Tutoring

Today I began tutoring at the local high school. I thought I was going to be teaching math (I know, who that that was a good idea) but I ended up teaching English. It went really well, most of the kids really wanted to learn. During the breaks, they asked me questions about America and various celebrities (they all were excited to show me they had American music on their cell phones). They also all seem to think that America is magical and that everything that happens there is exciting and fun. I told them that growing up in America, kids think the same thing, that the town they live in is boring and it must be more fun in another one. Usually when I tell Israeli kids that, they don't really believe me, but seemed like they did this time. My Hebrew has really improved; I'm pretty impressed with myself I was able to teach a class in Hebrew by myself.

Now Shoko and I are heading to campus to say goodbye to Rebecca who is going home this week.

Miryam

Here are some pictures from Miryam's visit



Us on the BGU campus



Miryam trying to figure out what is wrong with this secretary



Me with the robot secretary



Me making Eliad jealous



Miryam making friends with a cactus



Me with one of the many cacti in Beer Sheva



Me with Ben, Gali and Nara on the beach



Me playing with Nara



Me making Eliad jealous, yet again.

Shabbat in Herzliyya Pituach

This Shabbat, I went up north to visit Miryam and her family in Herzliyya Pituach. I took the train up to Tel-Aviv and Miryam and her cousin Gali picked me up and drove me to H"P. It's a really beautiful town and the weather was great so we went to the beach with Miryam's brother, sister and Gali's dog Nara. The water was too cold to go in (at least for me) but it was still a lot of fun. I guess 80 degree winters are the price of global warming, a pity.

Today we hung out at Miryam's and had a great lunch with lots of her family. It was nice to get a few home cooked meals in. Gali and I wanted to play Risk, but no one else did, so we walked around looking for some of her friends. None of them were home, so we came back and by then Ben, Debbie and Yoni were interested in playing. So we played for an hour and a half and on one turn, it was taking Debbie and her cousin forever to decide what to do. So I took a break to daven Maariv. When I got back, they were cleaning up the game. Quitters.

I was then trying to figure out when to head back down south when I got a call from Boaz, who was looking after Shoko. He said that Shoko had followed him to shul in the morning and when he came out, Shoko was gone! I was so scared and angry. So I rushed to catch the next train back to Dimona and luckily, as soon as I got to Beer Sheva, Boaz gave me a call saying he found him. Phew!

Time to chill with the puppy.

Shoko at School

Today I decided to bring Shoko to campus. I didn't realize how big he had gotten. I used to put him in my BGU bag and carry him on the bus, but now he doesn't even fit. It wasn't a problem bringing him on campus before because he would just hide in the bag, but today he walked in and security stopped us. I told them he was a seeing-eye-dog in training and I just forgot his vest. Luckily the security guard didn't know how to check if this was true and just let us in. Andrea looked after him while I was in Arabic and then we brought him to the OSP office to hang out and wait for the new study abroad students to arrive. Well, really we were waiting for the free pizza that was being served for lunch. But who's keeping track?

The new kids seem nice. I didn't really get to hang out with anyone specific because there were about 30 people crammed in the office together. Too many. But at least there was a whole lot of pizza. Too much in fact. Shoko played around with Nala, Tamar's seeing-eye-dog in training and wore himself out. He slept through most of lunch.

I then left to meet with David Newman and discuss the conference. It's going well, but since I just sent out emails to over 40 people, my inbox is crowded and I have a lot to keep track of.

After the meeting I went back to the OSP office and hung out with Andrea. We were bored so we decided to make Shoko a facebook profile. He's famous, whenever I walk with him on campus, people always say, "Hey, it's Shoko!" It's almost like he's a mini celebrity.




Shoko with Andrea's boyfriend, Roi.






Shoko and Nala

Just a Note about Hospitality

Last night, I went next door to ask Orr a question about Arabic class, but before she would answer my question, I was forced to sit down and eat an entire second dinner. I ended up hanging out with her and bunch of her friends for a good two hours before I remembered why I had initially come over. Good Night

Also, Boaz showed me that the bushes growing around our caravan aren't just bushes, they're different kinds of tea. So I've been busy trying all the different kinds of my tea.

Second Post in 2 days?

I was supposed to start tutoring a small group of high schoolers in math this afternoon. So I decided to get some much needed grocery shopping done in the morning so I wouldn't show up to my first day teaching hungry. But while shopping I got a call letting me know that I would actually start teaching on Sunday instead. So I was able to eat a leisurely lunch and do some homework before heading to campus for class.

In my Historiography class today we, we were discussing labeling different organizations as Terrorist Organizations. It was certainly lively. The author of the chapter we read talked about how current definitions of terrorism pretty much exclude State Terror. This lead to a point in which pretty much every militant organization and national government was classified as a terrorist organization, and if everyone is a terrorist, then no one is. But the main point was that the label "terrorist" prevents proper study of the organization because it has already had a black label attached to it and makes it nearly impossible for any government to negotiate with it. This is true to an extent but when dealing with terrorist organizations, their intent is very important when discussing negotiations. The British Government was finally able to negotiate a peace (however shaky) with the IRA and Sinn Fein once they were willing to compromise and negotiate (and once the British government got past their stigma as terrorists and was willing to negotiate with them). Israel was only able to negotiate with the PLO once is rejected violence and accepted negotiations as the path to their goals (at least publicly). However, before they did so, they were committed to Israel's destruction, in 1964 when the PLO was founded, they would never have negotiated with Israel because their main goal was to destroy Israel. While negotiating with "terrorist organizations" like the IRA and ANC has become an accepted position among the Left, it is often forgotten that groups like Hamas and Hizbullah are themselves uninterested in negotiations. It may be that one day they will change their tune (however unlikely) but until then, comparing them to other reformed groups is inappropriate and wrong.

When I got home today I submitted my final applications for Ph.D. programs. Huge load off my mind! Now I just have to sit back, relax and wait for the responses. Not nerve-wracking at all! I went outside and ran around with Shoko for a while just to clear my head.

New Years and Miryam

Since I was unable to go to any of the raging parties back home, be they down in DC or at Schliss' house, I decided to check out the "Hebrew" Party my village was having on New Years. In Israel, NYE is called "Sylvester" and the best answer I've gotten as to why that is, is that it's probably named after St. Sylvester. Since most Christian saints weren't so great to the Jews, we were having a "Hebrew " party instead, and it just happened to be on the same day. It was a lot of fun. There was a bar inside and an outside tikibar next to the huge dance-floor.

Only a few people stayed in the village for Shabbat, so Boaz and I hosted everyone Friday night and for Shabbat lunch. So Friday Boaz cooked and I watched. I'm actually starting to learn some things in the kitchen. Not so much how to cook big things, but at least now I know what to do with garlic and other cooking stuff.

On Monday Miryam came down to Beer Sheva to hang out. It was really great seeing her and getting to catch up with a friend from home face to face. We grabbed lunch at Aroma and then she waited for a little bit while I met with Joel Peters who is working with David Newman on the book I'm helping him with. I took Miryam around campus, discussed how annoying grad school applications are and she was able to fill me in on all the latest gossip from home. I was going to bring her back to Dimona so she could see the village and Shoko, but we didn't have enough time. So instead I'm going to visit her for Shabbat. Should be fun.

Today in Benny Morris' class we had a guest speaker who fought in the War of Independence and has done extensive research on the conflict and collective memory. It was really cool.

Tonight we had a party in the village for everyone volunteering through Azrieli (that includes me). Everyone was supposed to make a type of food from a different country, but since Boaz and I both got back from campus just beforehand, we decided to throw something together from the two of us. So Boaz cooked and I handed him ingredients. We ended up making carrot and potato latkes that were really delicious. It must have been the way I cracked open the eggs. The party was a lot of fun and the food was delicious. We also played some improv games and everyone actually really got into it.

Now the Shoko Show: