Tuesday, May 25, 2010
יום הסטודנטים
A few weeks ago was the big celebration of יום הסטודנטים at the Technion University in Haifa. Students from all Haifa Universities and Colleges came to the Technion for two nights of fun, drinking, and concerts. It is supposed to be a celebration of the students of Israel, giving us an opportunity to blow off some steam, have a good time, and make some new friends. I went with my roommate and his friend. We spent the first hour of this adventure sitting outside of the event drinking the famous Israeli alcohol, Arak and after we were thoroughly "happy" we continued into the celebrations. Besides paying 100 shekels to get in, it was a pretty awesome experience. There were hundreds if not thousands of students from all over. There were hundreds of food and beer stands. There were two big stages, one with a DJ and a dance floor and the other with famous Israeli bands playing. While walking around for the first hour was eye opening and interesting (probably mostly due to the Arak still saturating my system) it eventually became kind of boring, especially because my roommate and his friend were not having a great time. This is understandable though when you consider how expensive the food and beer was inside. While my friends got in for free due to their membership with the Haifa University student union, my 100 shekel entrance fee basically burned a hole in my pocket. We ended up getting some Thai food (was really good by the way) and went home. It wasn't a bad night for me, even though it was a boring and frustrated night for my friends, I have now had the opportunity to see what student life is like in Haifa on a whole new level. Back at Clark events are smaller because it is a small school, so having this many people representing the two major schools of Haifa was incredibly awesome and eye opening.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Problems, always problems
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3873560,00.html
Here is a classic situation where you just want to smack some people!
Here is a classic situation where you just want to smack some people!
Tales of going home with an Israeli
I have now gone home with my roommate twice and both times have been awesome. Yes, usually it ends up that we watch Prison Break for most of the day and generally don't wake up until past noon (after a previous night of drinking the extra sleep is welcome), but the experience is welcome and nothing beats meeting new friends and family. The day tends to go something like this:
1) Wake up past noon (generally) and immediately put on Prison Break to catch up from where we left off the night before
2) After watching a few episodes of Prison Break, my roommate has almost always already called a friend up who meets us at the house and from there we go to another friends house. Then we sit for a few hours talking and drinking coffee.
3) We return to the house for a few hours and a few more episodes of Prison Break, then head out for a night of drinking either at a pub or at someones house.
4) We stumble back into his house around 4 or 5 in the morning. My roommate whips up a batch of his famous pasta and sauce which we then proceed to devour
5) We get into bed and watch more Prison Break until we fall asleep only to repeat the cycle the next morning which usually involves rewatching an episode that one of us fell asleep during.
3) We return to the house for a few hours and a few more episodes of Prison Break, then head out for a night of drinking either at a pub or at someones house.
4) We stumble back into his house around 4 or 5 in the morning. My roommate whips up a batch of his famous pasta and sauce which we then proceed to devour
5) We get into bed and watch more Prison Break until we fall asleep only to repeat the cycle the next morning which usually involves rewatching an episode that one of us fell asleep during.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
MASA conference and Hadag Nachash
Last night I went along with several others from the international school to see a Hadag Nachash concert (Hadag Nachash is a very popular Israeli band). After getting through the layers of security, we finally found our seats, expecting some speakers and a kick ass concert. Suddenly, in walks B.B. Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel. I had heard something about him being there, but it didn't sink in until I heard the words, "Please rise for the Prime Minister Netanyahu". Netanyahu is a very good speaker, very good! He went to Harvard University in Boston which explains it all. His speech was inspiring and powerful, however, the message I feel was simple and something I have heard many times before: "Israel is Your home". I guess it depends who you are talking to...but my opinion aside, a good speech with a lot of passion. If I were an idealistic high school student, I would make Aliyah in 2 minutes, alas, I am 21 with a passion for Hiking, playing the drums, and Emergency Medicine...while I plan on making Aliyah next year, it is because I do really enjoy living in this country, Zionism aside.
After the speech, Hadag Nachash played an awesome show. It has been about three years since I saw them in concert last at Brandeis University. It was an awesome night and Hadag Nachash has and continues to be a big favorite of mine as far as Israeli bands go.
After the speech, Hadag Nachash played an awesome show. It has been about three years since I saw them in concert last at Brandeis University. It was an awesome night and Hadag Nachash has and continues to be a big favorite of mine as far as Israeli bands go.
The past few months...a reflection
As I sit in my room now, with only weeks separating me from my return to the US, I can't help but reflect on the good times and the bad times that I have had in Israel. It's been 4 months since I said a tearful, but excited good bye to my family at Logan Airport as I departed on my journey from Boston, to Madrid, to Tel Aviv. I reread the not my mom slipped into my backpack just as I was leaving, which she always does, with the words written on the envelop "open on the plane". I most often times forget and read these letters weeks, sometimes months after I have already departed the plan, but this time was different. On my way to Madrid, I turned off my Ipod, placed my book into the seat pocket in front of me, and placed the sudoku back into my bag. I read the note slowly, carefully, savoring each word and its meaning. I have read this letter 3 times since I have been here, once when I came, once when I was in the middle of my stay, and now towards the end of my stay and I am sure I will read it one more time before I land in Boston.
Looking at the letter now, I find the words are the same, but the meaning is different. When I left for Israel I was unhappy about where I was in life. Nothing seemed to fit, nothing seemed to make me happy anymore. These words were meant as encouragement and they still are, but now, as I read, its all different: "By the time you read this card you will be up in the air, well on your way to another wonderful adventure...I know you will gain so much from this experience. Remember life is not smooth. It is the roller coaster effect that makes life challenging, keeps us on our toes, and keeps life interesting--a life-long learning process. Remember this when challenges arise in Israel--and they will--but you love this place and want to be there".
There have been tons of challenges here. Re-familiarizing myself with the culture in Israel, making friends, trying endlessly to work for MDA (still in the works), figuring out how to use the buses and which stations to go to, all of these things and more have been challenges. I remember the first two weeks here when I stayed with my friend Shai, I was too scared to use the buses because I didn't know which bus went where or what station was what. Jerusalem was even scarier when I went to meet with the MDA people, I ended up getting lost and arrived a few hours late for my interview. I couldn't speak a lot of Hebrew, let alone understand it, and I was frustrated. The first few weeks...no, I would go as far as the first month...in Israel were angering, frustrating, depressing, and I wanted nothing more than to return home. However, just like what my mom wrote to me in this letter (which I re-read around this time), she repeated to me in Jerusalem during my family's visit, "once you accept Israel as just another country in the world, a place like any other, if you still love it after that, then you know you can live here". That is more or less what she told me that day and it has stuck with me ever since.
Israel is not a place where grand miracles happen or where the Messiah comes flying down to your rescue, it is not a place where everything is perfect (far from it), nor is it a place where everything is bad, it is not a place where all people are treated equally, nor is it a place where people are repressed. Israel is Israel. I love this country for the simple fact that every morning when I wake up and look out my window, I see a world of possibilities, a place that needs help, that needs molding. I look out at night from this same window and see the mist coming off the water and settling over the dark city, with the lights reflecting off of these clouds displaying an almost heavenly world. I love Israel for the simple fact that I feel connected here, with the people and the nature. I love Israel for its nature, its beauty, its unique contrast between desert and forest. I love Israel for all of the people I have met and become friends with, this most importantly. If it were not for the people that I have met these past four months, I don't think I would have wanted to come back, they are the primary reason now, that I wish to return next year. Ideology is only a small piece of the bigger picture for me. Most of my ideological thinking has vanished with my current stay here. I wish to come back and live in Israel because of my friends...my new family.
Coming back from Italy at the beginning of April, I walked from the terminal to the passport control booth. As soon as I reach the ramp just before the booths a sensation filled within me...I am home. It must have repeated in my head many more times as I waited in line to have my passport checked, thinking next year I won't be in the line with foreign passport holders, next year I will be in the line for Israeli passports. As I arrived in the Sherut into Haifa, I said aloud to myself for the first time..."I am home". This sensation will stay with me for as long as I live, through the roller coaster that is life. My mom was right, this roller coaster keeps us on our toes and keeps life interesting, without it, I would not be returning to Israel. אני אוהב את ישראל מכל הלב! ברוכים הבאים לחיים!
Looking at the letter now, I find the words are the same, but the meaning is different. When I left for Israel I was unhappy about where I was in life. Nothing seemed to fit, nothing seemed to make me happy anymore. These words were meant as encouragement and they still are, but now, as I read, its all different: "By the time you read this card you will be up in the air, well on your way to another wonderful adventure...I know you will gain so much from this experience. Remember life is not smooth. It is the roller coaster effect that makes life challenging, keeps us on our toes, and keeps life interesting--a life-long learning process. Remember this when challenges arise in Israel--and they will--but you love this place and want to be there".
There have been tons of challenges here. Re-familiarizing myself with the culture in Israel, making friends, trying endlessly to work for MDA (still in the works), figuring out how to use the buses and which stations to go to, all of these things and more have been challenges. I remember the first two weeks here when I stayed with my friend Shai, I was too scared to use the buses because I didn't know which bus went where or what station was what. Jerusalem was even scarier when I went to meet with the MDA people, I ended up getting lost and arrived a few hours late for my interview. I couldn't speak a lot of Hebrew, let alone understand it, and I was frustrated. The first few weeks...no, I would go as far as the first month...in Israel were angering, frustrating, depressing, and I wanted nothing more than to return home. However, just like what my mom wrote to me in this letter (which I re-read around this time), she repeated to me in Jerusalem during my family's visit, "once you accept Israel as just another country in the world, a place like any other, if you still love it after that, then you know you can live here". That is more or less what she told me that day and it has stuck with me ever since.
Israel is not a place where grand miracles happen or where the Messiah comes flying down to your rescue, it is not a place where everything is perfect (far from it), nor is it a place where everything is bad, it is not a place where all people are treated equally, nor is it a place where people are repressed. Israel is Israel. I love this country for the simple fact that every morning when I wake up and look out my window, I see a world of possibilities, a place that needs help, that needs molding. I look out at night from this same window and see the mist coming off the water and settling over the dark city, with the lights reflecting off of these clouds displaying an almost heavenly world. I love Israel for the simple fact that I feel connected here, with the people and the nature. I love Israel for its nature, its beauty, its unique contrast between desert and forest. I love Israel for all of the people I have met and become friends with, this most importantly. If it were not for the people that I have met these past four months, I don't think I would have wanted to come back, they are the primary reason now, that I wish to return next year. Ideology is only a small piece of the bigger picture for me. Most of my ideological thinking has vanished with my current stay here. I wish to come back and live in Israel because of my friends...my new family.
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.
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
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