things that have happened since coming back from break:
oh, before the list...a funny comment from James (my classmate) on the flight home from Israel, "You know what, after studying for finals in 12-14hr. sessions in the study hall, sitting on a 12 hour flight home....not so bad. I would almost say....easy." Very true Sir James...very true.
back to the list:
- watched an educational movie about suicide from the 1970's in my behavioural sciences class because my professor was stuck in Jerusalem because he got SNOWED IN. Yes, it snows in Israel. Yes, it gets REALLY cold in Tel Aviv....like SF cold. No, I don't live in the desert. And no, I can't take my behavioural class seriously when we are watching ridiculous 30 year old films about a serious subject.
- went up North for the weekend. Went to Cesaeria (a resortish area that was once occupied by the Romans. There are still remains from that time...aquaducts, pillars, etc - in the summer they have concerts in the ampitheatre. The place is beautiful! AND i got a delicious seafood dinner - shrimp, scallops, calamari, fish, etc. YUM. We also went to the Sea of Galilee (sp?) where Jesus supposedly walked on water, and wine tasting in the Golan. We went to this place called Chateau Golan..and the wine was (surprisingly) excellent! Then just drove around the sea and walked through random art exhibits on the side of the road, fruit groves, vineyards, and Eithan showed me his old base camp from the army. Among all this beauty I got to see tanks and tank practice fields....weird.
- went to "Sextival" at the Tel Aviv port with a bunch of my classmates. This was an event hosted by Playboy. One of my classmates saw and ad and a few of us decided to go, even though we knew nothing about it. "Lama lo?" (why not?) we thought, we'd just check it out. It was ok. Moran and I rated it as, "dont' regret going, but would not recommend it." It was basically a giant sex shop. They had 2 bars inside, pole dancers, chocolate bars, soap shops, sex shops, a massage both, a jacuzzi sales man? and the best part: a giant inflatable condom with men dressed as sperm inside it holding signs that said "Mom?"
- hosted a Chinese New Year dinner party at my house. Tried to keep it small, but private parties are unheard of over here and what was intended to be a small dinner for 10, became 20, then 30, then 50. not kidding. I didn't mind, but it was hard trying to figure out the food situation because I initially wanted to invite people over for dinner, but then had to turn it into a potluck. I tried to make it as traditional as possible....made a "lucky" snack plate of seeds and candies, a fruit plate with pomelos and tangerines, bought blossoming flowers, decorated the house with things I brought back from home, had nin-gao for dessert, hand made seasame balls, potstickers, steamed 2 fish, made chicken, mapo tofu, and hot and sour soup. I think it was a success. Sadly, I have no pictures of the event....- had a political discussion with a group of Israelis about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at a bar last night. I'm not getting into it right now...but I'm glad I got to hear some Israeli perspective (I hear a lot of American-Jewish perspective with my classmates) and to have a conversation about what's going on. It's really easy to feel removed from the situation living in Tel Aviv -- even though the border is only an hour away. I found out that the engineering department of Tel Aviv University used to be an Arab settlement about 15 years ago, and now the Arab population in this area (specifically....Ramat Aviv is like the Beverly Hills of Israel) is non-existent. Most of the discussion was with Eithan's friend Weiman who's a general? captain? i can't remember... a high ranking official in the army - suffice it to say it was an interesting discussion. and that everytime i think about this situation and similar ones around the world, it makes me sad. i know there's no easy solution to these things...but we're in the 21st century and it's strange to me that violence is still a primary means by which countries and people deal with each other. i wish I could put more thought into what i'm writing here, but i need to get back to studying.
- ah. and school. jebus. I have class pretty much from 8-5pm everyday. It's exhausting...BUT i am learning some interesting stuff. I'm currently taking:
- Anatomy
- Physiology
- Immunology
- Histology
- Endocrinology
- Embryology
- Behavioral Sciences
- Biostatistics
talk about a full load. I really like my physiology and histology courses, and of course anatomy. Right now we're learning cardiac physiology which makes me think about my time at CPMC and I get really excited about what i'm learning because i've been able to see it applied at one time...even though at that time i had no idea what was going on. Now i also have no idea what's going on...but at least i know a little more.
ok. i think i'm done incoherently rambling.
for a taste of israel:http://digital.timeout.co.il
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