Greetings From Cairo

Hello everyone. This will be a short post as Alex and I are about to leave for lunch. I just wanted to let you know that I am happy and healthy and having a great time in Egypt. We have decided we will be returning to Israel on Monday, so I will write up our entire trip next week.

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.

Beg, Borrow Or Steal

Two longstanding budget problems were resolved today that impact my life, and as usual I'll weigh in on each. First of all, the senior university faculty here in Israel ended their 90 day strike, reaching an agreement with the government that will provide 16.8% compensation for salary erosion due to inflation over the past decade. The compromise was drafted by the head of Israel's uber powerful Histadrut labor union. Needless to say, I am relieved that the academic year will not be canceled, as that would have had catastrophic effects on the country in the following years. As it stands, the beginning of next fall's semester will likely need to be pushed back to accommodate the start of the semester at a time when it was supposed to be ending. Nor will there be a break between the semesters to come. However, a greater disaster has been averted.

Meanwhile back home in Chicago, the RTA will receive the money necessary to avoid the so called "doomsday scenario", which would have involved huge fare increases, service cuts and layoffs. That would have meant job loss all over the city, and it would have been a death knell for public transportation in Chicago. I am something of an advocate for public transit, and I don't really think the bill goes far enough in addressing the problems. It doesn't provide any money for capital projects, so maintenance and development will continue to sit on the back burner. Even so, service cuts will not go into effect, which was crucial for the health of the city.

Attempted Suicide

Er.... Sort of. Actually, I wanted to take this time to tell you about my adopted cat. For those who don't know, I am allergic to cats. Very allergic. Some might say "deathly" allergic to cats. So it doesn't really seem like sound policy that I should have a cat. Allow me to explain: This cat chose me. It is a small (but growing) stray kitten which lives on my floor in the area of my dorm. It is very shy around most people, but for some reason took a shine to me early on. He follows me around, mewing, looking to be petted and played with. I didn't at first, but I do love animals, and eventually I broke and started to play with him a little when I saw him.

Me and my kitten. Should I name him?

For those of you who would worry about these things, know that every time I do stop to play with the kitten, I immediately wash my hands and change out of any clothing he may have come into contact with. I'm not stupid. I even took a benadryl this afternoon after taking these photos, just in case. I do pity the poor thing. It is still bitterly cold outside and he doesn't get the chance to come inside to warm up like I do. I took some of my older, rattier undershirts and made a little bed out front for him. I think I will get a small box to put them in, as it would be warmer than lying on the stone, and it would provide some wind protection. I am such a sucker for pets.

He is playful and energetic. Reminds me of Sparky when he was a puppy.

I guess he is more interested in me than in the camera.

Boy this is not a good idea.

Poker Night

My buddy Omri recently got a nice set of poker chips, and last night we broke it out for an evening of Texas Hold 'Em. Partly because I don't like to gamble (as many of my friends back home already know), and partly because I had to teach the game to more than half the people at the table, we decided no money would exchange hands.

Learning the game.

Omri and I knew poker the best coming in, but I had an additional challenge. Being the only non Israeli at the table, I quickly had to learn poker table talk in Hebrew. I picked up a handful of useful terms, like לערבב (to shuffle), קלפים (playing cards), נסיך (Jack), and that Israelis pronounce the game "Po-care." I was a little better at keeping up with the chatter unrelated to the game. We played two seperate games, going for about 3 hours. We had 8 people playing at one point, which made the game much more interesting.

Nimrod celebrates with his winnings.

I ended up heading home around 1 A.M. I won the first game outright, but went out pretty quickly the second time around, so I guess this just reinforces that I'm not good enough at gambling to make it a profession. Speaking of professional news, I am excited to tell you all that I have now been accepted to both the Loyola University Chicago and Depaul University law schools! I'm going to have some difficult decisions to make once I have heard back from all the schools I applied to.

Katja smiles while Omri grimaces.

Today is a "get back to work" kind of day for me. Yesterday afternoon I got the books I needed to research my final paper for "Arab-Israeli Relations." Today I need to begin culling all that information so I can put it into print. I also did two full loads of laundry, I had lunch with Menachem, I'm going to the gym this afternoon, and I've got my cooking club as usual this evening. For those of you who know Menachem, he is smiling and feeling more comfortable after have dental implants put in last week. Send him an email or something to wish him well!

Record Lows

We are in the teeth of a cold snap in Israel that has many of my Israeli friends remarking that they "can't remember a time when it was this cold here." Surprise! I guess the joke is on me - I was under the impression that I wouldn't have to put up with a real winter this year. The temperature has routinely dropped into the thirties at night up at the university. Tonight will be no different. Thank God I'm in Haifa too, as it is colder elsewhere. Safed had a frost last night, while it fell to around 16 degrees fahrenheit at the Hermon mountain in the very northern part of the Golan Heights last night.

Of course the weather won't keep me indoors. I went out to a pub last night with Omri to watch the Maccabi Haifa - Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer match, which Haifa won handily, 3-1. This morning I got up and went to the market to buy some produce. I must say, the shuk is a different place on Monday than it is on Friday. It was so much less crowded than I'm used to, so things went quicker and the service was better. Plus, with no one pressing up against you in a crowd, you don't worry about being pick pocketed the whole time.

Because it's been a while, I'd like to give a quick update regarding two important political processes ongoing in Israel right now. First, the faculty strike at the universities continued through its 85th day today, after an attempt by the university Presidents to garner a court injunction against the professors forcing them to break the strike failed. This leaves few options to prevent the cancellation of the semester. In fact, the Presidents had promised to cancel the semester, and possibly the whole academic year today if the courts did not force the faculty back to work. They have since backtracked from that, but I'm betting it's only a few days before they reach the inescapable conclusion that this semester is irreparably damaged and needs to be canceled. The exams for these classes would have been held next week, had the semester begun on time.

Also in the news, Israel and the Palestinian Authority began "Final Status" negotiations this morning at a Jerusalem hotel. For those unfamiliar with the concept, I will give a brief explanation: Final Status negotiations are intended to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, create a Palestinian state on land currently occupied by Israel, and guarantee Israel's security. Personally, I think this is a terrible decision that will eventually lead to more violence. There are a host of reasons why the time is not ripe for these negotiations, but perhaps most important is that the Palestinian Authority has no control over what happens in the Gaza Strip, which is envisioned as an inseperable part of a future Palestine. Israel cannot and will not negotiate with Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the territory, so Gaza would not truly be included even if a peace treaty was signed by the two parties. I hope I'm wrong, but I am certain that these discussions are doomed to fail.

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.