danger of death

Just when I thought it would be a good idea to climb the power line support tower, this sign (with spikes!) saved me:

This evening was parent's night in MEET. All the kid's parents were invited to come see the lab where their kids come every day. Every parent brought a home-cooked meal from their family. This was one of the best meals ever, getting to sample a huge variety of home-cooked meals. I'm a big fan of laffa, along with some cornbread-like-stuff with veggies and meat cooked in.

(MEET students and parents gather)

The parents night was also an opportunity for the parents to meet a number of people they wouldn't otherwise meet -- students and parents of a different nationality, plus the instructors.

Tomorrow, we're off to Tel Aviv for the day!!

field trip to the coast

Hi! Today the year 2 students went on a trip to Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. They did a number of activities, something like a 'team-building' session. Everyone had a really good time, myself included.

Also, this morning for the first time this summer we saw dark clouds and even felt a couple drops of rain.

Also, don't fall into giant holes:

teaching HTML

Just a quick update before I go to bed. Today I gave a lecture on HTML (aka how to write websites). For better or for worse, I decided to do the lecture in the computer lab, so that the students would get a chance to try out HTML first-hand and create their own websites. This went well, with the caveat that once the kids get their first chance to touch a computer, getting them to listen to more lecture is a challenge. I do have some secrets in my back pocket for keeping their attention though :) It's really fun getting better at teaching this age group - it's very different from college students, but in a good way.

Went to the climbing gym again tonight. Hopefully when I get home I will still be in reasonable shape for yosemite :) good night!

MEET begins!

Hi again! I finally have a few minutes to write - the kids are busy with an activity that other people are running.

(MEET 2009!)

One week of MEET complete, and a new one just beginning! The biggest news: I now have almost 30 new friends (this year's Y2 students). They're a great group, all with very unique personalities.

(Roni, Omer, and Omar)

The technical instructors (like me) are with the students all day from 9-5. We give lectures and/or programming labs every day. There is also a concurrent business curriculum, and occasional events for the students like sports and 'team building'.

(Security at Hebrew U. Main Gate)

The students this year really like writing actual code. Before lectures we often get asked "When are we going to be back in lab!?" Once challenge in creating and proctoring these labs is the wildly varying ability of the students. Some kids can implement a sorting algorithm in half an hour, while others struggle with iterating through a list. My goal of course is to challenge each and every student. Sometimes it feels like there is a pressure to help each student complete each lab, but it's good to remember that fully understanding only part of the lab is far better than partially understanding the full lab.

We require that the students speak English only, with 5 infractions leading to expulsion from the program. This overly-serious-sounding rule is meant to encourage the kids to interact - otherwise they tend to form separate groups - one speaking Hebrew and one speaking Arabic. I was skeptical at first, but the system does work quite well. One cute exception we allow is Israelis teaching Arabs Hebrew, and Palestinians teaching Israelis Arabic. The kids started doing this on their own and we decided it's a wonderful thing.

(Aalaa, Liel, and Mustafa)

Back at home we usually spend every night preparing the curriculum for the next day. Year 2 is especially exciting since we are rewriting the entire curriculum this year. I also found a climbing gym (!!!!); Ted and I have been doing push-ups and sit-ups; and Sally, Brian, and I have been running a little.

(climbing gym in Jerusalem)

Last week the MEET students got an all-day tour of HP here in Israel. We saw some huge printing presses:

And last weekend we had a short tour of famous landmarks in Jerusalem. Probably the highlight was an underground cistern in the Old City that was dug to provide water for the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We went down inside it - a huge cave with water in the bottom. One of the instructors, Amelia, is a wonderful singer and sung in this cave - the sound was amazing.

Finally, one of the most experienced people in MEET, Max, has been taking time away from his Ph.D. research to be here in Jerusalem with us. This is either his 5th or 6th summer of involvement with MEET. He has been incredibly helpful with all sorts of issues from coding to file sharing to teaching advice. Tonight is his last night here with us - we will miss him.

we moved! and blood!

We moved out of our temporary housing in Hebrew University and into apartments. My six-instructor apartment has started a grocery pool so we can cook dinners some nights. Here is Brian and my room:

In Jerusalem there are cats everywhere. They are all over the Hebrew U. campus. Here's one right outside the computer lab:

Tomorrow the program starts for our students! We have some great lectures and labs planned. I just finished coding a 'Treasure Hunt" lab, where the students will have to implement Java code to find hidden websites and eventually a 'treasure'. To start the lab, the students will go to this website.

Two days ago we had some excitement as one of our instructors, Sally, accidentally stepped into an open sewer grate and punctured her shin to the bone. Luckily three of this year's instructors are EMT's (including Sally). We went to the hospital for a tetanus shot and stitches (which I got to observe!). Here's the stitch going in:

Today we're full steam ahead finishing our preparation for the program start tomorrow. We just grabbed some falafel from inside the Old City, which is full of people and busy shops.

Here's my favorite falafel stand in the Old City:

Finally, one of the instructors, Anna, has been putting some videos of our surroundings online.