Short update.
Things have been going really well. I am back in "school mode" but that hasn't been a bad thing! My classes are excellent, the teachers approachable and interesting, and I'm involved in lots of extra-curriculars. Currently, I am taking Bio-Anthropology, Accounting for Information Systems, Intro to Finance, and Information Systems. Yes, there are two classes with IS. However, they are great! Check out the website I made for my Info Systems class: http://students.washington.edu/azellman Let it load in your Internet Explorer browser and let me know what you think! Depending on where I decide to go with this class, I may continue to add onto it and use it as a way to indulge my creative side :-D
In addition to classes I have been working hard as the new president of the Certificate of International Studies in Business Program at UW. It's a unique program that combines the leadership of a student organization with international academic/business opportunities. There are over 150 students currently in the program and many more who make up the alumni network. It's an exciting job where I've been able to utilize a lot of skills I have gained through my experiences working abroad, teaching young adults, and studying with people from a variety of backgrounds. Of course, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun without lots of really wonderful people!
Outside of academia, I started my second year as a member of the UW Women's Basketball Team Practice Squad (the "White Squad"). Tia Jackson is the new coach and I really have enjoyed playing in her new system. I think we will be a lot faster, better defensively, and more disciplined than last year. Of course, the old coach, June Doharty, is now running the WSU program... so I guess we'll really get to see the difference when we play them later this year! For the uninitiated, I play with five other guys during the girl's practice: scrimmaging, helping with drills, and running to-be opponent's offensive sets to prepare the team for upcoming games. It's a LOT of fun--sometimes too much (today I got scorned for "smiling too much"). Who knew?
Not too much else to post, I hope everyone is doing well and let me know what you think of the website!
Col tuv,
AVI
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
#1 I'm sorry. Not like Yom Kippur sorry (although, I guess I am THAT too..)--I mean, for all of you who have been... or were... reading my updates, I'm sorry. The days went by much more quickly than I ever thought they would and each time I had something to update about I seemed to put it off until I was too busy to update. Like I said, sorry.
#2 I'm back in Seattle. I left Israel on Monday and started school on Wednesday (yesterday). Needless to say, my room is a bit of a mess :-D Also, I had to wear a jacket for the first time in 3.5 months on Tuesday. But, seeing my friends and starting classes has made the transition a lot easier. Hard to believe I'm here and not in Netanya getting ready for work, but I know I'll be back soon!
#3 Sukkot started last night and I'm going to Spokane on Friday. Friday is Ariel's birthday, so even though he and Leora are in Chicago dealing with their own school and work issues (and Israel withdrawls!), I think it will be nice to celebrate with Mom and Dad. Of course, Saturday is Mom's birthday! Pretty good deal, eh? Sunday, I will drive back to Seattle and theoretically, things will be back in full-force.
#4 I miss Hebrew.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Another crazy week! I arrived in Netanya last Saturday night (over a week ago) and have spent my time working, exploring the city, and adjusting to life here. The apartment I'm living in is ok--it's not exactly the best financial deal in the world but for two months I can deal. I have two roommates, a woman who owns the apartment who is a lot older and a guy who is in his 20s and studying to be a teacher. The guy and I have been hanging out a lot during our free time, running on the beach, helping each other speak Hebrew/English, etc. The apartment itself has a shared kitchen and living room space and I have my own closet-sized room. For the amount of time I spend in the apartment it'll work! I cook for myself and am in the process of finding a place to do laundry...
Work has been a very different story. I am interning at Bank Leumi in Netanya, the branch sits at the edge of the promenade in the middle of everything. Walking to work, I am walking near the sea and leaving work I am a hop, skip and jump away from being on the beach! Not too shabby :-D The internship is hilarious. I say this for a number of reasons:
One, I work in the international section of the bank (which is the bank's main role there) and it was assumed that because I was not Israeli this would be the best place for me to work. The funny thing was that almost everyone in Netanya is FRENCH! So the first language people at the bank speak is French and then Hebrew and if they are really well educated maybe a little English. Thus, half the time I am lost in translation and end up nodding and smiling and waiting until the conversation is over. Remember, I work with people's hard earned cash.
Two, the bank is filled with Israelis. Ok ok, that sounds dumb. But take for example my second day of work when I was put in charge of all the foreign accounts, their organization, and updating their most recent info. That in itself was bizarre and a bit overwhelming (Netanya is the Bank Leumi flagship for international accounts) but it also meant I spent an absurd amount of time in the "vault"... which is a room next to the waiting room with a broken handle on the door. Accompanying me in the vault--and the true center of this long-winded story--is ...a fax machine. what? Yea, next to the money and confidential information and such, Bank Leumi keeps its fax machine. To clarify, while Israelis may be among the smartest cellphone creators, bio-medical innovators, WHATEVER, they can be incredibly disorganized, stubborn and clueless about the most random things. Sending and receiving faxes? look out. I sat through one instance where a woman from the bank wanted to fax something, dialed the number and then left before anything happened. The machine was answered by some random guy on the other end who eventually realized no one was there and hung up. The machine redials. The same guy answers, realizes no one is there and again hangs up. The machine, yep, redials. After FIFTEEN TIMES (I counted) of this, the guy starts yelling into the phone when the fax machine calls him--saying words that I understand and know that you shouldn't use when talking to your grandparents--and then hangs up. The machine doesn't give up and continues calling until the guy gets a woman who I assume was his supervisor or something and lets HER yell at the fax machine. After three more calls and the guy and his boss answering and then immediately hanging up, they disconnect their phone and the marathon ends. I was laughing so hard that when the woman who initially was trying to send the fax returned, she thought that I had done something to the fax machine to make it not work. She got upset with me until I told her she really needed to check the number before dialing again.
Three, and lastly for now, I work with a Eugene Levy look-a-like. Through and through they are IDENTICAL! Big eyebrows, glasses, the hair, the awkwardness--it's amazing. Best of all, he speaks ZERO English and works right next to me! Thus, every morning I can't help but smile when I see him and try really hard to speak to him in whatever language works. Not surprisingly (for Netanya) he's French and has a wicked accent. All this combined makes some funny encounters--I was building something to better organize the vault and needed tape. I first tried "tape", no response. Then I tried explaining what I was doing using words like "connecting" and "attaching" both in Hebrew and English (ya never know?). Finally, I started going through his drawer and found tape and said "TAPE". He looks and me, starts laughing and says "scotch". wow. Hurray for the French.
All in all, the job has been wonderful. My boss has been giving me lots to do and is very patient if I have any questions. She also didn't yell at me when I left my security pass sitting in the computer last week... The group of people run the international part of the bank all have offices near each other and have included me in the majority of their work. I get to sit in on meetings (Hebrew, not French) and become a special resource when someone comes in who only speaks English--it's happened three times in the past week out of around five hundred people.
Furthermore, my office is right in the middle of everyone else's offices. This means that every time a customer is looking for one of the people who runs the place to work with them, they see my office and assume I must be one of them. (which I kinda am... I'm just incompetent at most of the jobs that they would need me to do!) Due to this poor-strategic positioning of my office, I have been embarrassed a number of times by how badly I communicate with people in other languages. At one point I thought that if it looked like I was on the phone then people would stop coming into my office. Brilliant idea really. So I held the phone to my ear and taped down the piece to prevent the dial tone from sounding. This worked for about 30 seconds when the phone rang... yea, I am that lucky :-D
Outside of work I have been all over Netanya. Even though it is one of the bigger cities in Israel, you can easily walk the majority of the city. The beach is BEAUTIFUL, the waves are enormous and the people spend most of their time in that general area. There is also a big shuk with tons and tons and tons of food. While it is not as crowded as Machneh Yehuda in Jerusalem, I so far am a big fan and have found better deals on better food here! Because I finish work early (1pm or so), I have had lots of time to check out the unique Netanya stuff ...and also stay semi-caught up on the necessary home stuff... mainly the Simpsons Movie! I was one of maybe 20 people in the whole theater and was laughing through the majority of the film. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it--it's a nice break from ...well, nothing... but it's still worth it!
Anyway, I apologize about the long post, I hope you all are doing well. Good luck to people who are starting school, Ramanichs who have to readjust to life outside of camp, and everyone else who is enjoying summer around the world.
Col tuv,
AVI
Work has been a very different story. I am interning at Bank Leumi in Netanya, the branch sits at the edge of the promenade in the middle of everything. Walking to work, I am walking near the sea and leaving work I am a hop, skip and jump away from being on the beach! Not too shabby :-D The internship is hilarious. I say this for a number of reasons:
One, I work in the international section of the bank (which is the bank's main role there) and it was assumed that because I was not Israeli this would be the best place for me to work. The funny thing was that almost everyone in Netanya is FRENCH! So the first language people at the bank speak is French and then Hebrew and if they are really well educated maybe a little English. Thus, half the time I am lost in translation and end up nodding and smiling and waiting until the conversation is over. Remember, I work with people's hard earned cash.
Two, the bank is filled with Israelis. Ok ok, that sounds dumb. But take for example my second day of work when I was put in charge of all the foreign accounts, their organization, and updating their most recent info. That in itself was bizarre and a bit overwhelming (Netanya is the Bank Leumi flagship for international accounts) but it also meant I spent an absurd amount of time in the "vault"... which is a room next to the waiting room with a broken handle on the door. Accompanying me in the vault--and the true center of this long-winded story--is ...a fax machine. what? Yea, next to the money and confidential information and such, Bank Leumi keeps its fax machine. To clarify, while Israelis may be among the smartest cellphone creators, bio-medical innovators, WHATEVER, they can be incredibly disorganized, stubborn and clueless about the most random things. Sending and receiving faxes? look out. I sat through one instance where a woman from the bank wanted to fax something, dialed the number and then left before anything happened. The machine was answered by some random guy on the other end who eventually realized no one was there and hung up. The machine redials. The same guy answers, realizes no one is there and again hangs up. The machine, yep, redials. After FIFTEEN TIMES (I counted) of this, the guy starts yelling into the phone when the fax machine calls him--saying words that I understand and know that you shouldn't use when talking to your grandparents--and then hangs up. The machine doesn't give up and continues calling until the guy gets a woman who I assume was his supervisor or something and lets HER yell at the fax machine. After three more calls and the guy and his boss answering and then immediately hanging up, they disconnect their phone and the marathon ends. I was laughing so hard that when the woman who initially was trying to send the fax returned, she thought that I had done something to the fax machine to make it not work. She got upset with me until I told her she really needed to check the number before dialing again.
Three, and lastly for now, I work with a Eugene Levy look-a-like. Through and through they are IDENTICAL! Big eyebrows, glasses, the hair, the awkwardness--it's amazing. Best of all, he speaks ZERO English and works right next to me! Thus, every morning I can't help but smile when I see him and try really hard to speak to him in whatever language works. Not surprisingly (for Netanya) he's French and has a wicked accent. All this combined makes some funny encounters--I was building something to better organize the vault and needed tape. I first tried "tape", no response. Then I tried explaining what I was doing using words like "connecting" and "attaching" both in Hebrew and English (ya never know?). Finally, I started going through his drawer and found tape and said "TAPE". He looks and me, starts laughing and says "scotch". wow. Hurray for the French.
All in all, the job has been wonderful. My boss has been giving me lots to do and is very patient if I have any questions. She also didn't yell at me when I left my security pass sitting in the computer last week... The group of people run the international part of the bank all have offices near each other and have included me in the majority of their work. I get to sit in on meetings (Hebrew, not French) and become a special resource when someone comes in who only speaks English--it's happened three times in the past week out of around five hundred people.
Furthermore, my office is right in the middle of everyone else's offices. This means that every time a customer is looking for one of the people who runs the place to work with them, they see my office and assume I must be one of them. (which I kinda am... I'm just incompetent at most of the jobs that they would need me to do!) Due to this poor-strategic positioning of my office, I have been embarrassed a number of times by how badly I communicate with people in other languages. At one point I thought that if it looked like I was on the phone then people would stop coming into my office. Brilliant idea really. So I held the phone to my ear and taped down the piece to prevent the dial tone from sounding. This worked for about 30 seconds when the phone rang... yea, I am that lucky :-D
Outside of work I have been all over Netanya. Even though it is one of the bigger cities in Israel, you can easily walk the majority of the city. The beach is BEAUTIFUL, the waves are enormous and the people spend most of their time in that general area. There is also a big shuk with tons and tons and tons of food. While it is not as crowded as Machneh Yehuda in Jerusalem, I so far am a big fan and have found better deals on better food here! Because I finish work early (1pm or so), I have had lots of time to check out the unique Netanya stuff ...and also stay semi-caught up on the necessary home stuff... mainly the Simpsons Movie! I was one of maybe 20 people in the whole theater and was laughing through the majority of the film. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it--it's a nice break from ...well, nothing... but it's still worth it!
Anyway, I apologize about the long post, I hope you all are doing well. Good luck to people who are starting school, Ramanichs who have to readjust to life outside of camp, and everyone else who is enjoying summer around the world.
Col tuv,
AVI
Thursday, August 02, 2007
It has really been a long time--sorry!
The past month has been wonderful albeit a lot more crazy than I ever thought it could be. Classes at Hebrew U have finished and although it sounds a bit sappy, I not only learned a lot but was blown away by how interesting all of my classes were. The continuity between the courses made a big difference and helped me connect a lot of dotes both in my understanding and experiencing Israeli society. Besides, it's fun to be able to say something intelligent about Israeli internal politics, history, economics, culture, and ethnic mix! Through the classes I was shown a much more personal view of Israel--one that was very balanced between Jewish and Palestinian narratives as well. The whole experience opened me up to other possibilities/realities within Israeli society and has really broadened my perspective. Of course, there's lots more to hear and do, but I feel like I have taken a step in the right direction.
Saturday is bringing a change in scenery. I have been in Jerusalem for the last month and some studying and such, Saturday I am moving to Netanya to begin working at Bank Leumi. I went today to figure out the details of the job and was also able to find an apartment and meet one of my roommates. Everything is perfectly situated. My apartment is a ten minute walk to work (which is within a good baseball throw away from the beach--one of the best in Israel), five minutes from the bus station, and five minutes from the center of the city. Tonight there was a huge concert featuring singers from the Israeli equivalent of "American Idol" and the atmosphere was great, I think I'm really going to like it there :-D
I have done so much while I have been here that it's hard to even know where to begin. Lucky for you all, I don't know anyone yet in Netanya, so there's bound to be some free time to catch up. A quick summary--walking across Jerusalem at 4am after Shabbos, beach visits in the Mediterranean, abandoned Palestinian villages, Tisha B'av at the Kotel, dinner at the King David Hotel, Eilat, Petra, a head-on fight with a camel, numerous trips to the shuk, and hours upon hours of trying to speak Hebrew!
See, there's so much to look forward to :-D ...and this time it won't take a month to tell you about it!
Hope everyone is doing well,
Col tuv po,
AVI
The past month has been wonderful albeit a lot more crazy than I ever thought it could be. Classes at Hebrew U have finished and although it sounds a bit sappy, I not only learned a lot but was blown away by how interesting all of my classes were. The continuity between the courses made a big difference and helped me connect a lot of dotes both in my understanding and experiencing Israeli society. Besides, it's fun to be able to say something intelligent about Israeli internal politics, history, economics, culture, and ethnic mix! Through the classes I was shown a much more personal view of Israel--one that was very balanced between Jewish and Palestinian narratives as well. The whole experience opened me up to other possibilities/realities within Israeli society and has really broadened my perspective. Of course, there's lots more to hear and do, but I feel like I have taken a step in the right direction.
Saturday is bringing a change in scenery. I have been in Jerusalem for the last month and some studying and such, Saturday I am moving to Netanya to begin working at Bank Leumi. I went today to figure out the details of the job and was also able to find an apartment and meet one of my roommates. Everything is perfectly situated. My apartment is a ten minute walk to work (which is within a good baseball throw away from the beach--one of the best in Israel), five minutes from the bus station, and five minutes from the center of the city. Tonight there was a huge concert featuring singers from the Israeli equivalent of "American Idol" and the atmosphere was great, I think I'm really going to like it there :-D
I have done so much while I have been here that it's hard to even know where to begin. Lucky for you all, I don't know anyone yet in Netanya, so there's bound to be some free time to catch up. A quick summary--walking across Jerusalem at 4am after Shabbos, beach visits in the Mediterranean, abandoned Palestinian villages, Tisha B'av at the Kotel, dinner at the King David Hotel, Eilat, Petra, a head-on fight with a camel, numerous trips to the shuk, and hours upon hours of trying to speak Hebrew!
See, there's so much to look forward to :-D ...and this time it won't take a month to tell you about it!
Hope everyone is doing well,
Col tuv po,
AVI
Thursday, July 05, 2007
It's Thursday night and all is well. My second week of classes are finish and I'm looking forward to a relaxing Shabbos. Time is a very different here. Friday and Saturday are the weekend and Sunday is the USA's Monday. There are even songs talking about how sad and depressing Sundays are (a case of the sundays?)! The days don't necessarily start later but the nights all begin around 11pm instead of around 9. I still have to get used to seeing little kids running around after midnight! A friend was telling me about his little sister who is TWELVE and was complaining to their mother that she couldn't stay out later than 3am... what?
Anyway, classes have been going well. I turned in my first assignments and have already received my next paper instructions. Summer school is beginning to feel more like school than summer.. oh well. Everything is incredibly interesting though. My second class (the one about Israeli culture) shifted its focus to film after completing a section on music. The new teacher is a nice guy and it's fun analyzing films ranging from zionism to present day! Tonight is also the start of the Jerusalem film festival--I think an appearance is warranted.
Last night we all celebrated the 4th of July. I cooked dinner and then headed downtown with friends. The American bar was packed but it was a nice shot of USA for an evening. Tonight is my friend Jen Adler's birthday--we worked together at Ramah and the whole Ramah crew is getting together. Speaking of which, I ran into my friend Guy who was at Ramah with me three years ago. He's Israeli and finishing his degree this week. Anyway, I apologize for the short, nothing post, I have a lot of things to say in response to my classes, but that will have to wait until later :-D
Hope everyone is well, col tuv
AVI
Anyway, classes have been going well. I turned in my first assignments and have already received my next paper instructions. Summer school is beginning to feel more like school than summer.. oh well. Everything is incredibly interesting though. My second class (the one about Israeli culture) shifted its focus to film after completing a section on music. The new teacher is a nice guy and it's fun analyzing films ranging from zionism to present day! Tonight is also the start of the Jerusalem film festival--I think an appearance is warranted.
Last night we all celebrated the 4th of July. I cooked dinner and then headed downtown with friends. The American bar was packed but it was a nice shot of USA for an evening. Tonight is my friend Jen Adler's birthday--we worked together at Ramah and the whole Ramah crew is getting together. Speaking of which, I ran into my friend Guy who was at Ramah with me three years ago. He's Israeli and finishing his degree this week. Anyway, I apologize for the short, nothing post, I have a lot of things to say in response to my classes, but that will have to wait until later :-D
Hope everyone is well, col tuv
AVI
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Happy Tuesday!
Beautiful weather is still around, albeit windy, and classes are going well. Now the rundown.
Sunday was interesting. My first two classes went very well (as usual). We spent more time talking about pre-State of Israel movements and political developments in the area. Lots of promises to different people that completely contradict each other--hurray for the British. My music class covered the beginnings of Israeli rock and roll which was initially patterned after the Beatles. When they tried to come to Israel, the government wouldn't let them because they deemed their music to be "detrimental" to the sabra culture Israelis were focused on cultivating. funny, eh? My third class... well, it was dropped. I was officially the only person enrolled for a total of 5 minutes before they informed me that I would need to find a different course. Somewhere small children were crying for me.
I ended up sitting in the one class that I had no interest in ever taking--Political Communication. The guy rambled the entire class and I am still waiting for someone to return those 90 minutes of my life to me. Seriously, I want them back.
Monday I went back to the director and admitted that although I like to smile during our conversations, I was really really really annoyed that I was paying to take a class that I never wanted to be in. He was very understanding and helped me find another class... again. So I now have, hopefully, a concrete schedule for the rest of the month. Instead of Environmental Issues in Israel, Arcaeological history of Jerusalem, or Political Communication, I am now taking "Conflict Resolution: Palestinians and Israeli Dialogue". The catch is that it is only 2 days a week from 330 until 7pm. So, two days a week I start at 930 and end at 7pm. Sweet.
In other, more exciting, news. My friends Judah and Ilya stayed with me saturday night, sunday, monday, and tuesday. Judah left on monday morning but Ilya and I got to spend a lot of time together over the last couple nights. He is really going all-out during his time abroad, it's fun to hear about it. At Hebrew U our network of friends is growing which makes our evenings a more crowded, but also very fun. There are a couple guys from France who been hanging out with us... and proving that I really don't remember ANY French from my summer there in 2005. However, there is a girl from Spain in one of my classes who's made me feel very good about my Spanish, which I previously thought I had forgotten. I guess my head can only hold a certain number of languages at a time--hopefully I won't wake up tomorrow speaking french, spanish, and english while forgetting all my hebrew!
Monday morning Jody returned to Israel for a few hours. He spent the year here on Year-Course and has been travelling in Britain, Scotland, France, and probably other countries as well for the last month. It was great to talk and catch up before he needed to go back to the airport and catch his much-anticipated flight back to the USA. On the family note, Ariel has been getting interview after interview with people all around Israel for his PhD stuff. I still don't totally get it, but he's been very busy! Of course, it's hard to complain about seeing him ONLY every other day when we've been living so far apart for six years :-D
Today, my class took a trip to Har Herzl and the new Yad Vashem. It was very much an academic trip and so we didn't get to really wander much. However, I was able to go see Michael Levin--a friend of mine who was killed last summer in the Lebanon War. He had visited Camp Ramah the day before he returned to Israel and we had gotten to talk about what it was like making aliyah and serving in the army (among other things). That was almost exactly a year ago. Still very hard to believe.
Anyway, I'm ready to make dinner and need to go--there's always some adventure waiting in Israel! I hope you all are doing well.
Col tuv,
AVI
Beautiful weather is still around, albeit windy, and classes are going well. Now the rundown.
Sunday was interesting. My first two classes went very well (as usual). We spent more time talking about pre-State of Israel movements and political developments in the area. Lots of promises to different people that completely contradict each other--hurray for the British. My music class covered the beginnings of Israeli rock and roll which was initially patterned after the Beatles. When they tried to come to Israel, the government wouldn't let them because they deemed their music to be "detrimental" to the sabra culture Israelis were focused on cultivating. funny, eh? My third class... well, it was dropped. I was officially the only person enrolled for a total of 5 minutes before they informed me that I would need to find a different course. Somewhere small children were crying for me.
I ended up sitting in the one class that I had no interest in ever taking--Political Communication. The guy rambled the entire class and I am still waiting for someone to return those 90 minutes of my life to me. Seriously, I want them back.
Monday I went back to the director and admitted that although I like to smile during our conversations, I was really really really annoyed that I was paying to take a class that I never wanted to be in. He was very understanding and helped me find another class... again. So I now have, hopefully, a concrete schedule for the rest of the month. Instead of Environmental Issues in Israel, Arcaeological history of Jerusalem, or Political Communication, I am now taking "Conflict Resolution: Palestinians and Israeli Dialogue". The catch is that it is only 2 days a week from 330 until 7pm. So, two days a week I start at 930 and end at 7pm. Sweet.
In other, more exciting, news. My friends Judah and Ilya stayed with me saturday night, sunday, monday, and tuesday. Judah left on monday morning but Ilya and I got to spend a lot of time together over the last couple nights. He is really going all-out during his time abroad, it's fun to hear about it. At Hebrew U our network of friends is growing which makes our evenings a more crowded, but also very fun. There are a couple guys from France who been hanging out with us... and proving that I really don't remember ANY French from my summer there in 2005. However, there is a girl from Spain in one of my classes who's made me feel very good about my Spanish, which I previously thought I had forgotten. I guess my head can only hold a certain number of languages at a time--hopefully I won't wake up tomorrow speaking french, spanish, and english while forgetting all my hebrew!
Monday morning Jody returned to Israel for a few hours. He spent the year here on Year-Course and has been travelling in Britain, Scotland, France, and probably other countries as well for the last month. It was great to talk and catch up before he needed to go back to the airport and catch his much-anticipated flight back to the USA. On the family note, Ariel has been getting interview after interview with people all around Israel for his PhD stuff. I still don't totally get it, but he's been very busy! Of course, it's hard to complain about seeing him ONLY every other day when we've been living so far apart for six years :-D
Today, my class took a trip to Har Herzl and the new Yad Vashem. It was very much an academic trip and so we didn't get to really wander much. However, I was able to go see Michael Levin--a friend of mine who was killed last summer in the Lebanon War. He had visited Camp Ramah the day before he returned to Israel and we had gotten to talk about what it was like making aliyah and serving in the army (among other things). That was almost exactly a year ago. Still very hard to believe.
Anyway, I'm ready to make dinner and need to go--there's always some adventure waiting in Israel! I hope you all are doing well.
Col tuv,
AVI
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Just a few quick notes.
Thursday was another good day of classes. We got our first assignment in my Emergence of Modern State of Israel class--so far so good. The music class is also going well and it turns out that one of the people in my class played a role in the Israeli equivalent of the Broadway show "Hair". She's one of three people in my class who is not of university age (we're trying to get her to sing for the next class!). My Jerusalem the Gold class with the less-than-amazing teacher went from 9 people to 4 people. That said, I thought the second day was better than the first. More on that in a minute.
Thursday night we went out and met up with a friend of mine from Ramah Nitza Sherman. She and her friend and spending a month in Israel before going to Greece for a week--rough life. Friday, Dani, Elana, Meredith and I went to the Macheneh Yahudah shuk and got food for Shabbos dinner. Dani and I played "spot the foreigner"--he won. The rest of the afternoon we spent cooking (we had a total of 11 people for dinner!). My two years of living off campus and having to cook for myself are finally paying off! For shabbos I went with a group of friends to Shirah Chadasha. I've been there a few times before but I have never seen it so packed, literally standing room only. They run a "conserva-dox" service where men and women are separate but they participate equally in the service leading and obligations. There was a good mix of Israelis and visitors as well including my friends Yoni and Michal Shear, Judah Ferst, Talya, Sarah, and Ilya who just finished Birthright. Talya goes back to the US today after being here for almost a year--hope you got back safely Tals! After services I walked back to Kfar Studentim, it was SO nice outside. Also, coming from Spokane/Seattle, it is such a different atmosphere walking home on Shabbos in Jerusalem. Everyone was outside doing the same thing as me, cool :-D
Today has been very laid back. Most of my roommates went home for Shabbat and a lot of the people living in Kfar Studentim (including Ariel and Leora who arrived Thursday) weren't here. I also found out today that my Jerusalem the Gold class is going from 4 people...to 1. ME. Yea. Mano y mano. It'll be interesting to see whether or not Hebrew U decides to drop the course. Tonight a bunch of us are going to a free concert on the top of Masada being put on by David Broza (I think I previously told people or wrote someone different... I was wrong!) and Jackson Browne. It's supposed to start at sunrise! Should be great.
On a completely different note, Kevin Durant is now a Supersonic. Ray Allen is not. Being in Israel puts me at quite a distance from all this stuff, but it's pretty unbelievable. My take is that Seattle management is going with a young group in anticipation of moving cities. I would love to be wrong... but I won't be surprised if it's the Las Vegas/Oklahoma City Supersonics by this time next year. Oh well, maybe the UW team will take over as Seattle's bball team?
I hope you all are doing well, I'm really enjoying my time in Israel! If you want to visit, just let me know :-D
Col tuv and Shabat Shalom,
Avi
Thursday was another good day of classes. We got our first assignment in my Emergence of Modern State of Israel class--so far so good. The music class is also going well and it turns out that one of the people in my class played a role in the Israeli equivalent of the Broadway show "Hair". She's one of three people in my class who is not of university age (we're trying to get her to sing for the next class!). My Jerusalem the Gold class with the less-than-amazing teacher went from 9 people to 4 people. That said, I thought the second day was better than the first. More on that in a minute.
Thursday night we went out and met up with a friend of mine from Ramah Nitza Sherman. She and her friend and spending a month in Israel before going to Greece for a week--rough life. Friday, Dani, Elana, Meredith and I went to the Macheneh Yahudah shuk and got food for Shabbos dinner. Dani and I played "spot the foreigner"--he won. The rest of the afternoon we spent cooking (we had a total of 11 people for dinner!). My two years of living off campus and having to cook for myself are finally paying off! For shabbos I went with a group of friends to Shirah Chadasha. I've been there a few times before but I have never seen it so packed, literally standing room only. They run a "conserva-dox" service where men and women are separate but they participate equally in the service leading and obligations. There was a good mix of Israelis and visitors as well including my friends Yoni and Michal Shear, Judah Ferst, Talya, Sarah, and Ilya who just finished Birthright. Talya goes back to the US today after being here for almost a year--hope you got back safely Tals! After services I walked back to Kfar Studentim, it was SO nice outside. Also, coming from Spokane/Seattle, it is such a different atmosphere walking home on Shabbos in Jerusalem. Everyone was outside doing the same thing as me, cool :-D
Today has been very laid back. Most of my roommates went home for Shabbat and a lot of the people living in Kfar Studentim (including Ariel and Leora who arrived Thursday) weren't here. I also found out today that my Jerusalem the Gold class is going from 4 people...to 1. ME. Yea. Mano y mano. It'll be interesting to see whether or not Hebrew U decides to drop the course. Tonight a bunch of us are going to a free concert on the top of Masada being put on by David Broza (I think I previously told people or wrote someone different... I was wrong!) and Jackson Browne. It's supposed to start at sunrise! Should be great.
On a completely different note, Kevin Durant is now a Supersonic. Ray Allen is not. Being in Israel puts me at quite a distance from all this stuff, but it's pretty unbelievable. My take is that Seattle management is going with a young group in anticipation of moving cities. I would love to be wrong... but I won't be surprised if it's the Las Vegas/Oklahoma City Supersonics by this time next year. Oh well, maybe the UW team will take over as Seattle's bball team?
I hope you all are doing well, I'm really enjoying my time in Israel! If you want to visit, just let me know :-D
Col tuv and Shabat Shalom,
Avi
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