Reflections of the Earth

Reflections of the Earth
In a field in the outskirts of Rome

Friday, April 30, 2010

Bureaucracy...its a bitch

Israel...as wonderful as a country it may be has a major major problem. No, I am not talking about the Israeli-Arab conflict, frequent wars, poverty, sex trafficking, thick hotheadedness, bad leadership, and drugs...no, these are just a few other major problems in the country. The big problem, in my opinion, BUREAUCRACY!!!! I have been consistently learning this fact the hard way over the course of my stay here. This point was, and is continuing to be, further reiterated through my dealings with Magen David Adom (Israel's National Ambulance Service). Thankfully I was able to take the test without much trouble, but I still had to take the Hebrew portion...easy right? A simple phone call is all that is needed to complete that section and I am golden! NOT! I call the head honcho at least 6 times towards the end of the week after my test, no answer. I call him on Friday, not there, Call him on Sunday, not available, I call him on Monday, he is busy and can't talk. I call him again in between classes, finally reaching him, and he says call at 8pm...no problem, that just requires me to pick up the phone at 8pm and call, no big deal. WRONG! 8pm roles around, I call his phone, by the way there is no ringing, and hear this: "Circum Shalom, the person you are trying to reach right now is currently unavailable..." I wait for the answering machine...there is none. I call again, and it goes straight into this obnoxious woman telling me the obvious, that clearly my friend at MDA has either disconnected his phone or he has turned it off (considering the number worked earlier, I assume he turned it off). So I go searching for another number he might have called me from, I find it and call. Sure enough, he is finally answering (9pm by the way, an hour after I started this calling adventure). He gives me the test which lasts literally 5 minutes...5 MINUTES!!!! (He couldn't have just given this test to me earlier?) I pass the test no problem with only a few minor mistakes mainly due to the static that just so happens to increase when he speaks (go figure). Then he deals me the deathblow...he couldn't get in touch with the base in Haifa, but they are supposed to call him back tomorrow and then he will call me with their number and I can start signing up for shifts. As excited as I was that I passed and that I could finally start shifts, I also realized that what he just said meant that the base was not going to get back to him, and even if they did, he probably wouldn't call me for a few weeks with the information, and lets not even get started with the possibility of me having to try and get in touch with the base.

When all is said and done, its what being in Israel is all about, if you can't handle it, go home, if you can, its worth every minute of BS that you go through and waste trying to do even the most simple things such as scheduling a shift. In any case, I am going to call on Sunday and sort the whole thing out, but this is a case in point in how annoying, frustrating, angering, and rewarding Israeli society can be.

A run in the park

Running in Carmel Park late in the evening is an experience that is paralleled by no other. As I run, I have the sunset of the Mediterranean at my back, the clouds glowing orange, then purple, blue, and red. As my feet hit the pavement, the sound becomes part of the never ending chorus of the park. Deep down in the ravine below me, I can hear the bullfrogs singing their nightly song, the wolves howling chimes in with the rush of the breeze swaying the grass around me. The fresh smell of night descends upon me as my legs carry me as if on a cloud. Around and round I go, through the mountains of the Carmel.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sirens and memorials

Today is Israel's Memorial Day (יום הזיכרון) for the 22,684 Jews who have died in the founding and defense of the State of Israel. Its a somber day filled with high emotion. Some families have lost more than one son or daughter over the years of violence that has afflicted this country. While this day is a day of remembering, it is also one of honoring those who came from far away to serve a small country that is not much larger than New Jersey and perished, often alone without family. The sirens started last night at 8pm and this morning they sounded again at 11am. The piercing sound of the sirens hits your heart and you feel, for a brief moment, like the whole world has stopped. Cars on the roads below stopped and the occupants stood next to their cars at עמוד אדום or attention. זכור את אלה שנפלו בהגנה על מדינת ישראל.

To all the soldiers who died founding and defending the State of Israel, we salute you.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Italy...continued...

Italy was an awesome adventure. I have always wanted to get there, but have never had the chance. We ended up going to Florence, Venice, overnight train to Naples, and finished up in Rome. We saw The David (a very big statue in real life). I found it particularly funny that the Italians have a great sense of humor when it comes to David's genitalia. We also went to the science museum in Florence where we saw some very cool inventions by DaVinci...and DaVinci's middle finger in a jar...yes a jar.


Some cool things happen when you travel. For example, my friend Yonatan was supposed to be in Italy at the same time as me, but we had no way to get in touch about where we were in Italy, so I thought there is no chance I will meet up with him...WRONG! Right in the middle of the train station in Florence is Yonatan walking around with scone in hand.

Continuing on then...we left Florence for Venice where we went to the old government building which is part art museum, part historical museum about the political and judicial life of Venice. We went on the second day to the glass factory on the Island of Glass where the girls continued on to the glass museum and us guys drifted around on the water bus. Here, another incredibly funny event happened. As Steve and I are getting gelato on the main island, we see a Native American troupe playing music in the middle of the square...weird...very out of place, but interesting none-the-less. The second day in Venice also signaled the end of פסח which meant the two people on our trip keeping kosher for Pesach could finally eat bread and drink beer/wine. We caught the overnight train to Naples and so began the second half of the trip.

We arrived in Naples and had a taxi driver with his first day on the job and had no idea where he was going, but eventually we got a train out to Pompeii which was an incredible sight. It is hard to describe in words, but to walk down the streets where so much history happened and so well preserved! There are actually bodies still there, forever frozen in time...absolutely incredible and a must see on any trip to Italy. You need a full day at Pompeii to understand the scale of the disaster there and also to just get through the area (it is massive). The second day we visited Herculaneum where the explosion of Vesuvious also caused extensive damage and burial of nearly the entire city. Again, this is another must see sight in Naples, though it wont take you the whole day, you will need several hours at the very least to enjoy it.

Finally, we ended our trip in Rome. The first day was a tour of the Colosseum and ancient Forum of Rome. The Colosseum is an incredible sight to see, though without a tour there isn't much to derive from it other than just another pile of rocks in a formation. The tour was fantastic with great stories and history. The tour of the Colosseum was immediately followed up by a tour of the Forum and Emperor's palace which is very well preserved, thanks to the Vatican covering it in dirt to literally blot out paganism. The Vatican also "recycled" stones from the Colosseum, the forum, and other ancient Roman buildings in order to build St. Peter's Basilica. The next day was the Vatican tour. The Vatican, with all the money it has, does not have very good metal detectors so we ended up being stuck in line for an hour and a half or so because one of their metal detectors broke down. The Vatican was mainly a massive art museum, but it was beautiful with tapestries, very detailed and accurate map paintings, and ceilings so well painted it actually looked like parts of the ceiling was protruding when it was simply painted flat. All in the perspective!

Each room got more and more detailed and fantastic until finally we ended at the Sistine Chapel. Some great stories about the paintings, but I will fill in those stories another time.

All in all a great trip! Italy is a great place with lots to see!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

יום השואה

"The Butterfly"

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing

against a white stone. . . .

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished to

kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,

in the ghetto.

- by Pavel Friedman

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Italy

A quick shout out from Italy. Currently in Venice. We just got here after two days of touring Florence. We saw the David and several museums in the city. More detail to follow. As for today, we visited the main palace of Venice and an art museum. Again, more to come!