Exciting News On A Droll Day

Not much happening today, as the campus is pretty much deserted. I'd like to go out tonight, but I don't know with whom. In the meantime, I have some very exciting news: Last night my parents called to tell me that I have been accepted to the UW - Madison Law School for the Fall 2008 semester! Now I have an option for next year. Of course I still look forward to hearing from the other schools I applied to. More updates on that to come.

Shut Out

Today is the Islamic New Year, called Muharram. I certainly wish I had known about that two days ago, as I could have avoided a whole lot of crap. As you all know, my trip to Jordan was supposed to begin this morning at the Arava Desert border crossing between Eilat and Aqaba, Jordan. I am still in Israel, back in Haifa in fact.

Lina can barely contain her enthusiasm for Jordan.

We were cold but excited when we arrived to Eilat this morning. Our bus got in around 5:15 in the morning after driving all night. I must have slept because I don't remember any of the desert on the way down, but it wasn't good sleep. Even so, everyone was ready to roll, so we started walking. Unfortunately, we didn't exactly know where to go either. After about 45 minutes of walking (where we nearly walked onto an army base), we hailed cabs to take us to the border crossing. At the time I was thrilled, because the ride was cheap and crossing is way outside the city, and not an easy walk on a cold, windy day. The cabs took off and we made for the closed crossing, assuming it just hadn't opened for the day yet. Then I read this:


I think I had to read it three times to truly take it in. The first time, I was simply confused and nonplussed, while the second time through I think I didn't comprehend what it meant because I didn't want to. However, on yet another inspection, the message was completely fucking clear. Nowhere was this printed, announced or advertised except on this small plaque hanging on the gates of the border crossing. The cabbies didn't know about it, and when we asked about the holiday at the information booth back in the city, they didn't know about it either. In fact, here is a link to the Israel Airports Authority website: There is no mention of it anywhere. We could not have planned for this if we tried.

We might have been stranded, but God damn it, this was a photo op!

The trek back to town was not fun. It was still before regular business hours so no one was really out, and we were plenty far removed from the city center, so no taxis to hail. We had to climb back over several steep hills and cut through an agricultural plant before finding the highway, and then climbed out of a ravine up to the road where we finally found a gas station to wait in until a cab came by. It was about as windy a morning as I can remember, the kind that just cuts through your clothing. We discussed sticking around in Eilat for the day and then going back tomorrow to head on to Petra, but if you can't be outside, there isn't much to do in Eilat. It is a resort city with nice beaches, and not a whole lot else. Besides, half of us had to be back in Israel by tomorrow morning anyway. We made the decision to come back north, on what would turn out to be a 7 hour bus ride. I suppose I will find this funny in a few days, but right now not so much.

Shit.

Government Disservices

Allow me to be forthcoming for a moment. The fact that I have not had a student visa up to this point has been mostly my fault, and I don't run from my own responsibility. I had the opportunity to handle it over the summer, but was preoccupied and didn't get it done. I should have been more pushy at the international office in October, when I asked for an appointment and they told me to come back in a month when they would be less busy. And there was that business two weeks ago while my family was visiting. For those who haven't already heard, I now feel comfortable telling the whole story.

Two Sunday's ago I had another appointment with the interior ministry, at 10:40 in the morning. As I was staying at my parents hotel in Mercaz HaCarmel, Richard and I simply hopped on the Carmelit in the morning and rode the train all the way downtown. Quick, easy and painless. I got to the office with my letter from the University and my passport photos and began to fill out the application. Soon after asking for my name, address, nationality etc... the form asked for my passport number. It was at this moment that I realized my passport was not with me, rather it was in my desk at my dorm room.

Richard and I raced out of there and hopped back on the subway, with my parents and Bubbie Ruth simultaneously getting in the car to come get us at the top. We had to hurry, the wonderful government offices closed at noon that day. We got back to the top by 11:10, and up to the university by 11:30. I really thought we were going to make it. Then we got stuck in a miserable (but not surprising) traffic jam on the coastal road around Haifa, and that was it. We got back to the ministry at 12:10, and they wouldn't even let me in the front door.

I had no intention of letting another episode like that happen this morning. I needed that visa today, for two reasons. For one, my tourist visa expires today. After that, I would have been in Israel illegally. Second of all, I needed to be able to leave and re-enter the country ASAP, as tomorrow morning I am crossing the border into Jordan for a few days touring. This will be my first time in an Arab country, so it should be an interesting experience. I'll be bringing my Arabic-English dictionary along of course.

In the end I got my visa, though it was no picnic. I arrived a half hour before the office I needed was scheduled to open - they made me and a dozen other people wait outside in the cold until 8 A.M. Once I got upstairs it was smooth sailing though. I sat down at the desk, had a curt interview in Hebrew with one of the employees, paid for the service, and 15 minutes later I was walking out the door with my brand new student visa! Now that I have it, it's time to explore outside Israel. I leave for the Eilat border crossing on the midnight bus from Haifa tonight, and should be in Petra by this time tomorrow. I'll hopefully have lots of pictures and stories forthcoming!

The Crossroads Of The Jewish Nation

I spent the weekend in Jerusalem, and had an absolute blast. I didn't go for the city, but rather for the preponderance of family and friends that would be in the city this past weekend. I hopped on the 940 intercity bus from Hof HaCarmel at 10:30 in the morning on Friday. It was sunny when I boarded the bus, but soon we were driving through a small monsoon. I was really frightened for my safety - the bus driver definitely didn't slow down or take the curves in the road any slower. The rain had tapered off by the time we arrived to Jerusalem, but it was certainly not done for the day.


My first stop on what would turn out to be a whirlwind tour was to the neighborhood of Ma'alot Dafna, an ultra orthodox neighborhood in north Jerusalem. My cousin Josh Rose is studying in a yeshiva there and I wanted to go see him before he goes home in 2 weeks. I took a northbound bus only to realize that I was the only guy on the bus not wearing the "uniform." Everyone else was clearly ultra orthodox and hurrying home to begin preparations for Shabbat. It was even stranger when I got off the bus. It was about a 2 block walk to the yeshiva from the bus stop, so I began asking around to some of the locals where I could find it. I got some queer looks, but people were nonetheless helpful and about 5 minutes later I made it to Yeshivat Or Sameach.

The dorm's at Josh's Yeshiva

We went to go get a bite to eat. Everything in the area was already closed down for Shabbat, so we took a bus downtown and got off at a falafel stand on Yafo street. We were just sitting and catching up when the strangest argument I've ever witnessed erupted right in front of us. There was a 30 something guy leaning against the wall eating his sandwich. Me motioned to an older man sitting next to me at the bar and asked him if the bag sitting next to him belonged to the old guy. The old guy responded by going utterly berserk! Either he was already spoiling for a fight, or he's a total loon. Either way it made for great theater. He started with a low dangerous voice and stayed sitting, but soon he was standing, screaming and had to be physically restrained by the guy serving the food. "You bastard. You dirty son of a bitch. Fuck you! Go to hell you son of a bitch!" They tried throwing him out but that just further enraged him. "Are you Jewish? You aren't Jewish are you?! Go back to Gaza! You should go back to Gaza! You would feel more at home in Gaza you bastard!!!" Not that it matters, but the guy was definitely Jewish. I was torn between leaving and staying to watch this train wreck in progress. I was also simultaneously translating for Josh into English. Needless to say, I have never seen something like this before.

Josh and I on Jerusalem's famous "Ben Yehuda" street

After lunch we wandered around for a while chatting, eventually finding ourselves at the Jaffa gate to the old city. It had begun to rain and the temperature was dropping. Josh and I walked through the Armenian quarter towards the kotel square, then headed over to the "Aish HaTorah" campus where he was meeting a friend. This friend turned out to be Dan Goodman, an old friend of mine of USY fame, who is now living in Minneapolis and has become much more observant than I remember him. I said goodbye to them as they left for their Shabbat plans, and then made my way down to the kotel where I was meeting another old friend, Jeff Reiser. I had about a half hour to kill so after saying the requisite שמע ישראל I got under a shelter where there was a small synagogue set up (but more importantly, a heater) and waited it out. Jeff was on a Mayanot sponsored birthright trip (think Chabad.") The services that night were quite interesting as a result, but the leaders were actually pretty good at making it accessible for the kids on the program.

Well met in Jerusalem, despite the rain and cold.

From this moment on, I basically crashed their birthright program. We walked back to their hotel together where I would spend the next day and a half sleeping in their rooms, eating their free food and participating in their programming. Richard says I'm ballsy. I just think I'm assertive. Shabbat dinner that night was great. Mountains of brisket, baked chicken, potatoes, challah, hummus and veggies, plus some gourmet desserts. Because it was Shabbat, and also because everyone was exhausted, we stayed in that night and just chilled at the hotel. I met a whole bunch of girls who go to Wash U. law, and who encouraged me to go there. I suppose I need to be accepted first.

Drying off in my ill gotten hotel room.

The hotel is located between French Hill and Mount Scopus, a fantastic location considering its proximity to the Hebrew University campus, and Eli's dorm room there. I spoke with Eli in the morning and we determined that I would tramp over to his place that afternoon whenever I was ready. Jeff a I grabbed breakfast with the St. Louis delegates and then went to a very short but otherwise very nice Shabbat morning service. It was never intended to be a normal service. The Rabbi's invited 6 girl and 2 guys who had never had a bar or bat mitzva to choose their own Hebrew names, and then performed the requisite blessing for the naming ceremony. The boys each had an aliyah at the Torah. The whole thing was over by 12:30. We had a half hour until lunch, so we headed up to the roof to take some panoramic photos of the city.

After lunch, we left for a tour of the area around Hebrew U. Honestly I could have boarded the bus with this group bound for the Negev on Monday, and no one would have been the wiser. One of the staffers even came up to at lunch to remind me that we had somewhere to be at 2:15. He had no idea I wasn't with the group. The tour was nice, and we took some great pictures of Jerusalem and the West Bank from the top of Mount Scopus, but by that time it was starting to get dusky and cold, so I broke off from my new friends and met Eli at his dorm.

The West Bank and the northern branch of the Dead Sea.

Aliza Goodman (Eli's girlfriend of many years) joined us at Eli's place that evening. I hadn't seen her for about 6 months so it was really nice to get a chance to just chill and catch up. We waited for our friends Yonatan and his fiancee Shannee, and then all five of us left for downtown. The area was just infested with birthright groups. I've never seen it so crowded. Eli, Yonatan and I went to Moshiko's for dinner to get a shawarma. It took us a half hour to get to the front, and that was with the regular pushing and shoving that Eli and I are wont to do.

Aliza and Shannee at Eli's flat.

It was downtown that we proceeded to run into everyone on earth that I've ever met. Here's a short list of everyone I saw on Ben Yehuda street saturday night: Eli Wald, Aliza Goodman, Yonatan Lapid, Shannee Babai, Jeff Reiser, Jeff Villano, Robbie Fineberg and the other 4 members of his immediate family, Julie Edelman, Elli Dvorin and Yael Dvorin. It was some kind of crazy. We didn't stay there really late on account of the temperatures dropping into the thirties but we stayed long enough to smile and take pics and trade phone numbers and make some plans. I headed back to Eli's place around 10:30 and walked back to the hotel a few hours later where I would bunk for the night.

JV, Eli and myself.

The next morning the birthrighters left early for their day. I hung around at the hotel until 9:30 and then headed back downtown. I met Elli Dvorin and his girlfriend for a cup of coffee on King George, and then Aliza came to join us. True to the theme of the weekend, I was not done seeing old friends just yet. Aliza had planned to meet Jenny Kibrit (her roommate and a friend from Champaign) for lunch and chilling that afternoon. She didn't tell Jenny I would be there, so we surprised her good. 3 of their friends from the Brandies grad school were also there, so I met yet another new group of Jews from back home. The girls helped me pick out a scarf, which I am quite fond of. Its dark blue, soft, warm and apparently fashionable. I couldn't be happier. We did lunch at this swank little cafe that doubles as a bookstore. Then we wandered through the artists colony at the Yemin Moshe neighborhood. It was just wonderful. Incredibly peaceful right in the middle of the craziness of downtown Jerusalem.

A quiet walkway in Yemin Moshe.

My trip had one more highlight left in it: Eli, Aliza and I went out to dinner with Reut. She took us to a nice little out of the way place where I got french onion soup with a twist: There was a piece of malawach draped over the top. It was excellent. Everyone shared stories while Eli collected the sugar packets with pictures of famous Rabbis and Zionist leaders on them. At long last it was time to head back to Haifa. Reut drove me as far as Netanya, where I got back on my familiar train and headed for home. It was a long but awesome weekend in Jerusalem.

An all Ramah photo.

A sunburst over Jerusalem.

Yael Dvorin and I

Old friends from the U of I

סיבה למסיבה

One thing Israelis are great at is finding any old reason to throw a bitchin' crazy party. Last night we had TWO great reasons to party. Devorah's birthday is later this month, and the family threw her a massive surprise birthday blowout last night. I couldn't mention it on this page earlier for obvious reasons. The party was at a restaurant in the German Colony and it was really fancy. It looked like over 100 people showed up and cramed into an upstairs party room the size of my flat's living room. It was really warm. Amir made a nice movie for Devorah with friends and family wishing her a happy birthday and mazal and happiness and everything that goes along with it.

Shachar parties down with one of his cousins.

The food was fantastic. I had a salmon patty with greens and mashed potatoes that was absolutely to die for. Plus they kept the wine flowing. Devorah was smiling and blushing so much that I thought she was going to just faint. I've got to give big props to everyone who had a hand in planning last night. I wish I could say I did. It was an unmitigated success!

Menachem and Carmit at dinner.

I left the birthday party a little after ten o'clock to roll for my second party of the evening. As I've previously mentioned, the international school semester is over, and last night was our one last chance to go out, celebrate and all hang out together before people start leaving. We went to a put down by the port and near to the German Colony, Eli's Pub. I've never been to any of the bars by the water before (except for the overpriced, watered down beer they hawk at the beaches.) The neighborhoods change quickly in Haifa. I walked about a half block down Yaffo street towards the pub, and all of the sudden I was in one of the rattiest neighborhoods I've seen in Israel. The pub was actually awesome on the inside. A nice atmosphere, chill, with a little room to dance but mostly a place to sit and talk with your friends over a pint. As a bonus, they had a great soundtrack going all night with lots of classic rock.

4 of us sat at the bar until the main group arrived.

If there was one potential drawback to this pub, it's that it wasn't very large. We began to ask the bartender about tables, since I had made a lot of calls and was expecting a large group to show up. They had one huge empty table, but apparently it was reserved. When she asked me how many to expect and I estimated 15, she smiled and offered us the table! Earlier that night when I had been on the phone talking to Anna, she mentioned that she knew the manager at the pub and would call to let him know we were coming. She asked me for a number and I gave her the same estimate, and the manager blocked off the table for us! The bartender's words (translated from Hebrew) were "are you here with the Hungarian girls who called?" Just marvelous!

What a lovely kiss!

I will miss my friends a lot, but I'm looking forward to meeting a whole new group of people soon. In the meantime, my vacation travel begins this morning. I am leaving for Jerusalem in a half an hour, and I'll hopefully be seeing plenty of old friends. I'll update when I return. Shabbat shalom.

The End Of An Era

The semester draws to a close this evening, after one final edition of "Arab - Israeli Relations." It's been a really awesome semester, my recent exam stress notwithstanding. I took my Hebrew exam this morning, my 4th exam in 4 days. It wasn't easy, but I have no doubt that I did well on it either. Arabic was yesterday afternoon, and my anticipation was worse than the test itself. I'm not quite as confident about that one, but we'll just have to wait and see. In the mean time, everyone is steeling themselves for the inevitable goodbyes that come at the end of the semester. We are going to have a lot of turnover between now and the start of the spring term in about 6 weeks. Most of my close friends are taking off for parts unknown, but I'm not worried about that. I will make a new circle of friends next semester. The program will be much bigger next time around, ballooning from around 90 students to somewhere in the 150 range.

Hanging out at our fall semester farewell dinner.

We had a goodbye dinner this week which was really nice. Good food, lots of people showed up, and it was in a nice little room on the absolute top floor of the Rabin building that they must only use for catering. In order to get their, you have to take the internal elevator all the way up, and the elevator doesn't go up to that floor at all unless management punches in an authorization code first. In other words, this was a sweet set up. The best part was the slide show that Oshrat put together of all of us from this fall. It was kind of corny and reminded me a lot of "No Smoking" slide shows of Ramah summers past, but there is certainly a place in my heart for that kind of cheese ball sentiment.


Now that the semester is over, my focus can shift to other things. I finally got the lead out and bought a gym membership this morning (thanks, Dad!) I've got some catching up to do to get back into shape but working out is not a chore for me, so I'll get there. I'm going to say something that many of you may consider blasphemous. Even I have a hard time believing it. I watched a half of a random soccer match between two Spanish League teams while running, and it is a better workout sport than baseball.

Before the State Department revokes my U.S. citizenship, allow me to explain myself. Soccer moves very quickly and there is a lot of contact. This is great for when your moving, as it holds your attention. Baseball is a more cerebral game, and you really need to watch it with others and discuss the action in front of you to truly enjoy it. Outside of that, what truly made this a better experience than baseball is that soccer has no whistles and no time stoppages, and that means no commercials. Imagine, 45 minutes of straight action without having to stop and be reminded yet again that you have no interest in the newest razor model with 8 blades. It's just magical! I jogged for 25 minutes until the half rolled around without a single interruption.

Of course getting in shape is not my only winter goal. I also plan on traveling. I will be spending nearly a week in Cairo, Egypt towards the end of January, and I plan to travel for a few days in Jordan as well, possibly as early as next week. Plus there is lots to see and do inside Israel that I hopefully won't find myself sitting around in the dorms. If I do, I will just lose my mind.

Cacti in Haifa are just one of the many cool things I want to see on my travels.

Perhaps it's ironic that today, on the day the international school semester ends, the University strike has now reached the lengthiest work stoppage in the history of the state. All I can say is that if the government insists on putting a gun in its mouth, no one is going to keep them from pulling the trigger.

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!