Day 68 - Flying high

After the habitual coffee at Madaa, I arrived at the lab to find Sari was in for the day.  While work can and always does get done, sometimes progress occurs at a different rate on days like this, due to the philosophical discussions that tend to happen.  Today's primary topic was olympics-inspired: China and communism.  So the morning was filled with analysis of governmental philosophy interspersed with me working on my powerpoint presentation.  Needless to say, it went by fast.

I joined Sari and Dikla for lunch, which was pretty quick because Dikla had an experiment running.  This was actually good as I didn't have much time to stay at work in the afternoon.  I continued my powerpoint until 3:30, when I grabbed my stuff and headed out, first stopping by at Asaf's lab to say hello and goodbye.  I returned to my room and repacked my bag for the weekend, then walked to the train station and got on a northbound train.

At the third Tel Aviv stop I got off and found the exit where the taxis were waiting.  After a very brief confusion which was resolved when I asked about the fare, I managed to convey that I wanted to get to Dov airport, which was closeby, and not Ben Gurion, which was not.  Ten minutes later I found myself at the pedestrian entrance to the airport.  I was asked to show my passport and answer a few logical questions about my stay in Israel, then passed through and entered the building.  

I then passed through the security and then had to answer numerous illogical questions centered on my brother and synagogue before being able to check in for my flight.  I was told that my flight would be boarding at gate two.  When I sat down, I looked at the back wall of the airport.  It was glass, so you were able to see that the three gates were just three adjacent glass doors opening onto the same bus lot.  I could also see numerous small planes, and a few of those little vehicles which tow carts of luggage at gates.  One of these was actually pulling a plane, interestingly enough.  I couldn't get a picture, to my dismay.

We began boarding about 15 minutes after I had been told, which also happens to be 5 minutes before the flight was scheduled to take off.  Two busloads of us filed through "gate 2" and onto the waiting vehicles.  Five minutes later we were climbing the steps up to the plane, which was parked on the tarmac about 30 meters away from the sea.  We all got seated and took off.  It was hard to hear, but at times during the flight the pilot pointed out sites like Massada as we passed over them.  The airline, called Arkia, is one of two that flies out of this airport (the other being Israir), but I totally approve of it due to their serving us Ben and Jerry's in cute little cartons with built-in spoons as the in-flight snack.  

Fourty-five minutes later we landed in Eilat, and I caught a glimpse of the hotel where my family was (and, as it turns out, my mom was out on the balcony and saw the plane land).  I grabbed a short cab ride and came up to the sixth floor to meet the fam!  We hung out a bit as they showered after their evening dip in the sea and pool, then, once everyone was clean and happy, walked a short way to the restaurant, called Pago Pago.  It was recommended to us by our guide, Eli, as the best place around for seafood.  The selection was amazing, and included all sorts of dishes including a diverse sushi menu.  We all ended up getting some sort of permutation of shrimp and calamari, but ordered a few different sushi dishes as apetizers.  I also introduced my family to Goldstar, which seemed to be a relative success!

After eating we started making our way back towards the hotel.  Andrew and I decided to stick around the boardwalk area for a bit and see if we could ride an extreme-looking contraption called the "Sling Shot," while the rents headed back.  We decided the ride was way too expensive, so bummed about the shops for a few minutes before heading back ourselves.  In the room, Andrew flipped the channels a bit and we caught the end of The Last King of Scotland (I think?) before calling it a night.

This is all of Dov Airport...

...and these are the three gates.

A view from the bus of the entire airport and the other buses

Very reassuring safety instruction card

The view from my window

Only in Eilat: sunscreen ads on the luggage carousel

An interesting sign along our walk to dinner

The [floating] restaurant

Day 67 - A Musical and Philosophical Evening

I woke up slightly early this morning to go to the front gate and meet Eli, my family's guide. I got in his van just as he was getting through the gate; evidently he didn't need my help with that. We drove to San Martin, where I helped my family get their luggage down to the van and such for a few minutes before I had to head to work.

After dropping my stuff off in the lab and grabbing my samples, I headed to the TEM for our last session with Talmon. Patro and I had gotten a taste of working on the microscope last session with alignment procedures, but this time, with supervision, Patro basically did the entire procedure. He took some images, then turned the machine over to me to do the same. Talmon told me just after this that I was ready to operate the TEM without supervision!!!

Just before lunchtime I found myself grabbing my final forms and heading to the library for a signature (the department secretary's I had gotten first, and I had miraculously happened to run into Nissim after hours for his, so the librarian's was the last I needed). I then went straight to Cafe Madaa to meet Tamara and Dan for sandwiches. Tamara and I split a piece of cake that was chocolate and spiky and wonderful.

During the afternoon I managed to finish a draft of my abstract, as well as work on my presentation and write-up of my summer. I worked straight until 6, when I left and headed to Clore for an event arranged by Greta. We sat around and watched as she spread out some snacks and food, then at 6:30 went into the music room for a musical evening put on by the Russian summer students, Anya, Marina, and Andre. They made programs listing the songs we'd be hearing, and played the piano and violin (Anya on violin, the others on piano) for almost an hour! All of them were amazing, and the music room was packed, with summer students and Weizmann students from Clore.

Marina and Andrew each played an encore before we all headed back out to the lobby for snacks, fruit, and ice cream homemade by Greta, which was delicious. I couldn't hold back, and ate a few helpings of it. Then Daniela, Rachel and I headed out for dinner to the science park. Once there, we looked at menus at a few restaurants before finally settling on Papardella, an Italian (and Kosher) restaurant. Both Daniela and I ordered gnocci, with different sauces, and Rachel, who had had a craving for corn, had brought her own can of it, so semi-secretly ate it when our meals arrived. The restaurant was nice, although it didn't have its own bathroom on the premises (there was one labeled with the restaurant's name around the corner). Also, as is shown below, the cute ambiance of the terrace was overshadowed by a towering sign for the neighboring gas station.

After eating, we just sat and talked for a couple of hours, about religion, which always seems to come up when Rachel is present. The interesting thing is that Judaism was only a part this time. Daniela shared some really interesting experiences from her year in Africa, and as it turns out, she's rather spiritual. We also talked about reincarnation, and how it's mentioned in Judaism not just in arcane texts but in the daily prayer to be said before bed. The weather was actually rather cool, so it was a pleasant evening to just sit and chat.

After the walk back, we said goodbye to Daniela outside Clore and headed in. Rachel and I ate a bit of ice cream and chatted with physics Dan in the kitchen. I retired once my eyes wouldn't stay open.

Here are a few pictures from this evening:

The program:

Marina playing

Anya on violin, Andre on piano

The Entertainer (piano, four hands)

What a crowd!

Me, Daniela, and Rachel under the Sonol sign

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 65 - Balloons. Candles. Singing. Pita. Which one is not like the others?

This morning at Cafe Madaa was great not only because of the delicious iced coffee or Tanmay's company, but because Ben called and we had a great chat!  After about a half hour he had to go and I had to go to work, but it was a nice way to start the day.

At work I learned and performed some statistics on my data.  It doesn't sound exciting, but may very well lead to the most measurable and significant results I'll have this summer, so it's a big deal.  Just after noon, I went to San Martin to pick up the keys for my parents' and brother's rooms there, dropped them back off in my bag at the lab, and went down to the square in front of Perlman to meet Dan and Jordan.  

We walked in the practically blistering heat to Rapper, the mexican place in the science park, for lunch.  Dan and I ordered the same chicken and pineapple burritos as last time; Jordan got a steak one.  This time I made sure to order us corn chips, which turned out to be a fabulous decision.  I really love tortilla chips, and only upon eating them did I realize that while hummus and pita is wonderful, I really miss just chips and salsa.  Dan put into words the problem with the burritos even better than last time: they're wraps with burrito ingredients and heating.  Fine, but odd.

After the just-as-painfully-hot walk back to campus, I did some more calculations and presentation work before making the decision to go to the lecture for the afternoon.  It turned out to be Professor Lia Addadi, a professor and scientist in structural biology here who also happens to be the dean of the Feinberg Graduate School, the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute.  Instead of talking to us about her research, she introduced us to the graduate school, giving us information about the school's history, the programs, and how to apply.  While this was nice information to have, it was presented slowly, and it might have been easier for us to read in a pamphlet, so we could actually hear about her research (which from her homepage sounds interesting!) 

About as the lecture was ending, I received a cell phone call which turned out to be from my family!  They had just landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, and were on their way to Rehovot!  So I went back to work and did some stuff, but was very excited so didn't really focus very well.  They arrived about an hour later, so I met them at the gate and got in their cab, so I could direct the driver to San Martin with their luggage.  We unloaded it and brought it up to the guesthouse.  I pulled their keys out and we opened their rooms, which turned out to be not bad!  My dad and brother wanted to shower, though, and the water was the customary brown/yellow for a bit.  Just as I finished telling my dad to run it for a bit, my brother called my parents' room with the same comment, which was amusing.  I gave him the same response, of course.

My mom and I headed to Clore so I could change and she could get the tour.  I showed her around a bit and introduced her to the people in the lobby, then showed her my room.  Zvonimir was randomly wandering the halls looking for Ari, so as my mom had specially requested to meet him, I made the introduction happen.  Soon Andrew and Dad made it to Clore, and we walked through the lobby and out to Hertzl Street, towards our dinner destination: the four-flavor falafel.  This is exactly how it sounds, and the consensus was my previous determination: it is delicious!  Everyone had Fanta, too, which is so much better in foreign countries.  We sat for a bit to digest and discuss politics, and Rehovot, before walking down towards the mall to explore a bit, and finally heading back towards Clore.  I gave Andrew and Dad the complete Clore tour, which even Mom hadn't gotten all of.  There was still no one in the lobby for them to meet, though, so we headed back out for ice cream.

As we approached, we still hadn't decided whether to go to Benny's or Tartufo.  But when we ran into Clay on the way back from Benny's, I decided we should go for it.  We all got yummy candy flavors, like Ferrero Rocher, and sat to enjoy it.  When we got back to Clore, Andrew decided to stick around while the rents headed back to San Martin.  We sat to chat, and I called Asaf and Lisa and suggested that they come down and meet Andrew.  Soon the group had grown to include Dan, Jordan, and others.  We sat talking for a bit, but Andrew left after a bit to sleep off the jetlag.

Jonathan surfaced around this time.  The festivities for his birthday were supposed to include Hertzl Bar, so soon a large group headed out.  On the way down the steps and across the street, Jordan managed to help me light the birthday candles I had stuck into a pita, while Jodi distracted Jonathan.  As soon as we reached the other side, by which time the surprise had been blown, we all burst into the birthday song.  Jonathan appeared entertained by the replacement of cake with a pita, but what can I say; you expect me to remember not only to seek out birthday candles (which turns out to be no mean task over here) AND a cake?  

It turned out that 11-shekel night at Herzl was a popular occasion, so we put our name down and grabbed some beverage to chill and wait.  A group went into La Morse, the Irish pub, to pass the time, while some others of us hung out in a nearby square.  At one point, Jonathan was talking with Odelia, a girl we'd met on the train from Tel Aviv back to Rehovot a few weeks back, on the phone.  She mentioned that she'd come out and join us, which seemed odd because she is relatively religious.  But then a cab pulled up to the bar holding a card and balloons out the window.  There was no one in it.  She had sent Jonathan balloons!  How cute is that?

Dan, meanwhile, had been chatting with the waitresses at Hertzl and managed to get us a large table area on the second floor.  We rounded everyone up and headed there.  All seated, the company consisted of Maciej, Ran, Tali, Clay, Tanmay, Dan S., Dan H., Jonathan, me, Joel, Jordan, Zvonimir, Lisa, and Jared (Alissa departed when the group moved from La Morse).  We all ordered 11-shekel beers, mostly Goldstar, and settled in for the evening.  As we got sillier, and the hours, the talk became much more interesting; let's just leave it at that.

By a ridiculous hour, it was just me, Joel, Jonathan, Ran and Tali remaining.  Ran, Tali and I decided to call it a night.  I returned to Clore and tidied my room enough to get into bed.

Day 64 - This is a test.

Today it was back to work, for my second-to-last week. It's so sad that I'm leaving soon enough to count down like this. I stopped in at Cafe Madaa for some coffee and a chat with Tanmay, then headed to the lab, grab some TEM samples, and turned right back around and left again for the TEM class. I ran into Talmon walking that way as well, so we chatted briefly until we reached the microscopy building. I headed downstairs to the microscope, and he joined me in a few minutes, followed soon after by Patro.

< .science >

Within about a minute it was evident that today would be a sort of extended test. Talmon asked me if I had brought any samples we could use, then asked Patro to align the beam and ready the microscope for a sample. Patro had somehow not taken notes on this part of the procedure, though, so struggled a bit and needed some help from Talmon as to where to start. We then took a short break before it was my turn to try. I was able to do the various direct alignments, but needed to ask a question or two in order to correct the stigmatism of the beam.

After this, we insterted a sample and finished the alignment, and did some more review of the computer menus and functions before learning a bit about the CCD camera, the camera software, and how to capture, save, and batch convert the images. Finally, we learned how to mount samples in the sample holder and insert (and remove) the holder into the compustage. Talmon made us each practice this a few times, as it's the only real part of the procedure where you can damage the microscope.

< / science >

We finished in time for me to head back to Perlman with Patro to drop off my stuff before lunch. This was a busy five minutes, though, due to me running into Asaf and Nitzan one after the other and then receiving two almost simultaneous calls from Dan and Tamara about lunch. I met Dan and we walked to Charlie's to meet Tamara. We sat inside to eat, and were joined soon by Jordan, but later by Rachel.

During the afternoon I finally began to use my new and last batch of data to update my statistics and plots, and began updating my presentation with these edits. I lost track of time during all this and didn't leave work until rather late. When I got back to Clore, Dan proposed an outing to satiate his sushi craving. I had to eventually end up at the mall, so we walked along Hertzl in that direction. 

Onur had mentioned "Same Same," the first place we encountered, but it was empty and all the people behind the counter looked Israeli, so Dan exercised his veto power and we moved on. The next place, "Buzzi," looked more appealing. It was a very small restaurant, basically a bar with two waiters and a Japanese sushi chef, and they didn't have any menus in English. Dan and the waitress talked a bit about the options, and we ended up ordering some sweet potato roll and a "photomaki" roll we designed ourselves: spicy tuna with green onion and tempura flakes. This latter choice ended up being so delicious that we got another.

Back outside on Hertzl street, Dan and I parted ways. I walked the rest of the way to the mall and headed straight downstairs to where I had bought my outlet adapter when I got here, to pick up a couple for my parents. I then wandered a bit more, picking up a few more tank tops from the same place I had gotten them in Tel Aviv at Azrieli, before getting a call from Tamar. We made plans to meet, not only so she could return my harness to me but also so we could eat ice cream.

As I walked back towards Clore and our meeting place, I called my parents to see what was up. They were in the car on the way to New York to catch their flight to Israel! We chatted briefly about logistics and such, then I let them go to focus their full attention on the New Jersey Turnpike. Soon I arrived at Tartufo, Tamar's ice cream shop of choice, and within a few minutes she had joined me.

We tried many of the flavors before making our final decisions, and sat to enjoy. Tamar had brought me my harness back, as well as a few tee shirts (with Hebrew logos and stuff) that she was getting rid of before moving to Spain. Yay tee shirts! As we ate we discussed important and non-important things, like significant others, climbing, pets, and other topics. Joel had walked by earlier and grabbed falafel to go, and some of Tamar's friends had picked up some ice cream and sat for a bit before heading to dinenr down the street, but when Stephen and Dan S. randomly turned up, they got sandwiches (the falafel had just closed) and sat with us. The conversation then turned to topics like Hebrew, dogs, and Holocaust jokes. Eventually Tamar had to go home, which turned out to be a good cue for us all to head out. I said goodbye to her and then joined the boys for the walk back to Clore.

Once there, the party materialized in Stephen's room. Both Dans, Jordan, Oren, and I sat around, some of us on our computers, talking, and in my case blogging. Jonathan got home eventually and joined us, and as it got late, the room gradually emptied. I was the last to leave, and for some reason Jonathan and I continued our chat in the hallway. He tried on my new 30-shekel aviators, as he's contemplating new sunglasses, and munched (in a not-so-visually-pelasing way) on sabres as we discussed his gradual comeback in the tagging war on this blog. After a bit we said goodnight and I crashed.

For your photographic entertainment, here's Jonathan trying the aviators and holding the fruit: