That was fast. One year in Israel has passed already. 1 year plus 1week ago we landed at the Ben Gurion airport for the first time and 1 year plus 4 days ago (a Sunday) was our first work day at the Weizmann Institute of Science. What has happened in the mean time? I have been living a life full of contrasts in a country full of contrasts.
I have met extremely nice Israeli and international colleagues and friends, physicists, musicians, secretaries, technical staff and language course participants and teachers. On the other hand I have realized how ruthless many pedestrians and drivers are in the traffic and that many shops are not service-oriented at all.
The day-to-day life feels quite normal and safe, but reading the news is usually shocking and depressing. The most shocking moment was in June when we could not take our usual way home because of the terror attack at Sarona Market which lies on our daily way to/from the train station. I got used to all the security checks at train stations, the airport, supermarkets, public buildings, but not yet to seeing so many so young soldiers with guns over their shoulders everywhere like in the train.
I lived 4.5 months in a small city full of science (Rehovot) and the rest of the time in a big city full of life (Tel Aviv).
I have gone hiking in the Negev desert, the Eilat mountains and the Galilean hills, swimming in the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea, pools under waterfalls on the Golan heights, snorkeling in the Red Sea, I have visited Canaanite, Jewish, Roman, Nabataean, Muslim and crusaders' historical buildings and ruins, synagogues, mosques and churches, dug in archaeological caves, visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Akko, Ashkelon. From different hills in Israel I saw Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi-Arabia and Egypt.
But on some weekends it was simply too hot and humid to do anything.
I ate sufganiot on Chanukka, dried fruits on Tu Bishvat, dressed as "Bilbi" (Pipi Langstrumpf) on Purim, tried mazot on Pessach (honestly I did not like them), smelled the smoke even in cities on Lag BaOmer, was standing still during the sirens on the memorial days and Israel's independence day, rode a bicycle on the highway on Yom Kippur and practised the Kol Nidrei on the viola, but I worked on Easter, Pentecost, etc.
I saw ultra-orthodox and ultra-hipster people.
I am German, and I feel welcome in Israel. I am surprised how often I was asked whether I am Jewish because of my family name.
I saw interesting animals and beautiful plants on the hikes, but also less pleasant animals in our apartment (cockroaches) and outside (cockroaches and rats).
Although it is a high-tech country, many buildings are in a bad shape and you often find small bugs crawling between oat flakes or other products bought on the market.
I have experienced loud noise (drivers honk, dogs bark, people shout and sing, construction around our apartment started before 7am) and extreme silence on Shabbat and much more on Yom Kippur.
I was freezing in a very badly insulated apartment with woollen socks and warm tea (10°C outside, 15°C inside) and sweating from doing nothing (90% relative humidity, 37°C outside, 30°C inside).
If it is warmer than 25° outside, the physics library is air-conditioned to 18°. If it is colder than 20°, the library is heated to 24°.
Once it rained so strongly that I could not cross the street to reach the bus stop, but in the past ~5 months there has not been a single rain drop.
Everything here is very expensive, except for delicious and super fresh fruits and vegetables on the shuk (market), e.g. mangos, figs, water melons, pomegranates, and I picked lemons, oranges, grapefruits and pomelos for free on the Weizmann campus.
I am a doctor (Dr. rer. nat.) and at the same time a student ("postdoctoral student" in the Feinberg Graduate School and language student in the Ulpan).
I learned the 7 binyanim (verb groups) and their subgroups and how to inflect passive verbs in the future tense and started chamber music rehearsals in Hebrew, but I forgot almost all of my Italian, Finnish and French skills and sometimes use English or Hebrew words when I speak German.
I play in a trio with violin, viola and piano and sometimes in a string quartet, but I did not find an amateur symphony orchestra and I hardly ever practise technique at home.
Within 365 days, I did not publish the paper that was almost ready at the arrival, but I wrote 2 new papers with Weizmann colleagues (the old paper came out on day no. 373).
I travelled to tourist places and family meetings, but also to physics places: many national seminars and a workshop, gave a seminar at Tel Aviv University, a journal club at DESY, went to a workshop in Spain, a conference at Chicago, gave a seminar at Fermilab and went to workshop at DESY.
It was an exciting and fascinating year! I hope to write some more blog posts soon.
