A Journey In Israel: The Forecast Today Is Dust

Well these last 24 hours or so have been certainly interesting.

I remember a movie once, Stranger Than Fiction which spoke that there are two kinds of characters in a story; those who move the story forward, and those who the story move forward in it. But there's a third kind, a person who does both move the story forward, and who the story moves forward as well.

I tend to fall into that category.

Usually I have to find the adventures to record in things such as this blog, but sometimes I just walk into events. Like when the dog bit me, or today, when I left the building I was greeted by a massive dust storm that has enveloped all of Israel.

That building you sort of see is across the street.

Israeli fog is apparently hazy dust.

Edit: I just came across this video, and it is perfect.

So far I've heard two theories on the dust, one plausible, the other conspiracy. The conspiracy is that this may be a side effect of 'cloud-seeding' where chemicals are dumped by planes to promote cloud growth and rain. This is very unlikely what happened, because it wouldn't be possible to affect the entire country and several surrounding. In more likelihood this is from a sandstorm that originated in Libya.

Either are cool in my book, honestly.

We spent today and yesterday visiting the Immigration Absorption Center, and a local boarding school for children who have been abused, or their parents were caught up in drugs, or unable to support them. They are wonderful. The latter I was unable to take photos of, but we did have a great dinner tonight where we celebrated Rosh Hashana.

Here are some photos I grabbed from the immigration center;

The kid on the left is Israel, and the kid on the right Ethiopians.
Or maybe it's vice-versa, both kind of fit the situation.

Painted By Ethiopian Immigrants. Pretty cool.

I also that day went to Arad's Shuk, or marketplace-bazaar. It's pretty neat.

That last photo blew my mind. Back home when Muslims pray, there is a rug always used. It never even occurred to me other means could be used. And seeing someone use a cardboard box is just so different, that chances are I could only see it in Israel.

I then visited the part of Arad I know of as 'Little Russia'. Around forty percent of the city's population is Russian, though it seems like the whole city at times is either Russian or Haseidi.

Virtually every product in the store is Russian. And the price seem to me incredibly reasonable.

I spent the rest of the day taking pictures of the surprising amount of greenery in the city;

This is so kickass. For about the size of two soccer fields I would have sworn I was back home in Virginia. Like seriously, who the hell thought there might be clovers in the middle of the Negev, a huge, barren desert? I didn't.