Newsletter 6. ISRAEL August 2016

The land that flow’s with Milk and Honey…

As the airplane took off from Honolulu airport I finally realised that we were leaving the Islands of Hawaii and I didn't know when we would see them again or the amazing souls that we have met on them over the past month. It was however a bitter sweet moment as we were also looking forward to the rest of our trip that had the holy land as the next destination.

Our next stop was New York City for a day, then onto Amman and finally Israel. New York city was a little bit of a challenge, as we had so much we wanted to see but only a short 10 hours to spend. Filled with hustle and bustle the city had a kind of energy that I have only seen in some places in the world. It’s a type of energy which says gimme your best shot and if you're good enough I’ll let you stay.

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WHERE ARE WE THIS MONTH…

ISRAEL Today’s Dance Tip

The very first thing Men need to do when beginning a dance with a lady is take them into a dance hold and move from one foot to another, side to side. What this gives the lady, is the confidence in knowing which foot the man is standing on.

When the man holds his frame strongly and moves his bodyweight onto the left foot, the ladies body weight will be on her right foot and visa versa. This is actually quite obvious you may think, but the next part is not.

When one foot holds your body weight then the other foot is free of weight and is free to move. This is a great advantage to the smart male dancer as they don't have to worry about stepping on the ladies foot any more. They simply hold their frame strongly, take the lady with them and move their weight. You will never step on ladies foot ever again using this simple but affective little technique.

DANCE HOUSEI N T E R N A T I O N A L MAUI, ISRAEL via NYC | Latin lessons ready for purchase | Todays dance tip.

Main Fountain Central Park NY city

Newsletter 6. ISRAEL August 2016

We managed to drop our bags at the airport hotel at 9am and get onto the subway where we spent most of the time travelling from one place to another.

The first place was a very somber and sobering look into the human spirit. We managed to make our way to Ground Zero. For such a busy city with so many noises, this place was surprisingly quiet. People spoke quietly as they stood and looked into the vast empty spaces that now occupied the areas where the Twin Towers once stood. The cleverly designed water fall feature created a sense of longing and despair at the same time, hope and resolve. The human spirit is strong.

Next we headed towards Central Park and picked up something to eat along the way. We visited Carnegie Deli where Sandy Levine once hosted a whole table of Crystal Cruises crew members. We asked to see him once more and say a warm hello but alas, time waits for no man. We were told the he has moved onto another project and the tradition of the Carnegie Deli will live on but without this great man at the helm.

We moved on and found a park bench to sit and eat our lunch on in one of the most amazing parks in the world. Central Park was filled with people, geese and squirrels, this amazing living breathing energy filled space was the perfect environment to sit, eat and breath. We wondered around the park for a little bit longer until ‘father time’ decided we needed to get back to the hotel and get ready for the next leg of our journey.

Subway, Hotel, Airport, on the plane at 39 thousand feet once more. Hang on, how did we get here? Never mind lets not ask silly questions, this is simply the universe taking over and

sending us on our way. Ok time to sleep…

Landing after twelve hours was kinda cool but sad all at once. Surprisingly we found Royal Jordanian Airlines very very comfortable and the service really great. After Anna calmed down from the little fright she got when absolutely everyone began clapping as the plane landed, we managed to clamber our way out for the

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Central Park Pond

Kineret, Sea Of Galilee

Newsletter 6. ISRAEL August 2016

brief stopover in the Royal Jordanian Airlines hub city.

Amman airport was a bit of an eye opener but mainly for the people there. Anna exited the plane with a lovely loose top and a pretty skirt. After an hour at the airport Anna turns to me and says “hey Paulie, is it me? Or is everyone staring at me all the time?” I looked at her and started laughing, I couldn't keep it in any longer. I said “ you're standing in a Jordanian Air Port with a loose top and a skirt that is showing your knees and legs, you figure it out”. Anna looked at me in horror, quickly looked around and then realised what everyone was looking at. She dropped her bag there and then, opened it and grabbed the long pants inside. Hurried

to the nearest bathroom and changed. I just stood there giggling to myself. She wont be doing that again soon.

On the plane once more. We climbed quickly to a ‘massive’ hight of 8 thousand feet and stayed there for about 15 minutes then began our decent to Tel Aviv’s, Ber Gur Yon Airport. Anna was ready this time. She looked around and saw people getting ready to clap and joined in a little also.

I have travelled the world for the past 20 years both on cruise ships and through the Dance Sport competition world. I have been to Israel 10 times and have entered and exited without incident but for some reason this time something was different. Not only did they discover that I am still an Israeli citizen and have been since the the time I left in 1979, but they instructed me to apply for an Israeli passport once again. So as of now I have dual citizenship which basically means that if we are selected we can represent both Australia and Israel in international dance competitions. Woooohoooo!!!

Ok back to the real story. So here we are hanging out with my cousin Ron and staying at his place for the time we’re here. Ron announces the other day that he has taken time off work to take us on a trip to the north of Israel to see the sights and hear the sounds of the land between Lebanon and Syria. We say “great when does this adventure start?” He tells us tomorrow morning. “WHAAAAAATTT?????”

The next morning we head out of Ashqelon bright and early headed for the Sea of Galilee and the Kinneret where Jesus Christ walked on water. I asked

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Tzuk Manara

Castle of Nimrod

Newsletter 6. ISRAEL August 2016

Anna what she felt when she visited the place where Jesus spent time and she said that all her memories came flooding back, like the stories she had listened to, told to her from her primary school from the bible. We spent a little more time dipping our feet in the water and having our dead skin eaten off by hundreds of little fish. We took some photos and headed off on our way.

After a few more hours on the road, we arrived at Kiryat Shmona where we entered a place called Chook Manara and had the most awesome time riding the cablecar up and back down the mountain. Along the way we saw rock climbers and mountain bike trails. After that was finished we then for some crazy reason, thought it would be fun to squeeze into a rail Toboggan together and spend the next seven minutes hurtling up and down the mountain only to be held in by a not so trusting seat belt, boy was that fun (see video footage on our YouTube account).

We finally completed the day with a couple more hours drive further north to an abandoned military post which these days runs as a tourist attraction and a caffe bar. We stood there and listened to bombs dropping in the distance only kilometres in front of us, behind the Syrian mountains on the boarders of the far North of Israel. Suddenly there was a loud thunderous boom which I believed to be the crash of thunder. When I looked up I saw a pillar of dust rising into the sky. A mortar shell had gone completely wayward and had hit the earth not 7 kilometres in front of us. I began to move backwards as everyone else decide it was quite a spectacle and rushed forward to take happy snaps. That was quite enough for us. We said

thank you to our cousin, followed by “get us the heck outa here man”.

Last place we visited was the fortress of Nimrod. What an amazingly complicated stronghold, complete with water catchments and aqueducts, secret passageways and crenelated firing positions. Built in 1255, parts of this

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View From Mt,Bental

UN Observer, Mt Bental

Newsletter 6. ISRAEL August 2016

amazing place still stand today, just as strong as they were years ago. We finally decided to make our way home to Ashqelon as the sun began to set in the distance.

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