My Trip to Yatta - Part III

I decided i would write more about my trip to the Palestinian village of Yatta for a few reasons. First, i don't think such an experience should be left incomplete. Also, from more than one person, i have been asked what happened to me. Was i brainwashed there? What's the deal? Well, i have a few things to say about that. The way i view Israel and the Palestinians did change this summer. It changed in Geneva as well as in Israel. I think it should always be changing as we learn more, as we grow older, as our perspectives change.

What's the grand observation? I'm not sure. I had a conversation with my dear friend Greg, who every time i speak with him i get years wiser. I told him about the end of my journey back from Hevron. Here is was the soldier in the army truck saw when he pulled up to me and asked me to get in the back to ask me some questions: a random white kid, getting out of a Palestinian car, with Palestinian plates, traveling from a Palestinian village. He gets out of the car, hugs three Palestinians, then walks across the road to a Jewish settlement to wait for a bus. I'm sure shalom achshav-niks (peace now folks) or the extreme left would cry wolf and cry injustice about this development. It made me feel good that they were doing their jobs, finding out what the matzav (situation) was.

Anyway, back to what i was trying to say. It is a fine line that i'm trying to walk between having trust for and faith in humanity, and trying to be true to myself and not get myself shot or blown up. Often, the line she is fine. Whether its going to Yatta, or hitchhiking in the galilea, or even
couchsurfing, it deals with the same debate. Some are free souls with true faith in every living being, and i see them get burned on many occasions. I also see the opposite

Me and Lisa are going to lunch. I'll finish later.

Trip to Yatta Part II

Anyway, back to my day. I got off the bus in perhaps the closest place I could have to our meeting place, but it still didn’t do. I made friends with a few pottery artisans. Not only did they give me a really nice mug defaming my religion’s second holiest place by calling it “Abraham’s Mosque”, but he even knew the family I was going to see. He said he was going to drive me to them right now….yeah, I kinda figured I wouldn’t hop in a car with someone I just met randomly in Hevron, except for Ali’s family of course. I called the family to get it straightened out. Its not that I don’t trust people, in fact, as I am also a new member of couchsurfing.com, and a huge fan of hitchhiking (though i wont do it in the states, dad) I’m trying to place a bit more faith in humanity.

He gave me his card, if I should ever need anything if I’m in the area again.

I finally met up with the family, and we took a nice drive with the wind blowing every which way, out of Hevron to Yatta. I was forced upon with various cucumbers and plums. It was very pretty, as the Samarian hills often are.

When we pulled up to the village, it was what I expected I guess. A respectable place, not lavish, not a P.O.S. We pulled up to the front gate and Abu-Jamal had us stop for an explanation. The front gate can be closed if a soldier comes over and does so, and no one can leave until he opens it back up. There was also a nice red sign in front saying “Yo, the Palestinian Authority runs this piece. Step off. No Israelis allowed.”

We had snack time at least 4 times, tea time twice, coffee time twice, and a very sizable feast for lunch. I got there and we had a snack o’ fruit, and I met the family. The place is like compound – its all a whole concoction of family, the brothers own houses next to each other and kids are everywhere, its massive, its beautiful, and the granite stone floor is everywhere and astonishing.

We took our shoes off and entered a living room where we sat and talked (mostly in English, but some had bad English and good Hebrew, so we spoke that, but also they wanted to test my Arabic skills, which improved throughout the day) and met the family, and I further tried to learn exactly how everyone is related to everyone else.

I’m not sure where in the entry this would go, so I’ll say it here. I am completely at a loss of words for how generous they were to me. I walk in the door, and they address me as family, treat me like family…Abu Jamal kept saying, “How many sons do I have?” “Seven,” I’d reply, “and 24 grandchildren.” “Yes, but today I have 8 sons, Daniel.” Ali actually called in the afternoon and we passed him around, and when he handed me the phone, he said to Ali, “here’s your brother, Daniel.” Hahaha.

too tired to finish this _______

Hiked 40 km from Mt Meron to Tiberias...ran dangerously low on water...sleeping for a week.

i'll finish this later.

My Trip to Yatta - Part One (of three or four...maybe)

The Day I was Abu Jamal’s 8^th Son

Today was a day where I took some risks, and I owe a tremendous, perhaps life changing experience to my good friend Ali, who came up with an idea to go visit his family fom Yatta, a village on the south side of Hevron.

I will describe parts of the day, and include some thoughts, but I will update this many time before I am done. There are many thoughts I want to share, and which I will miss the first time, because it is midnight after a long day as I type this.

THE MOST IMPOTANT THING ABOUT THIS ENTRY IS I want to be very honest about my thoughts and feelings, as best as I recall them.

This morning I woke up, and got ready for the day. This entailed picking what to wear, which I spent more time thinking about than most days. Its not that I wanted to make a good impression, I wanted to wear something that wouldn’t draw negative attention to me…basically, no Hebrew, no Israeli flags, no blatantly American clothing. I was walking down from where I live to the bus stop, and checked myself over.

Bingo, my bling bling “Israel @ 60” rubber bracelet had to come off…I didn’t even want it on me, so it can pour out of my backpack sometime…I took it off and put it on a fence near the bus stop. I’ll grab it tomorrow if its still there. I suppose this action can be explained by trying to do as little stupid and life threatening things as possible…

I have been in touch with Ali’s mother, who is from this small village of Yatta, over the past week. I boarded a bullet proof Egged bus from the Jerusalem Central Bus Station headed for Hevron. I was one of two people not wearing a kippa, or head covering of some sort.

We passed through the main checkpoint to the West Bank. Of course, its very easy to go into the WB, harder to get out, especially with a green (Palestinian) license plate. We road past settlements like Kiryat Arba, and other smaller ones. You pass the beautiful rolling hills, the layered teace style hills with olive trees, on your way into Hevron. First we pass the Jewish section, the smaller section of course, which is cleaner, greener, and without much personality. Next we head on down to the old city, where I get off. I get off the bus right near an IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) post. I say hello to them, and walk down the road to get my bearings to call Ali’s cousin, who speaks Hebrew, who was with his uncle, also the mayor of Yatta.

Now his nickname is Abu-Jamal, meaning the father of the eldest son, Jamal. This man has 7 sons, 1 daughter, and 24 grandchildren.

Also, referring to nicknames, my father’s name would be Abu-Daniel, because I am the eldest son. Daughters don’t matter in these nicknames, they’re cool though. Maybe in our Western liberal culture, bob can be Abu-Lala. (that made sense to a couple of you)

I have much more to say. Stay tuned for the rest (most) of the story.

Adventures

I cant tell you how much i have enjoyed watching about 20 hours of live Tour de France action so far.

I have written my last thee articles for Jpost. I hope at least one of the three gets in the paper. I had so much fun at today's interview. I went to the Bank of Israel and had a one-on-one with the head of currency. They sat me down, offered me drinks, a coffee and a soft drink, whatever i want, and we got to work. It was fun. I'm nicer than most journalists. In the world of journalism i am the nice guy. I don't get the juicy stuff all the time, but i can call someone after an interview and they are happy to hear me....its a trade off. Me wearing a shirt and tie (which really stands out in the israeli summer time) totally scored me credibility with my interviewees.

I am going on two adventures in the next few days. I hope i am in good health to tell you about them....just gotta drink plenty of fluids, and hope Sam finds the mosquito net.

Nine hours of sleep is the same as seven - but with 9 hours i think things like "you got nine hous, you're not really tired, just thirsty, or digesting, or something. Drink some water. Go for a walk."

I also have my grand finale, the packing blog, to be written from midnight to 4 am on the 27th. Will be a blast. My computer broke again. I'm using an external mouse and keyboard now. Pshh.

See you soon, alligator.

Random Observations

Well, i hitchhiked for the first time in Israel. Glad i crossed that one off the list.

I spent the weekend at my cousins in the West Bank. Lots of food, lots of babies.

Here are some observations about life in Israel:
*All birthright kids get glassy eyed and have definite sensory overload.
*Girls like it when you listen to them; babies like it when you make funny noises.

I have two flashbacks this past week:
*Waiting for Busi to open on a saturday night after shabbat, sitting on the giant bomb shelter in front of it.
*Ein Gev, the last weekend of Machon in Israel. It was so glorious. One of the best weekends of my life, hands down. So much happened. Everyone there has a great memory from there. Oddly enough, when i biked the Sea of Galilea which you're not supposed to do in the summer time and almost died (more on this tomorrow) i was fading when we past Ein Gev, and the flashbacks and memories saved me...either that or distracted me for 10 km or so.

Probably a couple more blogs. Operation get my shit home is ongoing, and going smoothly. Thanks to all the loyal colleagues who have supported me in this. (more on this...in my last blog)

Hangin' with Mr. Yuval & Cricket Education - still in progress...i'm going to work and finishing

I've put this post off a little bit, but now i will write up a brief synopsis of my adventures. Yuval's place is awesome. Its not an apartment per se, its a little house, with a yard with outdoor furniture and stuff. The outdoor furniture is key in israel because the places usually arent huge, and there is zero risk of it raining 7 months out of the year. People rejoice when they see cloud in the summer time.


Every morning we started the day off with a nice finjan of arabic coffee, along with your israeli chocolate of choice; sometimes had one in the afternoon too. Each night we usually had tea, which was made from the various spices that were growing in the immediate vicinity such as nana (mint) or lemon grass. I have informed A-ron that we will be growing those at our house this fall and doing the same.

Te first day was a true cultural experience. We went to the Rosh Ha'ayin shuk. Yuval said the first thing that happened to us when we got there sums up the whole place. We were standing in a line of cars to park, and the parking attendent flags us over. "Go ahead!" "I was waiting in line, i thought i'd let this guy pass." "What is a line? This is Rosh Ha'ayin!"

Its a small Yemenite town. The shuk was crazy, with your fair share of bad techno and amazing malawach, which we endulged in of course. Possibly the best i've ever had. Next we hiked over to an old fort built in the Herodian era. We just snuck in to have a refreshing beverage on top. From there you could see all of the coast, from Bat Yam, to Yaffo, Tel Aviv, Herzliyah, Ramat Hasharon, etc.

On the way back down we saw a guy with thick gloves and a contraption with a long rod with a rusted sawed open can on the end. This he used along with a machete to capture and de-thorn sabra fruit (cactus), which just grow in the wild. He offered to liberate us a few, which we enjoyed gladly. Thank you crazy sabra man, as he himself was a true sabra.
Now it was a hot day. Yuval suggested we stop at a nearby natural spring to wash our faces off. Eventually that evolved into stripping down and jumping in. Funny how that happens when the sun is having its way with you.

After that we went to a an Arab village called Jaljulyah where we ate some solid hummos ful, and bought some fresh coffee, which my colleagues over at Finjan Club in East Lansing will taste soon enough b'ezras hashem.

The next day we Tel Aviv'd it up, enjoying the new northern boardwalk and some great shakshukah, a walk along the Yarkon river, and a small survey of Tel Avivian graffiti.

So goes a great weekend.

As far as cricket goes, i went to Ashdod to cover the match. Some guys gave me some Goldstar and bisli, and coaches me a bit on the finer parts of the game. It was enjoyable. I'm glad to have gotten the first game under my belt.

Biker Guys, Asian Babies, and Cricket...

Just a few small things i wanted to share.

This morning i was sitting at the bus stop when a guy drives up riding this huge harley davidson. He wore a jean ripped shirt, leather jacket, bandana, aviators, huge biker beard, big leather boots, chains, the whole 9...and tzitzit coming out the bottom. It was quite the site. I was reaching for my camera when he left me in his smoke.

Also, having eaten thai and chinese food lately, little asian babies speaking hebrew...it doesn't get any cuter than that.

Lastly, i'm covering a cricket story sunday. I'm going ot Ashdod for a Israel @ 60 anniversary match between a Jewish All-Star team and an Indian young stars team. Jonty Rhodes, the michael jordan of cricket will play for team israel as a special guest. I'm trying to learn the game, really i am. I watched a youtube video explaining it. It should be fun though, i think i'll enjoy this assignment.

Whats the deal with pants anyway?

Don't worry. The flooding of your inboxes will slow soon. Especially since i had a story published in this morning's paper, i definitely feel the need to slack off, spend more time on youtube or facebook.

I went to the knesset yesterday. I almost didnt get in. It takes about 30 minutes to get security clearance. So i could tell you that i was at work wearing shorts, and thats why I didn't have long pants at the Knesset. But no, i stopped at my place for my passport anyway...i just had a blonde moment and didn't think to put on long pants for the Knesset. The front security guard looked at me like i was crazy. I am some days.

Random note: pregnant ladies always work security check at the Knesset because you sit down the whole time...not a good idea. Really hormonal women in a desert country...are you crazy?!?!? they gave me trouble.

So i figured i'll get through security, then i'll worry about pants. While i was waiting though i made friends with the head of security named Boaz. I offered him some cashews, we talked about Israel. I would have had to go 15 min on the bus to buy pants, or 20 min home to change, but Boaz had a friend he worked with who he knew had an extra pair of khaki pants. He said i could borrow them if i promised to bring them back. I threw them on right there. Paint a mental image....haha.

I saw Bibi, Ehud Barak, and sat right behind Amir Peretz for a while. I got some inside info, some stuff that i honestly am not allowed to tell, not even on my blog. There is one thing that i will tell only A-ron though, so make sure he sees this to cash in. Though none of the big peeps said anything of substance, i got a story of Bibi Netanyahu's chief of staff.

crazy hackers

Other life notes:

Cold pizza - don't underestimate how amazingly refreshing cold pizza can be in the summer in Israel. I was totally pleasantly surprised.

Gummy bears - i never have dreams; or at least i never remember them. I remembered flashes of a dream last night. I was at a bar with some friends (i don't remember which friends, honestly, though i do remember hilary...weird, i know, maybe b/c she says she is an avid reader of this blog)...anyway, i remembered some of the details when i woke up, but now all i really remember is everyone had a beer at the table but me. Either i hadn't ordered one yet, or already finished mine, or just arrived. There was a giant bag of gummy bears on the table too. I kept trying to order when the waitress came, but my mouth was always full of bears. I didn't even take more, the bears just never went away. I would swallow some, and it was like they reproduced in my mouth. I spat out 3 into my hand, and my mouth had no more space...it was a nightmare. So random, but i don't have dreams, so i'll settle.


You see a bear everyday.

Happy birthday Emily and Bam Bam!

Americans - Detroiters - Jellyfish

First of all, i'm going to type this blog with certain influences. First, i will spell words using British English...for fun. Second, my "o" button isn't working right, so when it doesn't work, i won't go back and correct it.

So i went to Tel Aviv this weekend. Its my favourite city on Israel most likely. Let me cover some highlights. Well, i went with a bunch of people from Michigan State. It was unusual because it wasn't people i've ever spent much time with, and who i would normal never spend time with.

Of the 34 hours i was in Tel Aviv for, i spent about 18 at the beach. I am so burnt right nw. We played some good frisbee, but the underlying story was the Jellyfish. Each day around 2 pm they would come out with a vengeance.
Everyone got stung, some worst than others. Today one of the guys i was with was investigating a jellyfish. We kept finding plastic bags and thinking they were jellyfish, so (and don't question the logic of this) someone went over everytime we saw something t confirm or refute that it was in fact a jellyfish. One of the guys we thought got way too clse, and after he came back he was like "what was i thinking." Immediately following this however, an Israeli guy goes right up to it, and is touching it...we just dropped our jaws in amazement. We wanted to tell him to get the hell back, but we so badly wanted to see what would happen to him. So he pushes it down, flips it up, and catches it in the air. He then slwly carried it ashore. That was the most hard core thing to happen today...good lord. I was dumbstruck.

Funny story - so a lot of people have had trouble with the fact that in situations when doors should be push, they are actually pull, and the reverse. Well my friend rachel went to pull open a door to our hostel, and it was stubborn. She pulled the handle CLEAN OFF, then just walked away. The next morning i was trying to shut the front door, and thought "wow, there should really be a handle here to shut this door....oh wait...." and recalled the incident. I will remind her f it often.

So we didn't do too much to celebrate America's independence. We went to Mike's Place (though i have 2 reasons to kill Mike's Place...thats another story though). There we found a drunk guy from Detroit wearing a Red Wings shirt. We were excited and told him were from Detroit and talked Red Wings with him for a minute. Then he's like "WOOOOOO i'm buying you drinks!!!" so he bought us a round. Funny guy. We saw him the next morning walking around wearing a Pistons shirt.

I'm reading On The Road by Kerouac. I like it because i'm kinda on the road now too, and a lot of times he's had incidents the same day i had a similar one. Its funny. I believe thats it for now. Tomorrow i'm going to Herzliyah to report on a charity tennis tournament in Ilan Ramon's memory. I'll get home late, but should be cool. I hear they're gonna feed me again.

Major Plowing: A terror attack in Jerusalem

Now I’m going to talk about yesterday’s attack in Jerusalem. Everyone is calling it a terrorist attack, including the city police, but the government is calling the killer “a murderer, not a terrorist.”

Anyway, there are about a dozen interns. We all come from roughly the same half of Jerusalem, in Rechavia, Talpiot, or Emek, or actually from the Old City, so most of us take the bus via Yaffo St. past the Machaneh Yehudah shuk (mmm…Marzipan). Most of us got to work driving past there about 30 minutes to an hour before some crazy mother fucker cried allah hu akhbar and decided to knock over a bus full of people, toss a couple of cars, and totally level a bus stop. It looks like it was some kid with K’nex smashed his creation (or Lincoln logs depending on generation, but not legos, it wasn’t that type of design).

At work there was a frenzy. I was on the phone with the municipality about the Olympics thing when she said she’d have to call me back, some crazy hijacked a tractor and is driving like mad….okay.

The Hebrew speakers were sent in taxis to all the hospitals to interview the wounded, so I guess I am grateful that my Hebrew isn’t good enough. At the office we had some video that didn’t make it on the air around the world, of a zoomed in shot of the off-duty soldier (blue shirt) climbing up on the tractor and shooting the driver twice. Saw that a dozen times yesterday….good lord.

By the time I headed to city hall last night around 6 p.m. only a few hours after the attack it was as if nothing happened. Workers were back working in the construction zone for the Jerusalem lite-rail, where the tractor came from. There was no traffic, no broken glass, the bus that was knocked over, as well as the tractor that was used to do it had vanished.

Now I will do the most Israeli thing that I can think of, I will make a joke about yesterday’s attacks. I had a good one that I thought of on the bus to work this morning, but I forgot it, so I will force one. (I type this at work by the way, not working, as one would think is the allotted place to do work, work, that is) What Dane Cook says about when car accidents happen, it really is true. Once people are sure that everything is safe, they are rushing all over the place to tell people what they saw. “I was in my kitchen, I was washing a dish when the tractor started plowing around. Here officer, take this dish, it can be exhibit A. I saw the whole thing,” that type of thing. “Take me down to the police station, I saw the whole thing. I was eating my falafel, and some hummos dropped onto my shoe, and licked my shoe to get it off, and then he started plowing into people with a tractor. I saw the whole thing.”

Israelis are a special breed. Already things are back to normal, while in America, an event would go through a few weeks of tragedy and solemnity, then a few weeks of commercialism (such as 9-11 memorabilia), then a few weeks of acceptance, then finally, people would be able to make jokes about it. Israelis are able to do so in one day. (this is actually what I want to write an op-ed about).

My first sports article - Israeli Olympic Team

I will be posting two blogs today. First I will ignore the topic that was most newsworthy in Israel yesterday, and beat around the bush a little bit. Last night I added sports reporting to my repertoire. I bugged the sports editor for a day and a half, and talked some Euro football with him (thanks to my internship in Geneva, it now seems my most valuable skill learned is to follow European soccer). Anyway, he sent me on an assignment to city hall to attend a small dinner and awards ceremony for Israel’s Olympic team.


My Hebrew is clearly not where it needs to be. Those who I interviewed were patient with me, or allowed me to be patient with them as they used their English. These Olympians may have some serious skills, but English is not among them.

[I just interrupted typing this blog to pitch an idea about an op-ed…I REALLY hope its picked up. It probably won’t though. They’ll take one of my more boring ideas.]


Anywho, it was cool. It was on the 6th floor of Jerusalem municipality building #1, those really pretty buildings on Yaffo St. right across from the Old City. There is a view from the balcony up there that is breathtaking. I conducted some interviews right away, though I did struggle with finding who were Olympians and who weren’t, and who could even form a sentence in English.

Between you and me, I did indulge in the yummy food the city of Jerusalem provided, and it was, but only after I got most of the material I would need to write an article. I also took my own pictures with my digital camera. After the event I went to the Coffee Bean down the street and plugged in to transcribe my notes into type, type up my article, upload the pictures I took, select a few that I liked, do some research on the athletes to round out the article, and send it all in. I had about 45 minutes for this all to meet my 9 a.m. deadline. Wooft. It was fun in some ways.

the only one i have actually heard of was Andy Ram, who won a grand slam in doubles at last year's Australian Open (was that it?). Anyway, his sister accepted his award because he was over at Wimbledon losing in the quarterfinals.

So yeah, the article can be found here. I don’t know why it has no picture in it. This time, though, the spread in the actual newspaper looks really good, with a picture I took (two actually) and a sweet Beijing Olympic logo, all in color.

*My first Israeli sports article*

Final unrelated note to camp people: I was on the phone with my editor when a girl stopped in front of me, dropped her jaw, which resulted in me dropping mine. Shira Nesher has resurfaced like an eagle in the landscape. She is in the army, kinda, giving Jerusalem tours to new soldiers.

Second Story in Jpost - front section!

Don't get spoiled, this won't happen everyday like this. I was about to leave work today at 5 p.m. when i got jumped on and pitched a story. I really liked the topic so i decided to stay late, hold some interviews, and work on it.

It is top section on Jpost.com right now, and will have a hundred talkbacks, which means if you google my name it moves up higher on the list (i was informed).

CLICK HERE to see my story on Israeli attitudes toward the diaspora.

BREAKING NEWS: Dan Kuhn Published in Jerusalem Post

After a week of work, my first article is in the Jerusalem Post! (well, actually, its my second article, my first one wasn't picked up)

Its the feature on the "Jewish World" section.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/Page/IndexParMult&cid=1124114124309

If that has changed by the morning, the article is right here. I'm trying to get them to get my picture up too, so hopefully its up by the morning also.

CLICK HERE to see my first article!

I'm glad this worked out. At Jpost there is less of an "impact on the world" or even on my world factor, but this is proof that my work is worth something. I'm sure the congregants will be happy.

-Daniel

Mayumana - with love from Brazil...and boxes

Anothere great day at the beach. So yesterday i ran from southern Tel Aviv, even further south of schunat Hatikva. We were going to play frisbee on the beach with a bunch of Americans and Israelis. I did the 7 or 8 km run. I felt alright afterwards, but i definitely felt it this morning.

We played frisbee on the beach for a while, then switched to soccer. Its AMAZING to me how much i can hold my own in soccer after watching the Euro Football Cup for a month.

So we found this guy staring at our frisbee game, and asked him to come play with us. I will never forget this new friend. He was this guy from Brazil named Vanderson. He is a dancer who has traveled the world for the last 10 years. In Holland he played Tarzan on stage, and has been in other troupes. Deutch couldn't stop staring at his girlfriend, but i had a little crush on him. He was always smiling with this huge smile. He loved playing soccer with us, and loved frisbee. He had never thrown a frisbee before, but he used to play an instrument in Brazil that looked like one. He was a natural. He threw forehand, backhand, with his thumb...blew us away. I think he is the messiah. He threw with his toe, he tried to with his chin...crazy.

But we had some great talks and then they invited us to make dinner with them. This was so funny - Vanderson didn't change the rest of the night. We al wore our beach clothes as we made our pasta and fish and salat. It was normal because me and ben wore shorts and a t-shirt, but Vanderson was wearing a red speedo and didn't have any pants or shirt. He had a Brazilian flag which he wore like a toga...i should have gotten a picture. Absolutely hilarious.

So we cooked for a while. He poured a bowl of chips and bamba out and explained this was a trick he learned a while back; its so you don't pick at the food you're making for dinner. It's smart, think about it.

They're going to be traveling the world with this Israeli dance troup, Mayumana. Search youtube and look at it. I want to go see them perform one day. They will be in Spain, but after that they don't even know. As a non-Jew who speaks Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, and some English in Israel it was interesting to see how see views Tel Aviv. He said he didn't want to leave.

They were so generous and loved us, and we loved them too. This was the second time this summer that i met a friend and by the end of the day felt like i had known him for my entire life. It doesn't happen to often.

Some bar notes: we were waiting for a pool table at a bar. Twice huge brawls broke out over little stupid things. It was so funny to watch, but i probably shouldnt have survived that night, not without a spilled beer at least.

I moved into my room today so i could finally unpack...i just have no where to put my stuff. My room is 6 feet by 6 feet. Think about it, that means that i cant quite lie down anywhere in the room, because i am just over six feet tall. I have no shelves, of course, either, and no bathroom on my floor. Here's to roughing it.

Shalom Aleichem.

Beach Time and Press Time

I spent my first week in a hostel right across from Kikar Tzion, right in the heart of social-Jerusalem. Its walking distance to the old city where me and danny walked one night.

For my birthday several of us went out to Japanika, a great sushi place, and then to the Irish Pub that is 23 and over, but we negotiated our way into, which you can always do in Israel. Avram bought me a yummy honey-beer.

No stories in the JPost yet. I had a few revised, but i covered a story in Talpiot and took pictures, so i should be credited for both. It was about a Torah that was rescued from a monastery where it was hidden during the shoah. I don't enjoy working for Jpost all that much. I know journalism isn't right for me, which i guess is the point of this whole thing. It was gratifying because the members of the masorti synagogue receiving the restored Torah were really nice to me and really grateful that i was covering their story. They treated me with respect and fed me, which is always nice.

I am Tel Aviv for the shabbos. I went to Schunat Hatikva today, Busi was closed, but i got a good Shipudei Hatikva, which was tasty. There was always a dog at the shwarma stand that crossed the street and looked both ways, and feasted on the dropped shwarma. I think he has passed on since my year course, but there is a smaller dog that looks the same now who has to be his son.

I also went to the beach today. Always lovely, got my color, stopped by the shuk and bought some dates and cashews. I don't really feel the need to spend so much time in Israel. It still feels like home here, but even home isn't home without the people that make it so. As OAR says, "when i'm with my friends i feel home."

I will continue to enjoy Israel, mingle with my fellow Spartans in Jerusalem, find some other friends who are wandering around, but i'm still trying to come home a week or so early to visit camp and settle in at home a bit. I only got 40 hours between moving out of the Grove house and going to Switzerland, so i relish the opportunity.

I am spending the weekend with my friend Ben from Chicago who is in the Paratroopers right now. We are having dinner at the neighbor's house with 12 kids. Should be an experience.

Shabbat Shalom ya'all.

longer version

So today i got up at 4:30 am, took a taxi to theairport at 5 am. I triple checked that I did indeed get a special deal to go for 16 francs...i ended up not getting it somehow (fucking europeans), only had 16 francs, so i paid in a dollar/euro/franc combination.

At the airport they would only let me have 1 bag and 20 kilos, and threatened to charge me $1000 to check my two bags ($1000 extra!!!!). I bitched them out after trying to be really nice at first. I threw some stuff out, got creative, and cheated, then had a lot of chutzpah, made her life miserable because she was going out of her way to make mine so, and ended up carrying lots of weight thru the airports, but didn't pay a dime. I got 10 kg out, suck 4 kg in after she weighed them, and tired her and her supervisor out so much after 1 hour at the desk that she didnt charge me.

I put myself thru carrying all my bags thru the train station from TA to Jerusalem to save myself 130 shekels (150 for the taxi, 20 for the bus....yeah...i'm crazy)

I got her, and spent 2 shekels for a shoko b'sakit (chocolate milk in a bag)

I'm in Israel. I'm in one piece. I haven't been so tired in a very long time.

O FO SHO.

Ah israel...the U.S.-Euro purgatory. Feels like home, only meaner.

The last 48 hours

I swam in Lake Geneva...at 3 a.m.

Spent some nice time at Fete de la Musique, where Geneva turned into 20 concerts for the weekend. It was awesome.

Really made progress in reading "on the road."

I've gotten 6 hour of sleep.

I got to Israel.

Met up with Danny and Avram.

Ate at burger's bar (meat was not an option in Geneva)

Had a goldstar.

Realized i was turning 21 in less than 90 min...and it doesn't feel like a big deal.

I guess that's the update. Tomorrow i'm going to the bakery (i bet you know which one), and getting in touch with Jpost to figure out work the next time.

Am Yisraeli Chai. Peace here (in the middle east) but not necessarily now (achshav).

Dan Kuhn takes on Human Rights - speech at the UN

Well, that was quite the day. I gave a speech on the floor of the Human Rights council, which NGOs didn't ever have the chance to do until a few years ago, let alone interns in their last year of college. How did it happen?

Well i walked in to the office after the morning session of the council, and Leon, the Director of Communications told me i was speaking. I didn't really acknowledge it nor did it register. He's a funny guy, quite the jokester, so i expect it from him. "So you don't want to speak?" "I absolutely want to speak!"

So i went in to see Hillel, the Executive Director, and i got a copy of the speech so i could practice a few times. He have me some tips, and said, "It's a mitzvah to use every second that the council gives you." So he said that if we have 3 minutes, we use those 3 minutes. The subject matter isn't the most eye popping, its a good speech with a good point, but my boss did tell me that he didn't want to have me give a speech that outright attacked somebody during my first time.

After I delivered it for him and it sounded okay, he said i should hurry to the UN to make sure i have enough time. So i headed over there, trying to breathe normally, trying to keep my cool, which i was doing a decent job at. I got there and paced for a minute, then assumed my seat behind the NGOs desk that speeches are given from. I had about 15 minutes to sit there, absorb the surroundings, and look over my speech a few times. Then after three member states spoke, i was called upon, i pressed the red button, and raised my hand for the camera to locate me.

http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=5488773

The link above has a copy of my speech, in video and in text. It was quite the experience, and i'm very happy with how it turned out. At first i was really nervous, then i zoned out for the whole middle section, then i was very comfortable by the last parapgraph.

I was and still am very grateful for the opporunity.

Queen...the Alps...homelessness

I don't have my video of me speaking in front of the UN looking and sounding pretty yet, so i'll hold off and talk about my last weekend. We decided to go to a few of the different towns on Lake Geneva scattered amongst the Alps. Our first stop was Montreux. Its famous for the world's greatest jazz festival. Queen also had a studio there and recorded half their songs there because they loved it there. It is quite gorgeous there.

This is a statue of Freddy Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who the city honored with a statue on the lake front. More than anything though, it is a testament to the piss poor ability of European picture-takers. Seriously. After we took and looked at it, my colleague that speaks french kindly explained to them that we wanted the whole statue with us in it. OH? REALLY??? You're standing in front of Freddy Mercury because you'd like him involved? No shit.

Next we went to Castle de Chillon, an old Swiss fortress. It was really cool, but the highlight for me was the view from the top of the tower, and the water closet (WC, lavatory, or pooper). They had a nice little wooden toilet on the side of the castle so it is situated on a cliff overhanging the lake, so no flushing needed. The breeze when you sit there though was remarkable.
Nice view from the top. The water was pretty that day.
It was never blue skies, but sunset gave a real surreal to the mountains, which we saw from the town of Vevey.

We had booked hostel in a small town just 10 km east of Montreux. Unofortunately you have to scale a mountain to get there or go around, a train of an hour. We could have gotten back to Geneva for that. Being that it is Europe, and stuff is never open when you need it (hostels close around 9 pm...great logic there) we had limited options. We took a train further west to Lausanne. This lovely picture shows Masha, my colleague, doing her hobo impression. It was cold, and she was trying to stay warm in the train station with the stuff sheet my sister encouraged me to take to Europe that has proved quite helpful.


We ended up crashing at a friend of a friend's house there. We had a great day the next day. An amazing modern art museum, possibly the best ice cream i've ever had, and a conversation about love and god. I'm going to read a book called "conversations with god" as a result.

I finished East of Eden, and really enjoyed it. Next i'm reading On the Road by Kerouac. Should be fun. I'll get my video of fame up ASAP.

Salud.

Italy and other adventures

Chag sameach members of the tribe!

Well, I will be brief about Italy for now, even though i haven't even talked about London. First of all, lots of things close on sundays because its a holy day there....but wait, why is everything closed on mondays again?!?!?

The food was good. As a breadman i appreciated the bread served with every pizza and pasta meal, as well as good wine. There are no toilet seats in Italy. They don't exist. You sit on wet porcelain when you go "down to the river." Ridiculous.

I had more gelato in the last few days than year course. You hear that zac?

There are romans roaming (roming...lol) around Rome. Sounds not unusual, right? But look:

That's right, he's getting her phone number. Italian guys are like arsim, but better dressed. What these guys go around doing is taking pictures with stupid tourists and then ask them for 10 euros ($15).
But yeah, our hostel was right near the colliseum. I love Gladiator, so this was a big thrill for me. We went during the day, then hung out there at night...would you look at that!

In Florence i invested my youth and time in climbing the Duomo, which was intense. It put anything Paris had to offer to shame (you hear that sarah l, if you read this) It was awesome though, the view from the top. You see the city outside, and are right up in the grill of the frescoes on the dome on the inside.


You just expect to see art by the ninja turtles everywhere. Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Michaelangelo...pretty amazing. I'm tired of churches. I will never go into more than 25 in one weekend every again.

So i came back and had one day off. It felt great. A day of laundry, and grocery shopping. I also cooked a cholent for the entire day (my first ever) but its a veggie one (bad news, right?). Its tasty, but not very cholent like. When i packaged it away i put it in 5 different containers to fit it all in, and now i have all kinds of oats, barley, beans, and so forth and nothing to do with it.

I also went to Fan Zone tonight to watch the Spain/Russia match on the big screen amongst the sea of fans. It is a hell of a cultural experience. American fans are absolutely just as passionate, but a lot more tame. Zac will enjoy my commentary on his eurofoot passion.

I go to Jerusalem in less than two weeks i guess...crazy. I'm ready for Israel, but not without one more trip to the alps which i hope to take this weekend.

Peace on earth.

Biggest Toblerone

I am on a quest to find the biggest Toblerone made. So far i have found a 4.5 kilo (about 11 pounds), which costs around $150 and is about three feet tall. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll be in Italy this weekend. Much love.

Haven't felt closer to home than right now

That was glorious. Great game. Tomorrow will be a red bull day for me. 5:03 a.m., i'm out for my last two hours of sleep.


Its shiny. Detroiters, get out there for the parade!

Asskicking

Work has been totally kicking my ass this week. I had another day where i felt like having that beer with lunch. It is very much socially acceptable here, though. I'm just pretty spent and worn out, that i'm looking for new ways to stay sane. Advice?

My newly functioning iPod has helped. I had been whistling and singing so damn much before because i NEED music in my life. Since i fixed it i've resumed a normal singing, humming, and whistling amount.

Its important to have music in your life. I pity people who don't have it, and don't know how much joy it can bring them. I miss my guitar. I was at a friend of a friend's apartment balcony last week, and we played some tunes since they had a few guitars at the house. It felt good. On that note, this is something of a shout-out. I miss last summer's jamming with Sarah Kritz in the Beit Am, and of course miss jamming with zachariah and the family band. I was at a club in London against my will and they played a "Stand by me" remix, which reminded me when we did our little version of that in zac's basement last intersession after we jumped out of the sky. Much love.

I just ran into Abubakar again, my comarade from Burkina Faso. You'll remember him from one of my first blogs. First of all, his english gets better every day, so we have have a very slow, patient conversation these days. Its funny, i commented on how wierd it is that he is frying a whole fish (a whole fish!), and he commented it was so weird that i bought and cooked only a portion of a fish.

I'm going to Italy for this long weekend. I look forward to it. Okay, i will be awake all night to watch the Wings game. Bring it home, boys!

Awards Part I - Paris Edition

There has been an age old debate. Arguments have been had, wars have been fought...i thought i would settle it for everybody. Paris vs. London, cite' au city. The categories are in, its on.

Let me walk you through my Paris experience in brief, and then get down to business seeing the French submissions.

Best Food: There is nothing more expensive than Geneva. After being to the only two places anyone argued with me about, London and Paris, it still holds. It is easy however to drop $25 on a crappy meal in Paris. Luckily, one meal had a very powerful impact on me and had my brain calling for nap time. There was a hole in the veggie crepe place that Toby from work said i had to go to if i go anywhere. He wasn't kidding. Its hard to say what was so amazing about it, but they just make it with love i suppose. They will throw anything on that crepe board, and find a way to wrap it up (giggity) and serve it to you.

There was also an international bread festival...yeah...thats some craftsmanship

Best Dressed: Though i didn't realize it before i arrived, there is still a great deal of ye olde fashion in contemporary styles. The streets of Paris are known for their...well...they're trendy. Very trendy.



Pay extra attention to the gloves and the feathers. I think they bring a lot out from a personality standpoint. It classic french style, they are packing: a longsword, a dagger, and a cigarette. I'm also pretty sure that the other man in the exotic hat is a women with a 'stache. I'll give that extra points to.

Favorite Building: I liked a few different ones. My friend Sarah urged me that we must stop by a cathedral that we passed on the way to Notre Dame. The outside was interesting but i really didn't expect much. The inside is damn impressive. Stained glass windows surrounds you, and various stories from Exodus, Genesis, Kings, Ruth, and more are depicted in the glass. Fellow member of the tribe JC also makes an appearance or two. But hands down, this was the most impressive building i saw.

Favorite Spot: Eifel Tower. I didn't expect too much out of it, just something cool, but i was absolutely blown away. It's shape just sucks you in. This supposed "city of love" didn't strike a chord with me, but this would qualify as a tower of love. The lights, the flicker show on the hour, view from the top. Few things can top it.

Street Performers: Really, not that impressed. You had some musicians, but having spent time in Geneva, we have more professionals roaming the streets than we know what to do with. The giant harp was cool though.
What is this guy? Kinda creepy, but i can dig it a little bit. I'm pretty sure he is on some type of bad shroom trip.What, the same guy up there went and painted himself gold? You gotta be kidding me.

Well you have it - Paris. Stay tuned for Part II - London.

I see London, I see France, i see Caylee's Underpants

Well i'm in London. I saw a lot of the big sights yesterday, and we did a spectacular pub crawl last night. They do pubs right here. I'll post some pictures soon. My computer is fixed! I will post some pictures and skype with you fine people monday.

So the plane here (which cost $40 by the way) was a choose your own seat. Of course, i chose the seat with the baby who screams and cries and kicks my seat the whole way. It doesn't matter so much, i slept for the middle chunk because this week beat me up pretty good, enjoyable as it was. As i hopped on the bus to southern London, which took just under an hour, i had originally picked a seat in front of a crying baby again. I got the hell up out of there and picked a kindly seat up neat the front.

London is incredibly easy to navigate to me. Maybe its that its conveniently set up, but i think a lot of it has to do with everything being in English. Its remarkable to me that i am able to read all signs that i desire, or ask people questions and get answers.

Also, an example of how brutally expensive Geneva is, i am actually in London, against the pound, and can't believe how much cheaper things are.

A comment about Big Ben, which reminds me to wish the Pistons a nice off-season. Anyway, Big Ben...not that big. I was expecting it to me much bigger. It really should be decently-sized Ben. Furthermore, IT DOESN'T REALLY MAKE THE SAME DONG SOUNDS THAT WE PISTONS FANS BELIEVED! This was a shock to me.

It was also just brought to my attention that while i will spend about $15 on a steak dinner in Israel, as opposed to the $38 i am not spending in Geneva. The New Israeli Shekel is at a 3.3 conversion rate with the dollar. You remember our 4.6 rate year coursers? Ain't that amazing. That's fine though. My busy still costs $6, when it would cost something like $20 in Geneva...and it's a BUSI, so my enthusiasm would not be diminished anyway.

Well, today we're going to see secondary London...basically all of the non essentials because i saw Buckingham Palace, got my picture with the cool guard dude, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, House of Parliament, etc.

Oh yeah, i'm in London, and so is The Boss (Bruce Springsteen for you ignorants)

Peace and Love. Go Wings, bring home Stanley.

Classy Guy

We got got our pictures back from the Gala Dinner celebrating 60 Years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Of all the pictures, the photographer took one of me, in black and white no less....i think its fantastically comical, but definitely one i could turn into a modeling career.



I'm wearing my favorite shirt (blue).

Important People and Long Hours

Well folks, I’m getting mad good at tying a tie. This has been a long week, and its only Wednesday, but I think it will go a lot smoother here on in. I have worked 26 out of the last 48 hours. Damn b.

But its been very cool. I’m going to walk you through some of it. I have realized in this experience that I would really enjoy being a personal assistant in the future as long as its for really cool people.

I have been reporting on the preparatory sessions for the “Durban II Conference,” the review conference to be held next year to the original conference in South Africa in 2001, which displayed the most slanderous, racist, anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic hatred since the Holocaust. It was a disgusting sight.

I’m writing this in the Human Rights Council chambers at the U.N. It’s 10:18 a.m., so the distinguished representatives are moseying on it for the 10:00 session. But anyway…

Since its gotten down to crunch time for UN Watch’s conference on how to prepare for Durban II, I’ve done a lot of research about different countries policies, and their press coverage, and on different people. My task coolness has moved up a few degrees due to a couple members in the office being unavailable. The day before the conference Hillel, the executive director called me into his office to assign me a task. I was to find the former President of the American Jewish Committee, show him around, and accompany him in a meeting with a large Irishman who is running for President of the Human Rights Council in a couple weeks. I guess the men I was showing around was influential enough in the United States that if he really liked the guy, he would be able to get the U.S. vote for him.

I actually wasn’t very nervous at all. I was pretty blunt with him when he asked for my opinions. So I took him to the meeting, and got him an English breakfast tea as instructed, then settled in to watch these two men feel each other out. It was real fascinating to watch the politicking and smooth lobbying the Irishman tried to do. He noted his ties with the Jewish community, and even brought two copies of a book about Yad Vashem that he wrote the forward for, as well as a letter from the grandson of Eleanor Roosevelt who represented the USA in Israel in 1948 at an independence celebration. In the end I took him to the Human Rights Council chambers and asked him how he thought it went. In the end he gave me one of the copies of the book the Irishman had given him, as well as the letter from Mr. Roosevelt.

The day of the conference…okay we’re about to start. It just crossed my mind that it would be fantastically funny to go and sit in someone’s seat when they came in, and be like, “oh is that your seat?” I wouldn’t do it for Iran or Saudi Arabia, for they would cut my hands off. Maybe U.A.E, or Sudan. Hehehe

Anyway, the day of the conference my job was to chill near the podium with Hillel, the exec. and make sure he has all his notes, his bios, etc. I snapped some pictures, I held various microphones, set up the video camera, and welcomed some ambassadors. I was chilling outside getting some fresh air when the President of the Human Rights Council showed up. It is a huge deal for him to come and speak at our conference. There are 70 Islamic and African countries who will be pissed when they see our press release of the president in front of our wicked cool UN Watch wallpaper. I was really happy that I recognized him, though I think I called him Mr. High Commissioner, confusing his title.

I also met the American Ambassador who spoke, and the Israeli ambassador. The U.S. ambassador is such a Texan…this big former businessman. He loves American. A lot. And why not? We all should (why you ask? Ask me later…)

I had an interesting conversation in the afternoon with a rep from the State Dept. In sum, he said that Europe has gone soft. After 1,000 years of war and bloodshed, a WWI where a million men died in a battle, and world war II that ravaged everything and showed it how cruel and evil man could be, they have become pacifists. They have reverted back to the same mistakes that were made before they appeased Hitler and didn’t crush him in 1933 when they could have easily, and so have learned nothing. He also said that he disagree with Obama, who wants to talk to everyone. “If someone if walking down the street with a baseball bat, and wants to hit you in the face, will you try to reason with him? Now, if he has a stick, and you have a bat, that’s a different story.”

At night we had a Gala dinner. It. Was. Delicious. Good wine, good olives, several courses…I will not have another meal like that for some time. There were some amazing speeches as well.
After a dozen of us went for drinks. It was a very interesting mix of people. There were 3 UN Watch employees, a few members of the Council for Jewish Students, a couple locals, then you have a State Dept. employee, the US Special Envoy on the study of Anti-Semitism, and a Yale professor. Real funny group. I was taking career advice from the State Department guy. He said I should get all my education now, and not stop and work for a couple years, which I had planned. I also asked him how he got to where he is. He basically said it comes down to how much you want it. I plan on sending him an e-mail and asking him what he specifically means by that. I think I’m going to look into some grad schools in the fall…Any ideas?

Lastly, I’ve found myself hanging out with a group of 30 year old Israelis. I think that’s funny. I don’t see myself hanging out with 30 year olds at home ever…it’s a strange thing the social formations of temporary friendships.

I met the President of AJC, David Harris, which was very cool. He invited our entire office out to dinner tonight. I will enjoy that.

Some Friday thoughts…

Can a brother get some cheddar cheese? I find this same problem in Israel. In American you have all kinds of cheese…Grade A CHEESE! Cheddar, American, Muenster, Provolone, Mozzarella, Gouda, Smoked Gouda, Smoked Cheddar, Colby, Pepper jack, Colby-Jack…you get the idea. Here they have two. You can have mozzarella or you can have yellow, and you better like it. Damn. It would even take it as a grand gesture to package the same cheese but make it different color for crying out loud!

Tour de France flag: So I was doing my typical tourist shopping that I do every town I go to, that would be a postcard and a shot glass. It keeps costs down. Anyway, I was looking around Paris last weekend (which I will post about once I get my computer back to put pictures up) for something Tour de France, because I am quite the fan. If I was in Europe for the last stage of the tour I would be ALL OVER going to the Champps Elysee in Paris for the end. Anyway, I was hoping for a poster or post-card or something. I did find some cool shirts, but for the 20-30 Euro range (that’s 30-45 dollars). So I looked around and finally really found a gem. I got this wicked-cool Yellow tour de France flag that now adorns the wall of my room. 7 Euros. Not bad at all. I’ll post a picture of it later.


Basketball against Dirk [girls can probably skip this one, except Allison...i know becky won't want to read this one]: So every other day I’ve been playing street ball with these German guys on the court behind my place. The first couple days were a series of one on one games. I trashed him in the first game, he beat me in the second. It’s a weird game. He’s much longer and taller than I, but likes to take jumpshots, and I still can’t drive on him too much unless I fade away. For the basketball doctors out there, I think I know how to play him. He’s a crazy dibbler so its tempting to go for the steal and he takes advantage of me that way. I guess I just need to play him straight up though. I haven’t found anyone who can consistently handle me in the post though. Me and my German friend Max beat the other two Germans yesterday in a grueling two hour game. If I was going to camp after this, I might be a force to be reckoned with.

Picture Shopping: Now grocery shopping is always an experience. First of all, there are slightly different cultural foods, so when you look for what you want, its not always a sure thing that you’ll even find it. They have HUGE chocolate and wine sections by the way. Anyway, my food vocabulary is getting good. Fromage is cheese, champigons are mushrooms, you know. This knowledge takes you most of the way, but for many things you have to trust that the manufacturer chose appropriate pictures for the cover. I know i’m getting mushrooms, but with all the other words and the weird pictures, is it the cream of mushroom soup I desire? Is it mushroom paste? Mushroom casserole? Mushroom juice? You never know.

The Final Countdown: Okay, it’s on. I’m making a mean stir fry next week with pineapples as the top-chef special ingredient. It will be delicious. Here is what the countdown is though. Last time I bought a pineapple, but this time I bought canned. The clock starts now – 7 days to figure out how to open the can. I could buy a can opener. I say that because I know someone was going to suggest it. I WILL NOT. I won’t waste the money. I promise you it will cost $7-8. Ideas? Challenges?

I am keeping clippings from the French newspapers when they talk about the Wings in the Stanley Cup or about the Pistons. I’m sure somebody (A-ron) will find them fascinating. I’ll take this opportunity to remind folks that all must be watchful for A-ronisms this summer. I cannot keep up my duty, of course. I am nervous until I get my computer back because I don’t have this years saved anywhere else. I’ll not make that mistake next time. Much love.

Music and Friends

Hey guys,

No social commentary here, just wanted to tell you how important music and friendship are. As the BOB himself, Mr. Marley said, music can cure all, when it hits you, you feel no pain. Well my iPod and computer are gone so i have none. I've been trying to sing and whistle more to get by, but the skies just don't feel as bright without music in your day. This doesn't mean you should have headphones in your ears 24/7, because then you lose touch with the world.

I miss my guitar. It's such a good companion. I think i might have decided on a name for it, but i'll let you know soon.

Lastly, the reality of who isn't here hit me hard yesterday. I have never in my life spent this amount of time, which will amount to 2 months, without you guys, without even one face that i knew before, my friends and partners in crime (i love that phrase). It's hard. You see my pictures and quickly become jealous because i'm seeing mountain peaks and ancient churches, and paying $5.50 for 3 red peppers at the grocery store. You should be jealous, but not of climbing those hundreds of steps to get to the top of these ancient structures. Bottom line, wish you were here. People in Europe can be cold.

Weekend trip to Bern, Interlaken

Hello everyone. First of all, I WANT TO KNOW WHO CHECKS THIS, so leave me some love. I'm going to talk about my weekend trip from last weekend, because i really haven't gotten a chance to blog about it.

May 10-11

This was a rough first trip to take, because I am not sure if it can be topped. We took a train east in Switzerland to Bern, the capital city and place of parliament, as well as the namesake of beloved musician Dan Bern. This train ride, I could not pick my jaw up off the floor. It was gorgeous…all the fields of yellow flowers and snow-covered peaks. They would get better when I got up to them, though. WOW, did it feel good to get out of French Switzerland and into the German part. Swiss-German never sounded so good. Notable notes of Bern are it’s known for bears, its city symbol, and who used to roam through the city. Also, we walked past the house where fellow M.O.T., Albert Einstein, developed the theory of relativity. The city is known for their clocktower and puts on a real show every hour. We heard we HAD to see it.
To kill time until the hour we walked around and it was just a beautiful city with a river going through it, lots of nature in it, too.

We walked past the house of parliament, which was a nice building, but they have a fountain out in front, like the kind they have at Epcot at Disney. It shoots up from the ground and builds a maze for you and you have to get out. It seemed there was a limited number of people over the age of 6 who were willing to strip down and join in on the fun. That guy was yours truly.



I really liked the fountains and statues they have in the middle of the streets there. I haven’t put a good one on facebook yet, but there was a ballin’ one of Moses carrying some commandments. I hadn’t seen more than a handful of Americans my entire trip thus far, so here I was crossing the river on the bridge, and I see a guy in a “Oldies 104.3 Woodward Dream Cruise” shirt, and I yell “YOU’RE FROM DETROIT!” and he’s like, “yeah man!” Funny thing, him and his friend also go to Michigan State, so we enjoyed a little “go green go white” action. About 10 minutes later when we were waiting for the clocktower to sing and dance for us a man with a hella-grizzly beard comes up to and asks in German if I speak German or English, to which I respond that I’m American. He says, in response to my MSU shirt that he lived on a farm outside of Lansing and graduated from MSU 30 years back. I ate this stuff up. The clocktower you ask? Cool, but somewhat anti-climactic.
Then we moved on to Interlaken. I have had several debates over whether it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. What are the most beautiful places you’ve ever seen? I’ll think of my list too. It might include Harbor Springs (MI), Yellowstone and the Rockies, Tel Aviv at sunset, I dunno. Interlaken means between the lakes so there are to huge lakes in the middle of this valley with snow covered peaks all around. Also, this hostel was AMAZING! You pay $27 for a night (keep in mind the awful exchange rate) and get a room, free breakfast, free internet, and my beloved relaxation room! It’s labeled as a hangover recovery room with a dozen hammocks on a covered porch, but its SOOOO relaxing.


So we did some extra-curricular activities that night, and around 2 a.m. I ran into a group of friends from Ohio. Summering in Europe is all about making the most of these 48 hours friendships. You have to accept them, enjoy them for what they are, and move on. There was a girl who spent a month in Ohio and met her hetero-sexual lifemate, an Israeli girl, who wrote her a letter in Hebrew before she left. She’s been looking for someone who speaks Hebrew and English for 6 months now! I believe in fate because I had enough extra-curricular activities at the precise time that they were sitting there and we struck up a conversation. Anyway, I translated the letter…it was real deep and poetic.
The next morning I stepped outside and tried to find a good place to take a picture of how pretty this place was. I couldn’t decide so I took a video of ranting about how a picture won’t do it justice and how beautiful it is, using profanity for emphasis.


We got up early and my South African colleague says that we better hurry up and get out of bed to make good on what we talked about yesterday. I didn’t think that she would actually hold us to our conversation about going paragliding. OH dear…I guess we’re doing this. You see, I have a fear of heights. I am not at all comfortable a good distance above the earth. I was terrified of skydiving, I even wasn’t comfortable in the cable car up to the Eifel Tower yesterday…I was a sport though. I was talking to my pilot as we swung in our parachute above the earth that it’s a tragedy to let fear prevent you from doing anything great. I’ll take that attitude, but this fear of heights is getting worse, not better with age. Better do more stupid while I still can.
So we sign our waivers and drive up to the top of one peak. WOW. It. Was. Breathtaking. We got all our gear on and took a running start and jumped off a cliff, simple as that. It was scary, but about halfway through I actually could enjoy it and enjoy types of views I may never seen again. Here are some pics of the view, then the flight. See facebook for more:

The rest of the day we rode bikes. We took a horse path to the lake, past old castles and the sort, and got to a place where the path ended and we surrounded by lake. A Swiss guy told me, “its not swimming season, the water is still far too cold this time of year.” I had my doubts. If I could handle instructional swim at CYJ then I could deal. I stuck my hand in the river and it wasn’t that bad! But we get to the end point and walk in…after 3 or 4 seconds it is so bitterly cold…cold isn’t even the word. Needles. My friend was in for about 10 seconds straight and her foot turned purple.

V’yehi erev, v’yehi boker, weekend rishon.

Cost of living in Geneva

I’d like to share some of my thoughts with you lovely people because they have been in my head, and because I’m stalling talking about Bern or Interlaken until I am able to put pictures of them online.

One common theme in Geneva is national generalizations. Everyone represents their entire country. It doesn’t matter if you’re a minority in that country, if you are from there, you represent. If you’re loud, and American, Americans are loud. It’s a fun game.
Let’s touch on just how ridiculously expensive this city is, shall we? I’ve been cooking for myself (made a killer fried rice last night), but lets calculate the day for the average student in Geneva, who smokes cigarettes, eats at the UN cafeteria, and has a dinner in a pizzeria, and certainly not the upscale variety. You wake up in the morning, get dressed, to head downstairs and grab a coffee and a breakfast pastry, like a croissant [$3.30]. If you haven’t a bus pass, it will cost you about $6 to ride the bus to and from work for the day. Ahhh…you finally get to work where nothing costs you money. But oh no! It’s lunch time. You’re not starving, so you’re just going to have an average sized salad, a small fruit bowl, and a diet coke [$14]. You take the bus home, and don’t have any groceries, so you decide to go to a small pizzeria, because the menu has some nice variety and its certainly not upscale…so hard to decide! Should you get the cheese pizza, which you could finish with ease [$22] or the bowl of alfredo, which would be a nice filling meal [$24]. It seems you have run out of cigarettes, but as a good European, you stop off and get yourself a pack [$6.10]. Perhaps you go to the bar, and don’t stay for more than two rounds [$12].

You didn’t do anything recreational, or see any museums or wild sites today, you simply lived your everyday life, amounting to a grand total of…$64.40….so much for sending your kids to college. You don't even want to hear about the things i do to save money...or do you?

Supplemental Pictures

Still depending on Caylee (south africa) for pictures, but since she took some off her camera i will provide pictures for the post about my first day of work.

This is where i work almost everyday. Just walk through that gate...anytime i want...no questions asked.

Ooh....awkward....

Good Morning; Welcome to Geneva!

5/9/08

“ “ everybody! That’s how you say good morning in French? (you may note the empty quotation) THERE IS NO WAY TO SAY GOOD MORNING IN FRENCH! There is hello, and good evening, but this is simply another thing to had to my list of major flaws in the French system. Another random note, I haven’t seen a flying insect since I got to Europe.

5/13/08

I’m sorry Mom. I couldn’t call you on Mother’s Day because technology got together said, “Let’s get Dan Kuhn today.” My computer crashed, and my iPod resetting (deleting all my music…this isn’t a big deal if my computer hadn’t crashed). Also my SIM card is faulty, but I already got my money back for that. My internet now happens only at work, and no skype or anything like that for a few days.
At this point I am blogging about what happened about 5 days before. I WILL NOT talk about my spectacular time in Interlochen and Bern in central Switzerland because those require those pictures…or you just won’t believe me. So I will sit here, my Babar mug at my side, and write about my first travel adventure day in Geneva.
I adventured with a friend, Marina I met through my good friend Jes Weiner (remember her Judaeans?), who I will see more of when she finishes her paper. Marina is from Moldova, who, she says, is famous for being the first country to return to communism after the Soviet Union fell.
We walked in the bustling Old Geneva, and stopped to listen to a really snazzy Jazz band covering Bob Marley hits. I will post a video in a future blog if you’d like.
After walking around Old Geneva for a while we went to the famous fountain, the tallest one in the world with massive jets underwater powering it. With the Euro Soccer Championships coming up in Geneva, which locals have complained will be one big party (as if this is a bad thing?), it adorns a giant soccer ball the size of the extra-terrestrial object Pluto.

Next we walked to one of its million parks. Fans of K’far Hayarok may remember a giant chess set at it center. This park does not has one – it has 12, and two checkers sets. The most universal sight in the whole world is old men playing chess in the park. But in this one, these old men carry giant pieces around though. Also, when real phenoms play they get a huge crowd with little kids who look on with amazement, and old men who critique each move. I beat Marina in three moves (a trick my grandfather taught me) and has never worked once in my entire life…until now.

I got a tip from someone at work that I need to take a bus outside the city to the mountains near France and take the gondola up. (a geography note, if you drive north or south out of Geneva, you will end up in France…its like a nightmare.) IT. WAS. GORGEOUS. You pass streams and massive fields of yellow lowers, and you see snow-capped mountain tops in the distance. We got off early to take some pictures, and decided we’d walk. In trying to trace the gondola to its landing zone, we couldn’t really find a direct road, so we found ourselves taking a scenic route and jumping more than one barbed wire fence. We got there and took the gondola to the top for the most breathtaking view I’ve seen in quite some time.

We sat near the edge and watched paragliders fly off into the distance over Lake Geneva.

In asking for directions back to the bus station, we asked a nice old man to point us in the right direction. He said, “oh! Back to Suisse?” (meaning Switzerland). This is how we found out that we spent much of the day in France. Welcome to France.