I won't get in to politics and staff like that but will give you the way it's influencing the Nazareth, the Inn and I.
We are all safe and sound and that's the most important thing. But not everyone are fourteen as us. Two kids died from a direct katyusha in Nazareth and dozens other in the north of Israel. Many left there homes and move to southern areas seeking for peace and quite.
Tourism as can be expected stop completely. We have 100% cancellation and the Inn is empty. The first two weeks of July were very promising though. We had many guest 2/3 of them foreigners, all indications showed that it's going to be this way till November.

We had many good signs:
• We had a visit from the Lonely Planet reporter and going to be in the 2007 addition if it will ever be printed…
• We had few big groups booking from Spain, Italy and England
• A fashion shooting for Italian magazine was held at the Inn hope to have picture soon)
• I made a contact with group of investor that wanted to open hostels all over Israel and I should have 1/3 of the company and be the first CEO
• Other investor offered me to invest in a building in another Galilean town and let me open a guest house there
• We were supposed to move into our new house 2 weeks ago

All that came to a hold when the war started. We are standing in front of a huge economic challenge; I believe that it will take month if not more till incoming tourism will get to where it was. I believe that just next summer if all will be quite in that time we will get back to normal.

It definitely makes me wonder if what I'm doing is right and make sense. Should I invest and renovate the Inn? Expand and build more rooms? Or is it all a waste of time?
For now I try to be optimistic and hope that it will all end soon and quite & stability will come back to this land.

For now we are still living in Shlomit's mother house and spending the time with Liad. He is amazing kid, though the last night he woke up to many times… He smiles all the time to everyone he sees and brings us a lot of joy and happiness. Shlomit is going to work at Intel Haifa, start form mid September (subject to the war ending) and we will move to Tivon (small town 20 minutes from Nazareth) when it's get quite.

We plan to go to Turkey for a week or so in the coming month – just to relax and enjoy our little family

I still getting a very good PR and got my name and the Inn mention in the economic news paper concerning to the war ant the way it's impacting the tourism. I was on National TV on a reality show that is the Israeli version of "Dragon's Den" from the BBC. I presented Jesus trail trying to raise money from the Investor and advertising the Inn & Myself in the same time. I got no money but very good PR which is why I wanted to be on the show.

I'm applying for Social Enraptures grant that might put my economic struggle into rest… Only2-3 people get it every year so the chances are not that good. Any why I work very hard on my application so I decided to add it to this post.

For those of you that are too tired from reading it, I will say my farewell now: Take care where ever you are and may Love & Peace will come to the Middle East in our life time!!!

My Application for social entrepreneur grant:

Explain why you define yourself as a social entrepreneur? Please explain in no more than 100 words.
I opened a business in the middle of one of the poorest neighborhoods in Israel. I work and collaborate with the community and I contribute to its development in all area. I'm using local resources and creating new work places, raise the self image of the local community, and allow economical growth while keeping the universal values of nature and environment perseverance.

I am creating, for the first time in Nazareth (The largest Arab city in Israel) a new model of tourism and thus "break the wall" between Arab and Jews.
At the same time, I am creating a model for new tourism along The Israel National Trail (Shvil Israel) and promoting the trail and his economic potential.

Give a short summery of your project:
On May 2005 the Azar family and I opened The Fauzi Azar Inn as a guest house.
The Inn has seven rooms, and can accommodate up to 32 people.
Half of our guests are Israeli Jews and the other half are tourists from all over the world. Our guests enjoy a unique, authentic experience and get a glimpse of life in nowadays Nazareth. The Inn employs five people directly, and perpetuates income to neighboring businesses such as restaurants, shops, tour guides, taxi drivers, laundry services etc.
The average capacity is 40% and I expect to raise it to 60% by next year.
Many newspaper articles were written about us, praising us and the work we are doing (Attached Appendix with some articles)

My plan to expand is as follows:
1. Renovate more rooms, as the demand for more accommodation rise, and future weekends are fully booked two months ahead.
2. Open a coffee shop that will employ high school dropouts.
3. Start a learning center for English, Hebrew and Arabic.

As my plan will progress, I will continue to develop the Inn as an Eco Tourism Center model where both community and visitors benefit, and support each other.
High school dropouts will work in a regular job and improve their self esteem.
More people will be employed directly and indirectly and a strong business center will evolve.

Why your initiative is considered visionary and on what basic problems of the Israeli society it answers?

The Inn establishment at the middle of the “Suk” neighborhood is considered innovative as it is the first time a guest house was opened in this area.
The Inn's existence expands the limits of tourism here by attracting visitors such as Israelis and low budgeted tourists, who would not have stayed overnight otherwise in the city.

The vision of the inn addresses several root problems in the Israeli society, such as inner city poverty, and Israeli Jewish – Israeli Arabs tension and alienation.

The "Suk" neighborhood, which knew many years of neglect, deterioration, crime and drugs, is now free of drugs and crime thanks to the community police.

But, the city needs a social anchor to make it flourish, as it still has a bad reputation, and many of the residents are unemployed, teenagers quit school at a young age, and shops area are shut down.

Upon opening the inn in May 2005, I was referred to as "insane" by many people from the tourism establishment and by the business people of Nazareth. Now, after one year the inn is being operated successfully, I am called "brave" and "a man of vision".

I truly believe that with your fellowship and support, The Fauzi Azar Inn will be a model for Social Entrepreneurship and will show how a business can change the local community and the Israeli society.

In May we celebrated the Fauzi Azar Inn?€™s first birthday. A lot was accomplished in one year and much more is to be done in the years to come.

Our vision:
?€¢ To show our guests the beauty of Nazareth, make them feel at home and give them the best service we can
?€¢ To generate satellite businesses and to support the local community by making The Old City of Nazareth into a touristy center
?€¢ To create a model for substation truism along the Israel National Trail

This week, a local artist is opening a gallery in the Inn?€™s complex. We give her our full support and hope others will follow!!!

The First Year:
?€¢ We have 7 rooms
?€¢ We can accommodate 32 people
?€¢ The average monthly occupancy is 40% and the forecast for the second year is 60%
?€¢ We established great relationship with the Old City community and are getting the people?€™s respect and friendship
?€¢ The Inn gets very good public relation which spills over to the entire city
?€¢ We had many, many guests who are now our ambassadors around the world and we are grateful to them
?€¢ We were selected as the best new operator in the accommodation business by the number one Israeli travel & maps publisher (MAPA)
?€¢ We are building our reputation rapidly and on the way to make The Fauzi Azar Inn known worldwide

Support us:
If you can spare a few minutes of your time to email the following guide book publishers and tell them about us and Nazareth it will help us tremendously:
?€¢ Lonely Planet
?€¢ Let's Go
?€¢ Foot Print

If you know any other guides in other languages - even better!

Join the Inn's staff:
Want to come and join our vision and have a meaningful experience? There is an endless thing to do at the Inn and in the community (We would like to start an English course?€¦) ?€“ contact me for more information and details

Inn?€™s News:
?€¢ We are getting ready for the summer and hope to be extremely busy with guests
?€¢ We are planning the next renovation, adding 3 more rooms. Probably not before September
?€¢ Vladi & Yuri are on 5 week vacation, visiting their family in Ukraine
?€¢ Michal and Gabi are our new recruitments. Michal is the Inn's host and Gabi taking care for all the rest
?€¢ We are expecting Marino, our first volunteer, to come from Montr?©al next week and we wish him a great stay

Personal Update:
?€¢ Liad is 4 months old and it's like he has been with us forever
?€¢ You can check his recent albums
?€¢ Next month we are moving to Tivon, a small town 20 minutes from Nazareth. We have not had our own home for about two and half years?€¦
?€¢ If every thing goes as planed we are going to spend September on a beach resort. Will keep you update if anyone want to join us?€¦?
?€¢ Magen, my beloved brother, is doing his way a long the Silk Road and we all miss him

Love & Peace World Wide

Maoz Inon &
The Inn's Staff
www.fauziazarinn.com

We found a place to live 20 minutes from Nazareth and will move there in July, It's a new house so there is still some work to do before we can move in. Shlomit quit her job and will try to move to Intel develop center in Haifa

Much is happening at the Inn.
We are getting more and more guest and on April we had almost 80 % capacity and it was the best month so far. Our customers are half Israeli and half overseas. We had a Zen gathering with a Master from Paris 2 weeks ago and 32 students from the US stayed for 9 night half board in April

We still got 7 rooms but thinking how and when to expand. If we had 15 rooms they would all be booked over the weekends!

The Inn's staff is getting reinforcement. Michal from Jaffa is coming to be the host starting next week and I hope she would like it around here, and will stay for few months.
Vladi & Yuri are going to visit their family in Ukraine after 4 years. They will be gone for 5 weeks and Gabi our neighbor will take their place.
Marino from Montr?al found us on the net and instead of going to a Kibbutz will help us here; he should come in Mid June.
Magen said final goodbye and after hiking the INT is now following the silk road, you can read is blog - http://mageninon.blogspot.com/

Nazareth is getting ready for the summer and the signs are that it will bring many tourists with it. I surely hope so both the Inn and Nazareth are in need for new people and visitor that will bring positive energy with them.

I'm working on few projects beside the inn, Liad and moving to the north:
1. Bringing volunteers from the EU to Nazareth to support the local community
2. Jesus Trail – I'm trying to find investors and to get the authorities support. I'm going on national TV on a new realty show (The Sharks) with this project. The shooting are next Tuesday and I'm now practicing my presentation … I'm asking for 150,000 US from the show investor. I'll know by next week if I get the money and it will be broadcast in few months.
3. I'm looking on a way to finance the Inn expansion, meeting with banks and so on
4. I've another big project but its still confidence… Next post hopes it will go public.

The 30 minutes had past and I hope you get a picture of my whereabouts
Love & Peace from Nazareth
Maoz

Hey, It's Maoz here.
I'm in Tel Aviv sitting in front of the PC while Shlomit is still in bed. We are entering the 10-th month of the pregnancy, what means that it can be any time now.
It's all very exciting, confusing and frightening – Me & Shlomit parents? A lot of responsibilities and new priorities. I hope everything will go well and that both Shlomit and the baby will be fine.
The Inn is in Magen's hand and he is doing great job and gets many compliment from our guest. I'm not sure yet what will I do after Magen is gone – mid February – but I hope for good.

We, Magen & I are very happy with the guest who come to the Inn. One of them is Benjamin, who stayed in the dorm for about 10 days. I asked him to write something for the Inn's blog, I'm sure you will like that.

Benjamin post:

Hello …

You might like to print this before you read it :-)
My Dear Friends, for the ones who don’t know: I am in Israel since the middle of December. This journey has so far passed way beyond Jerusalem.

So, finally I was in JERUSALEM! Jerusalem, city of the Lord. Praise be upon you, Yerushalaim – I thought.
Damn you Jerusalem, you sinner among cities. Your beauty, your sanctity, your history is drowned in outbursts of shouts of the ever present marketplace that you are. Your Holiness is pushed back into enclaves where it hides like a prisoner. The history you bear is stamped into the ground. Your stones are outworn from the cries they have given every day for over three thousand years. Oh my, Jerusalem! Let me close my eyes on you.
I came to myself when moving into a hotel on the Mount of Olives that overlooks the site of the temple with Salomon’s gate where nowadays stands the hymn to Islamic Art in Architecture: the Dome of the Rock with its magnificent golden cupola. On the Mount of Olives, as Christians believe, the Lord ascended into the Heavens. Here I breathed fresh air and came to my senses. After all I was here not only on a visit, I had a goal: find a place, find a teacher and start learning. Five days had passed and I was caught in the Christmas & New Years turmoil of the common tourist. It span around me like a Hurricane, hovering over my senses like a vacuum cleaner, robbing me the ability of acting towards my aim. Every night I laid in my bed I counted the sights I had seen - every morning I opened my eyes I went through the list of to-dos. And then there was this strange voice singing to me like a sirene or and even like an angel. And the voice said “Nazareth”.

In the end I had found up to 8 different teachers but nowhere to lay my head and call a place my home. Don’t get me wrong, the city is beautiful and extreemely fascinating - but Jerusalem had worn me out like an old shoe and played on my nerves like a torn banjo. One early morning I set foot on a bus to Nazareth. Leaving Jerusalem was like rowing through one big, sticky traffic-jam, which is the biggest problem of its centre. I got some sleep on road number 6 that leads from south to north. During the short periods when I wakened I counted cities on the western horizon: Jaffa, Tel Aviv south and north, Herzliya, Petuach, and Nethanya. On the junction to either west: Haifa (which I haven’t seen yet) or east: Tiberias (on lake Genezereth (Kinereth)) I entered into an unexpected new world when we turned east. After passing a very narrow valley the loveliness of the Galilee lands stretched out in front of me in a spring-like colour and embraced the lonely traveler with the softness of its landscape. What a beautiful piece of land you are, like the heaven on earth. Green on green your are, hills steep and flat combine with small mountains at your back. Joy you bring Galilee to handsome towns that cuddle between hills, look from atop of it, crawl down over its tops or wind down slopes and spread into your plains. Blessed you are Galilee that you bear the name of the Saviour: Nazareth.

Here I was, Nazareth: While strolling the labyrinth of the Old Town (almost all Old Towns in Israel were or are Arab) which starts off in one big Arab market, “Souk”, before it mounts the hills behind it, I found myself entangled in a quiet and peaceful community. Sanity was at home here, a community where neighbors know and respect each other lives here. Getting lost behind numerous turns and twists of the ancient, pedestrian lanes that are all well paved with a bright stone I went up and down some flights of stairs that seem to lead its walker deeper into the net of streets of its nucleus. My day was an enchantment, my senses rested; my taste was met by a subtle buzz of the close by Souk. Closer to the evening, tired from extended sightseeing but content with having seen such defined beauty, I entered a caf? in one of the many narrow streets on one of the many corners where the flavour of Arabic coffee invited me for a seat. Night feel. Street lights were lit and pasted their shiny yellow onto the white, beige, rose and brown of the natural stones of the precincts. My last bus back to Jerusalem had probably left. How would I manage, where would I stay? No one spoke English, or any other language besides Arab or Hebrew. – Funduk? I asked. Hotel? The whole place lifted its heads like one. I had a dozen pair of eyes on me. Then they started off: Fauzi Azar, Fauzi Azar. I understood it is a hostel? Round the corner? Maoz and Magen run it? Someone took me my by the hand and point into the next lane of the unmemorizeable, ancient labyrinth of streets:

There, here,
here and there,
not so far,
the Fauzi Azar,
from here may be meters ten,
Maoz and Magen.

Did I know beauty before I entered the magic of this Oasis within Nazareth’s Old Town? I doubt it deeply. Through the tiniest door I have ever passed through I was let into an ancient Arab court yard. Walls around me 15 metres high with tall windows gently looking down on me from atop greeting the homeless silently, quiet, honoured. Up the walls led a steep staircase made of the same light-colored, strong stone as every house in this town. I mounted and entered the oriental dream of any traveller. My eyes stood wide open. Ceilings covered all over with colorful frescos some hundred years old displaying flowers, birds and angels rose 5 meters high over white marble floors. Lines of fairy tales entered my mind. What did Sheherazade tell her master through 1001 nights. Where did the story lead to? Was it here in Nazareth that it ended? I took another breath: a window front of three traditional ceiling-high windows, each one culminating in a gothic arc, gave a splendid view over the picturesque vicinity from the spacious saloon, overlooking the roofs of the neighboring houses way into to hilly green of Galilee. I guessed my journey had come to an end. Let me rest at this legend of a house that greeted me through its owners Maoz and Magen like a family member long lost and now returned to be found by his siblings. Let me rest in the peaceful atmosphere above the shiny stones of the Souk. Let me have a dream of becoming their neighbors and sleep to the everlasting sounds of the church bells and the muezzins that both chant glory to the Everlasting: Allahu Akbar – God is Great!

Benjamin

In this post:
• The Inn’s update
• Short story
• And the soon to be world famous “Jesus Trail”

I’m sitting now at the Inn. We have 27 bed occupied tonight and we are going to have gull hose till the end of the month. Good news, I know.
Sholomit is getting into the last month of the pregnancy, so far so good. We re living with her mom in T.A and Magen is taking care for the Inn. Tonight I’ll stay here and Magen went to visit our parents.
Life is very fast and interesting at the moment and the more is still to come, I’m going to be a FATHER!!! My mind and brain is working in full capacity and it makes me feel very good about myself.

So much is happening and I think it’s going to be a waist of time to even start telling you. I’ll tell you one story from one of many that are happening here at the moment so you will have an idea

On the last days of my 2004 World Tour, I met an Israeli family in New-Zealand. My mind was very focus and while sharing a bottle or 2 of wine I told them about my vision of opening a guest house in Nazareth. They were very nice people and we stayed in touch through email and this blog since. The daughter – Shira, told me that she is joining a ballet group from Paris after coming back from NZ. The parents had visited me twice at the Inn; they are living in a kibbutz close by. To make a long story short, a month ago I’m getting a phone from Haim, Shira’s Ballet group manager, phone call from Paris. He made reservation for 4 rooms for 10 nights. They are staying here tonight, it’s their 5th night. If it’s not enough, Shira is a good friend of Sharon, (who is my sister best friend) who brought her acupuncture school to a 7 day seminar back in September.

All the Fridays till March are fully booked or got one or two rooms left. There is a chance that a new coffee shop will be open next to me and I start working on “Jesus Trail”.
Here is the first draft of the Trail’s marketing brochure:

The Inn's Tour Operation office is the founder of The Jesus Trail – 3-6 days hiking trail from Nazareth to Capernaum which go over major christen sites such as: Mt Tabor, The Jordan River and The See of Galilee.

Jesus trail

The Trail will take you to the places were Christianity was born from Nazareth the City of Annunciation to Capernaum. We will Climb Mt. Tabor and deep in The Jordan River, We will walk the trails, climb the Hills and walk down the Valleys that were used by Jesus and his followers
The Trail will give a rare chance to look back 2000 years ago, to learn about Jesus life style and to follow his steps

Places of interest
• Nazareth
• Mt. Precipice
• Mt. Tabor
• Jordan River
• See Of Galilee
• Tiberius
• Capernaum

Other Attractions:
• Varity of lodging: Arab Village, Bedouin tent, Kibbutz, camping on the See of Galilee shore, Monastery
• Amazing scenery of the Jordan River and The See Of Galilee

The Tour Include:
• Accommodation, in the communities a long the trail and 1 night camping
• Full board – 3 meals a day and drinking water
• Experience Guide
• Transportation back to Nazareth
• Carrying your Backpack
• The Trail T-Shirt

Much work still needs to be done but I’m glad that I started.

Its morning now, I’m posting it and waiting to hear what you think about my new project

The last weekend (28.11.05) was very special for us at the Fauzi Azar Inn, all the rooms were occupied by family members from our father’s side. Some of the 30+ guests were at the inn for the first time and they were very excited and enjoyed themselves a lot. Personally I had liked the different meeting with my bigger family, since usually we only meet at weddings and there’s no real communication in those. They had a guided tour in Nazareth during Saturday and the last family members left the house around 19:30.

After everyone left and I was all by myself for the first time at the Inn, I’ve started to feel a bit lonely; it reminded me of the feeling I had while traveling in other countries by my own. Plus, because of Ramadan, and it coming to and end, the kids of the neighborhood are making a lot of noise during the evenings using TNT middle weight bombs, which they call firecrackers. It is very strange for me to live in a crowded built place, since I’ve always lived in small villages and could never have heard the neighbors chewing dinner, I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.

Luckily we’ve had some nice guests during the last 2 nights, on Sunday a group of 4 med school graduates, an English guy and an American. Taking care of the guests and sitting around the living room with them is great, I look forward to have more and more guests in the future.

It’s quite amazing to see how Maoz is dealing with the local environment, when we walk around the market he’s got time for the smallest merchant and in the evening he’s having a short conversation with the mayor. He’s working hard but I think he’s earning the respect of the people of Nazareth, which means a lot.

Spending the nights at the Inn sometimes turns into an interesting adventure, since the door is always open, and you don’t know who’s going to come. During the few days I was here, we had a visit from a confused local Arabic poet (she is going to be our Arabic teacher and will probably get a whole paragraph on the next blog entry) who wrote a play while sitting a few hours in the main hall. The day after came a British couple, both are physics scientists, and they’re here as guests of the Nazareth tourism foundation giving lectures for school pupils in the city. The woman was a rather large black woman, much like a gospel singer, and the man was white, thin and wearing glasses looking like a dried Bill Gates. The woman kept saying “OH, YES” very exaggeratedly (?this word is complimentary from Microsoft), and from one “OH, YES” to another “OH, YES”, I figured she must be one of the two, either very dumb or a genius incapable of normal human contact, I’d bet on the second option. Another interesting visit was when the local police force showed up with one of the stronger persons in the old city (one might say from the local mafia). There were 5 officers and him, and it wasn’t quite clear who’s under who’s law. Maoz did most of the talking and it ended up with the big guy asking us to come and visit his house, maybe he’d like to guest tourists also.

So, getting to current time, our largest group yet, almost 50 people came to the FAI last night. The group is engaged in a political march for peace, which they started from near Tiberius (The Sea Of Galilee) and will go through Israel and the Occupied Territories all the way to Jerusalem. They are staying at the FAI for 2 nights and tomorrow will get up early (they say it’ll be 5am) and start making their way to Kibbutz Megiddo, about 20k from Nazareth. Although we haven’t got 50 beds to host them, they’ve managed the last night, sleeping on mattresses and on the mat covered yard.

The day of their arrival started with stormy weather, Maoz and I thought it’ll be nice to greet them with a hot soup so Yuri (Vladi’s brother) made an excellent one. The effort was much appreciated. Hosting so many guests at once is a very tiring work and I was stressed much of the time. Most of them were very polite Germans so when ever someone needed something out of me it started with:”May I ask only one question?” and than would follow the second question:”Can you help me carry the things from the car/ make another soup/ show me the way to the market/ fix my computer /find my luggage which was lost somewhere above Spain?” Do you remember how “The Wolf” played by De-Niro in Pulp Fiction is describing his job? That was the kind of mood I was in.

I think I’ll never get to current time because it is always changing (without getting into the river issue even once), while writing the last part of the Blog last night, Maoz called at around 11pm and told me that there’re 4 Americans looking for a place to stay, so I had to solve that to. I must say I’m starting to like it here, it’s an ongoing adventure.

I’ll wrap things up by telling you we are hosting a family of 12 celebrating their parents’ 40th anniversary, they’re very nice and didn’t mind the few drops of water that came from the painted ceiling during a very heavy rain last night. Don’t worry; we are going to fix that tomorrow, Insh’alha.
Love,
Magen Inon

The staff at the Inn is up to 4. My young beloved brother Magen came to help and support us for 2-3 month before taking off for his travelling. Vladi's brother is also here what makes us "The Four Brothers". Magen study for his SAT and is now the host while Yuri, Vladi's brother, helping Vladi with the maintains, cleaning and cooking.

While I'm here in T.A Magen is hosting a 50 people group from a peace pilgrimage who walk from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem. I'm feeling honored to accommodate them since this is one of the reasons why I opened the Inn in Nazareth – For Hikers who will walk the same route they are now walking!!!

Our next 5 Fridays are fully booked which is great news for my cash flow… and is a sign that I'm going in the right way. We are getting great feedbacks from our guests and they are sending us there friends, family and even come back again.

Last weekend we host my father side of the family, 30 people altogether. It was the first time I sow some of my cousins since my 2004 World Tour, 18 months away. Everyone had great time including dinner arranged by Odette, the daughter of Fauzi Azar and a day tour in Nazareth. I was working very hard but it was a privilege to give something back to all the people that support me and now me since childhood.
I'm thinking privilege is what I'm feeling most of the time towards my guest. Privilege to meet them, and show them how beautiful Nazareth is. I hope it will stay this way.

We finished painting all the windows and fixing the glasses and tomorrow we are going to install the heating system. The winter as showed his first signs and I'm trying to make the place ready for what ever is going to come. On Monday we start renovating the 7th room which is going to be one of the more beautiful one. I'll load picture soon.

I'm working extremely hard especially with many driving hours, T.A – Nazareth and back but feeling very good about everything. Magen assistance is well needed spiritually and physically.

We are getting very good PR, mainly in Hebrew so far but English is just a matter of time…Here are the links for some of them: NRG, Laisha, Eretz, Mariv

If you are reading this blog, you are most welcome to say Hi in our guest book or email me at info@fauziazarinn.com
Love & Peace
Maoz

I'm going to Jerusalem to sign my loan application. It's already approved. I got 30,000 US $ for 5 years without interest!!! I hope to get the money as soon as possible since I must pay all the contractors.

I had more then 10 INT true-hikers the last 2 weeks and am expecting 1 tonight.

I start get booking for the Jewish holidays and will accommodate 50 people from the Peace Pilgrimage for 3 nights in the beginning of November. I'll tell more about it later. 3 rooms are booked for Christmas.

The 30 people group was huge success and I hope to write about it soon.
I'll try to post some informative post in the next few days, such as: Website statistics, Number of guest and so on.

We (Shlomit & I) just celebrated my 30th birthday. Shlomit bought my 30!!! Different presents and made me feel, again, how lucky I'm to have her as my life partner / wife/ mother of my future soon and as a friend

They are all wrong. My dream is just to enjoy my life, that they would be interesting and that I will exploit all the resource I got in me. For now I found all those in building the Inn and bringing tourist into the old city of Nazareth. When there will be 10 more guesthouses in the Old City, I'm not sure if I'll be around…

There is nothing to fear but fear himself, forgot who said that but as true as ever. It's demanding constant work to keep the fear aside but it's something that one can deal with if he decides that he wants to.

If I'll have guest I will have money to heat the Inn during the winter, If I won't have guests I won't have the need to doing so…

You think I don't need what is there to do? Look what I've done in 4 month! You are more then welcome to join me and help me around here.

But more even more important Shlomit is now my legal wife, After 10 years of partnership and 5 month into the pregnancy we decided to make it "official" and in the first day of September got married in Cyprus with just the two of us attending the civilian ceremony.

I was waiting long time to write this post and got much to write about and to share. The last month was one of the busiest in my life so far and with many emotional ups and down.
• The moving pregnancy and the realization of me going to be a father soon with all the involved responsibilities,
• Our marriage in Cyprus
• The Inn's renovation under the deadline of the group's arrival day
• Shlomit Birthday

All that in one month was almost more than I could handle

I'm sitting in the Inn's hall at the moment, the group study downstairs and Vladimir is cleaning the house.
I'll start with Vladi, my second hand that with out his help I couldn't make it this far and is now working with me for over a month. He got here after a mutual friend told me that is friend got no place to stay in. I gave him a dorm bed for 40 shekel for 4 nights. It was obvious that he needed the money, so I asked him if he want to help me doing the cleaning so he can stay for free. Now he is working a full day, doing all the maintenance, cleaning, and keeping of the place. He gives me the peace of mind to go to Shlomit almost every night and though it's sound like a clich? I don't know what I was doing with out him. Emigrating from Ukraine 4 years ago and not speaking much Hebrew he is my best friend and biggest supporter for the time being.

The pregnancy is moving along fine, we had a regular check yesterday and all the results are exactly as they should be. Hope it will stay this way. Shlomit belly is getting bigger and bigger and I can fill the movements of my future son, it's all very thrilling.

Not everything went smoothly in the last month and I had some difficult and stressing time. When the 30 people group booked it was under the pink world I paint for them of how the place is going to be since I had only 1 and a half showers and toilets back than, no sitting area, just 5 basic rooms with 18 beds.
I promise them 6 rooms with no more than 5 people in each one, dining room, 5!!! Sitting area for small groups to work in, wireless internet connection and I had only 2 month and no money to make all this happen including finding the financial resources.

The day they confirmed there arrival day due to September 17th I had just less than 2 month. I hired my neighbor to start renovation the room downstairs. Till that day the room was a dump place, wet and smelly. I hired architect to design the new plumbing, electricity and reconstruction. In the meanwhile I had to host the guest that I had during this time and to support Shlomit.

Not sleeping with Shlomit every night is the hardest thing of all. The feeling that I'm not there for here and that too much of my energy is devoted to the business and not to her is something we both need to deal with.

I started writing this post 8 days ago, so please forgive me for the break. Usually I'm planning how the post is going to be like and what it's going to include. I'm trying to build it like a chapter in a book. The break surely not helping this…

The last week of August was almost a disaster. The renovation wasn't getting anywhere, I had almost no guest and small little incidents were damaging my confidence.
One night I got a late call at about 0200 am of a couple that are looking for a room, they gave a name of someone who stayed at the Inn a week before. I woke up, gave them the instruction and went to the market to bring them. When I saw them something looked fishy. They had no luggage, no passports; the gay was French and the girl Israeli. I start asking them what are they doing here so late and got more and more suspicion about them.
When we almost got to the Inn I told them that I'm very sorry but I can't give them a room, and that next time they will have to book a head and must bring there passports. The girl did show me here employ card from Tel-Aviv Municipality…

So why was I so suspicious?
Tareq the manager of Nazareth Truism and Culture association once told me:" Nazareth is famous for 3 things: Carpenters, handcrafts and rumors. While the first 2 are in decline the rumors are flourishing"
One of the rumors that spread all over Nazareth when I opened the Inn was that it's a whore house… Sad but true. I wasn't willing to give anyone making this one real.

Any way my mode was pretty low and on Shlomit birthday on August 30th I was so much out of energy that I couldn't celebrate with her and bought her no present… which just made everything worse.

On September 1st we flew to Cyprus, Shlomit & I, and got married in the City Hall. We rented a car and drove to the Elysium, a beautiful resort to celebrate our new marriage and our 10 years of relationship.

The resort was amazing and we both enjoyed it very much. The problem was that my mind was into the not going renovation and the tight schedule I was in.
I can describe it as a huge panic attack or wave with no way to escape. In one point I was worried that I'm getting into a depression (Now the story got a twist).

I suffered from 3 period of depression in my life all of them while being a solder in the Israeli army.
They lasted 2-3 month each and what I remember the most is that everything I ate had no taste at all. All the food I tried was tasteless. Each morning when I woke up and eating my breakfast I wished that this time I'll feel the taste of the food. You can imagine the big disappointment with everyday that after the first bit I, realizing that still nothing.

I'll tell you more about the last 2 weeks of preparation but first I want to explain why I was just telling you on my depression.
I see around me many people that are suffering from the same symptoms and are doing and changing nothing in their life stile. They are waiting for this to go.
From my experience it won't go unless you do something about your life. What helped me recover from the last panic attack was the idea of seeing life as a game. There are no losers or winners and we just need to do our best to enjoy the time we got on this game because we can't no when the "GAME OVER" screen will come.

Coming back from Cyprus I took the challenge I had and with the support of Shlomit, Vladi, family and friend where ready for the group arrival at Saturday September 17th, 1700 in the afternoon just in time to welcome them with Arab Coffee.

After my parents visited me on September 10th, my father was worried that I'm not going to make it. When Vladi told me that there is too much to do I explain him that we are building a puzzle. It took me 5 minutes to explain what a puzzle is. In Russian it's called Mosaic. Since that we both understand one another in a deeper level. I explained him that we are building a Mosaic and then went to the diary and open the page in September 17th, and marked the afternoon, saying that when the Mosaic is going to be ready!!!

If even one person was missing the last weekend of preparation we wouldn't have make it. Shlomit was there as always. Maayan My sister came and I learn a new side of here. The work and energy she brought with here were critical. Mindy who answer my call on Saturday morning and came with Michal her daughter and helped us clean and decorate the Inn, Vladi who came back from church just in time. Gabi and his brother that painted the dinning room and with what ever there was do.

It was an extraordinary weekend. With the first people of the group to arrive we new that it was worth it. There smiles and astonishing face make it clear that it's going to be an excellent week for everyone

***Web site***
• A new web site was launched with multi language support (Hebrew - ???? ??????)
• Updated the Photo Gallery: Check out our Photo Gallery: The Inn, The Guests and The Renovation Progress

***Public Relations***
I invest much effort and time w/ public relations. Seems like my efforts are paid off…

"...a new unique and exotic hotel in the heart of Nazareth old city, is offering a great discount hotel rooms for Christmas holiday in Israel. The hotel great location, beautiful surrounding, unique atmosphere grant a perfect stay for individual travelers and families in their holiday trip to Israel"

Read what the news papers have to say about the Inn and The Fauzi Azar Inn's Press Release

***Israel National Trail***
"Swimming in the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River and visiting the Basilica of the Annunciation will take you to the places where Christianity was born. Walking in the land where the Bible stories unfold and seeing the evidence and the archaeological sites of tales we have grown up with make the trail a holy and spiritual experience for every human being"

Visiting the Inn along w/ walking parts of the trail can make a great holiday experience...Learn more about the trail

***Blog***
I continue to share my thoughts and feelings with you -

"I will open with the greatest news of all and it's that we (Shlomit & I, that's how we say it now days) are ????? and will be ????? in the beginning of 2006."

Read more of Maoz's blog and learn what’s behind the ???...

I hope to see you all in Nazareth!

Hi,It’s after 0100 am and I’m waiting for 17 people group from Holland and you can guess how tired I’m… Never the less it was a very good day.

Yesterday I had 3 walk-in guests from Israel. 3 youngsters that heard about me from 3 French guys that stayed last week. There isn’t like the “Word a Mouth” system.
They stayed just 1 night but this morning the 14 people group got bigger to 17 so I had to move a way from my room and I’ll sleep at my neighbor (Ramzi) hose tonight. I also got an Israeli couple that came in the after noon and they are also staying at my neighbor’s, so as Margaret, a French girl that came for only 1 night about a week ago…

The big group is staying for 10 days which mean that all the new comers are going to sleep at Ramzi’s place. I hope both, he and the guests will like it and then I’ll send all my overbooking to him.

There was a reporter in here today, from an outdoor magazine both in Hebrew & English. I think he like the place and I hope to get an article in the next issue. In the last update I wrote about the article in the Israeli air carrier – El Al – well, it’s just a few words but its better then nothing and I will upload it to the site later on.

Shlomit is feeling better (Or that’s what I think and hope for, anyway) and beside tonight I’m sleeping in T.A every night this week. I have a Russian guy that is staying here and help me with the cleaning for free accommodation. It’s a huge help for me and I hope it will work out.

I had 3 contractors here yesterday and they should give me there proposal for the renovation by Saturday. Or that’s what I hope for cause there isn’t much time before the big group is coming – mid September. Next week the new Dorm should be ready and then the project is divided to 4 parts:
Adding more public shower & toilets plus building an outdoor bar at the rear balcony
Adding 2 private shower & toilets to 2 rooms
Fixing and renovation the Attic’s room
Building public showers & toilets room in the courtyard.
A lot of showers & toilets as you can see…
After the renovation I’ll have 8 rooms and from the feedback I’m getting so far, I hope Ramzi will also get more business from my…

The group isn’t here yet, but I’ll post it any how. It’s after 0130. I planed to go for a morning run but I guess I can forget about it.
Never mind.

Good night and Love & Peace to all of us

Love

Maoz

 I hope this update will reflect the big things that are happening in my life at the moment, and they are big as you will soon read. Of course you will get the full update about the Inn's progress but I hope to start sharing my observation about what was happening so far and not just my "to do list"

Are you ready?
Ok I will open with the greatest news of all and it's that we (Shlomit & I, that's how we say it now days) are pregnant and will be parents in the beginning of 2006. Shlomit is feeling good most of the time, it is now the 17th week to the pregnancy and it's going to be a boy.
We are both very happy and excited about the whole thing and can't wait till the baby come.
I must say that the first few weeks of the pregnancy weren't so easy. With the new Inn in Nazareth, Shlomit working in T.A it all was confusing and a bit frightening. We plan the get pregnant but didn't though that it will happen so fast (10 years…) and the same with the Inn, which I open just 3 month after coming back to Israel.

You can understand how busy, excited and happy we are with all the new things happening at once and we are doing our best to make the best of everything. We are running a double life at the moment.

We are living with S mom in Qiriat Uno, a Tel-Aviv's suburbs and, I'm running the Inn in Nazareth which is 90 minutes drive or 2 and half hours by car. I'm trying to support S as much as possible and in the same time make as much progress with the Inn.

I confess that it's all very challenging but there is now other place or situation that I prefer to be in at the moment. I'm feeling very satisfied and happy to start a family with Shlomit and sure that it's going to be a great new step in our long time relationship.
With the Inn, I start to see the results of the energy that I put in the place and to see the first signs that my vision is becoming into reality. I hope you can share this feeling with me. The other day I took the night bus from Nazareth to TA and was thinking that I don't want to be in any other place in that moment. Though sitting in the night bus I was on my way from my vision to the women I love and I felt very lucky.

I think the last few updates weren’t too good. I think I know why and I'm trying to make this one better. One major problem is that I don't have time to think about what I'm going to write. Exactly the opposite from me trail journal when I had hours of hiking to think about the next update, now I've got so much on my mind that it's almost to much to handle. I am trying to make this one better.

I'm in Qiriat Uno, now. Its Sunday noon and I took a day off to relax and be with Shlomit. Sunday is a weekday in Israel which means that Shlomit is working, but in Nazareth, the only place in Israel, it's Sunday like most of you know. The market is closed, the roads are empty and not much is happening.

I got 7 guests at the moment. American family with 3 children that came for a week, a French girl which is her 4th nigh and a guy from Upper Nazareth who is a friend of a friend. On Wednesday there is a 14 people group from Holland coming for 10 days, I'm not sure yet if I've got enough beds for them all. I'm going to be extremely busy tomorrow.

A couple that is originally my parents friends, Benny & Lella are also coming on Wednesday to help me with the renovation. We have become good friend last year on a tour that I joined my father's friends and they were on my mail list for the last year. I'm very happy that we are able to bridge over age, background and to share the same ideas and feeling.

The coming baby is a trigger to more good news. We are going to Cyprus next month to get married and in September 6th we are celebrating our 10th anniversary. The marriage is not a too big thing as you can understand because we both believe in a daily basis commitment. Never the less we will have a civilian marriage ceremony in Cyprus.

The alternative wedding party is going to take place in The Fauzi Azar Inn on October 7th. We are going to celebrate 10 years of friendship and love, the pregnancy and the new business that we opened. So we have a lot to do and enough to keep us busy for the next 2 month.

If it wasn't enough and in case you skip the last update, I'm getting ready to accommodate 30 people group that will conduct a week seminar at the Inn. Since I open only 4 rooms I'm now in the process of renovating 3 more rooms, adding showers & toilets and preparing the courtyard. One room will be ready by the end of this week and I'm waiting for the architect to hand me the design for the rest of the works. I hope I'll have it soon and than I plan to have a "contractors Day". The one who will give me the best offer concerning to timetable and budget is the one I'm going to take. Everything should be read by September 17th, when the big group is due to come.

Another reason why the last update weren't good is that I didn't make a list of all the things that I want to write about. This time I did make a list and hope that it will make the update more courante and readable. The problem is that I got to many items on the list and not all of them are connected… It's not necessarily bed because it will empyesis and gives you the idea of with many things I need to deal with at the moment.

So far I'm very happy with the guests that are coming and hope it is a sign for the future. Many are with Christian background, and I start working on my New Testament collection… I actually started to read the first book and with not getting to deep to the subject now, many of the ideas and opinion are universal and make a lot of sense, but I'll write more on the subject when I finish reading.

I'm working very hard on the Inn's public relation. There is an article in El-Al (the Israeli air carrier) about the place, or that's what I was told, because I haven't seen it yet. I'm supposed to get a copy tomorrow and I'll put it in the website.
The biggest women magazine in Israel is going to publish a big article about me life… (From the childhood in the kibbutz till Nazareth, I'm sure it's going to be funny) and about the Inn.
I'm going to host a reporter from a food magazine for a weekend, and am in contact with other media companies.

You can all see the work I'm putting on the website, the gallery, translation and there is more to come.

Well, that's a bout all I wanted to say this time. I'll finish with something that I learned about having your own business: "It's very easy to take money out of your pocket, but a nightmare to get it back in"

Never the less I'm investing about 20,000 US$ now to make the place ready for 30 people groups and am very confident that it's a good investment and now after 2 month in the business I know that I have a good product and with the feedback that I'm receiving from my guests I'm sure the vision of Nazareth and The Fauzi Azar Inn as a center for the Independence travelers, is closer than ever.

 I hope this update will reflect the big things that are happening in my life at the moment, and they are big as you will soon read. Of course you will get the full update about the Inn's progress but I hope to start sharing my observation about what was happening so far and not just my "to do list"

Are you ready?
Ok I will open with the greatest news of all and it's that we (Shlomit & I, that's how we say it now days) are pregnant and will be parents in the beginning of 2006. Shlomit is feeling good most of the time, it is now the 17th week to the pregnancy and it's going to be a boy.
We are both very happy and excited about the whole thing and can't wait till the baby come.
I must say that the first few weeks of the pregnancy weren't so easy. With the new Inn in Nazareth, Shlomit working in T.A it all was confusing and a bit frightening. We plan the get pregnant but didn't though that it will happen so fast (10 years…) and the same with the Inn, which I open just 3 month after coming back to Israel.

You can understand how busy, excited and happy we are with all the new things happening at once and we are doing our best to make the best of everything. We are running a double life at the moment.

We are living with S mom in Qiriat Uno, a Tel-Aviv's suburbs and, I'm running the Inn in Nazareth which is 90 minutes drive or 2 and half hours by car. I'm trying to support S as much as possible and in the same time make as much progress with the Inn.

I confess that it's all very challenging but there is now other place or situation that I prefer to be in at the moment. I'm feeling very satisfied and happy to start a family with Shlomit and sure that it's going to be a great new step in our long time relationship.
With the Inn, I start to see the results of the energy that I put in the place and to see the first signs that my vision is becoming into reality. I hope you can share this feeling with me. The other day I took the night bus from Nazareth to TA and was thinking that I don't want to be in any other place in that moment. Though sitting in the night bus I was on my way from my vision to the women I love and I felt very lucky.

I think the last few updates weren’t too good. I think I know why and I'm trying to make this one better. One major problem is that I don't have time to think about what I'm going to write. Exactly the opposite from me trail journal when I had hours of hiking to think about the next update, now I've got so much on my mind that it's almost to much to handle. I am trying to make this one better.

I'm in Qiriat Uno, now. Its Sunday noon and I took a day off to relax and be with Shlomit. Sunday is a weekday in Israel which means that Shlomit is working, but in Nazareth, the only place in Israel, it's Sunday like most of you know. The market is closed, the roads are empty and not much is happening.

I got 7 guests at the moment. American family with 3 children that came for a week, a French girl which is her 4th nigh and a guy from Upper Nazareth who is a friend of a friend. On Wednesday there is a 14 people group from Holland coming for 10 days, I'm not sure yet if I've got enough beds for them all. I'm going to be extremely busy tomorrow.

A couple that is originally my parents friends, Benny & Lella are also coming on Wednesday to help me with the renovation. We have become good friend last year on a tour that I joined my father's friends and they were on my mail list for the last year. I'm very happy that we are able to bridge over age, background and to share the same ideas and feeling.

The coming baby is a trigger to more good news. We are going to Cyprus next month to get married and in September 6th we are celebrating our 10th anniversary. The marriage is not a too big thing as you can understand because we both believe in a daily basis commitment. Never the less we will have a civilian marriage ceremony in Cyprus.

The alternative wedding party is going to take place in The Fauzi Azar Inn on October 7th. We are going to celebrate 10 years of friendship and love, the pregnancy and the new business that we opened. So we have a lot to do and enough to keep us busy for the next 2 month.

If it wasn't enough and in case you skip the last update, I'm getting ready to accommodate 30 people group that will conduct a week seminar at the Inn. Since I open only 4 rooms I'm now in the process of renovating 3 more rooms, adding showers & toilets and preparing the courtyard. One room will be ready by the end of this week and I'm waiting for the architect to hand me the design for the rest of the works. I hope I'll have it soon and than I plan to have a "contractors Day". The one who will give me the best offer concerning to timetable and budget is the one I'm going to take. Everything should be read by September 17th, when the big group is due to come.

Another reason why the last update weren't good is that I didn't make a list of all the things that I want to write about. This time I did make a list and hope that it will make the update more courante and readable. The problem is that I got to many items on the list and not all of them are connected… It's not necessarily bed because it will empyesis and gives you the idea of with many things I need to deal with at the moment.

So far I'm very happy with the guests that are coming and hope it is a sign for the future. Many are with Christian background, and I start working on my New Testament collection… I actually started to read the first book and with not getting to deep to the subject now, many of the ideas and opinion are universal and make a lot of sense, but I'll write more on the subject when I finish reading.

I'm working very hard on the Inn's public relation. There is an article in El-Al (the Israeli air carrier) about the place, or that's what I was told, because I haven't seen it yet. I'm supposed to get a copy tomorrow and I'll put it in the website.
The biggest women magazine in Israel is going to publish a big article about me life… (From the childhood in the kibbutz till Nazareth, I'm sure it's going to be funny) and about the Inn.
I'm going to host a reporter from a food magazine for a weekend, and am in contact with other media companies.

You can all see the work I'm putting on the website, the gallery, translation and there is more to come.

Well, that's a bout all I wanted to say this time. I'll finish with something that I learned about having your own business: "It's very easy to take money out of your pocket, but a nightmare to get it back in"

Never the less I'm investing about 20,000 US$ now to make the place ready for 30 people groups and am very confident that it's a good investment and now after 2 month in the business I know that I have a good product and with the feedback that I'm receiving from my guests I'm sure the vision of Nazareth and The Fauzi Azar Inn as a center for the Independence travelers, is closer than ever.

Before I start I want to thanks Nitzan that built and design this website!!! I think he has done a great work in a short time and I just want to say huge THANKS.

Most off all it was very busy, hard work, tiring 5 weeks. I had no time to get excited but just to make sure that everything will be ready.

After the 12 players group confirmed there arrival I went to the carpenter and ordered 8 new beds. We bought linen, pillows, towels and all the supply we needed and worked very hard to be ready on time. Though it was a lot of work we now have 4 very nice rooms that suite 4 couples or 24 people group. I will have o buy more beds if a 24 people group will book…

From the money and investment angle we gave ourselves a budget for the first 3 month. The budget is about 7000 US$ and of course we almost spent it all by now… After that 3 month – in September, we hope to be wiser and to make long term investment program. We hope that the 4 rooms we have got now will generate enough money to renovate 3 more rooms.

What have we done so far?
Renovating the shower & toilet, buying beds, improving the kitchen, built a web site. But most of all I'm trying to build connection with my neighbors and the tourism Industry in Nazareth. I hope I'm doing it well because that is the key to my success.

I know this update is not of the "story" kind. I'm sorry, it's just that so many things happened and I want to share as many as I can without making it to long. Another problem is that I don't have time to red books, when I'm reading I'm feeling how my writing is getting better. Since I'm working now with notebook and "to do list" this is how this update looks like. In time I hope to have more time and free mind to read and I hope you will notice it in my writing.

The current situation is not easy for S and me. S is working as electronic engineer in Tel Aviv while I spend most of my time here in Nazareth. S is coming on the weekend but the problem is that there is so much to do here so she basically work 7 days a week. There is also no time for ourselves since we got guest during the weekend. I'm trying to be in Tel Aviv for 2 nights during the week but I still have to find someone that will help me here with the Inn's work. We need to make many adjustment in our life stile and I hope that in the weeks to come we will find the best way to do it.

We had a first visitor from our world tour – Barbara. We met Barbara in Lake Titicaca, Peru and spent almost a month together. When we said "see soon" in Ushuaia, Argentina we didn't believe that it will be so soon. After reading our mail about the Inn, Barbara accepted our invitation to come and see Israel for the first time. Originally from the States but now living in Hong Kong Barbara came for 2 weeks. It was great meeting old friends especially someone as nice as Barbara… Barbara met our family and become good friend of Maayan – my sister and in 2 weeks had seen big part of Israel including – Haifa, Acre, Jordan River, Sea of Galilee, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Mazda and the Dead Sea.
I can just say that both Shlomit and I had a great time with Barbara, that I hope she enjoyed it too (I think she did) and that I hope that more old friends will come to visit us… (Olin & Anne?)

I think I have done just one major mistake so far and I hope it won't have to big of an impact. Our project receive the media intention and I still don't now how to use it for my advantage. The problem is that they are making it into a Jewish Arab story. The first Jews to live in the old city of Nazareth and not about the tourism potential the city has. After I got the cover story in the local newspaper today which said "Jew in the Heart of the Old City" (good picture though…) I've decided to refuse to more publication but to connect the media with Nazareth Tourism Board.

These are the story of the guests I had so far:
• David, my first guest: Volunteered in Nazareth village for 7 days. From Canada
• John & Jan: Backpack in Israel for 2 weeks. Came for 1 night and stayed 5…From England
• 12 basketball players from "Athletic in Action" – I wish all my guest will be as nice as them. From all over.
• Avidan – Chilled out in my place for 4 nights with his dog Koba before getting married. From Israel
• Amit, Maya & Lior – My childhood friends
• Tamar & Yoval – friends of friends. First time in Nazareth. Stay 1 night.

I want to thanks our first guest for the trust and the for their good company.
My family is not included but beside 1 sister (we are 5) everyone had stayed at list 1 night.

That's all. I hope it will take less time for the next update and that we will keep progressing as we have done so far. Feel free to sign our guest book or sending us emails. Your encouragement is a great help.
Hope to host you in the Fauzi Azar Inn soon.

Love & Peace In The Middle East
Maoz Inon

• Cables Portal - Designing a TV Channel that would operate as Internet.
• Joining my father in his greenhouse operation
• Import toilets from Japan
• Open REI (the biggest outdoor retail in the state) in Israel
• Write a professional guide book for the INT.
• Translate "Beyond Backpacking" to Hebrew.
• Open a B&B; + hostel in ruins that once where the summer palace of King Abdullah, Jordan
• Doing some business related to Cibus, the company I work for before the WT
• Coffee & Shave - A place where you can get shave and drink coffee, get head message and all what a man needs or want…
• Open a Backpacker in Nazareth, Israel
• Distributing Tarptent in Israel & Europe