Following the teacher presentations, Noa (the new CEO of MEET, as mentioned previously) announced that she'd gotten ice cream for us. In the freezer, we discovered several different flavors of ice cream. There were the usuals like chocolate and vanilla, but there was also kiwi ice cream!! Yum.
After the ice cream break, we did work or notwork as was necessary. I compiled the previous 3 years' lecture outlines for Objects lectures to make it easier to decide on our curriculum for beginning of the third week. But mostly, I played with my mp3/radio and searched for local radio stations of interest. I was able to find 14 stations that came in relatively clearly, and I set these to the presets on my mp3 player.
Here are the stations I've found, with a little bit of information if I have it:
01: 87.7 - RAM-FM
RAM-FM is a radio station that was originally funded by a Jewish South African. It broadcasts from Ramallah, and aims to bring peaceful dialogue to a region of conflict. In fact, the RAM-FM website header says "Music Knows No Boundaries". Just like MEET is an English-only program to bridge the gap between groups with language boundaries, RAM-FM broadcasts English-only music, advertising, etc. It sounds pretty much like an average American pop rock station.
02: 88.0 - Radio 88
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority has several stations on the radio which make up the majority of the Hebrew programming that I've come across. The IBA was initially "Kol Yisrael", which translates to "The Voice of Israel", or just "Radio Israel" if you're so inclined. Radio 88 is labeled as "Adult Contemporary", and broadcasts from Tel Aviv. It plays jazz, blues, electronic music, etc.
03: 89.7 - Reshet Gimmel
Another of the Kol Israel stations. "Reshet" is essentially "network", and "gimmel" is more or less the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So, this would be "Network C" in English, even though gimmel isn't really the equivalent of C. It's complicated! Reshet Gimmel is a Tel Aviv based station which plays Israeli-only music. Currently playing: Some of the most soulful music I've heard in a long time. This station shall be revisited.
04: 90.5 - ?
05: 91.5 - ?
06: 92.3 - Angham Radio? (From Ramallah)
07: 92.8 - Kol Chai
Kol Chai (where the "chai" is not pronounced like "chai tea", but like "hi" with a bit of hebrew flair) has a nice little jingle for their station which goes "Kol chai, kol chai, kol chai, see tov!" According to my interpretation of Max's translation, "see tov" means something like "it's good". There's a CampSeeTov, if that helps. The station itself seems to play a wide variety of music. Earlier in the afternoon, I was really rocking out to some Hebrew rap!
08: 95.0 - Reshet Bet
Another of the Radio Israel stations, Network B, which broadcasts news, current events, and sports. There are Hebrew news broadcasts on the hour, much like Aleph and Gimmel.
This station broadcasts from Tel Aviv. And... Here's their website.
09: 96.6 - ??
According to one of the websites I was looking at, this station is supposed to be the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) Radio, but I'm not sure if that is the case. The music was really upbeat, but then it turned into a talk discussion with lots of angry chatter. Here's the link given.
10: 98.4 - Reshet Aleph
Another Radio Israel station, but this one broadcasts out of Jeusalem. Reshet Aleph has general talk and cultural programming, with Hebrew news reports on the hour.
11: 101.0 - ?
Not sure... they were playing Madonna, and the DJs are speaking in Hebrew. Who knows.
12: 101.3 - ?
Playing music in Arabic.
13: 103.4 - Radio Ajyal
This station broadcasts from Ramallah, in the West Bank. Here's their website. I really like this station. :-)
14: 104.5 - Alhorya Radio
Arabic music. Here's their website.
15: 104.8 - Reshet Moreshet?
The final of the Radio Israel stations is Rashet Moreshet which means "Heritage Network", and has only religious broadcasts.
Phew. That's more than enough Jerusalem radio research for the day, eh? It's tricky to find these stations, but maybe I'll add more to this later, especially about the Arabic stations.
Post radio exploration, we headed off to get some dinner. Falafel of course. We finally tried the place closest to us, and I like their falafel a lot. It's a little bit crunchier than what we've had thus far, which I found to be quite palpable.
Then, the camera card endeavor. Since my camera card was eaten by the couch, replacement was preferable. Froy, Bo, and I wandered into a store that seemed to sell everything imaginable, from electric razors to toys to lamps to plates. They had SD cards, but not the size I needed. Fortunately, the nice store owner redirected us to a store that did. In the store, one of the workers took my camera and tested it with an already opened SD card, and then pointed me toward the selection in the back of the store. I wanted the 1GB SD card (which was 47 shekels), and he promptly cut it down. Then proceeded to open the package, put it into my camera, and turn it on to test and make sure it worked. He only charged 35 shekels, and after giving me my receipt say "Thank you, Sally". Ridiculous customer service, eh? Testing my camera afterwards:
Not long after we returned to the flat, Sam led an adventure to see the sunset from the Mt. of Olives. Apparently, the Book of Zachariah says that this is where God will start to redeem the dead when the Messiah returns on the Day of Judgement. Apparently, over 150,000 people are buried on the slopes.
Beyond the historical significance, the real reason to go to the Mt. of Olives is for the amazing view of the Old City (my guide book even says so!!). Since the Mt. of Olives is to the east of the old city, it is the perfect place to view a sunset over the Old City. Unfortunately, we had just missed it.
We pulled off of Jericho Rd. at something kind of similar one of the "scenic view" spots along highways, and took pictures.
Afterwards, we took a long rambling drive around the Old City and back towards the flat. Mike, Aaron, Zach, and I had a particularly rambling drive, as we ended up driving down Salah Ad-din St. twice. Don't ask. In the end, we all got back to the same place and relaxed for awhile.
Mike and I watched a Russian cartoon called Nu Pogodi, which is Russian for "Now, You just wait!!" It's a subtly witty cartoon about a wolf trying to catch a hare, somewhat similar to the Tom & Jerry saga. I think my favorite joke was a woman who was sewing labels onto colorful sacks. In the background, a sign in Russian said "presents", but the labels she was sewing onto each sack said "present". The wolf tumbles into the room after hopping around in potato sacks, and he looks like two sacks, so the woman takes off the plural "presents" sign and sews it onto him. ... It's much less funny in print, but I'm a big fan of subtle humor and puns.
Later in the evening, Aaron, Zach, Sam, Mike and I went to the hotel around the corner to have a few beers and a hookah (and some pretzels). Apparently, it is a MEET tradition to have a quote of the day. This evening, Sam gave us some profound knowledge: "Currency is the language of value." Confucius said it first, I'm sure. ;-)
Next post: That Time We Built Our Team
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