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
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
I realize that my posts are a little confusing. Often I have been writing them before I go to sleep and planning to send them the next morning... so that's why the post on Thursday says that it's Tuesday night--sorry. Well, right now it is just after midnight on Thursday, I finished my first day of classes and am getting more and more settled. I have class from 9:30 until 5pm each day not including an hour and a half for lunch and some other short breaks inbetween. Nonetheless, it is a lot. The first class is "The Emergence of the Modern State of Israel" with all the students who are participating in the Summer Institute for Israel Studies. There are about 25 of us. The class is really nice and we cover a lot in a short amount of time. Also, my teacher is very good and really has made an effort to keep everyone comfortable and interested.
During the break I ate lunch with a friend from class before getting to my next class, "Israeli society as Reflected Through Music, Literature, and Film." Another good class...with only 7 people. Ruthie is in the class with me along with her cousin and our friend Stan. This class has a weird set-up though--there are three teachers who take turns teaching over the course of the month. So we started with music and the woman busted through almost 100 years of music history and the changes going on in Palestine musically before the founding of the State of Israel. She didn't hesitate to voice her frustration of having to go so quickly which made things pretty funny for the rest of us.
The last class of the day is "Jerusalem the Gold" which is through a different Summer Institute (there are three: Israel studies, middle east studies, and bible studies). Again this class was really small--only had 9 people. Prior to beginning classes, this was the one I was most excited about. The syllabus said we were going to look at the history of Jerusalem with trips to different archaeological sites to further explore... well... that's not exactly true. We are looking at the earliest mentions of Jerusalem dating back to before the First Temple Period to the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE). In my course with Martin Jaffe at UW this year, I think we covered that section in about 15 minutes. yea. Should be interesting. Anyway, the teacher is also a bit nuts (I told her I was majoring in Anthropology and she decided that meant I am an Anthropologist and should be able to answer any and all questions regarding the processes and strategies Anthropologists use in their field work...) but I think the class will work out.
After class I took the group bus to shop for a bit before talking to Yoni Shear, another Ramah connection. Now that I think of it, in the midst of the craziness today I saw a lot of people I know--Talia from mishlachat at Ramah, Jen Adler, Michal Shear, and Stacy Raab from when I worked in New Orleans! Anyway, the night has ended well, I ate dinner with my roommates, did a lot of reading for my classes, and hung out with friends. So it really is still Thursday this time. Hope you all are doing well - maybe I'll get some pictures up sometime soon :-D
Col tuv,
AVI
During the break I ate lunch with a friend from class before getting to my next class, "Israeli society as Reflected Through Music, Literature, and Film." Another good class...with only 7 people. Ruthie is in the class with me along with her cousin and our friend Stan. This class has a weird set-up though--there are three teachers who take turns teaching over the course of the month. So we started with music and the woman busted through almost 100 years of music history and the changes going on in Palestine musically before the founding of the State of Israel. She didn't hesitate to voice her frustration of having to go so quickly which made things pretty funny for the rest of us.
The last class of the day is "Jerusalem the Gold" which is through a different Summer Institute (there are three: Israel studies, middle east studies, and bible studies). Again this class was really small--only had 9 people. Prior to beginning classes, this was the one I was most excited about. The syllabus said we were going to look at the history of Jerusalem with trips to different archaeological sites to further explore... well... that's not exactly true. We are looking at the earliest mentions of Jerusalem dating back to before the First Temple Period to the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE). In my course with Martin Jaffe at UW this year, I think we covered that section in about 15 minutes. yea. Should be interesting. Anyway, the teacher is also a bit nuts (I told her I was majoring in Anthropology and she decided that meant I am an Anthropologist and should be able to answer any and all questions regarding the processes and strategies Anthropologists use in their field work...) but I think the class will work out.
After class I took the group bus to shop for a bit before talking to Yoni Shear, another Ramah connection. Now that I think of it, in the midst of the craziness today I saw a lot of people I know--Talia from mishlachat at Ramah, Jen Adler, Michal Shear, and Stacy Raab from when I worked in New Orleans! Anyway, the night has ended well, I ate dinner with my roommates, did a lot of reading for my classes, and hung out with friends. So it really is still Thursday this time. Hope you all are doing well - maybe I'll get some pictures up sometime soon :-D
Col tuv,
AVI
It is Tuesday evening and I begin classes at Hebrew University tomorrow. It has been a whirlwind last couple of days moving around, meeting people, and getting oriented. Monday morning I very happily left the hostel and spent the morning at the Robinson excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem. Archaeology has always fascinated me and actually was a major reason I chose to study anthropology in university. Also interesting to note that originally the word coined in Hebrew for “archaeology/archaeologist” was derived from the verb “to reveal”—however, today, we say “archaeologia” because the original word (to reveal) is used when you describe strippers. I’ve never heard of an archaeologist who was a stripper in their spare time, but it would be a great Hebrew pun.
Anyway, what made my time at the excavations so much more interesting were my interactions with the different groups there and comparing my previous experiences in the location to today’s layout. First a little frame of reference, the Robinson excavations are all around the Western Wall. Earlier this year there were Arab riots over the continuing excavation in the area because there was concern that the excavations were aimed at weakening the foundation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Having been there yesterday, I can tell you first hand—that is ridiculous. The work being done now is no where NEAR the mosque and certainly not below it to disturb any foundations. Historically, the Robinson excavations uncovered the life of Israel from the second temple period (up until 70 CE). The temple used to be only used for religious purposes, specifically sacrifices. People would travel to Jerusalem to make an offering usually coinciding with a festival or planting/harvest season. The excavations uncovered what was the market outside the synagogue where people could pay for sacrifices or trade goods. This was also the place where the cohenim (priests) and levites (2nd in command) would read Torah during the week—the origin of reading Torah on Monday and Thursday mornings in addition to Shabbat! The idea was for the commoners to fulfil the mitzvah (and obligation) of hearing the parsha without ever having to disturb their normal shopping routine. Cool, eh?
Directly behind the market were ritual baths that were used to purify oneself before making the sacrifice. These are really cool because there is a path to walk down the “dirty” side and a path to emerge from after being immersed in the water. Lots of Jews still go to the mikveh to purify themselves. From there you would walk up Robinson’s Arch (aptly named after the guy who found it) into the Temple Mount to make your sacrifice. Basically, in case you can’t tell, I am REALLY into all of the archaeology/history of this site…but I tend to ramble, so I will move on ☺.
After my time at the archaeology site, I taxied to the Ramah offices in Jerusalem to have lunch with my friend Arie Hasit. Arie is working with the Ramah Seminar groups who are in Israel for six weeks during the summer and is studying for his masters at Tel Aviv University. Ami Yares, another good friend who’s been living here all year, is also working there for the summer. His band Holler! plays at a local pub each week. It was fun seeing who else I knew that was there—turns out my cousin Yoni “G” Grundland, who was in Israel for the last six months, roommate and good friend is also working for Ramah Seminar. Yoni, if you’re reading this, he (and I) say hi!
That late-afternoon I went to Kfar hastudentim (the Hebrew U student village) to spend the night with Ariel who has been studying Arabic there for his PhD program at Northwestern. He met me outside…and walked right by me! Didn’t recognize me with all the hair and sunglasses—my hair is the longest it has ever been, yikes. It was great to see him. We hung out for the rest of the day, made dinner, and I crashed at his place in anticipation of getting my own room the next day (today).
Tuesday morning I walked to the Hebrew University campus to register. It was really hot out and it made the walk a bit less comfortable than preferred. The campus is still filled with Israelis because of the student-strike last month over tuition prices. I really like hearing all the Hebrew as I walk through the campus, however, when I got to the International School, it was as if I was not in Israel at all! Everyone was speaking English, all the signs are in English, and no one will speak Hebrew to you unless you initiate it and CONTINUE using it as the conversation progresses. Not my favorite attribute of the school so far.
One great thing has been the people. They are wonderful. I have met students from around the country and world. Most are Jewish, but not all. Also, my group, the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, is relatively small so it has been a nice change of pace from the masses of people at the UW. After orientation and a short tour of campus I got my housing assignment…twice. The first time the keys to the apartment didn’t open the door to my room, so I ended up five floors above Ariel in a cluster with four Israelis! It is a wonderful situation to be in because I want to continue progressing in my Hebrew but I am able to walk outside and see friends from my classes—and besides, the roommates are all very nice and fun to hangout with!
Aside from the confusion of classes, translations, and necessities, I am working hard on learning everyone’s names. Also, my friend Dani Charles, who I went to Israel with four years ago, worked with at Ramah, and is Avi’s cousin, is here for the summer as well—always nice to spend time with him. There seems to be more and more students that I know who are here for some program or another—it’s nice!
Anyway, that’s enough for now—I think it’s shorter than last time. Classes start tomorrow and I need sleep! Good night for now.
Col tuv,
AVI
Anyway, what made my time at the excavations so much more interesting were my interactions with the different groups there and comparing my previous experiences in the location to today’s layout. First a little frame of reference, the Robinson excavations are all around the Western Wall. Earlier this year there were Arab riots over the continuing excavation in the area because there was concern that the excavations were aimed at weakening the foundation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Having been there yesterday, I can tell you first hand—that is ridiculous. The work being done now is no where NEAR the mosque and certainly not below it to disturb any foundations. Historically, the Robinson excavations uncovered the life of Israel from the second temple period (up until 70 CE). The temple used to be only used for religious purposes, specifically sacrifices. People would travel to Jerusalem to make an offering usually coinciding with a festival or planting/harvest season. The excavations uncovered what was the market outside the synagogue where people could pay for sacrifices or trade goods. This was also the place where the cohenim (priests) and levites (2nd in command) would read Torah during the week—the origin of reading Torah on Monday and Thursday mornings in addition to Shabbat! The idea was for the commoners to fulfil the mitzvah (and obligation) of hearing the parsha without ever having to disturb their normal shopping routine. Cool, eh?
Directly behind the market were ritual baths that were used to purify oneself before making the sacrifice. These are really cool because there is a path to walk down the “dirty” side and a path to emerge from after being immersed in the water. Lots of Jews still go to the mikveh to purify themselves. From there you would walk up Robinson’s Arch (aptly named after the guy who found it) into the Temple Mount to make your sacrifice. Basically, in case you can’t tell, I am REALLY into all of the archaeology/history of this site…but I tend to ramble, so I will move on ☺.
After my time at the archaeology site, I taxied to the Ramah offices in Jerusalem to have lunch with my friend Arie Hasit. Arie is working with the Ramah Seminar groups who are in Israel for six weeks during the summer and is studying for his masters at Tel Aviv University. Ami Yares, another good friend who’s been living here all year, is also working there for the summer. His band Holler! plays at a local pub each week. It was fun seeing who else I knew that was there—turns out my cousin Yoni “G” Grundland, who was in Israel for the last six months, roommate and good friend is also working for Ramah Seminar. Yoni, if you’re reading this, he (and I) say hi!
That late-afternoon I went to Kfar hastudentim (the Hebrew U student village) to spend the night with Ariel who has been studying Arabic there for his PhD program at Northwestern. He met me outside…and walked right by me! Didn’t recognize me with all the hair and sunglasses—my hair is the longest it has ever been, yikes. It was great to see him. We hung out for the rest of the day, made dinner, and I crashed at his place in anticipation of getting my own room the next day (today).
Tuesday morning I walked to the Hebrew University campus to register. It was really hot out and it made the walk a bit less comfortable than preferred. The campus is still filled with Israelis because of the student-strike last month over tuition prices. I really like hearing all the Hebrew as I walk through the campus, however, when I got to the International School, it was as if I was not in Israel at all! Everyone was speaking English, all the signs are in English, and no one will speak Hebrew to you unless you initiate it and CONTINUE using it as the conversation progresses. Not my favorite attribute of the school so far.
One great thing has been the people. They are wonderful. I have met students from around the country and world. Most are Jewish, but not all. Also, my group, the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, is relatively small so it has been a nice change of pace from the masses of people at the UW. After orientation and a short tour of campus I got my housing assignment…twice. The first time the keys to the apartment didn’t open the door to my room, so I ended up five floors above Ariel in a cluster with four Israelis! It is a wonderful situation to be in because I want to continue progressing in my Hebrew but I am able to walk outside and see friends from my classes—and besides, the roommates are all very nice and fun to hangout with!
Aside from the confusion of classes, translations, and necessities, I am working hard on learning everyone’s names. Also, my friend Dani Charles, who I went to Israel with four years ago, worked with at Ramah, and is Avi’s cousin, is here for the summer as well—always nice to spend time with him. There seems to be more and more students that I know who are here for some program or another—it’s nice!
Anyway, that’s enough for now—I think it’s shorter than last time. Classes start tomorrow and I need sleep! Good night for now.
Col tuv,
AVI
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sometimes the best way to tell if you are having an exciting trip is by counting the number of times you say, “Ok, things could be worse.” This sounds a little pessimistic but I don’t mean it to be. Sunday afternoon I left Tel Aviv, the beach, the night life (bars and clubs), and the couch in Sarah’s apartment for Jerusalem, the Kotel, the night life (…in the old city? Not so much… maybe getting lost in the Muslim Quarter…? yea there’s a story to go with this), and the Heritage Hostel—a free place to sleep as long as you don’t mind the constant encouragement to increase your Judaism. SO. Where do I begin? How about Saturday?
Saturday, Shabbat, I rested. Then I went to the beach to rest some more. Tel Aviv is a funny place to observe Shabbat mainly because it seems like no one does. I don’t pretend to have my religious stuff all figured out, but it was pretty weird to not do or see anyone else do ANYTHING for Shabbat. I have a feeling Jerusalem will fill that need come next week. Saturday night, Sarah, Talya and I took a sheirut (BIG taxi that goes city to city) to Jerusalem to meet up with some friends who are in Israel with the UWashington Birthright Trip. Sarah Lawson, a friend who’s worked at the UW Hillel for the last two years, is leading the trip with my friend Judah who I met when I worked at Ramah Poconos. Always a small world. Shirah Rosin, another close friend who’s been in Israel all year studying at Pardes and working, also joined us even though she had to be up early the next morning ☺ Ilya Golovaty, my old roommate, is on the trip along with a bunch of other friends from school—it was really really nice to spend some time catching up and swapping stories.
After the Birthright group left, we met up with more friends from random places. The Edelstein family - Jason (who I’ve been hearing about for the last three years, he went to UW, and FINALLY met), Nathaniel (who I met at Hebrew U when I visited Andrea K, Tamara, Andrea S, Talya, and Shauna in December), and Ruthie (who is a good friend of Jody’s that I met randomly at UW and then again in Israel AND is enrolled in the same Hebrew U program as me for the next month), my friend Adam Levine who I know from CSS days… 3rd grade?, and then Aaron Taylor from Spokane who was randomly with my friend Elana Beale! All in all, LOTS of people, LOTS of different connections—a great night!
That brings me to Sunday. OHHHHH Sunday. What a day. First, I met up with Shira Rand-Lakritz who came down from Kfar Vradim to visit and we spent the majority of the early-afternoon braving the heat and chatting. Sidenote: those guys who are selling the little slushies are making a KILLING in this weather—I bought two within a half-hour and probably could have used more… Anyway, Shira and I went through the Tel Aviv shuk, I bought sunglasses so I don’t have to squint anymore. Niiiiiiiiice.
Later, Shira met up with other friends and I went back to Sarah’s to pack and go to Jerusalem. It took me a while to get my stuff together but it worked out and I only had to pay about $15 to get from Sarah’s apartment to Jerusalem (an hour’s drive away). Not bad. Grabbed a quick bite and then took a monit (taxi) to the hostel where I am staying. I got a tip from a friend about the Heritage Hostel—she said, it’s free and close to the Kotel (the western wall). Basically the only people who live around the Kotel are super religious or studying in yeshiva on their way to being super religious, so I probably should have put 1 and 1 together quicker than I did. The Heritage Hostel welcomed me with open arms—seriously, the guy hugged me. Then he proceeded to ask me for every piece of info that he could think of, we’re talking favorite ice cream, what I want to do with my life, how many kids, how I feel about Judaism—the whole shebang. Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I told him we were in the midst of moving and didn’t have an address or telephone number…
After the interrogation, I received sheets, a towel, and an “I hope you’ll join us for study in the morning—but only if you’d like to.” Yea. Thanks David. So the hostel locks its doors at midnight and it was only 9:30 so I headed out to explore. I have a great sense of direction and can usually figure out where I am without a problem. But Jerusalem’s neighborhoods are weird. Every road turns into another road even when you haven’t turned, there are almost no straight paths and the hills mean nothing—you walk UP to get the store and somehow you’re walking UP when you leave…even though you’re going the opposite direction…this makes no sense. Well, couple that with talking on the phone with Mom and you get Avi walking NOT towards the Kotel like he thought, but into the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock. For the uninitiated—you can’t just do that…which a policeman told me very nicely. And by nicely I mean without shooting me.
So I made it to the Kotel. It is another beautiful night (maybe you should assume that every night is beautiful from now on unless I say otherwise? …still batting 1.000) and I sat out by the Kotel for probably just over an hour. Even though I wasn’t praying or even standing at the wall, it was nice and very relaxing. Also got me thinking about something a friend of mine said, “If Judaism teaches that G-d is everywhere, why is it more holy to pray at a wall than anywhere else?” Hmmmmmmm. While I could debate this for a while, my short answer is that Judaism puts a lot of emphasis on our people’s shared history and the Kotel is the most physical memory of the holiest place in our history. Of course, I think the holiest moments in my life have come in other places… so what does that mean? Clearly, there’s more to talk about later.
Around 11pm I decided to go back to the hostel. I left the area by the Kotel the same way I entered (which was a new path for me) and went up the stairs, past a sign that said Police in Hebrew… and then a bunch of signs in Arabic. So I got a little confused because the Old City part of Jerusalem is split up into different quarters: The Jewish Quarter, Muslim Quarter, Armenian Quarter, and Christian Quarter. Generally, albeit sadly, most people stay in “their” quarter. When I saw the Arabic I assumed I was in the Muslim Quarter, so I turned around and went back the other direction—makes sense, right? Well, I don’t think I looked lost, even though I was, but a boy probably about twelve or thirteen comes up to me and asks in Arabic if I’m Muslim and needed help. I know a little bit of Arabic so I answered him with everything I had, “Why? …I will only pay 10 shekels for that fake jewelry!” (that’s pretty much the end of my Arabic). He then gave me very detailed directions on how to get to the Dome of the Rock. Nice? Absolutely. Helpful? Not really. So I turned around and headed back the other direction—or so I thought—I told you, those streets are TRICKY! The next path lead me past what looked like an old synagogue…except it had a big X over the Hebrew…that didn’t seem to fit in with what normally happens in the Jewish Quarter, so I turned around again. After walking through dark streets, watching children chase after rats (seriously, this happened at least 3x during the evening), and getting weird looks from the random men in the street every time I would switch back and go the other direction in hopes of finding the Jewish Quarter and my hostel… I finally asked for help.
Yes, yes, I know. This was a big step for me. I figured, I’m in a foreign country, I might as well try a foreign strategy—dependence on others. Yea. Well, turns out that the route I initially took WAS the correct direction, I just forgot to turn left down a specific road. To conclude this long long LONG story, I finally got back to the Hostel (in time to hear people discussing the meaning of life and G-d’s role versus human’s role) and get out this post before heading to bed.
I hope you all are doing well and I’ll work on shortening these blog entries,
Lila tov,
AVI
Saturday, Shabbat, I rested. Then I went to the beach to rest some more. Tel Aviv is a funny place to observe Shabbat mainly because it seems like no one does. I don’t pretend to have my religious stuff all figured out, but it was pretty weird to not do or see anyone else do ANYTHING for Shabbat. I have a feeling Jerusalem will fill that need come next week. Saturday night, Sarah, Talya and I took a sheirut (BIG taxi that goes city to city) to Jerusalem to meet up with some friends who are in Israel with the UWashington Birthright Trip. Sarah Lawson, a friend who’s worked at the UW Hillel for the last two years, is leading the trip with my friend Judah who I met when I worked at Ramah Poconos. Always a small world. Shirah Rosin, another close friend who’s been in Israel all year studying at Pardes and working, also joined us even though she had to be up early the next morning ☺ Ilya Golovaty, my old roommate, is on the trip along with a bunch of other friends from school—it was really really nice to spend some time catching up and swapping stories.
After the Birthright group left, we met up with more friends from random places. The Edelstein family - Jason (who I’ve been hearing about for the last three years, he went to UW, and FINALLY met), Nathaniel (who I met at Hebrew U when I visited Andrea K, Tamara, Andrea S, Talya, and Shauna in December), and Ruthie (who is a good friend of Jody’s that I met randomly at UW and then again in Israel AND is enrolled in the same Hebrew U program as me for the next month), my friend Adam Levine who I know from CSS days… 3rd grade?, and then Aaron Taylor from Spokane who was randomly with my friend Elana Beale! All in all, LOTS of people, LOTS of different connections—a great night!
That brings me to Sunday. OHHHHH Sunday. What a day. First, I met up with Shira Rand-Lakritz who came down from Kfar Vradim to visit and we spent the majority of the early-afternoon braving the heat and chatting. Sidenote: those guys who are selling the little slushies are making a KILLING in this weather—I bought two within a half-hour and probably could have used more… Anyway, Shira and I went through the Tel Aviv shuk, I bought sunglasses so I don’t have to squint anymore. Niiiiiiiiice.
Later, Shira met up with other friends and I went back to Sarah’s to pack and go to Jerusalem. It took me a while to get my stuff together but it worked out and I only had to pay about $15 to get from Sarah’s apartment to Jerusalem (an hour’s drive away). Not bad. Grabbed a quick bite and then took a monit (taxi) to the hostel where I am staying. I got a tip from a friend about the Heritage Hostel—she said, it’s free and close to the Kotel (the western wall). Basically the only people who live around the Kotel are super religious or studying in yeshiva on their way to being super religious, so I probably should have put 1 and 1 together quicker than I did. The Heritage Hostel welcomed me with open arms—seriously, the guy hugged me. Then he proceeded to ask me for every piece of info that he could think of, we’re talking favorite ice cream, what I want to do with my life, how many kids, how I feel about Judaism—the whole shebang. Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I told him we were in the midst of moving and didn’t have an address or telephone number…
After the interrogation, I received sheets, a towel, and an “I hope you’ll join us for study in the morning—but only if you’d like to.” Yea. Thanks David. So the hostel locks its doors at midnight and it was only 9:30 so I headed out to explore. I have a great sense of direction and can usually figure out where I am without a problem. But Jerusalem’s neighborhoods are weird. Every road turns into another road even when you haven’t turned, there are almost no straight paths and the hills mean nothing—you walk UP to get the store and somehow you’re walking UP when you leave…even though you’re going the opposite direction…this makes no sense. Well, couple that with talking on the phone with Mom and you get Avi walking NOT towards the Kotel like he thought, but into the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock. For the uninitiated—you can’t just do that…which a policeman told me very nicely. And by nicely I mean without shooting me.
So I made it to the Kotel. It is another beautiful night (maybe you should assume that every night is beautiful from now on unless I say otherwise? …still batting 1.000) and I sat out by the Kotel for probably just over an hour. Even though I wasn’t praying or even standing at the wall, it was nice and very relaxing. Also got me thinking about something a friend of mine said, “If Judaism teaches that G-d is everywhere, why is it more holy to pray at a wall than anywhere else?” Hmmmmmmm. While I could debate this for a while, my short answer is that Judaism puts a lot of emphasis on our people’s shared history and the Kotel is the most physical memory of the holiest place in our history. Of course, I think the holiest moments in my life have come in other places… so what does that mean? Clearly, there’s more to talk about later.
Around 11pm I decided to go back to the hostel. I left the area by the Kotel the same way I entered (which was a new path for me) and went up the stairs, past a sign that said Police in Hebrew… and then a bunch of signs in Arabic. So I got a little confused because the Old City part of Jerusalem is split up into different quarters: The Jewish Quarter, Muslim Quarter, Armenian Quarter, and Christian Quarter. Generally, albeit sadly, most people stay in “their” quarter. When I saw the Arabic I assumed I was in the Muslim Quarter, so I turned around and went back the other direction—makes sense, right? Well, I don’t think I looked lost, even though I was, but a boy probably about twelve or thirteen comes up to me and asks in Arabic if I’m Muslim and needed help. I know a little bit of Arabic so I answered him with everything I had, “Why? …I will only pay 10 shekels for that fake jewelry!” (that’s pretty much the end of my Arabic). He then gave me very detailed directions on how to get to the Dome of the Rock. Nice? Absolutely. Helpful? Not really. So I turned around and headed back the other direction—or so I thought—I told you, those streets are TRICKY! The next path lead me past what looked like an old synagogue…except it had a big X over the Hebrew…that didn’t seem to fit in with what normally happens in the Jewish Quarter, so I turned around again. After walking through dark streets, watching children chase after rats (seriously, this happened at least 3x during the evening), and getting weird looks from the random men in the street every time I would switch back and go the other direction in hopes of finding the Jewish Quarter and my hostel… I finally asked for help.
Yes, yes, I know. This was a big step for me. I figured, I’m in a foreign country, I might as well try a foreign strategy—dependence on others. Yea. Well, turns out that the route I initially took WAS the correct direction, I just forgot to turn left down a specific road. To conclude this long long LONG story, I finally got back to the Hostel (in time to hear people discussing the meaning of life and G-d’s role versus human’s role) and get out this post before heading to bed.
I hope you all are doing well and I’ll work on shortening these blog entries,
Lila tov,
AVI
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Israel is wonderful. Really wonderful. But I want to quickly recap my time in NYC which was really the first time I have been able to explore the city on my own!
I arrived Thursday night to beautiful weather and a long ride on the subway to my best friend Avi Spielman's apartment in the upper west side. If you don't know the story about Avi and I, briefly, we met four years ago. That was brief, right? Anyway, we met up with an old friend Jon Schwartz for dinner before Avi's girlfriend Hanna Ritt and others came over. It was a nice night that included seeing a cover band dressed up as chasidic rabbis (picture black hat, long pais--taped on in this case!, and drawn-on beards), discovering you can't wear shorts into a club, and bumping into an old friend of mine from Kansas, Lauren Rabinowitz. Like almost everyone else I met during my time in NY, Lauren is working there for the summer. Friday, I had lunch with another east-coast friend Dana Etra before going down to Times Square and exploring for a bit on my own. In my search for inexpensive broadway tickets, a person working at the 50% off same day shows area (one block off Broadway and 5th Ave) gave me great piece of info, student tickets are usually LESS THAN even the 50% off tickets! I of course failed to take advantage of the great deal, but for everyone else, who is or wants to be a student, please go for it.
After Shabbat, I met up with some friends from when I worked at Ramah three summers ago. Jen Horowitz is working in NY for the summer at Cosmo--she's a big shot :-D, and Michal Wachs is in Philly after being abroad for six months in China and learning how to be a bar tender! It was really nice to see both of them and meet some of their friends along the way. The next morning Jen, Michal, and I walked around the Union Square area--where almost all the NYU students live. There was a huge street fair and lots of crafts and music.... and I didn't have my camera! Oh well. ANOTHER beautiful day, for the fans at home, I'm batting 1.000. After an excellent sushi dinner with Avi's roommates, I met up with Lauren and her friend Jessica Shaw, who knows some of my friends at Wisconsin, before going out with Michal, Jen and some of Michal's friends from her time in China. Good people, good places, good night!
Sunday was Father's Day. Sadly none of the Zellman boys were home to celebrate with Dad--so we celebrated a week early when I was home! I did get to call and say hi, and turns out Mom and Dad will be staying not too far from where Avi lives when they come to take Jody to university in August. Anyway, later that afternoon was possibly the highlight of my time in NYC. In Central Park (about three blocks from Avi's apartment) during the summer there are free concerts at their SummerStage. Idan Raichel and his group were playing that Sunday! For the uninitiated, Idan Raichel is one of my favorite Israeli artists. They play kind of an afro-israeli-fusion sort of deal, VERY cool :-D They also came to the UWashington during my first year there and I got to meet them! Lauren and Jess met me there (an adventure in its own right). A guesstimate put the number of people there around 8,000. PACKED. Of course I ran into people from everywhere--and got messages later from friends who were there but we missed each other! Marley Blonsky, who is from Spokane and also goes to school with me, is in NYC for work this summer and apparently had just gotten to the east coast the day before! Shir Lerman is also in NYC working this summer and she was with Jason Segal who is a friend from UW but has been in Africa for the last year! It was great to bump into them--have a wonderful summer you guys!
After the concert I walked around Central Park until really late. With such nice weather, I'm not sure who would want to go inside?!? While I was walking around, I saw a couple getting married and then on a gondola ride, a dance-party of sorts with lots of people on roller skates (at first I thought it was some sort of marathon dance thing... but no... people were just dancing because dancing is fun :-D), AND I bumped into.... IDAN RAICHEL! He had stayed after the concert and was playing soccer with seven other guys. Awesome.
That night Avi got back from his cousin's bat mitzvah and we chilled with Jon. Very laid back, great change of pace. Monday was my last full day in NYC. I got in touch with the cell phone company who had my Israel cell for the summer. Their office is in Brooklyn--sounds like another good day trip! Before heading south, I met up with Jen for lunch at Columbus Circle. Such is my luck, the sun was out so walking outside was more of a pleasure than a burden (although, my feet may disagree). After lunch I followed the directions to the subway stop in Brooklyn and got out. Hmmm. Run-down residential area, lots of graffiti, ZERO people walking around. Was I wrong to feel like I had entered some movie where I was about to be dropped and forgotten about? Well, I walked past tire yards and a few abandoned warehouses (read: broken windows, graffiti, sign saying NO TRESPASSING) before I found the cellphone company's address. Third floor, back room in the middle of another office I found two guys surrounded by little cellphone boxes and electronics. wow. He gave me a small unmarked package that looked like I could be making a drug drop and I left. Of course, I wanted to explore Brooklyn a bit so I just picked a direction and started walking. Saw a few more people around and then finally ran into Broadway in ....downtown?... Brooklyn. LOTS of people there. Most people were just milling around, it's hard to do much when it's so hot out! But, I also got to watch a woman throw a fit at a hotdog stand for having to pay $1.50 even though she didn't want all the toppings. That was fairly entertaining.
A grabbed a subway from there planning to go to the financial district in Manhattan. One of the stops said "Brooklyn Bridge" though, so I decided "why not?" Got off there and I walked the Brooklyn Bridge! Very touristy, I know. But it was cool! Many thanks to the guys selling water on either side of the bridge, you will make millions if every day is as hot as it was when I was there! Got to City Hall on the other side and made my way to the World Trade Center site. I was there in 2004 and really, it looks very similar--a big construction site. I wish I had seen the towers before 9/11, it would definately give me better benchmark. Then I just started wandering. I walked into the World Financial Center, down to Wall St (which was SWARMING with interns who looked way too perky for 6pm after a workday and 90 degrees outside, and eventually to the eastern shore of Manhattan. Before heading back to Avi's place, I had one more stop to make--Katz's Deli. Expensive? maybe. Delicious? ABSOLUTELY. A great meal to finish NYC with.
After a relaxing evening in Jon's apartment with Avi, Hanna, our friend Hal Belok, and a few guys who go to school with Avi, I crashed. The next morning I got all my stuff together for Israel, said goodbyes, and (in true Avi fashion) was the last person to get to the airport and board the flight from my group. Nothing like a little anxiety to get you going in the morning.
The flight to Israel was long but easy with good company and lots of things to look forward to. So, we're caught up. Kinda.
ISRAEL! Basically, I've spent time at the beach, met up with my friend Amir Cahn, gone to a great festival in Yafo, spent time at the beach, made Shabbos with Sarah, Talya, Benji and Aviva (Sarah's roommates), and ...yea... spent time at the beach. Hard life.
So, I hope you all are doing well, I apologize for the long entry. Now I'm off... to the beach. :-D
Col tuv,
AVI
I arrived Thursday night to beautiful weather and a long ride on the subway to my best friend Avi Spielman's apartment in the upper west side. If you don't know the story about Avi and I, briefly, we met four years ago. That was brief, right? Anyway, we met up with an old friend Jon Schwartz for dinner before Avi's girlfriend Hanna Ritt and others came over. It was a nice night that included seeing a cover band dressed up as chasidic rabbis (picture black hat, long pais--taped on in this case!, and drawn-on beards), discovering you can't wear shorts into a club, and bumping into an old friend of mine from Kansas, Lauren Rabinowitz. Like almost everyone else I met during my time in NY, Lauren is working there for the summer. Friday, I had lunch with another east-coast friend Dana Etra before going down to Times Square and exploring for a bit on my own. In my search for inexpensive broadway tickets, a person working at the 50% off same day shows area (one block off Broadway and 5th Ave) gave me great piece of info, student tickets are usually LESS THAN even the 50% off tickets! I of course failed to take advantage of the great deal, but for everyone else, who is or wants to be a student, please go for it.
After Shabbat, I met up with some friends from when I worked at Ramah three summers ago. Jen Horowitz is working in NY for the summer at Cosmo--she's a big shot :-D, and Michal Wachs is in Philly after being abroad for six months in China and learning how to be a bar tender! It was really nice to see both of them and meet some of their friends along the way. The next morning Jen, Michal, and I walked around the Union Square area--where almost all the NYU students live. There was a huge street fair and lots of crafts and music.... and I didn't have my camera! Oh well. ANOTHER beautiful day, for the fans at home, I'm batting 1.000. After an excellent sushi dinner with Avi's roommates, I met up with Lauren and her friend Jessica Shaw, who knows some of my friends at Wisconsin, before going out with Michal, Jen and some of Michal's friends from her time in China. Good people, good places, good night!
Sunday was Father's Day. Sadly none of the Zellman boys were home to celebrate with Dad--so we celebrated a week early when I was home! I did get to call and say hi, and turns out Mom and Dad will be staying not too far from where Avi lives when they come to take Jody to university in August. Anyway, later that afternoon was possibly the highlight of my time in NYC. In Central Park (about three blocks from Avi's apartment) during the summer there are free concerts at their SummerStage. Idan Raichel and his group were playing that Sunday! For the uninitiated, Idan Raichel is one of my favorite Israeli artists. They play kind of an afro-israeli-fusion sort of deal, VERY cool :-D They also came to the UWashington during my first year there and I got to meet them! Lauren and Jess met me there (an adventure in its own right). A guesstimate put the number of people there around 8,000. PACKED. Of course I ran into people from everywhere--and got messages later from friends who were there but we missed each other! Marley Blonsky, who is from Spokane and also goes to school with me, is in NYC for work this summer and apparently had just gotten to the east coast the day before! Shir Lerman is also in NYC working this summer and she was with Jason Segal who is a friend from UW but has been in Africa for the last year! It was great to bump into them--have a wonderful summer you guys!
After the concert I walked around Central Park until really late. With such nice weather, I'm not sure who would want to go inside?!? While I was walking around, I saw a couple getting married and then on a gondola ride, a dance-party of sorts with lots of people on roller skates (at first I thought it was some sort of marathon dance thing... but no... people were just dancing because dancing is fun :-D), AND I bumped into.... IDAN RAICHEL! He had stayed after the concert and was playing soccer with seven other guys. Awesome.
That night Avi got back from his cousin's bat mitzvah and we chilled with Jon. Very laid back, great change of pace. Monday was my last full day in NYC. I got in touch with the cell phone company who had my Israel cell for the summer. Their office is in Brooklyn--sounds like another good day trip! Before heading south, I met up with Jen for lunch at Columbus Circle. Such is my luck, the sun was out so walking outside was more of a pleasure than a burden (although, my feet may disagree). After lunch I followed the directions to the subway stop in Brooklyn and got out. Hmmm. Run-down residential area, lots of graffiti, ZERO people walking around. Was I wrong to feel like I had entered some movie where I was about to be dropped and forgotten about? Well, I walked past tire yards and a few abandoned warehouses (read: broken windows, graffiti, sign saying NO TRESPASSING) before I found the cellphone company's address. Third floor, back room in the middle of another office I found two guys surrounded by little cellphone boxes and electronics. wow. He gave me a small unmarked package that looked like I could be making a drug drop and I left. Of course, I wanted to explore Brooklyn a bit so I just picked a direction and started walking. Saw a few more people around and then finally ran into Broadway in ....downtown?... Brooklyn. LOTS of people there. Most people were just milling around, it's hard to do much when it's so hot out! But, I also got to watch a woman throw a fit at a hotdog stand for having to pay $1.50 even though she didn't want all the toppings. That was fairly entertaining.
A grabbed a subway from there planning to go to the financial district in Manhattan. One of the stops said "Brooklyn Bridge" though, so I decided "why not?" Got off there and I walked the Brooklyn Bridge! Very touristy, I know. But it was cool! Many thanks to the guys selling water on either side of the bridge, you will make millions if every day is as hot as it was when I was there! Got to City Hall on the other side and made my way to the World Trade Center site. I was there in 2004 and really, it looks very similar--a big construction site. I wish I had seen the towers before 9/11, it would definately give me better benchmark. Then I just started wandering. I walked into the World Financial Center, down to Wall St (which was SWARMING with interns who looked way too perky for 6pm after a workday and 90 degrees outside, and eventually to the eastern shore of Manhattan. Before heading back to Avi's place, I had one more stop to make--Katz's Deli. Expensive? maybe. Delicious? ABSOLUTELY. A great meal to finish NYC with.
After a relaxing evening in Jon's apartment with Avi, Hanna, our friend Hal Belok, and a few guys who go to school with Avi, I crashed. The next morning I got all my stuff together for Israel, said goodbyes, and (in true Avi fashion) was the last person to get to the airport and board the flight from my group. Nothing like a little anxiety to get you going in the morning.
The flight to Israel was long but easy with good company and lots of things to look forward to. So, we're caught up. Kinda.
ISRAEL! Basically, I've spent time at the beach, met up with my friend Amir Cahn, gone to a great festival in Yafo, spent time at the beach, made Shabbos with Sarah, Talya, Benji and Aviva (Sarah's roommates), and ...yea... spent time at the beach. Hard life.
So, I hope you all are doing well, I apologize for the long entry. Now I'm off... to the beach. :-D
Col tuv,
AVI
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Quick Hits
It has come to my attention that there is some information I may have assumed everyone knew regarding my summer.
I am in Israel for the next three and a half months. Next week I begin classes in Jerusalem at Hebrew University. It is not an ulpan course (an intensive language program)--instead I am participating in the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, which is a fancy way of saying I am learning about the history, culture, and future of Israel. I will be living on campus during the month long program.
After that I am working in the Stagerim Program (a professional internship program) until the end of September. I am still getting details but I will probably be living outside Tel Aviv working at Bank Leumi doing international business stuff. We shall see. For those two and some months I will be living outside (or in) Tel Aviv.
I have a cellphone here. I would love to hear from you, even if it's just a quick hello.
From the USA, dial 011-972-52-386-8142
If you are also in Israel, just dial 052-386-8142... but you probably already could have figured that out!
Lastly, I tried to change the name of the blog when I started it, but I couldn't figure out how. SO, due to the number of responses requesting a change in the title, I would love to have some ideas.... and instructions on how to go about changing it! Please feel free to comment or email :-D
Hope you all are doing well, I will update, as promised, about New York soon!
Col tuv, AVI
It has come to my attention that there is some information I may have assumed everyone knew regarding my summer.
I am in Israel for the next three and a half months. Next week I begin classes in Jerusalem at Hebrew University. It is not an ulpan course (an intensive language program)--instead I am participating in the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, which is a fancy way of saying I am learning about the history, culture, and future of Israel. I will be living on campus during the month long program.
After that I am working in the Stagerim Program (a professional internship program) until the end of September. I am still getting details but I will probably be living outside Tel Aviv working at Bank Leumi doing international business stuff. We shall see. For those two and some months I will be living outside (or in) Tel Aviv.
I have a cellphone here. I would love to hear from you, even if it's just a quick hello.
From the USA, dial 011-972-52-386-8142
If you are also in Israel, just dial 052-386-8142... but you probably already could have figured that out!
Lastly, I tried to change the name of the blog when I started it, but I couldn't figure out how. SO, due to the number of responses requesting a change in the title, I would love to have some ideas.... and instructions on how to go about changing it! Please feel free to comment or email :-D
Hope you all are doing well, I will update, as promised, about New York soon!
Col tuv, AVI
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Wednesday, June 20th
Hello everyone! I arrived in Israel this morning after spending the past nine hours watching The Breach (CIA agent sells secrets to the russians--people get angry), Shooter (Mark Wahlberg kicking butt for two hours), Bridge to Teribithia (Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe meets Never Ending Story... except it really never-ended...), and the man in front of me attempt to lay in my lap while not spilling any of his sandwich on himself (entertaining but not all that much fun). For what it's worth, the flight from Newark to Tel Aviv went by quickly and I was lucky to sit next to nice people :-D
Israel is MUGGY. But the weather didn't stop me from dominating the transportation system--I maneuvered my way through the train and bus situation at 9am on almost no sleep dragging two bags behind me arriving at my friend Sarah Persitz's apartment in less than a half-hour. Good way to start the day. Sarah has been studying and working in Israel since December when we participated in winterbreak israel trips through the UW. Later we met up with another good friend Talya Gilman who has been here since July of last year also studying and working. Interestingly, I found out today that she worked through the same program that I will be starting in July (Stagerim).
So what did I do during my first day in Israel? The only thing a university student should do during break--we went to the beach! Don't worry Dad, I put on enough suntan lotion for the both of us. It was a perfect beginning to my time in Israel. Tomorrow, I may meet up with some friends who are on a Birthright trip... but nothing's set!
I will post pictures as I figure out how to use the blog---or just look for links to my facebook site. Hope everyone is doing well, I will write about my AMAZING time in NYC prior to Israel soon.
All for now,
AZ
Hello everyone! I arrived in Israel this morning after spending the past nine hours watching The Breach (CIA agent sells secrets to the russians--people get angry), Shooter (Mark Wahlberg kicking butt for two hours), Bridge to Teribithia (Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe meets Never Ending Story... except it really never-ended...), and the man in front of me attempt to lay in my lap while not spilling any of his sandwich on himself (entertaining but not all that much fun). For what it's worth, the flight from Newark to Tel Aviv went by quickly and I was lucky to sit next to nice people :-D
Israel is MUGGY. But the weather didn't stop me from dominating the transportation system--I maneuvered my way through the train and bus situation at 9am on almost no sleep dragging two bags behind me arriving at my friend Sarah Persitz's apartment in less than a half-hour. Good way to start the day. Sarah has been studying and working in Israel since December when we participated in winterbreak israel trips through the UW. Later we met up with another good friend Talya Gilman who has been here since July of last year also studying and working. Interestingly, I found out today that she worked through the same program that I will be starting in July (Stagerim).
So what did I do during my first day in Israel? The only thing a university student should do during break--we went to the beach! Don't worry Dad, I put on enough suntan lotion for the both of us. It was a perfect beginning to my time in Israel. Tomorrow, I may meet up with some friends who are on a Birthright trip... but nothing's set!
I will post pictures as I figure out how to use the blog---or just look for links to my facebook site. Hope everyone is doing well, I will write about my AMAZING time in NYC prior to Israel soon.
All for now,
AZ
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