Hey folks,
So it's been a week since my last post and quite a bit has happened. After my day of bad fortune last Tuesday, I headed to Ashdod with a friend from Taglit last year named Yohai, where I stayed at his house and got the chance to see the city I will be living in for the next 5 months. His family was once again incredibly welcoming, and although his mother didn't speak a word of English, she did speak French and I got a chance to butcher the language a bit after not having practiced in some time.
Our first night in Ashdod, we headed to a bar across town, where on Tuesdays they have an all-you-can-drink special for 39 schekels. That is roughly equivalent to about $12 CDN, something that would simply never exist in North America due to the simple fact that it would be a loss of profits. The Israelis don't consume nearly the same volume of alcohol as the majority of college/university students I know, but I benefited from the nice deal and had myself a few Goldstars, my favourite beer over here which unfortunately is not available in Vancouver. Upon grabbing a table, I happened to hear someone speaking English at the next table over and asked the group of people where they were from. Coincidentally, it turns out that they were all from Oranim, the Canadian organization in charge of the program I'm starting soon, and they had come here in August to do the exact same thing that I will be doing! They even told me that some of us would be living in their apartments, so I got the chance to meet and chat up some of my future roommates! They informed me that despite the disorganization of the program, it is fantastic and the kids I will be working with are great, albeit sometimes difficult. Apparently, my accommodations are some of the biggest in the city (my villa houses 8 people, 2 per room) and are very well equipped with everything I need. I'm also going to be living a 5 minute walk from the beach, and along the beach there are actually different machines you would find in the gym that are free for the general public. The apartments/villas are also close to the shuk, which is the local market where food is dirt cheap and you can buy other household accessories such as blanket, sheets, and toiletries. Most of the people from their program are American, hailing from Los Angeles and Boston, although there were a couple of Canadians, mostly from Toronto, and one very attractive girl from Montreal. I'll have to practice my French a little bit more and work some magic (maybe show her my chawel haha)!
My visit to Ashdod fell on the start of Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that signals the start of the harvest season whereupon most religiously inclined individuals spend a week in a shelter similar to teepee and don't leave until the holiday is over. Fortunately, Yohai's family does not participate in this part of the holiday, and I simply got to enjoy a feast with his family. Since my arrival here, there has not been a single meal where I have not been absolutely stuffed! I shouldn't get to used to it though because soon I have to start cooking for myself. I enjoyed quite a few exotic delicacies, including liver, chicken hearts, and my personal favourite, (and something I will seek out in Vancouver) cow tongue! The next two days we went to the beach, where the currents are strong enough to pull someone my size into the water, and we went out on Thursday night for Arthur Guinness Day, a holiday similar to St. Patrick's Day which is pretty much an excuse to drink. Funny enough, the bar we went to had run out of Guinness, but we still enjoyed some Tuborg and free shots of whiskey from Yohai's friend, the bartender.
The past few days I have spent in Haifa with my aunt Eleanor and her husband Maury, a beautiful city in the northern region of Israel. I arrived just in time for the start of the Haifa International Film Festival and so have spent the past few days going to plenty of movies, the best of which have been Barney's Version (based on a Mordecai Richler novel) and Womb, a bizarre yet beautiful film starring Eva Green (of Casino Royale fame) which is about a women who loses the love of her life to an accident, and then turns to cloning to give birth to him and raise him as her own son. It touches on themes of ethics but gives strong, emotionally impacting performances from everyone involved and I strongly recommend it.
In less than a week, I head into Ashdod and begin my program. Soon, I will begin to actually learn some Hebrew and will meet my fellow volunteers, and possibly fellow travelers if we all get along. I'm debating going into the airport during my week off in January and asking what special they have for the day, and simply flying to whatever country is the cheapest. A spontaneous trip like that would be a change of pace, and a nice contrast to the past few months of my life spent planning.
Hope you are all doing well, and leave comments to let me know what you are all up to in Canada. Hope the weather isn't too miserable and that those of you in school are taking advantage of the first month of "less school-work". If I don't write for awhile, it is because I might lose access to a computer for a bit when I leave Haifa. My laptop's hard drive is busted and I need to find a repair shop.
Ciao for now,
Max
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
More Bad Luck For This Poor Schmuck
Hey everyone,
I realize that it hasn't been long since my last post but I have had a terrible streak of bad luck the past couple of days and am counting on you folks for some words of wisdom, positive thoughts, or anything you can do to put me in a better head-space than I'm in right now.
Yesterday I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of lounging in and by the pool of Chen's dad, where I decided to try out the waterproof capabilities of my new awesome camera. It turns out the camera is not quite as awesome as anticipated as after 15 minutes of using it, all of a sudden it would not turn back on. I assumed it was the battery because I had already had warnings of it almost being depleted, but upon returning back home, battery fully charged, the camera still wasn't working and I discovered traces of water inside the battery/memory card compartment (this after actually reading a manual for once and following all the instructions).
"Oh well!" I thought, "things have been working out pretty well, I'm sure this will too! The camera is under warranty and can be replaced and the most I'll lose is a week or two of photos during my vacation period, no big deal. I can ask others to take photos for me." But apparently technology has some sort of vendetta against me. This morning I awoke to find that my computer will not boot up properly. It worked fine when I went to bed last night, but this morning it can't get past a black screen that tells me that "a disk read error has occurred, please restart your computer". "Great!" I thought, "No camera and no computer, what the heck is going on?" With a sigh of frustration, I decided to put it out of my mind and head to the beach for my last day in this area of Israel for a few months.
After half an hour of heating up on the beach, I decided to go for a swim. I swam out pretty far, about 10 minutes past where I could touch the ground. I lay out on the sea, letting go of my stress and thinking about the amazing area I was in and the beautiful weather and people. As I began my swim back, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my hand. I pulled my hand in quickly only to drag with it an enormous jellyfish that proceeded to sting me three more times, on my face, my knee, and on my stomach. This seemingly harmless-looking creature then floated off on the crest of the next wave and disappeared into thin air, unknowingly having made my day a hell of a lot more painful. I scrambled to the shore in much more time than it took to swim out and made my way to the restaurant to ask for advice on what to do, this being my first jellyfish sting. Don't be fooled folks! Although spiders and wasps look much more threatening, jellyfish are the ones to look out for! Their stings hurt like a bitch and my face started to swell up like a balloon with purplish-white blisters appearing on my cheek, stomach and hand. The bartender gave me vinegar to put on the stings but this did nothing except make me smell like fish and chips. And then he suggested the urban myth. "Try peeing on it" he said, in broken English, "it usually works for me". So off to the bathroom I went. Let me dispel this myth for you all so that you never have to put yourself through it. Peeing on a jellyfish sting does not get rid of the pain for more than five minutes and simply leaves you soaked in your own urine! Thank you Friends for absolutely nothing!
So I ask you friends and family, or whoever might be reading. What do you do when everything seems to be going wrong? My supposed two-weeks vacation is slowly turning into something I'm regretting and despite my positive nature, I'm starting to succumb to the dark side of negativity. Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated and hope you are all doing better than I am. Off for a second shower now to get rid of the thought of any remaining yellow substances on my skin.
Ciao for now,
Max
I realize that it hasn't been long since my last post but I have had a terrible streak of bad luck the past couple of days and am counting on you folks for some words of wisdom, positive thoughts, or anything you can do to put me in a better head-space than I'm in right now.
Yesterday I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of lounging in and by the pool of Chen's dad, where I decided to try out the waterproof capabilities of my new awesome camera. It turns out the camera is not quite as awesome as anticipated as after 15 minutes of using it, all of a sudden it would not turn back on. I assumed it was the battery because I had already had warnings of it almost being depleted, but upon returning back home, battery fully charged, the camera still wasn't working and I discovered traces of water inside the battery/memory card compartment (this after actually reading a manual for once and following all the instructions).
"Oh well!" I thought, "things have been working out pretty well, I'm sure this will too! The camera is under warranty and can be replaced and the most I'll lose is a week or two of photos during my vacation period, no big deal. I can ask others to take photos for me." But apparently technology has some sort of vendetta against me. This morning I awoke to find that my computer will not boot up properly. It worked fine when I went to bed last night, but this morning it can't get past a black screen that tells me that "a disk read error has occurred, please restart your computer". "Great!" I thought, "No camera and no computer, what the heck is going on?" With a sigh of frustration, I decided to put it out of my mind and head to the beach for my last day in this area of Israel for a few months.
After half an hour of heating up on the beach, I decided to go for a swim. I swam out pretty far, about 10 minutes past where I could touch the ground. I lay out on the sea, letting go of my stress and thinking about the amazing area I was in and the beautiful weather and people. As I began my swim back, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my hand. I pulled my hand in quickly only to drag with it an enormous jellyfish that proceeded to sting me three more times, on my face, my knee, and on my stomach. This seemingly harmless-looking creature then floated off on the crest of the next wave and disappeared into thin air, unknowingly having made my day a hell of a lot more painful. I scrambled to the shore in much more time than it took to swim out and made my way to the restaurant to ask for advice on what to do, this being my first jellyfish sting. Don't be fooled folks! Although spiders and wasps look much more threatening, jellyfish are the ones to look out for! Their stings hurt like a bitch and my face started to swell up like a balloon with purplish-white blisters appearing on my cheek, stomach and hand. The bartender gave me vinegar to put on the stings but this did nothing except make me smell like fish and chips. And then he suggested the urban myth. "Try peeing on it" he said, in broken English, "it usually works for me". So off to the bathroom I went. Let me dispel this myth for you all so that you never have to put yourself through it. Peeing on a jellyfish sting does not get rid of the pain for more than five minutes and simply leaves you soaked in your own urine! Thank you Friends for absolutely nothing!
So I ask you friends and family, or whoever might be reading. What do you do when everything seems to be going wrong? My supposed two-weeks vacation is slowly turning into something I'm regretting and despite my positive nature, I'm starting to succumb to the dark side of negativity. Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated and hope you are all doing better than I am. Off for a second shower now to get rid of the thought of any remaining yellow substances on my skin.
Ciao for now,
Max
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Ominous Start But Smooth Sailing Ahead...
Hey everyone,
After a rocky start, I am finally starting to settle in here in Tel-Aviv and have gotten over all jet-lag, although I really didn't experience it too much to start with. After a 26 hour commute, including a 9 hour layover in Berlin's airport which is one of the worst airports I've ever been to, I arrived in Ben-Gurion Airport, Tel-Aviv only to be placed in a dark room by myself for half an hour by Passport Control. Finally, at 3AM, they released me and told me that I need to get a proper visa if I intend to stay here for 6 months, something my program supervisors neglected to mention. When arriving at luggage claim, I discovered that my main luggage had not arrived and that I could not reach my contact who was picking me up by phone. At 4AM, I finally went through customs after filling out several forms at lost and found, and thankfully, my host Chen, sweetheart that she is, was waiting for me outside, not terribly pleased at having waited for 2 hours in the middle of the night, but understanding and sympathetic nonetheless. Despite this initial debacle, I have now received all of my luggage and am able to enjoy me next two weeks of vacation before my program start date, sans stress.
This country's beauty still does not cease to amaze me! On my first day here, it was Yom Kippur, which for Jews means a day of atonement and self-punishment in which you cannot eat or drink anything, watch TV, listen to the radio, drive your car, or do anything you normally would do to enjoy yourself. Thankfully, my host is not a typical Jew and I was able to go to her friend's house for a swim in her pool and some delicious food. So far, despite warnings from Chen and others that Israelis are rude and lacking in the disgusting amount of politeness us Canadians have to offer, I have found the opposite, with every one of Chen's relatives and friends having been very accommodating and constantly offering me food and drinks. After some food and a swim, I had the fantastic experience of going on a bike ride on Yom Kippur. We biked along the highway into the city for an hour and half each way, and there was only two cars on the main highway the entire time, both of which were police cars! I don't think there is a single other place in the world where you can see something like that!
Today, I enjoyed some time on my own at the beach, five hours of lounging on the sand, reading, eating good food, and swimming in the warm Mediterranean Sea, which by my standards feels like pool water. I delighted at being tossed around like a top by the enormous waves and undertow and sweating like a pig on the beach in the welcomed plus 30 degree weather. It was nice to have a day to myself just to relax and contemplate the next year ahead of me, isolation being something I haven't completely experienced and enjoyed in the past few months of my life.
I leave you all with some funny observations I've noticed in my first few days in Israel:
Israel is a place where...
...you can look down a highway on a holiday and not see a single car
...you can find several 1 litre bottles of Coke Zero on a nicely decorated holiday dinner table instead of the usual bottle of wine
...you can order beer by the half-litre (this is something we should adopt in Canada!)
...going to bed before 1 in the morning is not an option when you're my age, even if you have work the next day
...even if you have worked on a tan all summer in Vancouver, you are still considered ghostly pale by Israeli standards
...the booty call line "Are you awake?" is replaced by "Are you fasting?"
...the beach is empty on what would be considered the hottest day of the summer in Vancouver
...the sea water is warmer than most pools in Vancouver
...the term "Eh?" is not fully understood, appreciated, or well received
That's all for now folks, but stay tuned for more when I actually begin my program in Ashdod and settle into my life for the next 6 months!
Ciao for now,
Max
After a rocky start, I am finally starting to settle in here in Tel-Aviv and have gotten over all jet-lag, although I really didn't experience it too much to start with. After a 26 hour commute, including a 9 hour layover in Berlin's airport which is one of the worst airports I've ever been to, I arrived in Ben-Gurion Airport, Tel-Aviv only to be placed in a dark room by myself for half an hour by Passport Control. Finally, at 3AM, they released me and told me that I need to get a proper visa if I intend to stay here for 6 months, something my program supervisors neglected to mention. When arriving at luggage claim, I discovered that my main luggage had not arrived and that I could not reach my contact who was picking me up by phone. At 4AM, I finally went through customs after filling out several forms at lost and found, and thankfully, my host Chen, sweetheart that she is, was waiting for me outside, not terribly pleased at having waited for 2 hours in the middle of the night, but understanding and sympathetic nonetheless. Despite this initial debacle, I have now received all of my luggage and am able to enjoy me next two weeks of vacation before my program start date, sans stress.
This country's beauty still does not cease to amaze me! On my first day here, it was Yom Kippur, which for Jews means a day of atonement and self-punishment in which you cannot eat or drink anything, watch TV, listen to the radio, drive your car, or do anything you normally would do to enjoy yourself. Thankfully, my host is not a typical Jew and I was able to go to her friend's house for a swim in her pool and some delicious food. So far, despite warnings from Chen and others that Israelis are rude and lacking in the disgusting amount of politeness us Canadians have to offer, I have found the opposite, with every one of Chen's relatives and friends having been very accommodating and constantly offering me food and drinks. After some food and a swim, I had the fantastic experience of going on a bike ride on Yom Kippur. We biked along the highway into the city for an hour and half each way, and there was only two cars on the main highway the entire time, both of which were police cars! I don't think there is a single other place in the world where you can see something like that!
Today, I enjoyed some time on my own at the beach, five hours of lounging on the sand, reading, eating good food, and swimming in the warm Mediterranean Sea, which by my standards feels like pool water. I delighted at being tossed around like a top by the enormous waves and undertow and sweating like a pig on the beach in the welcomed plus 30 degree weather. It was nice to have a day to myself just to relax and contemplate the next year ahead of me, isolation being something I haven't completely experienced and enjoyed in the past few months of my life.
I leave you all with some funny observations I've noticed in my first few days in Israel:
Israel is a place where...
...you can look down a highway on a holiday and not see a single car
...you can find several 1 litre bottles of Coke Zero on a nicely decorated holiday dinner table instead of the usual bottle of wine
...you can order beer by the half-litre (this is something we should adopt in Canada!)
...going to bed before 1 in the morning is not an option when you're my age, even if you have work the next day
...even if you have worked on a tan all summer in Vancouver, you are still considered ghostly pale by Israeli standards
...the booty call line "Are you awake?" is replaced by "Are you fasting?"
...the beach is empty on what would be considered the hottest day of the summer in Vancouver
...the sea water is warmer than most pools in Vancouver
...the term "Eh?" is not fully understood, appreciated, or well received
That's all for now folks, but stay tuned for more when I actually begin my program in Ashdod and settle into my life for the next 6 months!
Ciao for now,
Max
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