A very very scattered year in review.

It's remarkable to think that I have been in Israel for a year and a half already. A year ago at this time i had no idea I would be coming to Israel and I was gearing up for winter break from local politics. It's remarkable and who would have thunk it. It's rather weird that I've been in Jerusalem for half a year already.

So far this year has been rather fantastic, I've had a handful of great visitors, i've taken trips to europe, sinai and all over israel. Survived a war in southern lebanon and northern israel, a near civil war in Gaza (hard to believe that I'm only 30 miles from Gaza sometimes -- even though it feels a world a way) and general unrest in the country I'm living in.

What may be more impressive is that I've survived half a year in a program filled with future clergy members and have even made a friend or two. Survived truly vicious and boring classes that include learning biblical grammar (seriously biblical grammar -- they didn't teach that at Trinity) survived not having Sunday's off -- which i've come to realize is truly the greatest day of the week. I'd for any one for president if they proposed a 3 day weekend. Even a republican.

I also now speak hebrew decently. Can sometimes chant torah. Know how to properly set up a Nargilla. Can catch a touch down pass from a yeshiva boy. Have had a Trajon Langdon sighting (he plays for some team in Moscow). Been in the same country as Tony Blair and a variety of other things that I can be very very proud of.

5 more months in Israel ... it's gonna be grrrrrreaat

AWOL

chalk up my lack of posts to Finals, Chanukah, a match fixing scandal in Israeli soccer, a bout of the flu and an infestation of rattlesnakes.

my bad ... check back soon

Notes from the Motherland

Winter has descended on Jerusalem which means, it's just as cold in the apartment as it is outside. My apartment, at night is frigid, I feel like a jewish eskimo. The problem is that the walls, windows and floors let almost all of the heat escape and it's very very expensive to heat the apartment to any proper temperature. All this means we rely on space heaters and hoodies most of the time I'm at home.

What adds to the problem is in the morning you need to light the lamp (hockey and eskimo reference in the same post -- it must be very cold) in order to heat up the water in the boiler for the shower. It takes about 45 minutes to heat up so at around 6:45 am (i didn't even know there was a 6:45 am) my alarm goes off and I climb out of my cozy cacoon and waddle/freeze my way to the shower hit the switch and run back into my bed and try and get warm as possible, and fall back asleep until it's time to run over to the shower. Some mornings I decide I need not shower and sleep until 7:30, however then nobody sits next to me in school the next day. Often I shower at night, but it does mean that I have to wait 45 minutes to shower after I get home from a football game.

Does all this sound like sour grapes? Not my intention. I know, I know ... some poor child in Malawi hasn't had a hot shower in his entire life. (but Madonna never tried to adopt me either).
*****

My football teams are doing well. My men's league team (the one with the Chaims) is 4 and 1 and we will make the playoffs. I rotate between tight end and defensive line. It's really quite a scene to attend one of these games. They happen after shabbat on Saturday night and the American Yeshiva boys and sometimes girls pour out to the field. It's place to be seen on a Saturday night and people run into this or that person who they knew from Torah Academy or Hebrew Academy or Baltimore Yeshiva etc.... I had a friend Aaron that came to one of the games and he filled me in on the best line he heard which ended a conversation between two, probably 19 year old, orthodox boys with the line "let's go back to the yeshiva and get the beer bong."

If you get a chance to come on Saturday night, it's really worth checking out the game on a sociological level. It's insane. My team has three yeshiva boys (from a yeshiva in the Gush) on it and a few other that are now out of the yeshiva but know each other from the glory days. We also have a handful of secular israelies and since Colby and I are part of the reform movement we probably have the most diverse team in the league.

I'd like to write more ... but I got to get the yeshiva, the beer bong's awaiting.