Today finishes the first week of MEET. Because of the shifted workweek over here, MEET runs Sunday through Thursday.
Overall, it was an amazing, awesome, exciting, fun, and EXHAUSTING week. Admittedly, the week began with a rocky start, with lots of technical difficulties, but these eventually got resolved (thanks to Max and Jon!) and the rest of the week was awesome!
Our students spent the majority of the week working on a lab called MEETSpot, which stands for MEET Survey Project Organizational Tool. Over the course of the week, the students created the client end of a survey creation tool. Students will later use these to create surveys which will be viewable on the web and will be used for market research for their group projects. The students got really excited about the lab and creating their own surveys, which made me really happy, since we spent so much time developing this lab. For an example survey, you can go to http://meet.mit.edu/projects/meetspot/ and enter "2" for the id number. Pretty, eh?
Today we gave our project pitches, during which each of the Y2 instructors gave a short spiel about the project they will lead over the next 4 weeks. My project idea is a collaborative whiteboard chat program, kind of like an instant messaging client but with drawing instead of typing. Funny story: I get about 2 minutes in, and several students raise their hands:
"Kim, this already exists. In Windows Live."
Me: "Ok, then. Now who here uses Windows Live?"
[EVERYONE raises their hands.]
Me: "Well, shoot."
This is where Asaaf (a MEET founder, the current business instructor, and my new hero) speaks up and points out a) He has a Mac and cannot use Windows Live, b) He knows lots of people who would be interested in such a product. Whereupon I expand on the fact that I use a Mac as well, and even though they know this exists, they can come up with ways to make it better.
Oh well. Hopefully I didn't look too stupid. And I'm sure it'll be a fun project anyway!
[Note: I tried to test this Windows Live feature this evening (I have Parallels installed on my Mac), and although I can apparently run the whiteboard feature, I don't have anyone to test it with. Humberto is the only one here with Windows (everyone else uses Linux or Mac, yay!) and Vista seems to have disabled support for the whiteboard function. Ha.]
This is mainly funny because a similar thing happened during my lecture earlier this week. On Wednesday, I gave my lecture on modularity. I'll admit I was a bit nervous about giving a lecture, but it actually went really well. Doing a dry run the night before definitely helped. However, at the end, when I was explaining my last concept (Model-View-Controller design pattern), I pull up the slide and start explaining, and a few students raise their hand and say, "Kim, we already know this." So, I try really hard not to get flustered (think I succeeded) and asked them to explain it. And they did. Excellent. If only I could teach them something they don't already know.
By now, I know all my students' names (and can even match names with people!) I'm working on pronunciation, but for now my attempts seem to be decent, at least. I'm excited to see who my team is on Sunday. (The MEET staff forms our project teams without our input, based on the students' preferences. So I will never know how many students actually liked my project.)
This evening, Bo, Alice, Humberto, Max, and I drove to Abu Gosh to eat dinner at a Lebanese restaurant, where we had the most delicious hummus I've ever eaten in my life. We had hummus with meat, and hummus with pine nuts. I wish I could describe to you all back in the US what you're missing.
Tomorrow, we're off to Tel Aviv and Old Jaffa. We're spending Friday touring Old Jaffa with a guide, and then Saturday will be a free day, likely spent at the beach! But now, off to sleep!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
T - 9.5 hours
I owe you all a report of our teambuilding adventure, but sadly I don't have time right now. We've just spent the past few hours going over the schedule for the week, making sure we have all our handouts and lecture notes back from the printer, and doing dry runs of the first day's lectures. Now off to get a good night's sleep, since we have to be out the door at 8:00 am tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the first day of MEET. We are excited, and we are ready!
It's going to be an awesome summer.
Tomorrow is the first day of MEET. We are excited, and we are ready!
It's going to be an awesome summer.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Check out the weather report!
Yesterday began with a jaunt to Hebrew University, where we worked on setting up the student accounts, getting Eclipse to run properly, and making sure that our lab code worked. We then went to the mall for lunch.
I don't know what your impressions of Jerusalem are, but this mall would likely prove most of them wrong. Besides the fact that most everything was in Hebrew, and besides the fact that you have to pass through a metal detector to enter, this could have been any mall in the US. We were hungry, so we headed for the food court, and many of us opted for the schwarma or the falafel (which was heart-shaped!)
Jon and Humberto, however, opted for burgers.
There was even a sbarro...
And a Burger King!
I'm told there was also a second Burger King on the 3rd floor. However, both are kosher, so no cheeseburgers, unfortunately.
After lunch, we pooled our money (100 shekels each) and sent a committee off to purchase groceries. We'll see how long this communal grocery system lasts... Alice and I made use of our time by finding a bookstore, where we purchased a guidebook for Israel and a map of Jerusalem. Now when we get lost in the Old City, we'll at least know what we're looking at!
Around 7:30 pm, Humberto and I went on a hunt to buy dinner, only to discover that everywhere in the neighborhood that sold falafel was closed. We could have had our pick of more than 20 clothing stores or various other establishments, but nowhere could we get a falafel. We returned to our apartment saddened, but happy about the fact that we'd gone grocery shopping earlier and had hummus and pita galore. We then spent ~1.5 frustrating hours trying to get socket networking code to work, followed by more coding. I think I finally got to sleep around 2am.
Today has been a slow day, with sleeping in, followed by a brief teaching workshop in which each of the Year 1 instructors gave a 5-minute presentation and we discussed presentation skills. Our turn will be Saturday, so I have to come up with something to present. Noa also showed up with ice cream, including some "educational flavors", which meant kiwi, red berry(?), and chestnut, which was particularily delicious!
Today's dinner was slightly more successful, perhaps because we went earlier. We tried the falafel shop on the corner, which serves quite decent falafel for only 6 shekels! (They also sell hot dogs: 7 shekels.) With my falafel, I also purchased a Fanta:
and Mike bought gummies. (Wait, is that a gummy toothbrush??)
This evening, we went on an excursion to attempt to see the sun set over the Old City from the top of the Mount of Olives. Unfortunately, we neglected to bring a map, and we missed the turn to get up to the top, but we did get some nice photos. But next time, we know where to go for a better view.
Now, some brief facts, with informative links!
The unit of currency here is the shekel. Bills come in 20, 50, 100, and 200 denominations. The currency also consists of a number of coins which commonly come in 1, 2, 5, and 10 shekel denominations. I also received a 1/2 shekel coin today. The subunit of a shekel is an agorot. I have yet to come across the 10 agorot piece (according to wikipedia, the smaller 1 and 5 agorot pieces aren't used anymore) because most everything rounds to the nearest shekel. The currency conversion is currently 1 USD = 3.35 shekels, so dividing things by ~3 gives a good estimate of price conversion to US dollars.
After listening to the Muslin call to prayer several times each day, I looked up and found an online schedule of times, so now I know what times it will occur.
And finally, check out the weather link! (which I've also added the the list on the right) We really do live in the desert here. I was told that it does rain occasionally during winter months, but after about May, forget it. It'll be hot and dry here all summer. This means days are REALLY HOT (although not quite intolerable) and it cools off and becomes quite pleasant at night. It also stays really clear (no moisture, no clouds) so you can see stars. I'm excited for our weekend trip to the desert later this summer, since once we are away from the city, the stars should be quite spectacular!
I don't know what your impressions of Jerusalem are, but this mall would likely prove most of them wrong. Besides the fact that most everything was in Hebrew, and besides the fact that you have to pass through a metal detector to enter, this could have been any mall in the US. We were hungry, so we headed for the food court, and many of us opted for the schwarma or the falafel (which was heart-shaped!)
Jon and Humberto, however, opted for burgers.
There was even a sbarro...
And a Burger King!
I'm told there was also a second Burger King on the 3rd floor. However, both are kosher, so no cheeseburgers, unfortunately.After lunch, we pooled our money (100 shekels each) and sent a committee off to purchase groceries. We'll see how long this communal grocery system lasts... Alice and I made use of our time by finding a bookstore, where we purchased a guidebook for Israel and a map of Jerusalem. Now when we get lost in the Old City, we'll at least know what we're looking at!
Around 7:30 pm, Humberto and I went on a hunt to buy dinner, only to discover that everywhere in the neighborhood that sold falafel was closed. We could have had our pick of more than 20 clothing stores or various other establishments, but nowhere could we get a falafel. We returned to our apartment saddened, but happy about the fact that we'd gone grocery shopping earlier and had hummus and pita galore. We then spent ~1.5 frustrating hours trying to get socket networking code to work, followed by more coding. I think I finally got to sleep around 2am.
Today has been a slow day, with sleeping in, followed by a brief teaching workshop in which each of the Year 1 instructors gave a 5-minute presentation and we discussed presentation skills. Our turn will be Saturday, so I have to come up with something to present. Noa also showed up with ice cream, including some "educational flavors", which meant kiwi, red berry(?), and chestnut, which was particularily delicious!
Today's dinner was slightly more successful, perhaps because we went earlier. We tried the falafel shop on the corner, which serves quite decent falafel for only 6 shekels! (They also sell hot dogs: 7 shekels.) With my falafel, I also purchased a Fanta:
and Mike bought gummies. (Wait, is that a gummy toothbrush??)
This evening, we went on an excursion to attempt to see the sun set over the Old City from the top of the Mount of Olives. Unfortunately, we neglected to bring a map, and we missed the turn to get up to the top, but we did get some nice photos. But next time, we know where to go for a better view.
Now, some brief facts, with informative links!
The unit of currency here is the shekel. Bills come in 20, 50, 100, and 200 denominations. The currency also consists of a number of coins which commonly come in 1, 2, 5, and 10 shekel denominations. I also received a 1/2 shekel coin today. The subunit of a shekel is an agorot. I have yet to come across the 10 agorot piece (according to wikipedia, the smaller 1 and 5 agorot pieces aren't used anymore) because most everything rounds to the nearest shekel. The currency conversion is currently 1 USD = 3.35 shekels, so dividing things by ~3 gives a good estimate of price conversion to US dollars.
After listening to the Muslin call to prayer several times each day, I looked up and found an online schedule of times, so now I know what times it will occur.
And finally, check out the weather link! (which I've also added the the list on the right) We really do live in the desert here. I was told that it does rain occasionally during winter months, but after about May, forget it. It'll be hot and dry here all summer. This means days are REALLY HOT (although not quite intolerable) and it cools off and becomes quite pleasant at night. It also stays really clear (no moisture, no clouds) so you can see stars. I'm excited for our weekend trip to the desert later this summer, since once we are away from the city, the stars should be quite spectacular!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Another Day, Another Adventure
Yesterday, I woke up at around 7:30 to the sound of the traffic in the street outside. I pretended to be asleep for a while, but eventually gave in and got up. I was checking my email when Alice walks in and says, "I want to go for a walk. Want to come?" So I went. The air was still rather cool, and it was a beautiful morning for a walk.
We wandered down the road and decided that now was as good a time as any to get a taste of the old city. We walked through Herod's Gate, the closest to our apartment, which put us in the Muslim quarter.
Walking through the Old City is quite an experience! It's a bit like walking through history, 1000 years (at least) in the past. The streets are all very narrow, and cars aren't permitted on most of them, since they're both narrow and possess stairs. However, there are narrow tractors that drive through the alleys (and up the stairs) to collect trash, so one periodically has to avoid these (which seem rather out of place in the setting). Pardoning my camera's ability to cope with a large brightness range, an attempt to give you an idea of the streets:
At some point, we realized that it had been silly to walk in without a guidebook or a map, since we didn't really know what we were looking at. We ended up near the Lion's Gate, by St. Anne's Church and the Pool of Bethesda, where you can also see ruins from the Crusaders:
Before leaving, we also paid a visit to the church itself, which is supposedly built on the site of the Virgin Mary's mother's birthplace. We walked downstairs and found a memorial and a small meditation area. As we were leaving, we heard someone singing a beautiful song in the church itself. I read later that this room is renowned for its acoustics.
By then, it was about 9:30, and we had to be back at the apartment by 10. We attempted to go back the way we came, but instead got lost amidst the winding alleys. Fortunately, we knew the general direction we were headed and emerged from the Damascus Gate with enough time to spare.
Our day continued with a tour of Hebrew University, where we will be teaching. Because the University was on strike earlier this year, their classes will continue until August, and we will also be using some classroom space in ORT, the technical high school on the campus. Somehow, I didn't take many pictures of our tour, but I did manage to get photos of the stained glass windows from the ORT atrium. (Check out the science theme!)
I'll post more about Hebrew University after we've spent more time there. Anyhow, after getting oriented and eating lunch in the cafeteria, my team (the Year 2 instructors) continued our work back at the apartment, at least until the internet died again. 2 of us wanted to trek to the MEET office, while the other two protested walking in the hot Jerusalem sun. So, we compromised. We drove, and we brought our cushions (and this actually saved us no time, amusingly enough). But people were happy, and productivity happened.
Dinner proved to be yet another adventure, as we followed Max into the Old City in search of a tasty falafel place, which turned out to be closed. We wandered through the streets of markets, and eventually ended up back out in West Jerusalem, where we found delicious schwarma. We ate in the plaza near Jerusalem's City Hall before returning to the office to continue our meeting (2pm-11pm, with ~1 hour for dinner and ~1 hour to get to the office).
The most exciting news of today is that the internets have returned! Also, I saw something today that made me immensely happy: Wall-E!
We wandered down the road and decided that now was as good a time as any to get a taste of the old city. We walked through Herod's Gate, the closest to our apartment, which put us in the Muslim quarter.
Walking through the Old City is quite an experience! It's a bit like walking through history, 1000 years (at least) in the past. The streets are all very narrow, and cars aren't permitted on most of them, since they're both narrow and possess stairs. However, there are narrow tractors that drive through the alleys (and up the stairs) to collect trash, so one periodically has to avoid these (which seem rather out of place in the setting). Pardoning my camera's ability to cope with a large brightness range, an attempt to give you an idea of the streets:
At some point, we realized that it had been silly to walk in without a guidebook or a map, since we didn't really know what we were looking at. We ended up near the Lion's Gate, by St. Anne's Church and the Pool of Bethesda, where you can also see ruins from the Crusaders:
Before leaving, we also paid a visit to the church itself, which is supposedly built on the site of the Virgin Mary's mother's birthplace. We walked downstairs and found a memorial and a small meditation area. As we were leaving, we heard someone singing a beautiful song in the church itself. I read later that this room is renowned for its acoustics.
By then, it was about 9:30, and we had to be back at the apartment by 10. We attempted to go back the way we came, but instead got lost amidst the winding alleys. Fortunately, we knew the general direction we were headed and emerged from the Damascus Gate with enough time to spare.Our day continued with a tour of Hebrew University, where we will be teaching. Because the University was on strike earlier this year, their classes will continue until August, and we will also be using some classroom space in ORT, the technical high school on the campus. Somehow, I didn't take many pictures of our tour, but I did manage to get photos of the stained glass windows from the ORT atrium. (Check out the science theme!)
I'll post more about Hebrew University after we've spent more time there. Anyhow, after getting oriented and eating lunch in the cafeteria, my team (the Year 2 instructors) continued our work back at the apartment, at least until the internet died again. 2 of us wanted to trek to the MEET office, while the other two protested walking in the hot Jerusalem sun. So, we compromised. We drove, and we brought our cushions (and this actually saved us no time, amusingly enough). But people were happy, and productivity happened.
Dinner proved to be yet another adventure, as we followed Max into the Old City in search of a tasty falafel place, which turned out to be closed. We wandered through the streets of markets, and eventually ended up back out in West Jerusalem, where we found delicious schwarma. We ate in the plaza near Jerusalem's City Hall before returning to the office to continue our meeting (2pm-11pm, with ~1 hour for dinner and ~1 hour to get to the office).The most exciting news of today is that the internets have returned! Also, I saw something today that made me immensely happy: Wall-E!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Where we are
As promised, a description of our apartment and living arrangements
We (all 13 of us) live in an apartment on Alzahara St. in East Jerusalem, about a 10 minute walk from the Old City walls. Alice and I had the pleasant experience of wandering and getting slightly lost in the Old City this morning, but those adventures will wait until a later entry. Anyhow, some photos of our street, looking right from the apartment:
and looking left:
Finally, looking across the street:
Ranger is our best friend. They have provided us (unbeknownst to them) with our wireless internet until we get ours up and running. We're waiting on DSL installation, and Bezeq (the phone service company) has a monopoly and thus is notoriously slow on service. Imagine 13 instructors, all used to MIT's blazing fast service, all working on projects requiring internet, and receiving a slow/non-functioning connection. It's not a happy situation.
Anyhow, our apartment itself has a gate and then stairs up to the entrance.
It's a very large and spacious setting, with very high ceilings. Someone remarked on the first day that it was like living in a castle. There are 5 sleeping rooms and 3 bathrooms. When we arrived (at 6 am on Sunday) our beds were already selected, with named folders on each. Us 3 girls get our own room and bathroom. My bed:
The bathroom has all the amenities (shower, toilet, bath, sink, even a shower curtain!) and sometimes there's even hot water for showers! We've got a nice common area with couches:
Also, a "dining" area (currently used as a working area) with a table. We had to go appropriate chairs from the MEET office to have enough seating for all.
When we arrived, the kitchen was stocked with some food. However, grocery shopping had better happen soon. We've been out of hummus since the end of Day 1, and there may be a riot soon if the situation isn't remedied.
The neighborhood we are in is a predominately Palestinian area. Most signs are in Arabic. A few times per day, we can hear the Muslim call to prayer emanating from inside the Old City. It's a beautiful sound. The people in the neighboorhood speak Arabic, and some speak a little bit of English. Humberto and I went to lunch at a schwarma place yesterday, and we managed to order food and pay for our meal, mainly by pointing at things on the English menu. For 32 shekels each, we consumed delicious schwarma.
Much of our time here thus far has consisted of working. After all, we're here to work and to teach these kids Java! Sunday consisted of a large group meeting, establishing some rules and laying out a framework for our prep week. We then took a walk around our neighborhood and got to see our first glimpse of the Old City walls.
We went to dinner at Azadinya along with some of the MEET staff (Asaaf, Anat, and Noa). (Thanks to Sally for the photo!)
Monday was more work. Partway through the day, we decided that the lack of internet was severely unproductive, and we walked to the MEET office. This is about a 20 minute walk away, but it's in West Jerusalem (the Jewish side of the city) and it almost feels like an entirely different city. Because we'd appropriated chairs for our apartment, there was a lack, but there was plenty of internet for everyone, so we made do:
And Max made everyone happy with "Smiles" (which are impossible for me to pronounce in Hebrew).
Next post: Hebrew University, Adventures in the Old City, and coping with the lack of chairs.
We (all 13 of us) live in an apartment on Alzahara St. in East Jerusalem, about a 10 minute walk from the Old City walls. Alice and I had the pleasant experience of wandering and getting slightly lost in the Old City this morning, but those adventures will wait until a later entry. Anyhow, some photos of our street, looking right from the apartment:
and looking left:
Finally, looking across the street:
Ranger is our best friend. They have provided us (unbeknownst to them) with our wireless internet until we get ours up and running. We're waiting on DSL installation, and Bezeq (the phone service company) has a monopoly and thus is notoriously slow on service. Imagine 13 instructors, all used to MIT's blazing fast service, all working on projects requiring internet, and receiving a slow/non-functioning connection. It's not a happy situation.
Anyhow, our apartment itself has a gate and then stairs up to the entrance.
It's a very large and spacious setting, with very high ceilings. Someone remarked on the first day that it was like living in a castle. There are 5 sleeping rooms and 3 bathrooms. When we arrived (at 6 am on Sunday) our beds were already selected, with named folders on each. Us 3 girls get our own room and bathroom. My bed:
The bathroom has all the amenities (shower, toilet, bath, sink, even a shower curtain!) and sometimes there's even hot water for showers! We've got a nice common area with couches:
Also, a "dining" area (currently used as a working area) with a table. We had to go appropriate chairs from the MEET office to have enough seating for all.
When we arrived, the kitchen was stocked with some food. However, grocery shopping had better happen soon. We've been out of hummus since the end of Day 1, and there may be a riot soon if the situation isn't remedied.
The neighborhood we are in is a predominately Palestinian area. Most signs are in Arabic. A few times per day, we can hear the Muslim call to prayer emanating from inside the Old City. It's a beautiful sound. The people in the neighboorhood speak Arabic, and some speak a little bit of English. Humberto and I went to lunch at a schwarma place yesterday, and we managed to order food and pay for our meal, mainly by pointing at things on the English menu. For 32 shekels each, we consumed delicious schwarma.
Much of our time here thus far has consisted of working. After all, we're here to work and to teach these kids Java! Sunday consisted of a large group meeting, establishing some rules and laying out a framework for our prep week. We then took a walk around our neighborhood and got to see our first glimpse of the Old City walls.
We went to dinner at Azadinya along with some of the MEET staff (Asaaf, Anat, and Noa). (Thanks to Sally for the photo!)
Monday was more work. Partway through the day, we decided that the lack of internet was severely unproductive, and we walked to the MEET office. This is about a 20 minute walk away, but it's in West Jerusalem (the Jewish side of the city) and it almost feels like an entirely different city. Because we'd appropriated chairs for our apartment, there was a lack, but there was plenty of internet for everyone, so we made do:
And Max made everyone happy with "Smiles" (which are impossible for me to pronounce in Hebrew).
Next post: Hebrew University, Adventures in the Old City, and coping with the lack of chairs.
Monday, July 7, 2008
I am here!
Unfortunately, Google is too intelligent for its own good and knows that I am here. This means that Google (and therefore Blogger) default to Hebrew. Amusing at first, but now just obnoxious.
In any case, I am here! 13 instructors, 1 apartment, countless lines of Java code. But first, I think I shall detail our trip here.
Our trip began in Boston, at 9:30 EDT, when we flew out of the Boston airport. Although this meant that we missed the fireworks, I could see random spurts of color as Boston faded away behind us.
I am quite impressed by Swiss Air. They begin by serving drinks, everything from water to wine (free, of course) and a small bag of "Happy Mix". At this point, the individual TV screens are detailing our flight, showing speed/temp/elevation statistics and displaying various maps to put the flight in context. Next, the meal. Meal included:
I ended up sleeping for about 4 hours and woke up at 10 am (4am body time) to see breakfast in front of me. Suddenly the sky was light, and I was very confused. In any case, we landed at about 10:30, and decided to use the day to explore the city of Zurich. First, we had to change money. John also brought pizza from Boston.
We bought train tickets (after deciphering the German-speaking machine) and headed into the city.
Zurich is BEAUTIFUL. And the weather was gorgeous.
Ted had picked up Rick Steve's travel guide to Switzerland, so we decided to explore the self-guided walking tour described. Much of the group decided to be cheap, but Ted and I surrendered 10 francs and got to learn about Zurich history (why not?)
Next, Bo, Froy, Ted and I headed across the river to find food. Small problem: we don't speak German. However, Bo, Ted, and I managed to figure out enough French to basically communicate everything we ended up needing. Like the college students we are, we did manage to find free food! (Zurich food is expensive, so this was awesome!) A group of chefs that typically provides food for the needy was giving out lunch to all passers-by (we learned through our awesome French skills), so we happily took food, made a donation, and enjoyed a delicious lunch!
Next, we walked up the hill to the University. Lots of stairs.
But, it was worth it for the view!
After perusing the paleontology and zoology museam at the University, we wandered back down the hill to more of the sites from Ted's tour guide. We visted Fraumünster church and saw the windows painted by Chagall (no photos allowed, sorry). [Interestingly, Chagall's birthday is today!] Finally, we reached the end of the tour, the lake, from where we could view the Swiss Alps (which are in the background).
At this point, hunger and fatigue struck, so we attempted to find une patisserie (a bakery) where we could purchase Ted's pretzel bread. No luck. But we did find a nice cafe where, through some combination of English, French, and Greek, we managed to order some coffee, tea, and croissants. We eventually ended up at a nice community park, full of people playing bocce ball and games of chess with large pieces.
We sat on the wall for a while and watched a guy riding his "bicycle boat". People also swim in the river. We then came across some sleeping MIT MEET instructors.
We also found a WC. ("Water Closet, for those of you who did not learn this term in French class")
We made it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our departing flight. John and Zach were able to get seats (even Swiss air overbooks flights) and Ted even found his evasive pretzel bread! Our flight to Tel Aviv looked like it was going to go normally, so I was dozing off as we taxied out, but then the pilot announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to have a slight delay. Our outer right wing engine won't start, so we need to wait for a mechanic to come out and start our engine."
Well, THAT jolted me awake. Fortunately, haven't an engine not start isn't a serious problem, since the problem was a matter of forcing air through the engine. Once the plane is in the air, air is being forced through the engine automatically, so this isn't an issue. (Hurray for Aero-Astro!) But, it's still nerve-wracking to the average passenger.
Our flight continued smoothly, with a similarly delicious dinner followed by a few hours of sleeping. We arrived in Tel Aviv at 3:30 local time. We emerged through passport control, baggage claim, and custom at 5:00. Thus followed the amusing task of attempting to fit 13 people and all of our suitcases into 1 van and one car (this included the box with Zach's bike). Impossible though it seemed, it worked, although the ride wasn't comfortable. We drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the sun rose (beautiful!) and arrived at our apartment shortly after 6am. We made plans to have a curriculum meeting at 1pm, and then promptly crashed into our beds. Whee, jet lag!
Next time: Our apartment and the surrounding neighborhood
In any case, I am here! 13 instructors, 1 apartment, countless lines of Java code. But first, I think I shall detail our trip here.
Our trip began in Boston, at 9:30 EDT, when we flew out of the Boston airport. Although this meant that we missed the fireworks, I could see random spurts of color as Boston faded away behind us.
I am quite impressed by Swiss Air. They begin by serving drinks, everything from water to wine (free, of course) and a small bag of "Happy Mix". At this point, the individual TV screens are detailing our flight, showing speed/temp/elevation statistics and displaying various maps to put the flight in context. Next, the meal. Meal included:
- choice of pasta or chicken (I chose pasta, which included a HOT dish of penne and tortellini, with marinara and alfredo sauch)
- WARM roll
- salad
- dressing
- cheese and crackers
- marble brownie
- and last but not least, REAL SILVERWARE (including a knife)
I ended up sleeping for about 4 hours and woke up at 10 am (4am body time) to see breakfast in front of me. Suddenly the sky was light, and I was very confused. In any case, we landed at about 10:30, and decided to use the day to explore the city of Zurich. First, we had to change money. John also brought pizza from Boston.
We bought train tickets (after deciphering the German-speaking machine) and headed into the city.
Zurich is BEAUTIFUL. And the weather was gorgeous.
Ted had picked up Rick Steve's travel guide to Switzerland, so we decided to explore the self-guided walking tour described. Much of the group decided to be cheap, but Ted and I surrendered 10 francs and got to learn about Zurich history (why not?)
Next, Bo, Froy, Ted and I headed across the river to find food. Small problem: we don't speak German. However, Bo, Ted, and I managed to figure out enough French to basically communicate everything we ended up needing. Like the college students we are, we did manage to find free food! (Zurich food is expensive, so this was awesome!) A group of chefs that typically provides food for the needy was giving out lunch to all passers-by (we learned through our awesome French skills), so we happily took food, made a donation, and enjoyed a delicious lunch!
Next, we walked up the hill to the University. Lots of stairs.
But, it was worth it for the view!
After perusing the paleontology and zoology museam at the University, we wandered back down the hill to more of the sites from Ted's tour guide. We visted Fraumünster church and saw the windows painted by Chagall (no photos allowed, sorry). [Interestingly, Chagall's birthday is today!] Finally, we reached the end of the tour, the lake, from where we could view the Swiss Alps (which are in the background).
At this point, hunger and fatigue struck, so we attempted to find une patisserie (a bakery) where we could purchase Ted's pretzel bread. No luck. But we did find a nice cafe where, through some combination of English, French, and Greek, we managed to order some coffee, tea, and croissants. We eventually ended up at a nice community park, full of people playing bocce ball and games of chess with large pieces.
We sat on the wall for a while and watched a guy riding his "bicycle boat". People also swim in the river. We then came across some sleeping MIT MEET instructors.
We also found a WC. ("Water Closet, for those of you who did not learn this term in French class")
We made it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our departing flight. John and Zach were able to get seats (even Swiss air overbooks flights) and Ted even found his evasive pretzel bread! Our flight to Tel Aviv looked like it was going to go normally, so I was dozing off as we taxied out, but then the pilot announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to have a slight delay. Our outer right wing engine won't start, so we need to wait for a mechanic to come out and start our engine."
Well, THAT jolted me awake. Fortunately, haven't an engine not start isn't a serious problem, since the problem was a matter of forcing air through the engine. Once the plane is in the air, air is being forced through the engine automatically, so this isn't an issue. (Hurray for Aero-Astro!) But, it's still nerve-wracking to the average passenger.
Our flight continued smoothly, with a similarly delicious dinner followed by a few hours of sleeping. We arrived in Tel Aviv at 3:30 local time. We emerged through passport control, baggage claim, and custom at 5:00. Thus followed the amusing task of attempting to fit 13 people and all of our suitcases into 1 van and one car (this included the box with Zach's bike). Impossible though it seemed, it worked, although the ride wasn't comfortable. We drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the sun rose (beautiful!) and arrived at our apartment shortly after 6am. We made plans to have a curriculum meeting at 1pm, and then promptly crashed into our beds. Whee, jet lag!
Next time: Our apartment and the surrounding neighborhood
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Meet MEET
At the beginning of the school year, I'd never thought I'd be spending my summer overseas. However, after I took a software engineering class last fall, I heard about MEET (Middle East Education through Technology) which is a program that is partially organized through MIT's computer science department that teaches Java programming and business skills to high school students in Jerusalem. I was incredibly excited to be accepted as an instructor for this program, as this would allow me to use my programming skills to teach and inspire while also getting the chance to travel overseas, something I've never done before. The program is 5 weeks long, so I will be spending 7 weeks total in Jerusalem (July 6th-August 21st). For more information about MEET (and some good pictures!) check out the link on the sidebar, or http://meet.mit.edu.
Flight Schedule:
July 4th
-9:30pm EDT (GMT-4): Leave Boston
July 5th
-11:00am (GMT+2): Arrive in Zurich
-10:45pm (GMT+2): Leave Zurich
July 6th
-3:30am (GMT+3): Arrive in Tel Aviv
Total flight time: 11 hours, 15 mins
Total layover in Zurich: 11 hours, 45 mins
Time difference between Boston and Jerusalem: 7 hours
Stay tuned for news and updates!
Flight Schedule:
July 4th
-9:30pm EDT (GMT-4): Leave Boston
July 5th
-11:00am (GMT+2): Arrive in Zurich
-10:45pm (GMT+2): Leave Zurich
July 6th
-3:30am (GMT+3): Arrive in Tel Aviv
Total flight time: 11 hours, 15 mins
Total layover in Zurich: 11 hours, 45 mins
Time difference between Boston and Jerusalem: 7 hours
Stay tuned for news and updates!
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