January, 2010
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Sunday, January 31st, 2010
Jerusalem rainbow, as seen from my apartment this past week.
This will just be a very brief post to check in on a few things. I owe you a few posts right now: two tiyul (trip) reports to write up (Ein Gedi and Modiin vicinity), and a few class updates as well. I also have a bit of catch-up to do on the tourism business in general, and a post or two about things I’ve seen/done in Jerusalem lately. I’ve just been very busy, trying to get everything done and also stay up to date with my reports for each tiyul.
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Posted in Miscellaneous | No Responses »
Tags: blog, feedback
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Handshake photo taken from Wikimedia Commons. (In public domain.)
I don’t know about you, but I shake hands with people all the time, and I barely even think about it. Sure, I’ve heard the potential origins of the handshake as a sign of peace, indicating that neither person is holding a weapon. But in our society, shaking hands is as common as, well… a handshake. Most of us clasp hands with others multiple times on a daily basis.
But last week, a handshake that may or may not have taken place highlighted just how delicate and sensitive life can be in the Middle East. And a few days later, I received a comment on a blog post that I’d written entirely innocently, that drove this point home on a more personal level.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | No Responses »
Tags: diplomacy, history, Iran, Israel, Ministry of Tourism, Misezhnikov, Palestine, politics
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Tournament co-chair Danny Spodek. On the right, of course! (from the IRHA website)
I realize there might be a bit of a seeming discrepancy on this blog. It is called Fun Joel’s Israel, and I talk in my bio about the fun side of Israel. And while I think that hasn’t been lacking entirely on the blog, I also don’t think I’ve done my full duty yet in bringing some of the less obvious “fun” stuff to the forefront!
This post will be a start at rectifying that situation.
I love hockey. It is one of my favorite sports, even when the Rangers are not having such a great season (which is, unfortunately, rather often). It is not uncommon for me to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning just to watch (or even listen to) a hockey game from the States. (Israel is 7 hours ahead of the East Coast and 10 ahead of the West.) And I’m not just talking about playoff games. Just regular season games when I can afford to sleep less one night.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | No Responses »
Tags: baseball, basketball, Canada Centre, football, hockey, IRHA, Metula, sports
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
A piece of Edomite glass (C 2100 years old) that I found on a dig in Beit Guvrin.
Last week’s and this week’s classes have both dealt with general overviews to the land of Israel, dealing with such things as roads, borders, broad history, and the like. I’ll break down some of the other information in a future post, but I thought it might be helpful for me to give you a brief history of the different periods of history that we encounter here. This way, if I later refer to something as taking place in a certain period, I can refer you back to this brief overview!
Some of these are broad eras that apply to all of civilization, and others are specific to this location. The latter is the case the more modern we get. Also, in some cases, the period may start at different times in different parts of the world. (For example, Muslim period begins at different times in different parts of this area, depending on when the Muslims conquered various lands.)
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Posted in Primers, Tour Guide Course | 5 Responses »
Tags: Assyrians, Babylonians, Bar Kochba, British Mandate, Byzantines, Canaanite, Greeks, Hasmoneans, history, Holy Temple, Israel, Jerusalem, kings, Mamluks, Muslims, Ottomans, Persians, Romans
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
The Judean Hills on a sunny day, seen from Nahal Soreq
It’s getting late, and I have to be up early for our tiyul/trip tomorrow. So this will be a brief post, just to touch on a few quick things, before I hit the sack.
Firstly, a brief update on the exam failure “scandal” I wrote about here. I got a few more “facts” and figures from the head of my course that relate to this story.
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Posted in Tour Guide Course | 1 Response »
Tags: business, Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Eli Raz, exam, license, Ministry of Tourism
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
"Light around the Bend" - Roman amphitheater at Beit Guvrin
There’s been plenty of coverage, of late, about the latest Israeli tourism numbers in 2009. And anytime there is a drop in the number of tourists from the previous year, it will be at least somewhat worrisome to people who make their living (or hope to down the road) within the industry.
At the same time, however, there seems to be a lot of good and/or hopeful news in the figures as well. That, and the fact that I am still two years away from fully depending on this industry for my income, give me reason to remain my typically optimistic self.
So let’s examine some of the numbers, as well as a number of trends and changes in the Israeli tourism industry.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | 6 Responses »
Tags: budget, Bulgaria, Eilat, Jerusalem, Jordan, Ministry of Tourism, Misezhnikov, Petra, statistics, Tel Aviv, tourism, Turkey
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
(Taken and modified from the Tour d'Israel website)
Israel’s tourism industry traditionally revolves around a lot of things: archaeology, history, religion, etc. Straightforward resort tourism (beaches, etc.), outdoor/hiking trips and luxury spa vacations have also been mainstays of the industry for quite some time.
More recently, there has been growth in areas such as culinary and/or wine tourism. Adventure travel (taking the outdoorsy to the next level) has also seen a bit of advancement.
But how about straightforward sports tourism? Well, a few recent ventures indicates this may be part of the future mosaic of the Israeli tourism business.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | 1 Response »
Tags: cycling, golf, Israel, Ministry of Tourism, Misezhnikov, sports
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
A piece of the wall that surrounded Jerusalem in the time of King Hezekiah.
Our siyur (tour) this past Tuesday started in my backyard, almost literally. We met at the Tayelet / Haas Promenade, a mere 5-minute walk from my apartment in beautiful Arnona, Jerusalem. This scenic outlook offers an excellent spot to view the geography of ancient Jerusalem. From there, we went to a semi-hidden and little known spot called Ketef Hinnom (Shoulder of Hinnom, a valley in Jerusalem), then hiked through Gei Ben-Hinnom / the Hinnom Valley, and came out at the bottom of Ir David / City of David. We spent the rest of the day winding our way up, down and back up again inside this complex and interesting archaeological site.
I am not going to go into too much detail about Ir David, especially since I already discussed it a bit in this post here, but I did want to discuss a few interesting points from throughout the day. I also want to discuss two recent news stories that relate to things we learned about.
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Posted in Tour Diary, Tour Guide Course | No Responses »
Tags: archaeology, David, gravesite, Ir David, Jerusalem, Ketef Hinnom, Tayelet, Tel Aviv, writing
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Tel Beit Shemesh
No, I’m not talking about a poker tell. I’m talking about the kinds of tells that you hear about whenever your travel to Israel (or other parts of the Middle East). Tel Arad, Tel Be’er Sheva or Tel Maresha, for example.
(By the way, you may have noticed the change in spelling from “tell” to “tel.” If so, 10 points for you. More on that distinction later!)
So, what is a tell, anyway?
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Posted in Tour Guide Course, What Is...? | No Responses »
Tags: archaeology, Beit Shemesh, tel, Tel Aviv, tell
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
My tourguide course being led on our first tiyul
There is obviously a tremendous amount of material that the tourguide course covers, both experiential and more academic. And when the two years of the course come to a close, there is still a large and intense exam that each student needs to pass in order to become licensed. People often mention how difficult they’ve heard this exam is (there are both written and oral portions to be passed). But I’ve always told them I wasn’t too worried about it.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism, Tour Guide Course | No Responses »
Tags: exam, license, Ministry of Tourism
