Let Them Eat Cheesecake

Anyone ever stop to wonder why all Jewish holidays seem to revolve around food? On Hannukah, we eat latkes. On Pesach, we punish our systems with matza meal and brisket. And on Shavuot, it's all about the dairy. I've reached a profound, highly heretical conclusion to this quandary: Shavuot must be the celebration of the day the Hebrews received Eli's Cheesecake from God on Mount Sinai! Or at the very least, the cheesecake was baked by Moses but inspired by God.....

WHO WANTS THE FIRST SLICE?!?!

But seriously, folks. It's Shavuot and my final Jewish holiday in Israel before heading back to Chicago. It's also the week of my cousin Shahar's fourth birthday. I got to spend the holiday the best way I could imagine here in Haifa, with my family at Karmit and Shani's flat, celebrating with Shahar. Everyone was there: Karmit and Shani with their kids Shai and Shahar, Menachem and Devora, Amir, Prechia, and Karmit's in laws.

Menachem is really just a big teddy bear.

I couldn't find a toy store on the upper part of the mountain, so I ended up getting him a book by Graeme Base, a children's writer who I loved when I was younger (the book is in Hebrew of course.) My gift does not come close to the one his uncle Amir gave him: A huge playset with firetrucks, cars and a garage. Shai is getting big, and she had quite the surprise for me. With a little help to keep her steady on her feet, she is walking. She's also quite talkative now, but very little of it is actual words. Mostly, she babbles in that baby language that precedes learned language.

Devora and Shai go for a stroll.

I nearly lost my composure when I had to say goodbye to Shahar last night. He's just such a sweet little boy and I love playing with him. I will miss him terribly. Just gotta come back to Haifa soon so he doesn't forget me. Chag sameach and happy birthday, Shahar!

He's got a mouthful of birthday cake.

Israel At 60

This week, Israel celebrated 60 years of independence, יום העצמאות. As guests in the country, we international students took the opportunity to participate in all of the traditions associated with the holiday. Independence day is always immediately preceded by a memorial day for fallen IDF soldiers. I went down to the memorial park in front of Haifa city hall for the city's public memorial. It was a nice service, albeit very long. At 8 P.M. on the dot, an unbroken siren was broadcast all across the country, for one minute of reflection and respect. During this tone, everyone stops what they are doing and stands in silence. The ceremony was timed so that the siren would occur about 20 minutes in.

Haifa commemorates Israel's fallen soldiers.

The ceremony featured speeches by members of the military, the cabinet of the Knesset and the chief Rabbi of Haifa. There were also several musical performances. During the last part of the ceremony, they scrolled the names of every fallen soldier from Haifa, from 1948 until today. Needless to say, it was a long list. Wednesday was subdued, with businesses closed during the day as a sign of respect for the memorial day. In the evening, things started to heat up again. I headed down to the German Colony with a group of friends, where we would eat dinner at one of the cafes while waiting for the celebration to get underway. I'm glad we arrived early, as the streets were absolutely packed by 8 P.M.

Dinner in the German Colony.

The celebration began with folk dancing in the center of the crowd. I dug deep to find my Ramah roots, and I jumped into the fray. It was mostly little kids and their mothers dancing, but no matter. Thousands of people were streaming onto the Kikar at the corner of Ben Gurion and Yafo in the German Colony, holding plastic hammers, balloons, wobbly ears and all manners of toys with the flag of Israel painted on.


Folk Dancing at the Independence Day celebration.

There was mediocre live music until 10:30. when all the lights in the city went dim and we were treated to a spectacular show. Massive lasers beamed all the way from the Bahai Gardens lit up the night sky, while slides of Israeli newspapers and major events of the past 60 years scrolled past on illuminated buildings. The music was loud but soothing - much less brass than at a 4th of July celebration. Suddenly, the fireworks began to explode over the port. Everyone turned to face the water and watch the fireworks display. All in all, the performance lasted about 20 minutes. The fireworks drowned out much of the music, but when they finally went dead, the last several bars of HaTivka (Israel's national anthem) came through loud and clear, and the crowd sang along at the top of their lungs.

Laser light show from Haifa's Bahai Gardens.

The next day was a chill, relaxed day of celebration. The traditional way for Israelis to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut is by barbecuing. We took the the cue and many of us spent the day at Kibbutz Sarid, 40 minutes Northeast of Haifa. We ate tons of delicious food, played paddleball, dozed and had a group reading of Jack Kerouac's On The Road. I came home at around 6 in a serious food and sun coma, and the rest of my day was spent hanging around. I imagine that this should be obvious, but celebrating Israel's independence in Israel is just a lot better in Israel than anywhere else. It was quite an experience.

C2C

Nimrod and I spent much of last semester planning a 4 day hiking/backpacking trip across the Galilee during the Pesach vacation. Really, he did most of the planning, while I was sort of our biggest cheerleader. Our plans came to fruition, and from Monday to Thursday of Pesach, we hiked from the Mediterranean coast to the Kinneret. There were 7 of us altogether, and I'll give you the names now: Myself, Nimrod, Elliot, Bill, Danny, Colleen and Pauline.

The Mediterranean.

Our trek began in the coastal city of Nahariyya. Many of you will recognize the name because it was Hezbollah's favorite target during the Second Lebanon War two summers back. I know it better as a sleepy retirement type community that shuts down at 6 P.M. Not terrificly exciting. Good thing we were just passing through. We took the boardwalk North to the resort of Hof Acziv where we stopped for our first breakfast, and then turned East and found the trail. Along the highway there is a ruined bridge that was bombed by the Haganah during the so called "Night of the Bridges" as well as AczivLand, a foreign country declared by local eccentric (lunatic?) Eli Avivi, smack dab in the middle of Israel's North.

Local crackpot declares own fiefdom in the North!

The first leg of the trail was quite boring. We wandered through field's full of Banana plants for 2 and a half hours. It was also hot and free of any shade. It was quite draining. By the time we reached a highway that passed the entrance to Nahal Cziv, we were soaked in sweat and drained of energy. This would become a theme of the trip, although an immensely satisfying one when we finally had the opportunity to break for a while. We settled down in a relatively flat space under a tree and lunched. Lots of tuna, matza, nuts, dried fruits and Nutella. Then we all passed out for a spell. I got about 80 minutes of undisturbed sleep before I rolled over and came to. I found a couple of Carob trees and collected some nice fruit, rolled it up in foil and popped it into my hiking pack for later.

It hadn't even begun to get difficult yet.

We got moving again after the heat of the day had passed (about 3:30) and headed for our campsite that night on the top of one of the many hills in the Galilee. We came within view of the Monfort Castle ruins by the late afternoon. Our campsite was on the immediately adjacent hill. The climb was just a bitch. We totaled 18 KM that day and the last half KM was murder. These hills are just a lot taller than they look from the bottom. We finally reached the campsite with 1 hour before sunset and I've never been so pleased to take a bag off my back.

An eagle eye view of the castle ruins.

The camping area was quite crowded and Bill and I actually had to go back down into the park to find wood to burn. I'm not sure if this is legal or not. I didn't ask. We eventually were able to put together a respectable fire and make a sumptious feast of rice, cabanos sausages, salad, tehina and potatoes. Keeping Pesach like Israelis keep it (with Sephardi customs) is definitely the way to go. We were in bed by 10, which was actually a late night for us.

Boker tov!

The next morning I discovered that I had bruises on my shoulders were the backpack sits. What a lovely surprise! We got moving about 45 minutes after dawn, down the hill and back into Nahal Cziv. The first half of this hike was quite pleasant. Nahal Cziv is crisscrossed by streams and small waterfalls, and it is very green. The trail led us across the water repeatedly. No one really fell in, which still seems miraculous to me even now. The stones were slippery as hell. The Nahal ends at a water treatment plant below the podunk town of Maalot Tarshiha. Little did we know that the trail would disappear here as well. We ran into several other groups of backpackers, all just as confused as we were. The trail was not there, and the only way out of the valley seemed to be up a windy, sunbaked road leading towards the town. The whole area was filling up with orthos, who seemed to be making some kind of pilgrimage down to the Nahal with their dozens of children. We made the only choice that seemed availible to us, and walked up towards Maalot Tarshiha.

Nahal Cziv.

The town looks like a suburb of Los Angeles, and that is not a compliment. Cookie cutter McMansions lined up in perfect rows all the way up the side of the mountain, and with nary a soul stirring. The walk up had been difficult and draining, and we were looking for a place to rest and eat. I walked up a few levels where I actually encountered a father and his infant son playing in the backyard. I asked him if there was a park nearby where we could rest and find some shade. He looked me up and down, scowled at me and told me that it was "inappropriate for us to be there" and that there was no place for us to guy. What a jackass. We found a park five minutes later.

Nightmare in the suburbs.

I will say this for the guy. While I still think he was a jerk for refusing to help us when we were just looking for a place to sit down, part of me now understands why. We found a shitty little gazebo at the top of the park and hunkered down there for several hours. We ate, napped, and hung our sweaty garments up to dry. We went from hikers to hobos in the span of about 20 minutes. The architect who designed this thing definitely preferred aesthetics to function. The roof of the gazebo was a concentric circle of wooden slabs, leaving large gaps in the shade. This photo will testify to that. Even though this was probably the most 'civilized' place we laid down during the entire trip, it was one of the least comfortable.

Trying to sleep in Maalot Tarshiha

When the time came to move on, we took a bus (there is apparently only 1 bus line in the whole town) to the central bus station. Nimrod and I kept an eye on the bags, while the rest of the group went up to a supermarket to buy water and a few other nonessentials that would nonetheless make our trip a lot more enjoyable. We took a bus out of the town and rode down the side of the mountain, getting off about 10 KM from mount Meron, the second highest mountain in Israel. The ride shaved about 2K off of our hike to the East, but we had made up for it and more through aimless wandering earlier in the day while trying to find the path. We entered another nature preserve and began to hike. The sun was already low in the sky, and we were not destined to make it very far. Everyone had nagging injuries: Elliot was having major problems with blistering on his feet; Danny was having problems with his electrolytes; Colleen had a headache, and I had a left hip that barked at me with every step. It wasn't real pleasant.

The hills of the Galilee.

We would have had to reach the foot of Meron in order to leave the nature preserve and find a place that was kosher for camping that night. It wasn't gonna happen. We pulled out of the wadi and walked about 30 meters up the side of the hill. There we found a flat clearing of about 300 square feet. It was enough for a campsite, and so we settled in and made ourselves at home. I wasn't sure about the legality of my activities the night before. I know for a fact this was illegal. Cest la vie. My comrades had bought a dozen eggs in Maalot Tarshiha at my request, and I made huge quantities of matzo brie for dinner. Half of it was sweet, and the other half a variation on my mom's preferred savory method: Instead of salt I used chicken soup powder. It was a hit. We made more cabanos and had another huge meal. Happy Passover indeed!

Matzo brie! Almost like mom used to make it!

Everyone tucked in for a much quieter night this night. Other than the howling of coyotes and the chirping of insects, there was no sound to be heard. I don't know what time we actually went to bed that night, but it was really early. Everyone was exhausted and we needed some recuperative sleep.

Bedtime in the nature reserve.

We woke up early the next morning and hit the trail. I was feeling a lot better and my hip didn't bother me again for the rest of the hike. Our goal was to reach Meron before we took a real break for breakfast and to fill our water. The morning part of the hike was relatively easy. The hardest thing about it was not stepping in the piles of cow shit that were ubiquitous around the wadi. Apparently, one can raise cattle in Israeli nature preserves. Who knew? We reached Meron by 9:30 and sat down under some trees to chow down.

Lets get moving, eh?

One thing I noticed pretty quickly about this hike is that when you spend several days out in nature, your entire outlook changes. You live from water tap to water tap. There were taps underneath Meron and I just relished being able to fill my water bottles. Your sense of clean changes as well. I would never dream of it at home, but on a hike, licking your spoon clean is perfectly reasonable. Indoors, we call it dirt and it is unwelcome and unhealthy. When you spend four days outside, it becomes soil, and it is no dirtier than the food you carry with you. Finally, I didn't look in a mirror for five days. When I actually got home and saw my own reflection again, it was almost foreign.

Nimrod hams it up for the camera.

But I digress.... We started the climb after a 45 minute break for food/water/rest. The climb was shaded in a majority of places due to the dense flora on the side of the mountain. It made things a lot easier than they would have been out in the sun. Meron is approximately 1200 KM high. Not the most imposing of mountains, but it's still pretty high up, especially looking out from the top. It startled me when we reached the first lookout point, about 200 meters below the summit, just how close we were to the Lebanese border. We could see well into Lebanon from the top of the mountain, and the physical difference between the two sides of the border was so striking, I could almost picture the border line, as if on a map. South of the border, Israel's fields were green and alive, dotted with towns. North of the border into Lebanon, everything had the color of dried out brush, a sort of grayish brown.

The Northern view from Mount Meron.

Once we reached the top, we searched for a decent place to eat and take our customary siesta. When we didn't find one, we hunkered down under some low lying trees and made the best of the situation. It wasn't a great place to be - rocky, thorny and with a really low canopy - but we made it work. At least it wasn't terrificly buggy. The walk down the far side of the mountain was just a breeze. It wasn't steep, the path was nice and wide, and there was a cool breeze as the sun got a little lower in the sky. We walked through a couple of vineyards along the way. Our planned campsite that evening was just below the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, which explains why we saw so many black hatters hiking below the mountain. It's some kind of hysterical watching these guys struggle to hike and climb over rocks while wearing their uncomfortable dress clothes.

"Take to the highway, won't you lend me your name...."

We could hear the campsite from 1/2 KM away. It was more horrible than I could have imagined: Hundreds of 14 - 16 year old Israelis crammed into a small space, with tents packed together so tightly that you couldn't walk between them. It was like a refugee camp for teenagers. I had to wash the smell of the hormones off my skin after going all the way in to use the water taps. We camped about 5 minutes up the road from the campsite, along with a handful of other hiker groups, who hoped to sleep that night. We set up under a big oak tree with low hanging branches. Everyone was in bed within a half hour of sundown that night - we had a looooong day ahead of us. With about 20 KM to go to reach the Kinneret, we knew we had to get an early start and really push ourselves.

I just despise teenagers.

We were up before dawn, getting ready to roll out with first light. We filled our bottles and entered Nahal Amud, heading mostly South at this point. The trail in Nahal Amud is divided into two parts: The upper nahal, which is wet and shaded in many places, but also features the most difficult terrain we would encounter along the way. The lower nahal is a lot easier, but generally unshaded, dry and prickly. There would be nowhere to fill water along the trail, so I left with 8 liters worth in my pack. Even that would run out before we finally reached the Kinneret.

Filling up before dawn.

The first few hours were easy enough, and we were making good time. By 7 A.M., we had already gone 4 KM and people were beginning to wonder about breakfast. I really cracked the whip though. If we stopped for too long and didn't put some ground behind us while the conditions were favorable, we simply wouldn't make it. We stopped and put enough food in our bellies to continue on, and then we pressed forward. The sun rose, the weather began to get hot, and we started to climb. Up and down. Across. Repeat. It was atrocious. We were essentially rock climbing up and down a cliff face for several hours, and making really slow progress at that. Still we pushed on. I got giggly along the way, which probaly had something to do with my brain boiling in the heat. By 11, the temperature was in the high 90's. Some of us nearly had to drag the others along, but we reached our first destination around that time. There is a highway that seperates upper Nahal Amud from lower Nahal Amud, and there is a tunnel underneath the highway for hikers to travel through. We planned to stop here for lunch.

This isn't really a trail, but they marked it as one anyway.

As we exited the trail and made for the tunnel, a pipe that was lying dry suddenly burst with water, from what I can only assume to be industrial runoff. The water flowed down a slight slope towards the road, slowed by rocks and garbage lying in the canal. We paid little attention to it and wearily trudged on towards our brunch spot. When we finally sat down in the tunnel, someone noticed that part of the floor was discolored. That's when we heard the rushing of the water. This video is a little Blair Witchesque, but it should give you all a sense of what this was like.


"The Floodening"

The water would continue to slowly flow by while we ate and rested. It actually helped push a cool breeze through the tunnel, on what would turn out to be the hottest day of the year. Some people rinsed their hands and faces in the flow. I did not. We had marched 11 KM before breakfast, which was crucial, but we had a long way to go and I didn't want the day to disappear on us. So, with a chorus of complaints, I pushed us back out onto the trail by a quarter to 1, with the promise that we would stop and rest in the shade every half hour.

Canned tuna goes great with industrial waste.

The terrain would prove to be simpler in the lower nahal, but the heat was oppressive. People began to have electrolyte problems again and we all started drinking these wretched concoctions of salt, sugar and water in order to keep our heads on straight. As we walked, the Kinerret became the only thing in our minds, the only thing that kept us moving. Finally at around 3:30 the heat began to lesson and the sun dipped behind the cliff face in certain places, giving us needed relief from the heat. It was a struggle every step of the way. We reached the so called "Amud", a huge rock formation that looks like a stand, by 4.

Nimrod takes his displeasure at the weather out on the amud.

The rock formation signals the end of Nahal Amud, and finally, mercifully, our goal came into view. As we walked up and out of the nahal, we rounded a bend and there stood the Golan Heights directly before us. We could catch the occasional glimpse of water below it too. Pauline broke open a grapefruit along the way down to the lake, and the sugar rush revitalized me. The last push wasn't tough, but it was further than it appeared to us at first. It took another hour and a half, but we reached the Kinerret. Tiberias hung over us, beautiful and imposing.

If I didn't give you one gratuitous shot of me sitting and sweating,
you wouldn't truly be able to experience this hike.

We stayed at the so called "Hof Extreme" that night. The name was the only thing extreme about it. Even so, there was nothing quite so wonderful as finally reaching our goal and knowing that the hike was over. The director of the campsite drove us up to a town nearby to get some supplies, and we feasted that night and again in the morning. Tons of cabanos, matzo brie, rice, salads, tehina, soft drinks, and a huge watermelon. We toasted our success and stayed up past 10 o'clock - a really late night! There were 7 or 8 dogs that live at the camp site so I got to play with doggies too!

Sunrise over the Kinneret.

The next morning we heated up and ate as much of our leftovers as we could and then one of the puppies finished the rest. Let me tell you, he would have been double fisting this stuff if he had fists! We caught a bus to Tiberias mid morning and prepared for the trip back to Haifa. The ride West was over in under an hour, which wasn't surprising but still seemed incredible to me. We had worked incredibly hard to march over mountain and stream for four days, but rode back in air conditioning in less than 60 minutes. A trip like this makes one appreciate technology a little more, but it also makes one really stop to appreciate nature. Despite the aches and pains, I wouldn't change a thing about this hike.

These filthy dogs were seriously starved for attention.

Breakfast in Nahal Cziv

Always stretch before strenuous exercise.

Trying to work out the aches and pains.

Making dinner.......and eating breakfast.

The siesta is key.

Our last rest before the Kinneret.

Searching for a place to camp out at night.

Danny tries to beat the heat in Nahal Amud.

Heading home.

Happy Purim!

I knew this country knew how to party, but I wasn't truly prepared for the biggest party of the Spring: Purim. What an absolute fucking blowout! In an effort to maintain a strong distinction between Purim and Israeli Halloween, I went to the Haifa Masorti synagogue to hear the megillah being read (Masorti means "traditional" in Hebrew, and is roughly equivalent to the Conservative movement back stateside.) Because it was a Masorti crowd, it was very kid oriented: There were performances by kids in between the chapters of the reading, and a costume competition seemed to be rapping up as we arrived. My boss at Ofakim apparently goes to this synagogue. She handed me a gragger and I made solid use of it. The best costume I saw all night was at the synagogue, where a guy had dressed up as the plummeting value of the U.S. Dollar. I can't really describe it, you simply had to see it.

Hearing the Megillah reading.

Once we returned to the campus, the drinking began. It is traditional on Purim to drink until you can't tell the difference between the phrase "Blessed is Mordechai" and "Cursed is Haman." I'm proud to say that I reached that goal! The student union was throwing a big party at the "Gan HaCongressim" convention center in Haifa. The headline act was Ivri Lider, who would be performing in concert. Eli decided to come back to Haifa to see the show. We met up at my place and busted out with copious quantities of scotch, vodka and beer. Nate showed up with two bottles of wine (something I don't recommend trying.) Once we were all good and shickered, we grabbed the 11 PM bus to the party.

Nate playing around with some costume ideas.

The convention center is a lot bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside. There were at least four different dance floors with DJs spinning all night. I danced for the first 2 hours or so, before moving upstairs to get ready for the concert. Ivri Lider went on at 2 A.M. As usual, Eli and I made sure to get spots at the front. He put on the best show I've seen in Israel to date. He was energetic, exciting, and played for a solid 100 minutes.

Nimrod and Ayelet at the Ivri Lider performance.

Ivri Lider also provided me with one of my favorite stories from Israel. During his last song, he came down off the stage and was walking up and down the barrier separating the crowd from the band. He stopped in front of us and held out the mic for Eli, who was singing at the top of his lungs, and sang about 4 bars directly into the microphone. After strolling down to the end, he came back, reached into a bag he was holding and fed me a piece of chocolate candy. The whole thing was so strange but it's hysterical. Apparently the episode was broadcast on the closed circuit television feed, as both Nimrod and Ayelet saw it on the 25 foot screen. What a way to end the night! We went home at 4 A.M., more or less sober and utterly exhausted. The best part of the whole thing is that I woke up the next morning feeling like a million bucks. No ill effects whatsoever, and I partied as hard as I have in years. Israelis sure know how to do Purim.

All smiles at the concert.

Pitchers And Catchers Report

Every religion has their festivals, many of which are long and unnecesarily drawn out. Jews have 8 long days of cholesterol and matza induced constipation. Christians get 6 weeks of bad music and bogus "War on Christmas" stories on Fox News. Muslims have the pleasure of skipping lunch for an entire month. For Cubs fans, the protracted holiday season begins today: pitchers and catchers have reported to Mesa! Glory, glory hallelujah!

Of course today is ultimately little more than an embellished landmark on the road from the darkness of the offseason to the sublimity of baseball's rebirth. If opening day is Christmas, than today is a mere Black Friday. "But Eddie", you'll protest, "this is a broken analogy! Baseball isn't a religious experience!" Tell that to these whackos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib8s3Ozgccc

So today, on this the holiest day of the month of February, we pray that the baseball gods will deliver us swiftly to the regular season, devoid of any hot tub or fungo bat related injuries, and perhaps they will see fit to nominate a sucker to take Jason Marquis off our hands. Amen.

(I get the distinct impression I'll be atoning for this post on Yom Kippur.)

Dude, Where's My Passport?

I'm in Petach Tikva right now, spending the night at Alex's flat before we leave for our vacation in Cairo tomorrow night. Alex and I are both scatterbrains. Needless to say, things have gotten off to a (predictably) poor start for us. This morning we caught a bus to Tel Aviv around 9:30 with 3 goals in mind: We were going to handle our tourist visas at the Egyptian embassy, then go buy a guidebook to Egypt, and finally go to H & O to spend a fat gift card the army gifted to Alex upon his discharge. Halfway through Ramat Gan (and only 15 minutes to our destination), Alex turned to me, swore out loud and alerted me that we had forgotten our passports back at his apartment. Sound familiar? We busted back to his place, got our passports, caught another bus to Tel Aviv and made it to the Egyptian embassy at 11:15, well before the noon closing time he was quoted on the phone.

Alex and I on our travels in TA

Of course, the bastards like to play games with silly American tourists, and they were determined not to make things easy for us. There were 4 older guys sitting on broke down furniture outside the embassy. They arrived around 9:30 or later, and were told to come back at 11. The Egyptians never reopened for business. We sat outside waiting until noon, at which point we got sick and tired of waiting and walked off to get lunch and deal with our other business for the day. At least we can be comforted knowing that it probably wouldn't have mattered if we had remembered our passports initially. We would have been late anyway.

I can't tell if this is vulgar or not.

We had sabich sandwiches for lunch and then arrived at Dizengoff Center, a big mall in the trendy part of town. Alex wasn't too keen on the walk, but I talked him into it. He's gonna have to get used to walking a lot anyway, as I don't want to just see Cairo from the window of a cab. We played around at this indoor playground before we tackled the bookstore circuit. We visited 4 bookstores, and not a one had the damn guide book we needed. How perfectly frustrating. In an even greater stroke of serendipity, the mall doesn't have an H & O either. We had bad information from one of Alex's friends. Such is life. We made some calls and found out that the closest location was in ................ Petach Tikva!!! At the very least, it was quick and easy to get back, and we had a lot of fun once we arrived to the store.

Fun with the pricing gun.

We splurged hardcore at the clothing store. 1000 shekels is a lot of money. Alex bought himself a really nice middle weight jacket, a pair of designer corduroy pants, and 5 or 6 new shirts. He even got me an early birthday present, picking out a really nice new sweater and a long sleeve T shirt. Needless to say, I did quite well. We grabbed a sherut back to his flat where we settled in for an evening of movies, relaxation and food.

Alex stylin' and profilin' in his new jacket and a snazzy new shirt.

I want to wish everyone a nice Tu B'Shvat. We have shared some nice varieties of fruit this evening. Tomorrow morning, we are going back to Tel Aviv even earlier, and hopefully with our passports, so we can handle the visas. Our bus to Eilat leaves from the Tel Aviv central bus station at midnight tomorrow, and we cross the border into Egypt the following morning. I may or may not have the chance to update my blog between now and when I return from my trip, so I'll leave you now with the promise of good stories, fun pictures and wild experiences when I next update this page.

The Best Silvester Day Ever!

Little did this American son know, but much of the world refers to New Years Eve as "Silvester Day", in honor of Saint Silvester, a Catholic Pope from the third century C.E. It's mainly a European custom, but Israelis have adopted it. Oh yeah, and the dude was apparently virulently anti-Semitic. How quaint. The party got started at noon with my Rabbinic Literature exam! I didn't really know what he wanted from us when I walked in the door, and my feelings haven't changed much the day after the test. It was just one of those exams. I'll keep you abreast of my grades as they roll in of course.

Instead of going to the community center for our normal volunteering project, we celebrated the new year and the last meeting of the semester by going bowling with the kids at the mall in Lev HaMifratz. It was a blast. The bowling alley looked like any alley you would expect to see in the U.S., but as always there were some key differences. One in particular that caught my eye was the claw machine. The prizes weren't dolls or toys or anything like that. Each prize was a pack of cigarettes with a 20 shekel bill taped to the outside! I'd like to make a joke about this, but honestly it is simply a sad reflection of today's Israeli society.

Me with Amit, one of my tutees and a "checkers" hustler. I got whupped by a 12 year old.

I played my usual uninspired round of bowling, checking out somewhere in the mid 80's, but I still managed to win a free round of bowling when I bowled a strike during the special 6th frame. I gave it to one of the kids, since he'll get more use out of it than I would have. We all gathered for pizza afterwards and then had to bounce back to campus so the kids could go home.

Students and tutors chilling at the bowling alley.

I came back for a little pre party with some of the boys on campus, and then a bunch of us went over to the Hungarian's apartment for a new years party/birthday party for Anna. It was a nice, chill get together with some great homemade food and a nice mix of people. We toasted the new year at midnight with champagne and watched fireworks explode over Wadi Nisnas from their living room windows.

I called it a night early and was home by 1 A.M. on account of this still being finals week. I took my "Terrorism and Responses" exam this afternoon - piece of cake. Tomorrow's Arabic exam will be another story. There is just a massive amount of material and it all gets mixed together in what my professor benignly calls a 'salad.' To me, it's more like mixing cold medicine with alcohol. I'm not ready to go yet but I'll be putting in some heavy study hours tonight. Wish me luck!