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.