STUART in ISRAEL
I arrived in Israel on WED MAR 15. By SUN a few days later, this picture shows me heading to my first day at the office.	This is me about 3 weeks later. I now have some color and also lost some weight. The barchart above right explains why.	Living in a city without a car, I am now walking 3-5 miles each day.
AIRBNB #1
I made an excellent choice with Airbnb #1. As you can see -- it was spacious, full of sunlight, had a great kitchen, etc.		My cute and efficient kitchen.
MY NEW JOB
In early April, my office was closed for the week of Passover. The day before, we had a simple celebration in the central conference room with wine, pastry, strawberries, and nuts.		I visit the office twice each week travelling 40 min by train to a Tel Aviv suburb (blue circle).
MY NEW JOB -- I am very happy with my new job. There are 12 of us in the office and I am really impressed by this wonderful group of professionals. Most are not Israeli born, but made Aliyah years ago and now have families. They are originally from Holland, South Africa, London, etc. The founder Ahava Stein was born in Canada and came to Israel as a teenager. They all are very bright, friendly, and their work is in Life Sciences like me – several are Regulatory Consultants and the others manage Clinical Trials. This is definitely my peer group! The office has a strong family feel to it – and I fit in nicely. The office itself is beautiful -- very modern design, a really nice place to work. Everyone eats lunch together -- rewarming leftovers out of rubbermade containers.
ISRAEL RAIL
Israel's train service is fairly new and connects the 3 major cities. Unlike city buses, the train service is highly reliable.	The cars are European-style, quiet, and very comfortable.	I know that this looks like a scene from a Sci-Fi movie -- but it's just one of the main train stations in Tel Aviv.
FOOD in ISRAEL
My first food shopping expedition ... Prices are 2-3 times what this costs in the US. Total was $80!	I'm trying to eat more healthy here. Lots of frutis and vegetables.	I am cooking a lot. So by around 1 month in Israel, my fridge is already pretty full.
I was in the mood for some comfort food -- like this Morrocan stew of meat and beans with sides of falafel, tahina, pickles and pita.	Schnitzel sandwiches at Shuk Ha'Carmel (Carmel Market), Tel Aviv's largest open air market. They took this delicately prepared European classic and killed it by slapping it inside a sesame seed bun with mayo & sliced tomato ala McDonald's Big Mac -- welcome to the Middle East.
SHUK (Market)
Veggies	Dried Fruit	Nuts, of course ...
SHUK 2
Candy	Spices	Sneakers
LEARNING HEBREW = ULPAN
I really love my Ulpan Class (Hebrew). I am there every MON + TUE + WED from 8:30 AM to 1 PM and it will run for 5 months.	I am one of 5 students with a wonderful teacher, Tal. She is a linguist and speaks Hebrew to us 98% of the time! Above is my first list of Hebrew verbs.	My homemade Hebrew<>English flashcards help as well ...
While most people in Israel speak English, the writing is all in Hebrew. Google translate allows me to use my cellphone camera to get an instant translation into English.	Above is my name written in Hebrew. It looks very long to me, but it actually has the same number of letters as the English spelling.	This is the only Hebrew that I've seen in the street which includes vowels -- the dots & dashes below the letters. Not having vowels makes reading Hebrew much more difficult!
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE
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