Rehovot

On the sherut

We made another leap forward in Tel Aviv transportation this morning and mastered the sherut (well, maybe "mastered" is a strong word, but we took it). Sheruts are shared cabs that more or less follow bus routes, but will let you off where ever you like even if it's between stops. It's also slightly less expensive than the bus. We took one from Dizengoff Street to the central bus station, and another one from there to Rehovot, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv. We got off at the Weizmann Institute and had an amazing visit there. We started with lunch in the very nice cafe in the visitors center, and then went to check out the visitors center exhibit. This began with a room with very cool interactive displays about the research which is being done there. For example, there was one video series where you could choose a person and they would tell you the story of when they realized they wanted to be a scientist. In another series, they told you about a big discovery they had made. In another, you could drag various sciences over to various subject matters and see how they all worked together in an interdisciplinary way to study a question (e.g., how biology, physics, and math all help understand the brain). We could have spent much longer there, but the guide ushered us along to the next (even cooler) part of the exhibit. In this part, there was a glass floor with lasers projecting on it. When you used your hand to catch the laser, it gave you control (by raising and lowering your hand) over movies on the floor which showed scientific processes of change (e.g., plants growing, a person aging, cells dividing). The final stage of the visit was a really inspiring movie about the research that's being done and how curiosity is encouraged and becomes discovery. Weizmann (Israel's first president), by the way, was a chemist who came up with a good way to make acetone. This was important to the British war effort and it was really this discovery which gave Weizmann the political clout with the British to push for the writing of the Balfour Declaration - which was one step along the way to the creation of Israel. We followed up our visit by finding the Sydney Musher Center for Science Education on the campus!

Secret opening in the floor of the laundry

Next, we walked (first in circles around
construction) to the Ayalon Institute on Kibbutzim Hill. This is a unique place with an incredible story about the role it played in the creation of the state of Israel. In short, it was a kibbutz which served as a cover for an underground bullet factory. The 18 to 20 year olds who established and worked in it not only risked being blown up by a gun powder accident, but also risked being hanged by the
British for the illegal production of arms. They came up with many clever ruses to avoid detection by the British Police (who had a station less than a kilometer away). They hid the secret entrances to the factory in the laundry (to cover the noise of the machines) and in the bakery (to cover the smell of gunpowder). They kept the factory a secret even from some of the other kibbutz members who were not in on the secret. There were some great stories, such as the one about a certain British officer who would often drop by unannounced (which presented a great risk). The "kibbutzniks" would serve him beer, but it was always warm. The officer complained that the beer wasn't cold, and they told him, "No problem. We like our beer warm, but you should just call ahead whenever you are coming, and we will put your beer on ice." And that put an end to the surprise visits. We have seen and heard about so many things during our time here which made us say, "if it wasn't for that, the State of Israel probably wouldn't exist today." This was yet another example of the amazing ingenuity and successes which led to the creation of the state.

What it looked like from above

Since it was rush hour, we opted for the train home instead of the bus (or sherut). This was a very comfortable way to travel. We met a funny guy from Turkey who recently made aliyah, who sat with us and initiated the most entertaining and bizarre conversations (e.g., "Have you read Harry Potter?" "What's your sign?" and so on).

Forever 21 models dressed in a style
Ella dubbed "Orthodox Goth"

In Ella's opinion, the best thing about the train in Tel Aviv is that it lets you out inside the enormous Azrieli Center, one of the largest malls in Israel. Since we replaced Sylvia's pacis with new ones (which she likes a lot) she has had it in her mind that she would also like a paci with Pooh on it (every time we go out she asks if we are going to look for a Pooh paci store). So, we decided to look for one there. We did not find one, but we did find some pink pacis with flowers and butterflies on them which she liked quite a bit. So, we added to her now eclectic paci collection. You can never have too many, I guess!

Dinner at home (cheese toast!) then we set up for the Golds to join us in our apartment. Around 9:30 we went downstairs to wait and it wasn't long at all before they arrived. After planning for so long, everyone is excited and slightly shocked that we are all finally together here. We spent a couple of hours snacking, settling in, catching up, and making plans for tomorrow. We're packed pretty tightly into the apartment (though I must say we all fit better than I expected!) and hopefully everyone will get a good nights sleep!