Old and New and....Camels

I am lucky enough to live 7 minutes by car from work. The "ring road' that I take to get to work lies along the eastern edge of Rehovot and there is a lot of open land on both sides of the road. I have recently noted that there are ....three camels.... hangin' out over there every morning and evening. That's right. C.A.M.E.L.S. And no, NOT the cigarettes. The homely hump-backed critters that spit at you if you look at them funny. And this morning, there was a herd of sheep and goats out taking their shepherd for a walk. These camels (one of them is a baby - awwwwww) put a smile on my face every morning. There they are. A matter of a few hundred meters away from an ultra-modern hi-tech/bio-tech/science/industrial park full of tall office buildings and restaurants and banks and such. So incongruous! But then a lot about Israel is just that. A funny mix of old and new, modern and ancient, backwards and progressive, East and West - often one on top of or right next to each other. Israelis don't seem to appreciate this point but it still strikes me afresh at times.