked me to join them for lunch at Stone, which turned out to be an amazing decision for a reason I will share in a moment. First, though, Noa's boyfriend Danny met us there, which was really cool. He works in security on campus now, which makes Noa happy because she can see him all the time and he can give her a ride home on his scooter. So he found us in line for food. I got a sweet potato quiche, which was just as delicious as it sounds. But back to the awesomeness. I was the first in the line, so I was first to choose a table and set my tray down. As I do so, I look up to see Nissim (the Clore house manager) standing by the cafeteria door, holding a box. He looks at me and beckons me. When I'm in conversation range, he goes, "Can you read English? I can't quite tell who this package is for." He has a strange sense of humor; he really appreciated it once when I bought two laundry coins (for 7 shekels each) all with half-shekel coins.

The bottom line: my chalk bag and bathing suits arrived! YAY!

Lunch was pleasant and delicious, and my good mood carried me entirely through the afternoon. Besides working, which included making some TEM samples of nanotubes Noa would like me to examine for her, things of note included a conversation about cakes, during which Sari discussed a cinammon cake at a Hungarian place in Tel Aviv which is supposedly the best thing she's ever tasted. It's also unique because they cook it around a rod, so it's basically tubular. Sari of course compared it to a nanotube and began describing it with the corrresponding vocabulary. I love scienists.

Before leaving Perlman, I decided to go upone floor to visit Nitzan and show him my chalk bag, because I have been talking about it for a while. He seemed only sort of impressed, but whatever. After some banter, I said something that was either too fast or too ridiculous for him to catch completely, so he says to his office mate, "Sometimes it's hard to understand her, because she doesn't speak English; she speaks American." And the resulting dialogue must be recounted in its entirety (with as much accuracy as I can muster):

Him: "Oh, it's ok, I went to high school in America for a year, so I can understand American."
Me: "Oh, whereabouts?"
Him: "Maryland."
Me: "Oh, where???"
Him: "Rockville. No, Bethesda."

Ok, there's only one Montgomery County high school which one would think of as possibly being in Rockville when it's really in Bethesda.

Me: "Which one?!"
Him: "Walter Johnson."

At this point I am in disbelief. I thought this was some sort of elaborate hoax until we started discussing Mr. Whipple, whom he credits partially for his choice of science as a career path, and Mr. Kearns (he plays the oboe). He was at WJ before I was, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1999, but still...how ridiculously amazing is this? I showed him the WJ website and some of the current construction, and we reminisced about lunchtime and the WJ math department and other such topics. I think Nitzan watched with amusement, but I wasn't really paying attention so I am not sure.

After 40 minutes I was able to tear myself away from the conversation, but it was difficult. I went to the grocery store and grabbed some necessities, then headed back to Clore. Zvonimir, Clay, and Tanmay were on their way out to Cafe Madaa, and I told them I'd join them soon after putting my food in the fridge. Downstairs, I ran into Rachel and invited her to come as well. First, though, I called and chatted briefly with Ben, until I had to go eat and he had to go open the door for the cable guy. Then Rachel and I headed to Madaa, where we found Clay and Tanmay only drinking coffee, and Zvonimir almost finished. We ordered, and by the time our food came we were alone at the table. This was not a problem: we could discuss Penn things (like the Chemistry department, or graduation) without excluding others! It was a good meal.

Back at Clore, I ran into Jonathan about to leave with Doron to see an outdoor screening of The Big Lebowski at the Hebrew University campus down the street. I was deciding whether or not to join them when who appeared in the hallway but Joel and his whole family! Stephen and Jordan also turned up. I don't know if this is emphasized enough, but I love it when people read my blog, and Joel's mom is a big fan of this publication. She said, after shaking my hand, "It's great to meet the face behind the words," to which I replied, "And it's always great to meet the fans!" We all hung out in the hall talking for a while, until we had to leave for the movie and others had to make other engagements (like the train to Tel Aviv).

Jonathan, Doron and I walked down the street and entered the Hebrew U campus through the side gate, from which we could see the big screen. Jonathan was worried about missing the first half hour of the movie, but I told him all he had missed was that they peed on his rug, and that rug really tied the room together. Once we sat down, it became apparent that he had also missed that someone had been kidnapped. But that was basically it, and, as Jonathan confirmed after it was over, it's not like having any more information would have helped the movie make more sense.

We had been joined mid-movie by both Lisa and Joel, and the five of us headed into the Kukula (the campus bar) after the movie was over to grab some drinks. I was pretty tired, though, so I only stayed there for about another half hour. Joel, Lisa, and Doron decided to head back to Clore with me. We found the usual suspects at the usual Monday night activities (sipping beer and playing the guitar) in the music room in the Clore lobby when we returned. Doron's arrival was celebrated; he is a great musician who can play almost anything he hears on the piano, so he instantly became the party hit. An hour of sing-alongs ensued, after which most people decided to take the party to Hertzl Bar for the remainder of the evening. Personally, I thought the evening was over, as my eyelids were drooping, so I headed to bed.

Day 56 - Proof of my past as a Super Jew

Today I got a chance, for the first time in a while, to sleep in.  Especially after a late night followed by an early start and a very long day, this was a welcome change.  I woke up just before lunch time, and had a relaxed shower and remainder of the morning.  Once I emerged from my room I found Stephen, Dave, their friend Mish from MIT, Jonathan, and Joel sitting in the kitchen, munching on leftovers from the previous night's shabbat dinner.  I was supposed to meet Daniela for lunch, but since I figured it would be difficult to find an open place to eat on Saturday, and there was food 10 feet from my room, I invited Daniela to join us in Clore.  The chicken Stephen (and Dave?) made was delicious, and there was plenty of that as well as pita, hummus, and other stuff.

After the meal we all sang Birkat Hamazon (the grace after the meal), and Joel kept making me laugh by looking at me during the parts where the summer camp version would have us sing silly English phrases instead.  Afterwards, Jonathan told me that he finally believes that I was a relatively observant Jew at home (because I knew all the words, or something).  I guess I have Camp Ramah to thank for that!

After all that hooplah, I walked Daniela partially home, then grabbed some juice at a convenience store before heading to Perlman for the afternoon, to continue the work I had begun on slides for my presentation Monday.  I was surprised to find Noa AND Patro both in the office and lab, but it was nice not to be alone.  While at work, Tamar called me and invited me to go climbing with her tonight at the top roping place.  As I was excited to try my new harness, I happily accepted.

I left work around 7, and snacked on some hummus at Clore before changing and heading out.  Tamar picked me up right outside along Hertzl Street and we drove to Kiryat Ono together, where we met Giora and climbed!  There were lots of new routes up; we finished many, including an orange one, a green one, and a red one which I led.  I finished two routes I had made it to almost the end of before: a blue one which wasn't so bad but I had only tried at the end of last time, and the yellow one which has been my nemesis for almost a month.  I successfully finished both on lead!  That was exciting, but my new harness, while comfortable for belaying, cut slightly into my legs while I was hanging from the wall.  Hopefully I'm just wearing it wrong or something, but we'll see.

When I got back to Clore, I made two very important and pleasant phone calls: my parents, and Ben.  Finally, I chilled with everyone a bit before bed.  All in all, a relaxing day compared to many in the last week.

Day 54 - Inconsistencies in the rate of passage of time

Time at work today seemed to drag on or leap forward, unpredictably. I don't even really recall getting much done, because my head felt like it was located in an insulated box, lined with cotton balls, somewhere rather far away from my body. It was an odd experience. Lunch occurred with almost the entire gang at San Martin, as usual. I took a break with Noa in the early afternoon for a slice of cake at Cafe Madaa, where we unexpectedly (har har) ran into Zvonimir. We split a piece of delicious mousse cake, while Zvonimir sipped coffee at the next table. I think Noa appreciated his sarcasm right off the bat.

I had spent most of the day trying to hunt down Professor Wagner to chat for a moment, and when I finally did, we talked for about 10 minutes, during which he decided I should present to the entire group at 8:45 am on Monday and ask everyone for feedback at once. I feel two ways about this. On the one hand, I really like this idea, as I can explain myself one time and get lots of feedback from people who understand the intricacies of my processing. But on the other, I had to get started right away on a presentation, since I only finally found him in the afternoon. The upshot was that I stayed at work slightly later than I meant to. Luckily I had some slides to start off with that I had made so far for discussions with Professor Wagner or just for my own clarification.

Back in Clore in the evening, I packed a bag for the night and next day, and intended to leave very soon to bring it to Itamar and Dave's place in Givat Shmuel before meeting everyone for dinner in Tel Aviv at an Indian restaurant called Indira. Luckily, Stephen saved me much time and effort, as he was headed there soon anyways, and took my bag for me. I hung out for a short while, then changed and headed out with Lisa, Dan, Iris, Daniela, Ari, Zvonimir, Clay, Jordan, the other Dan, Maciej, Maxime, Joel, Alissa, and of course the man responsible for the planning of the outing: Tanmay. Four of us took a cab to the restaurant, while the rest just missed the train to Tel Aviv and had to wait for almost 45 minutes for the next one. Finally it arrived, but we had to switch trains just before Tel Aviv.

Luckily we made it to the correct stop, and, due to Lisa's superior directional skills, successfully navigated the approximately 7 minute walk to the restaurant. When we got there, we found the entire upper floor had been reserved for our party, and that Zvonimir, Jordan, Dan and Clay had gotten drinks already. The rest of us ordered, and the food started arriving soon. It was all extremely delicious, and I think I would have thought so even if I hadn't been incredibly hungry (by this time it was about 10 pm). The samosas were small but good, the naan was crispy and delicious, and my chicken malai kabob was more like the chicken makhani at Rasika (Mom, you know what I'm talking about), meaning it was to die for.

Dinner went on a while, and I was so sleepy that I dozed off, waking up when everyone was leaving. They all grabbed cabs back to Rehovot, but I got one to drop me off at the main gate of Bar Ilan, basically across the street from Itamar and Dave's place. I found Itamar and Josh outside, and when we headed up I found Stephen stressing out slightly about the chicken in the oven, which he was preparing for Shabbat dinner tomorrow. Josh and I had some frozen grapes and we all chatted a bit, but I was so exhausted, and the plan was to wake up so early tomorrow, that I went to bed soon after.

Stay tuned for plenty of photos tomorrow...

Day 51 - ...and very little work was done

Today was an amazing and positive change compared to yesterday's slight lack of excitingness. Coffee at Madaa happened as usual, but when I got to work, I discovered that Sari would be giving her presentation for her PhD defense to our group as practice. We were supposed to ask her challenging questions. So of course I texted Stephen to tell him when and where it was. And he actually came! We had to wait a bit for her to start, because Professor Wagner was tied up, but once he arrived we began. She did a good job, and all of us asked at least one question at the end.

< .science >

Her project involves space-environment simulations for testing of polymer composites, including hypervelocity (up to 3 kilometers per second!) impact. The test apparatus was so cool! She used a high-powered laser to create plasma at the surface of aluminum foil, which generates a "flyer," simulating a micrometeor impacting her samples. Some of her samples were also irradiated before testing (another aspect which simulates space), and Stephen asked what the actual chemical mechanisms are for radiation damage to the samples. Sari answered well and later I found out that Wagner asked Sari to include a slide answering it, because she knew it!

< / science >

Afterward, Sari disappeared to be grilled by Professor Wagner. I did some work before lunch, which was an exciting time. Dan and I decided to try something new, so we walked to the Science Park (a new-ish area with restaurants, clubs, and lots of science start-up companies, just past the train station). Our goal was Mexican food, and we had seen a place when we were out last week. We found it again: it was called "Rapper" and had burritos, which was really all we were asking for.

Dan and I both ordered chicken and pineapple burritos, and some chips to start with. The chips were more like pita, but the guacamole was pretty good, and there was bean dip and salsa as well. The burritos were also not bad, actually. As Dan put it, the ingredients were all good, but the proportions were slightly off (i.e. we could have used more rice and less lettuce), and of course they had no idea how to approach proper wrapping technique. But it was a fun place, and Dan and I had some great bonding time.

After lunch, I had a bit of a chance to work before setting off to the tour of the accelerator. I was a bit late because I had to go back to my building to get my SD card (I had originally left with my camera but no card), but I found the group outside the accelerator. We went inside and saw a scale model/cutaway of the building and learned the basics of what an accelerator does. Then we walked past part of the bottom of the accelerator pipes before going up to the top of the structure. There, besides getting great views of Rehovot and beyond, we discussed the rise of physics, and science and technology in general, in Israel. We also learned a bit about particle physics, and that the accelerator is no longer used for it but instead has been applied to dating of archaeological finds and irradiation of cancerous tumors.

After the tour, I returned to work and was able to get a little bit done, again, before distractions set in. Noa, XiaoMeng, Patro and I explored pictures online, that Noa's boyfriend had taken, mostly, but also some I had taken. Noa joked that her boyfriend collects pictures when they travel, and she collects stories. But it's true; her boyfriend had taken dozens of pictures, but Noa was able to tell us stores about each one, including one that took at least 10 minutes to summarize but clearly was richer than she was able to tell briefly.

Eventually I had to leave work, to grab my stuff and get onto a train to Tel Aviv. I met Tamara and her friends from MIT, including Jesse and Mena but also some new people, at Performance Rock. It was very un-crowded, so we were able to climb whatever, whenever, and gave each other lots of tips. Tamara's boyfriend Colin was among the new people, so I got a chance to meet him. Tamara and I both finished a V3, which was super exciting, but she also finished this red problem I can't quite do yet, and gave me a tip which allowed us both to finish a purple one we had both been able to do all of except the last move.

After we had climbed our fill, done some push-ups and pull-ups and such, we walked back to the bus station. Tamara and I got a sherut back to Rehovot, and I found a bunch of people playing Catan in the piano room upon our return to Clore. I split a beer with Ari and watched Zvonimir lose again to Clay. This was a key result, as it was the first game we had seen Clay play without being the banker. His win gives us a control in the experiment exploring his perfect win-loss record. Once the game was done, though, we all decided we were tired and headed off to bed.

And now, please observe photographic evidence of our accelerator tour!

From the ground (I know, you've never seen this before...)

A cutaway model

The top!
View of Jubilee from above
Sitting to talk about physics!
One floor below the top

Day 40 - ...which made up for almost everything

Another newsflash/shoutout: congrats, Dad, on your first comment! Voila, you get a tag too!

Work today was actually strangely productive. I plotted things and am beginning to actually be able to make SigmaPlot do what I want, which is a plus. I plotted and did regressions and sent some of them to Professor Wagner, and was very busy all morning. Lunch was spent with everyone at San Martin, and was made particularly interesting when Jordan started a movement to grab the leftover ice creams from a cooler behind some barriers in the lunchroom to set aside that part for a summer program to eat in. Clay and I, being the big ice cream fans we are, followed suit, but we all discovered rather soon why these were left over: they were basically cola popsicles, and were inedible. Clay and I therefore resolved to make up for it tonight with some real ice cream.

The afternoon was spent contemplating my data further and checking out various hilarious links and e-mails with Noa as she waited for her sample to cure in the oven. She left when this was over, at about which time I remembered that it was Perlman cookie/snack time (4:30 on Thursdays). I went up to the 6th floor to grab Dan, and we chilled for a few minutes before walking down. The food was actually not so great, but we hung out and were soon joined by the other Dan (who also works on the 6th floor...and who no longer can really be "Dan with the hair" because he just got a haircut that makes him almost look like a normal person!). We chatted for a half hour, then returned to work.

For some reason I thought this would be a good time to try to plot my data in 3D (!). I'm sure this will be a great way to look at the data, once I figure it out, but for now there is something going seriously awry with the mesh plot and there are these odd peaks I can't seem to trace, so I struggled with this until around 6:15 before realizing I was meeting Clay in 15 minutes! I therefore headed out and changed into shorts before finding Clay in the lobby. Dan would meet us there, so we headed out.

Our destination: the four-flavor falafel place. Now, you may ask, what flavors of falafel could you possibly want or need, besides original? Well, I don't know how to explicitly answer this because I am not really sure what the four flavors are, except that I'm sure original is one of them, and that one other one was spicy, and another was sort of greenish in color. What I can say is that I got a mixture of all of them, as did Clay and Daniel once he arrived, and that all were scrumptious. After we were done eating we backtracked a bit to Benny's, Clay's favorite ice cream place (which he talks about all the time), for frozen treats. I was pleasantly surprised; I got cookies and cream and a milk/white/dark chocolate mixture and both were excellent.

After sitting for a bit we headed home so I could change for climbing. I headed to the main gate, where I met and sat with Tamar and Michal to wait for Nitzan. We went to the top-roping place, and Tamar and I belayed each other on some top-roping routes. After a bit Nitzan gave me a refresher on lead belaying and supervised me as another friend climbed. I also tried the yellow lead route again, and managed to not only reach but hold on to the last hold for about three seconds. There was not chance I could clip in, though, so I came down. I then belayed Nitzan on lead for what he referred to as a "stupidly hard" route, which was a success (in that he is still alive), and we all rested and ate some pretzels before heading over to the bouldering area.

Nitzan and I constructed a pretty fun problem, and Tamar somehow came across a tee shirt which she gave to me which has both Hebrew and climbing on it! Soon after we all decided we were tired, and so headed out, but the trip home was a much happier one than Tuesday. I don't know that I will be so anxious to return to Performance Rock, despite my loyalty to bouldering. But we'll see.

When I returned to Clore, I found Ari, Dan, Zvonimir, Rachel, and Asaf in the lobby getting ready to watch a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I put in a load of laundry and went across the street with Ari to buy some snacks, and then we watched the pilot and second episode, which were very amusing! I definitely want to see some more. By this time it was very late, so I switched my clothing to the dryer, chatted with Asaf, retrieved and folded it, and went to bed.

Since you've been photo-starved, here are a few random shots from the past week:

Yovav and his beautifully-decorated cast (/etc)

Views from the foot of the accelerator:

Day 39 - GT (Girl Talk)

To start off with, congrats to my mom for her first ever comment on my blog (see Day 36)! Instead of a gold star, she will receive a tag. Way to go, mom! Ok, moving along.

Today turned out to be a much better one than the last. Work was more satisfying, for the following reason: while this is definitely a temporary state, I am now officially done processing every image I have taken (i.e. watched someone else take for me). This is monumental. Applause, please.

Once this was done it was time to graph, graph, graph. I added the final data to the file in my new favorite program, SigmaPlot, and while things aren't being proven conclusively, at least they now look attractive and professional. Who says I don't have goals?

I ate lunch at lunchtime (a good time for it, usually) with Sari and Noa at the Stone cafeteria, which is a dairly place at which I've never eaten a meal. It was actually rather good, and our ongoing conversation with Sari was entertaining as always.

After lunch I continued working on plots and organizing my data, and just before 4 pm I headed with Xiaomeng to the TEM to look at some tungsten disulfide "nanotubes" we recently acquired, for free. This freeness turns out to be key, because after what we saw, they can't really be called nanotubes (hence the quotation marks). For one thing, most of them are more like rods. For another, the ones that do have hollow middles have a whole bunch of crap in them that is very interesting but not really identifiable. Anyways, it was a fun session, because XiaoMeng kept finding new areas which had such completely odd-looking things in them that we couldn't help but be equally surprised at each one.

After about an hour, though, I had to go grab my stuff from Perlman and head to Cafe Madaa (literally, "science cafe"), a restaurant on campus very near to our dorm, for a summer program meeting. Greta talked briefly and then introduced us to our "scientific advisor." We learned a bit about how our final presentations will go, and looked over abstracts from last summer, while munching on fruits and pastries and sipping coffee and tea. Since we all are getting to know almost everyone in the summer program better now, it was great to see everyone all at once, and a nice break from work.

As we left for the 100-meter walk back to Clore, Zvonimir asked me to come with him to a small music shop down the street for him to purchase a cheap guitar. He wants to have one for the summer so he can practice, and he said I would be welcome to borrow it for the same purpose, so I said of course! Rachel, Dan, Jonathan, and Daniela decided to join in on this plan, so after Jonathan gave her a quick tour of Clore House (she lives with a friend off campus) we were off.

The shop turned out to be a small room and an even smaller recording studio-type room on the second floor of a building just past the police station on Hertzl road, about three blocks from the main campus gate. We barely fit inside the place once we had all grabbed guitars and started playing them. Jonathan showed off a bit on a regular guitar but he and I both had a great time with a 12-string guitar (which was a tuning test I fortunately passed). Zvonimir asked the owner to hook up an electric guitar for him to try in the small studio room, and I tried this one as well. It sounded good but even better with a pick. Maybe that's motivation for me to start using one? In any case, despite the lack of a whammie bar the distortion on the amp was very entertaining.

As this was going on, Jonathan was receiving mandolin lessons from the owner, and Zvonimir purchased a relatively inexpensive (blue, due to my request) guitar and case. Dan and I decided not to try the saxophone or clarinet on display (they both read "japanese technology" on the bottom and sat, alone, in a corner), but the owner showed me some Vandoren 5's he had in stock. The best part about them was not the dustiness of their box, nor the fact that they were actually dark brown, but the bright purple color of the plastic reed-cases themselves. He only wanted 13 shekels each for them (around $4), so I am considering returning to get one, just because.

We finally all tore ourselves away from whatever fascinating thing we'd found (Rachel had been playing an electronic keyboard, for instance) and exited the shop. The boys headed back to Clore, but Rachel and Daniela decided to accompany me on my Israeli linen capri quest. The first shop we entered had some for 29 shekels, in a lovely mauve-ish (ISH - Zvonimir's new favorite thing to say) color. They were sort of funky in the fit, in a manner I can't explain with words but will show you sometime, but I decided to go for it. The other girls browsed briefly, then we continued. We walked on Hertzl almost to the mall, our next goal a bag for Daniela. The problem with her quest was that she had a specific, and, as it turns out, nonexistent bag in mind, so we were unsuccessful.

As we walked back, we approached a Kosher pizza place and stopped for some slices. We waited for a fresh cheese pizza to emerge from the oven, then each bought a piece and sat and chatted for what turned out to be a couple of hours. At some point Iris walked by and joined us, and we had a number of great conversations, including one about the most evil biochemistry professor in Austria, climbing, pigeons and other bird incidends, keeping Kosher, falling down, getting married in Israel, trampolines, and other fun stuff. Jonathan called at some point, apparently on Zvonimir's orders, and told us about the plans for the rest of the evening. Ari walked by as well, accompanied by his friend Talia from Princeton who is also spending the summer in Israel (and was visiting him for the evening). Eventually we headed back to Clore, and Daniela went to her place to change.

Back in my room, I put on the weird pants, which I think I like, and we played a bit with Jonathan's guitar before gathering in the lobby to head to the Kukula (the bar on the Hebrew University's Rehovot campus, just down the street) for 10 shekel beer night. As we entered the campus Daniela texted me, so I told the others to go on and backtracked to meet her. The Kukula is tucked in the back corner of the campus, so it's best to have someone to show you the way your first time. We found it and the rest is history. All in all, a very satisfying day.

Day 23 - Butterfly, bionanointeraction, bar chords

Somehow I got roped in to waking up at a little before 7 am so that I could meet Asaf in the Clore lobby at 7:05. We left together on the long-ish walk to the recreation center on campus, during which I came to the realization that I had forgotten underwear in my room and goggles in the United States. When we got there, I followed Asaf in, and luckily wasn't questioned as to my membership (because I don't have one). He showed me the pools (indoor and outdoor) and we chilled for a few minutes until XiaoMeng showed up. Asaf also asked if there were goggles I could borrow, and was given a pair from the lost and found. They were actually pretty nice!

We let XiaoMeng choose which pool, so she chose the outdoor one. We walked down the hill to the poolside, put on some sunscreen, and got ready to get in. The lifeguard gave me a hard time about the fact that I had no swim cap, but there was nothing I could do about it so he let me swim "just this one time" without one. Our arrival drove the really slow old ladies into the deep end (no, really), and we began with some breast stroke. Asaf eventually moved to freestyle and I began alternating, and after a little while I demonstrated some butterfly. We swam laps for about an hour, and then went to another part of the pool and practiced flip turns for a bit.

Asaf and XiaoMeng went to the locker rooms to shower and change, but my lack of underwear motivated me to walk home for a shower. Upon returning to my room, I unpacked my bag and discovered that I HAD brought underwear. Of course.

I made it in to work around 9:40, and did some number crunching until 11 am, when I joined Noa and XiaoMeng for a talk on bionanointeraction. Our joke is that the three buzz words which get any grant are nano, bio, and cancer, so 2 out of 3 were in play. I think it was interesting, but I forgot to take my Provigil so I missed most of it. We got back to the office around 12:45, after the normal summer student lunch assembly time. Instead I accompanied Noa to a hummus place across Hertzl Street from the gate, where her roommate Tali and her friend met us. It was very yummy, and I had so much left over (I got hummus with lamb) that I stopped by Clore House to stash it in the fridge before returning to work for the afternoon. I decided to go to the library instead, so I wouldn't monopolize an office computer for my data processing. But I was so sleepy that around 5 I went home for a brief nap.

When I woke up, I found Ari in the kitchen and we tried to share my hummus leftovers, but after a few bites realized that the few hours since its preparation had made it disgusting. He then left for his soccer game. I did some catching up on my blog and such and hung out in the kitchen. Jordan wanted some dinner and I wanted ice cream, so we went out and both got some. When we got back, Ari had returned after a second consecutive week without a soccer game and convinced me to do some laundry. We put in a load and joined Jonathan, Jordan, and Zvonimir in an alcohol run. The liquor store was closed, but we found a convenience store, and got some drinks and snacks.

When we got back, it was time for the party! There were people in the piano room chilling, chatting, and, later, passing around Jonathan's guitar and showing off their skills. After an hour or two I snuck up to the roof to join Dave, Nina, her two friends from Germany, and a few others others in the christening of Dave's new hookah. There were tea candles everywhere, casting a small amount of light on the gathering, and bats flying in and out of the trees. It was really surreal, sitting, inhaling apple-flavored smoke, listening to Dave and Nina talk (quietly because the group was small) about their weekend trip to the West Bank, Jericho, and Bethlehem as we passed the hose around.

I eventually rejoined the downstairs group for some more guitar-playing. Odelia, the girl we had met on the train back from Tel Aviv when we went bouldering last week, had come to the gathering, so it was nice to chat with her a bit more. Tanmay and Zvonimir were looking up guitar tabs on his iPod touch and playing new songs, and as the party wore down and things got quieter, it was nice to actually hear people sing as they played.

We cleaned up briefly then went back downstairs. Ari and I had a great chat, which Jonathan eventually joined, before we all got tired at around the same time and decided to call it a night.

Pictures today: Asaf in front of the pool at the rec center

No steaming hamburgers allowed!

Day 22 - Climbing makes me so happy!

Sunday wasn't the most exciting day at work. I ate lunch with Tanmay, Clay, Tamara, Lior, and Jordan at Jubilee, and got to hear other stories about weekends in Jerusalem. In the afternoon, I made 5 samples for the TEM, including single-walled, double-walled, and multi-walled nanotubes, and left them to dry for the night. Once I was finished, I sat with Noa and chatted as she did tensile tests on her epoxy/nanotube composite samples.

As we talked about various things and examined her samples, Nitzan called me to let me know we'd be climbing tonight. I asked if there would be a space for a friend in the car, and he said no. So about 10 minutes later he called back to tell me there was a space, and I told him I'd call a friend and call him back to let him know. About 30 seconds later, before I had even had a chance to decide who to call, Nitzan called me again to inform me that the spare spot was only in one direction. Of course. I laughed and told him I didn't have any friends who wanted to come climb and then stay there FOREVER, and he said we'd be back, it wasn't a big deal, they'd only wait about a week. So before hanging up I asked if my spot in the car was both ways. "Nope, only 1/4 of the way," he replied. "We'll drop you off halfway there." Har har.

After a few more of Noa's samples, I called it a day and headed home. I caught up on some blogging and changed, then went to wait for Nitzan. Yaron and Dave joined me sitting just inside the gate, but of course Nitzan was waiting with the car just ouside the gate. After a few minutes he texted me: "?" Very pithy. So we found him and got in.

Yaron drove there with Yael, who is relatively new to climbing. We met her once we all arrived there, and I gave her a refresher course on belaying. We all rotated and belayed each other. I gave her some tips as she climbed, and she belayed me on a route I had never done before which was challenging but really interesting and which I think was very technical. Nitzan belayed me on my first two lead climbs ever (!), which were very exciting because I wasn't clipped in to the top rope as a backup. The first one I did was a relatively easy climb that I had done before, and it was totally fine except for a momentary panic halfway through when I forgot about the leading and wondered for one brief, shining moment where the heck my rope was. Luckily I suppressed this emotion and had a good climb. It felt pretty good!

After a few more climbs and belaying, Nitzan had me try a slightly harder climb on lead. It was new as well, so I had never tried it. I think I led well, but I really liked the route. I got to yell "take" for the first time ever, which felt peculiarly natural. I took a brief rest at that point, and when I reached the top and clipped in, Nitzan had me take a fall so I knew what it felt like on lead. It was...frightening, and he told me after I had reached the bottom that it was a bit longer a fall than he had intended. Oh wonderful :)

Throughout the evening I also watched Yaron finish this problem which had been torturing him for a while. He almost finished it twice before his third, successful attempt. It is a ridiculous overhang, and the clips are oddly placed and make foot placement hard, but he did it! Nitzan also finished some crazy routes, then had me try to lead one last climb. I made it halfway up and took a spectacular and unplanned fall. It didn't scare me that much, but the next, short one did, mostly because it was caused by a foothold rotating in the wall and had me near the adjacent wall. After that I came down.

We bouldered a bit, which was nicer than usual at this place because they had rearranged and replaced a bunch of the holds, so there were some clean and nice ones. The place was closing, though, so we had to leave. I gave back my harness and noticed the ice cream chest was gone. The dude behind the counter said I could go to the back and choose a popsicle, which is what I wanted, because I had exact change. I chose one that was pink-and-white diagonally striped, which turned out to be bubble gum flavored. As we walked toward the car, I was informed that the plastic stick was filled with bubble gum! This was an exciting discovery, and in the car on the way home I did my best to blow an epic bubble but mostly just got gum all over my face.


We dropped off Yaron and our other passenger, then Nitzan, Dave and I decided to go get some late dinner near the "science park." The place we ended up, called "Tuk Tuk," served sushi. I got sweet potato/vegetable sushi and a special containing cucumber, shrimp tempura, Swedish cheese and salmon. It was delicious. Nitzan shared a story about the worst thing he's ever consumed, which I won't recount because it still scares me. But it was an entertaining meal.


When I returned, I noticed that Jonathan and Stephen's light was on, so I knocked and entered. Both roommates were awake and relieved to see me alive. They hadn't seen me in a while, and said that when they checked my blog and saw that it was three days out of date, they were almost seriously worried. Jonathan had even written on my wall! He said if I hadn't responded in a week, he would have actually texted me. What a good friend. Anyways we chatted a bit and then I went to bed.


Here are some more pictures from the weekend, mostly from the shook in the Old City: