Things Israelis Say About Me

1) You're too polite.  Stop saying "toda"(thanks) so much.
2) You're too diplomatic.

I am amused each time I hear these things.

Israeli Dating, Quantum Physics and Stanley Fischer

The last 48 hours have been good, and even with four hours of sleep I'm pretty peppy.

A few of the latest highlights below:

• One of my co-workers from the Macbesa is an amazing musician.  It was his birthday yesterday and a bunch of us went to a pub a another Kibbutz where they have jam sessions.  It was amazing!  Great musicians just rifting and having fun.  We also ate vegan brownies. 
• At said pub another co-worker asked me the following:

Yesh lach haver? (Do you have a boyfriend?)
Lo po (Not here.)  
Nahon, epho who?  (Right, where is he?)
Uh... it's complicated?
Ok, well at least I tried.


Although it totally took me by surprise (he's usually very quite) it was sweet of him.  The cool thing about Israelis is it's all out in the open.  No mind games.  Are you listening American men?  Although, there are downsides to this directness.  They don't always, or usually take no for an answer.  Additionally, they ask very direct questions up front.  "How old are you? Do you have a boyfriend?" are always the first two questions.  There's no, "let me buy you a drink" or "so what do you do?" Direct and to the point.

• I drank my first full complete beer.  Goldstar.  It was decent.  I am really working on liking beer, I want to so badly. 
• Tonight at the pub our new co-worker a German with American English spent ten minutes grilling me on Stanley Fischer and Israeli macroeconomics.  We then moved on to discuss Stephen Hawking's perception of quantum physics.  Eventually we debated whether quantum physics could overlap with Plato's forms and realized we must be severely bastardizing both concepts.  Tre fun! 
• The musician birthday boy is also a composer.  He's working on a piece that he wanted backup vocals on.  So for the first time I recorded vocals for a track.  It was fun, if not a little nerve-wracking.  It's been so long since I've really sung I was afraid of humiliating myself.  Well luckily it was a simple two part melody with just oohs and heys.  But I did realize that my voice is out of shape.  It's been so long since I've worked out vocally.  Also, I hate the sound of my voice on recordings.  It sounds nothing like what I hear in my head.  I think it sounds like a 13 year old with allergies. 
• Tomorrow I'm looking forward to catching up on sleep.  Sunday through Thursday we go to Gad Na, which is a week with the Israeli Army.  It's a week in which we experience a mini-bootcamp and learn about Army culture.  I'll be living in baracks, learning to shoot an M-16 (mixed feelings on this one), and camping outside (adamant feelings about this one).  So I may be MIA for those four days, but will surely have much to add upon my return. 

Until then, happy weekend and Shabbat Shalom!

Latraot! 

I'm Coming Home!

Sigh, what a day.  It's late and I'm exhausted but there's quite a bit to update.

I haven't mentioned it to anyone but I've been thinking about going home before July for quite some time.  I probably haven't mentioned it because well, there's no one here to talk to and I didn't want to disappoint or get people's hopes up back home.  You may have noticed that my last few blog posts have been a little forlorn.   Things have been on my mind and this forum is as close to an intimate candid conversation as I can get.

Truth is, the more I've been thinking about it, the more I know it's a better decision for me to head home earlier than mid-July.  Initially I had planned for 10 days to finalize USC things, find an apartment, move in, go to weddings, spend time with my family, and restart my life before B-School.  It's a bit tight.  When I graduated from Oxy I had two days to move and start work at MySpace.  I did it.  I know I could do it again and make it work.

But, learning from experience I know that I prefer more time when starting an entirely new chapter of life.  2009 was such a hectic, sad and stressful year.  I didn't always take the time to do what was right for me.  In fact it took a lot of time and if I say so myself, courage to make changes in my life.  I made the decision to live 2010 differently.  So far, I'm a better and happier person.  Recent events have made me think about what's important to me even more.  With stuff going on with my family, and my inability to do simple things like call them when they need me... well it's enough to remind me of what my priorities really are.

Furthermore, I feel as if I've achieved my goals for my experience here.  I have already grown tremendously as a person.  I don't want to diminish anything about the experience so far.  I've loved it!  And I'm so glad that I came.  I would not change anything (except for Kibbutz food perhaps).  This time in Israel has been transformative--probably in ways I can't even recognize yet.  I'm sure there will be more reflections and realizations to come.

Perhaps the biggest realization is that no matter where I go or what I do the people I love are always the most important.  Life isn't about passport stamps, salaries, or degrees.  Life is about the people you love and who love you back.  I'm pretty lucky in life.

So for all the reasons above I'm returning to California a few weeks early.  I fly back June 2nd.   I have no regrets and no sadness.  I'm doing what's right for me.  I hope that you will be excited to see me, albeit briefly.  I only have a few weeks before I will disappear into another foreign territory--USC.  (See my sense of humor is still intact).

Time for me to go to sleep as I've been typing into the wee hours of the morning.   As always, I hope you're all having a great day!

Latraot!  And see you soon!

Sarcasm Filters, Boredom and Kogi Tacos

Class was pretty frustrating today.  There's an entire lack of discipline and respect.  It's difficult to stay focused when class erupts into ten different side conversations.  Really annoyed with today.  I've never taken a class that's so utterly chaotic.  Eze Balagan!  (It's a crazy mess).

I think the honeymoon phase is at an end.  Things aren't fresh and exciting--life has become a little routine.    From what I hear this is a normal part of the living abroad phase.  And even though every day is trying, I'm doing my best to keep my sarcasm in check.   Really, I haven't even used the words "intellectual peon" yet, which is usually my go-to phrase.  (I did however coin "epic moron" last week.)

Everything's new and shiny at the start, but then somewhere in the middle you start to get a little restless and homesick.  I don't think I'm quite "homesick," but I'm definitely missing things.  I would very much like some Kogi Tacos right now, or perhaps a trip to the Father's Office for some sweet potato fries.

Okay, food aside, I think I just miss certain things.  Perhaps too much free time is a bad thing.  I think a lot... and we all know what happens when I do that.  (Looking at pictures of home while listening to the Glee soundtrack is a REALLY bad idea.  Additional side-note:  I can't find any links that work to watch Glee episodes here.  It's very upsetting.)    

Additional items of note:

• Feeling 100% better now.  Yay.
• Watched friends play tennis yesterday and took some great pictures.  
• So sick of cottage cheese.
• Decided to stop wearing makeup on the Kibbutz.  There is no point.  I am now saving time and money. 
• Compulsively checking the Marshall 2012 facebook group like it's my job.  I'm just really excited about it.
• Even though my English is getting worse I'm still helping edit, translate, etc. essays, letters and applications for people here.  It's keeping me on my toes and reminding me of my days as a Writing Advisor at Oxy.  Except for the part where Katie would bring me screwdrivers. :)
• Glancing at the punctuation and syntax of the sentence above makes me cringe slightly. 

Unorganized post complete.  Thinking of you all per usual.

Latraot!

Lord of the Flies

The level of flies here is beyond ridiculous.  I'm not exaggerating when I say they are inescapable.  It's like the beginning of a B horror movie.  Swarms of them all over, and they show no fear!  They are circling me now.   Creepy...

Just needed to share.

Latraot!

Sick Day

Still feeling icky.  Couldn't eat breakfast, which is the #1 sign Shosh is not well.  Took a sick day off from class.  Don't know why I typed in the third-person.

Ordered some B-school prep books, which Amazon wouldn't ship to Israel.  Looks like they will be making their way here via California.

Need to clean my room.  I've been too busy sleeping to do so.  Must remedy immediately.

Need to do homework.  Must remedy at some point.

Wishing I had my old bed.  The mattress here is two inches thick.  I feel like my achey feeling is being compounded by this issue.  On the plus side I've learned how to say the following in Hebrew:

• Coev li gav (My body hurts)
• Coev li garon (My throat hurts)
• Ani lo murgisha tov (I don't feel well) 
• Ain li coah (Direct translation: I have no power.  Figurative translation: I'm exhausted stop hassling me.) 

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Latraot!

PS.  I apologize for the use of a catz picture in this posting.  I even had a lengthy discussion about it's use with Hailey.  However, I'm using it for irony sake.  Yes, that's the answer I'm sticking with... irony.  

Halfway Mark

I think I'm decomposing.  Seriously feel like I'm 85 right now.  I've slept 16 out of the last 24 hours.   I'm hoping sleep, EmergenC and Ugly Betty episodes will help me get over this suspiciously ambiguous cold thingy.

But, I've decided a little mental exercise would be good (considering physical exercise isn't happening today).  So here's a brief update of the past few days.

• Worried about Adie and Scott but glad he is doing ok and making progress.  Hate the fact that I can't be there for my family when stuff happens.  Worst part of being abroad by far.  Love you guys. 
• Tawa (our manager of the Macbesa) told us a story of the sleek under the laundry room.  A sleek, is a secret storage place for weapons.  See, back before Israel was a state it was under British Mandate, which stated the Jewish settlements couldn't have weapons.  Now, that was impossible as it left them totally defenseless.  So in those days there were secret hiding spots for emergencies.  The one under the laundry room used to be under the communal showers. There was a bathtub on a track that they would pull out over the trap door and have a woman bathe in.  The British were so proper they would never intrude on a woman bathing, and thus never discovered the sleek.  It's been unused for decades.  On Wednesday we all unearthed the trap door and climbed down in (flip flops and all).  Yes, I climbed down an 8 foot dark hole with no ladder to see what was inside.  It was pretty cool, and we found old oil cans, bullet cases, a part of a 100 year old rifle, and even a dead snake.  It was a pretty cool adventure. 
• Our Ulpan too a trip to the Golan Heights  (an area in Norther Israel) on Thursday.  It was beautiful, but our tour guide sucked a bit.  We weren't sure if he was hungover from the night before, or actually high on the trip.  Total toss up.  But lunch was amazing! Our tour guide also brought a ukelele along, and asked everyone to sing along with him.  Avi and Nikole thought it would be a great idea for me to join in.  I pretended to be asleep, until the entire bus started chanting "Shosh."  Avi even got on the bus microphone and lead in the begging.  I don't think I've ever blushed that much in my life.  I don't even remember what I sang, or if I was on key (doubtful considering my cold).  But yeah, awkward.  Nevertheless, enjoy the group picture of the Ulpan posted above. 
• Thought I had a vitamin stuck in my esophagus, now I'm realizing it is a cold.  And reminded myself once again that I could never be a doctor because I think thing like that are more likely than sore throats.  Or perhaps I just know how I often develop weird injuries.  Like dropping a can of pickles on my elbow.  I still don't know how that's physically possible. 
• Really want to watch Glee but no internet links are working.
• Realized I've been here 9 weeks.  Halfway through.  Crazy how fast that went. 
• Once again reminded how great my friends are.  So great to talk to Jeff, Court and Jessie this week! 
• Chris, happy birthday again. 
• I make lists way to often. 

Okay, it's time for me to get going.  Still have homework to do and motivation to find. 

Latraot!