Schadenfreude

I want to get this in writing while I still can: With 7:40 remaining in the second quarter, the Fighting Illini football team is tied at 14 with undefeated Ohio State, the top ranked team in the country. I'm thrilled that Illinois is a respectable team again, and very bitter that they didn't qualify for a single bowl game in my four years in Champaign. On to tonight's post...

We had a nice barbecue at the dorms this afternoon. A group of international students got together and we made ourselves a feast. Kabobs, turkey dogs and roasted veggies, pita, salads and hummus, tea and Turkish coffee. I nearly ate myself into a coma. Normally I prefer not to eat until I don't feel well. It was an especially poor decision today because I went over to the Mor's house around 5 to watch the M. Haifa - Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv soccer match. Devorah seems to worry that I am wasting away, and she wants to stem the hemorrhaging by making sure I eat a lot when I visit. I know she does it because she cares, but I just can't eat that much, and she doesn't take no for an answer.

American men performing our birthright: grilling.

The game was a blowout. Maccabi crushed Bnei Yehuda 3-0, which is the soccer equivalent of telling someone your going to punch them in the mouth, and then going ahead and doing it. Shani and Carmit came with baby Shai around halftime. I spent much of the inconsequential second half playing with Shachar on the porch. God help me when I have kids. I don't have the energy to keep up with Shachar now, and I'm theoretically in my physical prime. After about 25 minutes, Shani came in out of the bullpen and I went back inside to rest. We chatted and I talked with Shai a little, and then everyone left but myself and Menachem. He and I watched a second soccer game, Beitar Jerusalem - Ironi Kiryat Shmona. This game ended in a 0-0 draw, but it was fascinating to talk to Menachem during the game; his schadenfreude was off the charts. The game had only a passing affect on Maccabi's standing in the league, but Menachem's hatred for Beitar is pure, and comes not from standings but from a deep conviction in the true and correct state of his fandom. I both admire and empathize with this particular strain of learned insanity. I am, after all, a Cubs fan.

I did a nice big load of laundry tonight at the Mor's. Devorah uses fabric softener, so my clothes are softer and sweeter smelling than they have been since I arrived. It's just wonderful. Tomorrow I am leaving the University at around 8 A.M. for a day trip in the Galilee. I'll update tomorrow evening with photos and stories. By the way, it's now halftime and Illinois is actually LEADING Ohio State by a touchdown. 21-14 Fighting Illini! I bet those OSU pricks are choking on their own pretentiousness right now. Honestly, "THE" Ohio State University?! Shut the fuck up.

A Short Hike In Nahal Sfunim

This morning about a dozen of the international students hiked through Nahal Sfunim, a short trail that skirts the base of the Carmel, just outside Haifa. The trip was three hours including breaks so it was no sweat, although it wasn't the easiest hike I've done. It was all rocks and hills so your climbing up or jumping down every few steps.

The Carmel is rugged terrain.

It was cold this morning so I doubled back to my room and grabbed a stocking cap (thanks mom!) before rolling out the door to our waiting sherut. I nearly made everyone late because of it too. The driver was not terribly pleased. It's about a twenty minute drive to the entrance to the Nahal. The base of the Carmel is ringed with farms and Moshavim. In fact, there are banana farms right at the entrance to the Nahal. I've never seen bananas growing anywhere except in a greenhouse.


Once we got moving, the weather was just perfect for a hike. Cool and overcast but not cold. There was a slight drizzle for about 2 minutes but we climbed into a cave and waited it out. Per and I did a little exploring in the cave while the rest of the group moved on. It didn't go very far back, but the light disappears very quickly. There are bats living in the cave and Per kept insisting that their urine is highly acidic, and we needed to shield our eyes so they don't blind us. I don't know if its true but I doubt it. I'm generally skeptical about things like that. We lost our nerve when we were all the way back and they started squeaking very loud and frequently at us. I know they aren't dangerous, but I didn't really want to agitate them any more so we turned and caught up with the group.

The mouth of the cave from inside. Once you turn the corner, it may as well be night.

We stopped a few times to chat and drink tea. Or brought herbs from his mother's garden and boiled them right in the pot with the water. It's delicious but it makes you drowsy. After walking for another 45 minutes or so, the sea comes back into view in the crack between two ridges. One of my friends noted how important it is to get out and see nature every now and then. We are surrounded by so much natural beauty but living in the city, it's almost too easy to forget it. This view is incomparable.


We wound back down towards the moshavim and walked back to the road where we waited for our sherut back to the campus. This afternoon is for being lazy and sleepy. I'll worry about homework tomorrow, but right now I just want to relax. Shabbat shalom.

Hiking in the Nahal

The Atlit naval base is on that rocky atoll. The modern city is just to the east of the base.

Haifa comes back into view.

Clubbin'

I went to the "Soundstage" club at Kibbutz Yagur last night. There was a concert there by a band called "היהודים." Needless to say, this would never fly back home, whether the band members are Jewish or not. It was a heavy metal concert, which sounds just as bad in Hebrew as it does in English. They went on stage at 2 AM so I had plenty of time for dancing and that part of the night was a blast. The main dance floor was playing Israeli club music, primarily in Hebrew, so we ended up there. If I had ignored the language though, this would have been no different from any club I've been to in the U.S. Hot and poorly ventilated, strobe lights and inflated drink prices, skanky women and creepy men. Call it a little taste of home.

This completely inverts my learned preconceived notions about kibbutzim. Back in elementary school, when we would study the origins of the state of Israel, we learned about the socialist collectives called kibbutzim, where groups of ideologues joined a collective to farm the land and live a simple, Marxist existence. The problem isn't that this definition is wrong, so much as it is hopelessly outdated. Today the kibbutzim exist as small capitalist ventures, selling whatever it is that will help to enrich themselves. For Kibbutz Yagur, this means running a very successful night club. As an aside, I didn't get home until after 4 A.M., with an 8 o'clock Hebrew class waiting for me after daybreak. Baaaaaad idea.

We pulled together my cooking club again last night, and I think it is starting to gain some traction. We had a few more people this time and we've already agreed to stir fry next Wednesday night. I really hope this works out, I love to cook and I love to get together with my friends for dinner. One more class (Arab-Israeli Relations) and then the weekend is here! I've got a lot planned so I'll fill everything in as I go along.

Cooking Club schmoozes after dinner.

Humble Pie

Living in a new country presents a myriad of challenges that I just don't face in the U.S. I've had humbling experiences before related to the culture gap, but this may be the most sobering of them all. This afternoon I made a package of preseasoned rice and vegetables. The instructions are on the package. I bet you know where this is going; I had a fork in one hand and a Hebrew-English dictionary in the other.

Such is life while I learn Hebrew. I now recognize the verbs for actions like 'stir' and 'cover.' A little bit at a time, right? At least I know that I am advancing in my Ulpan. Our tests were returned to us this morning and I got a 98 on mine. I knew I had done well but I didn't see that coming. Of course I'm thrilled. If I was still in Champaign, Steven would have put my exam under a magnet on the refrigerator!

I connected a little bit with my roommates last night. I walked back to my room around 11:45, and I fully intended to go to sleep. Instead I sat down at the table with Hamza, Samer and one of their friends and we ate and chatted until 12:30. Or more accurately, they chatted in Arabic while I smiled like an idiot. Every few minutes they would back up and explain in Hebrew what was going on. I only caught a few words in Arabic, but even that was nice and they tried to explain the words and phrases they were using. I didn't get enough sleep last night, but I did do some intra-apartment bonding, which is more important to me anyway.

0-0

This is the final score of last night's Maccabi Haifa - Beitar Jerusalem game. And that is wrong. Games should not end without a single score. They just should not. It's an affront to the concept of competition, and it's the reason this game will never catch on in the United States. It could have ended differently, and it should have. M. Haifa had their chances. There was a direct penalty kick that missed the goal completely. Then there was the goal that was called back on a foul (or "alleged" foul according to Menachem.) In the end it made no difference. What a total waste.

Haifa fans pack Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, prepare to kiss their sisters.

Kiryat Eliezer is much nicer than that dump in Netanya. They have a scoreboard and more than twice as much seating than at M. Netanya's stadium. Of course its the same whackos here, and in far greater numbers. This place was rocking. Beitar Jerusalem is Haifa's arch nemesis. Both teams have had recent success, including championship seasons, and they are the two richest and most popular teams in the country. This situation has spawned an intense and hostile rivalry between the opposing fan bases. The Haifa fans were chanting "Jerusalem on the dick" (it rhymes in Hebrew.) Beitar fans responded with chants of "we will fuck your mothers." Wholesome family entertainment.

The Premier League reminds fans that violence and racism set a poor example.

Of course there was no need for brawling with no winner. Rather the atmosphere was significantly tamer on the way out of the stadium than it was during the game. Getting home was an ordeal too. We waited for nearly an hour for a bus before finally breaking down and taking a cab home. I swear, Egged is less reliable than the CTA. It gets pretty frustrating. Our cabbie was easily the worst driver I've encountered in Israel too. I negotiated a price with him before we got in, so apparently he had no incentive to drive slowly. There is a road that winds up the mountain towards the University, and the speed limit is 70 KM/H. He was going 100, and weaving in and out of lanes like he had a death wish. I was thrilled to arrive back home in one piece.

My cabbie, B.D. Joe

Today was a very long day. 7 hours of class, plus my volunteer project this evening. I finally really got underway. My tutee is a 17 year old Ethiopian girl named Macey, who speaks almost no English. This is of course great practice for my Hebrew, but my goal is help her learn some English. Now that I know the situation I can start prepping for the tutoring session on the weekends. I'm not getting a curriculum or even materials from the University or the program, so I'll write my own exercises. No hassle there, it will afford me the kind of freedom that I crave in these situations.

A Restful Shabbat

As it turns out, I was able to relax and catch up on some sleep this Shabbat, which is exactly what I needed. After barely sleeping for about a week, I was beginning to run myself into the ground. I left Eli's place around 1:30 in the afternoon and made my way back to the central bus station in Jerusalem. What a zoo. My God. It seemed like the whole country was trying to escape the city before Shabbat came and everything shut down. I arrived at the central bus station in TA about an hour later, where Alex was waiting for me. We wandered through a shuk for a little while, looking at clothes and goofing off, before eventually buying some baklava for that night and hopping a sherut to his apartment in Petach Tikva.

We got a little turned around en route and had to ask the driver to drive us back to Petach Tikva. Alex has only been living in this flat for about a month, so he still doesn't know the area very well. He shares a place with 5 other lone soldiers. The apartment is very nice, supplied by the army for the use of its lone soldiers. The life of a lone soldier in the Israeli army is not the easiest life to lead. The people I met were the picture of mental exhaustion. They were young, on leave and just trying to forget about the army as much as they could before they had to return to base. Alex is a cook in the army, so we made a feast last night. Roast chicken, fried chicken, stuffed peppers with meat, rice, salad, pita and hummus. Some girls who lived in the building came by and we ate seemingly forever.

The artist at work in his studio

We watched a movie and then went to sleep. It was glorious. I slept until 10:30 in the morning and I needed every minute of it. I got up and got dressed, and at noon my cousin Itzik picked me up. Itzik and his family live in Givatayim, a wealthy suburb of Tel Aviv. Before March of this year, I didn't even know that I had family near Tel Aviv, but after much prodding from my dad, I ponied up and called him. I ended up spending all afternoon with him. First I met his mother at her home. She noted how much I look like my Bubbie Nacha (I didn't know that), and sat down to ask me all about my family over a piece of cake. A proud Yiddishe Mama. Next I went with Itzik to his family's home for lunch. I met my new cousins (although I'm having trouble with some of the names so I will get back to you when I am more certain of them) and we talked and ate and relaxed.

The Weiss family and I in Givatayim

Eventually Doron and Rina (Itzik's son and one of his daughters) took me on a short walking tour of Givatayim. It's a beautiful neighborhood, very different from Haifa. I don't know that I can really explain the difference, but the cities have a different feel to them. I did snap this photo of Tel Aviv from a distance.


The best thing about the afternoon was that four whole hours, I threw caution to the wind and spoke nothing but Hebrew. And I did pretty damn well with it too! I am finding that my Ulpan combined with my real life experiences are combining to enhance and expand my Hebrew vocabulary on a daily basis. I'm learning new words and phrases, and putting them to use almost immediately. Speaking Hebrew still requires more concentration than English, so after the visit was over, I was once again drained. I went back to Alex's and we hung out for another 2 hours, before I caught a 6:15 bus back to Haifa. Travel is great, but it's always nice to return home. Things get crazy again tomorrow, so I'm going to take the opportunity to get another full night's sleep tonight.

A Night In The Capitol

I stayed up too late last night, and yelled way too much, so I have a sore throat this morning. It was well worth it though. I'm at Eli Wald's dorm on Mount Scopus right now, near the Hebrew University campus. For those that don't know, Eli is one of my oldest and closest friends and is interning with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until February. There are a lot of things I had forgotten about this city since the last time I was here. For one, it is one enormous maze; A true urban planning nightmare. Because parts of the city are so old, they were built before cars were common. I am amazed that my bus was able to make it through some of these streets on the way here from the central bus station.

Eli and I in his dorm on Mount Scopus

Another thing to note about Jerusalem is the way the neighborhoods change in the blink of an eye. I counted at least 4 distinctly different areas along the way, and I'm certain that I missed the nuances of several others. The central bus station is in a relatively affluent downtown type area, with shops, hotels and construction projects along the way. We followed this through to an ultra orthodox neighborhood. It breaks my heart to see the way the orthodox live in this country. These neighborhoods are filthy, squalid and dirt poor. More than 50% of orthodox Israeli families live below the poverty line, most by choice. Most orthodox men choose not to work, preferring around the clock Torah study instead, and orthodox couples often have 6 or 7 children. We then pulled into a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem. I'm as in favor of a united Jerusalem as anyone you will meet, but I can tell you that in 2007 Jerusalem is united in name only. There are no Jews in these neighborhoods, all the signs are in Arabic. It's total segregation. Eventually we wound our way up to Mount Scopus and the neighborhood changed again. This time the streets widened and the buildings looked a little more modern, and eventually I reached the student dorms. Eli and I chilled at his apartment for a few hours and I met all his roommates. Cool guys. While here, we heard the Muslim call to prayer twice through his bedroom window. Just another strong reminder that this is a religious city. Eli likes to joke that he is getting the "Jerusalem Syndrome."

Some of the local Jerusalem "flavor"

The reason for my trip was last night's "Hadag Nachash" concert at the Jerusalem Theatre. Hadag Nachash is my favorite Israeli group. I've seen them once before in concert in Chicago, and they put on a fantastic show, so I was really excited about seeing them on their home turf. The event was organized by the Masa fund, a scholarship program that gives young, non-Israeli Jews money for long term programs in Israel. Once in Israel, Masa organizes programs for it's participants. I guess this knowledge should have tempered my expectations but I was too excited about the concert to consider the organizers or the other participants. Eli and I bused to the theatre with a friend of his, and it became apparent immediately that this was just an American concert located in Israel. I felt like I was at a USY convention.

Sitting on the stage before the show

I did locate the Nativ program while I was at the concert. (Surprised?) Know that they all look very happy and healthy and are enjoying their program immensely. I also saw my old friend (and my brother's old counselor) Alex Freedman, who is studying at the Conservative Yeshiva. The concert itself was somewhat disappointing. Hadag Nachash only played a half set, and there was no opening band. In addition, the sound guy really blew it with this concert. We couldn't here any of the words because he kept screwing with the settings, and their were no outward facing speakers on the stage. We were up against the stage, usually the best place to be at a concert. Last night this meant all the sound was being projected to the back of the hall from speakers behind us. Just terrible. I guess I should have lowered my expectations for a canned Masa program like last night. If those were real fans in the audience, I don't think they would have played us like that.


Hadag Nachash performing "חליפות"

This afternoon I'm heading to Tel Aviv to meet up with Alex Judd, another childhood friend of mine who came to Israel to find himself. For Alex, this meant joining the army. He is now a cook in the army. We are making Shabbat dinner tonight and I'm looking forward to seeing what tricks he has picked up in the kitchen. More adventures to follow, but probably no more sleep. I'll check in soon and post pictures on my weekend. Shabbat shalom.

Me and Nativ 27.

This is Alex Freedman, the best staff member that Ramah has ever seen.

In Israel, they spell Brener correctly. In the U.S., not so much.