Dad's Here!
Dad arrived on Wednesday night. We set him up with insurance for my rental car at the airport, and he was adventurous enough to drive me to work Thursday morning! He met Julien for the first time for lunch at the Intel cafeteria and for coffee on top of IDC 6. Then Julien, Aurelie, and Tomas all joined us for dinner at my place. We tried to make kafka with potatoes, eggplant, and tomato, but underestimated the cooling effects of the glass pan. At 10 pm we gave up and ate the underdone potatoes anyway.
Friday the five of us visited Akko. Aurelie is very into museums (understandably, given that she works at one) so I got to listen to the full audio guide for the first time, which I really enjoyed. We ate lunch at Abu Christo, and Dad was charmed by his first experience with Middle Eastern salads. Due to the large size of our party, we got an overwhelming 18 selections! In the evening we visited Waffa and her family, which was as usual a very pleasant gathering.
Aamer, a colleague from Massachutsetts, also arrived Friday, so he joined us in a trip to Jerusalem. Aamer is Muslim, so his knowledge and perspective really enriched our experience. It was cool to have someone who could translate various Arabic inscriptions for us, and he was even able to visit the Dome of the Rock, which pleased and surprised Julien and I.
In other news, I think I've discovered another band that I really like. I've been trying to listen to my entire collection of music, in alphabetical order by album title. Today I'm listening to "It's Never Been Like That" by Phoenix, and although it's my first listen, I'm really liking it so far.
Friday the five of us visited Akko. Aurelie is very into museums (understandably, given that she works at one) so I got to listen to the full audio guide for the first time, which I really enjoyed. We ate lunch at Abu Christo, and Dad was charmed by his first experience with Middle Eastern salads. Due to the large size of our party, we got an overwhelming 18 selections! In the evening we visited Waffa and her family, which was as usual a very pleasant gathering.
Aamer, a colleague from Massachutsetts, also arrived Friday, so he joined us in a trip to Jerusalem. Aamer is Muslim, so his knowledge and perspective really enriched our experience. It was cool to have someone who could translate various Arabic inscriptions for us, and he was even able to visit the Dome of the Rock, which pleased and surprised Julien and I.
In other news, I think I've discovered another band that I really like. I've been trying to listen to my entire collection of music, in alphabetical order by album title. Today I'm listening to "It's Never Been Like That" by Phoenix, and although it's my first listen, I'm really liking it so far.