Strange Happenings At Haifa U

The student strike is well underway as the union promised. There have been demonstrations every day since Monday, and the student union built a physical barrier blocking the interior road that runs parallel to the university. Today they burned car tires. Even so, I've been a little disappointed with what seems to me to be a contrived demonstration by a student base that is not terrifically committed to the stated cause. The end result has been the effective closure of the university without making an effective statement to the professors or the government about their rights and expectations. I've taken part in better protests than this one. If I was the student union, I would be embarrassed. I stopped by the barrier to see the protest in action. There were maybe 20 students there, and they were sitting around eating. Totally pathetic.

The student's "demonstration" on Monday afternoon.

The strike has not canceled my classes, but it has succeeded in making things really inconvenient for me and the other international student types. We've held class in the dorm area for the last few days. We nearly had a full on disaster in Hebrew class Monday. We were given the dorm synagogue as space to hold class, which is not optimal to begin with. It was cold in there so we turned on the radiator. 20 minutes later we began to smell something acrid. The fucking radiator was going up in flames! The class went bananas, running around trying to find a fire extinguisher. Here's what really gets me; there was no fire extinguisher in the synagogue! I just can't believe that. We even found a room in the back filled with hookahs and board games, but no fire extinguisher! It's unconscionable. Thank God the fire burned down on its own. There was a stack of wooden chairs leaning up against it. This could have been a disaster. Clearly, the University of Haifa does not take fire safety seriously.

I've had classes in two different rooms in the moadon, the Federman lounge area where I normally check my email and post to this page, in the synagogue as I mentioned, even in the living room of my apartment! Starting today the union agreed to open one wing of one academic building to us so we could continue with class in an actual classroom. The result is that I stayed in one room for 5 consecutive hours today on a beautiful sunny day. What started out worth a few chuckles is quickly starting to get on my nerves. I really hope that this strike ends soon. Actually, I hope the government will finally sit down to negotiate a fair agreement with the professors, but it'll be a cold day in hell before that happens.

I went to a pub tonight to meet Menachem and Amir and watch the Maccabi Haifa - Beitar Jerusalem soccer match. Apparently tonight's game does not count towards the league standings as it is a game in the separate "Toto Cup" competition, but nobody told the players this. It was the dirtiest game I have seen since I got to Israel. A Beitar player drew a red card less than 5 minutes after we sat down. The refs are probably icing down their wrists tonight after having to reach into their pockets for yellow cards so many times. In spite of (or maybe because of) the dirty play, it was also the most exciting game I've seen all year! In Toto Cup play, there are no draws and if after a 30 minute overtime session the game is still tied, it is determined by penalty kicks. Maccabi and Beitar were deadlocked 2-2 after 120 minutes of soccer and headed to the penalty kick segment of the game. What a finish. Maccabi trailed early but got back back into it and eventually bested their arch rivals by a final score of 7-6. At one point in the extra session, Menachem pointed out the Beitar player lining up for his kick, and told me he was an old Maccabi player who had been their captain for years. I asked Menachem what his name was. Without missing a beat, he responded with "son of a bitch." God love that devotion!

Haifa To Tel Aviv To Haifa

It's not quite a palindrome, but who cares. Lina, Lauren and I took a 10:20 train to Tel Aviv this morning and stayed all day to romp about in the sunshine. What an absolutely perfect day. Mid 70's, sunshine, low humidity and endless visibility. A Chicagoan could get used to this! Check it out:

Bet this looks pretty nice on December 9th. Or in mid July for that matter.

The only disappointing thing about my trip is that I had hoped to meet Reut for lunch. She was in Tel Aviv for a work meeting of some sort, but the damn thing lasted until 5:30 in the evening. I guess I will have to wait until Dahlia's wedding in a few weeks to see Reut. Even so, romping through Tel Aviv on a beautiful day was more than rewarding enough. Our first stop was the Maccabi Tel Aviv ticket office, so the girls could buy tickets to an upcoming game. They have a list of their accomplishments hanging on the wall, and their dominance in Israeli basketball would humble George Steinbrenner. In my 23 years on this earth, they have failed to win the Israeli national title once.

We walked Arlozoroff street down to Dizengoff street and wandered all the way down to Kikar Dizengoff. Along the way we passed the Turkish embassy which was pretty cool to see. The girls did a fair amount of window shopping. I spent the stroll enjoying the two fundatmental aspects of Tel Aviv that I miss in Haifa: The city is essentially flat, and every other person owns a dog. I even got to play with a small puppy while we were resting on a park bunch in Kikar Ha'Medina.

The Chanukka display at Kikar Dizengoff

We stopped at a falafel joint for lunch. It was good but not great falafel. The most memorable part of lunch was that I ate a really hot pepper and ended up having the hickups for ten minutes. Makes it tough to eat a sandwhich. Our next stop was Kikar Rabin, the largest square in Tel Aviv and the site of Yitzhak Rabin's murder. We stopped at the stop where he was killed to pay our respects. The square is very large but I still can't believe that 100,000 people can be packed into it as have been for demonstrations like the pro-teachers union demonstration a few weeks back. The municipality is holding a big candle lighting party in Kikar Rabin every night of Chanukka at 6:30. I had hoped to stick around long enough to see it, but we were all exhausted and ready to head home 2 hours earlier.

Grafitti and newspaper clippings memorialize the late Prime Minister Yitzkah Rabin.

We grabbed the bus back on Dizengoff and rode back to the train station rolling down Judah Maccabee ave for part of the trip. I got a kick out of that. We got on our train and all promptly fell asleep, waking up 45 minutes later at the "Hof HaCarmel" main train station in Haifa. I plan on spending some real time in TA and hopefully checking out the famous nightlife their sometime during my trip. It was enough for one day.

I couldn't resist!

I was a little tense from the day, but Levi (one of our madrichim) had a remedy for that. He was running a "visual imagery" relaxation workshop in the moadon at 8 P.M. It was phenomenal. I felt like I was filled with warm pudding by the time we were finished, and yet I felt more energized than I had all day.

Chanukka With The Family

I had dinner at Carmit and Shani's flat tonight with the whole family. Menachem and Devorah brought me along with them, I got to play with Shachar and Shai, and see Amir and even Prechia. It was excellent. Shachar has taken quite the shine to me. Shani tells me that this afternoon he was talking about how excited he was to see me. Of course this meant when I finally arrived, it was time to play. I tossed him and carried him and he climbed on me. We played with dreidels, toy trucks and musical instruments. When it was nearly time to go, I was instructed to come see how he takes his bath, and then come watch how he gets into bed. Of course the nicest part was when Shachar and I held the shamash together to light the Chanukka candles. I was invited to say the brachot. I sang them like I would back home, but I guess that isn't the custom here.

Shachar and I light candles while Menachem looks on.

Dinner was really good. Carmit made quiche and latkes, and there were some nice cheeses and bread. The guys spent a lot of the time over by the couch, as the Maccabi game started at 7:30. They played to a 1-1 draw with Bnei Sakhnin, Israel's only Arab team. It was very strange to see the advertisements in Arabic, including a giant ad for 'cellcom', one of Israel's major cell phone companies. Maccabi drew several yellow cards and one player drew a red card when he kicked an opponent, who promptly gave us a Vlade Divac inspired flop and grabbed his leg in seeming agony. Things looked pretty bleak during the stoppage time at the end of the game, but Haifa's goalie made several spectacular saves to preserve the draw.

Checking out the candle lighting before dinner.

I had quite the full day yesterday. Barbara and I went to the shuk to shop, and you would never guess what I found there: Butternut squash!!! I had no idea they could grow squash in Israel. I brought it home and got busy in the kitchen. By the time it was done, it was more candy than vegetable. I sliced it up real thing and then coated the pieces in butter, sugar and cinnamon, and baked the whole thing until it was soft. I had Lauren over for coffee and a taste of my concoction and we chatted about life and whatnot while the squash baked. The sugar-butter formed a black tar on the baking sheet which I would neglect to clean for several hours, and pay for that neglect. The stuff became tougher than cement. I actually had to boil water and pour it over the baking sheet to make the goo pliable enough to scrape off with steel wool.

I had Shabbat dinner in the moadon as usual and then left for the Hungarians' apartment to play cards. I ended up staying and hanging out with Mari until 2:30 before grabbing a cab back to university. It was a really late night and I ended up sleeping in until 12:30 in the afternoon. My day was pretty lazy, I sort of hung out around the dorms until Menachem picked me up for dinner.

On Strike

As Israel's education woes deepen, the combined student unions for all major universities are about to remind the government and professors that they are also a force to be reckoned with. There is no scheduled class on Sunday, as it is a special day off in celebration of Chanukka. Starting Monday, university students at all 8 major Israeli universities will strike, locking out the professors and any students who would attempt to cross the picket line. All classes would be locked out, including those taught by adjunct professors and other instructors. The strike is in protest to the continued deadlock in negotations over the professors contracts which has robbed them of nearly an entire semester. From what I understand, the university will physically be closed by the student union, with physical barriers including chains and piles of tires. Needless to say, I'm suffering from a touch of culture shock right now.

As far as I am concerned, the whole thing is a damn disgrace. I have supported the professors from the beginning, and I continue to blame the government for an impasse that threatens to cancel the semester. Now the students, who are rightfully pissed off about the situation, are going to exacerbate it with this action. It's just madness. We received a frantic email from the international school office this morning telling us that should the strike be carried out, classes will meet in the moadon of the dorms, or in individual apartments if necessary. At least it would probably entertain my roommates if we held Arabic class in my living room one morning. There's that to look forward to.

I took my Arabic exam this morning and I think it went pretty well. With that out of the way, midterms are officially behind me. I earned an "86" on my midterm assignment in Arab-Israeli Relations. Not too shabby. Frankly I'm not sure how he reached that number, since some classmates of mine got 85's, while at least one guy got an 87. I seriously doubt he used a rubric to grade these exams, so I have to wonder what made the difference in the grades there. Personally, I think he just assigned a number to each paper based on his gut reaction. Exams went pretty well for me this time around.

It's a cold and rainy day outside so I'd like to make weekend plans, but I don't really know what to do. I am going to a dinner party tonight and then hopefully out to the pubs. Some friends invited me over at some point this weekend to play cards so that may or may not happen. My only solid plans are spending part of Saturday night at Carmit and Shani's place for candle lighting and hanging out with the family. I'm sure I'll pull things together in the end. I always do.

Icky Sticky נקיון

My bedroom is immaculate. I gave it a complete wash this afternoon, complete with dusting, soaping, rinsing and squeegeeing. I threw out all the junk that had accumulated and picked up everything that got gotten strewn about and put it all away. Kiss my ass, entropy! The laws of physics have nothing on me.

It was an otherwise tame day. My only class today was Hebrew Ulpan, and we were in the language lab. I hate the language lab. It's the most boring class I have that is not called "Arab-Israeli Relations." It's worse in Hebrew though because I generally enjoy the class. On the days we have to sit there with those head phones on listening to 'kol Israel' news broadcasts, I feel like something positive has been stolen from me.

I missed the concert this afternoon because I was submitting a list of words to Rina for tomorrow's Arabic exam. I still got my recreation in though. I went to the gym with a couple of guys and played pick up basketball for an hour. It was uneventful except for one thing: I cursed in Hebrew during a game without even noticing! Nimrod heard and called me on it. I must say, part of me is pleased. Not that I need to start cursing in Hebrew like I do in English, but I think it adds an element of realism to my speech.

Everyone got lazy this week for the cooking club, so instead we ordered pizza. I'm glad we did it. Once you start feeling that you have to do something when you don't really want to (like cooking tonight), then it stops being fun and becomes a chore or a responsibility instead. This will help to preserve the integrity of the club. I did make a suggestion for changing the name. Up until now we have been calling it "מועדון בישול", literally "cooking club." During my zoned out private musings in class the other day, I came up with a much better, military inspired name! From now on, the club will be known as "חיל חטיף", or "snack force." It sounds like a candy commercial that the networks would air during Saturday morning cartoons.

Happy Chanukka!

I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy Chanukka this year. It's very nice being in Israel for Chanukka. For one, there is a being difference between saying נס גדול היה פה and נס גדול היה שם. I walk outside my friend door and I can just picture Jewish guerrillas wasting Syrian war elephants. It's pretty awesome! What's even better about being in Israel for Chanukka is that I am not party to the shameless commercial bastardization of a holiday that Chanukka has become in the U.S. Here, it is a fun and happy, albeit minor holiday. Exactly how I want it to be.

You like donuts? Well how do you like dem donuts?!

I did hit up two different holiday parties tonight. I started at a friends apartment for a private get together with a half dozen people. We lit the Chanukkiot, and then dug in to mountains of homemade latkes and sufganiot. She actually made the donuts from scratch. It was heaven. Afterwards we headed to the dorm moadon for the dorm party. There was music, arts and crafts, and more food, including chocolate and spiced wine. I'm feeling a little heavy and sleepy right now. Anyone else think we should be frying the chocolate coins in deference to the holiday?

Just a few notes about midterms before I shuffle off to sleep. My grades are coming back and I am doing extremely well. I earned an A on both my "Hebrew Ulpan" and "Terrorism and Responses" midterm exams. I'll be taking the closest approximation to a midterm in Arabic on Thursday, and presumably my "Arab-Israeli" relations exam should be returned then as well. Stay tuned.

What Day Is It Today?

I was up in the morning before dawn on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning this past weekend while on Tiyul. This has a way of scrambling one's mind to the point that my days blended into each other while I was in the south. As many of you know, I am very cranky in the morning, and getting up early is generally anathema to me. However, this trip was probably the best trip I have been on since I arrived in Israel almost two months ago, and that allowed me to rise early in the morning with a smile in my heart (there was still a grimace on my face from what I've been told.)

Dawn in Haifa, the first of many I would experience on this trip.

We left Haifa by 6:15 Friday morning and began the long trek south to Ein Gedi. I crashed pretty early in the trip but it was a fitful sleep and not very satisfying. I woke up as we were heading east down the hills on the outskirts of Jerusalem and into the desert. This came as quite a surprise to me since the only rule that the director of the International School laid out for us is "we are not allowed to travel inside the West Bank." I can only assume that this rule actually means "we are not allowed to travel inside the West Bank without a chaperon."

Emil goes for a short camel ride outside Jericho.

We arrived at Ein Gedi around 9:30 in the morning and began our day. Our first hike was along a trail known as Nahal Arugot, and it was seriously beautiful. Ein Gedi has a natural spring flowing underneath it (The word 'ein' in Hebrew is derived from "Ma'ayan", meaning spring.) This meant desert solitude and scenery combined with pools, streams, waterfalls and flora that you just don't find in the Negev. Plus, lots of ibex running around! Midway through the hike we stopped at a natural pool with a waterfall and nearly everyone got in for a swim.

Just a taste of the incredible natural beauty of Ein Gedi

After the swim we headed for a spot called the hidden waterfall. It is down into the wadi, completely covered by plants and hidden behind several narrow twists and bends in the cliff face. It is here that I slipped and fell in with my shoes on, making for a soggy denouement to my hike that day. The area around the waterfall was very crowded with lots of other hikers, so we didn't stay long. The group split at this point: Half walked back to the bus to drive down to the beach of the Dead Sea, while the other half (including myself) walked further on to see the upper pools. I found a fossilized sea shell along the way, which I put in my bag and brought back to Haifa with me. We finally made our way back out of Nahal Arugot around 3 o'clock, filed onto the bus and drove down to the beach where we met everyone else. We ate a little outside at th

e picnic tables, then shuffled drowsily back onto our bus and made for camp that evening.

Swimming hole!

Camp was a lot of fun on Shabbat evening. A few guys and I built the fire while others were preparing dinner courses for dinner. We made pita from scratch and generally feasted like I'm getting used to doing on tiyulim. Our guide Yisrael made a fantastic rice and meat dish that really stuck to the bones, along with warm and cold salads, fresh tehina, soup and drinks. Afterwards, everyone gathered around the campfire where we made smores. After dessert, people began to migrate in every direction. I stayed around the fire most of the night, chatting with old and new friends.

A look into the abyss of the Judean desert

The next morning, Per and I got up before dawn to watch the sun rise over the Dead Sea. This was a mistake. It was cloudy and hazy, so there was no visible sunrise. Our surroundings just went from black to grey to light. I did get to go back to the tent and sleep for another two hours before everyone got up to get a move on. We ate a hasty breakfast, packed up all of our things and then the hike left. Our Shabbat hike was along a path called the "Upper Darja" in southern Judea. This was the best hike of all. Lots of mountain climbing and clinging to cliff faces. We had to jump, crawl, hang and climb our way through the terrain. Parts of the walk were so steep, they were practically vertical. My mother would have had a heart attack just seeing it.

Mari and Anna at the edge of the cliff in Upper Darja

As always, education and history are a goal on these trips. We climbed up into a cave that had been used by the last remnants of the Bar Kochva rebellion and talked about what had happened there. The cave was covered in bird shit from floor to ceiling and everywhere in between, so we weren't inclined to linger for very long. Even so, it was humbling to think that Jews had been forced to live in such wretched conditions because they refused to submit to Roman domination. It was nice to climb back down. Even though we were all laughing and talking the whole time, there was still an unhealthy air in the cave. It was oppressive.

Bar Kochva's rebels, or university students? You decide.

We stopped for lunch in a ravine soon afterwards and sat around relaxing for an hour. Cold rice-meat from the night before and raw canned corn never tasted quite so good! The second half of the hike was more of the same. Climbing, scrambling and working our way through very broken terrain. I spent most of the time yacking with Mari and Anna about literature and theatre, or with Sam about baseball. I am who I am. The walk back to camp was actually fairly boring by comparison. It was along a gravel road with nothing new to see. Everyone was tired out from a 6 hour hike anyway, so people just sort of moved along talking and looking at their feat for the last 45 minutes of the hike. We were supposed to be able to shower when we got back to camp, but the campsite's owners had washed the bathrooms and then locked them, so they would be clean when the next group arrived that night. What a bunch of bastards. I taught euchre to 3 friends and we played a few hands before it was time to load up and move on.

Yisrael giving a shpiel along the trail.

We drove to Arad to eat dinner in their mall. I don't have much to say about the trip except this: Arad is a dump, and our bus driver is a maniac. He was weaving and swerving along an already choppy rode the whole way there. It was stuffy on the bus too. By the time we arrived, I was so green I might as well have been pickled. I bought a shawarma which can only be described as 'adequate' and then we left for our campsite under Masada. I did get to shower at this campsite, and I felt like a new man after getting clean. Most people went to bed on time. I stayed up drinking beer with some of the Europeans, and didn't get to bed until after midnight.

A dry riverbed in the Upper Darja

We rose once more before the dawn and quickly packed up the tent. After a heartening cup of tea, we walked up to the base of the mountain. I missed the sunrise on Masada last time I visited because we arrived too late. I missed it again on this trip, but not because we weren't on time: we walked up the mountain in a driving rainstorm! It rains 4 or 5 days a year in the region, and we picked one of those days to visit.

Rain on Masada

It was cold on top of Masada, so I was very glad I brought my sweatshirt. The rain tapered off about 15 minutes after we reached the plateau, and it was actually quite beautiful once the rain cleared. We toured the archaeological sites and talked about the history and mythology behind Masada. We were getting ready to start walking down the snake path, when we began to hear thunder crashes again. We took shelter in one of the buildings, and the rain began pelting down again! We rested inside and watched the rain for a half hour or so, before heading over to the lift to carry us down. The other group walked down the mountain in the rain: Either they are more bad ass or just stupid.

The birds and I enjoy the view from the top

The rain mercifully stopped eventually and we were able to finish what we planned to do that day. Next stop was a beach on the Dead Sea, where we got to wade in and walk across the salt formations. I was so tired I was giddy, and I hammed it up pretty good in front of the camera. We found a hat in the water that was half encased in salt. I tried tugging it out, but it was no use. Do you realize that if you were to stay in one place at the Dead Sea long enough, the same would happen to you? Not that you would be around to see it or anything, but the thought is still pretty cool to ponder.

A classic pose!

We had one final stop back in Ein Gedi, to do a short walk in Nahal David. There was very beautiful scenery, although it was quite similar to Nahal Arugot. Yisrael yielded to pressure and kept it short and sweet. People were beginning to get grumpy with the walking. We stayed in the Nahal for perhaps an hour before leaving the area for good. There had been so much rain that morning, parts of the road were washed out. Cars had to turn back, but not our mighty tour bus! We drove back up to Jerusalem and stopped at a restaurant in Abu Gosh for what turned out to be my lunch and dinner. It was massive. It is an Arab hummus restaurant with a special on the menu: 40 shekels for all you can eat of every salad they make with pita, followed by coffee and baklava. The whole group went in on it. They brought us what had to have been 20 different fresh salads. It was epic.

The stream in Nahal David

Finally, we loaded up one last time to head back to Haifa. I tried to doze on the bus but there was a movie on the television and caffeine back in my bloodstream, so I talked to Mari most of the way back home. I slept for maybe the last 20 minutes. It's tough to get back into my routine now that I am home again, but I have little choice in the matter. School will not wait for me. I'll work and study and wait for the next time I can go out and experience this land the way it begs to be experienced: on foot.

Extreme relaxation.

Do you want to ram with me?!

Yes, I did go hiking in a bathing suit.

Gollum!

Oshrat and I try to warm up on the mountain.