Fukudome!!!

The Cubs have signed Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to a 4 year, $48 million contract. There are a lot of things that excite me about this roster move. Certainly I look forward to Fukudome's patient plate approach, high OPS, above average speed and cannon arm. I'm thrilled that this roster move will not cost the team any players or minor league prospects. I'm even glad we will be adding some ethnic balance to our team. However, all of these factors pale in comparison to this: I can't wait to hear the creative ways that this man will find to mispronounce "Kosuke Fukudome."

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.