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.