If I Could Walk 500 Miles

So this is really sort of a filler post – I’m working on a much longer one recapping our “Security and Hope” seminar from a few weeks ago. The seminar was 5 days long and covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, so you can see why I’m taking some time with this one. Anyway… How about the time I traveled about 380 miles in 4 days?

Our journey starts off on a bus ride to Kiryat Shmona to see Jeremy, my roommate from Part I in Ashkelon. On Egged (the main bus company in Israel), that trip takes a little over 2 hours and 60.6 miles. By the way, I decided to be dumb and go for one of the last buses before Shabbat, so I had to sit and wait at the junction for about 40 minutes before a bus finally showed up. Upon reaching KShmo (as we OTZMAniks lovingly call it), Jeremy and I went to have dinner with his adoptive family. Now, I’ve been to families that speak nothing but Hebrew. And I’ve been to families that serve insane amounts of food for meals. And I’ve even been to families that have both of those traits (they tend to go together). But this family… on top of the massive amounts of food, and on top of nothing but Hebrew, they were just REALLY, REALLY LOUD. 3 teenage daughters. Oh dear. Actually, it was a lot of fun – the family was really nice, and it was a good chance to practice my Hebrew. The best part was the grandpa, who basically sat there bundled up in a blanket, randomly spouting off in Hebrew about how the girls should show more respect to their parents.

The next day, Jeremy’s roommate Yael joined us for what KShmoers do best – a hike! Sadly, my camera’s battery died about 30 seconds in, so no pictures. But during our Shabbat jaunt, I decided that KShmo has to be one of the most gorgeous places in all of Israel. For starters, you have a perfect view of Mt. Hermon, which is currently covered in snow. (Sidebar: I miss snow. Everyone in the midst of a gigantic blizzard, feel free to throw snowballs at me and curse my name.) Then, the scenery of the place just can’t be described… here’s a random picture I found online to give you an idea.

(Presented without comment.)

I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of hiking in the world, but we had a great time. Something I learned – Americans don’t know how to picnic. When we go on picnics, we pretty much stick to sandwiches and maybe some cole slaw. For our picnic here, we had schnitzel, salad, potatoes… an actual meal. We should all get on that one back home, k?

Anyway, the hike was the highlight of the trip – the rest of it was fun, but nothing particularly bloggable. (Sidebar: Is that a word? It is now!) So, on Sunday, I jumped on a bus back (60.6 miles, 121.2 miles total) and really started in on my trip. After heading to baseball practice back in Yokne’am, it was time to head down to Kiryat Gat for the OTZMA Super Bowl party. If you don’t know (and why would you?), Kiryat Gat is Chicago’s sister city and is down south, near Ashkelon. So, I took a bus to nearby Haifa (12.5 miles, 133.7 miles total), and then started my 2 and a half hour train ride down south (about 102.5 miles, bringing us to 236.2 miles). Man, that was really fun and not at all boring!

When I finally arrived as the only northerner at the party, I was amazed at how big the Kiryat Gat house was. Seriously, they have one more person than us, and their kitchen has more cabinet space than most of us have for our clothes! But anyway… there was a pretty good crowd there, and it was a lot of fun. When I got there at 11:15 PM, we still had about 2 hours until game time! Despite the late start, we kept ourselves entertained, and it was good as always being back with everyone.

Sadly, no commercials, but we got to see the whole game on ESPN. I thought it was a good game with one of the best coaching jobs ever – Sean Payton clearly realized they weren’t going to win without taking some chances, and he made some of the gutsiest calls you’ll ever see in a football game. Plus, I don’t get how any neutral fan wouldn’t root for the Saints in this game. Did you see any of the footage of New Orleans after the game? Easily one of your most feel-good Super Bowl champions ever. And the ’01 Patriots don’t count. Screw them.

(Some tired OTZMA football fans.)

So once the game ended at 4:30 AM, we had about an hour to kill before buses started running. There was no way I was making it back to Yokne’am in time to volunteer (I worked last Friday to make up for it), so I figured I might as well go with Allie to Netivot for a few hours. After a detour through Ashkelon, we made it to Netivot (37.7 miles, 273.9 miles total), where I crashed the second my head hit a pillow. You try watching a football game at 1:30 AM. After a power nap and lunch with Allie, I boarded a bus back home. Now, the bus to Tel Aviv from Netivot goes in a bizarre route, so I really don’t know how far we went, but a direct trip would have been 52.2 miles, with a total of 326.1 miles. Finally, I jumped on a bus ride from Tel Aviv back to Yokne’am, a 53.3 mile bus ride. So to recap…

Yokne’am to Kiryat Shmona: 60.6 miles
Kiryat Shmona to Yokne’am: 60.6 miles
Yokne’am to Haifa: 12.5 miles
Haifa to Kiryat Gat: 102.5 miles
Kiryat Gat to Netivot via Ashkelon: 37.7 miles
Netivot to Tel Aviv: 52.2 miles
Tel Aviv to Yokne’am: 53.3 miles

Bringing us to a grand total of 379.4 miles and a very tired OTZMAnik. Ah, the prices we pay to see our friends.

An iPuzzling Event

So you may recall that back in October I went on a 4 day trip in Egypt. You may also recall my two part post entitled “Max’s Egyptian Tour Guide”, where I laid out 11 “essential” tips to traveling in Egypt. Well… I left one out.

Tip #12: DON’T LEAVE YOUR VALUABLES OUT IN A HOTEL ROOM IN EILAT!!!

In re-reading the posts, I realized that I didn’t mention our one night stays in Eilat both before and after Egypt. It was a nice enough time – we walked around the beach, went snorkeling, had a great meal, and I certainly had enough of a taste to want to go back before the end of the year. That being said, there was a definite downside that I chose to leave off of this blog at that time. Namely, I was a moron and left my iPod touch out in the hotel room, where it promptly disappeared. I realized it when we were packing up to head home, and after tearing through all of my stuff (and the entire room), I headed down to inform hotel security that it was missing. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions of foul play, but it was certainly a possibility in my mind. After filing a full report with hotel security (Sidebar: Remember this. Important part of the story.), we loaded up the cab, headed to the bus station, and returned to Ashkelon. Being fairly certain I would never see that iPod again, I went to the mall and bought a new one, poured out a 40 for the dearly departed, and moved on with my life.

This was in October of 2009.

Flash forward to Thursday, January 21st, 2010.

After returning home from a successful morning volunteering at Daliyot (and much less eventful than the day from my last post), I was excited to start my weekend. I grabbed my newish iPod (ironically) to check my mail, and to my surprise, found a Facebook message waiting for me from a name I didn’t recognize. It read as follows:

“Hello Max. I'm investigator in Eilat police. Your stolen ipod was found in Eilat. Please contact with me about how to return it to you.”

Um… WHAT???

It takes a lot to leave me speechless, but that one did it. I hadn’t even given the lost iPod a thought in months, let alone wondering if I’d ever seen it again! Stunned, I quickly logged onto Facebook to look at the guy’s profile, just to make sure he was legit. As soon as I logged on, a good friend of mine from Sabra called me since we were trying to find a time to meet up. After catching up for a few minutes, he says, “Oh, I meant to ask you something. Did you lose an iPod or something in Eilat?”

Um… WHAT???

I didn’t know what was stranger – that he would somehow know about this or that he would bring it up literally FIVE MINUTES after I got that message. I asked him how he would possibly know about that, and he told me a police officer in Eilat called him that morning, told him that they had his friend Max’s iPod, and could he please pass on a phone number for him to call. At this point, the story was rapidly approaching the top of the list of “Most bizarre things to ever happen to Max”. I mean, I was completely flabbergasted. And honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever in my life described myself as flabbergasted. Let’s be real, if this happened to you, would you have ever expected to see the iPod again? I was just considering myself lucky that I didn’t have any important personal information on there. But now it had been found? And not only that, but somehow my friend had gotten involved? Are you kidding me?

I tried to guess how they had tracked down the iPod – best I came up with was that it had been stolen after all by someone who worked at the hotel and had a habit of relieving guests of small electronics, and they had just caught them. So, I called the number to find out what had happened. The detective who had contacted me filled me in – they had found my iPod on a homeless guy, who I presume he was doing something illegal, and when he was caught, they found it suspicious that he had an iPod Touch on him. After receiving permission from a judge, they opened up the iPod and found that it was registered to me, and they also found my friend’s name in the contacts list. Interestingly, I didn’t have my friend’s Israeli cell phone, only an American number he had used during camp. So, through the magic of Facebook, they tracked me down. Now then, remember when I said I went to file a report with hotel security? Well, this is where that comes back into play. Turns out that because I never filed a report for the actual POLICE, I needed to go to the Yokne’am police station and file an official complaint under the case file that they opened. Once I did that, they could figure out how to get it back to me.

So, with my coordinator coming along to provide emotional and linguistic support, I headed to the police station to meet with the local detective. (Sidebar: To give you a sense of Yokne’am’s size, I had to wait a few days to go because the only detective was on his day off.) Now, this guy was pretty much what you would expect an Israeli policeman to be: Loud, abrupt, forceful, bald. Slightly intimidating, to say the least. Luckily, he also spoke English, so I was able to give my statement without much trouble. Afterwards, when we asked him what the next step was, he told us that the man would have to confess the iPod was not his, so that the judge could give permission to go into the iPod to confirm that it was mine. So… the next step was something that already happened that set this whole crazy story into motion… awesome!

And that’s where we are now. Will I actually see the iPod again? No idea. What will I do with a second iPod touch? Don’t know. Is this all a massive practical joke? Quite possible. Is there a moral to this story? Outside of the fact that stupidity is sometimes rewarded, not really. But rest assured, you can watch this space for more updates.

The Perfect Storm

(Note: This entry was originally written for the St. Louis OTZMA blog co-written by Andi and I. Check it out at http://stlotzma.blogspot.com!)

A “perfect storm” is defined by Wikipedia as “an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically.” Besides the fact that Israel is currently experiencing its third straight day of countrywide rainstorms, I think it’s safe to say that today’s events at Daliyot School would fit that description.

So Andi, Tali, and I have been working at Dalyiot for about 2 weeks now, and have had nothing but positive experiences. For the most part, we have been working in various English classes and helping where we can. Also, I have been working with a 1st grader named – you know, let’s just call him Jed, a boy who has had some behavioral issues and has for whatever reason quickly connected with me. The school has been fantastic, the staff has been incredibly supportive, and the kids are a pleasure to teach. That being said, if you’ve ever taught, you know that sometimes you just have one of those days.

Upon arrival to Dalyiot, I headed down to Jed’s class to work with him. Apparently today was immunization day, and his class and many other students were lining up to receive their shots. I got there right before Jed headed in, and he was, as always, very excited to see me. Once we got in, however, Jed was told that they did not have his immunization card and would not be treated. Most kids might take this as a plus – hey, no shot today! Jed, however, was extremely upset to have been left out of something the rest of his class was taking part in. It became impossible to get him to work, and for a while he just sulked in the corner and took out his anger on me. Finally, his teacher and I got to the root of the issue and he pretty much spent the last 10 minutes of class hugging me as hard as he could, until recess came and he forgot all about his troubles.

That was the easy part of my day.

So after that, Andi and I were supposed to go with one of the English teachers to her class. Normally Tali would be with us, but she had been feeling pretty sick and we told her to go home and get some rest. Before reaching the class, a school counselor grabbed me in a rush and started babbling about some kind of major disaster, she desperately needs our help, she can’t teach English, and on and on. Honestly, for a minute I thought I was going to walk into a room with a fire burning and kids playing catch with other kids! Turns out there were about 5 teachers out sick that day, and they needed help covering one of the rooms. So, Andi and I moved to a 4th grade class that we all spend a lot of time in anyway. Now, I walked in expecting to take over English class, but we were then told that it was currently science class. So why was the counselor so concerned about teaching English? No clue, but if someone could explain that I’d be thrilled. So, being unable to teach science in the first place (let alone in Hebrew), the class was introduced to what would end up being 3 hours of English class.

At first (and this wouldn’t be the only time) the class was extremely difficult to get under control. This was one of those times where my classroom experience helped me survive, as I knew some basic ways to get the class under control… that sort of worked. While we were trying to come up with a lesson plan in 10 seconds in front of the class, we thankfully noticed many of the kids asking where Tali was. Not that I’m happy she’s sick, but that saved our butts. For the first hour, we had the kids make get-well cards for her, letting them learn some English while getting to draw and color, a favorite pastime of the class. Unfortunately, the counselor left (I’m sure to deal with another crisis) and we were left alone with our very limited Hebrew skills to control a class of 9-10 year olds. Admittedly, the cards idea worked out great and kept them busy for an hour – but we still had another hour to fill.

For the second hour, Andi and I decided to split the class in half and each take one group for half the time. The class had a test later that day in their actual English class, and I wanted to help them prepare. In my half, we played a game where everyone stands in a circle and tosses a ball around, and when you catch the ball you have to say a word in a certain category, such as “words that start with B”. Since the test was over hobbies, that was the category. The game went well for a little bit, but not surprisingly, it wound up devolving into kids throwing the ball at each other and running around, refusing to pay attention to the guy speaking English at the front of the room. Thankfully the 2nd half of the class went better, as I made sure to better demonstrate how the game worked and how not to toss the ball to each other.

As was par for the course today though, we wound up with another crisis. One particular student in the class is exceptionally good at English, to the point where she almost sounds like a native speaker. Unfortunately, during elementary school it isn’t uncommon for someone to get made fun of for being smart, which was exactly what happened. There’s nothing – NOTHING – more heartbreaking for a teacher than to hear a student talk about how she wishes she was stupid or that she wants to go back in time so she never learned something. Just awful stuff. Sadly, that was the end of our day – the main English teacher came to administer their test, we managed to get the student back into the class, and returned home, where I started writing this.

Now, this was a pretty rough day, and you might think that I have a lower opinion of Daliyot than when I started. To the contrary, my thoughts on Daliyot haven’t changed one bit. It’s still a fantastic school, with remarkable and incredibly supportive staff, and the kids are (normally) great to teach. But, as any teacher knows, sometimes these days just happen. Sometimes, the weather is bad and kids are restless. Sometimes, a kid is upset about something and takes it out on everyone else around him. Sometimes, teachers get sick and have to go home. Sometimes, teachers panic and overreact (Like you’ve never done that?). Sometimes, lesson plans fall apart. Sometimes, kids get bullied. And sometimes, it all happens at once in a perfect storm. But tomorrow morning, I’m going to wake up, get dressed, and head back in for another day. Hopefully, it’ll go better. But if it doesn’t? I’m still gonna do it again every day for the next 2 ½ months. And these days will happen again, and they will be offset by the great days that are much more frequent. That’s just the life we lead – wouldn’t have it any other way.

OTZMA Take 2!

Alright, now that I’ve watched Episode 100 of “How I Met Your Mother”… time to BLOG UP!!!

(Sorry. That was dumb.)

(Not sorry enough to delete it though. Anyway…)

First off, a sincere apology. Not for disappearing the past month, because I didn’t have Internet during Sar-El, and I really just wasn’t going to take the time to write anything while on vacation with my family. No, my apology is actually for even earlier. I took a look back this week at what I’ve written the past few months, and noticed that I wrote a whopping total of two posts during November. TWO!!! And neither one was really all that good! When I started this, I promised myself that I wasn’t going to be one of those bloggers that started hot, then never posted after a few months. And damn it, I’m keeping that promise. Also, cause, you know, there’s really not much else to do in Yokne’am. But I’m keeping that promise nonetheless! I will say though, thank you to everyone for repeatedly checking for more posts while I was gone – as of the time I am writing this, Show Me the Shawarma is at 907 hits! I remain unconvinced that it’s more than my parents checking this site 50 times a day (each), but thanks, Mom and Dad! Let’s see how long it takes to hit 1000…

Before getting into the good stuff, I’ll just let you know that I’m not planning on spending any time writing about Sar-El or vacation. Let me sum it up. I didn’t like Sar-El. Most others in the group did, but it wasn’t for me. Honestly, anything I have to say is going to come off sounding negative even if it wasn’t, and I don’t care to spend more time focusing on it. As for my vacation, it was great spending time with my family and being with my parents for their first time in Israel, but there’s nothing to really write about. We saw a lot of ancient Roman-era cities. I got sick for a few days. We spent a lot of time in Jerusalem. Israelis don’t believe in New Years Eve. And everyone went home. The end. Moving on.

So as previously implied, I am now living in the wonderful city town of Yokne’am! Unfortunately, I have yet to take any pictures of the apartment, so for now you’ll have to take me at my word that for what we need, it’s pretty nice. We arrived to find a fully stocked kitchen (Sidebar: A running theme of the past few weeks has been that our staff in Yokne’am is awesome.), with a real stove, oven, and even a microwave! Much better than the propane stove we had in Ashkelon. Next, our living room, complete with couch, table, artwork on the walls, and a TV with 7 stations. The one time we’ve watched it, it was on “Russian TV”, which is news about the former USSR countries in English. Come to think of it, it might also be the last time we turn it on. Moving on, we have the bathroom, complete with really old washing machine and clothesline! I can’t remember if I’ve brought this up here before, but Israelis just don’t believe in dryers. They would much rather use a method made popular by the Puritans. I kid, I kid! (Sidebar: Not really.) Anyway, we then have Andi and Tali’s room, and if you climb through the massive open space at the top of the wall where a window should be, you finally reach my room! Or you can use the door. Whatever works. Here you have my couch/bed, which can pull out into a king-size bed if you don’t want any space to walk around in the room. Across from there you have my wall of drawers and cabinets, which is actually affording me the chance to unpack and spread out for the only time this year. Ah, having my own room again. An underrated commodity.

(Yokne'am. The whole thing.)

So with the written tour being out of the way, let’s talk about what I’ve been doing the past few weeks. Upon arrival last Monday, we were given the day to move in, relax, and had a brief discussion over dinner with Arkady, our main contact and volunteering coordinator. The next day, Arkady took us around town (Sidebar: That took like 10 minutes) and then to Haifa to tour the Bahai Gardens. Google it – they are absolutely gorgeous. The rest of the week was pretty much spent getting acclimated and checking out some volunteering options. Over the weekend, I made the 30 minute bus ride to Haifa for Jeremy’s birthday, where a small group of us went to a concert by the Israeli hip-hop group Hadag Nahash. You’ve actually probably heard them before – if you saw “Don’t Mess With the Zohan” or any of it’s trailers, one of their songs is pretty prominently featured at the beginning. Sure enough, that was their closing song, and I was very surprised and impressed. The rest of the weekend was spent in Yokne’am, as Allie came up to visit for the first time and we had Shabbat dinner with the Hirshes. Hey, if I can’t introduce her to my real family, might as well take her to the adoptive family!



This week started the real volunteering. We’ve been spending every morning at a local elementary school called Daliyot, where my and Andi’s adoptive moms are on the administrative team. I’ve been bouncing around from class to class getting used to the school, but it’s been great so far. The older kids are a lot of fun, and while we’re mainly helping teach English, they’ve been enthusiastic about helping us with our Hebrew as well! It’s also amazing how impressed they are that we’re from America, and how well they remember us after just one meeting. After just 3 days, I can’t walk through the halls without at least 7 kids saying hi to me with a huge smile on their face!

Today was by far the most interesting day. I started off in a 4th grade class, where they were studying math. Not much help there, but they all asked me to stay for their 2nd class, which was English. It was a lot of fun, as I really got to help some of them and the rest had a good time just talking to me – even when they weren’t supposed to! Even though they wanted me to stay longer, I left to go sit in on Ofra’s class before being moved again. Turns out there was a kid named David down in 1st grade with some behavior problems, and they wanted me to bring him up to Ofra. For some reason, the kid connected with me, so they asked me to shadow him for the rest of the day. He actually was pretty good, and interestingly enough, he would only work when I was there with him! Who knows what I did to connect with him, but I think the plan is for me to spend one class a day with him from now on. The real show was at the end of the day. David’s teacher was in a meeting during art, so the art teacher was running the class. With a few minutes before the bell… she disappeared. The main teacher was still in the meeting, so that left me alone in the classroom with a bunch of 1st graders at the end of the day. Ever seen a 1st grade class with no teacher? Now add on that none of them spoke English, and you might have a sense of the chaos I was facing. Furthermore, the rest of the hallway left, so I was alone down there with no idea what was going on. Finally, I called Ofra, and through all the madness and screaming I think she made out my cries for help. The teacher apparently was told what was going on and came to save me – turns out that some classes, including this one, stay later! Doesn’t explain why the art teacher left though… Anyway, this freed me up to go join Andi in a cool little program where some kids play with animals as part of a type of therapy. I was given two little turtles to play with (Sidebar: How do you play with a turtle anyway?), and well… a turtle pooped on me. So I’ve got that going for me.

There’s more to volunteering than just Daliyot, but it’s 1AM and I’m tired, so it’s time to wrap this up. I’ll try to get the pictures up soon, and remember, expect more posts from now on! After all, to sort of quote the poet Stinson, “Nothing suits me like a blog!”

(OK, no more ridiculously bad HIMYM 100th episodes references. Promise.)

Looking Back On The Last Three Months...

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.

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?

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:

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)

(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!