I have been in bed sick, for over a week. Last Friday we went on a walking tour of Jaffa and Tel-Aviv and when I returned home I sat down on my bed, exhausted, and realized that my throat hurt--I was sick. Since then I've alternated laying in bed, coughing an astonishing amount, sounding like Harvey Fierstein in Independence Day, volunteering, and ill-advised attempts to go out. I am not horribly ill, but I have not been resting enough to allow my body to completely heal, so this is definitely going to be a prolonged illness.
In other exciting news, I tried Lachoch (gutteral ch sound in both cases), which are something like german crepes, according to an Israeli friend of mine. I bought them for Shabbat dinner and they are wonderful. They are basically giant pancakes that have to be finished in the oven because they are too large to flip. I definitely want to learn how to make them. I bought Lachoch and challah from the bakery across the street, and the Lachoch were phenomenal, but the challah was very sub-par. Perhaps I am spoiled because my father makes homemade challah every Friday, but I expect certain standards of excellence, and hard as a brick challah does not qualify. It'll make good bread pudding though, which is probably what it is headed for.
It had been raining a lot lately. This is good, Israel needs the rain. However, like New Orleans, Israel is not well equipped for the rain. Ramla, in particular, is crazy. The streets flood, to the point that an Israeli friend suggested street kayaking, and which I definitely want to try soon. Since it is Shabbat and raining, there is genuinely nothing to do, making this the perfect day of rest.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
In Memorium
I just found out that my great-uncle, Howard Lane, passed away last night (at 3 PM US Eastern time). Rather than post another entry today, I am going to spend some time thinking about this wonderful, vivacious man. I will post something tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Election Day in Israel
Today is Election Day in Israel. Technically elections are supposed to be held every four years, but since Israel has a proportional representation parliamentary system and an ever increasing number of political parties from all (and I do mean ALL) sides of the spectrums (political, economic, religious, and ethnic) elections are called whenever the ruling party can no longer hold together a coalition of at least 61 seats (the parliment has 120). This is not a four year election. Tzipi Livni, the head of Kadima since Prime Minister Olmert stepped down from head of the party in disgrace (he's heavily suspected of fraud and corruption) in October, was unable to create a ruling coalition, which is why these elections were called.
I think the Israeli political system is totally ridiculous and ineffectual. But it has one hugely redemptive feature--Election Day is a national holiday in Israel. Shops and other hospitality industry services are still open, but everyone else has the day off. Voter turnout is amazing. Today about 50% of eligible Israelis voted. And it was raining today.*
Today we went to Rechovot, which is about ten minutes from Ramla, with our program coordinator, TG (I'm trying to avoid using names here, no one asked to be mentioned so I'd rather not). TG took us to a polling station--a school. Israel isn't really equipped for rain, so some amusing chaos insued. For instance, in Rechovot, a tree fell on power lines, and several polling stations lost electricity. The polling station we went to was part of the blackout, so people were using flashlights and candlelight to vote.
TG then tooks us to the Labour and Kadima party headquarters in Rechovot. Labour was very friendly and welcoming, and described both their election day procedures and the Israeli political system. Unfortunately, Labour did not find greatness tonight. They are now the fourth largest party in Israel, having lost their number three spot to an ultra-rightist party, Avigdor's Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu. It was an extremely tight contest between Kadima, Tzipi Livni's party, and Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi)'s party. Bibi has already been prime minister. I think he is good for Israeli national confidence but absolutely horrible for creating a strong and lasting future for Israel, which is more important to me. He's aggressively pro-settlement and anti-Arab. Fortunately, it looks like Kadima won, but only by one seat. It's unlikely that she'll be able to form a ruling coalition, so its very possible that there will be elections again in a few months.
We will see how this all turns out. I'm very hopeful. Plus, even though Israel has already had a female Prime Minister (Golda Mier, who by many standards did not technically do that great of a job), it would be nice to have another female in power.
*Something about the rain today: supposedly winter is rainy season in Israel. Until today, it had only rained for an hour or so since I'd been here. The rain made our tour difficult, but it was wonderful for the country. I hope we get more.
I think the Israeli political system is totally ridiculous and ineffectual. But it has one hugely redemptive feature--Election Day is a national holiday in Israel. Shops and other hospitality industry services are still open, but everyone else has the day off. Voter turnout is amazing. Today about 50% of eligible Israelis voted. And it was raining today.*
Today we went to Rechovot, which is about ten minutes from Ramla, with our program coordinator, TG (I'm trying to avoid using names here, no one asked to be mentioned so I'd rather not). TG took us to a polling station--a school. Israel isn't really equipped for rain, so some amusing chaos insued. For instance, in Rechovot, a tree fell on power lines, and several polling stations lost electricity. The polling station we went to was part of the blackout, so people were using flashlights and candlelight to vote.
TG then tooks us to the Labour and Kadima party headquarters in Rechovot. Labour was very friendly and welcoming, and described both their election day procedures and the Israeli political system. Unfortunately, Labour did not find greatness tonight. They are now the fourth largest party in Israel, having lost their number three spot to an ultra-rightist party, Avigdor's Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu. It was an extremely tight contest between Kadima, Tzipi Livni's party, and Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi)'s party. Bibi has already been prime minister. I think he is good for Israeli national confidence but absolutely horrible for creating a strong and lasting future for Israel, which is more important to me. He's aggressively pro-settlement and anti-Arab. Fortunately, it looks like Kadima won, but only by one seat. It's unlikely that she'll be able to form a ruling coalition, so its very possible that there will be elections again in a few months.
We will see how this all turns out. I'm very hopeful. Plus, even though Israel has already had a female Prime Minister (Golda Mier, who by many standards did not technically do that great of a job), it would be nice to have another female in power.
*Something about the rain today: supposedly winter is rainy season in Israel. Until today, it had only rained for an hour or so since I'd been here. The rain made our tour difficult, but it was wonderful for the country. I hope we get more.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The awesomeness that is Israeli Shabbat
For American Jews, Shabbat can be a tricky thing, particularly in the rural South where I grew up. Sure, a day of rest is a brilliant idea. The mind and body need the peace of pausing, and the soul will benefit from the inevitable reflection that comes with a full 24 hours of rest and davening. But in the US the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. And where I live, nothing is open on Sunday. This is less true now than when I was going up, but it is still a huge issue. Therefore, if you want to do anything specific that involves the outside world on your weekend (buy groceries, shop for clothing, handle errands) you really need to do it on Saturday. Combine that with the fact that every Sunday we went into Atlanta (an hour drive there and an hour drive back) for religious school, and you've got a weekend without much of a Sabbath rest.
My father makes Shabbat dinner every Friday night, complete with a fabulous homemade (and lately partly-whole wheat) challah and some sort of fabulous gourmet meal. We light Shabbat candles and bless the wine and the challah and share a meal together. It's an amazing cap to the week. But then Saturday becomes a day full of things that need to be done. Periodically there is some sort of pause or plan that is meant to honor Shabbat, but it doesn't really happen so much.
In Israel, this doesn't happen. The weekend is Friday and Saturday (not Saturday and Sunday). Shops start closing Friday afternoon. Saturday nothing is open except for a few convenience stores. Now admittedly, Friday night plenty is open in Tel-Aviv, and as my last post might suggest, we go out quite a bit. But Shabbat is for rest. I still handle money, but its the monit sherut (shared taxi) fare to go to the beach. I love this. It's enforced Shabbat--you have no business you can complete, so you might as well rest and relax. A quieted mind and a unstressed body, the stresses of everyday life removed--it's wonderful!
The opportunity for a genuine Shabbat is embraced here, even by secular Jews. While I am sure some people do work on Saturday (the convenience store men and monitim drivers obvious), it is not generally done. I like that in Israel one can observe the sabbath without having it be inherently observant from a religious imperative, its simply an aspect of Jewish culture in Israel.
Obviously, the Muslims don't work on Friday, and the Arab quarters are generally the area to go for places that are still open on Saturday. And this is my only hesitance about Shabbat and Israel, and it is not very strong. By having a nation-wide general observance that the sabbath is different day that should not be treated like the others, we limit the minority religions. This is the case in the US for us, and it is frustrating in many ways. But Israel is a Jewish country, and the US is technically not a Christian country, so it is less offensive to me here.
I'm going to go make a sandwich of chicken schnitzel leftovers (I make excellent schnitzel, which is a pleasant surprise) and then spend my day observing Shabbat with rest, if not strict religous observance.
My father makes Shabbat dinner every Friday night, complete with a fabulous homemade (and lately partly-whole wheat) challah and some sort of fabulous gourmet meal. We light Shabbat candles and bless the wine and the challah and share a meal together. It's an amazing cap to the week. But then Saturday becomes a day full of things that need to be done. Periodically there is some sort of pause or plan that is meant to honor Shabbat, but it doesn't really happen so much.
In Israel, this doesn't happen. The weekend is Friday and Saturday (not Saturday and Sunday). Shops start closing Friday afternoon. Saturday nothing is open except for a few convenience stores. Now admittedly, Friday night plenty is open in Tel-Aviv, and as my last post might suggest, we go out quite a bit. But Shabbat is for rest. I still handle money, but its the monit sherut (shared taxi) fare to go to the beach. I love this. It's enforced Shabbat--you have no business you can complete, so you might as well rest and relax. A quieted mind and a unstressed body, the stresses of everyday life removed--it's wonderful!
The opportunity for a genuine Shabbat is embraced here, even by secular Jews. While I am sure some people do work on Saturday (the convenience store men and monitim drivers obvious), it is not generally done. I like that in Israel one can observe the sabbath without having it be inherently observant from a religious imperative, its simply an aspect of Jewish culture in Israel.
Obviously, the Muslims don't work on Friday, and the Arab quarters are generally the area to go for places that are still open on Saturday. And this is my only hesitance about Shabbat and Israel, and it is not very strong. By having a nation-wide general observance that the sabbath is different day that should not be treated like the others, we limit the minority religions. This is the case in the US for us, and it is frustrating in many ways. But Israel is a Jewish country, and the US is technically not a Christian country, so it is less offensive to me here.
I'm going to go make a sandwich of chicken schnitzel leftovers (I make excellent schnitzel, which is a pleasant surprise) and then spend my day observing Shabbat with rest, if not strict religous observance.
This is my away message right now:
Quick review of bars and clubs in Tel-Aviv:
Rosa Parks: Has a sketch of the activist on their napkins, which is pretty awesome. The guys there were not sketchy and the bartender was very cool/patient with us.
Alcohome: Great name. The stairs to the bathroom are deadly. Cheap drinks.
The club next to Alcohome (Ben Yehuda and Arlozorolov): Very boring music selection, but nice crowd of people.
Villa: Owned by a Tulane kid, who wants it to be like the Palms. It's exam time, so maybe it's different during the rest of the year, but the crowd was super young, and the music was NOT the best. Very last year's Top 40. Supposedly this was an "it" club this summer. At the moment its a big high school party in a nicer setting, which can be fun, but provides limited dancing. Also, my friend met a male model who said he didn't drink beer for the carbs. That was depressingly unmasculine and caused us to not want to talk to him anymore.
One of the many Murphy's Irish Beer/Pub Sign Places: Looked like old Bruno's on the inside. Totally empty, but really fun people took us there. And despite the fact that we were leaving, the bartender told us what to say to get into the next club.
Lima Lima: Great music, and amazing mix of straight and gay crowd, which means incredible dancing. It was fun. "25 and older" some nights... which is not so true if you are a female tourist.
General Conclusions: We've done most of the low end of Ben-Yehuda, so it's time to switch to Allenby, which seems potentially more fun.
Rosa Parks: Has a sketch of the activist on their napkins, which is pretty awesome. The guys there were not sketchy and the bartender was very cool/patient with us.
Alcohome: Great name. The stairs to the bathroom are deadly. Cheap drinks.
The club next to Alcohome (Ben Yehuda and Arlozorolov): Very boring music selection, but nice crowd of people.
Villa: Owned by a Tulane kid, who wants it to be like the Palms. It's exam time, so maybe it's different during the rest of the year, but the crowd was super young, and the music was NOT the best. Very last year's Top 40. Supposedly this was an "it" club this summer. At the moment its a big high school party in a nicer setting, which can be fun, but provides limited dancing. Also, my friend met a male model who said he didn't drink beer for the carbs. That was depressingly unmasculine and caused us to not want to talk to him anymore.
One of the many Murphy's Irish Beer/Pub Sign Places: Looked like old Bruno's on the inside. Totally empty, but really fun people took us there. And despite the fact that we were leaving, the bartender told us what to say to get into the next club.
Lima Lima: Great music, and amazing mix of straight and gay crowd, which means incredible dancing. It was fun. "25 and older" some nights... which is not so true if you are a female tourist.
General Conclusions: We've done most of the low end of Ben-Yehuda, so it's time to switch to Allenby, which seems potentially more fun.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Only the Second of Ulpan and my Brain is already fried...
I did not realize how exhausting five hours of ulpan (hebrew classes) a day would be. Since I know my letters very well, the last hour and a half of the class I just work in the book. Nevertheless, it is incredible draining. Everyone in the program is feeling the exhaustion. I would have loved to go into Tel-Aviv tonight, but I simply didn't have the energy. I barely had the energy to look through my notes from today's lessons (I keep the vocabulary we learn in a seperate notebook and I'm trying to transcribe the new words from each lesson at night).
Yesterday (Monday) we did not have ulpan (the Israeli work/school week is Sunday through Thursday), thanks to our teacher being unavailable, so my friend and I went into Tel-Aviv and sat on the beach during the afternoon. Most of the program went to see Waltz with Bashir, which I very much want to see, but it was too gorgeous a day to be inside a movie theatre. After the sun started to go down, we began wandering the area near the beach. We walked along Dizengoff, from Frischmann to the port, then up to Ibn Gvriol looking for a bookstore with English language books. We had mixed success, but managed to find a store with philosophy, art, psychology, and maybe 10 fiction books on a side street. I have no idea what street it was, but it definatly curved, because I thought we were walking parallel to Frischmann, but we ended up intersecting it. Then we walked back down Dizengoff to the port to a sushi restaurant. All told it was a four hour walk. By some miracle I am not sore today, but I'm sure it explains some of my exhaustion.
Yesterday (Monday) we did not have ulpan (the Israeli work/school week is Sunday through Thursday), thanks to our teacher being unavailable, so my friend and I went into Tel-Aviv and sat on the beach during the afternoon. Most of the program went to see Waltz with Bashir, which I very much want to see, but it was too gorgeous a day to be inside a movie theatre. After the sun started to go down, we began wandering the area near the beach. We walked along Dizengoff, from Frischmann to the port, then up to Ibn Gvriol looking for a bookstore with English language books. We had mixed success, but managed to find a store with philosophy, art, psychology, and maybe 10 fiction books on a side street. I have no idea what street it was, but it definatly curved, because I thought we were walking parallel to Frischmann, but we ended up intersecting it. Then we walked back down Dizengoff to the port to a sushi restaurant. All told it was a four hour walk. By some miracle I am not sore today, but I'm sure it explains some of my exhaustion.
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