Israel Video

Just a quick update, I forgot to mention on Wednesday at Mig Dalor the friendship house I was greeted by all the kids telling me "Ac Milan four zero Arsenal lose". It felt like being back home in London at the school but its all good banter as there are kids there in Liverpool shirts, Chelsea shorts and from time to time the odd Haifa shirt or shorts. Today (Sunday) I was at Rambam school with Sameh one of the assisstants from the local college here. He also works at Mig Dalor part time, not doing football but being inside with the children talking to them etc. He told me today how the children are what they call 'problem children' but when we play football with them he noticed they are alot calmer and happier and his manager there told him the exact same thing, so thats always a big positive to hear.

Today I am going to watch the first half of the North London derby, Arsenal vs Tottenham then head out to Ben Gurion youth centre for work, Yosi another of the local assisstants will be coming to help out there.

If you’ve read the previous post already then you know that Friday I went on my tour so on Saturday I found myself at a bit of a loose end but it was actually quite nice to sleep in a bit later and have a relaxing day. I spent some time talking to friends and family on skype etc then kept an eye on the football and rugby scores. In the evening I decided to have a go at making a video of my time so far here in Israel, I didn’t have many video clips so put together what I could with some photos mixed in.

Anyway here it is, I hope you enjoy it:

Golan Heights

This week was my first week without Denys and for the first couple days I was at the schools by myself which went ok but it can be a bit difficult trying to demonstrate by yourself when nobody speaks english however I got through it and got across all the points I wanted to one way or another however I now have a schedule for when the assisstants will be there, they are Avi, Yossi, Sameh and Yakov who I have already mentioned before, it helps having them there to talk to, demonstrate with and for the main part, basic translation. Next week I'm going to focus one 1 on 1 attacking and defending. So thats another week gone by very fast, in fact I now have only 4 weeks exactly left in Israel, I'ts always a good sign when times flying by so fast.

Thursday I was with Avi at Weizman school and worked on shooting with them as the previous week it had rained and been cancelled so they didn’t get to do it and with the last class which was the best boys and girls at football in the school, so basically team training we did Attacking 1 on 1’s and defending followed by a couple of matches, 1 for boys and 1 for girls and I helped Nissim the P.E . teacher pick 6 girls and 6 boys for some matches they have coming up, he also told me about a tournament they have with all the schools in the area on the 18^th March and has asked me if I can come along which I’m hoping I will be able to. Me and Avi had also decided that in the evening we would go to mall and watch a movie then get something to eat, he picked me up around 6pm and we went to the mall where we also met his wife and her two sisters. Avi told me how everyone in Israel loves Jennifer Anniston so we watched a movie called Wanderlust, It’s a romantic comedy about a Manhattan couple who are rattled by sudden employment and ultimately decide to try living in a rural commune. We all agreed it was a very good easy watching movie with some funny moments as expected. Afterwards we went to a restaurant to sit down and get something to eat and talk. At around 11pm we were all a bit tired and decided to head back, whilst walking through the car park everyone was acting like it had just been snowing or something when really it was like a summer evening for anyone from England and none of them could believe that I could wear a t-shirt and not complain, I cant wait for Avi to come to England in the summer and see his reaction to our diverse weather conditions. Once again it was a great night seeing a good movie and spending an evening in great company.

Friday I had a tour at 10am with Danny, today we were heading to the Golan Heights which was around an hours drive and is the highest point in Israel which also borders with Syria. There’s also a mountain where at certain times of the year is covered in snow and people go to ski there, I have to say when I found out I was going to Israel the last thing I thought I would be seeing is snow! However the views of the mountain and all the others surrounding it were spectacular with many Volcanic hills dotted around aswell. The Golan Heights is also where the 6 day war took place in 1967 where thousands of lives were lost and many tanks destroyed. Driving around the area there is obviously still a huge army presence, when we stopped off for lunch we quickly popped into the supermarket after and there were many soldiers in there buying groceries etc, 2 guys were stood there with their trolley and shopping list with their guns strapped to their backs, not something you see back home everyday! Driving along we also saw many army vehicles and tanks in a field in training. It’s fascinating to see and things like this are always of interest to me. We drove to the top of one of the volcanic hills to see the view of the mountain with snow on and all other views around, on top of the hill was a bunker from the war which you can still just walk down into and see where the soldiers slept and the gun points etc on the top, hard to ever imagine it in use, from the view looking down to the Valley of Tears there was also a tank still sitting down in the field and a local artist had made sculptures from the parts from destroyed tanks and machinery. We then took a drive to the Eden Lake which is where a lot of the water is taken from to be bottled across the road and distributed around Israel, we took a walk around the garden and the fast flowing stream, along the way seeing a few crabs and the old village which still has some building there from the 2^nd century. On our drive back we stopped off to see the Jordan River which is very full and fast flowing because of all the rain and snow the country has had recently, Danny couldd’t believe how full the rivers were and how much water was on the side of the road whilst driving along plus a waterfall we stopped off to look at which he told me last year had not even a drop of water off it, look at the picture and like me you will think that’s very hard to imagine but its true. We also stopped on the side of the road where there are 4 tanks just sitting there all from different era’s so we stopped to have a look and get a picture, a couple of them were still open so you could go and sit inside, straight away I felt like a kid again and just wanted to climb on it and sit inside and imagine what it would have been like for people to be inside in the middle of a war.

Waterfall

Tank still sitting in the Valley of tears

Gun station

Walk through the Eden Garden

Me and Danny's son on the tank



Jerusalem

So Last week was Denys' last week and we did plenty of matches and shooting at the schools which all went great as usual and the kids were very happy to be playing matches and fun things. Wednesday after school we got picked up by Delila who took us to the Town Hall where Esti was and there we were to meet the Mayor of Akko. Once we met him we had a couple of photos taken with all of us together then sat down to have a quick chat about how things are going in Akko and the schools along with our thought of Akko in Israel coaching and in general as a country. Afterwards we made our way (a 2minutes walk across the road) to Mig Dalor, our arabic friendship house. For those that don't know Mig Dalor actually means Lighthouse, at the session we played some matches winner stays on first to 2 goals and we had around 20 children there playing all well behaved.

Thursday was raining so the school was cancelled and because of this we decided to leave earlier for Jerusalem for what would be Denys last weekend in Israel. I threw a few things in a bag whilst Denys had to pack up everything. We got a train from Akko to Tel Aviv where we then had to catch a train to Jerusalem, the train that was supposedly heading to Jerusalem had no signs on board to say where it was going nor was there any English over the speaker and nothing on the platform back at Tel Aviv. I remebered it only stopped at a couple of stations which i thought was weird when checking beforehand on the Internet and remembered the first stop which was Lod so when we got to the first one I was somewhat happy we were going in the right direction. The journey was around one and a half hours from Tel Aviv and most of it was through winding mountains which was why we were wondering if we did get on the right train, lucky enough though we came out of the mountains and saw a town which straight away just happened to be Jerusalem!

Our first night we took a walk from the hotel down past the old city and we stumbled across Mike's Place which you may remember was the American/English type bar which we went to in Tel Aviv and ordered some hot chicken wings had some food/drink and good conversation then headed back to the hotel for some well earned rest.

Friday morning we went on a free tour, yes a free tour of Jerusalem around the old city. For a free tour it was 3 hours long and actually well worth doing. We walked around, saw The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre, Wailing Wall and much much more. We found out that the same tour company have another couple of tours which aren't free. Just a quick mention aswell to say that Jerusalem was like being back in England, cold and forecast to snow on Saturday, thankfully it didn't snow but there was ice on the side of the pavements and on car windscreens, Saturday also saw quite alot of heavy hail stones and very strong, cold winds! Being British I only packed/wore a t-shirt and hoody. In the monring we went to The Tower Of David which we walked all around and also went in the exhibitions along the way. Saturday also saw us go on one of the non free tours from the same tour company which was the Mount Olive tour. You take a taxi ride around 15minutes to the top of the mountain and walk all the way back down stopping at various historic places and viewpoints along the way ending at Mary's Tomb. I won't go into detail about everything we saw and learnt as it was a 3 and a hlf hour walking tour. Sunday we went on another tour from the same company which was called The Holy City tour which goes more in depth then the free tour around the city and actually takes you inside the Church's and hidden places not so easy to find for the average tourist. We went inside the Holy Sepulchre which we did the following day by ourselves but this time it was nice to have explanations of things we were looking at and also went to The Small Wailing Wall plus much more, unfortunatly we couldn't go to the Temple Mount as it only opens for around an hour or 2 a day and today it just so happened there was some kind of riot and it was closed unexpectedly. All 3 tour guides were great and once again I don't want to go into everything we learnt and saw otherwise I could go on forever so I'll let some of the pictures show that and just to let you all know apart from the free tour the other 2 were 75 Shekels each which is around 12 pounds and well worth it as they last for around 4 hours.

Entering my prayer

British Post box from the British Mandate period

                                                          Entrance to The Holy Sepulchre

The Stone of the Anointing

The Altar of the Crucifixion

So after Jerusalem at around 6pm on Sunday we left to go back to Tel Aviv where we stayed one night and the next morning we took the same long walk as before all along the sea front to Old Jaffa, the weather in Tel Aviv was very warm so it was a great walk, however for the first time in Israel I wasn't feeling too good and think we might of ate something dodgy as Denys felt the same way. We left Tel Aviv around 4pm heading our seperate ways, Denys back to the airport and me back to Akko where I have just under 5 weeks remaining.

 

Tel Aviv

So on Friday we woke up and had planned in the week that we wuld take a trip to Tel Aviv, alot of people have been telling us mixed thoughts as we were told there's only shops and nothing to see and other people had told us that it's a place worth going to, so we thought we had to go there while we are in Israel. We left the house around 11ish and were headed to the bus station as the trains were on strike, so yes it's not just London and England that have train strikes. We thought we would knock on Zippee's door before leaving to let her know and as luck would have it they told us they were actually leaving to go to Tel aviv in less than an hour and they were more than happy to give us a lift there, another stroke of luck we have had whilst living in the Holy Land. The car journey was just under 2 hours and as soon as we got there we found a hotel called Tal Hotel and left the bag in the room before heading out around the town. The first day was a bit windy and overcast so we took a walk up the street to a shopping mall and then went to Hacarmel market there, just walking around exploring. The market reminded me a bit of Mong Kok Market in Hong Kong however the markets old everything from knock off handbags to fruit and veg. After the market there wasn't much, we also saw a couple of men arguing/fighting, one threatening the other with a knife although I'm not sure if he intended to use it but still, I think they were drunk, drugged up or maybe just not all there, but anyway after walking past that going on we found ourselves at the beach, by now we were very hungry and found somewhere to eat on the beach which compared to places in Akko was a lot more westernised and served generous portions so after sharing a starter then having a main we were completely full. After eating we decided to walk more along the beach front watching the surfers. We then stumbled across a bar called Mike's Places which we had seen advertised in a brochure at the hotel. We decided to go in and see if they were showing the Arsenal game for the following day, they told us they show all the big sports games so obviously Arsenal was on. They also had Magners cider which I hadn't had since I arrived in Israel so we sat down and had a couple whilst watching tennis and playing trivia games etc on the tv screen at the table. After Mike's we went back to the hotel to relax before heading back there in the evening. Saturday we woke up around 9ish and headed down to breakfast, the weather was great outside so we headed out walking along the beach front again for quite a while seeing many people running, cycling etc and alot of playing a sport with rackets and a ball, not sureof the real name but you always get them by seaside towns but here they take it seriously and I haven't seen anyone so good before. After quite a long walk we got to Jaffa which is an old town, like Akko it has changed hands so many times from crusaders, ottermans, Arabs etc, over 5000 years of history! We took an underground tour of Jaffa which I would recommend for anyone that visits, the town has always built up on so you can go a few feet underground and go back long ago in history, some of the brickwork is still there from Roman times. There are also many artefacts including a mould used to make weights so merchandise could be weighed in the market/port to make sure sellers would not be cheating customers.

Hacarmel Market

That sport I mentioned

Jaffa in the background

Denys in Jaffa

Walking around Jaffa we saw many buildings and great views, one of which was on the wishing bridge.

My Zodiac sign - Capricorn

So I'm guessing you read the sign in the picture about the wishing bridge, so we both walked ont he bridge, found our Zodiac signs, looked out at the beautiful view over the sea and made a wish.



After we felt we had seen and found out enough about Jaffa we took a walk back down the sea front before stopping off at Mike's place one last time to watch the football, first we saw Manchester United vs Liverpool followed by Everton vs Chelsea and Sunderland vs Arsenal. The Arsenal and Chelsea games were on at the same time and the games switched between each other, luckily it worked out quite well though as we saw more of the first half of the Chelsea game so we saw the early Everton goal and the second half was more Arsenal so we got to see a great finish and see Thierry Henry score another important last gasp goal and add to his record tally, a fairytale ending for his last game with us in the league, once again it was just written in the stars, what passion he has for the club, a true legend. Whilst we watched the game we enjoyed a couple of loads of Mike's hot wings, after the game unfortunatly it was time to say goodbye to Tel Aviv although we were tempted to stay and watch the England vs Italy rugby game followed by the spurs game but it was a good job we didn't. We also bumped into Esti's son at the bar, Esti is our anager at UJIA and her son actually works at Mike's Place. The trains were still on strike so we had to get to the bus station and bus it back, we both fell asleep after about 30 minutes on the bus where we woke up at Haifa to change for a bus to Akko, the bus from Haifa also stopped somewhere and we had to change to get the 271 which was a bit of nostalgia as It was the 271 bus in london I had to get on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to go to training at Rosemary Gardens. Anyway the whole journey to get back to Akko was around three and a half hours so we got back home and went straight to bed ready for the next week which will also be Denys' last week in Israel.

Mike's Place from the outside

Sunset over the Mediterranean Sea

Sunday and Monday we were at Rambam and Eshkol schools where we worked on shooting and focusing on them using the inside of the footbal for a passing shot and the laces for a driven shot with key points about shooting and changing it so use of both feet for each type of shot. Sunday evening we also had Ben Gurion friendship house, our favourite of the friendship houses where we did the same shooting drill before moving into a small sided game. Our friend who we nickname Frank because he supports Chelsea and is also the one who called me Evil Van persie wasn't there this week so we missed out on a bit of banter from the Chelsea Vs Man United game. Both days so far have been warm and sunny so it has been great to be outside coaching the sun, we have both also noticed that we have caught the sun now.

Sun, Sea, Football, Bowling & Rollerblading

Hello again to everyone reading. Lets start off where we left last time which is Monday. Monday we are at Eshkol school in the morning, one of my favourite schools. We had lessons up till 2pm of all ages mixed boys and girls. We did some heading and volleying drills followed by short matches. During breaktime once again we signed autographs, got chased around and managed to join in with the childrens football match for a short while. In the evening we went to Burla which is a youth centre type group of boys aged around 16, we did a short session with them before they played a game, this is how the guy in charge of the group wants it done, half of the session as a warm up and work on technique then the other half they get a game. All day we were by ourselves without any of our assisants from the local university who can translate some things etc.

Tuesday we went to El Manara school which the previous week we couldn't coach at because part of the goal there had cracked and it was at risk of falling so the teacher didnt want us to use the area, better to be safe than sorry. Luckily this week it had been fixed and we were back out to coach from 8am-2pm, once again nobody from the university so it was up to us to let our feet do the talking. We did turning and most of them did understand us and the standard may have been a little poor at first but after us going through the groups showing them closer they soon got the hang of it and were performing some good turns. Whilst we were in the staff room on a short break we spoke to one child called Mahmoud who had apparently hurt his foot so after a few minutes I decided to ask him if he wanted to come and play football which he replied "yes!" straght away, haha the foot can't be that bad can it? The I asked him what lesson he should have now to which he replied "geography", so I asked him if he liked Geography " no". Kept us amused during our break and I think we also kept him amused rather than sitting by himself and to little surprise later on he was in one of our classes playing football.

The evening took us to Bustan Hagalil, the diability session we have once a week for ages 18-22 years old. The weather Tuesday was really windy making it a cold day and when we got to Bustan we had noticed the wind had blew one of the goals over. We go to the centre and went inside as usually they are already outside waiting for us warming up on the pitch but when we got inside we noticed it was a bit quiet and nobody was expecting to play because of the weather, we asked if they wanted to but they kept pointing to the weather outside and didn't fancy it, so instead we sat around for a while and talked before going back home.

After getting home and checking emails etc we went to a little food place right by our house that does different meats or Falafel in pita bread. We had already been before a couple of times so I decided to have the chicken again but this time while we waited we decided to order a few falafels to try. Food once again was good and after we headed to the shop to buy an ice cream which we split in half and share, it's become a bit of a habit now, everytime we go to this food place we have to walk to the shop to buy an ice cream after. Avi one of our helpers also called us on our walk back and told us that him and his wife plus a couple of friends are going bowling if we wanted to join them, we jumped at the chance and wen't bowling for the first time in Israel. It was a good night once again to get out somewhere new. Avi, his wife, sister in law and friend went on one lane and me, Denys and Avi's friend bowled on the lane next to them. The bowling surprisingly wasn't a bad standard and always came down to the last few throws. I think we all ended up winning a game each and me and Avi's friend both threw 3 strikes in a row at the end of a game and Denys got a score of 145.

Denys, Avi, me and his friend Igal

Wednesday we were at Hertzog school which starts at 9am so an extra hour in bed for us. The weather wa back to being nice and sunny again, when we got to thr school the gym which we usually use had drilling and workmen inside so instead we used the outdoor football pitch which worked out even better as it meant we could be coaching outside in the sunshine. Once again we did heading and volleying followed by a short match at the end. On our break we went to our favourite Russian bakery again. When we got back we got back into the sessions and at the sametime next to the pitch other classes were doing rollerblading so I had a little look and when the guy asked me if I wanted a go I couldn't resist getting them on! So I joined in with the kids rollerblading for a bit and also decided to do some coaching whilst on rollerblades which the kids found amusing. Hopefully if we're outside again next week and rollerblading is going on I can get involved in some of the roller hockey. After we finished at the school we waited in the playground for Avi to come pick us up, whilst we were there we had loads of kids chasing us around and jumping on us so we joined in and got down to their level for a few minutes. When Avi got us he took Denys to go and get a haircut and a shave at his local barbers which cost 40 shekels (approx 6-7 pounds) so similar price to back home at a barbers shop. He offered to take us to lunch with some of his colleagues but because we had already ate at the bakery we were quite full so instead he dropped us back home. We then decided to take a walk to Napoleons hill which is a few minutes walk from the house, there's not alot to see there but still we can say we walked up the hill.

Mini Benayoun on the right

This has actually given me a few ideas for the younger groups we coach to keep them amused

A view of Napoleon's hill

Cactus we saw on our walk aswell as a man asleep on a bench but we thought the cactus would be more interesting

In the evening we had Mig Dalor which is an Arabic friendship house/youth centre. We had a group of children of similar age which was good, the only problem was Sameh and Yakov were there to assist us as Sameh works at the house anyway but translation was like speaking to a brick wall, we would say something expecting them to then translate but they seemed to want to stand around starring into space or talking to each other. We managed to get what we wanted to across though but translation was needed for this one as we did it where they stand in a circle pass and move then dribbling following onto overlaps, one two's etc so it was all about communication. Eventually with little help from our 'helpers' they were doing it well so we progressed into a game for around 20 minutes before finishing for the day.

Thursday we were in Weizman school which is by the sea and once again we had brilliant sunshine which always helps lift the mood for the last day of the week, sometimes the sun even goes to our heads abit I think. We kept to our main weekly topic of volleying and heading and all the sessions went well, this is another of our favourite schools and there a number of both boys and girls there who are very good.

For the evening Avi took us to the Canyon Mall to see another movie, this time we saw a movie called Son Of No one. It was an average movie and was quite slow moving so hard to get into but it did have a few twists in the storyline which keep you interested. After the movie we went to the games arcade and as Avi told us apparently he is number 1 in Israel at air hockey, like me and Denys thought how can someone be that good at air hockey!? I'ts an ongoing thing we find here in Israel, someone is always number 1 at something or knows someone who is. So I gave Avi a game not playing air hockey since I was about 10 and yep you guessed it I beat him so I guess that makes me Number 1 in Israel now (wink wink). But once again it was nice to get out to the mall and we had a really good evening with Avi with plenty of laughs.

Once again if you have got this far then thank you for reading and be sure to come back soon for an update over the weekend.

Written in the stars.....

Hello to everyone once again, my second post in 3 days. I thought I'd start of by saying that we watched the Arsenal game today and what a game it was! 7-1 to the Arsenal with a Van Persie hat trick, double strik from Chamberlain, a nice goal by Arteta and to top it off the legend that is Thierry Henry came on to grab a late goal! Because my blog name was inspired from the Tinie Tempah song Miami2Ibiza I thought it was only right to have the title as Written in the stars as it clearly was written in the stars that Henry would make his come back to come off the bench and score the winning goal against Leeds in the cup in true Henry style and then to come off the bench today to end a great day with a link up with Robin Van Persie and score his first Premier League goal in 5 years.

So back to how this great Saturday started. We left the house at around midday in excellent weather, 22 degrees sun and decided to go to the Bahai Gardens in Akko as we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Bahai Gardens in Haifa. It was about a 40 minute walk from the house past Bustan Hagalil where we do our disability session every Tuesday, It was quite a nice walk as it's more out in the countryside. The Gardens were alot bigger than Haifa but more flat, all in all still a very well kept and impressive place. No tour guide here so it worked out well that we went to the one in Haifa first where we had a guide and managed to learn about the Bahai's before visiting the one in Akko.

The road leading out of Akko towards the Bahai Gardens

One of the entrances to the Gardens that was closed

Me at the start of the gardens



After we walked down to the old town in Akko along the sea front where we were meant to meet Sameh and Yakov but in good Israel fasion they were about 30 minutes late. But then they took us to the betting shop/cafe type place where we watched the football. It was an arabic place and when I say betting shop its nothing like at home, you can sit down order food and drink and it was in an old building so the tv was on the wall but all around and inside is the old brickwork. As I said already a great game 7-1 to the Arsenal! After the football we went to get a Schnitzel baguette and sat on the wall by the sea looking out to Haifa which reminds me of back home as its like being down Bournemouth beach looking out to the Isle of Wight. Then we went back down the market and bought an Arabic sweet, not sure on the name but it sounded something like canaffe, it was once again very good, afterwards Sameh and his friend showed us inside the Mosque in Akko before walking home to burn off some of all the food we ate!

Denys, Sameh and his friend

Sunday morning soon came round which meant the start of a new week in Israel. Woke up to another day of lovely sunshine outside the window yet also to lots of photos and news from family and friends about the snow fall in the night back home. Denys wasn't feeling too good in the morning and had been up most of the night so decided to stay at home. I took off to walk to Rambam school with a bag of footballs, bibs and cones in the warm sunshine. When at the school I decided to do heading and volleying in pairs changing round every few times with plenty of progressions, the sessions went well and we played games at the end for around 10 minutes. When I got home it was such a nice day outside I decided to take a walk down near the sea and get some photo's rather than stay inside. I met Yossi on my way to the sea and we walked along most of the sea front taking various pictures. Here are todays blog selections:

Me on the wall

After the town I rode back home on Yossi's bike as he wanted to run and we got back and saw Denys before all heading to the friendship house for 16:30 (Denys is now back to normal). We did a session with a circle and passing then following your pass, then onto dribbling before adding in various progression like one two, overlaps etc. Then we got into a game where we joined in and had fun, my friend who calls me evil Van Persie was also there again and we had a good laugh and talked about the Chelsea vs Manchester United game that was on tonight. When we got home we went up to Zippee's to watch the football, another good match Chelsea going 3-0 up then United coming back to level things up at 3-3 which isn't a bad result for us aiming to achieve a top 4 finish. After the match we had another dinner at Zippee's house with the Italians and an American woman, all of which are leaving in the next week. We found out that Zippee was once an undercover police officer for 3-4 years, a party trick how to get a cork out of an empty wine bottle and that Tupac is jewish. Well Tupac is not jewish but when our American friend made a 'W' sign with her hand and asked if we knew what it was me and Denys immediately said westsiiiide! Turned out she was talking about Spok being Jewish and the sign he used to do but me and Denys mentioned Tupac and immediately she said he was jewish... Made us all laugh and joke, probably one of those things when you had to be there in the moment. Once again though it was a good meal all sitting around the table having a good laugh and sharing stories.

I have also this week signed up to do the Be a Gunner Be a Runner fun run for charity, 10 laps around the Emirates Stadium and all money raised goes to save the children foundation. I arrive back in the UK on the 23rd March and will be running on the 31st March. I am sure that some of my fellow coaches will still be abroad and will be organising a similar run in their countries.