Has it really been three months already? Yes, chaverim, we have reached the end of our time here in Ashkelon. It is now 3:00, and all of us are at various stages in our packing and cleaning, preparing to move out of Kalanit tomorrow morning. So since I really hate doing those things, what better time to recap the past few months? Here are some of the highlights…
-The plane ride from New York to Tel Aviv. Oh, wait, this wasn’t a highlight, due to the hundreds of screaming Yeshiva girls who wouldn’t shut up the entire plane ride. Yeah, I’m still bitter.
-First shawarma in Israel. After arriving in Jerusalem, a bunch of us wandered around the city until we found a little street with a bunch of restaurants, where we treated ourselves to our first shawarma. More interestingly, a girl overheard us saying “OTZMA” as she walked by, and turned out she was an alumnus from a couple of years ago that had made aliyah! Our first clue at how small Israel really is.
-Deck parties at Yitzchak Rabin Youth Hostel. Every night in Jerusalem, we would all find ourselves outside, having fun and hanging out. This was our first real chance to get to know each other, and the nights more often than not included the “Summer Camp” group loudly singing camp songs into the night while everyone else watched with equal parts amusement and annoyance.
-Our night with the Bedouins. After leaving Jerusalem, we went on a two-day tiyul that included a lot of intense hiking and a night in a Bedouin tent. We also learned that traditionally Bedouins give 3 small cups of coffee. We only got 2.
-Swimming in the Dead Sea. Also, getting swept away in the current of the Dead Sea and trying to get back without insanely salty water splashing in your face and mouth, causing intense pain.
-Moving into Kalanit! By the way, I firmly believe I had the best roommate in the group in Jeremy, a San Fransicoan who will soon be volunteering in a town called Kiryat Shimona. Great guy.
-First time at the beach – for me, pretty much ever. A lot of people here are from coastal areas, so it was status quo for them, but having lived my life in Missouri, being able to walk to the beach was pretty awesome.
-Volunteering to deliver Rosh Hashana care packages. Less notable for the actual work, more notable for the fact that I was working with a girl I hadn’t really talked to the first week, some Philly girl named Allie...
-Starting ulpan and quickly realizing how over my head I was…
-Nights out in Ashkelon, which mainly meant heading to the Marina and the occasional dance club. I say occasional because that hasn’t happened since October.
-The infamous “24 Hours in Israel”, which consisted of us delivering more Rosh Hashana supplies, going to a 2AM educational seminar in Jerusalem to learn… something, and getting on a bus 24 hours after waking up to head to Yokne’am for the first time.
-Meeting my adoptive family in Yokne’am! The Hirsches were awesome, and I loved their little twins. We spent the first night of Rosh Hashana in Carmiel with Effie (the dad)’s family, who spoke English, and the second day/night with Ofra (the mom)’s famiy in Kiryat Shimona, who did not. We also stopped off in a town called Akko, which is this awesome old city filled with medieval fortresses from the times of the Crusades. Finally, we stopped off at an army base in the Golan Heights to see Effie’s nephew, where I got to take a picture with a tank – BUT ONLY ONE (emphasis added by the IDF). I then jumped on a train to head home… only to find about 10 other OTZMAnikim on the same train.
-Volunteering at the local foster home. A lot of people got kind of lame rooms, but my kids were AWESOME. One girl loved being lifted in the air, and another kid always wanted to play basketball or soccer with me – and if you know me, you know the entertainment value there. They gave me a framed picture at the end with all of them.
-Sukkot break in Egypt! I’ve recapped that enough on here, so just go read that.
-Potlucks, both big and small. Whenever I was in Ashkelon for Shabbat, we would have a big potluck with whoever was in town. We also did a lot of smaller potlucks for random dinners, since it was much easier to make a little bit and have a lot of people do the same. The most memorable would have to be the Asian-themed dinner, where we made sweet and sour chicken and I came up with little fortune cookies.
-Random weekend in Jerusalem. I went up to hang out with Allie, and we saw the Israel Museum along with many buses. We also went to an Idan Reichel concert, of which you can read about on the St. Louis OTZMA blog.
-More weekends in Yokneam! Along with more Shabbat dinners with the Hirsches, I went up to spend a few days with a group of 30somethings from St. Louis who were being sponsored on their first trip to Israel. Again, check out the other blog for a recap.
-LOTS of seminars. We had one interesting one on Israeli politics, where we got a crash course in the Knesset, along with a meeting with a former MK. A lot of comments that day about how I was in my element. Also, I got to go to a great Shabbaton where we learned all about security issues facing Israel. A pretty sobering experience – pretty much Iran is the key to everything and it’s going to hit the fan in the next year. Yay! If they could wait till July, that would be great.
-Going to see “(500) Days of Summer” In Jerusalem, only to learn that the online listing lied and we were at an incredibly artsy theater. We saw “An Education” instead. Not what I wanted to see. They didn’t even sell popcorn…
-Date night in Tel Aviv! Go check out Mayumana if you didn’t the last time I asked you to. Please.
-An awesome auction at Netzach Yisrael, which raised something like 10 times more money than they raised the past 5 years. Go Allie for planning it!
-Volunteering at a local school called Kfar Silver, with kids who really did have a great interest in learning English. We even watched part of “Pay It Forward” and discussed it with them. Now if only it were more organized…
-Dogsitting for Allie’s adoptive family while they were in England. They have a little puppy named Gizmo, and outside of my dog (of course)… CUTEST. DOG. EVER.
-Packing and leaving. Wait… not that.
So that was a brief recap… but what comes next? Well, you should probably check out my other blog for that. Oh yeah. It’s a two-part crossover.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Max's Top 10 Christmas Songs!
Oh yeah. You read that title right. See, I don't buy into the myth that as a Jew, I'm not supposed to like Christmas music. Truth is, I don't see how you don't! It's just so happy! Sure, I'm not exactly into the songs that are all about Jesus as lord and savior. Comes with the territory of not believing it. But there are plenty of other great songs, and were I back in America right now, my radio would be tuned to the local station playing holiday music 24/7. And I have no shame in admitting that. So, to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season, I'm going to treat you all to my favorite Christmas songs. So read on, and then feel free to leave comments with your personal favorite and thoughts on my list. Let's begin...
Honorable Mention: "Christmas is All Around" by Billy Mack
This song, while fantastic, had to be disqualified due to unoriginality. By his own admission, Mack simply changed some words to an old song in a blatant attempt for a comeback by shooting up the Christmas charts. However, it did lead to an entertaining incident where, upon reaching the #1 spot on the singles chart, Mack stripped down naked and performed the song on live British television.
(By the way, if you don't get this, go rent the movie Love, Actually. As a heterosexual male I have no problems admitting how good it is. In fact, most guys I know would agree it's one of the best chick flicks out there.)
Honorable Mention: "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"
This is for everyone out there who hates Christmas music. Boo to you, sirs and madams. I wouldn't touch you with a 39 1/2 foot pole.
#10: "Baby Please Come Home" by U2
Setting aside the 80's awesomeness of that video, I really don't have a solid reason for putting this on the list. In fact, it was a last-minute addition that I had honestly just forgotten about. That being said, it's a really fun song that to me, sums up the idea of the "Christmas Spirit" outside of the religious aspect, which is the thoughts of being with your loved ones on the holidays, the way it's meant to be. Plus, Bono is sporting an awesome mullet.
#9: "Let it Snow" by Dean Martin
A classic. Absolute classic. I know a ton of people who would put this at number 1, if for no other reason than how it just sets the tone for the entire season. Really, who doesn't want it to snow at this time of year? You know, except for anyone who has to shovel it.
#8: "Rudolph the Red-Nose Raindeer"/"Frosty the Snowman"/"The Chipmunk's Christmas Song"
Who DOESN'T remember these from their childhood? Every December, turning on the TV and finding one of your favorite holiday specials? I know there are tons of them now, and everyone has to try and do it bigger and better, but you won't find anything better than Rudolph and Frosty. And the Chipmunks? Well, I had to get them in somewhere!
#7: "Jingle Bell Rock"
One of those songs you can't help but sing and dance along to. Noticing a trend? I really do like the more fun and happy songs that just can't help but bring some joy along, and this one does it perfectly.
#6: "Believe" by Josh Groban
OK, so maybe I don't only like fast paced songs. This song from the movie "The Polar Express" (Sidebar: Never saw it. That style of animation creeps me out.) is a very touching piece, with amazing vocals and orchestration behind it. Most of the songs on here are just fun little fluff pieces, but this is a legit fantastic song. I could really listen to this over and over.
#5: "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo - 24/7" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Oh, you had to know this was going to be on here somewhere. I mean, you can say what you want about Christmas music, but this song straight up kicks ass. If you don't know how great Trans-Siberian Orchestra is, here's another video for you to check out, and I'm sure you'll agree after you watch it.
#4: "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"
Just like "Let it Snow", a classic number that HAD to be on the list. Again, this one sums up how a lot of people feel (just read the title!) and probably would be number 1 on a lot of lists. Really, at this point, the songs are all almost interchangeable. I dare you to listen to this song and not have a smile come to your face.
#3: "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey
If anyone likes Christmas music more than me, it's my good friend and fraternity brother Max. (Yeah, I know, same name, haha.) In fact, Max is quite prone at this time of year to drive around not only blasting the music loudly with all his windows down, but also to be singing at the top of his lungs. And, having been present for quite a few of those performances, this is one of his (and my) favorites. So Max, next time you drive around Columbia, MO, play a little Mariah Carey for me and spread some Christmas spirit courtesy of the Jews.
#2: "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by Bruce Springsteen
I know there are tons of versions of this song, but for the best one, look to The Boss. I mean, do the other versions have the E Street Band? No? Didn't think so. Besides, the actual taped version, the one that they play on the radio, is actually a live version where he's at this best. That's awesome. Another song I could play over and over again (and as many annoyed OTZMAnikim could attest, I have).
And finally, the Number One Christmas Song is...
"The Hanukkah Song" by Adam Sandler
Oh, come on. You expected anything else out of this good Jewish boy?
Honorable Mention: "Christmas is All Around" by Billy Mack
This song, while fantastic, had to be disqualified due to unoriginality. By his own admission, Mack simply changed some words to an old song in a blatant attempt for a comeback by shooting up the Christmas charts. However, it did lead to an entertaining incident where, upon reaching the #1 spot on the singles chart, Mack stripped down naked and performed the song on live British television.
(By the way, if you don't get this, go rent the movie Love, Actually. As a heterosexual male I have no problems admitting how good it is. In fact, most guys I know would agree it's one of the best chick flicks out there.)
Honorable Mention: "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"
This is for everyone out there who hates Christmas music. Boo to you, sirs and madams. I wouldn't touch you with a 39 1/2 foot pole.
#10: "Baby Please Come Home" by U2
Setting aside the 80's awesomeness of that video, I really don't have a solid reason for putting this on the list. In fact, it was a last-minute addition that I had honestly just forgotten about. That being said, it's a really fun song that to me, sums up the idea of the "Christmas Spirit" outside of the religious aspect, which is the thoughts of being with your loved ones on the holidays, the way it's meant to be. Plus, Bono is sporting an awesome mullet.
#9: "Let it Snow" by Dean Martin
A classic. Absolute classic. I know a ton of people who would put this at number 1, if for no other reason than how it just sets the tone for the entire season. Really, who doesn't want it to snow at this time of year? You know, except for anyone who has to shovel it.
#8: "Rudolph the Red-Nose Raindeer"/"Frosty the Snowman"/"The Chipmunk's Christmas Song"
Who DOESN'T remember these from their childhood? Every December, turning on the TV and finding one of your favorite holiday specials? I know there are tons of them now, and everyone has to try and do it bigger and better, but you won't find anything better than Rudolph and Frosty. And the Chipmunks? Well, I had to get them in somewhere!
#7: "Jingle Bell Rock"
One of those songs you can't help but sing and dance along to. Noticing a trend? I really do like the more fun and happy songs that just can't help but bring some joy along, and this one does it perfectly.
#6: "Believe" by Josh Groban
OK, so maybe I don't only like fast paced songs. This song from the movie "The Polar Express" (Sidebar: Never saw it. That style of animation creeps me out.) is a very touching piece, with amazing vocals and orchestration behind it. Most of the songs on here are just fun little fluff pieces, but this is a legit fantastic song. I could really listen to this over and over.
#5: "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo - 24/7" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Oh, you had to know this was going to be on here somewhere. I mean, you can say what you want about Christmas music, but this song straight up kicks ass. If you don't know how great Trans-Siberian Orchestra is, here's another video for you to check out, and I'm sure you'll agree after you watch it.
#4: "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"
Just like "Let it Snow", a classic number that HAD to be on the list. Again, this one sums up how a lot of people feel (just read the title!) and probably would be number 1 on a lot of lists. Really, at this point, the songs are all almost interchangeable. I dare you to listen to this song and not have a smile come to your face.
#3: "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey
If anyone likes Christmas music more than me, it's my good friend and fraternity brother Max. (Yeah, I know, same name, haha.) In fact, Max is quite prone at this time of year to drive around not only blasting the music loudly with all his windows down, but also to be singing at the top of his lungs. And, having been present for quite a few of those performances, this is one of his (and my) favorites. So Max, next time you drive around Columbia, MO, play a little Mariah Carey for me and spread some Christmas spirit courtesy of the Jews.
#2: "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by Bruce Springsteen
I know there are tons of versions of this song, but for the best one, look to The Boss. I mean, do the other versions have the E Street Band? No? Didn't think so. Besides, the actual taped version, the one that they play on the radio, is actually a live version where he's at this best. That's awesome. Another song I could play over and over again (and as many annoyed OTZMAnikim could attest, I have).
And finally, the Number One Christmas Song is...
"The Hanukkah Song" by Adam Sandler
Oh, come on. You expected anything else out of this good Jewish boy?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Mayumana (Doo doo da doo doo)
First off, a shoutout to another OTZMAnik and fellow blogger, Ari, for profiling me as part of his OTZMA Participant Profile series and linking to both of my blogs. Go ahead and check out The Adventures of Ari before reading what I have to say - well worth the time.
Anyway, I've got a few topics to cover here from this past weekend. First off, as you may have read on my Twitter account, Allie and I took a trip to Tel Aviv on Thursday for a very fun night, which was highlighted by a performance by a dance group called Mayumana. Think Stomp, with tons of audience participation, music, beat boxing, and various comedy skits - all with very cool dances. Also, the dancers were so ridiculously in shape that one of the dancer's butt was probably more toned than my whole body. The group was founded in Tel Aviv something like 13 years ago, and they now have dance troupes all over Europe, in New York, South America, and even in Japan. VERY cool stuff, so if you're in the Big Apple and are looking for a good show, consider it. Here are some videos to see what I'm talking about:
(Crowd shot during the auction)
(Allie doing her best Vanna White impression)
(Jeremy and Tali as she performs)
(Allie and Jeremy with Marty, Allie's adoptive dad in Ashkelon and a Netzach Yisrael bigwig. Yes, I just successfully used the word bigwig in my blog.)
Anyway, I've got a few topics to cover here from this past weekend. First off, as you may have read on my Twitter account, Allie and I took a trip to Tel Aviv on Thursday for a very fun night, which was highlighted by a performance by a dance group called Mayumana. Think Stomp, with tons of audience participation, music, beat boxing, and various comedy skits - all with very cool dances. Also, the dancers were so ridiculously in shape that one of the dancer's butt was probably more toned than my whole body. The group was founded in Tel Aviv something like 13 years ago, and they now have dance troupes all over Europe, in New York, South America, and even in Japan. VERY cool stuff, so if you're in the Big Apple and are looking for a good show, consider it. Here are some videos to see what I'm talking about:
Moving on... tonight OTZMA participated in an auction fundraiser for Netzach Yisrael, a local congregation that many people in the group volunteer at. OTZMAniks volunteered various talents to be auctioned off, including an Italian cooking lesson, babysitting, guitar lessons, and even modern dance lessons. There were also several musical acts thoughout, including from Tali, a fellow Yokneamite. (Sidebar: That's what I'm calling those of us living in Yokneam during Part II.) My roommate Jeremy served as the MC, and Allie actually planned the entire thing (she does marketing for the synagogue). Here are some pictures from the event:
(Some of the OTZMAniks at the auction)
(Some of the OTZMAniks at the auction)
(Crowd shot during the auction)
(Allie doing her best Vanna White impression)
(Jeremy and Tali as she performs)
(Allie and Jeremy with Marty, Allie's adoptive dad in Ashkelon and a Netzach Yisrael bigwig. Yes, I just successfully used the word bigwig in my blog.)Now, I could post pictures from the apartment I now have in Yokneam... but this has had a lot of multimedia features and whatnot already, so I think I'll save that for another day. Maybe with the mythical Meet the Hirschs Part II. (Sidebar: I swear one day I'll write that!!!) So as usual, I'll wrap up with a few random thought...
-Wait, Mizzou football won? So we shouldn't fire Pinkel? It was an overreaction to say that after one bad game? Is everyone back to being proud of being a Missouri Tiger again? OK, sarcasm aside, it's obvious that, as Denny Green would say, this team is who we thought they were. In other words, it's a young team destined for a lower bowl, we've seen great performances from some of the seniors (Danario and Spoon), Gabbert has had his growing pains but will be better for it, and the young guys have shown their promise. Watch for better things next year, folks.
-That being said, I couldn't be more excited about Mizzou basketball this year. I actually think that they are going to be much better than predicted, namely due to the expected maturation of guys like Ramsey, Bowers, and especially Kimmie English. This guy might be the most charismatic athlete Mizzou's seen in a long time. Let's be real, for all of Chase Daniel's success, he was never exactly known as the most likable guy on campus. But Kimmie is a guy who truly loves Mizzou and wants to be a part of every aspect of campus. I truly believe that if he could personally meet every Mizzou fan, he would. Plus, he recently was quoted as saying that his favorite part of basketball was hearing the ball bounce off the floor. How cool is that? Add in guys like J.T. Tiller, the likely Big XII defensive player of the year and a guy who makes a point to go to EVERY Mizzou sporting event no matter what it is, Zaire Taylor, and the best dressed coach in basketball (Mike Anderson), and you've got a recipe for one of the most charismatic teams we've seen in a long time. I couldn't be more pumped.
-I'm liking How I Met Your Mother this season, but I'm a little torn on how they (SPOILER ALERT!!!) ended the Barney-Robin relationship so soon. I mean, they pretty much spent 2 years setting this up, just to end after 7 episodes. That being said, Barney clearly should not be in a relationship, it just kills his character. And I'm not sure what I'm more excited for - Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap or the Robin Sparkles Variety Show?
That's all I've got, so Shavuah Tov everyone!
-Wait, Mizzou football won? So we shouldn't fire Pinkel? It was an overreaction to say that after one bad game? Is everyone back to being proud of being a Missouri Tiger again? OK, sarcasm aside, it's obvious that, as Denny Green would say, this team is who we thought they were. In other words, it's a young team destined for a lower bowl, we've seen great performances from some of the seniors (Danario and Spoon), Gabbert has had his growing pains but will be better for it, and the young guys have shown their promise. Watch for better things next year, folks.
-That being said, I couldn't be more excited about Mizzou basketball this year. I actually think that they are going to be much better than predicted, namely due to the expected maturation of guys like Ramsey, Bowers, and especially Kimmie English. This guy might be the most charismatic athlete Mizzou's seen in a long time. Let's be real, for all of Chase Daniel's success, he was never exactly known as the most likable guy on campus. But Kimmie is a guy who truly loves Mizzou and wants to be a part of every aspect of campus. I truly believe that if he could personally meet every Mizzou fan, he would. Plus, he recently was quoted as saying that his favorite part of basketball was hearing the ball bounce off the floor. How cool is that? Add in guys like J.T. Tiller, the likely Big XII defensive player of the year and a guy who makes a point to go to EVERY Mizzou sporting event no matter what it is, Zaire Taylor, and the best dressed coach in basketball (Mike Anderson), and you've got a recipe for one of the most charismatic teams we've seen in a long time. I couldn't be more pumped.
-I'm liking How I Met Your Mother this season, but I'm a little torn on how they (SPOILER ALERT!!!) ended the Barney-Robin relationship so soon. I mean, they pretty much spent 2 years setting this up, just to end after 7 episodes. That being said, Barney clearly should not be in a relationship, it just kills his character. And I'm not sure what I'm more excited for - Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap or the Robin Sparkles Variety Show?
That's all I've got, so Shavuah Tov everyone!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
A Day in the Life of an OTZMAnik
Sorry for the lack of blogs lately… truth be told, there hasn’t been much to blog about. Every time I talk to someone back home, it’s hard to get any information about what they’re up to because it always goes back to “So what amazing thing are you doing in Israel today?” Truth be told… not every day is a gigantic adventure! This isn’t to say I’m not having a great time and I’m not having experiences I would never have anywhere else, just that it isn’t always something to write home about. So, I thought I’d fill everyone in on an average day in Ashkelon…
7:15 – Alarm goes off.
7:40 – I get out of bed.
8:15 – Head down to the 1st floor of our merkaz klitah (Immigrant center), Kalanit, for ulpan (Hebrew lessons) in kitah aleph (1st grade, or just the 1st level of ulpan) with our teacher Miri. Generally, we’ll learn some vocabulary, work on putting words and phrases into different tenses, go through a worksheet, and work our way through a short Hebrew text.
9:50 – Hafsicha (break) from ulpan, which usually means having breakfast with a variety of OTZMAniks.
10:25 – Head back for the 2nd half of ulpan, which lately has meant listening to other OTZMAniks in the class give 5-10 minute presentations on themselves in Hebrew, with a Q&A session after. I gave mine last week, and somehow made it through! Other than that, it’s more of the same from the 1st half of class.
12:30 – Class ends, and depending on if I have volunteering that day, I’ll go to tutoring with Sivan, the teacher’s aide, for about a half hour. Usually we’ll work on whatever we were assigned that day, which could be translating a text or writing sentences using the latest verb we learned.
Now here’s where the day diverts...
IF I VOLUNTEER AT ATIDIM THAT DAY:
12:30 – Find something around the apartment for lunch. This usually involves pity, hummus, some sort of vegetables, and occasionally schnitzel (breaded chicken), Nutella (chocolate spread), or peanut butter.
1:30 – Head out to catch the bus to Kfar Silver, a nearby boarding school.
2:20 – Get to Kfar Silver. Really, this is a closer ride than it seems, but there’s a bus transfer in the middle that adds on some time.
2:30 – Sit around and wait for something to happen. (Sidebar: More common in Israel than you might think. Imagine if an entire country ran on Jewish time except for the buses.)
3:15 – Start working with a class of kids on their English skills with Robyn and Alexi, two other OTZMAniks. Usually we’ll play a few games with them to work on their vocabulary, or we’ll just sit with them and have a conversation. It doesn’t seem like much, but they LOVE it and apparently were looking forward to us coming all week. For those who don’t know, Atidim is a program in smaller communities to take the more gifted children and give them additional class time in math and English in order to help catch them up with students from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where the schools have a lot more resources and are much further ahead once they get to university. It wound up being fairly disorganized, but what isn’t over here?
4:00 – Switch groups and do it again!
4:45 – Head back to Kalanit.
IF I VOLUNTEER AT BEIT YITZCHAK THAT DAY:
1:15 – After tutoring, grab lunch.
1:45 – Pretty much whatever I feel like. Could go to the grocery store, could go to the mall, could hang out outside with people, could take a nap.
4:30 – Board a bus and head to Beit Yitzchak, the foster home we volunteer at.
5:00 – Arrive at Beit Yitzchak. There are about 12 OTZMAniks that work here on Tuesday nights, and we split up into groups of 2-3 per room. My room is one of the better ones, and we’ll do anything from helping kids with homework to horsing around with them to just hanging with them and watching TV. For example, yesterday I was playing with the kids and lifting them up in the air like they were jumping, and when I lied down on the ground pretending to be tired they had a great time jumping up and down on my back. Trust me, more fun than it sounds.
6:45 – Dinner with the foster home, whatever they’re cooking that day. Sometimes healthy, but usually not.
7:20 – Head out to catch the bus back to Kalanit.
7:25 – Realize you missed the bus.
7:55 – Catch the bus back to Kalanit.
IF I DON’T HAVE VOLUNTEERING THAT DAY:
1:15 – After tutoring, grab lunch.
1:45 – Same as what I said before, but if it’s nice outside (which is just about every day), you can add on a trip to the beach.
7:00 – Dinner, usually a potluck with some other OTZMAniks. We’ve done a couple “themed dinners” with Chinese or Mexican food, but mostly it’s whatever people bring. My roommate Jeremy’s a pretty great cook, so I usually help with whatever he makes and try to pick something up along the way.
8:00 – After cleaning up, it’s whatever I feel like. Usually I’ll try and get some Hebrew studying in, but otherwise it’s hanging out with people here, Skyping with people back home, writing a blog to you fine people, or just watching a movie or TV show with some people (usually How I Met Your Mother). After that it’s off to bed and do it again the next day!
Obviously there are some different days and variations, but by and large that’s the schedule. Actually, add a lot more beach time in there. It’s a hard life!
7:15 – Alarm goes off.
7:40 – I get out of bed.
8:15 – Head down to the 1st floor of our merkaz klitah (Immigrant center), Kalanit, for ulpan (Hebrew lessons) in kitah aleph (1st grade, or just the 1st level of ulpan) with our teacher Miri. Generally, we’ll learn some vocabulary, work on putting words and phrases into different tenses, go through a worksheet, and work our way through a short Hebrew text.
9:50 – Hafsicha (break) from ulpan, which usually means having breakfast with a variety of OTZMAniks.
10:25 – Head back for the 2nd half of ulpan, which lately has meant listening to other OTZMAniks in the class give 5-10 minute presentations on themselves in Hebrew, with a Q&A session after. I gave mine last week, and somehow made it through! Other than that, it’s more of the same from the 1st half of class.
12:30 – Class ends, and depending on if I have volunteering that day, I’ll go to tutoring with Sivan, the teacher’s aide, for about a half hour. Usually we’ll work on whatever we were assigned that day, which could be translating a text or writing sentences using the latest verb we learned.
Now here’s where the day diverts...
IF I VOLUNTEER AT ATIDIM THAT DAY:
12:30 – Find something around the apartment for lunch. This usually involves pity, hummus, some sort of vegetables, and occasionally schnitzel (breaded chicken), Nutella (chocolate spread), or peanut butter.
1:30 – Head out to catch the bus to Kfar Silver, a nearby boarding school.
2:20 – Get to Kfar Silver. Really, this is a closer ride than it seems, but there’s a bus transfer in the middle that adds on some time.
2:30 – Sit around and wait for something to happen. (Sidebar: More common in Israel than you might think. Imagine if an entire country ran on Jewish time except for the buses.)
3:15 – Start working with a class of kids on their English skills with Robyn and Alexi, two other OTZMAniks. Usually we’ll play a few games with them to work on their vocabulary, or we’ll just sit with them and have a conversation. It doesn’t seem like much, but they LOVE it and apparently were looking forward to us coming all week. For those who don’t know, Atidim is a program in smaller communities to take the more gifted children and give them additional class time in math and English in order to help catch them up with students from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where the schools have a lot more resources and are much further ahead once they get to university. It wound up being fairly disorganized, but what isn’t over here?
4:00 – Switch groups and do it again!
4:45 – Head back to Kalanit.
IF I VOLUNTEER AT BEIT YITZCHAK THAT DAY:
1:15 – After tutoring, grab lunch.
1:45 – Pretty much whatever I feel like. Could go to the grocery store, could go to the mall, could hang out outside with people, could take a nap.
4:30 – Board a bus and head to Beit Yitzchak, the foster home we volunteer at.
5:00 – Arrive at Beit Yitzchak. There are about 12 OTZMAniks that work here on Tuesday nights, and we split up into groups of 2-3 per room. My room is one of the better ones, and we’ll do anything from helping kids with homework to horsing around with them to just hanging with them and watching TV. For example, yesterday I was playing with the kids and lifting them up in the air like they were jumping, and when I lied down on the ground pretending to be tired they had a great time jumping up and down on my back. Trust me, more fun than it sounds.
6:45 – Dinner with the foster home, whatever they’re cooking that day. Sometimes healthy, but usually not.
7:20 – Head out to catch the bus back to Kalanit.
7:25 – Realize you missed the bus.
7:55 – Catch the bus back to Kalanit.
IF I DON’T HAVE VOLUNTEERING THAT DAY:
1:15 – After tutoring, grab lunch.
1:45 – Same as what I said before, but if it’s nice outside (which is just about every day), you can add on a trip to the beach.
7:00 – Dinner, usually a potluck with some other OTZMAniks. We’ve done a couple “themed dinners” with Chinese or Mexican food, but mostly it’s whatever people bring. My roommate Jeremy’s a pretty great cook, so I usually help with whatever he makes and try to pick something up along the way.
8:00 – After cleaning up, it’s whatever I feel like. Usually I’ll try and get some Hebrew studying in, but otherwise it’s hanging out with people here, Skyping with people back home, writing a blog to you fine people, or just watching a movie or TV show with some people (usually How I Met Your Mother). After that it’s off to bed and do it again the next day!
Obviously there are some different days and variations, but by and large that’s the schedule. Actually, add a lot more beach time in there. It’s a hard life!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Max's Egyptian Tour Guide Part II
OK, so some of the feedback I got on the videos was that the last two were good, but the first three kinda sucked. Lesson learned: Don’t video blog in pitch black. Not sure why I had to learn that, but anyway, back to my Egyptian travel tips!
Tip #6: Nothing is ever free – even when someone says it is.
Just like everyone in Egypt expects a tip, everyone in Egypt also thinks they can convince you their goods are “free” when they just plan on charging you for it a few minutes later. For example, at the Pyramids there are tons of merchants offering you a “free” headdress. They butter you up, tell you that you “look Egyptian” (Sidebar: NO I DON’T.), act like your best friend in the world, and then when you take the supposed gift, you get charged something like 30-40 pounds. And no, I didn’t fall for this. Not that dumb. Which isn’t to say that we didn’t get pulled into a sort of Pyramid scheme (Sidebar: Get it? Get it?)…
(Us in front of the Great Pyramid)
(What? I got hungry.)
Before I get to the story, let me say that the Pyramids are just as cool as advertised. They are absolutely gigantic and mind-boggling, especially when you start to wonder how the hell these things got built. (Sidebar: Tried to find the brick my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather laid. No success.) Seriously, they deserve their status as an ancient wonder of the world.
(Go figure: They found the Jews and made us build another Pyramid.)
But back to the story – and there’s some real advice in this one. After touring a few of the Pyramids, our tour guide Osama took us to another site where he introduced us to his “colleague.” They explained to us how you could not see all of the Pyramids by foot or by bus, and that the only way to see all 9 of them was by camel or horse ride. And lucky us – they were taking us on a camel ride!
(Don't let our smiles fool you. Right after this picture was taken things went bad.)
So we hopped on our camels and took a ride through the desert. And it was pretty sweet seeing all the Pyramids at once, taking some pictures, and enjoying our peaceful ride through the desert. But remember how nothing is free? Well, we rightfully assumed that this was part of the tour. Osama certainly made it sound that way, and good business ethics would lead him to inform us ahead of time if we would have to pay for the ride. Oh, silly Americans. We returned from our trip, told Osama’s friend how much we enjoyed it, and then learned that we owed him 200 pounds each. Whoops. Needless to say we weren’t happy. Unfortunately, we had been royally screwed – pretty much the headdress thing on a much larger scale. Sucker them in, butter them up with compliments, tell them how lucky they are, provide the service, and then move in for the kill. At this point there was pretty much nothing we could do – our tour guide had set us up, we were a bunch of Jews in the middle of Egypt, and I didn’t really see a whole lot of good coming from us getting into a fight with a 6’5” Egyptian and his camels. So, we paid the schmuck and moved on. Lesson learned here, folks – make sure services have been paid for before you jump on a camel.
Tip #7: Obligatory Sphinx reference.
I really don’t have anything here. We went to the Sphinx. It was cool. About all I have to add is that it’s kinda cool that the entire thing was carved out of one block of stone. I mean, how did they do that?
Tip #8: Be nice to your fellow tourists.
I lied – I do have something from the Sphinx, just not necessarily Sphinx-related. As we were sitting and just kind of looking at the thing, a bunch of other tourists asked us to take a picture of them. After a while, I got pretty good, to the point where I knew exactly where to stand so that they could get both the Sphinx and the Pyramids in the background. We sparked up some pretty interesting conversations as well, from a couple from Minnesota to a few Australians. Anyway, you’re all in the same boat, so you might as well see who you meet.
Tip #9: The Nile is a lot cooler to talk about than to actually be on.
I know, I know. But we went on a dinner cruise on the Nile, and there wasn’t a single moment when I thought, “Wow, I’m on the Nile!” I could have been on the Mississippi River for as much difference as it would make. First off, the trip to the boat was an adventure in itself – our tour guide told the driver he would meet us at a stop on the side of the highway, which led to us standing out there for 20 minutes as we watched the time tick closer and closer to the boat leaving. We had Jacob demanding that the driver to let us talk to Osama ourselves, Allie was yelling at him to take us back to the hotel since we were probably going to miss the boat, and I was pretty much fed up with the day, so I sat back and laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Finally, we found out that Osama was actually at the damn boat all along and was holding it for us. Lucky us. Between the food, general décor, and the guy playing Celine Dion on his electric synthesizer, I was pretty sure it was actually the year 1983. But really, as nice as it was to sit on the top deck and watch the scenery, there was nothing to differentiate the river from anywhere else. We didn’t learn anything about the Nile, no one turned it into blood with his staff, nothing. Kind of a disappointment.
(Come on... seriously?)
Tip #10: Block off a lot of time for the Egyptian Museum.
No doubt about it, that day was full of disappointments. But have no fear, better things were to come! Osama was replaced with Muhammed, a fantastic tour guide who was incredibly knowledgeable and answered all of our questions with added info. The first place he took us, the Cairo Museum, ended up being far and away my favorite place we saw. The place is kind of like the Smithsonian, in that you legitimately need about 6-7 months to really see everything there. As we had about 2 hours, we focused on the contents of King Tut’s tomb. And it was some amazing stuff. Muhammed knew everything about everything, and was able to move smoothly from exhibit to exhibit without missing a beat and while remaining entertaining. I can’t even begin to describe the treasures this museum holds – but trust me when I say it’s something else to see what these ancient pyramids actually held. Spend as much time as you can there, because it’s worth every second.
Tip #11: When you go on a 4-day trip to a foreign country, you won’t be able to put all your stories on a blog – no matter how many entries you write.
Folks, I could go on and on about my vacation in Egypt. I could talk about the perfume factory we went to and the “essence” I bought; I could talk about the Papyrus Museum we went to; I could talk about Old Cairo and the synagogue, church, and mosque we visited; and I could talk about the 30 minutes we spent at the bazaar in Cairo. Not to mention all the little moments in between that made the trip as memorable as it was! But there’s really just too much. You gotta see it for yourself. That being said, while I’d recommend going to Egypt once, I don’t see myself going back any time soon. I mean, the Pyramids aren’t changing, and quite frankly, Cairo isn’t the type of city I would want to spend much time in. But nonetheless, it was certainly a trip to remember.
Some random thoughts to prolong this entry even more:
- If you haven’t picked up a theme from my tweets lately, I really wish I could be at Mizzou’s Homecoming this year. It really is the first and the finest, and was always my favorite weekend of the year while I was in school. To everyone still in college: Enjoy the weekend. To all my friends “coming home”: Enjoy it for me and I’ll be there with you next year!
- Overall solid season of How I Met Your Mother so far, I really liked Robin 101 and Duel Citizenship in particular. I’m liking the start to this season, especially because Ted isn’t so pathetic anymore. Interestingly enough, the cult of HIMYM is growing here at OTZMA: I’d say a good half of the group is now watching, mainly because everyone wants to borrow my copies of seasons 1, 2, and 3!
-Again, if you want to read my thoughts and experiences in a more formal format, head to http://stlotzma.blogspot.com. You’ll find more of a play-by-play description with less random thoughts and sidebars, as well as the musing of Andi, my fellow St. Louis participant.
That’s (finally) all for now – but keep watching this space for more to come!
Tip #6: Nothing is ever free – even when someone says it is.
Just like everyone in Egypt expects a tip, everyone in Egypt also thinks they can convince you their goods are “free” when they just plan on charging you for it a few minutes later. For example, at the Pyramids there are tons of merchants offering you a “free” headdress. They butter you up, tell you that you “look Egyptian” (Sidebar: NO I DON’T.), act like your best friend in the world, and then when you take the supposed gift, you get charged something like 30-40 pounds. And no, I didn’t fall for this. Not that dumb. Which isn’t to say that we didn’t get pulled into a sort of Pyramid scheme (Sidebar: Get it? Get it?)…
(Us in front of the Great Pyramid)
(What? I got hungry.)Before I get to the story, let me say that the Pyramids are just as cool as advertised. They are absolutely gigantic and mind-boggling, especially when you start to wonder how the hell these things got built. (Sidebar: Tried to find the brick my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather laid. No success.) Seriously, they deserve their status as an ancient wonder of the world.
(Go figure: They found the Jews and made us build another Pyramid.)But back to the story – and there’s some real advice in this one. After touring a few of the Pyramids, our tour guide Osama took us to another site where he introduced us to his “colleague.” They explained to us how you could not see all of the Pyramids by foot or by bus, and that the only way to see all 9 of them was by camel or horse ride. And lucky us – they were taking us on a camel ride!
(Don't let our smiles fool you. Right after this picture was taken things went bad.)So we hopped on our camels and took a ride through the desert. And it was pretty sweet seeing all the Pyramids at once, taking some pictures, and enjoying our peaceful ride through the desert. But remember how nothing is free? Well, we rightfully assumed that this was part of the tour. Osama certainly made it sound that way, and good business ethics would lead him to inform us ahead of time if we would have to pay for the ride. Oh, silly Americans. We returned from our trip, told Osama’s friend how much we enjoyed it, and then learned that we owed him 200 pounds each. Whoops. Needless to say we weren’t happy. Unfortunately, we had been royally screwed – pretty much the headdress thing on a much larger scale. Sucker them in, butter them up with compliments, tell them how lucky they are, provide the service, and then move in for the kill. At this point there was pretty much nothing we could do – our tour guide had set us up, we were a bunch of Jews in the middle of Egypt, and I didn’t really see a whole lot of good coming from us getting into a fight with a 6’5” Egyptian and his camels. So, we paid the schmuck and moved on. Lesson learned here, folks – make sure services have been paid for before you jump on a camel.
Tip #7: Obligatory Sphinx reference.
I really don’t have anything here. We went to the Sphinx. It was cool. About all I have to add is that it’s kinda cool that the entire thing was carved out of one block of stone. I mean, how did they do that?
Tip #8: Be nice to your fellow tourists.
I lied – I do have something from the Sphinx, just not necessarily Sphinx-related. As we were sitting and just kind of looking at the thing, a bunch of other tourists asked us to take a picture of them. After a while, I got pretty good, to the point where I knew exactly where to stand so that they could get both the Sphinx and the Pyramids in the background. We sparked up some pretty interesting conversations as well, from a couple from Minnesota to a few Australians. Anyway, you’re all in the same boat, so you might as well see who you meet.
Tip #9: The Nile is a lot cooler to talk about than to actually be on.
I know, I know. But we went on a dinner cruise on the Nile, and there wasn’t a single moment when I thought, “Wow, I’m on the Nile!” I could have been on the Mississippi River for as much difference as it would make. First off, the trip to the boat was an adventure in itself – our tour guide told the driver he would meet us at a stop on the side of the highway, which led to us standing out there for 20 minutes as we watched the time tick closer and closer to the boat leaving. We had Jacob demanding that the driver to let us talk to Osama ourselves, Allie was yelling at him to take us back to the hotel since we were probably going to miss the boat, and I was pretty much fed up with the day, so I sat back and laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Finally, we found out that Osama was actually at the damn boat all along and was holding it for us. Lucky us. Between the food, general décor, and the guy playing Celine Dion on his electric synthesizer, I was pretty sure it was actually the year 1983. But really, as nice as it was to sit on the top deck and watch the scenery, there was nothing to differentiate the river from anywhere else. We didn’t learn anything about the Nile, no one turned it into blood with his staff, nothing. Kind of a disappointment.
(Come on... seriously?)Tip #10: Block off a lot of time for the Egyptian Museum.
No doubt about it, that day was full of disappointments. But have no fear, better things were to come! Osama was replaced with Muhammed, a fantastic tour guide who was incredibly knowledgeable and answered all of our questions with added info. The first place he took us, the Cairo Museum, ended up being far and away my favorite place we saw. The place is kind of like the Smithsonian, in that you legitimately need about 6-7 months to really see everything there. As we had about 2 hours, we focused on the contents of King Tut’s tomb. And it was some amazing stuff. Muhammed knew everything about everything, and was able to move smoothly from exhibit to exhibit without missing a beat and while remaining entertaining. I can’t even begin to describe the treasures this museum holds – but trust me when I say it’s something else to see what these ancient pyramids actually held. Spend as much time as you can there, because it’s worth every second.
Tip #11: When you go on a 4-day trip to a foreign country, you won’t be able to put all your stories on a blog – no matter how many entries you write.
Folks, I could go on and on about my vacation in Egypt. I could talk about the perfume factory we went to and the “essence” I bought; I could talk about the Papyrus Museum we went to; I could talk about Old Cairo and the synagogue, church, and mosque we visited; and I could talk about the 30 minutes we spent at the bazaar in Cairo. Not to mention all the little moments in between that made the trip as memorable as it was! But there’s really just too much. You gotta see it for yourself. That being said, while I’d recommend going to Egypt once, I don’t see myself going back any time soon. I mean, the Pyramids aren’t changing, and quite frankly, Cairo isn’t the type of city I would want to spend much time in. But nonetheless, it was certainly a trip to remember.
Some random thoughts to prolong this entry even more:
- If you haven’t picked up a theme from my tweets lately, I really wish I could be at Mizzou’s Homecoming this year. It really is the first and the finest, and was always my favorite weekend of the year while I was in school. To everyone still in college: Enjoy the weekend. To all my friends “coming home”: Enjoy it for me and I’ll be there with you next year!
- Overall solid season of How I Met Your Mother so far, I really liked Robin 101 and Duel Citizenship in particular. I’m liking the start to this season, especially because Ted isn’t so pathetic anymore. Interestingly enough, the cult of HIMYM is growing here at OTZMA: I’d say a good half of the group is now watching, mainly because everyone wants to borrow my copies of seasons 1, 2, and 3!
-Again, if you want to read my thoughts and experiences in a more formal format, head to http://stlotzma.blogspot.com. You’ll find more of a play-by-play description with less random thoughts and sidebars, as well as the musing of Andi, my fellow St. Louis participant.
That’s (finally) all for now – but keep watching this space for more to come!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Live from Mt. Sinai, It's Saturday Night!
It's a big day for Show Me the Shawarma... video blogging is starting! I took 5 videos with my Flip camera (thanks Josh) on the hike up Mt. Sinai while in Egypt, so you can get a firsthand look of what the hike was like. One of the videos is pitch black, another features me taking a picture for a random Russian guy right at the start of the video, but stay with them - some good stuff on there. Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Max's Egyptian Travel Guide
If you do a Google search for “Egypt travel tips”, you’ll find a whole lot of results. (1,310,000 to be exact.) However, this guide is unlike any other. Why, you may ask? Well, this is the only one written by me! That’s right, your intrepid world traveler has just returned from another of the many countries across the world I have visited (Sidebar: 2), and I come with pearls of advice for anyone who wishes to one day visit the land of the Pyramids, Mt. Sinai, and swindlers galore. Without further delay, let’s get started!
(Yeah, I took that. What up.)
(Would you expect to see this in Egypt?)
Tip #2: If you choose to climb Mt. Sinai before dawn, take the easy path.
(Sidebar: I’m skipping Day 1. We drove through a desert in a jeep. We got tossed around a lot. It hurt. Moving on.) So after waking up at 1 AM and heading over to Mt. Sinai, we were introduced to our Bedouin guide Mahmood, who would be leading us up to the mountain. (Sidebar: By the way, our tour guide in the Sinai, Ali, chose not to join us and went back to sleep. There were several points on our 6-hour hike that I envied him quite a bit.) We quickly were given a choice: We could take the easy path, which meant taking the trail around the mountain, or we could take the stairs – all 3,000 of them. Now, these weren’t quite the stairs you find at home. Instead, these were slabs of rock pretty much tossed on top of another rock, with a larger rock next to it to hold on to if you were lucky. Uh, no thank you. We wisely chose the easy path, which led us through multiple switchbacks, up steep cliffs, and many encounters with people riding camels up and down the mountain. Now, I climbed Masada before dawn on Birthright, but that was NOTHING compared to this. Mt. Sinai is 7,497 ft. tall, compared to Masada’s 1,300 ft. And while Masada took us maybe an hour, hour and a half to climb, this bad boy was a solid 4 hours up and another 2 down. Woo! But finally, after all the climbing and a good 300 steps at the end, we reached the summit, which leads to our next tip…
(View from the top of Mt. Sinai)
OK, this is getting long and I haven’t even gotten to the Pyramids yet, so I’m going to call it here and just post this for now. More to come later – faster than the long-awaited “Meet the Hirschs Part II”, I promise!
(Yeah, I took that. What up.)Tip #1: Bring plenty of small bills.
We were warned ahead of time, but we quickly found that EVERYONE expects a tip. Tour guide? Tip. Driver? Tip. Bellhop? Tip. Store assistant? Tip. Guy who opened the bathroom door for you? Tip. With all the tipping going on, you tend to run out of small bills very quickly. A good tip for someone legit (tour guide, driver, etc.) is $5 for each day of service, which is about 25 Egyptian pounds. Now, with that many tips, you tend to run out of 20 and 10 pound bills very quickly, so when you go to tip someone 10 pounds, you find that you only have a 100-pound bill. Not that that happened to me or anything…
We were warned ahead of time, but we quickly found that EVERYONE expects a tip. Tour guide? Tip. Driver? Tip. Bellhop? Tip. Store assistant? Tip. Guy who opened the bathroom door for you? Tip. With all the tipping going on, you tend to run out of small bills very quickly. A good tip for someone legit (tour guide, driver, etc.) is $5 for each day of service, which is about 25 Egyptian pounds. Now, with that many tips, you tend to run out of 20 and 10 pound bills very quickly, so when you go to tip someone 10 pounds, you find that you only have a 100-pound bill. Not that that happened to me or anything…
(Would you expect to see this in Egypt?)
(Sidebar: I’m skipping Day 1. We drove through a desert in a jeep. We got tossed around a lot. It hurt. Moving on.) So after waking up at 1 AM and heading over to Mt. Sinai, we were introduced to our Bedouin guide Mahmood, who would be leading us up to the mountain. (Sidebar: By the way, our tour guide in the Sinai, Ali, chose not to join us and went back to sleep. There were several points on our 6-hour hike that I envied him quite a bit.) We quickly were given a choice: We could take the easy path, which meant taking the trail around the mountain, or we could take the stairs – all 3,000 of them. Now, these weren’t quite the stairs you find at home. Instead, these were slabs of rock pretty much tossed on top of another rock, with a larger rock next to it to hold on to if you were lucky. Uh, no thank you. We wisely chose the easy path, which led us through multiple switchbacks, up steep cliffs, and many encounters with people riding camels up and down the mountain. Now, I climbed Masada before dawn on Birthright, but that was NOTHING compared to this. Mt. Sinai is 7,497 ft. tall, compared to Masada’s 1,300 ft. And while Masada took us maybe an hour, hour and a half to climb, this bad boy was a solid 4 hours up and another 2 down. Woo! But finally, after all the climbing and a good 300 steps at the end, we reached the summit, which leads to our next tip…
(View from the top of Mt. Sinai)
Tip #3: When they tell you Mt. Sinai is cold, they aren’t kidding. Pack accordingly.
Tip #4: Be prepared to find something you never expected.
After Mt. Sinai, we showered, had breakfast, and went with Ali to see St. Catherine’s Monastery. Now, for whatever reason, I knew absolutely nothing about St. Catherine’s. So imagine my surprise when Ali told us “First we will go see the monks tomb, then the actual church, then the Burning Bush, then possibly the museum…” Hold up there. The Burning Bush? As in, THE Burning Bush? I had always for some reason been under the impression that after Moses fled Egypt, he went somewhere like Jordan or Syria, not, uh, Egypt. But apparently that was the site of the Burning Bush, which I assure you is still alive and well. According to Ali, no one has been able to determine what kind of plant the Bush is, there has never been another of this type of plant found, and when people have taken cuttings, it does not grow. Now here’s my question? Shouldn’t this be one of the holiest sites in Judaism or something? I mean, we’re talking about the bush that G-d spoke to Moses through here! How did I have no idea that it still existed? Am I the only one who missed this?
(One of the most important sites in Jewish history? I don't think so.)
I’ve been fairly dismissive of anyone who talks about Israel being “cold” – what do they mean, it’s only 70 degrees instead of 80? But when it comes to Mt. Sinai, they’re being serious. It was about 12 degrees Celsius at the top and most of the way down, and this putz was up there in a T-shirt, my Mizzou track jacket, and jogging pants. Luckily, I was at least able to buy a cheap pair of gloves at the hotel shop the night before, or else I would have really been in trouble. That being said, it’s really a hell of a view up there at dawn. Despite some of my comments on the videos I took (Sidebar: Video blogging coming to Show Me the Shawarma soon! Stay tuned!), it really was worth the hike – not that I’d ever do it again. But if you’re up for a 4-5 hour hike at 1 in the morning, I’d say go for it. Just, please, bring layers to wear.
(Freezing, but it was worth it to get this picture. Think the Mizzou Alumni Association would want this?)
Tip #4: Be prepared to find something you never expected.
After Mt. Sinai, we showered, had breakfast, and went with Ali to see St. Catherine’s Monastery. Now, for whatever reason, I knew absolutely nothing about St. Catherine’s. So imagine my surprise when Ali told us “First we will go see the monks tomb, then the actual church, then the Burning Bush, then possibly the museum…” Hold up there. The Burning Bush? As in, THE Burning Bush? I had always for some reason been under the impression that after Moses fled Egypt, he went somewhere like Jordan or Syria, not, uh, Egypt. But apparently that was the site of the Burning Bush, which I assure you is still alive and well. According to Ali, no one has been able to determine what kind of plant the Bush is, there has never been another of this type of plant found, and when people have taken cuttings, it does not grow. Now here’s my question? Shouldn’t this be one of the holiest sites in Judaism or something? I mean, we’re talking about the bush that G-d spoke to Moses through here! How did I have no idea that it still existed? Am I the only one who missed this?
(One of the most important sites in Jewish history? I don't think so.)
Tip #5: Don’t EVER get behind the wheel of a car in Egypt, especially in Cairo.
You thought Israeli drivers were bad? They look like the best drivers in the world when you get to Cairo. As our tour guide Mohammed (Sidebar: We had him on the last day only, and he was the man. Other tour guides not so much.) explained to us, because Egypt is a Muslim country, they do not have traffic lights because they do not respect the law of machines, only the law of other human beings. Now, that sounds good and all, but this good Jewish boy will respect the law of machines to the point of the Matrix if it means not having to deal with drivers like that. Every time we were in a car, I though we were about 5 seconds away from either hitting someone or having someone crash into us. In fact, our cabbie may have killed a man while we were in the car. Who knows. There was the one time I foolishly decided to cross the street – felt like I was playing human Frogger. Maybe one of the scariest moments of my life, no joke.
You thought Israeli drivers were bad? They look like the best drivers in the world when you get to Cairo. As our tour guide Mohammed (Sidebar: We had him on the last day only, and he was the man. Other tour guides not so much.) explained to us, because Egypt is a Muslim country, they do not have traffic lights because they do not respect the law of machines, only the law of other human beings. Now, that sounds good and all, but this good Jewish boy will respect the law of machines to the point of the Matrix if it means not having to deal with drivers like that. Every time we were in a car, I though we were about 5 seconds away from either hitting someone or having someone crash into us. In fact, our cabbie may have killed a man while we were in the car. Who knows. There was the one time I foolishly decided to cross the street – felt like I was playing human Frogger. Maybe one of the scariest moments of my life, no joke.
OK, this is getting long and I haven’t even gotten to the Pyramids yet, so I’m going to call it here and just post this for now. More to come later – faster than the long-awaited “Meet the Hirschs Part II”, I promise!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Fulfilling One Man's Lifelong Wish
First off, I hate sports.
Second, I got back from Egypt late on Friday, and with many, MANY stories to tell. But that's for another night. No, tonight I will finally answer the hopes and dreams of one man - my father. You see, ever since I reached Israel, my dad has been asking for one thing and one thing only. It comes up in every conversation, and it clearly has become a lifelong dream.
A picture of me on a camel.
"Hey Dad, I just got to Israel!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
"Hey Dad, we just moved in to Ashkelon!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
"Hey Dad, I met my adoptive family today!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
"Hey Dad, I stayed at a Bedouin tent today and rode a camel!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
(OK, maybe that time I should have taken it.)
But now, the wait is over. That's right Dad, without further ado, here's a picture of me on a camel.
(So this was pretty much a way for me to make fun of my Dad, as well as let everyone know that I'm back from Egypt safe and sound, pictures are going up online, and I'll have more posts up later this week detailing the trip! And who knows - maybe even some video blogs...)
(But seriously, I hate sports.)
Second, I got back from Egypt late on Friday, and with many, MANY stories to tell. But that's for another night. No, tonight I will finally answer the hopes and dreams of one man - my father. You see, ever since I reached Israel, my dad has been asking for one thing and one thing only. It comes up in every conversation, and it clearly has become a lifelong dream.
A picture of me on a camel.
"Hey Dad, I just got to Israel!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
"Hey Dad, we just moved in to Ashkelon!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
"Hey Dad, I met my adoptive family today!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
"Hey Dad, I stayed at a Bedouin tent today and rode a camel!" "Did you take a picture of you on a camel?"
(OK, maybe that time I should have taken it.)
But now, the wait is over. That's right Dad, without further ado, here's a picture of me on a camel.
(So this was pretty much a way for me to make fun of my Dad, as well as let everyone know that I'm back from Egypt safe and sound, pictures are going up online, and I'll have more posts up later this week detailing the trip! And who knows - maybe even some video blogs...)
(But seriously, I hate sports.)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
In honor of the coming weeks...
Alright, with the regular season for the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals just a few innings away from coming to a close, I guess I just have one thing to say...
'Nuff said. Enjoy the new color scheme for as long as Cardinals Baseball continues.
'Nuff said. Enjoy the new color scheme for as long as Cardinals Baseball continues.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
A Look Into My Thoughts
OK, so one of my goals on this blog was that I wanted it to be more than just "This is what I did today in Israel! Gosh, isn't this culture weird and interesting?" That's why I've been throwing in the "random thoughts" at the end of each post, so I can talk about other things that are interesting to me. So, while I still need to throw up a post detailing the rest of my Rosh Hashanah weekend and catch up with activities around Ashkelon (Not many. But sidebar: wouldn't that be a great name for a future post?), this post is going to be dedicated to other thoughts I've been having recently. Hopefully this will be interesting to everyone - if not, I guess we'll consider this a failed experiment.
- Fascinating and scary read from the New York Times yesterday. If you haven't read it yet, the columnist, Thomas Friedman, compares the political climate to what it was like in Israel in 1995 - before Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an extremist who felt he was somehow justified in killing the Prime Minister. Friedman writes,
-Giving a nationally broadcasted speech to students where he talked about... going to class and doing your homework. Truly a controversial subject.
-Being both a "Nazi fascist" and a "Marxist socialist". Now, as my 9th grade social studies teacher taught me, communism (far far far far far left) and fascism (far far far far far right) are pretty much the EXACT opposite. Wanna talk about flip-flopping?
-Not being an American citizen. Seriously, is this still going on? Stop it. Just stop it. It's moved past funny to just embarrassing.
-Going to Copenhagen to promote the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics. The case here is that Obama has way too much to do than to deal with this minor event which in no way would bring even more positive attention to America and certainly would not provide any jobs during a massive recession. Besides, doesn't everyone know that Obama is personally dealing with every single minute detail of health care reform, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iranian nuclear issue, the economy, and environmental reform? If only he had some sort of group, maybe a type of Cabinet of qualified individuals to help with those issues, along with a massive White House staff that handles the day-to-day operations of the executive branch of government. Oh, and wouldn't it be great if in the year 2009 there were some sort of electronic devices that would allow him to speak to those mythical people? And if we're really dreaming, why not throw in a camera that could attach to said device so that he could even see them as they speak, almost as if he were in the room. Ah well, it's only a fantasy. Now back to my blog before I go and Skype with my friends after updating my Twitter account.
In case Friedman's column needed any verification, just take a look at RNC Chairman Michael Steele's response, where he calls Friedman a "nutjob" who is completely irrational. Yep. Friedman is the irrational one here. Not like a federal employee was just found dead with the word "Fed" written on his chest or anything. And the saddest part about this is that there really are legitimate concerns from the right-wing about many of Obama's initiatives, starting with the cost of it all. But as long as this is going on, those voices are going to be completely drowned out by complaints that the President would dare support the Olympics coming to his hometown.
-Back to the Olympics (and on a much lighter note): With the vote coming up at the end of this week, it seems my bordering-on-obsessive-interests have locked in on Chicago's bid. I understand the point of those who don't want the Games causing endless construction and tax increases for their city, but come on - IT'S THE OLYMPICS. We're talking Olympic basketball on MJ's court. We're talking world-class soccer in Soldier Field. We're talking the pentathlon at Northwestern University and boxing at the University of Illinois-Chicago. We're talking beach volleyball on the shores of Lake Michigan on a site called Olympic Island. Why nothing is scheduled for Wrigley Field is beyond me, but nonetheless, this sounds absolutely amazing to me. The premiere sporting event in the world, right in the heartland of America. I believe the vote will be around mid-afternoon here - expect me to be watching.
-I know I said last time I didn't care about the Rams, but seriously, this team is bad. I think Spagnuolo and Devaney will be able to turn it around, but it's gonna take a while. This Post-Dispatch column by Bernie Miklasz says it best - are we seriously arguing about whether Marc Bulger or Kyle Boller are better? This week alone, we've lost our starting QB, WR, and safety for an extended amount of time to injuries. We've been starting Mr. Irrelevant at LB (has a Mr. Irrelevent ever started a single game before?) - oh wait, he just got suspended for illegal substance use. Big surprise there. I mean, we're 3 weeks in and I'm already looking at mock drafts to see what quarterback we might take. Ugh. I might be in the market for a new team soon.
-On a more positive note, go Cardinals! Good thing I have internet, because I'm going to do my best to watch every pitch of playoff baseball for the Cards. It's going to be a tough month - every team out there has something to fear. I think the Phillies are my biggest worry, just because of how much Ryan Howard loves hitting in St. Louis. Ideal first round matchup is probably the Dodgers - not sure why, but I haven't really been that overwhelmed with them all year. In our group alone, we've got Phillies, Red Sox, Twins, and Yankees fans, so it'll be an interesting crowd to watch with. By the way, Wainwright for Cy Young. Also, if La Russa isn't Manager of the Year I don't know why the award exists.
-It's gonna SUCK not being at Mizzou next week. All I can say is that I hope everyone there goes to the pep rally next Tuesday and the game next Thursday, because these things come and go faster than you'd believe. Also, I finally saw the new Mizzou commercial for this year, and I have to say, for all the crap I gave them about the commercials in the 05-06 days, they've gotten it together. Plus, Jon Hamm gives one of the greatest "Z-O-U"s I've ever seen.
Guess I should throw in a little Israel talk... I might try and throw up another post on Sunday, but starting tomorrow I'm on Sukkot break. Tomorrow afternoon I'm headed back up to Yokneam to see my adoptive family again for the weekend, and next week I'm spending four days in (drum roll please...) Egypt! I'll be the one with the MASA backpack and my "I support the IDF" shirt. I'm sure a lot of stories and pictures will come of this, so I better catch up on the blogs soon. So keep watching this space for more...
- Fascinating and scary read from the New York Times yesterday. If you haven't read it yet, the columnist, Thomas Friedman, compares the political climate to what it was like in Israel in 1995 - before Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an extremist who felt he was somehow justified in killing the Prime Minister. Friedman writes,
"They questioned his authority. They accused him of treason. They created pictures depicting him as a Nazi SS officer, and they shouted death threats at rallies. His political opponents winked at it all."Now, if you didn't read the article, would you have any idea if Friedman was talking about Obama or Rabin? I haven't seen any fallout over here from the article yet, mainly due to the fact that we pretty much live in our own little world here in Kalanit. But keep in mind - the generation of Israelis in their late 20s-early 30s are apparently known as the "Candle Generation", due to the impact that Rabin's assassination had on their lives and world outlooks. So how would they respond to this? Moving back towards home, it's hard not to read stories and see videos from Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, the Tea Partys, the town hall meetings, etc. etc. etc. and not agree with this. Let's look at some of the topics that Pres. Obama has been attacked for recently:
-Giving a nationally broadcasted speech to students where he talked about... going to class and doing your homework. Truly a controversial subject.
-Being both a "Nazi fascist" and a "Marxist socialist". Now, as my 9th grade social studies teacher taught me, communism (far far far far far left) and fascism (far far far far far right) are pretty much the EXACT opposite. Wanna talk about flip-flopping?
-Not being an American citizen. Seriously, is this still going on? Stop it. Just stop it. It's moved past funny to just embarrassing.
-Going to Copenhagen to promote the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics. The case here is that Obama has way too much to do than to deal with this minor event which in no way would bring even more positive attention to America and certainly would not provide any jobs during a massive recession. Besides, doesn't everyone know that Obama is personally dealing with every single minute detail of health care reform, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iranian nuclear issue, the economy, and environmental reform? If only he had some sort of group, maybe a type of Cabinet of qualified individuals to help with those issues, along with a massive White House staff that handles the day-to-day operations of the executive branch of government. Oh, and wouldn't it be great if in the year 2009 there were some sort of electronic devices that would allow him to speak to those mythical people? And if we're really dreaming, why not throw in a camera that could attach to said device so that he could even see them as they speak, almost as if he were in the room. Ah well, it's only a fantasy. Now back to my blog before I go and Skype with my friends after updating my Twitter account.
In case Friedman's column needed any verification, just take a look at RNC Chairman Michael Steele's response, where he calls Friedman a "nutjob" who is completely irrational. Yep. Friedman is the irrational one here. Not like a federal employee was just found dead with the word "Fed" written on his chest or anything. And the saddest part about this is that there really are legitimate concerns from the right-wing about many of Obama's initiatives, starting with the cost of it all. But as long as this is going on, those voices are going to be completely drowned out by complaints that the President would dare support the Olympics coming to his hometown.
-Back to the Olympics (and on a much lighter note): With the vote coming up at the end of this week, it seems my bordering-on-obsessive-interests have locked in on Chicago's bid. I understand the point of those who don't want the Games causing endless construction and tax increases for their city, but come on - IT'S THE OLYMPICS. We're talking Olympic basketball on MJ's court. We're talking world-class soccer in Soldier Field. We're talking the pentathlon at Northwestern University and boxing at the University of Illinois-Chicago. We're talking beach volleyball on the shores of Lake Michigan on a site called Olympic Island. Why nothing is scheduled for Wrigley Field is beyond me, but nonetheless, this sounds absolutely amazing to me. The premiere sporting event in the world, right in the heartland of America. I believe the vote will be around mid-afternoon here - expect me to be watching.
-I know I said last time I didn't care about the Rams, but seriously, this team is bad. I think Spagnuolo and Devaney will be able to turn it around, but it's gonna take a while. This Post-Dispatch column by Bernie Miklasz says it best - are we seriously arguing about whether Marc Bulger or Kyle Boller are better? This week alone, we've lost our starting QB, WR, and safety for an extended amount of time to injuries. We've been starting Mr. Irrelevant at LB (has a Mr. Irrelevent ever started a single game before?) - oh wait, he just got suspended for illegal substance use. Big surprise there. I mean, we're 3 weeks in and I'm already looking at mock drafts to see what quarterback we might take. Ugh. I might be in the market for a new team soon.
-On a more positive note, go Cardinals! Good thing I have internet, because I'm going to do my best to watch every pitch of playoff baseball for the Cards. It's going to be a tough month - every team out there has something to fear. I think the Phillies are my biggest worry, just because of how much Ryan Howard loves hitting in St. Louis. Ideal first round matchup is probably the Dodgers - not sure why, but I haven't really been that overwhelmed with them all year. In our group alone, we've got Phillies, Red Sox, Twins, and Yankees fans, so it'll be an interesting crowd to watch with. By the way, Wainwright for Cy Young. Also, if La Russa isn't Manager of the Year I don't know why the award exists.
-It's gonna SUCK not being at Mizzou next week. All I can say is that I hope everyone there goes to the pep rally next Tuesday and the game next Thursday, because these things come and go faster than you'd believe. Also, I finally saw the new Mizzou commercial for this year, and I have to say, for all the crap I gave them about the commercials in the 05-06 days, they've gotten it together. Plus, Jon Hamm gives one of the greatest "Z-O-U"s I've ever seen.
Guess I should throw in a little Israel talk... I might try and throw up another post on Sunday, but starting tomorrow I'm on Sukkot break. Tomorrow afternoon I'm headed back up to Yokneam to see my adoptive family again for the weekend, and next week I'm spending four days in (drum roll please...) Egypt! I'll be the one with the MASA backpack and my "I support the IDF" shirt. I'm sure a lot of stories and pictures will come of this, so I better catch up on the blogs soon. So keep watching this space for more...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Two Blogs? Mah?
In case you don't know, I am also posting periodically on a blog for the St. Louis Federation along with Andi, the other STL participant on OTZMA. The site can be found at http://stlotzma.blogspot.com, and while I'll usually post here more in depth, you can find other info on that site as well. For example, I just posted a short (for me) post on our Yom Kippur in Jerusalem that we just returned from. Posting on the blog is the least I can do for the Fed, seeing as they have been remarkably supportive of both me and Andi throughout this experience. Talking to other people on the trip has made me realize how lucky we are to have a Federation behind us that is making a strong effort to keep in touch, let us know they are there for us, and are there to help us with whatever we need. OK, enough sucking up for now...
Anyway, it's been a long few days and I have no Internet (I'm stealing from others on the group - shh!), so Part II of Meet the Hirsch's will have to wait. Trust me - it's a good one! It involves being surrounded by a family that doesn't speak English, being fed to the point that I wondered if my life was at stake, and if you're lucky, a tank. But until then, l'hitraot!
Anyway, it's been a long few days and I have no Internet (I'm stealing from others on the group - shh!), so Part II of Meet the Hirsch's will have to wait. Trust me - it's a good one! It involves being surrounded by a family that doesn't speak English, being fed to the point that I wondered if my life was at stake, and if you're lucky, a tank. But until then, l'hitraot!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Meet the Hirschs Part I
OK, so when we left off, I had just boarded a bus en route to Yokneam. Now, you might ask, what exactly is a Yokneam? Well, Yokneam is a small city of about 20,000 people (in Israel this qualifies you for city status) in Northern Israel, about 20 minutes away from Haifa. The city is very high-tech, very industrialized, and growing very quickly due to the numerous factories that have opened in the area over the past 10-15 years or so. More importantly to this story, Yokneam is St. Louis’s partnership city, the place I'll be living in from January-March, and the home of my adoptive family, the Hirschs. Immediately after our nighttime escapades in Jerusalem, we all boarded buses leaving Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and left to spend the Rosh Hashanah weekend with our new adoptive families. Here’s mine:
(Ofra, Efi, Michal and Yuval)
Upon arriving to the Yokneam bus station, I was picked up by Efi, my new “dad”. With him were the 3 ½ year old twins, Yuval (the boy) and Michal (the girl), who might be some of the cutest kids I’ve ever met. A short drive later, I arrived at the Hirsch’s home and met Ofra, my new “mom”. Now, to add in the final reason why the timing on the nighttime seminar was so bad (Sidebar: I bet the higher-ups at OTZMA are thrilled with my comments on this thing. I should emphasize here that the CONCEPT of the program was fantastic. Something got lost in translation. Consider it constructive feedback for next year.), I was meeting these people for the first time on almost no sleep. Good first impression, right? Luckily, Ofra and Efi understood my situation and were fine with me taking a short nap. After resting for a little, I spent the afternoon with the family learning a little more about them. Efi is a mechanical engineer who does the kind of work you can't talk about. I'm not kidding. He showed me the factory he works at, which is surrounded by a 10-feet concrete wall with barbed wire on the top and an armed guard at the gate. Not totally sure I even WANT to know what project he's working on! Ofra is a teacher at a local elementary school and is currently finishing up her Master's degree in administration. In fact, I may be wrong, but I might actually be volunteering there during Phase II. Ofra's 8 year old nephew also was spending the day with them, and he and the twins were fascinated by my iPod touch. I was also able to communicate with the family very easily, since Ofra and Efi both spoke excellent English. Pretty sure the twins were just confused about why I couldn't speak Hebrew though...
So that night, we drove to a nearby town called Carmiel to have Rosh Hashanah dinner with Efi's family. And I mean his entire family. Between his parents, brothers, sister, and various nephews and nieces, there were probably a good 10-15 people there. Luckily, once again, they all spoke various degrees of English. Now, that doesn't mean I didn't try to speak some Hebrew (I'm starting to make some good progress in ulpan), but I was able to talk to them and explain more what I was doing here, both in Israel and actually at their house. It was around this time I came to a realization that this wasn't Rosh Hashanah - this was Thanksgiving! Whole family gathered from all over, large meal, lots of schmoozing... yeah, this was strangely reminiscent of a certain Thursday in November. Oh, and everything you hear about Israelis having huge family meals? It's all true. There was fish (and fish heads...), soup (with soup almonds - yum!), chicken, veggies, etc. etc. etc.
(Before the food came out. This was pretty much the last time you could see table.)
Before the meal started, Efi's dad went around the table with blessings for everyone (not the baruch ata type, more like the Thanksgiving type), and thought out a blessing for me in English, basically thanking me and the rest of the OTZMAnikim for coming here to Israel and helping their country. Honestly, one of the nicer moments of the year so far, and Ofra was talking about it to everyone for the rest of the weekend. After dinner, everyone came out to the patio and sat around talking. It was mostly in Hebrew, but it was nice to just take everything in and see if I could pick up any words. (I got like 3.) Yuval and Michal stole the show, getting up in front of everyone, singing songs, and giving blessings to everyone.
(Tell me these aren't some of the cutest kids ever.)
(The Hirschs' made cupcakes with little flags for each person at dinner, and they made sure mine was in English!)
(Ofra, Efi, Michal and Yuval)
Upon arriving to the Yokneam bus station, I was picked up by Efi, my new “dad”. With him were the 3 ½ year old twins, Yuval (the boy) and Michal (the girl), who might be some of the cutest kids I’ve ever met. A short drive later, I arrived at the Hirsch’s home and met Ofra, my new “mom”. Now, to add in the final reason why the timing on the nighttime seminar was so bad (Sidebar: I bet the higher-ups at OTZMA are thrilled with my comments on this thing. I should emphasize here that the CONCEPT of the program was fantastic. Something got lost in translation. Consider it constructive feedback for next year.), I was meeting these people for the first time on almost no sleep. Good first impression, right? Luckily, Ofra and Efi understood my situation and were fine with me taking a short nap. After resting for a little, I spent the afternoon with the family learning a little more about them. Efi is a mechanical engineer who does the kind of work you can't talk about. I'm not kidding. He showed me the factory he works at, which is surrounded by a 10-feet concrete wall with barbed wire on the top and an armed guard at the gate. Not totally sure I even WANT to know what project he's working on! Ofra is a teacher at a local elementary school and is currently finishing up her Master's degree in administration. In fact, I may be wrong, but I might actually be volunteering there during Phase II. Ofra's 8 year old nephew also was spending the day with them, and he and the twins were fascinated by my iPod touch. I was also able to communicate with the family very easily, since Ofra and Efi both spoke excellent English. Pretty sure the twins were just confused about why I couldn't speak Hebrew though...
So that night, we drove to a nearby town called Carmiel to have Rosh Hashanah dinner with Efi's family. And I mean his entire family. Between his parents, brothers, sister, and various nephews and nieces, there were probably a good 10-15 people there. Luckily, once again, they all spoke various degrees of English. Now, that doesn't mean I didn't try to speak some Hebrew (I'm starting to make some good progress in ulpan), but I was able to talk to them and explain more what I was doing here, both in Israel and actually at their house. It was around this time I came to a realization that this wasn't Rosh Hashanah - this was Thanksgiving! Whole family gathered from all over, large meal, lots of schmoozing... yeah, this was strangely reminiscent of a certain Thursday in November. Oh, and everything you hear about Israelis having huge family meals? It's all true. There was fish (and fish heads...), soup (with soup almonds - yum!), chicken, veggies, etc. etc. etc.
(Before the food came out. This was pretty much the last time you could see table.)
Before the meal started, Efi's dad went around the table with blessings for everyone (not the baruch ata type, more like the Thanksgiving type), and thought out a blessing for me in English, basically thanking me and the rest of the OTZMAnikim for coming here to Israel and helping their country. Honestly, one of the nicer moments of the year so far, and Ofra was talking about it to everyone for the rest of the weekend. After dinner, everyone came out to the patio and sat around talking. It was mostly in Hebrew, but it was nice to just take everything in and see if I could pick up any words. (I got like 3.) Yuval and Michal stole the show, getting up in front of everyone, singing songs, and giving blessings to everyone.
(Tell me these aren't some of the cutest kids ever.)
(The Hirschs' made cupcakes with little flags for each person at dinner, and they made sure mine was in English!)Finally, after a very long day (or two), we bid our goodbyes, boarded the car, and drove back to Yokneam for the night. And while there was still a very long weekend ahead of us, this post itself is getting quite long, so I'll have to give this a To Be Continued...
Some random thoughts (but not many, this is really getting long):
-Really, I just have one thought. To the kU football and basketball teams: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love it.
Some random thoughts (but not many, this is really getting long):
-Really, I just have one thought. To the kU football and basketball teams: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love it.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
24 Hours in Israel
So this is a story about why too much of a good thing is NOT always good. It’s also a story about why last Thursday-Friday was one of the longest days of my life. To tell it, I’ll have to back up a bit to Wednesday night. After a short meeting, our madricha Sarah asked about 10 of us to stay behind. She told us that we had been selected for a special volunteer opportunity the next day, where we would be working with officers in the IDF and delivering Rosh Hashanah care packages to local Holocaust survivors, many of whom were below the poverty line. Well, all of us were in agreement on two things: First, that it was a great opportunity, and second, that the timing could not have been worse. You see, this would give us a schedule of being in ulpan from 8-1, then volunteering from 3-10. What you don’t know yet is that we were all going to Jerusalem at 1:00 in the morning for a educational session on slichot, morning services. While everyone else would be sleeping and resting up for the all-nighter ahead of us, we would be volunteering with this program. Now, none of us were going to turn this chance down just so we could sleep a few more hours, so we all signed on to go. And just like you’d expect – it was one of the more interesting afternoons we’ve had yet.
Now, we had done a project like this before – a few weeks ago we delivered care packages to the needy with local volunteers. However, the people we were working with spoke very little English, we really just dropped the boxes off and left, and the entire thing felt very rushed. This time, we were working with officers who spoke fairly good English. Here are the two I was working with:
Rather than drop and run, we stayed and spoke with the couple of houses we delivered to. They didn’t speak much English, but the stories they told were incredible. One man told us about how he served in the IDF in the 1950s, but had to leave the service to care for his sick wife. Another woman told us about how she wanted to change her first name, and when she spoke to her father about it, he told her that she was named for her grandmother who had perished in the Holocaust and that her name was the only thing he had left from his family. Just the kindness these people showed to us, taking us into their homes, and telling us some of their amazing stories. The woman actually wrote a letter to the organizers of the project, praising the kindness of the “strong, beautiful” Israeli soldiers and the American volunteer with the “white teeth”. (I’m not kidding. They read that to the entire group. You can’t make this stuff up.) We spent some time afterwards having dinner with the soldiers and organizers, followed by a video about the IDF. Go figure, it was in Hebrew, so I just watched the admittedly cool images and tried to catch some of the words. Finally, they gave each of us a certificate from the mayor (Ashkelon is very big into volunteering these days) and a little plaque they put together for us, and we headed back to Kalanit to pack.
Now, I wish I could tell you all about our adventures in Jerusalem at night, and how we wandered the city and were enlightened about the world around us. Truth is, I barely remember it. That’s how tired I was. Now, I’m sure it would have been a great experience if the timing on this hadn’t been so bad. Basically, after we got back at 10, we packed our things for the weekend, waited until 1, and boarded a bus for Jerusalem. When we arrived, already pretty tired, we found out that we were going to be sitting in a room talking for 2 hours. It wasn’t till after that that we finally went to walk around the city and tried to sit in on some morning services to see what it was like. Oh wait – turns out people don’t like their prayers to be a spectator sport. We got kicked out of the first congregation we went into, and happened to run into a rabbi who explained to us why they didn’t want us watching, and how Judaism is supposed to be participatory, not something to be observed. Which was really cool and interesting and all, just not quite what we were looking for. Anyhow, next thing I really remember we stumbled onto a bakery that had just opened, ate some rugula, and proceeded to a park for breakfast. After that, we hopped on a bus, drove to Tel Aviv, and jumped on another bus headed for Yokneam at 8:00 AM… 24 hours after ulpan had started my day.
So the volunteering and all-nighter would have been really fantastic in their own rights, but at the end of the day (or morning, as it was), the fact that we were doing this back to back really stunted what I would have gotten out of it. So remember, sometimes having so many great things can hurt the overall impact it should be having.
Now, you ask, why was I headed for Yokneam? Ah, my friends… that is a story for another day.
Some random thoughts:
-Rams suck.
-I should probably elaborate on that more… no, Rams just suck.
-A little concerned about the Cardinals showing against the NL East last week, but I think we’ll be fine. Big debate these days is on the NL Cy Young: I’ll be a homer here, so it’s one of our two aces for me. I’ve been switching back and forth between Wainwright and Carpenter, but I think the deciding factor (which no one outside of St. Louis knows about) is that Carp is actually responsible for Waino’s success this year, seeing as he was the one who corrected his arm movement back in May. On top of that, his pure leadership and absolute dominance makes him, to me, this year’s Cy winner.
-If you haven’t seen the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother, STOP READING AND SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH. SPOILERS AHEAD. SERIOUSLY. LAST WARNING. I really enjoyed this episode, and you could tell how much time the writers put into this. The Barney-Robin scenes were pitch-perfect (Interesting dynamic this season: How will Ted deal with being the only single person in the group?), but the scenes with Ted teaching were priceless. That was some of the most painfully awkward humor this show’s had in a while, and the scene with him switching back and forth with what to have the class call him was legen – wait for it – dary. I also liked the bait-and-switch they pulled with the mother – so she was in the class that he was teaching by mistake, not actually his student? Well done, writers. Good start to the season.
-And finally, just because, I leave you with the philosophy of the Governator.
Now, we had done a project like this before – a few weeks ago we delivered care packages to the needy with local volunteers. However, the people we were working with spoke very little English, we really just dropped the boxes off and left, and the entire thing felt very rushed. This time, we were working with officers who spoke fairly good English. Here are the two I was working with:
Rather than drop and run, we stayed and spoke with the couple of houses we delivered to. They didn’t speak much English, but the stories they told were incredible. One man told us about how he served in the IDF in the 1950s, but had to leave the service to care for his sick wife. Another woman told us about how she wanted to change her first name, and when she spoke to her father about it, he told her that she was named for her grandmother who had perished in the Holocaust and that her name was the only thing he had left from his family. Just the kindness these people showed to us, taking us into their homes, and telling us some of their amazing stories. The woman actually wrote a letter to the organizers of the project, praising the kindness of the “strong, beautiful” Israeli soldiers and the American volunteer with the “white teeth”. (I’m not kidding. They read that to the entire group. You can’t make this stuff up.) We spent some time afterwards having dinner with the soldiers and organizers, followed by a video about the IDF. Go figure, it was in Hebrew, so I just watched the admittedly cool images and tried to catch some of the words. Finally, they gave each of us a certificate from the mayor (Ashkelon is very big into volunteering these days) and a little plaque they put together for us, and we headed back to Kalanit to pack.
Now, I wish I could tell you all about our adventures in Jerusalem at night, and how we wandered the city and were enlightened about the world around us. Truth is, I barely remember it. That’s how tired I was. Now, I’m sure it would have been a great experience if the timing on this hadn’t been so bad. Basically, after we got back at 10, we packed our things for the weekend, waited until 1, and boarded a bus for Jerusalem. When we arrived, already pretty tired, we found out that we were going to be sitting in a room talking for 2 hours. It wasn’t till after that that we finally went to walk around the city and tried to sit in on some morning services to see what it was like. Oh wait – turns out people don’t like their prayers to be a spectator sport. We got kicked out of the first congregation we went into, and happened to run into a rabbi who explained to us why they didn’t want us watching, and how Judaism is supposed to be participatory, not something to be observed. Which was really cool and interesting and all, just not quite what we were looking for. Anyhow, next thing I really remember we stumbled onto a bakery that had just opened, ate some rugula, and proceeded to a park for breakfast. After that, we hopped on a bus, drove to Tel Aviv, and jumped on another bus headed for Yokneam at 8:00 AM… 24 hours after ulpan had started my day.
So the volunteering and all-nighter would have been really fantastic in their own rights, but at the end of the day (or morning, as it was), the fact that we were doing this back to back really stunted what I would have gotten out of it. So remember, sometimes having so many great things can hurt the overall impact it should be having.
Now, you ask, why was I headed for Yokneam? Ah, my friends… that is a story for another day.
Some random thoughts:
-Rams suck.
-I should probably elaborate on that more… no, Rams just suck.
-A little concerned about the Cardinals showing against the NL East last week, but I think we’ll be fine. Big debate these days is on the NL Cy Young: I’ll be a homer here, so it’s one of our two aces for me. I’ve been switching back and forth between Wainwright and Carpenter, but I think the deciding factor (which no one outside of St. Louis knows about) is that Carp is actually responsible for Waino’s success this year, seeing as he was the one who corrected his arm movement back in May. On top of that, his pure leadership and absolute dominance makes him, to me, this year’s Cy winner.
-If you haven’t seen the season premiere of How I Met Your Mother, STOP READING AND SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH. SPOILERS AHEAD. SERIOUSLY. LAST WARNING. I really enjoyed this episode, and you could tell how much time the writers put into this. The Barney-Robin scenes were pitch-perfect (Interesting dynamic this season: How will Ted deal with being the only single person in the group?), but the scenes with Ted teaching were priceless. That was some of the most painfully awkward humor this show’s had in a while, and the scene with him switching back and forth with what to have the class call him was legen – wait for it – dary. I also liked the bait-and-switch they pulled with the mother – so she was in the class that he was teaching by mistake, not actually his student? Well done, writers. Good start to the season.
-And finally, just because, I leave you with the philosophy of the Governator.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
When I Write Something, I Sign My Name
OK, so it's not a perfect analogy, seeing as Sam was firing two jerks and I'm thrilled that people are reading my blog. (Sidebar: Sam Seaborn was Deputy Communications Director and Senior Advisor to the President. Who did those two think they were that he couldn't fire them? But I digress.) It's been brought to my attention that apparently people outside of my circle of friends and family are reading this blog. Despite what my last post may have implied, I love that this is being followed and people are interested in what I have to say. That being said... I want to know who you are! I'm not asking you to post your full name if you don't want to, but if your going to comment here (which I encourage, I love feedback), it would be nice to at least have some idea who you are.
Now, I guess it goes both ways here - if you're going to invest the time and effort to read my blog, it would be nice to know whose thoughts you're reading. You already know the basics of why I'm writing this: I'm a participant in Project OTZMA, I'm volunteering in Israel for 10 months, I'm living in Ashkelon at the moment, I'm apparently obsessed with The West Wing, yadda yadda yadda. But that really only describes what I'm doing, not who I am. So here goes: I recently graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Secondary and Middle School Education - Social Studies, which is a long way of saying I'm certified to be a high school or middle school social studies teacher. That being said, I'm not entirely sure teaching is really for me, and I'm planning on using this year to explore some of my options and see where I want to go with my career. I have a huge interest in politics and current events, and have been growing more and more interested over the past year in pursuing a career in politics. I'm a passionate fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and Missouri Tigers, and you'll find me commenting frequently on their seasons throughout the year. (Sidebar #2: Really, AP Poll? Washington over Mizzou in the rankings? Gee, glad they pulled out a fluke upset win over USC. That's why Stanford was ranked in 2007, right? In case anyone's math is off, 3-0 > 2-1.) I'm also a fan of referencing pop culture, particularly movies, the West Wing (in case you haven't noticed), and my favorite TV show, How I Met Your Mother. (Sidebar #3: If you don't watch that show, do yourself a favor and start. I believe the season premiere is tomorrow night. Watch it and thank me later.)
Them's the basics. Hopefully readership of Show Me the Shawarma will continue to grow, and more and more people will find interest in what I have to say. My goal is for these posts to be equal parts insightful, entertaining, informative, and most of all interesting. I will say that a lot happened to me over this past Rosh Hashanah weekend, so much that I've got about 4-5 posts waiting to find their way online. So watch this space, because there's a lot more to come! Shana tova!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Pictures!
Pictures are now up for anyone not friends with me on Facebook! Because I don't want random people I don't know looking through my pictures, I set up a private album on Photobucket. If you want to see them, just email me and I'll send you the info to sign in. Just saying - if you're some random creep looking through my blog, please don't email me. I ain't giving you the password. But for everyone else, email me and enjoy the pictures!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
"Be Successful"
Sorry the blog posts have been slow so far, but we still don’t have Internet of our own – we’ve all been resorting to “borrowing” wi-fi from our new friends across the street until we get our own set up. Nonetheless, I figured it was time for an update on how everything is going here.
First off... pictures are up on Facebook! I'm working on getting some sort of photo album up where people can see them off FB, so that'll hopefully happen soon. Here are some pics from the hikes in the meantime...
We finally started getting into a little bit of a groove, with ulpan starting today and our volunteer work getting going. Last week we went to work at a community center (think your local JCC) and toured a small “village” built and run completely by college students. The idea was that this is the new form of Zionism, in that our grandparents’ generation created the state of Israel, our parents’ generation fought for and defended it, and now our generation is going to rebuild from within, or something like that. It’s actually very similar to the wave of activism that swept through American college campuses last year, in that our generation is tired of sitting on the sidelines and are actively getting involved in community service. I was actually a little fuzzy on how the two places were connected, but I’m pretty sure the people we were working with were part of the student community. Anyway, we spent the day resodding the lawn and basically getting the place ready for students to start coming after school got out. Seems like it would be annoying and unnecessarily strenuous work, but tasks like that are always more fun and enjoyable when you’re doing it under the umbrella of “volunteering”.
The next day we helped deliver boxed Rosh Hashanah meals to the more downtrodden areas of Ashkelon – the very LARGE downtrodden areas. One of the more interesting aspects of this city is the very large disparity in wealth. In some areas you see beautiful new apartments with grills out on the deck, little gardens being tended to, and big air conditioning units set up outside. Right across the street, you see broken-down fences, clothes hanging out to dry, and maybe a fan or two. It’s going to be a major part of our experience here dealing with that fairly severe break in income levels, as much of our volunteering is going to be in that type of population. I’m still not sure exactly what I’ll be doing day-to-day, but I’ll update as soon as I do (hopefully).
I’m also very glad to be started on ulpan, or Hebrew classes. While 5 hours a day (you read that right) might seem like a bit much, I’m really excited to be able to really communicate with people here. When I was in line at the grocery store the other day, the woman in front of me tried to spark up a conversation, only to be frustrated and annoyed when I clearly had no clue what she was saying. I did redeem myself when I told her I had only been there for a week and was getting ready to start ulpan, as she got very excited and told me to “Be successful”. That right there is really what the Israeli people boil down to – they might be pushy, loud, and seemingly self-absorbed, but at the end of the day, they turn out to be some of the most generous people you will ever meet. I mean, when you get right down to it, this woman pulled a total 180, going from being pissed off at me for not bothering to learn her country’s language to wishing me all the best in the world. To be successful. How often has someone said that to you back in the States? It really just fuels the fire to put it all into learning about this language and this land, because at the end of the day, I’m giving a year of my life to this country and the Israeli people. So don’t I owe it to them as much as myself to be successful?
First off... pictures are up on Facebook! I'm working on getting some sort of photo album up where people can see them off FB, so that'll hopefully happen soon. Here are some pics from the hikes in the meantime...
We finally started getting into a little bit of a groove, with ulpan starting today and our volunteer work getting going. Last week we went to work at a community center (think your local JCC) and toured a small “village” built and run completely by college students. The idea was that this is the new form of Zionism, in that our grandparents’ generation created the state of Israel, our parents’ generation fought for and defended it, and now our generation is going to rebuild from within, or something like that. It’s actually very similar to the wave of activism that swept through American college campuses last year, in that our generation is tired of sitting on the sidelines and are actively getting involved in community service. I was actually a little fuzzy on how the two places were connected, but I’m pretty sure the people we were working with were part of the student community. Anyway, we spent the day resodding the lawn and basically getting the place ready for students to start coming after school got out. Seems like it would be annoying and unnecessarily strenuous work, but tasks like that are always more fun and enjoyable when you’re doing it under the umbrella of “volunteering”.
The next day we helped deliver boxed Rosh Hashanah meals to the more downtrodden areas of Ashkelon – the very LARGE downtrodden areas. One of the more interesting aspects of this city is the very large disparity in wealth. In some areas you see beautiful new apartments with grills out on the deck, little gardens being tended to, and big air conditioning units set up outside. Right across the street, you see broken-down fences, clothes hanging out to dry, and maybe a fan or two. It’s going to be a major part of our experience here dealing with that fairly severe break in income levels, as much of our volunteering is going to be in that type of population. I’m still not sure exactly what I’ll be doing day-to-day, but I’ll update as soon as I do (hopefully).
I’m also very glad to be started on ulpan, or Hebrew classes. While 5 hours a day (you read that right) might seem like a bit much, I’m really excited to be able to really communicate with people here. When I was in line at the grocery store the other day, the woman in front of me tried to spark up a conversation, only to be frustrated and annoyed when I clearly had no clue what she was saying. I did redeem myself when I told her I had only been there for a week and was getting ready to start ulpan, as she got very excited and told me to “Be successful”. That right there is really what the Israeli people boil down to – they might be pushy, loud, and seemingly self-absorbed, but at the end of the day, they turn out to be some of the most generous people you will ever meet. I mean, when you get right down to it, this woman pulled a total 180, going from being pissed off at me for not bothering to learn her country’s language to wishing me all the best in the world. To be successful. How often has someone said that to you back in the States? It really just fuels the fire to put it all into learning about this language and this land, because at the end of the day, I’m giving a year of my life to this country and the Israeli people. So don’t I owe it to them as much as myself to be successful?
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