That Time I Didn't Blog for Awhile

I haven't written anything in here for almost a week... various reasons for doing so.  Some pertaining to audience, some pertaining to the leg incident, and so on and so forth.  But, it's 3:44am, and hey, why not!!

Monday will be covered in a post I've already written, Tuesday was boring, Wednesday was teambuilding, Abu Ghosh, moving apartments, Thursday was a workday at Hebrew U and I fell in a hole, on Friday we didn't go on the wall tour, and on Saturday I slept until 4pm and there was SPAGHETTIM.

My happiest moments have come in parks.  My unhappiest moments have been lying in my bed being grumpy about my leg.  There were frustrations with the MEET staff (to be expected) and nausea from whatever drugs I was taking (one of them is banned in the US, the other is simple not sold in the US).  There was "Come dance with me girl" on an Arabic language station.  There were handstands.  There was an emergency room visit and several awesome instructors who hung out with me in the hospital for a few hours.  There was blood, and a single stitch, and an effin' doctor who stabbed me in the leg.  There was a tetanus shot.  There were other handstands.  Delicious spaghetti.  15 hours of sleep.  Cooking.  Bryanosaurs.  Naps in the sunshine.  Cool breezes.  Aquarium.  Splitting sandwiches with egg salad and hummus and a bajillion toppings.  Crazy insects.  Abu Ghosh deliciousness.  Boat-building and swimming and silly-teambuilding-asshole-man.  Exposure.  McDonalds celebration.  Climbing objects.  Climbing other objects.  Watching objects be clombed.  Pseudomonas aeruginosa.  Failed meetings, colored rocks, unvisited-slides, and at least one reference to an angry water rabbit and jesus, ftw.

So, there you go.  A week in a post.  Perhaps more loquaciousness later, but for the time being, this is satisfactory.  As are these pictures.

That Time We Jumped on a Giant Water Ball Thing

I only slept three hours last night, because I was distracted making this program that draws lines in pretty colors... not fodder for blog.  I was working in my room, looking at pictures of people that were working downstairs.  Creepy much?

In any case, today things returned to a little more of the normal state for MEET affairs.  I got up around 9:30 or so.  (My phone got banana-ed, so my alarm clock is Anna waking me up... I'll have to get an actual alarm soon.... or not!!)  After breakfast, we all headed to the Office (a room in the basement) for the first of the pair of Teaching Workshops.  I found these incredibly useful last year.  It was kind of intimidating to stand up in front of everyone and deliver a short little presentation, even though it should not have been.  Then again, I was just scared in general about my performance last year, given my supreme lack of Java knowledge.  But whatevs!  Everyone does it, we make mistakes, we learn from them.

(Ted watching the instant replay of his 5 minute lecture.)

Primetime Lineup:

Ted --> Teaching

Nick --> Musicy stuff

Rishi --> Mathy stuff

Amelia --> mergeSort

Woody ---> Skydiving

Harpreet --> Indian Food

(Amelia, in one of her many awesome dresses.)

We then headed over to the MEET office for another round of Working with Teen workshops with Eden.  My group was supposed to be in the late shift, but we got switched to the early shift.  So around 2pm-ish we started the session.

Last time we had focused on the internal and external worlds of the teenager.  Today, we focused on the differences between girls and boys, and between Israelis and Palestinians.  Eden had us put on nametags with made up names (I was Dan), and then read out tidbits from our character's life history.

We got treats for each of the tidbits, and for the really good ones, our treats had stars.  If we had enough stars, we were admitted to the world of science and technology, but most of the girls were left behind.

This started us into the topic of gender differences in MEET.  Girls tend to score lower on exams than boys.  The question is, why?  Is it something systemic in MEET that promotes the division, or just Summers' Presidency-ending "inherent differences between the sexes" that drives these barriers to success.

It was a surprisingly heated discussion.  Well, heated for what is a generally laid back crowd.  The issue of gender disparity strikes home more for some than for others.  But, we were able to brainstorm at least some ideas before getting sidetracked into nuances of particulars.

After a break for food, we returned to continue the session for another hour-ish.  This time, we were focusing on cultural differences.  More precisely, we talked about the misconceptions of Israelis towards Palestinians and vice versa.  We have grouped people into these little well-defined boxes, but the terms "Palestinians" and "Israelis" are misleading if you're trying to set up a dichotomy.  This is not merely a Muslim/Jew issue or an Arabic-speaking/Hebrew-speaking issue... it's much more complicated than that (and maybe a quarter of our students are Christian anyway!)  So, we've just got these Palestinian and Israeli buckets, that categorize people more on stereotypes than perhaps they would categorize themselves.  Nevertheless, it was not without reason.  Eden spread out some color cardboard dots on the floor and had us go around the circle reading them.  Some were facts, most were quotes from Israelis or Palestinians about the other side (or the other bucket, I guess).

Eden said they weren't quoted from our students, but they could have been.  They could have been lifted straight from the worries of a Palestinian student who knew her Israeli friends would be different once they reached the army.  Or the Israeli student who spoke of the terrorism on buses, and how she had to live with the constant knowledge that people wanted her dead.  They could have been taken from American citizens just as easily in some cases, like "The Jews have all the money and power" or "The Arabs all want us to die."

Perhaps it is not the case that all the students have strong preconceptions about the other side, but even if they don't articulate it, or even if they articulate neutrality or indifference, I find it hard to believe that they could grow up in a society such as this and not start to believe the judgements they constantly hear.  Is it any different than the racial discrimination against African-Americans or immigrants?  Is it any different than the fear instilled by 9/11, and it's aftermath?

I will be the first to admit that one reason I am interested in the Arab culture is because it has been so misrepresented to me.  When I told people in the US I was taking Arabic, they sometimes asked why I'm learning a "terrorist language."  It is a "joke" when they say it, perhaps.  Or perhaps it is an outward reflexion of their inner feelings.  The old cliche goes: Most truths are said in jest.  But, how can I reprehend them for this?  It's hypocritical for me to call them out on it, when I've grown up in the same world with the same stereotypes.  Before coming here, when I saw a Middle Eastern man, yes, sometimes I felt a little concerned for my well being.  It's irrational, but it's what I've been trained to feel by scary movies, or media coverage of "terrorism."  But I'll go beyond that and say that it still happens to me now. We are conditioned by fear, an intense weapon that has sparked many a war.  It is hard to break that mold.

Being here is a chance for us to see the other side of the coin.  Some of the instructors last year were uncomfortable living in EJ.  For many, it was the first time they had to deal head on with the sorts of stereotypes that we have engrained in our self-conscious, by our families, our friends, our teachers, etc.  It's a (un?)pleasant discomfort, but only the trying situations can make you a better individual.  Without challenges, we remain stagnant.

I do not prefer living on this side.  It's not because EJ was cheaper, or because EJ has signs galore in a language that I can now read.  It's because I don't have to test my boundaries here, I'm not pushing myself to confront the issues that I want to deal with.  But, that being said, there is still plenty to learn here, even if it is less challenging.  And quite soon, I won't have time to consider my personal development; rather, I'll need to focus on the personal development of 40 other people.

See, there were emotions there.  The events aren't going to change much, so I guess this year, the blog will have more emotions.

Ramble.

After the session ended, I worked a lot, and the other half of the instructors attended the first round session with Eden.  Then, we walked down to Ben Yahuda street, the crowded pedestrian thoroughfare in the city center.

After wandering around the street, no one settled upon something to eat, so we went back to the Chinese place.  It was quite ironic to be eating Chinese food in Jerusalem, which is really the point of going there!

Afterwards, the majority of the instructors drove back to campus, but Rishi, Bryan, Amanda, and I opted to walk.  I really enjoy walking through cities and exploring them.  I love "getting lost" without getting lost, by which I mean, having a general idea of where you are, but not knowing exactly.  It comes, perhaps, from the experience of driving around for hours in my hometown, going nowhere in particular (gas was more like $1/gal back then), and somehow finding my way back.  It's how I found my favorite road to drive on (a winding road near Cramerton Middle School) and an amazing road to watch the sunset while driving (a less-winding road near Hunter Huss High School).  I just listened to jazz music or NPR and thought and wandered.

So, I can't tell you where we were.  Well, I can.  I can look it up at tell you exactly where we were.  But, it's best not to.

пока.

That Time I Made a Red Square Turn Blue

It's one thing to make a red square turn blue.  It's a totally different thing to design a lab that walks a young programmer through making that red square turn blue while simultaneously making it not too challenging, but just challenging enough.  Of course, if they can make a red square turn blue, they can make a blue square turn red, and they can make an entire checkerboard go crazy!!!  But, this is computer stuff, and not fodder for blogging.

Today was another work day.  After three days of solid work, I'm practically done with everything, which is a weird feeling.  "Done" never really means "done," because there are ways to improve everything.  But, I've almost completed the majority of the bare basics.  All that is left now is to tweak Lecture 13 (the last lecture I'll deliver in MEET, sadly....), and to perfect Lab 11.  I think I can finish these things by tomorrow, leaving me with plenty of time to read Catch-22 or eat falafel, or juggle with the Hebrew University students.  Smile.

While I was hard at work, Anna went for a walk, and gave me this flower!!!  SO PRETTY.  (Anna was also hard at work, it was just a little walkbreak.)

Of course, the highlight of the day was not eating a breakfast of labaneh on challah, but traveling to the ever illustrious Meat Burger.  I got a burger with goat cheese, garlic mayo, and guacamole.  I even splurged for fries and a Coke... my most expensive meal here yet, but Deeeeelicious.

Now, as long as we go to Spaghetim in the near future, I'm all set on going-to-restaurants-I've-already-eaten at.

Instead of driving back with the rest of the crew, Rishi and I walked home.  I'm not sure how long the walk actually should take, as there are conflicting opinions on the mater.  And I still don't know, because we took a less-than-direct route, taking time to meander through some parks.  It probably took 45 minutes to an hour to get back... then again, I don't pay attention to the time when I'm here.

First the Mamila Cemetery.  Wikipedia tells me that the Mamila Cemetery is one of the most important Muslim cemeteries in the Israel/Palestine region, though I'll have to do more research to know why that is.   It is bordered by Gan HaAtsmaut.  Gan is Hebrew for park, HaAtsmaut possibly (?) means Independence.

We walked past this windmill that I somehow never noticed?!?  It marks The Mill Shopping Center in Rehavia, on Ramban St.

And, a little ways down the road, we came across Gan Sacher, which is my favorite park thusfar.  Last year, I took some pretty cool pictures of kids skateboarding in Gan Sacher.  Today, I took some pictures of graffiti in the tunnel under Derech Ruppin.

All in all, a splendid, work-filled day.  Cheers!  Miss you all!!

That Time We Ate Shabbat Dinner with Random People Anna Met on the Street

As promised, today was mostly filled with workworkwork.  Breakfast didn't happen officially, I guess because it is Friday, and therefore it is the weekend here.  In lieu of breakfast, I got a yogurt and some tidbits of whatever was around before getting to work.  Because we're moving in a few days, we never really managed to get settled down.  The food situation is therefore somewhat interesting, with a few people getting groceries here and there, or heading to the cafeteria to get food.  After we move to the new apartments, I assume it will settle down, and we'll do the "pool money for the staples" deal again.

As of now, I've got a large chunk of what needs to be done completed.  I've done my first three lectures, and haven't started on the final one because I'm still hoping Alice will send her version.   I also just have one recitation left, which isn't a big deal.  I have to write a new lab that uses the Swing-ish stuff so they'll know it enough to hack the final project together... should be exciting.  Hopefully, I can complete most/all of this tomorrow, and then have lots of time to chillax, relax, and perfect.

Being here for ~2 weeks before the program starts is really awesome.  We feel the impending doom of the program, but we're getting SO much done, it's really amazing.  I think the summer is going to run a lot more smoothly because of this, and I feel that it will be a lot less stressful in general due to the extended time frame.

So I workedworkedworked, and then Shabbated!  Anna arrived in Jerusalem a day later than I did, and while waiting to get into the Hebrew University's campus, she met some guys who invited her to Shabbat dinner.  Shabbat is the Jewish sabbath, that runs from just before sundown on Friday to sunset on Saturday.  Depending on the extent of religious observation, Shabbat can be celebrated by a meal with the family or with an extensive day of rest that prohibits any work or electricity use (therefore banning the use of cars, lights, computers, etc.).  Not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we took them up on the offer.

Anna, Amanda, and I (some other people bailed, silly gooses) went over to "the place where the guy pointed" and just walked into the door of a HU dorm.  We wandered around, and found a kitchen, and Anna bravely poked her head in and asked where the dinner would be.  The girl we met (Hadar) explained that dinner wasn't ready... and who were we anyway?  Anna gave the story from the previous paragraph, and the girl said she had no idea who we were, but we were more than welcome to join them for the dinner.  She then proceeded to show us her room, introduce us to her roommate, and then take us on a walk around the area.  She even showed us where to do laundry.  Oh!  And there was a hedgehog!!!  It was laying around near a dumpster, and looking very much on the edge of death.  It must have been a pet, as it seems unlikely that hedgehogs are indigenous to the area.  Then again, I looked this up, and it turns out there are 3 species of hedgehog that are indigenous here, and the species we most likely saw was an East European hedgehog.  Of course, even the article states that the hedgehogs are noctural... further confirming our suspicions that the hedgehog was perhaps dying.  Cat wounds, perhaps?

End Aside.  When we returned to the kitchen, several guys were at work cooking more food for the dinner. We chatted with them for awhile while our crutch Hadar went off elsewhere.  Like Hadar, they were really awesome, and a situation that should have been incredibly awesome wasn't at all.  I suppose it's just the college mentality to accept whoever walks through the door and listen to their stories and share your own?  Something I will certainly miss...

Anyway, turns out they found the guy who had invited Anna, and his name was Daniel.  We helped set up for the dinner, carrying out plates and chairs and such, and chopping up a vegetable salad.  I've never been to a Shabbat dinner, which is somewhat ironic as I've fasted three years on Yom Kippur, and been to two cedars.  These dinners happen weekly, and I have certainly had more than a few opportunities to go.  In any case, as I've never been to one, I'm not sure exactly what should happen.  There was some challah covered by a cloth, as well as a cup of wine, along with the other food for dinner.  There are definitely supposed to be candles too, but we were candleless.  Eventually, everyone (wherein everyone equaled the 3 of us, plus about 10 others) came together to start the dinner.  The guys had been joking before about how Daniel was taking this really seriously because we were there.  I guess he did put in a little extra effort to impress us, because he put on a kippa and said some prayers.  He started with the wrong prayer, and one of the guys stopped him, while a few others reminded him of how the beginning of the prayer should sound.  He flipped over a few pages, found the right verse, and started again.  I'm not exactly sure what he said, and I couldn't find all of them online, but Anna said he blessed the nonexistant candles, the wine, and the bread.  Everyone said "Amen" at the appropriate junctions and sang a little song.  We didn't light the non-existant candles, but we all took a sip of the wine, and had some challah that had been dipped in salt.  Then we dug into an AWESOME dinner.

Time really flew as we talked and sample the deliciousness that lay before us.  There was hummus, potatoes, minced meat, salad (Israeli style, where "salad" means lots of chopped vegetables, not a mound of lettuce with a slice of tomato), and some amazing vegan dish that Hagar had made.  All of it was just simply wonderful, and we were quite impressed by the skills of these college kids.  We just absorbed it all, sitting amongst these conversations that were partially in English, partially in Hebrew, everyone laughing and happy.  I thought about the last time my friends set around like this and had a big meal that we'd cooked, but the most recent thing I could think of was the PPP (Parting-of-ways Potluck Picnic), which was quite different.  I'm totally starting this up next year, though secretly calling it something else.

Racheli excitedly mentioned that she and her friends had held a human chess game the day before, and I asked her if she had any pictures.  She did, and was happy to show them to me, so I went up to her room, and sat around with her, Hagar, Roy, and a girl who could possibly be named Michal, and looked through her pictures.  And who should appear, but Omri (!!!) a guy I met around Schprinzak last summer.  He was one of the white bishops in the game.  Small world, I suppose?

A little after 11pm, we left to come back to our own rooms, happy and full.  I wish we could do this again, but given the constraints of our schedule, I'd be surprised if it happened.  I'm quite glad we went out on a limb to randomly go eat with these people.

Something else worth mentioning is the intense social separation of the Israelis and Palestinians at the university.  With the exception of our MEET kids, I'd never seen Israelis and Palestinians interacting.  I had also never thought about what the housing situation at Hebrew University would be like.  It turns out that they are interspersed throughout the dorms, living side by side in ridiculously close confines.  But, despite the fact that they certainly share common languages (classes are taught in Hebrew; most seem to know English as well), despite living in the same dorm, despite standing in the same room (!!!), they were just completely socially separated.  It was somewhat disconcerting, and even just being around it, I could sense the tension in the room... or maybe it was only tense because I was not used to such blatant disconnectedness between two populations?  Maybe they didn't feel the tension like I did?

I didn't grow up in the days before integration in the US, but it must have felt just like this.  Blacks, whites, separated by nothing more than arbitrary societal barriers.  Judging a person by the color of their skin rather than finding the common ground which you inevitably stand upon.  I suppose it's a two way street though, and people seem to both fight change and to cling desperately to their own kind.  No one on either side can make the first move.

And there I was, caught in the middle, belonging to neither group.  Which is exactly where I need to be.  It's perhaps an uncomfortable place to be at times, and I often wonder how it is that I am supposed to float between these two separate groups...

But of course, most of that doesn't matter at MEET.  From the first day, they are together, and they are friends.  They talk and interact and have fun, and it is not at all like a hot kitchen separated by a wall made of nothing more than air.

That Time I Worked a Lot, but Still Explored

The funny thing about Blogger in Jerusalem is that it's in Hebrew when I load it, and not until I sign-in to make posts does it switch to English.  Very tricky of you, Blogger!!!

Yesterday, after a pretty awesome breakfast in our building, I worked most of the day, probably around 8 hours straight without a break.  I was working on lectures, recitations, lab rubrics, playing around with sound... nothing too exciting for blog content though.

(one of the images I put in a lecture)

After lots of work, someone or other decided to go by the old city for falafel.  (I think I heard it from David, but he didn't end up going, so maybe it wasn't him?) 

(Nick being awesome on Woody's crutches)

In any case, we piled into two cars, and drove there.  Except the normal route was blocked off,

(pride parade protesters.  lamesauce.  they got MAD about this pictures...)

 and we got rerouted into traffic, and then I made a wrong turn, and then....  well, in any case, we eventually got there.  And THE six-shekel-falafel place was open.  Ha!  It was just as delicious as I remember it being, and just as crowded.  I ordered in Arabic, saying "everything" to indicate my toppings, and he obviously understood me.  After a year of Arabic, I can easily read signs, and I can pick up on words and tidbits of conversation, but I don't know nearly enough to be able to converse about anything.  And as far as food is concerned, I know chicken, meat, fish, salad, soup, and a few other things, but nothing that ever seems useful.  But, nevertheless, the written language is no longer random indiscernible scribbles, and the spoken language is no longer harsh, intelligible babble.  So there's that.

The party van walked around EJ and a little bit of WJ afterwards, on a "10-minute walk."  We didn't actually walk down to the park/divot/hole in the ground, though I'm sure we'll make it soon.  We did however buy dried hibuscus leaves, apple soda, and/or ice cream, get free baklava samples and a pear which wasn't a fig at all, and end up in a really charming little alley that lead to who knows where.  As we were admiring grafiti, I managed to cut my toe open on something or other, and now I'll probably die of necrotizing fasciitis. Or not.  The blood matched my shoes; I was just trying to be trendy.

Work o'clock is upon us, so I leave you with a picture of Damascus gate,

and a reminder that I miss you all, especially mj and ms.