From Midwest to Mideast: Supermarket Sweep/Hamburglars/Sylvester/Poikie

Shana Tova! (Happy New Years) Or Happy Sylvester day?? "Whaaaat is Sylvester day, you ask?" Do not fret, I will divulge. In Israel, the term "New Years" is already reserved for the Jewish calendar new years. So December 31st is known in Israel as Sylvester day. After surfing the interweb, I discovered that Sylvester was actually a Catholic (commonly mispronounced Cat-A-Holic..by me) Saint and Roman Pope who was anti-Semitic and just generally an ass. He helped pass some legislation at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century that prohibited Jews from living in Jerusalem. Another heartwarming story from Jewish history! So now you know.

On Monday of this week, we took a field trip for ulpan. After I forged my mom's signature on the field trip permission slip, we all traveled to the market for practice learning food related vocabulary and phrases. Our teacher Tali split us into groups and gave us a list of 40 foods or questions that we had to find by asking random Israelis in the market. We had an hour to complete the questions and also buy food for a picnic for ourselves in Hayarkon park. It was kind of like Supermarket sweep, but instead of grabbing food we grabbed israelis and forced them to answer our questions. Our group won of course, and we even had some time for shenanigans in the vegetable section.

Becky and Maya with large melons

Yours truly with just lemons

Eggplant

Me and Ulpan teacher Tali <3 xoxo

Following our picnic in the park, We came back to our school and Tali had facepaint ready for us. To help us learn vocab for bodyparts and colors, we partnered up and had to interpret directions for what color to paint our partners faces. My day's as a rodeo clown (we in the biz preferred to be called Rodeo Protection Athletes) are well in my past, but Im always down for a good, clean, healthy face painting in the name of Hebrew vocabulary expansion.

Mike and myself

Later on in the week, our group traveled together to the Diaspora Museum at Tel Aviv University which was interesting. College life in Israel is much different in the states due the effect of the Army. For most young americans, being 18 means graduating from high school, livin the dream at college (COLLEGE!), and placing fun above all professional and personal goals. Way above. It's not our (americans) fault for being naive, stupid, and self-interested at this juncture. (generally speaking, of course) It's just college culture here. For Israeli's, turning 18 means joining the army for 2 or 3 years (3 for men). Following these 2 or 3 years, most Israeli's take a break and travel for 6 months to a year. So typically, Israelis don't begin their undergraduate studies until they are 21 or 22 years old. So naturally, age and wealth of experience results in Israelis being much more focused, mature, and serious about their studies at college. Tel Aviv University campus was gorgeous, with palm trees everywhere, modern architecture, and gangs of cats that engage in turf warfare over garbage receptacles. It was a good experience to go see students in their environment, and being a student of history it was great to learn about the Jewish Diaspora.

During this visit, we noticed a huge sculpture of Albert Einstein, whose name is everywhere on the campus. I learned that in 1952, The state of Israel asked big Al Einstein to become the president of Israel, but he respectfully declined.

Einstein Head (actual size)

Also this week, Ann Kravec came from the states to eat as much shawarma as she could and to hang out with the illz-cat Iliya. We joined with some other Israelis from camp as well as Abby Kaufman. Also in town were Schwinger and Danielle from the UK. Quite the reunion. We ate sushi together and had round after round of laughs. EDIT: Zack Teitel the Canadian Dracula was also in attendance, sorry for leaving you out in the first edition.

Ann and Schwinger

For New Years, I made an impulse decision to embark on an adventure to a Kibbutz in the north with some other oranim participants. Tel Aviv is insane on New years, like any big city, with bars overflowing and clubs charging exorbitant entrance and drink prices. So we took to the train and busses and arrived at Kibbutz Sarid north of Haifa. I was told through the grapevine that there was a stable of horses to ride, a large pool to swim in, and A-TV (all-terrain vehicles). I shouldn't have been surprised when there weren't any horses, the pool was empty, and no ATV's. However, there was A Tv.. so that one can be chalked up to miscommunication. Nonetheless, we had a good time playing basketball and meeting residents and friends of the Kibbutz. It's not like the old-school Kibbutz that you would imagine with everyone working the farms and a communist type organization. It's more like a gated community but with really close ties to each other and more community spaces where people eat and play together. At night, we all went to the Kibbutz club, which was packed with outsiders such as ourselves. So much for avoiding a packed club atmosphere, but it was still really fun.

The Hamburglars

Two of my friends on this adventure, Mike from Portland and Simon from Jersey weren't having quite the same level of fun that I was having at this club, so they decided to get into some mischief. They keenly noticed that there was burgers being grilled just inside the window of the club, within reach while standing outside. Giggling like idiots, they waited until the cook looked away and quickly reached inside and grabbed a burger off the burner, then throwing it between themselves because it was too hot to handle. Although I did not witness this event occur, I imagine they then scarfed it down like animals with their bare hands. They told me they accomplished this grab-and-go criminality strategy four times in a row. Their appetites for meat may have been quenched, but their appetites for adrenaline still craved the rush of the steal. This is where I enter into the story. I came outside of the club and noticed my friends giggling like little girls and they called me over to them. They asked me if I could create a diversion by going inside and paying for a burger. Considering I was hungry anyway, I agreed to become an accomplice to their mischievous behavior. I went inside, purchased a burger, and engaged in friendly banter with the cook while Mike reached inside and grabbed a burning slice of meat off the grill. This time, however, he was not unseen. The bouncer of the club noticed the meat-steal, and the chase was on. One Israeli security guard chasing the two hamburglars from the states. They may have gotten away with their fifth burger if Michael had the foresight to securely fasten his camera to his person. Instead, the camera dropped and Mike chose his camera over his burger. He turned around and returned the burger in exchange for the camera. They were shooed away, but their bellies were full and they giggled all the way home.

The next day (today) we woke up and made what the Israeli's call a Poikie (sp?). Basically, it is a stew that you make over an open flame for many hours. We slowly mixed vegetables, spices, potatoes, beans, rice, and beef into the stew and had a good time sitting outside, listening to music and smoking nargilah while the stew cooked. I tried my hand at stirring (seen here with broomstick). It was a good end to a great New Years.