First days in Israel

My first morning in Israel and I had a breakfast of fresh vegetables and bread,  I read up on some key phrases in my Visitors Guide to Israel that I thought I would practice throughout the day (Thank you, Your welcome, May I have the check, and excuse me.  Oh and also...what type of crabs can I expect to find in the near shore environment?).

After a meeting at the Fulbright Office, I headed out for a walk to Jaffa along the beautiful promenade that passed along the beach for a great view of the surfers. Bigger waves than I expected.  Extremely fine sand (some to bring to my favorite Geology professor).

And a lot of cats hanging out along the beach promenade.  I think I'll try to take one home! There are cats all over actually and some that have nicks in their ears to label them as having being fixed.

My first impressions of Israel are quite good.  It is a very cosmopolitan country.  The people are very fashionable. Although anyone that is not from Alaska will appear fashionable. The coffee here is excellent.  And of course the climate is divine here in Tel Aviv/Jaffa.  I don't speak Hebrew but so far not a problem as everyone speaks a bit.  I like the ability to sit in a beach chair on the beach and liesurely drink coffee and snack on hummus. I don't feel uncomfortable in any way walking the streets alone in Tel Aviv.

For a link to more pictures from Tel Aviv and Java click here