67 יומ

So I officially only have two months left here. I am going through a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions as I am here and realizing that and more specifically, all I have yet to learn and experience. I've spent so much time just trying to get to know this city, country, and language that I haven't spent enough time meeting people and getting to know the human side of Tel Aviv and Israel. I've started to meet some more people through Guys' friends. They're all really cool, but I wish I spoke Hebrew to really be able to get to know them better. Don't get me wrong, most of them speak fantastic English, but obviously, it's not the default in large groups of Israelis. I am teaching myself Hebrew here, but it moves much slower than learning Spanish or Italian. I did just take my first quiz and I got an 84. I'm not thrilled, but I try to remind myself that I'm teaching myself, where as everyone else who took it is actually enrolled in the class. Arabic here is also moving slowly. Actually, even more slowly. I think it's a combination of my professor not pushing us fast enough and bothering to do every exercise plus study abroad is not very motivating. In fact, it is just the opposite. Schoolwork is about the last thing anyone wants to do. While this is evidently not much  different than in NY, the professors here don't really push to hard in general plus there is a time constraint to do everything you want to before leaving. Money also becomes an issue. This city is at least as expensive as NY if not more. Also, I've not been unemployed since I was 15. I A) don't know how to use this time B)work usually forces me to take advantage of time and schedule life better and C) obviously allows me to feel better about going out and doing things. I'm finally going to my first day of an internship teaching English on Sunday, but at this point there's not much time left, especially since next weekend is fall break and in a few weeks we're going to Galilee on a group trip. Plus, the internship is not in Tel Aviv so it's tough to find days I can commute with my school schedule. The whole September not existing kind of made this whole thing difficult. I guess what it comes down to is that things are not going as I expected. This should be a Duh kind of realization, but somehow I didn't think it'd be so hard to make friends (Israeli friends), get to know Tel Aviv, visit around the country (which is tiny and easy to navigate), get an internship, maybe do a research paper, all on the money that I saved up to come here.

One good thing I have to look forward to for sure is my trip to Istanbul over Fall Break. I'm flying out at 4 am next Thursday and will come back early the next Tuesday. I've been wanting to go there for sooooo long and it looks so beautiful. Unfortunately, Lebanon's out of the picture because my friend who was gonna come with decided not to go. I then also realized that it will save me money not to go and that I couldn't really have a Lebanese experience in 3 days. I'm also trying to tell myself that if I decide I want to go in the future that I can make it happen. That's realistic right? Even without that though, I'm sure Turkey is going to be amazing and I'm trying to let my excitement for that overtake all this . . . whatever they are. Concerns, frustrations, disappointments. I don't know. I'm also gonna try and take a trip to Haifa, back to Jerusalem, Ramallah, and a wine tour before going home. We'll see what happens . . .

So to stop kivetching and update you what's been going on. So, I've probably forgotten a lot since I fail at writing journals (I forgot this about myself), but I'll put up what my pictures and memory piece together. So when I went out with Guys' friends two weekends ago, they first cooked for me (in exchange for me bringing wine). O MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING!!! They made this great breaded chicken with a kind of sweet jelly sauce, potatoes with a parmigiano onion cream sauce, and a salad with cheese, apple slices, and a red wine dressing. I miss real food so bad. It really made me so happy. After hanging out for a while eating and talking, we went out to this club called Comfort 13 for a 90's party. Jay and Becky also went but with some Israeli friends of theirs. It was a lot of fun. It's been too long since I went dancing and of course the reminiscence was entertaining as always. At the same time, a lot of the music was what was famous in Israel in the 90's which made it so I probably actually new only about a fourth of the music. Regardless, it was fun to just go out and dance. We left around 4:30 and walked back towards a main street to grab a cab. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a cab to go to my part of town, so Josh (not talking about myself in 3rd person, he's a new friend) let me sleep over at his place since his roommate was gone for the weekend. The next day we hung out and talked. That was exactly what I wanted. I somehow need to make this happen more often. I got to talk to him about everything from the conflict to whether aliens exist and have visited Earth. He's an interesting guy with some interesting (for lack for another word) ideas.

I totally lost track of time and ended up staying til almost 8pm when I realized I needed to get back for the Israel-Croatia EuroCup qualifier match we had gotten tickets for. I ran back, changed into my Israel colors and quickly had my face painted (we got really into it) and headed out. The game sucked in the end. Israel didn't play very well at all (although apparently, there was a penalty they should have gotten?? Don't ask me) and most people left 15 minuted before the game even ended. However, it was so cool to see what soccer is like there. Everyone was wearing blue and white, even if it was actually an Argentina jersey (very common), although I was much more Israel-ed out that pretty much everyone. They were all into it and had some cool chants (at least I think considering they were all and Hebrew and I don't really know). I also had never heard HaTikva (the national Anthem meaning the hope) sung by so many people and right after, they left off a bunch of balloons and confetti. Everyone was into the game although not as crazily as Americans at the Super Bowl or Argentines at the World Cup. Good experience, fun, but I'm definitely not a sports guy. At least not for how much those tickets cost.

This is where things get fuzzy. Sunday night, I'm pretty sure I went to a neighborhood called Florentin to do a photo assignment for our core class. It's a very cool neighborhood. It's the newly gentrified neighborhood and reminds me a lot of NY. There was some great graffiti. I need to wander more with a camera. It forced me to notice a lot more than I would usually. I'm not very good with details in general. I know it finally rained at some point. That sounds trivial, but it was really a funny experience. It's the only time I've seen rain here and it lasted 5 maybe 10 minutes. It's still gorgeous weather here. It's 81 degrees and doesn't look like it's gonna change much any time soon. I love it, although many Americans here want Fall. I will say though that we apparently are in a weird year and it's supposed to be cooler by now. What a shame! I can't think of anything else except I guess I've been spending lots of time in cafes. Cafe culture is big here. Like, I really wonder if anyone works because it likes like they're just always in cafes. Apparently it's because work life is more creative and flexible here, so a lot of people work from the cafes. I haven't asked at the cafes, just after, but I'm thinking of taking a poll. Coffee here is great by the way. At least at cafes. At home they drink lots of instant, which is awful. They don't really understand what brewed is for better or worse. 

So I guess I'll skip to last weekend. Thursday night, we went out to a club on to port. This area is right on the beach and the more popular, mainstream place to go (loved by some, reviled by others). We had such a great night! After a while of haggling and being annoying Americans, we got in for free instead of 50 shekels each. The music was so good. We knew every song either because it was American or great Israeli pop music. It was just really good, fun get down music :) I was the only boy in the group, so I also had the pleasure of defending the girls from the rather aggressive and relentless Israeli men. At the same time, I managed to hook my friend Laura up with one of these American boys we met from Jerusalem. I'm rather proud of myself. It was a great night for free. My favorite kind! That is until 2 of the girls made us take a cab home (they were in heels) and we paid 45 shekels instead of 15/20 because no cab driver would go that close for anything less. Whatever, it didn't end up being much and it was totally worth it! Friday, I went out with Josh and Amit (Guy's friends) again. We hung out for a while at Josh's place (had a great discussion about American food, which they find revolting for the most part) and then went our to another friend, Adit's birthday party. It was on the beach and they had a bonfire. So gorgeous. Looking to one side was the old port of Jaffa and on the other the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv. That with some roasted kosher marshmallows (not as good as regular) and we had a great night. Saturday night, I went out with Jay and two of his friends to Comfort 13, this time for a British invasion party, which was even better than the last one. I new a lot more this time. A mix of Lily Allen, the Cure, Spice Girls, Chumbawumba and a bunch of other British favorites. Plus, again, this party was free (the last one was 60 shekels)! Sunday, I spent the afternoon in Jaffa. Looking at it from the beach reminded me that I needed to go back. We got some good schwarma and walked around the old city. The views or Tel Aviv, the feeling of times of old, and the beautiful art everywhere made it such a great night. I really love Jaffa. It reminds me that yes, I am in the Middle East. That night, I went with Abby and Max to Mike's Place. Now I've been once before so I don't know how I didn't mention it. It's the American bar next to the embassy that serves American food while playing all the football games. If you know me, you know I only went to hang out with Max and Abby. I figured, why not give it a try. This place managed to very my desire to leave America in one night. I really just don't care about football and don't know how do talk to people who do when they're watching it. I hate being represented by dumb American teenagers drinking beer straight from the pitcher, wearing Abercrombie, while eating Pizza and wings, especially when they bothered to travel 7000 miles to a country with such great good and entertainment of their own. Now, fair enough. NY is largely not like that and I haven't been around the US enough to know what I could find elsewhere. Israel too probably has people like that. But, o well, so I'm ignorant and judgmental. I know. But hey, I like it here, so why fight it? And if nothing else, I can be sure I don't like that America.

Tuesday night, we went to a commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin (if you forgot, he's the one who was assassinated for making peace in the Oslo Accords). This year marks 15 years and this evening was its anniversary in the Hebrew calender. The ceremony was hosted by the scouts and was pretty much all scouts. We didn't understand much, but it was cool seeing their version of something I grew up doing. Scouts is for both boys and girls although I'm not sure of the troops themselves are mixed. Apparently, they're more like little army units according to guy. Not as in actually fighting, but as in how they are organized. I know, let the jokes commence. It's apparently non-partisan and doesn't discriminate, but of course it tries to build a love for Israel, as of course it should. The big ceremony will be on November 4 and that will apparently be packed with lots of big guests and performers.

(Bad picture I know, but just to give you an idea)

Ok, so that's all for now. Wow, I feel a lot better. Thanks for listening (reading) me vent. I really should write more often.