rumiNATIONs

Some random thoughts and observations I've had the past few days (and months) living in this crazy f-upped city of J-town:

-There's this Arab family that lives in the dorm complex. I guess they never got the letter telling them that this area has become a dorm community. Whatever. I wouldn't care, except they own this rooster. Again, I have no problem with roosters; in fact, I love the idea of a natural alarm clock. But you see, this is no ordinary rooster. This rooster waits until the most unconventional and irritating time to let out it's triumphant crow. I'll be getting ready for bed at 1 or 2 in the morning and then it starts, not halting for the next ten minutes. Or even during the day time, mid-afternoon, around 2 or 3. I have no idea what is wrong with this rooster. The best explanation came from my one of my friends. She suggested that it's blind.

-Israel doesn't have squirrels...it has cats. Stray cats are everywhere here. Some I understand why they are stray...they are uuugly. Like just today, a dirty, grey cat with one ear starting screeching its frightening purr. It's cats like these that get it on in public. But some are too cute to be stray. I saw this one cat with beautiful blue eyes and sleek white fur. It even had a collar with a fun jingly bell. Ok. I made that last part up. I just hope that dirty grey one doesn't find out about it.

-Time for mad props of the week: Israeli bus drivers. Talk about cajones. Though I am forbidden to ride on those wretched vehicles, I would imagine my rides to be quite frightening, barely able to speak for fear that any bus stop could be the "one." To go through that drill everyday and not be fazed...mad props. My friend who rides buses told me that he saw a bus driver not let some kid on because the kid had dark skin. Even more props. Who said racial profiling was a bad thing?

-Every Thursday night in the German Colony Israeli hippies rent out the Shira Hadasha temple and put on an insane dance-off known affectionately as "boogie." Think USY dance but for smelly hippies. And you're not always trying to hook up with someone. Well, maybe you are, but you're much less inclined to with the strange smells that congest the air of the crowded dancehall. Boogie draws the wierdest of the wierd from all over Jerusalem and provides them with a release of all their pent up rage in the form of freaky, strange, interpretive dance. And I use the term "interpretive" with great liberty. Flailing arms, high knee kicks, and twisting hips surround you. Very rarely do I go to a club that makes me feel like the best dancer in the house...thank you boogie.

I'll add more later as I think of them. Shalom.

Hooray for Peace!

A free bus to Tel-Aviv? How could I not turn that down?
Last night being one of the 10,000 rallyers at the peace rally that started at Rabin Square, I knew I had no choice but to make myself seen and heard. Unfortunately, one of the blokes I was with thought of this plan first and walked around with his shirt off having fellow rallyers sign his naked body. Oh well. I still found a really cool sign to carry around that said "Noar Avodah: Ein Derekh Achera" meaning Labor Youth: There's no other way."
Unfortunately, the settlers who called the rally a failure were sort of right; I never felt that into the rally and it never seemed that passionate. Sure we all sang Hatikva at the end and waved around banners and flags, but it pales in comparison to the Gush Katif rally in Jerusalem a month ago. Of course, those rallying for the Gush Katif cause were rallying to keep their homes as compared to last night's rally in favor of giving up their homes, but it's still important to consider the greater cause here, peace upon the nation.
After the rally we were hungry so we found a sabech place (i think that's what it's called) and ate like arabian kings. Then two of my buddies were still hungry so they got a few slices of pie from the pizza place across the street.
Changing the subject completely, I added some pictures from that bike ride I went on with OSA a few weeks ago. I hope they're enjoyable. I have to go to my internship today and then write a 1 page paper for my Arab-Israeli conflict class. I'm not really sure what to write about but I should be able to think of something.

"Anyone who does not believe in miracles is not a realist"

This is a famous Ben Gurion quote that I was enlightened with this evening at a Jewish Pride lecture I attended that wound up leaving a pretty deep impact on me. I was not planning on going originally. There were flyers all over the Rothberg Center flashing "FREE PIZZA AND BEER!" I've been through this drill before: Jeff Seidel's ultra-religious brainwashing cohorts lure in unassuming college kids by offering free food and then go on to give an hour and a half lecture on some extreme Jewish ideology. For this reason I had no intention of going to the Student Center, the home of all of this madness...free beer or not. However, everything changed after I signed offline and fell asleep. During my nap today I dreamed about nothing other than indulging in all the free pizza and beer I could dream of (sorry). Waking up in a fit of sweat, I had only one thing on my mind: pizza and beer. I called up one of my friends who is very active in the Student Center and asked him what time the pizza and beer was supposed to take place. I was ready for it now, but he told me that it would not be for another 2 hours. I was very disappointed and contemplated not going, but I couldn't do anything to cure that craving. I do have some spaghetti and schniztel, but I knew what I wanted. Pizza and Beer.
The time finally arrives for me to go. I knew I coulnd't arrive too late or else there wouldn't be any food left so I came just on time. I walk in and to my dismay, pizza and beer is nowhere to be found. Instead, what do you know, are 2 aluminum tins full of spaghetti and schnitzel. "Are you kidding me???" I thought aloud. The kids who hang at the Student Center are nice but not the people I hang out with most of the time, so they weren't too sympathetic to my anguish. "Oh well." Argh. I made the best of the spaghetti and schnitzel anyway and loaded up on the free food. It wasn't bad, but I was still a little purturbed by the absense of my food of desire. Cruel, evil world! After the food was cleaned up, the presentation began. We were told to hush and I settled in on the couch on the side of the room. A little man with a powerpoint presentation. Nothing new so far. Title: "Jewish Pride." Uccch. More Jewish propoganda. Once it started though, I was immediately compelled by the well-placed graphic design and interesting pace of the lecture. It was not boring and full of text like usual. Rather, it was full of jokes and pictures. The lecturer, an Aisha Torah professor whose name I forget, listed, with fun graphics, the values that the Western world hold dearest today: life, justice, education, social responsibility, and family. He then took us on a thorough historical value by value analysis of these values, referring to Greek and Roman civilization mostly but at times South American and Asian, and how historically these were most certainly not the values. He wrapped it up by pointing out that not only during all of these eras and times the Jews have consistently valued those key concepts (all values derived from the Torah) on the highest level, but are also the projectors of those values onto all of the world. I know it sounds a little trite, but he referred to many non-Jews who have made very similar claims, most notably John Adams, and it was actually quite entertaining, if not convincing.
When I was in Paris with a good friend last semester, my friend asked me how I can not feel a bit pompous and "full of myself" being one of the "chosen people." I tried explaining that I do not, as do most modern Jews, believe that we are in fact better than, let alone "chosen" over anyone else, and if we are, he too then is "chosen" being a Christian...his religion just preferred to absolve itself of that burden. My friend was not too happy with that response, but I had nothing else to give him.
This lecture touched directly on that point by explaining that we are not the chosen people, but rather God was chosen by Abraham and thus through covenant Abraham was chosen by God. This explanation lead me to the realization that being "chosen" simply means having the responsibility to maintain that covenant with God -- that covenant to live life to the fullest through guidance of the Torah. Free beer and pizza or not.

Shuk Chic

I woke up this morning feeling out of it and rude. I had a really creepy dream involving 50 Cent (a hardcore gangsta rapper) and bad behavior and it left me feeling hungover by the time I woke up. Strange I know, but it happens sometimes. I mean, I still remember the dream now, very clearly, which is a rarity. I'd post it but I don't want to scare my little cousins who read this blog.
Anyway, I figured that drinking some coffee should be just the thing to get my mind back into the "awake" state of being, but I had to go to ulpan first before buying any.
I dropped my Honors Seminar and International Relations class. So now my schedule consists of ulpan, Israeli culture through film, Arab-Israeli conflict, and Internship. I'm also hosting an hour of English radio on Hebrew U's radio staton. It should be fun but time consuming. I think I'm gonna stick with the Truman Institute internship. I'm really not at all thrilled with the other one. All I do is sit at a desk and check my e-mail and such. It would be worth it if I were getting paid, but since I have to write a paper it'd be kinda difficult to make up something completely out of nowhere. I mean it's possible (lord knows I do it all the time) but I think it'd be alot more worthwhile to do something with a little more depth.
I went to the shuk today with my Israeli friend Yitzchak and his friend Ariel. There I bought some fruit and halva. The shuks the most fun when you're able to browse things slowly and stay laid-back amongst all the hustle and bustle around. Ariel was the funniest. He bought an entire plastic shopping bag full of oatmeal. That's about it. I had some salad for lunch and some coke. Tomorrow I have nothing but Friday I'm going on this day-long biketrip through OSA. One of the Israeli madrichot is leading it and she is funny, so it should be fun for only that reason.