Jon In Jerusalem

2006-08-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

OK, I made it safely back from my trip to Jordan and Egypt. Also, I made it safely back to Boston. Wow. It was an amazing trip. Pictures to be posted soon.

What a summer.

2006-08-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that the students made. One is a logo for our project, Apollo. The other is a screenshot.

Apollo is "music making software that connects people worldwide." It is a simple music making program where you can take sounds on your computer or record new sounds and put them together to make music. What makes Apollo special is the ability to do this with someone else on the other side of the world. Over the internet, two users can work on the same piece of music.

2006-08-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Wow. Wednesday was the last day. Wow. I was impressed at what all the groups accomplished. Here are some assorted images.

Here I am running some presentations.

Also, here is a picture of my group and I.

Also me and some ov my students were interviewed on TV.

2006-07-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

Also, for the past two days, we had a spotlight on MIT's front page. If it is taken down, you can see the article here.

2006-07-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

We are pushing to get the projects finished. There is one day of coding left. I think we are doing well, I just hope that the students are able to focus tomorrow and that they are happy with what they accomplish. It is pretty impressive when I think about it.

Another cool thing is that the CEO of M Systems, an Israeli flash memory company came in and talked to the students two weeks ago. Today, M Systems was bought by Sandisk for $1.5 billion.
Anyways, I have some work to do. All right!

2006-07-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry, it has been some time since I last posted an entry. It has been a hectic time. We went to Tel Aviv over the weekend. That was a very nice time. We went on Friday, and walked around town, then hung out on the beach to watch the sunset. Here is a picture of it. What is really interesting to note in the picture is the helicopter in the upper left part. There were helicopters constantly flying up and down the coast. They were going up to the boarder with Lebanon. But, everyone was oblivious to (or just ignoring) them.

The next day we explored Jaffa, an old port city (old as in 13th century BC) next to Tel Aviv. Pretty cool. A lot of history happened there (I guess that is the cas with a lot of places around here). Anyways it was a very neat place. After Jaffa, we hung out on the beach for the rest of the day. It was really nice.

2006-07-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the end of the week. After that, there are only 3 days of coding left. I caoont believe that the program is going to be over so soon. I haven't even had a chance to mention how awesome the project is that my team is working on.

Well, a lot of things have happened. I have been going to hang out with the students who are staying at the YMCA every once in a while. We played basketball on Monday and went bowling this evening. Both were fun. One of the students was pretty good at basketball and embarassed me a few times by scoring around me, but I dunked over him once, so I was satisfied.

2006-07-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

Other than that, we said goodbye to two important members of our team this week. First Michael, one of our business instructors left on Tuesday. He is giong to NY to work for Goldman Sachs, and is starting on this upcomingt, Monday. He is a really great guy, the students loved him, and he really knows his business stuff. The other person who left this week was Shalom, who got called up to serve from the reserves. That is crazy because he is going from watching over Isreali and Palestinian high school students and making sure that they all get along and entering the active army. But, he is a caring, level-headed guy, and that makes him someone that I would trust in an army. Here is a picture of a bunch of the students giving him a hug goodbye. Shalom is the guy in the middle making the crazy face.

Another note is that the checkpoints into Jerusalem from the West Bank are still closed. As such, if we want the students at the YMCA to be here for the last week of the program (next week), they will have to stay in Jerusalem again this weekend. We are considering sending them home, because it might be very depressing for them to spend three whole weeks without being able to go home. That would be pretty sad.

Otherwise , things are going well. The project is going well, the students seem happy and challenged. I enjoy working with them. This weekend we are going to take a trip to Tel Aviv.

2006-07-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Today we went for a trip to the beach. The beach was a little south of Tel Aviv and very nice. Restaurants set up covered areas where you can hang out all day. The water was cool, but not very cold. But, there are tons of people. Also, a ton of these people are playing a funny tennis game with wooden paddles and a rubber ball.

We brought a football and threw it around for a while. A couple Israeli guys came and threw the ball a couple of times. One guy could throw really well. It was a lot of fun for two reasons. First, it is just fun to play football on a nice beach. Second, it was cool because an American football is pretty novel. But, it was a really nice day. Hopefully, I got enough rest for the upcoming week!

2006-07-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

Today, we went for a day trip to the Jerusalem Mountains. These were pretty cool. For some reason, I was really tired and kept falling asleep in the van, so I missed most of the ride, and for some of the tours, I was really out of it. But, I took a few pictures. We were supposed to go to some caves, which are supposed to be really cool, but they ended up closing before we got there (for the Sabbath).

The first thing we did was have a lunch picnic at a small winery. This was really nice. Next, we went to see a Roman amphitheater. This was pretty cool. The seats are not original. There were all sorts of ruins around it. Next to the amphitheater there was also a Crusader church. They just saw that there was an amphitheater there, and decided to build a church there, too (a few hundred years later).

2006-07-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Next, we went to the Bet Gamal Monastery. This monastery was the first Christian monastery in the area after the Ottoman Empire. It was built on the site of a Fifth century Byzantine church. So, they built a replica of the church there. It was pretty cool. Here is a picture of it. Check out the ceiling. The monastery was supposed to close at 4:30. We got there at 5, and there was really no sign of them closing. It really is just a bunch of old guys hanging out. I liked it.

We ended the day at Abu Ghosh, an Arab village famous for its homous. It was a good day.

2006-07-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

As a result of the checkpoint closing, the students from Ramala and Bethlehem are staying in Jerusalem over the weekend. On Thursday night, I went with them to move their bags from the YMCA (where they usually stay for the week) to another hotel (where they will stay for the weekend). It was a lot of fun. When we all piled in the van to leave the university (after a really long day) they all started singing some song and clapping and stuff. I had no idea what they were saying, but it sounded like a lot of fun. I hung out for most of the night, and then went back to the apartment.

Here is a picture of me playing video games.

2006-07-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of the third week! Wow, what a crazy week. It was the first week of coding, and we also had the Apprentice challenge on Tuesday. On top of that, tonight we had a really neat event with the parents of our students. This consisted of a presentation where we all introduced ourselves, and other stuff. Then we hung out and ate food that the parents had brought. Finally, we got to go into lab and the students showed their parents what they have been working on.

It was really neat to meet the parents of the students. They were very interesting, and it was great to understand where my students are coming from. Specifically, it was great to see how some students would light up when they saw their parents come in to the room when they were going to be presenting.

However, in the afternoon, Jerusalem shut down the checkpoints coming from the West Bank, so some of the parents of our students were not able to come in. Those students were pretty upset about it.

About the atmosphere here: Life is continuing, but everyone knows what is happening around them. The air is tense. There is talk about the police catching suicide bombers and such. That is actually why they shut down the checkpoints. Apparently, there was intelligence that a lot of bombers were going to try to come into town. Since this number was greater than the amount that the police could reasonably track down, they shut down the checkpoints, so nobody could come into the city. I don't see why shutting down checkpoints for a weekend will stop bombers from coming in as soon as they are opened again. Anyways, it is pretty crappy for our students, who want to show their parents what they are doing.

2006-07-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

During the day, the students went off to collect user opinions for the Apprentice challenge. Most teams went off campus, but mine stayed on campus to save money. As a result of staying on campus, they were in better contact with each other and had more time and money to devote to their work. It turned out being really impressive.

The students came up with a presentation including videos of customer interviews, an economic pricing strategy with actual numbers and graphs and such. Also, they created a new design for the box. I was very impressed. It helped that they had a team member who whas a whiz with photoshop and another that was a whiz with numbers to help with those two aspects.

Michael and I were the instructors that were in charge of the group. At the beginning we didn't really give any guidance. This day was theirs to use to accomplish the goals. But, a little later in the day, apparently most of the teams were struggling and we had to give a little input as to how to most effectively manage the team.

But, it turned out well, and our team won. Their prize is to go out to a nice lunch with Assaf and his "Managment Team." My team won. Again, I have to say that I was impressed at what they came up with. Sure, they had some coaching from Michael and myself, but the ideas and work was all done by them, and they did some cool stuff.

I hope that they projects work out as well.

2006-07-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

Today, we had an "Apprentice" challenge for the students. There is a company called Zaytoon, that sells cosmetic products made by a collective of Palestinian women from all natural products (mostly olive oil). This company does not have much of a marketing strategy. So, the students goal was to create one. They had the whole day and a budget of 300 sheckles. At the end of the day, they were to present their results to "Donald Trump" and his managment team, which consisted of Anat, a friend of hers who is a businessman in the area, and the head of the non-profit organization that is running Zaytoon.

They day was pretty tiring, but it was also lot of fun. Assaf played the role of Donald Trump very well.

2006-07-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

On Monday evening we went to the YMCA. There are two things that you need to know to understand why. First, the YMCA is a cool building - it is a landmark in Jerusamlem. Check out the picture. The second thing that you need to know is that there are students who live in towns outside of Jerusalem and might have a hard time getting through checkpoints to MEET every day. These students stay in the YMCA during the week. They come from towns around the area such as Bethlehem.

Anyways, we went to the YMCA to have dinner with the students who are there. After dinner we went up into the tower. It was a lot of stairs in a little spiral staircase. But, the view was amazing. Here is a picture of me at the top of the tower. It is pretty blurry, but in the background you can see the Old City as well as the new wall that is being built.

2006-07-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Finally, after a great lunch, we went to the Dead Sea. So, when they say the Dead Sea is salty, they mean it. I was in there and licked my finger and it was too much to bear. It is rediculous. Also, the water is so thick! It feel really wierd. Also, I could float! It is really hard not to. It is a really wierd feeling.

Here is a picture of some of us being huge losers and spelling out MIT. But, whatever, I am floating and in the Dead Sea, and it is cool.

We then went home. and right to sleep. Man, I was tired out. It was a full weekend, but a good one. I hope our other weekend trips are as fun.

2006-07-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

Another really cool thing we saw was this Acadia tree.

2006-07-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

During our tour of the Maktesh, we basically drove around off road a lot. It was really fun. Here is picture of what it looked like.

During the tour we got to a really high place.

Also, yaron and Assaf were threatening me with peanut candies.

2006-07-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

We then went to a campsite in the middle of the Maktesh, built a fire, cooked some food and spent the night out under the stars.

The next morning, I got up and went for a run with Shelly. It seems silly to go for a run when you are in the desert and trying so hard to conserve water, but it was worth it. It was a really nice run. We had breakfast and then went off off to meet our goude for our tour of the Maktesh.

That's this guy.

2006-07-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a cool weekend. I'll start at the beginning, and this will probably have to be broken into several posts. On Friday, we set out. We picked up a bunch of SUVs and deove out to the desert. I rode with Yaron, who told me a lot about the area and all sorts of other stuff. Then we got to a swimming hole in some rocks and went for a swim. It was really neat. Also, it was really slippery. Then we got to the place that we would eventually spend the night.

The place that we were spending the night was Maktesh Ramon. A "Maktesh" is a geological phenomenon that is unique to this area. It is a mountain that had a river on top of it. The river hollowed out the mountain, and eventually the mountin collapsed, leaving a big, crazy-looking crater. Here is a picture of me on the edge of the Maktesh.

2006-07-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

So, there is some craziness going on up north. (For another source check out Aljazeera).
But, I assure you, I am safe from harm, and my trip this weekend will be even further from potential trouble. The atmosphere is a little tense, but all is well. If you don't believe me, just check out the picture.

2006-07-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend we are going on a jeep trip into the desert. It has been promised to be the best weekend of my life. We'll see about that. I have had a few good weekends in my day.

Anyways, all is going well. I make it to through the week. I am safe. And I look forward to some rest and some fun.

2006-07-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Another week done. Man, that was crazy. It will be nice to rest sometime. This week we were broken into the groups that we will be working with for the rest of the summer. Everyone is pretty happy with their groups. My group is great. They are all excited about the project. It was funny, however, when I had them each talk abou thteir strengths, every one of them said that they were interested in business. But it should go well.

This week was all planning for the project. I am cautiously optimistic. The project is really big, but since I had them plan it out well and break it up into modules before writing any code, I think it might be possible.

Also this week we had workshops in the morning. These are more specific two-day lecture and lab pairs. I was in charge of the Multimedia workshop. So, I had to make that this week. I put a lot of work into it, and then it turns out that it didn't work too well on the computers in lab, because we didn't have the necessary permissions to install the proper software. Kind of crappy. But, at least we made it through the week!

2006-07-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

We took a historical tour of Jerusalem today. I took so many pictures, I can't begin to talk about them. There is just so much that happened here. Your walking in a crowded market, you look up and you're like "wow, there's the fourth station of the cross." Pretty cool.

I've included a few pictures. The first is of me on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the old city. That gold thing in the background is the Dome of the Rock. Which is pretty famous. The next picture is of the seventh station of the cross. Ths final picture is of a sign for the "Holy Rock Cafe," which I thought was pretty funny.

Starting the next week of teaching tomorrow. We get our project groups. Wish me luck.

2006-07-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

We made it. We finished the first week of teaching. Man, that was exhausting. But, it was also inspiring. For several reasons. First, the sthe student sare amazing. not only did their Java skills improve exponentially every day, but it is amazing how well they get along. Also, they each had to do a presentation for one of the business lectures, and evey single one of them was able to do it well. I was incredibly impressed.

One particular student of note, Benny, had the best part of the presentation. Benny is one of those kids where his mind works faster than his mouth. He was to talk about the target market for the falafel stand that they were marketing. He stands up behind a desk at the front of the room, leans forward and places both hands on the desk, and begins, "Ladies and Gentlemen," The entire room is in rapt attention. He continues, "What in the hell is our customer?" We all lost it laughing. He became a little embarassed when he realized what he said, and then started over again to say , "Ladies and gentlemen, who are our customers?" He had a great speech and ended it declaring that he will make "quality falafel, like in the old, good days." What a funny kid.

Anyways, the week was long and hard. We hav a lot of work to do, but also we need to rest a little this weekend. I went out tonight for the first time since I've been here. It was really cool. There are these alleyways that are just filled with people and it is a really cool atmosphere. I lookforward to having a little more time so I can go out and see some more.

2006-07-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

Day 4 of teaching.

I gave my lecture today. I think that it went well. The students seemed to really enjoy it as well as learn a lot. I am really happy. As Max (the head of curriculum) said, if I can make a lecture about Software Quality Assurance interesting, I am doing pretty well. So that is good.

We are having business lectures by two Sloan students. They are cool guys and the lectures are a ton of fun. The students enjoy them, and I enjoy them. The past two have been case studies where the students can argue with each other and stuff to come to a decision. I am impressed at how well these students get along. It is really inspiring to see their teamwork. Even in lab, a lot of times I do not need to help students because there are other students who are willing to help out and point each other in the right direction.

I guess today was a good day.

Also, while we were getting ready for a meeting about the lab for tomorrow, a dance party broke out. I am ready for this week to be over so I can go out and feel a little more relaxed. Some people went bowling this evening. I wish that I had gone with them, but that's the way it goes. This way, I have time to write this.

2006-07-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Day 3 with the students. The labs have been going great. Me made up this Blog system that the students are making for this week as a way to become reacquainted with Java. I think they are really enjoying it. I am also really enjoying it. It is a really fun time and a cool project.

Our apartment got cleaned today. Here is a picture of my room, because it is presentable now.

I am giving my lecture tomorrow. It is about Software Quality. I hope it goes well. I mean, I don't really have much formal teaching experience, and this is like a worst case scenario. High school students who are not native speakers of my language in a computer lab when it is gorgeous outside. You can't get a much tougher audience. But, I'll get a full night's sleep tonight so I can teach well.

There was a cat on the roof when I was out on a balcony. I thought it was funny. There are a lot of stray cats here.

2006-07-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of the MEET program for the students. What a crazy day. I am both very excited and very nervous after meeting them. I think that there is great potential for a great summer of fun and learning. Also, there is much work to be done.

2006-07-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

Curriculum Preparation

The first week that we are here is devoted to preparing the curriculum for the students. I thought I understood what would go into this, but I had no idea how involved it would be. We have worked hard every day getting ready for Sunday, when we will start presenting to the students.

We do get out every once in a while, but most of the time, we are sitting around working on our laptops. (See pictures). But, it has been rewarding work, and I hope that it all goes well with the students.

2006-06-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Wow.

Today, we took a "Political tour of Jerusalem." This was basically a political commentary on the Israeli "occupation" that is happening. Our tour guide was Jewish, but he was adamant to show us the discrimination that is happening against the Palestinians inside and outside of Jerusalem. One of the stops was to see the wall that is being built around Palestinean areas. A picture is shown here. It is really crazy. I had no idea that something like this existed.

We saw some Israeli "settlements", which are areas that are being built up by Israel throughout the area. Many people argue that these settlements are an attempt to encircle Palestinian areas in order to drive out the occupants and claim the whole land for Israel. The areas look nice, and I think I should look into the topic more.

For lunch, we went to the home of a Palestinian that had been demolished by the Israeli army and then rebuilt by volunteers four times. He talked to us about how difficult is is to get a permit in the system that is biased against Palestinians.

We then went to the MEET offices and heard a presentation on "The Israeli Perspective." This was followed by a heated debate. I heard a lot of interesting things and thought today was a really eye-opening experience. I look forward to more such days while I am here.

2006-06-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

Arrived.

A sleepless redeye flight From boston to Paris. Three busses at the Paris airport to get from one plane to the other. A hot flight from Paris to Tel Aviv. Finally, here we are after arriving in Tel Aviv.

On a side note, it is fun to fly Air France. Everyone speaks French. You can get wine with dinner. You go to Paris. It was pretty cool.

I am excited for the summer. I don't quite know what to expect, but I am armed with tons of clothes, my laptop, and a few Java books, so it can't go too badly.