It's Wednesday night. Under normal circumstances, I would have work to do. However, I don't. I got my major stuff for the week out of the way earlier. I had an exam in Hebrew this morning. I think I did alright. Everyone else has theirs tomorrow. I'm not sure why mine was scheduled that way. Either way, everyone else is stressing tonight, and I'm literally just sitting here with my beer.
I'm drink Baltika #9. It's terrible. It's like drinking cake. It's heavy and sweet. Too sweet to be beer. I bought it expecting that it would be a heavy dark lager. I was mistaken.
It's pretty tough to drink. I'm at the point now where I just want to finish it, and then get my shekel back for the bottle. Seriously, it's gross.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Making a Sandwich in Israel
I must say that making a sandwich here is much better than making a sandwich in America. Seriously.
There are more varieties of bread here. Most of them fresh and not full of preservatives. The meat companies here have invented all sorts of ways to make kosher cold cuts delicious by adding different spices. Hummus is way better than mayo. Tahini is way better than yellow mustard (if I find brown mustard, do I dare mix it with the hummus?). There is an endless supply of hot sauces ranging from mild to super super hot. Onions, cilantro, sauerkraut, raw cabbage, peppers, and other pickled vegetables are plentiful here. And to top it all off, the ketchup here is delicious and not full of corn syrup like Heinz. It's also a lot cheaper here than it is in the states to make a sandwich, unless you resort to Wonder Bread, Oscar Mayer Bologna, and maybe some runny yellow mustard.
Seriously, the food here is amazing. I bought a kilo of hummus yesterday. Do you have any idea how much that is? It's gigantic. It's literally a bucket of hummus. And I bought it at the mini market on campus for less than 3 bucks. That's unheard of in the states.
There's also delicious Turkish Coffee that will get you going in the morning and keep you going for the rest of the day. I've also grown accustomed to the instant coffee here. It's still crap, but it's there at 4pm when I really need it along with a candy bar. By the way, the candy here is really tasty. They have this one called Bounty, which is like a mix between a Mounds bar and an Almond Joy. It has the coconut of the Mounds, but the Milk Chocolate of the Almond Joy without the almonds. Delicious.
And exotic beers like Baltika #9 which is something like 10% alcohol and I'm pretty sure it's illegal in some states. I had to have my roommates tell me what the label said because it came directly from Russia to Israel.
If anyone is concerned about me going hungry, I promise you I will not.
There are more varieties of bread here. Most of them fresh and not full of preservatives. The meat companies here have invented all sorts of ways to make kosher cold cuts delicious by adding different spices. Hummus is way better than mayo. Tahini is way better than yellow mustard (if I find brown mustard, do I dare mix it with the hummus?). There is an endless supply of hot sauces ranging from mild to super super hot. Onions, cilantro, sauerkraut, raw cabbage, peppers, and other pickled vegetables are plentiful here. And to top it all off, the ketchup here is delicious and not full of corn syrup like Heinz. It's also a lot cheaper here than it is in the states to make a sandwich, unless you resort to Wonder Bread, Oscar Mayer Bologna, and maybe some runny yellow mustard.
Seriously, the food here is amazing. I bought a kilo of hummus yesterday. Do you have any idea how much that is? It's gigantic. It's literally a bucket of hummus. And I bought it at the mini market on campus for less than 3 bucks. That's unheard of in the states.
There's also delicious Turkish Coffee that will get you going in the morning and keep you going for the rest of the day. I've also grown accustomed to the instant coffee here. It's still crap, but it's there at 4pm when I really need it along with a candy bar. By the way, the candy here is really tasty. They have this one called Bounty, which is like a mix between a Mounds bar and an Almond Joy. It has the coconut of the Mounds, but the Milk Chocolate of the Almond Joy without the almonds. Delicious.
And exotic beers like Baltika #9 which is something like 10% alcohol and I'm pretty sure it's illegal in some states. I had to have my roommates tell me what the label said because it came directly from Russia to Israel.
If anyone is concerned about me going hungry, I promise you I will not.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Politics
Some of you may have noticed that my blog has become more and more political over the past few weeks. The reason for this is simple: I don't have adventures every day. I also don't have a TV. (If you want to remedy this, buy me a TV and pay my cable bill) And Israel is definitely not a place to be apathetic or ignorant of the news.
So while many of you visit this site hoping to read about my adventures in Israel and are instead confronted with politics, I assure you, there is nothing more Israeli than to be up on politics.
Speaking of being Israeli, I've asked my roommates to speak only Hebrew to me. I need to get better at it. This is not a step towards aliyah, it's a step towards not looking like a jackass.
So while many of you visit this site hoping to read about my adventures in Israel and are instead confronted with politics, I assure you, there is nothing more Israeli than to be up on politics.
Speaking of being Israeli, I've asked my roommates to speak only Hebrew to me. I need to get better at it. This is not a step towards aliyah, it's a step towards not looking like a jackass.
TERRORISM TERRORISM TERRORISM!!!!!
There, now that I have your attention, say hello to the NSA! At least that's what my teacher for Terrorism and Responses said. Apparently, the US government tracks everything with the word "terror" in it and has read it within a matter of hours.
If you're from the NSA or any other intelligence organization and you're on this site, leave me a comment. I'm curious if what he said is true.
Today was our second class and I had a few interesting thoughts in class based on what he was saying. First off, the man is an officer in the IDF and does something with anti-terrorism training and analysis. My general impression of him is that he is a good man who takes both his job as an officer and a teacher seriously.
However, he is incredibly biased and makes his positions very clear. He co-writes for a website called Middle East on Target which is intended to combat the "anti-Israel bias" in the "liberal media". Those are not direct quotes. Those are quotes like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers.
Anyways, today he ranted about how the New York Times was "dribble" and made a very subtle plug for FOX News. His criticism du jour for the New York Times was that it's coverage of casualties in Iraq is neither worthy of the front page headline or even national news. I subscribed to the Times for a few months and received it daily while I was back at Pitt. Their war coverage is important, if not essential to educating the nation about the war. The human cost of the misguided Iraq campaign cannot be ignored. He tried to make a comparison between WWII coverage and the Iraq coverage, but the two wars cannot compare. WWII had clearly defined battles that could be reported on and FDR did not lead the country into a war that was both a quagmire and cooked up through doctored intelligence. The insanity taking place in Iraq cannot be covered like a regular military campaign, where there are battles and clearly defined enemies. The New York Times needs to continue it's critical coverage of the war and the Bush administration's deception.
Beyond his labeling of the New York Times as drivel, he also made a claim that Israel stops something around 30 terrorist attacks per day. That number seems way too high. I've heard between 2 and 3 but never 30.That means that in a year, nearly 11,000 attacks are foiled. Which would mean that there are at least 11,000 new Palestinians jailed annually. That means that there are 44,000 Palestinians that have been arrested and jailed since 2003, when the wall was completed. That too seems way too high. If 44,000 people had been jailed in 4 years, someone in the mainstream "liberal" media would have said something. Even if 3 attacks are foiled every day, that would mean 4,000 people have been arrested since 2003. Again, somebody would have said something. 4,000 people is a lot of people. Needless to say, I want to see some facts. And by facts I don't mean ZOA, AIPAC, or Hasbarah talking points. I want an official government report with names, dates, offenses, and sentences. If Iraq has taught me anything, it's that governments cannot be trusted and must be held accountable. If an official report exists, like either the Winograd (about the Lebanon War) or the Sasson (about the illegal settlements in the West Bank) I would like to see it.
To the teacher's credit, he and I both agree on somethings. We both agree that the current policy of cutting power to Gaza is wrong. My belief is that it is a humanitarian crisis in the making and will do nothing but piss of more Palestinians and increase the rockets falling on Sderot and Ashkelon. By the way, according to the teacher, there are only 3 or 4 rockets per day, at most, that hit Israel, and the ones that do hit are essentially lucky shots. Katyshua Rockets are inaccurate and cannot be aimed. They have no technical guidance system, let alone enough fuel, to hit a target accurately. They're still dangerous, but not to the degree that they are made out to be in America. Anyways, he opposes the power shut down because he views it as being ineffective, based on the logic that the power outages will cause the unarmed Palestinians to overthrow Hamas. (Non-Hamas members were stripped of their arms) He also questioned the government's motives for the shut down. He suggested that the shut down will not meet its goals and will be used as a pretext for Israel to invade Gaza and confront Hamas outright, which makes sense.
Hopefully it won't come to that. Hopefully something will come from the Annapolis conference in a few weeks. Hopefully.
My teacher is also a pretty big critic of the way that the Lebanon War was carried out, like myself. I'm not sure on the specifics of how he would have conducted the war, but he did say that he, like myself, believed that the rescue of the two soldiers was not possible and that a full scale invasion was not the way to go about it. Funny how an officer in the IDF and someone who was labeled as a "bad Jew" and "not Zionist enough" could have the same opinion. By the way, those who labeled me those things are NOT in Israel right now, supporting its people, the economy, and paying taxes. Just thought I'd point that out.
While I may disagree with the teacher, I do respect him and his point of view. He knows things that I don't, but at the same time, he is prohibited from questioning some of those things that he knows as well as the general policies of the government. It's his job. My duty as a civilian is to question the policies. Either way, I plan to take his lectures with a grain of salt. Today though, I needed a whole bag of salt.
Anyways, back to the class. The class itself is interesting and is progressing slowly. My friends and I are responsible for doing a report on ETA, which is the Basque Separatist Group in Spain and France. Our project is coming along well and we're pretty confident that we will get an A with it.
Just to add to a previous post, all the military activity in the north of Israel is just an exercise. "Just an exercise". Not sure what for. But just an exercise.
If you're from the NSA or any other intelligence organization and you're on this site, leave me a comment. I'm curious if what he said is true.
Today was our second class and I had a few interesting thoughts in class based on what he was saying. First off, the man is an officer in the IDF and does something with anti-terrorism training and analysis. My general impression of him is that he is a good man who takes both his job as an officer and a teacher seriously.
However, he is incredibly biased and makes his positions very clear. He co-writes for a website called Middle East on Target which is intended to combat the "anti-Israel bias" in the "liberal media". Those are not direct quotes. Those are quotes like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers.
Anyways, today he ranted about how the New York Times was "dribble" and made a very subtle plug for FOX News. His criticism du jour for the New York Times was that it's coverage of casualties in Iraq is neither worthy of the front page headline or even national news. I subscribed to the Times for a few months and received it daily while I was back at Pitt. Their war coverage is important, if not essential to educating the nation about the war. The human cost of the misguided Iraq campaign cannot be ignored. He tried to make a comparison between WWII coverage and the Iraq coverage, but the two wars cannot compare. WWII had clearly defined battles that could be reported on and FDR did not lead the country into a war that was both a quagmire and cooked up through doctored intelligence. The insanity taking place in Iraq cannot be covered like a regular military campaign, where there are battles and clearly defined enemies. The New York Times needs to continue it's critical coverage of the war and the Bush administration's deception.
Beyond his labeling of the New York Times as drivel, he also made a claim that Israel stops something around 30 terrorist attacks per day. That number seems way too high. I've heard between 2 and 3 but never 30.That means that in a year, nearly 11,000 attacks are foiled. Which would mean that there are at least 11,000 new Palestinians jailed annually. That means that there are 44,000 Palestinians that have been arrested and jailed since 2003, when the wall was completed. That too seems way too high. If 44,000 people had been jailed in 4 years, someone in the mainstream "liberal" media would have said something. Even if 3 attacks are foiled every day, that would mean 4,000 people have been arrested since 2003. Again, somebody would have said something. 4,000 people is a lot of people. Needless to say, I want to see some facts. And by facts I don't mean ZOA, AIPAC, or Hasbarah talking points. I want an official government report with names, dates, offenses, and sentences. If Iraq has taught me anything, it's that governments cannot be trusted and must be held accountable. If an official report exists, like either the Winograd (about the Lebanon War) or the Sasson (about the illegal settlements in the West Bank) I would like to see it.
To the teacher's credit, he and I both agree on somethings. We both agree that the current policy of cutting power to Gaza is wrong. My belief is that it is a humanitarian crisis in the making and will do nothing but piss of more Palestinians and increase the rockets falling on Sderot and Ashkelon. By the way, according to the teacher, there are only 3 or 4 rockets per day, at most, that hit Israel, and the ones that do hit are essentially lucky shots. Katyshua Rockets are inaccurate and cannot be aimed. They have no technical guidance system, let alone enough fuel, to hit a target accurately. They're still dangerous, but not to the degree that they are made out to be in America. Anyways, he opposes the power shut down because he views it as being ineffective, based on the logic that the power outages will cause the unarmed Palestinians to overthrow Hamas. (Non-Hamas members were stripped of their arms) He also questioned the government's motives for the shut down. He suggested that the shut down will not meet its goals and will be used as a pretext for Israel to invade Gaza and confront Hamas outright, which makes sense.
Hopefully it won't come to that. Hopefully something will come from the Annapolis conference in a few weeks. Hopefully.
My teacher is also a pretty big critic of the way that the Lebanon War was carried out, like myself. I'm not sure on the specifics of how he would have conducted the war, but he did say that he, like myself, believed that the rescue of the two soldiers was not possible and that a full scale invasion was not the way to go about it. Funny how an officer in the IDF and someone who was labeled as a "bad Jew" and "not Zionist enough" could have the same opinion. By the way, those who labeled me those things are NOT in Israel right now, supporting its people, the economy, and paying taxes. Just thought I'd point that out.
While I may disagree with the teacher, I do respect him and his point of view. He knows things that I don't, but at the same time, he is prohibited from questioning some of those things that he knows as well as the general policies of the government. It's his job. My duty as a civilian is to question the policies. Either way, I plan to take his lectures with a grain of salt. Today though, I needed a whole bag of salt.
Anyways, back to the class. The class itself is interesting and is progressing slowly. My friends and I are responsible for doing a report on ETA, which is the Basque Separatist Group in Spain and France. Our project is coming along well and we're pretty confident that we will get an A with it.
Just to add to a previous post, all the military activity in the north of Israel is just an exercise. "Just an exercise". Not sure what for. But just an exercise.
The Tutoring That Wasn't
Last night we were supposed to start tutoring refugees from Ethiopia. However, the program isn't ready to start yet or something because instead of tutoring, we ended up at the museum next to the absorption center drinking coffee.
The feeling around the absorption center is weird. The center isn't so much a single building as it is a neighborhood. It's basically an American style housing project, playground and all. From the outside it doesn't look so bad, but it definitely has the feel of being in a slum. We toured the actual school where we will be working. It's like a brand new American school, complete with bean bag chairs and new computers.
At some point during our tutoring sessions, we are supposed to start going to the children's homes and working there. I honestly have no idea what that will be like. I have never met anyone from Ethiopia before, so it will be interesting to learn about their culture and experience their lives.
The feeling around the absorption center is weird. The center isn't so much a single building as it is a neighborhood. It's basically an American style housing project, playground and all. From the outside it doesn't look so bad, but it definitely has the feel of being in a slum. We toured the actual school where we will be working. It's like a brand new American school, complete with bean bag chairs and new computers.
At some point during our tutoring sessions, we are supposed to start going to the children's homes and working there. I honestly have no idea what that will be like. I have never met anyone from Ethiopia before, so it will be interesting to learn about their culture and experience their lives.
Monday, October 29, 2007
It's Quiet, Almost Too Quiet
Nothing happened. I wonder what was going on? Must have been practice or something.
Fighter Jets
There's fighter jets and helicopters flying around Haifa. I don't know what's going on.
Maybe it's the all the coffee, but when you couple this with all the boats I saw yesterday out on the water, I think something might be going down.
Maybe it's the all the coffee, but when you couple this with all the boats I saw yesterday out on the water, I think something might be going down.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Beach and Kebabs
By now, you're probably asking yourself, "doesn't this guy ever go to class?" Well, it's hard to go to class when there isn't any. I don't have classes on Friday, Sunday, or Wednesday afternoon. Why not go to the beach?My friends and I went again today. It was a lot of fun. We hung out, smoked hookah, drank cold ones, frolicked in the water etc...That's right, we kicked it old school.
We also saw five Israeli Navy destroyers go across the water. I guess it was cool. It was different at least. Hopefully the Mossad won't disconnect my blog and destroy my camera because I took and posted the picture.
Afterwards, we went over to the bus station and had some delicious food for dinner. I had a kebab sandwich which was absolutely amazing. The meat was great and it came with hummus, tehina, baba ghanoush, hot sauce, sauerkraut, pickled carrots, and red peppers. It was a serious sandwich.
Sharks on the Internet, Time Zone, and Links
I listened to the Sharks last night on the internet. It was disappointing. The Sharks have always pounded Columbus, and yet they somehow lost 2-1. Hopefully, they'll play some more games that I can listen to online. I'm going to send a postcard to Dan Rusanowsky and Jamey Baker to let them know that Sharks hockey is alive and well in the Holy Land.
And by the way, our right wing "friend" from the last post is an Edmonton Oilers fan. 2 years ago, the Oilers got lucky. By the way, why did Pronger leave? Because he knocked up some woman who wasn't his wife. And what about Ryan Smyth? Sold off to the highest bidder. Same with Gretzky back in the 80's. I think Craig MacTavish might have suffered some brain damage by not wearing a helmet all those years. And how are they this year?
That's what I thought.
I changed the time zone on here to Israel time. That way you all can know when I am posting. Because you were dying to know it.
I also added some links. Check them out.
And by the way, our right wing "friend" from the last post is an Edmonton Oilers fan. 2 years ago, the Oilers got lucky. By the way, why did Pronger leave? Because he knocked up some woman who wasn't his wife. And what about Ryan Smyth? Sold off to the highest bidder. Same with Gretzky back in the 80's. I think Craig MacTavish might have suffered some brain damage by not wearing a helmet all those years. And how are they this year?
That's what I thought.
I changed the time zone on here to Israel time. That way you all can know when I am posting. Because you were dying to know it.
I also added some links. Check them out.
Ideology Ruining a Night
I knew that while I was here I was going to meet someone who had different beliefs than me. So far, I've met a few, but they've been respectful, and that's all that can be asked. I also am fairly close with some of them. But last night someone crossed the line and ruined both a night out and her chances of having friends at Haifa.
To give you a little background info on this girl, she's not a US citizen, a member of the Conservative party in her country, is Orthodox, and very far to the right on the Zionist political scale. Our chances for friendship from the outset were not good.
The first day I was here, I was sitting in the lobby of my building reading Ha'Aretz, which is the liberal paper here in Israel. She asked me why I was reading such liberal propaganda. My response to her was when did optimism become liberal propaganda. After that she went on this huge rant about the "liberal media" and how it was anti-Israel and how it was pro-Arab and pro-Iran and all this other stuff that I really didn't want to pay much attention to. During her rant she hinted at something quite profound; she wouldn't care who or how many people died in a U.S. led war against Iran, as long as Israel was safe.
First off, it really offends me that as a non-citizen she was not only calling for the use of our armed forces, but was also completely apathetic towards the human toll that would undoubtedly be faced if such an event were to happen. Second of all, with the military stretched as thin as it is, where is the United States going to get more troops? From the wonderful Selective Service System that me and the rest of America's young men are registered for. So essentially, through extrapolation, she doesn't care about my life or anyone else's life, so long as her end goal, which she herself cannot achieve because she is neither a male nor an American citizen, is reached. That's a very insensitive of looking at things. The way the news is going, I hope she plans to volunteer.
Anyways, on to last night. Last night my friends and I were ready to go out to a pub and we decided to be nice and invite her along with us, thinking that we could turn over a new leaf with her after her rant last week about how PBS was anti-Israel and ruining the United States. Again, how could she know this? She's not a citizen and does not live in the United States. Second of all, how is Sesame Street anti-Israel? It's probably the best attempt at creating tolerance in Israel if not the world. How is the News Hour anti-Israel? If anything, it's the most objective coverage on TV.
Anyways back to last night. As we were waiting for the bus (yes, I do ride the bus in Israel. It is safe, especially in Haifa), she started, unprovoked, to criticize the fact that a Jew from our group was dating a non-Jew from Asia. Everybody around her just stopped talking. At that point we didn't know if she was being provocative or bigoted. We soon learned the latter. Somebody called her out and said something to the effect of "who are you to judge someone else" and she just went off on this big rant rallying off a very narrow interpretation of Jewish family laws and then questioned everyone's commitment to Israel and Zionism because we did not see things her way. She started yelling a bit more and I just left. I didn't want to listen to her. She ruined my night. She ruined everyone's night. The rest of the group followed me and we all went back and watched a movie.
I don't know if people like her realize how offensive their rhetoric is and how hypocritical they are when they spew it. First off, she was naming names, which means that she was committing an act of Lashon Hara, gossiping, which is absolutely forbidden in Judaism. You would figure that someone with as much of a background in Judaism such as herself would know that what she was saying was technically against Jewish law, but apparently not. Second, I don't know if she realized that three people out of the group there were products of interfaith marriages. The way that we all heard her rant was that our lives are illegitimate because the marriages that produced us were abhorrent to God, or something like that. Basically, what she and others like her were saying is that we have no right to exist, the same thing that anti-Zionists say about Israel, which considering that all of us there last night were Jewish and a part of the K'lkal Yisrael (tribe of Israel) she was essentially no worse than an anti-Zionist or an anti-Semite because we are all a part of Israel, whether we are citizens of the state or Jewish.
I knew people like this existed, but I never realized that at 11pm on a Saturday night, on the way to a pub in Haifa, someone would rally off such hate speech without thinking of its implications. I honestly would have expected to hear something like this from someone with a beard and black hat. But instead, I heard it from some immodestly clad girl who was sitting at a bus stop on the way to a pub. Again, another instance of hypocrisy.
Needless to say, nobody wants to talk to her, let alone be around her. Her roommate is planning to move out and we're hoping that she just packs up and leaves Haifa and goes to another university in Israel.
I'll close by saying that I love my parents and that I feel blessed that they are not divorced, which was actually advocated to me by somebody back in Pittsburgh. I'm also very proud of my father because of how he helped raise me to be an upstanding and respectful man and I'm very impressed with the way that his participation in Judaism has grown throughout my lifetime. I know that it was not easy for him to make the sacrifices that he did and so he deserves a tremendous amount of respect for being more than just a good sport. It is up to him what he decides to do as a member of a Jewish family, and we as Jews, are explicitly forbidden from imposing anything on him because our tradition teaches us that everyone is great the way they are.
Unfortunately, those like the girl from last night are not willing to tolerate families such as mine.Their anti-interfaith marriage views are so bigoted its sickening. Their rhetoric reeks of Jim Crow laws and flat out racism. Yes, the Torah does not look highly upon interfaith marriages. But at the same time, the Torah views love, strong family values, and openness in the highest regard.
Judaism is not black and white. It's colorful. Rabbis ancient and modern have said this over and over again, but there seems to be a few people that don't listen. All that can be hoped for in the Jewish commubity is respect. But apparently, some just aren't willing to give it, and in the end, that will cause a greater detriment to the Jewish people than anything else.
To give you a little background info on this girl, she's not a US citizen, a member of the Conservative party in her country, is Orthodox, and very far to the right on the Zionist political scale. Our chances for friendship from the outset were not good.
The first day I was here, I was sitting in the lobby of my building reading Ha'Aretz, which is the liberal paper here in Israel. She asked me why I was reading such liberal propaganda. My response to her was when did optimism become liberal propaganda. After that she went on this huge rant about the "liberal media" and how it was anti-Israel and how it was pro-Arab and pro-Iran and all this other stuff that I really didn't want to pay much attention to. During her rant she hinted at something quite profound; she wouldn't care who or how many people died in a U.S. led war against Iran, as long as Israel was safe.
First off, it really offends me that as a non-citizen she was not only calling for the use of our armed forces, but was also completely apathetic towards the human toll that would undoubtedly be faced if such an event were to happen. Second of all, with the military stretched as thin as it is, where is the United States going to get more troops? From the wonderful Selective Service System that me and the rest of America's young men are registered for. So essentially, through extrapolation, she doesn't care about my life or anyone else's life, so long as her end goal, which she herself cannot achieve because she is neither a male nor an American citizen, is reached. That's a very insensitive of looking at things. The way the news is going, I hope she plans to volunteer.
Anyways, on to last night. Last night my friends and I were ready to go out to a pub and we decided to be nice and invite her along with us, thinking that we could turn over a new leaf with her after her rant last week about how PBS was anti-Israel and ruining the United States. Again, how could she know this? She's not a citizen and does not live in the United States. Second of all, how is Sesame Street anti-Israel? It's probably the best attempt at creating tolerance in Israel if not the world. How is the News Hour anti-Israel? If anything, it's the most objective coverage on TV.
Anyways back to last night. As we were waiting for the bus (yes, I do ride the bus in Israel. It is safe, especially in Haifa), she started, unprovoked, to criticize the fact that a Jew from our group was dating a non-Jew from Asia. Everybody around her just stopped talking. At that point we didn't know if she was being provocative or bigoted. We soon learned the latter. Somebody called her out and said something to the effect of "who are you to judge someone else" and she just went off on this big rant rallying off a very narrow interpretation of Jewish family laws and then questioned everyone's commitment to Israel and Zionism because we did not see things her way. She started yelling a bit more and I just left. I didn't want to listen to her. She ruined my night. She ruined everyone's night. The rest of the group followed me and we all went back and watched a movie.
I don't know if people like her realize how offensive their rhetoric is and how hypocritical they are when they spew it. First off, she was naming names, which means that she was committing an act of Lashon Hara, gossiping, which is absolutely forbidden in Judaism. You would figure that someone with as much of a background in Judaism such as herself would know that what she was saying was technically against Jewish law, but apparently not. Second, I don't know if she realized that three people out of the group there were products of interfaith marriages. The way that we all heard her rant was that our lives are illegitimate because the marriages that produced us were abhorrent to God, or something like that. Basically, what she and others like her were saying is that we have no right to exist, the same thing that anti-Zionists say about Israel, which considering that all of us there last night were Jewish and a part of the K'lkal Yisrael (tribe of Israel) she was essentially no worse than an anti-Zionist or an anti-Semite because we are all a part of Israel, whether we are citizens of the state or Jewish.
I knew people like this existed, but I never realized that at 11pm on a Saturday night, on the way to a pub in Haifa, someone would rally off such hate speech without thinking of its implications. I honestly would have expected to hear something like this from someone with a beard and black hat. But instead, I heard it from some immodestly clad girl who was sitting at a bus stop on the way to a pub. Again, another instance of hypocrisy.
Needless to say, nobody wants to talk to her, let alone be around her. Her roommate is planning to move out and we're hoping that she just packs up and leaves Haifa and goes to another university in Israel.
I'll close by saying that I love my parents and that I feel blessed that they are not divorced, which was actually advocated to me by somebody back in Pittsburgh. I'm also very proud of my father because of how he helped raise me to be an upstanding and respectful man and I'm very impressed with the way that his participation in Judaism has grown throughout my lifetime. I know that it was not easy for him to make the sacrifices that he did and so he deserves a tremendous amount of respect for being more than just a good sport. It is up to him what he decides to do as a member of a Jewish family, and we as Jews, are explicitly forbidden from imposing anything on him because our tradition teaches us that everyone is great the way they are.
Unfortunately, those like the girl from last night are not willing to tolerate families such as mine.Their anti-interfaith marriage views are so bigoted its sickening. Their rhetoric reeks of Jim Crow laws and flat out racism. Yes, the Torah does not look highly upon interfaith marriages. But at the same time, the Torah views love, strong family values, and openness in the highest regard.
Judaism is not black and white. It's colorful. Rabbis ancient and modern have said this over and over again, but there seems to be a few people that don't listen. All that can be hoped for in the Jewish commubity is respect. But apparently, some just aren't willing to give it, and in the end, that will cause a greater detriment to the Jewish people than anything else.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Shabbat and the Beach
Last night's Shabbat dinner was great. The family was really nice and the food was delicious. The synagogue we went to was a very modern Orthodox one (no Black Hats in sight). We had some interesting table conversation about making aliyah (which I don't plan on doing in the near future), the university, Haifa, Iraq... It was a nice night. The wine we brought was also very good. I'm definitely planning to go back out in the community for Shabbat. Not because I'm super observant and need to go, but because it's fun to meet new people and learn things about Israel and Judaism that don't really exist on campus.
Next weekend I am probably going to Jerusalem to celebrate a friend's birthday. If anyone can recommend a place to stay that would be great. Otherwise, I'll be at a hostel.
This afternoon I went to the beach with some friends. I know I've said this before, but the beach is beautiful. We hung out there, smoke some hookah, drank some cold ones, played in the water, and at some awesome ice cream. We had to take a cab down because it's Shabbat and the busses weren't running. The cabs here are pretty reasonable. It costs a little more than the bus, which isn't too bad. We were planning to have a party tonight on the beach, but it's cold and windy down there right now, so it's not happening.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Shopping in Hadar before Shabbat
This morning my friends and I went to the Hadar neighborhood of Haifa to go shopping in the large, open air market. It was an experience. The food there is delicious looking because it's all fresh and mostly organic. It's also dirt cheap. I paid $1.00 for an eggplant. I'm going to fry it in some oil and make sandwiches with it later this week. I also got 4 huge grapefruits for $1.50 and some really sweet red peppers for a $.75. I also got a bag of 5 fresh pitas that were absolutely delicious. I took them home hand made a schnitzel sandwich for lunch. It was delicious. Just to clear up, if anyone is interested, eating your vegetables is the thing to do in Israel. So don't worry, I am getting nutrition.
I brought my camera to take some pictures, but unfortunately the place was absolutely packed and bustling before the 2pm deadline when Israel pretty much shuts down.
There were a lot of Black Hatters there, which is a common site in Israel. They had their van parked their with the "Moshiach Now" flag or whatever they call it. It's purple and gold and has a crown on it. In fact, if I recall correctly, it looks exactly like the L.A. Kings' logo from back in the day. Who knew that the ultra-Orthodox were Kings fans, let alone hockey fans. The list of things that the ultra-Orthodox and I disagree on continues to grow. GO SHARKS!!!!!!
(For non-hockey fans, the Sharks and Kings are rivals. And the Sharks are better. It's a scientific fact.)
Tonight I am going to be having Shabbat dinner with apparently one of the wealthiest families in Haifa. I don't know much about them other than that they're loaded and originally from England. My friends and I are meeting them at their synagogue tonight, which is close to the University, and then going to their house. It should be fun. We bought a bottle of wine to bring over because we're super classy. Except we don't know if it's good. The brand is Gato Negra from Argentina. Anybody heard of it? I would hate to bring bad wine, and unfortunately Israel has some notoriously bad wine. Hopefully this isn't one of them.
I brought my camera to take some pictures, but unfortunately the place was absolutely packed and bustling before the 2pm deadline when Israel pretty much shuts down.
There were a lot of Black Hatters there, which is a common site in Israel. They had their van parked their with the "Moshiach Now" flag or whatever they call it. It's purple and gold and has a crown on it. In fact, if I recall correctly, it looks exactly like the L.A. Kings' logo from back in the day. Who knew that the ultra-Orthodox were Kings fans, let alone hockey fans. The list of things that the ultra-Orthodox and I disagree on continues to grow. GO SHARKS!!!!!!
(For non-hockey fans, the Sharks and Kings are rivals. And the Sharks are better. It's a scientific fact.)
Tonight I am going to be having Shabbat dinner with apparently one of the wealthiest families in Haifa. I don't know much about them other than that they're loaded and originally from England. My friends and I are meeting them at their synagogue tonight, which is close to the University, and then going to their house. It should be fun. We bought a bottle of wine to bring over because we're super classy. Except we don't know if it's good. The brand is Gato Negra from Argentina. Anybody heard of it? I would hate to bring bad wine, and unfortunately Israel has some notoriously bad wine. Hopefully this isn't one of them.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Azerbaijan and Kitties
Tonight my friend and I made some dinner and smoked hookah with a student from Azerbaijan. It was an interesting experience. Before coming to Haifa, I had never met anyone from Azerbaijan. The guy who we hung out with tonight is getting a masters degree here in Haifa. He's not Jewish, but says he really loves living in Haifa. We learned a lot about the culture in Azerbaijan tonight and it sounds like a really neat place. It's pretty close to Israel, so maybe I'll go check it out for a few days during my vacation.
The cat situation here is crazy. We were eating dinner out side tonight and a kitten walked up and stole a piece of bread. And then his friend came and took one. Cats are rude. Although, we did see a cat attack a roach tonight. It was pretty cool. It's one of those things that I can't describe in writing. You'll just have to come to Israel and see it for yourself.
The cat situation here is crazy. We were eating dinner out side tonight and a kitten walked up and stole a piece of bread. And then his friend came and took one. Cats are rude. Although, we did see a cat attack a roach tonight. It was pretty cool. It's one of those things that I can't describe in writing. You'll just have to come to Israel and see it for yourself.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Gym and Soccer
I've been going to the gym here for past few days. It's a decent gym. The machines work. The place is clean. No real complaints about the gym itself. I'm willing to bet that the showers in the locker room are the best at the university. The only thing I need to do is figure out the conversion between pounds and kilograms. But the real reason for this post is to vent about how the music at the gym is terrible. Absolutely terrible. Lately, they've been playing Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, the Plain White T's and Nickelback.
For those of you who don't know, Nickelback makes my ears bleed. They have got to be the worst band in history. Their singer's voice is grumbly and he looks like an ugly woman. Their lyrics are terrible, repetitive, and only set to music so that they can make money. Seriously. Nickelback sucks. Hardcore. Who would think that Canada, the nation that gave the world hockey, maple syrup, and politeness, could churn out such a complete and blatant mockery of modern music. Although Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette are Canadian, so this really shouldn't be surprising. But how could Canada go from Rush to Nickelback in the span of maybe 20 years? What happened? If I ever hear "This is How You Remind Me" again, I'm going to go insane.
Thankfully, I was able to fight off the assault on my ears by bringing my ipod to the gym. Black Flag, Run-DMC, the Ramones, and Motorhead kept me from going insane. Which is ironic because during America's interventions in Latin America in the 1980's, Motorhead was used to drive the enemy insane. In fact, I think they still blast "Ace of Spades" at high volumes at Guantanamo Bay prison, but don't quote me on that.
Anyways, I played soccer for the first time in 11 years tonight. It was a completely different experience from when I was 11. I didn't have people telling me that I sucked at soccer, before I was even picked for a team. I didn't have a coach screaming "Dammit David, you're like a Goddamn ping-pong ball." I didn't have people calling me fat. I didn't have people saying that I couldn't play with them because I was Jewish. It was almost surreal.
I am the first to admit that I am a terrible soccer player. But, at least this time, nobody picked on me for it. They even encouraged me. And I wasn't playing with other Americans. These were German and Israeli players who had been playing all their lives and love soccer. Really really love it. One of the German players plays professionally when he is back home during the summer. Either way, I had fun playing and I can see myself playing soccer regularly while I'm here.
I just can't picture myself watching it. It's so boring. And the talent level in the Israeli pro-leagues is not very good. Plus, I don't want to deal with hooligans. That would be bad. I'm going to play it safe and start listening to Sharks games online at 3am, now that I have internet.
Speaking of which, I have gone back and added some photos to this site and will add more while I'm here.
Sorry this post is a rant, but I needed to vent.
For those of you who don't know, Nickelback makes my ears bleed. They have got to be the worst band in history. Their singer's voice is grumbly and he looks like an ugly woman. Their lyrics are terrible, repetitive, and only set to music so that they can make money. Seriously. Nickelback sucks. Hardcore. Who would think that Canada, the nation that gave the world hockey, maple syrup, and politeness, could churn out such a complete and blatant mockery of modern music. Although Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette are Canadian, so this really shouldn't be surprising. But how could Canada go from Rush to Nickelback in the span of maybe 20 years? What happened? If I ever hear "This is How You Remind Me" again, I'm going to go insane.
Thankfully, I was able to fight off the assault on my ears by bringing my ipod to the gym. Black Flag, Run-DMC, the Ramones, and Motorhead kept me from going insane. Which is ironic because during America's interventions in Latin America in the 1980's, Motorhead was used to drive the enemy insane. In fact, I think they still blast "Ace of Spades" at high volumes at Guantanamo Bay prison, but don't quote me on that.
Anyways, I played soccer for the first time in 11 years tonight. It was a completely different experience from when I was 11. I didn't have people telling me that I sucked at soccer, before I was even picked for a team. I didn't have a coach screaming "Dammit David, you're like a Goddamn ping-pong ball." I didn't have people calling me fat. I didn't have people saying that I couldn't play with them because I was Jewish. It was almost surreal.
I am the first to admit that I am a terrible soccer player. But, at least this time, nobody picked on me for it. They even encouraged me. And I wasn't playing with other Americans. These were German and Israeli players who had been playing all their lives and love soccer. Really really love it. One of the German players plays professionally when he is back home during the summer. Either way, I had fun playing and I can see myself playing soccer regularly while I'm here.
I just can't picture myself watching it. It's so boring. And the talent level in the Israeli pro-leagues is not very good. Plus, I don't want to deal with hooligans. That would be bad. I'm going to play it safe and start listening to Sharks games online at 3am, now that I have internet.
Speaking of which, I have gone back and added some photos to this site and will add more while I'm here.
Sorry this post is a rant, but I needed to vent.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Yitzhak Rabin
Tomorrow is Yitzhak Rabin Day, so tonight we watched a "documentary" about his assassination. I put documentary in quotes because it was incredibly one sided in the way that it depicted religious Jews as fanatics conspiring against Rabin, but regardless of that, the film raised many issues that linger to this day.
To start off, I am a fan of Rabin. The man truly believed in what he was doing and his later decisions were reached through reflections upon his previous actions. The man WAS Israel's modern history. He helped found the state, defend it, and led it twice. Towards the end of his life, he tried to secure a peaceful future. Whether or not it would have happened is beside the point. The point is he was committed to his ideology and deserves to be both studied and respected for the courage he displayed under pressure.
In the months before the assassination, fringe elements of the right wing, mostly settlers in the West Bank, began to study laws in the Talmud about the government of a Jewish nation that had not been used the since the Roman Conquest around 70 CE. I'm no Talmud expert and have never claimed to be, but my understanding of the laws is that they sentence anyone who commits treason against the Jewish nation to death. The person committing treason in this case was Rabin because of his commitment to handing over the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians with the intention of establishing the long overdue Arab state alongside of Israel. This act met the extremist definition of treason, and therefore, he "deserved" to die. The man to carry out his death sentence was Yigal Amir who was a follower of the right wing propaganda against Rabin and was the "unexpected" culmination of the political conspiracy against Rabin.
When people talk about a right wing conspiracy against Rabin, they are not lying and they are not overstating the influence of Rabin's opponents. There was a very intricate web of organization and propaganda that fueled the anti-Rabin sentiment so much that it went from being pure political opposition to being personal attacks on him and his wife, including calling him a Nazi, which is a very strong taboo in the Jewish community. Rabin was even cursed. People called for him to be violently killed, openly and in public and the Knesset (parliament). The anti-Rabin propaganda and the death threats inspired Amir to kill Rabin. That is a fact. He admitted it.
I cannot describe to you in writing the images that I saw in the film tonight. They were absolutely disturbing. Thousands of people came out and demonstrated against Rabin, calling for his death in rallies that resemble the Friday afternoon rallies in Tehran against the United States and Israel. People held up posters of him as a Nazi and lobbed baseless insults at the man calling him a "son of a bitch" and a "faggot". They shouted racial slurs against the Arabs and accused Rabin of collaborating with a modern day extension of Hitler (Arafat). I was appalled that this went on, as were the Israelis, who at the time were unable to see the footage because of government censorship. Regardless of your opinions on the peace process or the decision to give back land, my assumption is that if you were to see the footage that was censored in Israel, you would take a step back and question how somebody could not only verbally attack an elected official, but also burn effigies and depict him as a Nazi. You probably would ask yourself "Is this Judaism?"Is wishing death upon someone Jewish?
However the most disgusting thing about the rallies is that two future Prime Ministers were there: Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. After reading Netanyahu's comments about 9/11 and the Iraq war and seeing him on Fox news many times, I had very little respect for him to begin with. But after seeing him appear at a rally where people were shouting "Death to Rabin!"; his colleague, Prime Minister, countryman, and fellow Jew, is absolutely appalling. Same thing with Sharon. Again, is this Judaism? To wish a painful death upon not just another Jew but another person?
The most horrendous aspect about the assassination is not that it happened, but the lies that surround it. Yigal Amir received the blessing from a fanatical Rabbi to kill Rabin, according to the police report. When questioned on camera, the Rabbi in question denied it. Amir denied it. The only people willing to corroborate the charge were two students of the Rabbi's students who had heard the Rabbi say he would shoot Rabin himself. Again, is this Judaism? I'm pretty sure two of these things violate the 10 commandments and I'm also pretty sure that the act of both authorizing the assassination and carrying it out violate the very first commandment and concept in the Torah: B'Tzelem Elohim, that man was created in the image of God.
In the end, Rabin was assassinated, and many believe that the peace process died with him. Who knows. What I do know, is that I was 9 when he was killed and I remember going to school the next day impacted by the news reports of his killing. It was the first political event in my lifetime that I remember and all I could ask myself then was why? I still ask myself that. Maybe this is the reason why I believe in peace and that peace is worth working towards. Maybe that's what Rabin's death was meant to inspire; legions of young people from both sides working to bridge the divide between Arabs and Jews and to defeat the monopoly of the old guard of leaders, still working off a Holocaust and Cold War reactionary mindset. That statement is not intended to diminish the Holocaust and its lessons at all, but as the world learns the lessons of the Holocaust and realizes the cruelty that humans can inflict on each other, so too must we realize that we cannot live paralyzed by fear and suspicion of others, thinking that everything could potentially lead to a second Holocaust. Instead, let's be proactive and work with others to make peace and to understand others so that racism and ignorance disappear.
I think that's what Rabin would want. Maybe I'm completely wrong. Who knows? I didn't know him personally. The first time I ever heard his name was when I was 9 and he was killed. I only have his legacy to go off of. And this is how I, and many of my generation, interpret it.
I'm torn on how to end this post. I could end it in a youthful sort of way by quoting Elvis Costello by asking "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding", or I could close by writing the most profound thing I saw in Israel on Birthright last year. I think I'll go with that.
At Rabin square, where he was assassinated, somebody wrote in graffiti the words "Know Hope". That's what we need to do. Know Hope.
To start off, I am a fan of Rabin. The man truly believed in what he was doing and his later decisions were reached through reflections upon his previous actions. The man WAS Israel's modern history. He helped found the state, defend it, and led it twice. Towards the end of his life, he tried to secure a peaceful future. Whether or not it would have happened is beside the point. The point is he was committed to his ideology and deserves to be both studied and respected for the courage he displayed under pressure.
In the months before the assassination, fringe elements of the right wing, mostly settlers in the West Bank, began to study laws in the Talmud about the government of a Jewish nation that had not been used the since the Roman Conquest around 70 CE. I'm no Talmud expert and have never claimed to be, but my understanding of the laws is that they sentence anyone who commits treason against the Jewish nation to death. The person committing treason in this case was Rabin because of his commitment to handing over the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians with the intention of establishing the long overdue Arab state alongside of Israel. This act met the extremist definition of treason, and therefore, he "deserved" to die. The man to carry out his death sentence was Yigal Amir who was a follower of the right wing propaganda against Rabin and was the "unexpected" culmination of the political conspiracy against Rabin.
When people talk about a right wing conspiracy against Rabin, they are not lying and they are not overstating the influence of Rabin's opponents. There was a very intricate web of organization and propaganda that fueled the anti-Rabin sentiment so much that it went from being pure political opposition to being personal attacks on him and his wife, including calling him a Nazi, which is a very strong taboo in the Jewish community. Rabin was even cursed. People called for him to be violently killed, openly and in public and the Knesset (parliament). The anti-Rabin propaganda and the death threats inspired Amir to kill Rabin. That is a fact. He admitted it.
I cannot describe to you in writing the images that I saw in the film tonight. They were absolutely disturbing. Thousands of people came out and demonstrated against Rabin, calling for his death in rallies that resemble the Friday afternoon rallies in Tehran against the United States and Israel. People held up posters of him as a Nazi and lobbed baseless insults at the man calling him a "son of a bitch" and a "faggot". They shouted racial slurs against the Arabs and accused Rabin of collaborating with a modern day extension of Hitler (Arafat). I was appalled that this went on, as were the Israelis, who at the time were unable to see the footage because of government censorship. Regardless of your opinions on the peace process or the decision to give back land, my assumption is that if you were to see the footage that was censored in Israel, you would take a step back and question how somebody could not only verbally attack an elected official, but also burn effigies and depict him as a Nazi. You probably would ask yourself "Is this Judaism?"Is wishing death upon someone Jewish?
However the most disgusting thing about the rallies is that two future Prime Ministers were there: Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. After reading Netanyahu's comments about 9/11 and the Iraq war and seeing him on Fox news many times, I had very little respect for him to begin with. But after seeing him appear at a rally where people were shouting "Death to Rabin!"; his colleague, Prime Minister, countryman, and fellow Jew, is absolutely appalling. Same thing with Sharon. Again, is this Judaism? To wish a painful death upon not just another Jew but another person?
The most horrendous aspect about the assassination is not that it happened, but the lies that surround it. Yigal Amir received the blessing from a fanatical Rabbi to kill Rabin, according to the police report. When questioned on camera, the Rabbi in question denied it. Amir denied it. The only people willing to corroborate the charge were two students of the Rabbi's students who had heard the Rabbi say he would shoot Rabin himself. Again, is this Judaism? I'm pretty sure two of these things violate the 10 commandments and I'm also pretty sure that the act of both authorizing the assassination and carrying it out violate the very first commandment and concept in the Torah: B'Tzelem Elohim, that man was created in the image of God.
In the end, Rabin was assassinated, and many believe that the peace process died with him. Who knows. What I do know, is that I was 9 when he was killed and I remember going to school the next day impacted by the news reports of his killing. It was the first political event in my lifetime that I remember and all I could ask myself then was why? I still ask myself that. Maybe this is the reason why I believe in peace and that peace is worth working towards. Maybe that's what Rabin's death was meant to inspire; legions of young people from both sides working to bridge the divide between Arabs and Jews and to defeat the monopoly of the old guard of leaders, still working off a Holocaust and Cold War reactionary mindset. That statement is not intended to diminish the Holocaust and its lessons at all, but as the world learns the lessons of the Holocaust and realizes the cruelty that humans can inflict on each other, so too must we realize that we cannot live paralyzed by fear and suspicion of others, thinking that everything could potentially lead to a second Holocaust. Instead, let's be proactive and work with others to make peace and to understand others so that racism and ignorance disappear.
I think that's what Rabin would want. Maybe I'm completely wrong. Who knows? I didn't know him personally. The first time I ever heard his name was when I was 9 and he was killed. I only have his legacy to go off of. And this is how I, and many of my generation, interpret it.
I'm torn on how to end this post. I could end it in a youthful sort of way by quoting Elvis Costello by asking "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding", or I could close by writing the most profound thing I saw in Israel on Birthright last year. I think I'll go with that.
At Rabin square, where he was assassinated, somebody wrote in graffiti the words "Know Hope". That's what we need to do. Know Hope.
Filler
Here's a list of major things that I miss about life in the good old US and A:
Mexican Food
Ice Hockey
Politeness/Manners
That's about it.
That doesn't mean I don't miss anything else. It just means that these are all the things I can think of right now.
Mexican Food
Ice Hockey
Politeness/Manners
That's about it.
That doesn't mean I don't miss anything else. It just means that these are all the things I can think of right now.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Plans have changed
Tutoring apparently doesn't start until next week.
I ordered internet today. I don't know when I'll get it.
2 of my roommates moved out. I don't know who will replace them or why they moved out.
I ordered internet today. I don't know when I'll get it.
2 of my roommates moved out. I don't know who will replace them or why they moved out.
Football and Food
The beach in Haifa is amazing. Have I said that already? I went yesterday with some friends. We kicked it old school on beach and watched the sun go down. It was very nice.
I'm going to say this, and I absolutely mean it: SOCCER IS THE WORST SPORT EVER! (I'm saying this knowing full well that I'll probably get my skull bashed in by a soccer hooligan, but I don't care) My friends and I were watching the 49ers-Giants game last night and some Israelis came in and changed the channel. They didn't bother saying anything. They just put on the Maccabi Tel Aviv game. I'm no expert on soccer, but I did notice that the stadium was empty and that the talent level on the field was terrible. Meanwhile, the game at the Meadowlands was sold out and the 49ers were having a great time sacking Eli Manning. Or at least that's what I saw. (I saw the blocked punt for a safety after the sack) Seriously, soccer is boring! Apparently CBC and maybe TSN broadcast in Israel. If somebody changes a ____(insert Canadian team)___ vs. Sharks game, skulls will be busted. I mean it. Tell your friends.
Israeli food is delicious. Even the canned stuff. I had canned hummus and grape leaves on the hike this weekend. They were delicious. I had the coffee and hummus for breakfast today. It's the breakfast of champions, next to Wheaties.
Hebrew has gotten better. My teacher is very thorough and is helping me to pick up the little things that I either missed or lost during Hebrew at Pitt.
I'm working on getting internet in my room. I have to go to the RA's office hours, but they keep changing. I'm going tonight. Once I get internet, I will upload pictures. I promise.
I start tutoring Ethiopians tonight. They're going to make fun of me because I have red hair and they probably will say bad things about me in Amharic and say I'm ugly because of the red hair, freckles, and pasty skin. It ain't easy being a Gingi.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Kitties and the Desert
Apparently on Thursday night, I had a few too many beers and played with one of the kittens on campus, which is weired because I hate cats. Anyways, on to the important stuff.
I went on a 2 day hike in the Negev desert this weekend. It was tons of fun. We left Friday at 6amish and on the way down to the desert we stopped at the Arab market in Be'er Sheva. It was a pretty cool market. It felt a little awkward speaking Hebrew to the Arab shop keepers, but we managed. One of the Bedouin walking around offered to buy our women. He offered $10,000 a piece. I hope he was joking. Otherwise, he needs to adjust for inflation. I had the best laffa bread and cup of instant coffee I've had in Israel. The laffa was like eating a flat sheet of gummy dough. It was great with fresh hummus.
After the market, we got back in the bus and headed down south to the ancient city of Avdat. Avdat is an ancient Nabatean city out in the middle of the desert. You can hike around the ruins and get a great view of the desert. It was pretty cool, but I'm going to be honest, I didn't care at all what the tour guide had to say about the Nabateans.
After Avdat we headed to the town of Mitzpe Ramon, which like Be'er Sheva, is basically a random city in the middle of the desert. We hiked around the Mitzpe Ramon crater which is pretty cool. It is not a crater in the sense that it was hit by an asteroid. It's more like a canyon carved by water. Either way, it's neat. The desert is beautiful. After the hike, we went to a Bedouin campground and made camp for the night. We had a little Shabbat service and tons of food for dinner. Most people, including myself, tried to get to sleep early, however there were a bunch of kids staying the campground that were making lots of noise. It was hard to sleep.
We woke up around 6am, had breakfast, cleaned up, and loaded the busses. I had a peanut butter and chocolate sandwich for breakfast. It was odd. I never really ate sugary foods for breakfast at home, so it was a little odd to be having chocolate goo on white bread. It was tasty, but I don't plan to be doing it very often. I like grapefruits. Especially the ones here.
The hike we went on was 9 hours and was very tough. It was lot of up hill-down hill type stuff and for the last half it was like walking on a beach. We got an amazing view of the desert. I took some pictures, but I can't put them up because the internet is too slow. It was really hot yesterday. Really hot . I had to drink about 6 liters of water throughout the day. I also ate a giant bag trail mix, two apples, and two peanut butter sandwiches (sans chocolate goo). In my pictures, I look really bloated because of all the water. Somehow, I managed not to get sunburned. The Israelis on the trip made fun of me because I put sunscreen on religiously. They would say things like "Does the gingi need sunscreen?" really sarcastically. Whatever, I didn't get burned. I alternated two shirts on the trip. One on my body and the other under my hat serving as a koofiyah. I'm going to invest in one before the next hike. (A koofiyah is the Arab cloth that goes over the head. Unfortunately, only bad guys are pictured wearing them in the west, but they're very common and most of the Arabs I have met here wear them)
Did I mention the desert is beautiful? It really is. We got to climb up a mountain and we could see all the way to Jordan. It was amazing. The desert is so calm and peaceful. Ben Gurion was right. The desert is the future of the Jewish people. There's so much space and potential in the desert for both agriculture and commerce, as demonstrated by Be'er Sheva. I like it there and plan to go back another time.
I tried to sleep on the bus ride back but couldn't. The six liters of water had to come out some how, so it was almost impossible to sit still. We stopped at a rest stop on the way that had a McDonald's and a small schwarma restaurant. Everyone from our bus went to the schwarma stand. I thought it was odd that all the Americans went for the schwarma, even when a McDonald's was present. I found it even odder that the McDonald's was full of Arabs, you know, the people who allegedly are anti-Western and live in the stone age. Whatever political philosopher who said that people are bought off by the luxuries of modern society was right. I can't remember if it was Marx or if it was Rousseau or someone else. But either way, I think that the road side McDonald's is another example of how Western commercialism will most likely bring the end of the strife between Arabs and Israelis because everyone will be too busy super-sizing their orders.
Anyways, the schwarma was great. For those of you who don't know, schwarma is a pita sandwich made of some sort of shaved meat and all the toppings you can think of: hummus, vegetables, hot sauce...Anyways, the meat had a taste of curry powder on it, which is odd, because I've never had the before. Either way, it was delicious and hit the spot after the hike.
My Israeli roommates have all moved in. They're nice guys. One guy is from Russia and came in the early 1990's. He was thrilled to be living with Americans because he wants to practice his English. I told him I wanted to practice my Hebrew. So he and I have an understanding. Haifa is a wonderful place and I highly recommend that everyone come and visit.
Before I left, people expressed concern to me about whether or not I would turn Orthodox because I was in Israel. My initial impression after being in Haifa for a few weeks is that it is highly unlikely that I will turn into a black hat. The city, I feel, has a good balance between the religious and the secular and makes it easy to experience both sides, but also retain your values. Besides, most of my friends here were active in the Reform and Conservative movements religiously and the Habonim D'ror (Jewish-Zionist socialist movement), so most of them are set in their beliefs and know what they're looking to experience and what to take back from Israel.
To repeat, if you can get here, do it. It's a nice place.
And P.S.
I have massive blisters on my feet. And a kitty just walked by.
I went on a 2 day hike in the Negev desert this weekend. It was tons of fun. We left Friday at 6amish and on the way down to the desert we stopped at the Arab market in Be'er Sheva. It was a pretty cool market. It felt a little awkward speaking Hebrew to the Arab shop keepers, but we managed. One of the Bedouin walking around offered to buy our women. He offered $10,000 a piece. I hope he was joking. Otherwise, he needs to adjust for inflation. I had the best laffa bread and cup of instant coffee I've had in Israel. The laffa was like eating a flat sheet of gummy dough. It was great with fresh hummus.
After the market, we got back in the bus and headed down south to the ancient city of Avdat. Avdat is an ancient Nabatean city out in the middle of the desert. You can hike around the ruins and get a great view of the desert. It was pretty cool, but I'm going to be honest, I didn't care at all what the tour guide had to say about the Nabateans.
After Avdat we headed to the town of Mitzpe Ramon, which like Be'er Sheva, is basically a random city in the middle of the desert. We hiked around the Mitzpe Ramon crater which is pretty cool. It is not a crater in the sense that it was hit by an asteroid. It's more like a canyon carved by water. Either way, it's neat. The desert is beautiful. After the hike, we went to a Bedouin campground and made camp for the night. We had a little Shabbat service and tons of food for dinner. Most people, including myself, tried to get to sleep early, however there were a bunch of kids staying the campground that were making lots of noise. It was hard to sleep.
We woke up around 6am, had breakfast, cleaned up, and loaded the busses. I had a peanut butter and chocolate sandwich for breakfast. It was odd. I never really ate sugary foods for breakfast at home, so it was a little odd to be having chocolate goo on white bread. It was tasty, but I don't plan to be doing it very often. I like grapefruits. Especially the ones here.
The hike we went on was 9 hours and was very tough. It was lot of up hill-down hill type stuff and for the last half it was like walking on a beach. We got an amazing view of the desert. I took some pictures, but I can't put them up because the internet is too slow. It was really hot yesterday. Really hot . I had to drink about 6 liters of water throughout the day. I also ate a giant bag trail mix, two apples, and two peanut butter sandwiches (sans chocolate goo). In my pictures, I look really bloated because of all the water. Somehow, I managed not to get sunburned. The Israelis on the trip made fun of me because I put sunscreen on religiously. They would say things like "Does the gingi need sunscreen?" really sarcastically. Whatever, I didn't get burned. I alternated two shirts on the trip. One on my body and the other under my hat serving as a koofiyah. I'm going to invest in one before the next hike. (A koofiyah is the Arab cloth that goes over the head. Unfortunately, only bad guys are pictured wearing them in the west, but they're very common and most of the Arabs I have met here wear them)
Did I mention the desert is beautiful? It really is. We got to climb up a mountain and we could see all the way to Jordan. It was amazing. The desert is so calm and peaceful. Ben Gurion was right. The desert is the future of the Jewish people. There's so much space and potential in the desert for both agriculture and commerce, as demonstrated by Be'er Sheva. I like it there and plan to go back another time.
I tried to sleep on the bus ride back but couldn't. The six liters of water had to come out some how, so it was almost impossible to sit still. We stopped at a rest stop on the way that had a McDonald's and a small schwarma restaurant. Everyone from our bus went to the schwarma stand. I thought it was odd that all the Americans went for the schwarma, even when a McDonald's was present. I found it even odder that the McDonald's was full of Arabs, you know, the people who allegedly are anti-Western and live in the stone age. Whatever political philosopher who said that people are bought off by the luxuries of modern society was right. I can't remember if it was Marx or if it was Rousseau or someone else. But either way, I think that the road side McDonald's is another example of how Western commercialism will most likely bring the end of the strife between Arabs and Israelis because everyone will be too busy super-sizing their orders.
Anyways, the schwarma was great. For those of you who don't know, schwarma is a pita sandwich made of some sort of shaved meat and all the toppings you can think of: hummus, vegetables, hot sauce...Anyways, the meat had a taste of curry powder on it, which is odd, because I've never had the before. Either way, it was delicious and hit the spot after the hike.
My Israeli roommates have all moved in. They're nice guys. One guy is from Russia and came in the early 1990's. He was thrilled to be living with Americans because he wants to practice his English. I told him I wanted to practice my Hebrew. So he and I have an understanding. Haifa is a wonderful place and I highly recommend that everyone come and visit.
Before I left, people expressed concern to me about whether or not I would turn Orthodox because I was in Israel. My initial impression after being in Haifa for a few weeks is that it is highly unlikely that I will turn into a black hat. The city, I feel, has a good balance between the religious and the secular and makes it easy to experience both sides, but also retain your values. Besides, most of my friends here were active in the Reform and Conservative movements religiously and the Habonim D'ror (Jewish-Zionist socialist movement), so most of them are set in their beliefs and know what they're looking to experience and what to take back from Israel.
To repeat, if you can get here, do it. It's a nice place.
And P.S.
I have massive blisters on my feet. And a kitty just walked by.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Beach, Americana, and Cat Fights
The beach in Haifa is wonderful. I went there this afternoon with some friends from the International school. The water is neither too hot or too cold and the sand is not rocky at all. The sun didn't shine very much, so I didn't have to worry about getting sunburned. After frolicking in the water for about an hour, my friend from Switzerland tried to teach me some Swiss card game that confused me. Really confused me. It seemed like he was making up the rules as he went along. After that, we went to a pub on the beach, got some pints and some snacks and watched the sun go down. It was a sight. The sun went down right over the water and the sky lit up with several shades of orange. It was pretty to say the least.
This afternoon I went to the mini mart on campus and bought some groceries. In my cart were two parts of America that are pretty tough to live with here: peanut butter and Tabasco Sauce (I don't mix them together). As great as the exotic hot sauces and relishes are in Israel, nothing can compare to the vinegary taste of Tabasco sauce. As far as peanut butter, who doesn't love peanut butter. I actually gave a student from Germany her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich after we got back from the beach. She won it off me because I bet that it wouldn't rain. But it did. A little. It wasn't Pittsburgh rain. I feel like I accomplished something significant by spreading the deliciousness of peanut butter and jelly to my fellow man. I just hope that she isn't allergic to peanuts. I tried to write the technical term for peanut allergy, anaphylaxis, but Mozilla corrected the spelling to the technical terms for condoms and tefillin.
There's cats all over this campus. One just walked right past me. Sometimes they come into the building and make a bunch of noise. Last night while I was working on my homework, two of them were fighting outside. It was loud. And funny. I think one of the cats is seriously wounded or dead. I really don't know. And I really don't care. Stupid cats.
This afternoon I went to the mini mart on campus and bought some groceries. In my cart were two parts of America that are pretty tough to live with here: peanut butter and Tabasco Sauce (I don't mix them together). As great as the exotic hot sauces and relishes are in Israel, nothing can compare to the vinegary taste of Tabasco sauce. As far as peanut butter, who doesn't love peanut butter. I actually gave a student from Germany her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich after we got back from the beach. She won it off me because I bet that it wouldn't rain. But it did. A little. It wasn't Pittsburgh rain. I feel like I accomplished something significant by spreading the deliciousness of peanut butter and jelly to my fellow man. I just hope that she isn't allergic to peanuts. I tried to write the technical term for peanut allergy, anaphylaxis, but Mozilla corrected the spelling to the technical terms for condoms and tefillin.
There's cats all over this campus. One just walked right past me. Sometimes they come into the building and make a bunch of noise. Last night while I was working on my homework, two of them were fighting outside. It was loud. And funny. I think one of the cats is seriously wounded or dead. I really don't know. And I really don't care. Stupid cats.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Dirty Water and Classes
The tap water here does not agree with me. I learned that lesson today. Instead, I will have to drink bottled water. I feel bad. Not only is bottled water expensive and a big scam, it is also bad for the environment and perpetuates the need for oil. And it also doesn't help that the university does not have a recycling program for plastic bottles.
Hebrew makes me want to cry. I really do not want to take it again. I've gone since May without speaking it and have just lost interest in the language. Plus, I've already taken 4 semesters at Pitt, which means that I have fulfilled the requirement for the Jewish studies certificate and no longer need to take it. Any credit that I get from taking it here, which would amount to 6, is elective credit. But yet, because I am receiving a grant from MASA, which is funded by the Israeli government (they told us so last night), I am required to. Because of this, I cannot take Modern Standard Arabic, which was one of the major things that drew me to Haifa. There's a spoken Arabic class, but it overlaps with 2 Political Science courses that I need to take.
I can't decide if I want to drop Contemporary Israel and replace it with Intro to Rabbinic Literature. The Contemporary Israel course will be offered next semester and if I don't end up taking it, I can take the Modern Israel course at Pitt. This semester, the Rabbinic Literature course focuses on the Mishnah and other legal texts. It is also offered next semester and covers the Midrash and Talmud discussion. They both sound interesting and I can't decided what to do.
I went to Terrorism and Responses to day. The teacher is an officer in the IDF and his job has something to do with terrorism analysis. It's a neat class and offerers a lot of things to think about. It covers all different types of terrorism and terrorist groups. I definitely do not plan to drop it because there is no equivalent and Pitt and it is only this semester.
I only have Hebrew tomorrow at 8:15am until 10. After that, I'm going to the beach with some friends.
My Israeli roommate moved in today. He's a nursing student. I only got to meet with him for a few minutes. He seems like a good guy.
My American roommate and I cooked dinner tonight. I made couscous and he made this bread thing with a tomato-pepper sauce. It was delicious. The food here is way better than anything I had at Pitt and it is much cheaper.
Hebrew makes me want to cry. I really do not want to take it again. I've gone since May without speaking it and have just lost interest in the language. Plus, I've already taken 4 semesters at Pitt, which means that I have fulfilled the requirement for the Jewish studies certificate and no longer need to take it. Any credit that I get from taking it here, which would amount to 6, is elective credit. But yet, because I am receiving a grant from MASA, which is funded by the Israeli government (they told us so last night), I am required to. Because of this, I cannot take Modern Standard Arabic, which was one of the major things that drew me to Haifa. There's a spoken Arabic class, but it overlaps with 2 Political Science courses that I need to take.
I can't decide if I want to drop Contemporary Israel and replace it with Intro to Rabbinic Literature. The Contemporary Israel course will be offered next semester and if I don't end up taking it, I can take the Modern Israel course at Pitt. This semester, the Rabbinic Literature course focuses on the Mishnah and other legal texts. It is also offered next semester and covers the Midrash and Talmud discussion. They both sound interesting and I can't decided what to do.
I went to Terrorism and Responses to day. The teacher is an officer in the IDF and his job has something to do with terrorism analysis. It's a neat class and offerers a lot of things to think about. It covers all different types of terrorism and terrorist groups. I definitely do not plan to drop it because there is no equivalent and Pitt and it is only this semester.
I only have Hebrew tomorrow at 8:15am until 10. After that, I'm going to the beach with some friends.
My Israeli roommate moved in today. He's a nursing student. I only got to meet with him for a few minutes. He seems like a good guy.
My American roommate and I cooked dinner tonight. I made couscous and he made this bread thing with a tomato-pepper sauce. It was delicious. The food here is way better than anything I had at Pitt and it is much cheaper.
First Day of Classes
Yesterday was first day of classes. I took the Hebrew placement exam in the morning. I don't think I did very well on it because I did nothing with Hebrew all summer. I also completely bombed the oral part of the exam because I was really nervous and was being asked questions with complicated answers that I could only explain in English (ex. Why did you go to Pittsburgh instead of a school in California). I also found out that for two years I have been writing incorrectly. Nobody bothered to correct me on how I wrote daleds wrong.
Afterwards, I went to my first actual class, Contemporary Israel because, as a previous roommate told me, I needed to contemporize, whatever that means. The class was great. It covers pretty much all of Israel's history from the biblical age until today. One of things I am looking forward to is reading Theodore Herzl's, who founded the modern idea of Zionism, Der Juden Stat. I've been told by many Israelis that Herzl must be rolling in his grave because of how his utopian ideology has been implemented. I don't know if they're right, but I look forward to contrasting Herzl's ideas with what actually exists. I'll probably post something on here about it.
After class, my roommate and I washed all of our dishes, which were absolutely disgusting. It took us about an hour and they're sitting on our kitchen table because we're waiting for housing to come and clean our kitchen cabinets. I also bought some new kitchen stuff yesterday. I got a cutting board, some bowls, and (drum roll please) a French press. I'm going to be honest. Instant coffee sucks. It is terrible. And Mr. Coffees don't exist in Israel. So I had to settle for a Chinese made French press which has tons of English spelling and grammar errors on the box. That makes me very confident in the product. Today was the first time I used it and I'm waiting to see if it breaks.
I've signed up to volunteer with Ethiopian refugees on Monday night. I will be teaching one student English once a week, apparently in their home. I'm exited and it sounds like it will be a very fun, memorable, and rewarding experience. If you're wondering what Ethiopians are doing in Israel, I will tell you. In the early 1980s, the Israeli government began bringing the ancient Ethiopian Jewish community to Israel amid tremendous amounts of controversy as to whether or not they were actually Jewish. The Ethiopians had been living in the mountains, secluded from everyone else, since at least the destruction of the Second Temple, and their brand of Judaism was completely different than mainstream Ashkenazic (European) and Sephardic (Middle Eastern/Spanish/Asian) Jewry. Because of this, their community has faced tremendous racism in Israel and has been largely excluded from society both because of their skin color and their status as new immigrants who speak no languages that Israelis do. The largest operation to bring Ethiopians to Israel occurred when my brother was born on May 24, 1991. The U.S. government intervened in both the Ethiopian and Sudanese civil wars to allow the Jewish community to assemble at an airfield in Sudan and be lifted to Israel. It's a remarkable story and I feel that I do not do it justice by condensing it to 1 paragraph. If you're really interested, read a book. It's good for you.
We went to a pub last night called the Beer House. It was a lot of fun. They had beers from all over the world and I wish I could have tried them all. However, I settled last night for 2 pints of some Irish stout beer that I had never heard of. It was delicious. I've noticed that binge drinking is rare in Israel. Since I've been here, I haven't seen anyone completely drunk or doing anything irresponsible. It's pretty refreshing since in most U.S. colleges, that's pretty much all there is to do. Here, everything is much more relaxed and whoever said that I would be bored in Haifa because of a lack of nightlife was completely wrong. I don't need the constant stimulation of a trendy night club with more bottles than G-D, I just need somewhere with cold beer and good music.
I don't have classes on Wednesday afternoon, so I'm hoping to make it down to the beach tomorrow with some friends to kick it old school and take in the beautiful Haifa coastline. Our add drop period is three weeks long, so I won't know my final schedule for a while. Once I do, I will post it.
If anyone is wondering, the food on campus is cheap and amazing. It costs only 3 bucks for a schnitzel sandwich with hummus and all the other stuff. Plus they have only Coke products on campus and you can buy them in cans as opposed to the 1 liter bottles you have to buy at Pittsburgh.
My coffee cup is empty and I need to get ready for class.
Afterwards, I went to my first actual class, Contemporary Israel because, as a previous roommate told me, I needed to contemporize, whatever that means. The class was great. It covers pretty much all of Israel's history from the biblical age until today. One of things I am looking forward to is reading Theodore Herzl's, who founded the modern idea of Zionism, Der Juden Stat. I've been told by many Israelis that Herzl must be rolling in his grave because of how his utopian ideology has been implemented. I don't know if they're right, but I look forward to contrasting Herzl's ideas with what actually exists. I'll probably post something on here about it.
After class, my roommate and I washed all of our dishes, which were absolutely disgusting. It took us about an hour and they're sitting on our kitchen table because we're waiting for housing to come and clean our kitchen cabinets. I also bought some new kitchen stuff yesterday. I got a cutting board, some bowls, and (drum roll please) a French press. I'm going to be honest. Instant coffee sucks. It is terrible. And Mr. Coffees don't exist in Israel. So I had to settle for a Chinese made French press which has tons of English spelling and grammar errors on the box. That makes me very confident in the product. Today was the first time I used it and I'm waiting to see if it breaks.
I've signed up to volunteer with Ethiopian refugees on Monday night. I will be teaching one student English once a week, apparently in their home. I'm exited and it sounds like it will be a very fun, memorable, and rewarding experience. If you're wondering what Ethiopians are doing in Israel, I will tell you. In the early 1980s, the Israeli government began bringing the ancient Ethiopian Jewish community to Israel amid tremendous amounts of controversy as to whether or not they were actually Jewish. The Ethiopians had been living in the mountains, secluded from everyone else, since at least the destruction of the Second Temple, and their brand of Judaism was completely different than mainstream Ashkenazic (European) and Sephardic (Middle Eastern/Spanish/Asian) Jewry. Because of this, their community has faced tremendous racism in Israel and has been largely excluded from society both because of their skin color and their status as new immigrants who speak no languages that Israelis do. The largest operation to bring Ethiopians to Israel occurred when my brother was born on May 24, 1991. The U.S. government intervened in both the Ethiopian and Sudanese civil wars to allow the Jewish community to assemble at an airfield in Sudan and be lifted to Israel. It's a remarkable story and I feel that I do not do it justice by condensing it to 1 paragraph. If you're really interested, read a book. It's good for you.
We went to a pub last night called the Beer House. It was a lot of fun. They had beers from all over the world and I wish I could have tried them all. However, I settled last night for 2 pints of some Irish stout beer that I had never heard of. It was delicious. I've noticed that binge drinking is rare in Israel. Since I've been here, I haven't seen anyone completely drunk or doing anything irresponsible. It's pretty refreshing since in most U.S. colleges, that's pretty much all there is to do. Here, everything is much more relaxed and whoever said that I would be bored in Haifa because of a lack of nightlife was completely wrong. I don't need the constant stimulation of a trendy night club with more bottles than G-D, I just need somewhere with cold beer and good music.
I don't have classes on Wednesday afternoon, so I'm hoping to make it down to the beach tomorrow with some friends to kick it old school and take in the beautiful Haifa coastline. Our add drop period is three weeks long, so I won't know my final schedule for a while. Once I do, I will post it.
If anyone is wondering, the food on campus is cheap and amazing. It costs only 3 bucks for a schnitzel sandwich with hummus and all the other stuff. Plus they have only Coke products on campus and you can buy them in cans as opposed to the 1 liter bottles you have to buy at Pittsburgh.
My coffee cup is empty and I need to get ready for class.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Quick Followup/Mall Experience
Today's news: British Airways returned my bag to me today. And the university cleaned my room!! However, I'm pretty sure the shower still spits out cold water only. I guess I'll find out in the morning.
After our orientation stuff today, my friends and I went to the Grand Canyon mall, which is the main mall in Haifa. However for us, it was an adventure. To get to the mall on the bus, you ride the bus down Mount Carmel (Haifa U is at the top) and you are supposed to get off at a side street and walk to the mall. We missed the stop and continued on down the highway. Once we were two stops passed the mall, we got off the bus and decided to walk back up to the mall, dodging traffic from the shoulder of the road. It was dangerous and I'm pretty sure we cheated death several times.
The mall itself is an interesting sight. It is a massive building with every type of store imaginable. However the most significant aspect of the mall is that it clearly demonstrates that coexistence between Arabs and Israelis is possible. It was refreshing to see both Arab and Israeli families shopping beside each other and their children playing with each other. Maybe the solution to the Middle East crisis is to turn the region into a giant mall, give everyone a disposable income, and watch as the ethnic and religious differences take a back seat to commercialism and the pursuit of the perfect item to fill the empty spaces in their hearts and minds. I'm not sure if I want to admit this, but maybe globalization and commercialism are indeed good things because they united people under the shadow of the almighty dollar instead of dividing them over their definitions of the Almighty.
That's enough of me being provocative and cynical. I'm really tried and smell like the campfire and cookout that the International School had tonight. Thankfully I have my new sheets and pillow to sleep with tonight.
After our orientation stuff today, my friends and I went to the Grand Canyon mall, which is the main mall in Haifa. However for us, it was an adventure. To get to the mall on the bus, you ride the bus down Mount Carmel (Haifa U is at the top) and you are supposed to get off at a side street and walk to the mall. We missed the stop and continued on down the highway. Once we were two stops passed the mall, we got off the bus and decided to walk back up to the mall, dodging traffic from the shoulder of the road. It was dangerous and I'm pretty sure we cheated death several times.
The mall itself is an interesting sight. It is a massive building with every type of store imaginable. However the most significant aspect of the mall is that it clearly demonstrates that coexistence between Arabs and Israelis is possible. It was refreshing to see both Arab and Israeli families shopping beside each other and their children playing with each other. Maybe the solution to the Middle East crisis is to turn the region into a giant mall, give everyone a disposable income, and watch as the ethnic and religious differences take a back seat to commercialism and the pursuit of the perfect item to fill the empty spaces in their hearts and minds. I'm not sure if I want to admit this, but maybe globalization and commercialism are indeed good things because they united people under the shadow of the almighty dollar instead of dividing them over their definitions of the Almighty.
That's enough of me being provocative and cynical. I'm really tried and smell like the campfire and cookout that the International School had tonight. Thankfully I have my new sheets and pillow to sleep with tonight.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Showering
There is no hot water in the shower. I had to boil water from the sink and use it to clean myself out of a bowl. I tried to turn the sink off, but the knob screws are rusted. I had to use a knife to fix it. Seriously, this is unacceptable. This would not fly in America. I'm going to housing tomorrow and busting some skulls.
First Day in Haifa
Today was my first actual day in Haifa. We went to the Baha'i gardens which are absolutely beautiful.
After the gardens, we went to the Arab market to do some shopping. I got some extremely fresh fruit there as well as some parts for the hookahs that were left in the room. I really like the city. The view from the mountains is gorgeous and the people are very friendly. There's a good mix of religion and secularism here which adds a unique dimension to the city that places like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem don't have. One one side of the street there were Arabs and Jews haggling over produce and on the other side there were ultra-orthodox Jews walking to their synagogue, which is something that probably isn't seen anywhere else in Israel. There were also young Muslim boys celebrating the end of Ramadan by lighting fireworks in the street. I have to admit that it was somewhat of a shock to hear the fireworks going off, but as long as it's just fireworks it's fine.
I had a delicious falafal sandwich in the market. The falafal balls were hot and soft and had a great garlicy flavor to them. The tehina sauce that came with it was by far the best I have ever had. And the pita was baked fresh down the street. All for 15 shekels ($4.50ish).
I'm on my 6th cup of coffee today. That's what this place does to you. I started drinking coffee last year when I first came on Birthright, and now I'm drinking it whenever I can. The water boiler in our room is basically a pitcher with an electrical coil in it, so I can have instant coffee, which for some reason isn't too bad in Israel, anytime I want. My roommate and I are going to meet with the housing people tomorrow to try and get our room straightened out. We decided that we're going to ask for the equipment we need to clean the place up completely. Our stove is not self lighting, and I'm afraid to light it. I'm a little gun shy after burning my arm hair off a few months ago at home lighting the barbecue. I guess I'll have to get over it. It's also covered in grease and I don't want to start a grease fire. Maybe the university will replace it.
I got a call from British Airways baggage services. They said they haven't found my bag, but found something similar. They asked if I owned a pink women's sweater. I don't. I hope they find it. My towels are in there. And so is my water bottle and my coffee mug. I feel bad using Styrofoam cups and plastic water bottles all the time without being able to recycle them. Plus, I start Hebrew in a few days and will desperately need my copy of 501 Hebrew verbs.
For some reason, the public internet here doesn't support AIM or picture uploads. I wanted to put some pictures on here, but they wouldn't load. Maybe next time it will work, once I get my WiFi access card.
Finally in Israel
After two very long flights, I am finally in Israel. I flew overnight from San Francisco to London Heathrow and stayed there for 8 hours. It wasn't too bad, except I ended up spending at least $30 just on food (a pizza, a sandwich, and 2 cups of drip coffee). I also bought myself a pack of Montecristo mini cigars, just to emphasize that I was not on American soil and could purchase Cubans. Ironically, they were cheaper than my dinner. At least I got free cocktails and Irish whisky at the duty free stores.
From London, I flew to Tel Aviv. The flight was by far the worst one I have ever taken, not because of the airline or the staff, but because of all the Haredim (ultra-orthodox Jews) on the flight. There were six families, each with 8 or so children, the majority of them infants and babies. Needless to say, the flight was noisy and I got not sleep because of all the screaming children. Where were the fathers during this time? They were praying. Loudly. Where were the mothers? Trying to juggle their children.
Upon arriving in Tel Aviv, I found out that British Airways lost one of my bags. I was and still am pissed. You'd think that the most secure airport in the world would be able to keep track of one duffel bag. But apparently not. From the airport, I took the train to Hof HaCarmel train station in Haifa. It's supposed to be a straight shot, however I got on 3 different commuter trains that cut out before reaching Haifa. At least the scenery was beautiful. I have to say that I experienced a very extreme case of culture shock because of how the people I was next to were carrying M16 assault rifles. And they were younger than me. I hope that soon, those younger than me will never have to do that.
Haifa University is a secluded campus up on top of a mountain. It has a great view of Haifa and the city is very easy to get to on the bus. Unfortunately, my dorm is a Hell hole. There are ants in the bathroom, the shower is moldy and hairy, my dresser is broken, the kitchen is greasy and sticky, our closet was full of empty beer bottles and newspapers when I arrived, and my mattress is falling apart. The people living in here before us left all sorts of pots and pans and food in the refrigerator. It's not a pretty sight. I feel like I'm living in a Salvation Army store. I'm going to meet with the housing people tomorrow and see if they can remedy most of the things wrong with the room. At least the previous tenants left 2 hookahs, coffee, and some vodka.
My roommate though is really cool. He's a fellow ska kid and rude boy, so unlike with previous roommates, there will be no conflict when it comes to music. AND HE'S NOT A SLOB, like my previous roommate.
I went shopping yesterday afternoon and bought the essentials. Toilet paper, hummus, bread, beer, and shaving cream. Too bad I can't shave in my bathroom because I can't stop the drain. And even if I could, the sinks are right underneath the cabinets, which means that I'm not near a mirror. Maybe I'll just go bearded. Who knows. I'll probably crack soon and shave.
Shabbat last night was pretty good. The service was somewhat of a failure because we were only able to get six of ten men. We did have a minyan of women sitting behind us, but unfortunately it's Israel and therefore they can't participate like in everywhere else.
After dinner I played scrabble with a bunch of people from all over the world and then fell asleep around 10pm because I was completely dead. I fell asleep thinking that I would wake up in the middle of the night covered in roaches, but thankfully it did not happen. Today we're going to visit the Bahaii gardens and the Arab market. Hopefully I can find an ATM and get some money. I didn't get a chance to change my dollars, so I'm operating off of cards right now. The bank will be open tomorrow, so I'm going to go change my dollars for shekels and probably pay a ridiculous commission charge.
I've met a lot of great people here and I'm really glad that I'll be here for a year. As much as my room sucks, so does everyone else's, so we all have similar complaints. I'm hesitant to take some pictures because my battery charger is in the bag that's missing. Once I get my charger, I'll start taking pictures and loading them on here because my camera sucks up batteries really quickly. I'll definitely take some later at the Bahaii gardens.
From London, I flew to Tel Aviv. The flight was by far the worst one I have ever taken, not because of the airline or the staff, but because of all the Haredim (ultra-orthodox Jews) on the flight. There were six families, each with 8 or so children, the majority of them infants and babies. Needless to say, the flight was noisy and I got not sleep because of all the screaming children. Where were the fathers during this time? They were praying. Loudly. Where were the mothers? Trying to juggle their children.
Upon arriving in Tel Aviv, I found out that British Airways lost one of my bags. I was and still am pissed. You'd think that the most secure airport in the world would be able to keep track of one duffel bag. But apparently not. From the airport, I took the train to Hof HaCarmel train station in Haifa. It's supposed to be a straight shot, however I got on 3 different commuter trains that cut out before reaching Haifa. At least the scenery was beautiful. I have to say that I experienced a very extreme case of culture shock because of how the people I was next to were carrying M16 assault rifles. And they were younger than me. I hope that soon, those younger than me will never have to do that.
Haifa University is a secluded campus up on top of a mountain. It has a great view of Haifa and the city is very easy to get to on the bus. Unfortunately, my dorm is a Hell hole. There are ants in the bathroom, the shower is moldy and hairy, my dresser is broken, the kitchen is greasy and sticky, our closet was full of empty beer bottles and newspapers when I arrived, and my mattress is falling apart. The people living in here before us left all sorts of pots and pans and food in the refrigerator. It's not a pretty sight. I feel like I'm living in a Salvation Army store. I'm going to meet with the housing people tomorrow and see if they can remedy most of the things wrong with the room. At least the previous tenants left 2 hookahs, coffee, and some vodka.
My roommate though is really cool. He's a fellow ska kid and rude boy, so unlike with previous roommates, there will be no conflict when it comes to music. AND HE'S NOT A SLOB, like my previous roommate.
I went shopping yesterday afternoon and bought the essentials. Toilet paper, hummus, bread, beer, and shaving cream. Too bad I can't shave in my bathroom because I can't stop the drain. And even if I could, the sinks are right underneath the cabinets, which means that I'm not near a mirror. Maybe I'll just go bearded. Who knows. I'll probably crack soon and shave.
Shabbat last night was pretty good. The service was somewhat of a failure because we were only able to get six of ten men. We did have a minyan of women sitting behind us, but unfortunately it's Israel and therefore they can't participate like in everywhere else.
After dinner I played scrabble with a bunch of people from all over the world and then fell asleep around 10pm because I was completely dead. I fell asleep thinking that I would wake up in the middle of the night covered in roaches, but thankfully it did not happen. Today we're going to visit the Bahaii gardens and the Arab market. Hopefully I can find an ATM and get some money. I didn't get a chance to change my dollars, so I'm operating off of cards right now. The bank will be open tomorrow, so I'm going to go change my dollars for shekels and probably pay a ridiculous commission charge.
I've met a lot of great people here and I'm really glad that I'll be here for a year. As much as my room sucks, so does everyone else's, so we all have similar complaints. I'm hesitant to take some pictures because my battery charger is in the bag that's missing. Once I get my charger, I'll start taking pictures and loading them on here because my camera sucks up batteries really quickly. I'll definitely take some later at the Bahaii gardens.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Neat Stuff on the Side
I've added RSS feeds for Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post as well as the weather in Haifa. This way, everyone can be informed about what's going on.
24 Hours!
I have 24 hours until I leave for San Francisco airport! I'm flying tomorrow night on British Airways to London and then London to Tel Aviv. Hopefully the flight will be smooth and painless, but you never know. I'll try and update when I am in London, but if that doesn't work out, my next post will be from Haifa!
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