Time to review... What did I achieve from my "to do" lists?

     Seeing my "to do list this year" on my second blog, I found I could achieve some of these.

     First, I think I've been able to keep my grades. My GPA in spring semester was pretty good and I attended in most of the classes I registered. Sometimes I think chemistry experiment is pretty hard because of reports I need to make every week, but I can still catch up with everyone.

     And reminding this year, I've seldom got sick or injured. So I want to say I succeeded in controlling my physical condition well. I think my health comes from the physical trainings in my orienteering team and meals I make 3~5 times a day.

     This year I began to learn French. Also I usually get an opportunity to learn English, Spanish and French every week. In this way I can keep my competence on English. But I still have a little knowledge on Spanish and French, so I want to keep studying them from now on, too.

     I can't say I went traveling many times this year, but I had great experiences by traveling. The biggest trip this year was a one to Turkey for a week. I'm amazed with beautiful buildings and unique cities in Istanbul and magnificent landscapes in Cappadocia. And I was satisfied that I could understand some parts of Muslim culture, which I'd not been familiar with. And I've already made a plan to go to Taiwan with my senior this spring and I'm looking forward to it.

     In this university I could make many friends, so I might be able to be more sociable than before. And when I saw my parents this summer, they looked pretty pleasant that I can somehow do well in the new environment. But I'm still very dependent on my parents financially. Maybe I'll begin part time jobs from next spring.


     At the same time I failed to achieve other goals. I kinda gave up A Capella because I'm already busy with other activities. Also I couldn't do much on composing music for the same reason. I was able to study English this year, but not for TOEFL.

     However, I'm rather glad I could achieve more the a half of these. I found that my school and study will be hard from my junior year, so year 2015 may be my last chance to do many things I'd like to do. Time flies, so I want to make my "to do" lists next April again, and hopefully I get some chance to review it, too.

Planning a dinner party with awesome guests...

At a dinner party with Taro, I want to invite Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator, John Lennon, whom probably everyone knows, Nobuyuki Tsujii, a blind pianist, and the father of modern science, Galileo Galilei.

And Taro invites Michael Moore, an American writer and movie maker, Naomi Uemura, an explorer who achieved to climb on the Everest and never comes back from his last adventure, Cristiano Ronaldo one of the best football players in this century and Theodora, a wife of the old Roman Emperor who had had a miserable life in her youth.

Hayao Miyazaki sits next to Michael Moore. Though genres of movies Hayao Miyazaki and Michael Moore make are very different, we guess they share some ideas in making films. Another side of Hayao Miyazaki is where my partner sits on. He is a big fan of him and his works, and also interested in their talk.

An adventurer, Naomi Uemura sits on Makoto’s left. Makoto actually do not know much about him but Makoto is strongly attracted with adventurous stories that he has never experienced, such as climbing Mt. Everest, rafting Amazon, and traveling through Greenland by sleds.

The person who sits across from my partner, Galileo, was not so rich in his lifetime, similar to Theodora Also, not only in science, probably Galileo had an interest in music because his father and brother played lute, and known as a composer, so we think Galileo can be open with Theodora and John Lennon easily.

John Lennon’s seat is on the next to Galileo and Nobuyuki Tsujii. Those two people are both concerned with music in some way; especially Nobuyuki Tsujii is a worldwide blind pianist. It would be great if John Lennon and he play together at this party.

              And Taro hopes to sit down between Michael Moore and Theodora. Taro watches many Michael Moore’s movies and has been influenced with them. He especially desires to know how he made “Bowling for Columbine”. Also he wants to know how to put up with hardship and overcome it. So he wants to talk with Theodora, who was very poor when she was young.

              A man who will be seated across Taro is Chistiano Ronaldo He won’t have so many opportunities to talk with him. However, he may want to know how the athlete is like. He’ll observe what and how he eats and try to get the idea about improving great muscle.

              And Cristiano sits down between Nobuyuki Tsujii and Naomi Uemura. They have totally different jobs, an athlete, a pianist, an explorer. But all of them are known as hard workers. We expect them to share their efforts on their jobs and try to improve their skills more by acquiring the different perspectives on efforts.

              Talking about meals, we need to take some care. Theodora and Galilei may be surprised at current cuisines or they may not like it. Naomi Uemura’s favorite food is kiviak, but it smells so bad that all the others won’t eat it. Cristiano Ronaldo may refuse to eat foods with many fats as an athlete. So we’ll prepare for some breads and mild soup at first, then we’re going to let each person decide which he or she’ll eat for the main dish, fish, meat or vegetables. We may let some challengers try smelly kiviak, too.

After watching the script from Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

              Our Earth is already so big that we cannot discover everything by the time we die. And now we’re getting ready for going out for the space and explore our solar system or keep going further, seeking the end of the boundless space…

              Of course, you must have never been to the space unless you’re a member of NASA or an alien. But why do we sometimes think of going in the undiscovered space. We know few things about it, there won’t be a good environment for human beings. We may never get back to our home.

              In this video, many of movies and pictures are out of my imagination in my opinion even though most of them are REAL. As long as they really exist, we have chance to go there and see them, a gigantic red storm on Jupiter, an enormously high cliff on the moon or the ring around the Saturn. 

              I personally think we still have our nature where we seek new lands. Our ancestors pioneered our Earth by taking many risks. And we still want to see the new world in spite of the risk of losing our striving lives. 

              However, you may not want to go to the space so much. But I’m sure more people will agree with the tendency that we’re likely to get bored when we get stuck in one place. Nothing is new, we’ve got to know almost everything around us, we know what’ll happen, what we will see… How vain it is!!

              Exploring, traveling and wandering… they’re ways to escape from these meaningless lives. This video aroused my desire to travel whole the world again. Unless I’m satisfied only with pictures, I wanna see everything new to me. The only problem is I’m not in the training of NASA.  

How to improve good muscle for long distance runner

     Some long distance runners underestimate the importance of muscle training for their better performance. Actually, it is often said that sprinters need good muscle in order to show their best in one moment and long distance running is more likely a mental sports where runners need to keep their high (not best) performance for 15~30 mins, or sometimes more than an hour.

     However, good muscle can enable us to run in a good shape easier, which let runners continue their races with less effort and prevent us form injury. Especially, for cross country runners and trail runners in the mountains, good inner muscle is essential to keep your balance even on the dirty unpaved road.

     So, here is how to improve your muscle.

     First, as I mentioned before a little bit, inner muscle is very important to keep you body balance while you run. Apparently, you use only your legs to run, but actually, we can say we run with your upper body. You never need to strenghthen it like a lift up athlete because heavy upper body can damage your legs. (Muscle is rather heavy. It's three times as heavy as fat in the same volume!!) But appropriate inner muscle can decrease the damage to legs and you'll have less chance to get injured or falling down during your race.

     I recommend you to do core training for your upper body. For beginners, first, fall prone to the floor, and try to keep your body in the air except your arms and feet. Your body should make one line, so not to put your butt too high or too low. Your abs should hurt. You'll keep this form for about 40 seconds and do it twice or three times.

     Also, you should train your muscle on the side. You lie on one of your sides and try to put your body in the air except one arm and foot. Make your body a line again, and do this training on both sides.

     You won't need strong shoulders for running, but waving your arms in the appropriate form can enhance your performance. You'd better improve your shoulders to achieve it, not arms themselves because you'll use the conjunction of your body to move your body as well. 

Prepare dembbells which weighs 1~2 kg each. Have them in your hands, and keep your arms parallel to the ground. It'll be tougher training than you think. Keep this form for 30~40 seconds, and do this exercise twice.

     And don't forget your legs training of course!  Squat is a well known training, however, wrong squat can cause knee injury, which is difficult to cure. When you squat, try to bend your knee in the same direction as your toes. It prevents you from twist your conjunctions of your knees.

Biking and daily running will be good, too. And strong calves will absorb the damage to your legs. Repeating putting your heels up and down is the best way to strengthen your calves. You can do this exercise even on the train.

     I hope you'll be a good runner by having a good training and an appropriate rest.

Dialogue

A dialogue between a married couple

“I’m home…,” said Arnold.

“Welcome back, Arnold. You are too late coming home these days, aren’t you?” said Maria.

“Oh…, I’m sorry, Maria. I had to work overtime.”

“You must be tired. Have you had dinner yet?”

“Already, I have.”

“Hey, Arnold. I told you many times to call me if you eat out.”

“Sorry… I was invited unexpectedly by a coworker.”

“Hmm…, OK. Next time call me ahead.”

“OK. I’ll be more careful from next time.”

“It’s already late. The bath is ready. Why don’t you take a bath?”

“Thank you, Maria. I love you.”

“I love you too, Arnold.”

Zzz. Zzz. Zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz!!

“Oh, I have a phone call… Maria, you can go to bed ahead,” said Arnold, and he tried to leave the room immediately.

“…WAIT!! …Arnold, who is calling?” said Maria.

“Well…, the c,c,coworker I told you about!”

“What’s his name?”

“…T,Tom!”

“…Are you cheating on me?”

“No!! You are misunderstanding! Please believe me, Patty!”

“…Hey, Arnold. WHO IS PATTY?”

“S… sh… she is… my coworker, too! What’s wrong with…”

“Stop, Arnold!! Show me your phone and tell me the truth!! Don’t hide anything!” said Maria so angrily.

“Ok…” said Arnold weakly.

“Well… So who has just called you was not Tom but Patty. And according to the data in your phone, you’ve talked to her on a phone almost every day recently.” said Maria with anger.

“Ok. I’m really sorry that I told you a lie. But trust me! I’ve never dated with Patty and she and I are not in love. Seriously, I love you and I never cheat on you!!” said Arnold.

“Never mention it again!! It’s now obvious that you don’t love me most. You are cheating on me. There’s no escape because ironically, not you but your phone has told me the truth.”

“No! Absolutely no! For evidence, you haven’t found any photo or video which she and I are in!”

“Shut up!! If you don’t stop lying right now, I’ll get ready to divorce you!”

“…….. ok….. I’ll tell you everything…”

“Come on!!” Maria shouted to Arnold.

“I’ve known Patty for a long time. And her full name is Patty Rebecca O’brien.”

“What…? O’brien is our family name!!”

“Yes. Now I’m sorry that I haven’t told you that I’d divorced once before I married you. And Patty is my daughter with my previous wife.”

“Why have you made such a thing secret?”

“I do apologize, but it’s my sad memory and I even don’t want to remember…”

“Hmm… Then why do you talk with your daughter so much even though you don’t take care of her now? Do you still worry her?”

“That may be one reason. But recently, I got a call that my previous wife, who’d taken care of Patty, was killed in a traffic accident. Patty is still 10. She needs a guardian. And I thought if I can be her father again. So recently, I’ve talked with Patty about it and she now agreed with it.”

“Arnold…”

“But I’m sorry. You know I’m a shy person. So I couldn’t talk about it with you because I thought you may feel bad with it…”

“Arnold… Apparently, your shyness caused my misunderstanding. But I recognized your hard life in past and your kindness. And I sincerely want to accept Patty to my home. I’m sorry for doubting you. But from next time, feel free to consult anything with me.”

“Maria… I love you!!”

“Me too. Arnold!” said Maria and she hugged Arnold.

Zzz. Zzz. Zzz-zzz-zzz-zzz!!

“Oh… now I have a phone call… Goodnight, Arnold.” said Maria.

“Hey… Excuse me, but your screen accidentally caught my attention… Your phone says `John❤’ called you! WHO IS JOHN?”

My major research and summary

              Now our environmental problems are serious. This is why solar photovoltaic energy attracts people instead of previous conventional generations. Today more than 3500 MW of solar systems have been installed all over the world and the price has been decreasing since 1970, according to the Earth Policy Institute.

              Mainly these systems can be installed in the roof of house or any building. This means people can generate their electricity by themselves even if they live in rural areas and disconnected from life lines. Also generation by these systems is a good business where small amount of electricity has high value. We can distribute electricity the individual generates as well. These are main reasons PV energy is now preferred.

              Companies’ attempts to sell solar panels to people in high income countries have contributed to the growth of PV energy. Sharp has been on the top of the race of PV energy selling and they thrive by encouraging high or average rank people to install small solar panels to their houses. This satisfies people’s willing to stop the destruction of our Earth and they can be benefited by generating their electricity in the future. This circulation makes everyone and the Earth happier.

              The governments all over the world have tried to intervene in this market and boosted it, too. It sustained their economies. And what’s more, many developed countries signed in the protocols about setting a goal to decrease the emission of carbon dioxide, which is generated when we burn fuel or gas.

              Considering the fact that we have now 20 times more PV energy than we’d had in 2000, our industry of PV energy systems will still improve. We estimate in the near future all buildings are with solar panels and it replaces for traditional conventional systems.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148105001990

Austrian cuisine and a recipe for Tafelspitz

1.    Popular Austrian cuisines

・Wiener Schnitzel

              This is a beef fillet steak in Vienna style. Today you can see these types of fillet steak in many other countries as well.

・Wiener Tafelspitz

              It’s a type of beef stew. The Emperor Franz Joseph Ⅰ loved this and many citizens used to try to eat it for lunch although it’s a pretty expensive cuisine.

・Salami, Schinken (slices of ham)

              Austrians consume more pork meat than any other kind of meat. These foods are also inventions to preserve rare meat longer.

・Wiener ausgebak-kener Karphen

              It’s a piece of carp fish (very popular in Austria today) with dices of vegetables.

・lobster

              Lobsters had been imported from Czech or Hungary. But today they’re pretty rare in Austria.

・potato salad

              Austria is a big consumer of potatoes.

・Klare Rindsuppe

              It’s Austrian traditional soup (tasted with beef and consommé)

・Schlagobers

              Whip cream is not only essential for Austrian sweets but also popular delight by itself.

2.Today’s recipe

Tafelspitz

Ingredients (for 6 people)

Beef・・・As much as you want

Chives・・・As much as you want

Consommé・・・One block

Spinach・・・One bunch

White sauce・・・As much as you want (not too much)

Apple・・・half a piece

Horseradish・・・Some (as much as you want)

Lemon juice・・・a little

Salt and pepper・・・a little

Carrots and potatoes・・・These vegetables are optional. If you like, you can use them as much as you want.

1.      Simmer blocks of beef meat with consommé soup for 5 hours on low heat. (If you are to use a pressure cooker, it’ll take only 2 hours.)

2.      Cool these blocks meet off in a fridge for 2 hours.

3.      Cut these cold blocks meet into a size of a steak

4.      Put salt and pepper on these blocks. Put prepared meat on a plate and heat them up with consommé soup.

5.      Put meet on your dish with cut chives and following 2 sauces. Don’t forget to put consommé soup, too.

Spinach sauce

Puree boiled spinach well. Mix it with white sauce. If you like, you can arrange the taste with salt and pepper.

   Apple sauce

              Grate an apple and mix it with lemon juice and a little salt and pepper. Simmer it and put a horseradish in the end.

              I recommend you to use a pressure cooker for this recipe. Also you should make 2 sauces while you’re simmering blocks of meat so that you can use your time more effectively.

3 What’s Austrian cuisine? Why Tafelspitz?

              Although many people may think Austria is extremely influenced by Germany, there was an era when the empire prospered and their own culture was widely popular. Also surrounded by many neighbor countries like Germany, Czech, Hungary, Balkan peninsula and so on, their cuisine has been improved in many ways. Especially, variations of soup and delights are notable.

              Sadly, today Austria no longer has the cultural impact on the entire world. Traditional beef dish has been replaced by cheap pork meat and they don’t import much fish and many lobsters any more like they used to. Of course, their traditional foods are still alive, however, we may not see them so many times in our daily lives.

              That’s why I choose Tafelspitz as an Austrian representative cuisine. Tafelspitz used to be an Emperor’s favorite and known as an expensive food. As you see in the recipe, it takes about 8 hours to make this cuisine if you don’t use a pressure cooker. And Tafelspitz includes an aspect of old good Austrian beef dish and tasty and nutritious soup culture.

              What’s more, Tafelspitz is known as a healthy dish. Originally, Tafelspitz means a part of meat of a cow’s back which contains little fat. This dish also has good chives and other vegetables. And having hot soup heats you up from an inside of your body. This shall keep you healthy especially from now, a cold winter.

              If you have it for lunch, you may feel being the old Austrian nobles.

References

Tikyu no arukikata.jp

http://tokuhain.arukikata.co.jp/vienna/2012/10/post_543.html

cookpad

http://cookpad.com/recipe/2468463

hankyu travel

http://blog.hankyu-travel.com/kaigai/europe/east-eur/2013/120759.php

http://wikipedia.db.ss.is.nagoya-u.ac.jp/wiki/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E6%96%99%E7%90%86

And my Austrian friend

Two weeks trip on Palestine

March 2, 2015

              This day is the first day of our travel. The reason why we chose this time for our travel was that we have the long spring vacation and we thought this season was comfortable.

              We’ll arrive at Narita airport about two hours before getting on our airport, and go through boarding procedures. We are going to leave Japan at about 1 p.m. Japan time and arrive at Moscow in Russia at about 6 p.m. Russia time. We change the airplane there and we arrive at Tel Aviv in Israel at about 11 p.m. local time. This route will takes about 17 hours, but this is the cheapest (about 50000 yen). That’s why we will follow this route.

              We reach Tel Aviv late at night, so we will stay at Momo’s hotel near the airport. However, it will take 30 to 40 minutes to arrive at the hotel from the airport. Because of going out late at night, we’re planning to get on a taxi to the hotel, not trains.

March 3

             We’ll walk or get on Shertoes, which are like a taxi that runs in fixed routes, and see the scenery in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a leading developed city in Israel, so we can feel and know the city culture in the Middle East and understand what the life of people who live in a city of the Middle East is like.

We’re planning to go to Helena Rubinstein Pavilion of Contemporary Art as one of city cultures in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is famous for contemporary arts, and the museum displays a lot of works made in Tel Aviv. Also, as a sightseeing of city cultures, we are going to Karmel market. We can see foods and clothes of people in Tel Aviv. If we forget something, we can buy and make up.

The next day, we will go sightseeing in Beer Sheva, so we need to finish dinner until 5 p.m. and leave Tel Aviv early because it will takes one and a half hours by bus and the buses to Beer Sheva don’t run frequently. Beer Sheva is a country town and there are not many hotels. So we’ll stay at Beit Yatziv Guest House though the charges are a little expensive.

March 4

              There are a reason why we decided to travel to Beer Sheva. The reason is that we want to see and feel cultures of the Bedouin, which is nomads who live in a desert. The Joe Alon Center is a good spot for our wish. This center is like a museum and many tools used by Bedouin are displayed. Also, we can ride on a camel and enjoy eating traditional Bedouin foods.

              The next day, we’ll planning to walk around Negev desert. That’s why we have to leave Beer Sheva early like the day before this day. We will travel in March and the season will be comfortable, but the weather in a desert may be hot even in March and we may sweat sometimes. So in Ngev desert, we’ll stay a hotel room with a shower.

March 5 - 6

              Negev desert is a harsh natural environments. It doesn’t allow people to live there except the Bedouin. Therefore, beautiful and magnificent nature remains there as it is. We cannot see such a scene created by harsh desert environments in Japan. That’s why we want to go there and feel the nature in Negev desert.

              We’ll planning to two national parks. The first park is Ein Avdat National Park. This park is famous for ravines in the desert and has an observation deck where we can look out the desert. It will take about two hours to complete the walking course, so we need to prepare sporty clothes, sunglasses and enough water. The second park is Avdat Natinal Park. This park is famous for ancient buildings. There remains ancient bathhouse, church and engraving. These parks will teach us the wonderfulness of the desert nature.

March 7

              We are going to go to a zoo: Bio Ramon. This zoo is a little small but, we can see animals, reptiles and insects which live around there. In Japan, we cannot see the creatures which live in a desert easily, so it will be a precious experience to go there.

              This day, we leave Negev desert and go to a city in Palestine, Bethlehem by bus. It will take about 5 hours, so we leave there around noon. Around Negev desert, buses don’t run frequently. If we miss one bus, we may wait for many hours. So we need to check the schedule of bus service in advance. Also, we have to remember that we need to change the bus of Israel into that of Palestine before entering Palestine.

March 8

              Bethlehem is said to be the place where Jesus Christ was born and there are a lot of buildings related to Christianity. Also, in the city, Many Arabs who believe Christianity, not Islamism, live. We want to see cultures of Christianity made by Arabs.

              Bethlehem is a city in Palestine, so there are some good restaurants. For our dinner, we are going to a restaurant in Bethlehem, Ab Aries. This restaurant is said to make the most delicious Shwarma in Bethlehem, which is a famous food of the Middle East. The restaurant is said not to have its signboard, but if you want to go there, you should look for a signboard of Coca-Cola.

March 9

              We’ll leave Bayt Lahm and stay in Jerusalem. To take the bus is the simplest and cheapest way to get there. The bus is from the bus stop at Herbon Rd., and we are to take the bus of No.21. It takes about an hour and costs 7.3NIS.

              Jerusalem is the capital of Israel (however, many nations deny this.) and one of the most important place for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. So, there are many sacred places to see in the old city in Jerusalem and that’s why we cannot miss this city.

              In Jerusalem, first, we`ll see the old city. There are districts for Muslims, Christians, Jews and Armenians, which is pretty uncommon. In the morning we’ll see the big wall surrounding this city and 8 gates. It costs 16 NIS to go sightseeing around the wall.

              After eating lunch and shopping in the market, we can go walking on the rooftop to see the great view of Jerusalem. Afterwards, we’ll visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, known for its history of the destruction and rebuilding. We won’t be charged for sightseeing, but we need to be careful for unscrupulous merchants.

              Our accommodation from March 9 to 12 will be Hilel 11. There is a discount for a double room, so staying there will cost about 36000 yens (Reservation should be made before we arrive there.)

March 10

              We`ll see the rest of the places to go in Jerusalem on this day. First, we’ll visit Via Dolorosa. This is the legendary road where Christians say Jesus walk to accept his death penalty. Then we can see Qubba al-Sakhra, the best Muslim architecture. There’s also Abraham’s sacred stone, which is important for not only Muslims but also Christians and Jews. At last we can finally see Wailing Wall for Jewish. But we need to remember we are supposed to put on a Jewish hat to enter as a rule. We can go through these three buildings for free.

              After lunch, we’ll see Jerusalem District (a museum). There we can see many religious exhibits including famous Dead Sea Scrolls. Entrance fee is 42 NIS.

March 11

              On this day, we’ll go on a day trip to Hebron, which is close to Jerusalem. We’ll get a taxi to Hebron and it’ll cost 15NIS. After 20 minutes drive, we begin a tour in the old city. However, Hebron is under the control of Israel and some exhibitions or stores may be close. Therefore, we may enjoy ourselves in markets and understand what an occupation is like. Also, we can see Haram al-kalil, Abraham’s tomb there. There we’ll see many Jews under the oppression as well.

              After lunch in the market, we’ll visit the archeological museum in Hebron to see the history in Hebron from the era of Kanan to Islam. If we have some time, we can also go to see the oak of Abraham as well.

March 12

              On this day, we are to leave Jerusalem and get to Ram Allah, a city of youth in Palestine. After 30 minutes of bus trip from Damascus Gate (7~8NIS), we begin a tour in the museum of Ram Allah. Its exhibitions reveal some secrets of the history in Palestine, which has prolonged for more than several thousand years. Since this museum used to be a residence, we can also see the life of Palestinians.

              After leaning history, we’ll head to the main town to feel Palestine new culture. Among some tall buildings, we can go to the Star and Bucks in Palestine. Also we can eat the best ice cream at Rukab’s ice cream, the most popular ice cream shop in Palestine.

              Our hotel for this day will be Caesar hotel. It’s one of the most popular hotel in Ram Allah and it costs about 16000 yen, which is considered to be pretty good deal for their service including great foods.

             

March 13     

              For the sake of our last sightseeing in Palestine, we’ll head to Nablus, an old town famous for its olive production. We can take either a bus or a taxi to go to Nablus and whichever way we take, it’ll be one hour drive from Ram Allah. (10~15NIS)

              And sightseeing in Nablus shall include many opportunities of shopping. We can get good herb tea and olive soap for a good deal (about 5 NIS).

              And we can do not only shopping but like go to a public bath called Hammam. Hammam is influenced by Roman culture of a public bath and used to be an important place for communication. Entrance fee is 18NIS, and more 10NIS to get a massage service. And after we’re done with shopping, we take a taxi to Jacob’s fountain. (10 minutes drive and it costs 15NIS) It’s well known for the origin of Islam and a beautiful marble building. We need to get there by 4pm to enter and see the fountain although we won’t be charged for entrance.

              Our hotel for this day will be Al-Yasmeen hotel. Unfortunately, we don’t have so many options on our accommodation in Nablus. It’ll cost about 15000 yen for one double room.

March 14

              Since the security in Israel is so strict that there may be a chance that we miss our flight because of a long official’s testifying at the airport, we’ll head to Jordan and have a flight from Amman.

              After 2 hours drive from Nablus (it costs about 25NIS), we arrive at Allenby Bridge, which is the gate to Jordan. We need to prepare for Jordan Dollar to get ourselves checked before entry in Jordan. It totally costs about 5JD and 200NIS for all check, facility use and our luggage. After all of checks, we get into Jordan and we need to take a bus or taxi to Amman airport. (Fee is no decided. It’s up to our negotiation with a driver.)

                We’ll try to get an airport by 2pm. There, we take a plane to Tokyo. Our flight will be Qatar airline whose departure is 4pm. After exchange in Doha, we can finally go back to our sweet home, Japan (Narita Airport). This flight will cost 116,090 yen.

Consederation

・We don’t need VISA to enter Palestine for the sake of sightseeing. However, we need to take Jordan VISA to get into Jordan even for a day. That means we need to go to a Jordan embassy before our trip to get VISA.

・Since we don’t go to Gaza area where there’s almost always a combat, we don’t have so much risk of getting involved in attack during this trip. However, needless to say, we always need to be more careful and avoid a suspicious place.

・At an airport in Israel, it takes a quite long to go through the security gate. We need to prepare for many questions and avoid vague behavior.

・In some places, we need to follow their religious customs. We may not need to think about it so serious before our trip though because people there will teach us about it.