A Licensed Tour Guide. A Different Side of Israel.
Who is this gentleman, and why is he here?
But before I tell you about it, leave a guess about the current picture that you see to the left. It should be a fairly easy one for many of you, as it is in a well-trafficked area. But even for those who recognize it, I might still be able to give you a bit more info about it in my next such post!
This is fairly new. Wondering who has seen it so far…
Now that the new website is up and running, I have been able to get back to posting on a more frequent basis. And in so doing, I want to finally get back to the Israel Mystery Photo posts I started a while back!
To refresh your memory, these are a series of pictures I’ve taken around Israel during my travels as a tour guide. You try to guess where the image was taken. So far this is just a “contest” for fun, but perhaps I’ll offer prizes in the future. This was the last Israel Mystery Photo I posted a while back.
You Either Know This or You Don't. Period.
Firstly, I need to apologize about how long it has been since my last post. Been very busy, but that’s no excuse for neglecting you, my faithful readers. I’ll try to be better.
I’m happy that everyone who responded to the last Israel Mystery Photo correctly identified the location as Beit Shean. It means I accurately identified the photo as an easy one to figure out, and it also means that many of you have been to one of the more significant and impressive archaeological sites in Israel.
The current Mystery Photo will be a bit more difficult to identify. I don’t think anyone will be able to figure it out from context. Rather, I think it is going to be one of those pictures that you’ll identify if you’ve been there, and will have no clue if you haven’t. So don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize it.
A lot of you will probably recognize this
I’m in a good mood, so I am giving you guys a fairly easy Mystery Photo this time. If you have ever been at this site, you should recognize this. And even some of you who have never been might be able to guess it!
Why am I in such a good mood, you may ask? Because I passed my oral exam! I am proud to say that I am now officially a licensed Israeli tour guide! I’ll post more about the exam soon, but I did want to let you all know, and thank you for all of your support and kind wishes. Next step for me is to now fill out the paperwork, and start the process towards getting my actual physical license.
But now on to the heart of these Mystery Photo posts — the part where I write about the previous Mystery Photo!
Look carefully at this one!
For those wondering how the test went on Sunday, I’ll be writing another post soon in which I review the exam. But suffice it to say that I feel fairly good about my performance on it and am just waiting to hear whether or not I passed. Results in a few more weeks, I guess.
And now on to the previous Israel Mystery Photo. As 3 of 4 commenters answered correctly, the photo was taken at the 9/11 Memorial in the forest on the northwestern outskirts of Jerusalem. It is a place that I’d been wanting to visit for a while, and was very happy to hear about even before I visited. I was finally able to get there a few weeks ago, and was not disappointed.
Where in Israel can you find this?
I am truly in full-on study mode now, with my written licensing exam in exactly a month. So my next post after this will likely be Part 3 of my series about the exams, in which I will tell you how I’ve been going about studying/preparing for the exam.
But first, I need to address the last Israel Mystery Photo. As I predicted, it was easier and many of you recognized it or figured it out. And those who did not get it right at least made logical guesses. I hope that this mystery photo is also something many of you will figure out!
This one shouldn't be THAT hard...
I am shifting into serious study mode now, and the Jewish holidays are also affecting my schedule, so please bear with me if my posting is slow! Still, I am trying to get some posts out, and view them as review for my studies as well.
I thought that since the last Mystery Photo was of a somewhat famous building in Tel Aviv, that more people would’ve guessed right. But alas not. I guess most of my Tel Aviv friends don’t make it into some of the quieter parts of the city, preferring to focus on the hustle and bustle of the party life there! But there is a lot to see in Tel Aviv when exploring this country’s modern development.
So I hope that you’ll at least know that I am trying to make these somewhat less challenging! I think that the current photo should be recognizable to those who have been there, and also might be something that people could figure out due to contextual details.
The next Israel mystery photo...
Sorry for the delay on posting a new mystery pic. Particular apologies to my buddy Shmilty (Milton) who has been itching to find out if he guessed right last time around. Well, only my two classmates who responded – Benny and Orah – got the answer 100% correct. But as I mentioned, it was the type of thing that people might guess on their own, but probably would only know for sure if they had ever been there (such as my classmates).
In terms of guessing though, everyone else used some good deductive reasoning. Ilana, Asher, Nechama and Shmilty all recognized the portraits of the father and son Hashemite kings of Jordan, Hussein and Abdullah. So they all guessed that the picture was of one of the border crossings across the Jordan River.
Have you seen this before?
Sorry it has been a few weeks since I’ve posted. I was on break from school this past month and had lots of other work, play and schoolwork to catch up on! On that note, we are in the homestretch with the course now, and are really getting down to brass tacks regarding studying and preparing for the licensing exams. So I will certainly be posting more on this topic in the upcoming weeks. I already have a few posts on this topic lined up in the hopper.
Also, I’ve received feedback from lots of people that these Mystery Photos are simply too hard. So I’ve decided that I will just not even think about how many of my classmates get these right — I expect that they all should get almost all of them right! I will instead be trying to present somewhat easier ones that more of you “regular” readers may know.
I’m not saying they are all going to be super-easy, because part of the enjoyment is in the challenge too. But I will definitely be aiming to make them easier overall. Hope that makes it more fun!
Where in Israel is this?
I’m fairly certain that almost anyone in my tour guide course will recognize this week’s Israel Mystery Photo, because it is from a site that once you’ve been there, it sticks in your mind. It is very memorable. But it is also, unfortunately, not as commonly visited as perhaps it should be. So I’ll be very curious to see how many people outside of my class recognize it.
Last week’s photo post got many correct answers as well. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in modern Jerusalem, a city I know and love. So I’m happy to see that many of you recognize it as well.
