And in an amazing turn of events...

I had a souvlaki for my last meal in Greece! Even at the semi niceish restaurant, I couldn't resist. It was lamb. There was no pita, but it was very big, so I count it. There was also no tzatziki. Is this official? I would like to say it is. An even 10. You gotta give it to me.

Back in Jerusalem now at the Politics and Society seminar. I've seen interesting speakers and done cool stuff like visit a settlement, Gush Etzion in the West Bank. I'll give a full report when I'm back in Haifa.

The last Gyro

I had what was mostly likely my final gyro in Greece today. Sabbas of course, back in Athens. I had chicken for a change of pace. That tzatziki was calling my name. And the man who makes them makes them so fast. He really is a legend. A hero worthy of Achilles, Herakles, Theseus rolled into one. Indeed, from outside of Sabbas you can see the Acropolis, and it makes me think that Greek civilization has come a long way, from the glory of Ancient Athens, democracy, philosophy, theatre and art to Sabbas' gyros. If you don't think that is progress, than you haven't tasted Sabbas.

Anyhow, that makes 9 gyros/souvlaki on the trip. Historians will always wonder whether I could have had that elusive tenth souvlaki. After all, I did opt for the Greek Mac, displaying my loyalty to McDonalds as an institution, rather than having another souvlaki. That would have put me at 10. My friend Brian had 10, and I know I could have as well. But 9 is a decent total I think.

It is very unlikely I have another one, cuz we're supposed to have a nice-ish Greek meal tonight. Of course, you never know. Anyways, I just want to thank all my fans out there, all the people who were rooting for me. You mean the world to me and when I get back to Israel I vow to renew my schwarma hunt with fiery determination.

The Ruins of Greece.. and the Racism

I suppose some of you are interested in the ruins of Greece. Well they are incredible. We've seen the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus in Athens, the Hephaestion, the oracle at Delphi, Ancient Mycennae and the National Archaelogical museum. Tomorrow we head for last day trip to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon. What we have seen so far we loved, especially Delphi and Mycennae. In the winter, these smaller sites are located near ghost towns. There's not much to do in the eveving but the sites are far less crowded which is nice. We climbed down an ancient cistern at Mycennae, built around 1200 BC or so I think. We had a flashlight, it was pitch dark and we were by ourselves. And we saw the tomb of Agamemnon by ourselves. Awesome stuff.

We also saw a bunch of swastikas around Mycennae, and some graffiti that said "White Europe" and "White Revolution." Not awesome. And strange. Greece is 98% ethnically Greek and 98% Greek Orthodox according to Let's Go. The only black people we've seen seem to be African immigrants selling bootlegged CDs.

What Makes A Good Souvlaki?

According to Bill, the pita makes the souvlaki. Who is Bill? Bill was born in Montreal to Greek parents. He moved back to Greece when he was an infant and now runs the little supermarket/convenience store/depanneur in the small town of Mikines, or Mycenae, really a tourist town a couple of kilometers away from the museum and sites of Ancient Mycennae. He is very nice and friendly. But why is Bill an expert? Because from the ages of 19 to 22, he returned to Montreal and lived at Parc Extension, working in at Arahova Souvlaki on Parc Avenue. You can understand the excitement I felt when I heard this. I had just eaten at Arahova Souvlaki for the first time this past summer (not the one on Parc Avenue, but still). And Bill was genuinely interested on how the restaurants were doing, and reasonably excited (for a mid-30s guy living in what is a ghost town for most of the year) to hear that I had eaten there. Anyhow, he thinks the pita in Greece is much better and he is correct. He recognizes the importance of Tzatziki though, and I must admit it is the Tzatziki that makes the gyros at Sabbas stand out. It really is incredible.

Anyways, I'm back in Athens now. I had a couple more souvlakis in Patras (at a restaurant called Chick N Chicken). One had bacon. Then I had the Greek Mac at McDonalds here in Athens (which I am not counting in the total) and washed it down with a pork Sabbas gyro. So that brings the total to 8.

Also, Happy Hannukah Jewish readers. Can't remember if I wished you that or not. As you can see, I am celebrating by eating pork souvlaki and gyros. I promise to vhave latkes and sufganiot when I get back to Israel.

Thank Goodness it's...

Yes indeed. TGI Fridays exists in Greece. We went there last night in Patras and drank pitchers of Heineken.

The Great Souvlaki Controversy

Merry Christmas to my few but loyal Christian readers (I hope that I have a few, loyal Christian readers but I cannot be certain). I am in Patras, Greece now. I must alert you all to a recent discovery. Apparently, what I thought were Souvlaki, and indeed, what the man at Savvas and elsewhere had told me were souvlaki, are in fact Gyros. Gyros are like Schwarma, the meat is sliced off the rotating upright spit. Souvlaki, as I should have realized from my experiences in Montreal, are the chunks of meat, either chicken or pork. So I had another souvlaki yesterday, and a Gyro (chicken and pork respectively). My combined total of souvlaki and gyros is now 5, though only one of those was actually souvlaki. So I think I'm going to go with the combined total, cuz they all came in a pita and had tzatziki. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter? I'm hesitant to use another asterisk.

Schwarma 31* and now the Souvlaki count

Had my 31st* schwarma at Ben Gurion airport, then flew to Greece. I'm in Athens now. We explored a bit last night and had Mythos, a Greek beer which was below average, and my first Souvlaki. It was pork, delicious, at 2.30 (Euro) a decent price. We also walked around the Acropolis (but could not enter the grounds) and saw some impressive views.

Brian, Brent and I are staying at Hostel Zeus on Sofokleus street, a short walk from the Acropolis. The man at the desk is a Liverpoolian named Dean who seems kind of lost. But a nice guy. Today, we visited the Acropolis and all the ruins. There was not a lot of "Prince of Persian" architecture but it was still amazing. Really old stuff, incredilbe friezes, unbelievable temples. We walked in the Ancient Agora where Socrates (So-Craytes according to Bill and Ted) probably pestered people with annoying questions until they executed him. We also had the most incredible Souvlaki for lunch. Souvlaki Sabbas (or Savvas). It was recommended in Let's Go. The man had our souvlakis ready in about 4 seconds, lightnig service unrivalled anywhere except Wilensky's. And the Souvlakis were incredible, better than last night, and each 1.5 Euros. I had two, one pork and one chicken. I used to say Schwarma was poor man's souvlaki, but I'm not sure anymore. So now my souvlaki count is at 3. How many can I have in Greece? I'm gunning for 10, though I think 7 would be respectable.

It's unlikely that I'll have tonight though, as we're trying to find the Chabad House. I'll try to let you know how that goes. Tomorrow, to the National Archaelogical Museum and then off to Delphi.

Off to Greece tomorrow

I head to Greece tomorrow. Will probably not be blogging there. After Greece I'll be in Jerusalem for a few days for the Politics and Society seminar. I return to Haifa on January 3rd. Will update you all then. Jah Bless.

The Greatest Ha'aretz Headline Ever

Absolutely priceless:

Here it is

Of course, this coming from a man who choked on a pretzel and takes two month vacations at his ranch in Texas.

The Man, the Idea, The Party

Ariel Sharon had a stroke this evening. Apparently his condition is stable, but the man is 77 and grossly overweight. This can't be good for him. But this forces us to consider a topic that many have been discussing recently: Is Kadima all about Sharon, or is it about the centrist ideology he has chosen? Is it about disengagement in light of the demographic threat, or is it about the Israeli public trusting Sharon, and only Sharon, to provide security? Without Sharon at the helm, will the new party crumble to dust? It's hard to say. Kadima is effectively a single-issue party. My friend Nathan told me he hopes Kadima has to form a coalition with Labor, and that Labor allows Kadima to disengage unilaterally while Kadima allows Labor to fix the economy and the social gaps. That's not too bad a thought, though I would still vote Labor or Meretz. But without Sharon, who else has the strength to make unilateral moves? And are unilateral moves the best option? Maybe Kadima will negotiate? I used to be in favor of unilateral action, saying the ball is in Israel's court, especially when Arafat was alive. But now I'm not sure. I do think disengagement is better than the status quo though.

My first Christmas tree

After setting up the tree on Thursday, we decorated it today. By we I mean me, the Christian teacher and Muslim kids at the Arab after-school club. This was my first decorating of a Christmas tree. Ironic that it would come in Israel, I suppose. Apparently it's not only the Christian Arabs that celebrate Christmas, but also many of the Russians. And I think the Russians celebrate the watered-down, Americanized seculr version of the holiday, with trees and Santa, rather than Jesus.

An Even 30*

Had another Schwarma, at Jibli. Really very good. I tried it with this green garlic sauce. Delicious. Maybe even better than Hazan. Still searching for Emile. 30* is a nice number.

Christmas for all

Yesterday, when volunteering with the Arab kids at Achva, I helped them assemble their Christmas tree. This was fascinating because all the employees at Achva are Christian, the volunteers (Nelly and myself) are Jewish and the kids are Muslim. Apparently, they all go to Christian schools (which is why they have no school on Sundays). They seemed to know and love a bunch of Christmas songs in Arabic, including one that sounded identical to "Glooooooria." I decided to try to teach them an English Christmas song, translated into Hebrew:

Al Tiz'Ok, Al Tivkot, Al Teeheeyeh Atzuv, Anee Mesaper Lamah,
Santa Claus bah leh Haifa!

Hu Oseh Reshimah Veh Bodek Et Ze Pa-amayim,
Ho Rotzeh Leer-ot mee tov u-me rah,
Santa Claus bah leh Haifa!

Some kids started to sing a long a bit, but I think I enjoyed it a lot more than they did.

Phenomenal Israeli Films

Israeli films have long been the butt of jokes: pretty pathetic overall. This year, however, I have seen three incredible Israeli movies, including one just tonight. They are:

1) Sof Ha'Olam Smolah (Turn Left at the End of the World)
-This movie tells the story of immigrant Moroccan and Indian Jewish famillies who move to Israel in the 1960s, mainly through the eyes of the two 17 year old daughters. A bit long but funny and moving all the same.

2) LaLechet Al Ha Ma'im (Walk on Water)
-This movie, by American-Israeli director Eytan Fox, explores issues of the Holocaust, homosexuality, German-Jewish and Arab-Jewish relations. It tells the tale of a Mossad agent assigned to find a Nazi war criminal by befriending the Nazi's grandchildren. An absolutely brilliant plot with sensational acting.

3) HaKochavim Shel Shlomi (literally, "The Stars of Shlomi" but translated as "Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi")
-I just watched this tonight. It was incredible. It is the story of a Moroccan child prodigy who must take care of his comically dysfunctional family, but has a wonderful relationship with his grandfather. Part "Little Man Tate" and part "Good Will Hunting," the movie is touching and funny at the same time, with characters you fall in love with immediately. Really superb.

So go out and see these movies. They are awesome.

Christmas on Ben Gurion Street

The Christmas lights are out in full force on Ben Gurion street. So are the Santas and Snowmen and everything that makes Christmas a wonderfully secular holiday in America. Many of the restaurants are owned by Arab Christians. Still, to me it's a bit surprising that Christmas has been so commercialized and secularized outside of North America.

How Greek It Is

So we're going to Greece. Josh, Brian, Brent and I depart for Athens on December 21st. We'll be there a week. We hear Athens is a shithole so we want to explore as much as possible. This means ruins. We also want to hit one of the more interesting islands: not Corfu, the Cancun of Europe, but more like Crete. On a personal note, I want to go to Crete not only because of the Minoan ruins (Daedalus' maze and all that jazz) but to see the ancestral homeland of Tony Koulakis, Man of Grease and owner and creator of Montreal's Cosmo's restaurant. Then, when I return to Cosmo's in June, Tony's loud but raspy "Hello Boyss," will be even that much more meaningful and the potatoes will taste better too, I'm sure.

Anyways, please send me ideas for stuff to do as we want to have somewhat of an itinerary before we go (yes, I did use the word itinerary).

Math: A Universal Language

Today, I finally had a real breakthrough with some of the Arab kids. The method: I gave them simple math problems, which they seemed to enjoy. One 9-year-old boy, Karim, was particularly strong at math: he could add and subtract 3-digit numbers. The teacher, Doris, tells me he is the brightest in the class and it showed. He also really seemed to like doing the problems. It was good practice for me too; it had been a long time since I had to do addition and subtraction of that sort. Anyways, I'll probably try to incorporate some math every time I go from now on.

Boca Raton, Israel

Kfar Saba, or "Village of the Grandfather" is, to this point, the closest I have come to Boca in Israel. A wealthy suburb northeast of Tel Aviv, it has kush palm trees and green and it's share of old people. I spent Shabbos there with Ben and Jen. Ben and I saw Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" which was actually pretty good. Not as good as "Nightmare Before Christmas" though. Computer animation will never be as impressive as puppets.

Hey, David Weinfeld

I had my first, "Hey, David Weinfeld" in Jerusalem on Friday morning. It was Rafi Nemes, a friend from Harvard who is studying at Pardes. Small world.

Off to Jerusalem again

Heading to Jerusalem today. Should be back in Haifa on Friday or Saturday.

Great Quote from Ami Ayalon

From a recent Ha'aretz article. Ami Ayalon is the former Shin Bet chief who is vying for a spot on the Labor party's knesset list:

Ayalon criticized Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying the Kadima party would likely disappear when Sharon retired. "I just don't know if he will retire due to his age, or due to changes in Austrian law, which would allow Israeli investigators to view bank transactions. Any which way, Kadima is a passing phenomena in Israeli politics," he said.

Interesting Reality of Restaurants on Ben Gurion Street

Only one restaurant on Ben Gurion street has a security guard. Can you guess which one? If you guessed the kosher restauarant, you would be correct. All the other restaurants are unkosher, many are Arab-owned. Also, I've started to notice security guards monitoring who gets on the buses now.

And It's a Blistering Pace Now, Folks

2 more schwarma for 29*. One was a McSchwarma, which I ate at the local McDonalds, in the mall on the end of Ben Gurion street. The other, bizarrely, was at the food court in the Haifa mall, at a place also called Schwarma Hazan. It had the same logo, so I wonder if Schwarma Hazan is some kind of a chain. That kind of takes away from the majesty a bit (of course, the McSchwarma comes from a chain, but that's a different story). It was weird, because the original Schwarma Hazan that is right near us also had more of a real restaurant feel, multiple floors, tables and chairs, not just a little stand. And I admired the fact that they essentially serve only one thing, Schwarma. But it is weird to see Schwarma Hazan in the food court of a mall. Then again, Schwarma Plus in Place Alexis Nihon in Montreal is superb. Also, the food court in the Haifa Mall has TWO McDONALDS. Well, one is in the food court and is open only for lunch, and the other is about 100 meters away and a full restaurant. Still, this is also a bit weird.

Suicide Bomb Strikes Netanya

Four are dead so far. Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claims responsibility. I and everyone from Boston group here are fine, I'm assuming everyone else on Otzma too cuz nobody from Otzma is in Netanya. Still, a jarring reminder of where we are. I can have a hundred friendly, meaningful conversations with friendly, moderate Arabs but that doesn't change the fact that there are still so many people out there that would like to see me dead, simply because I am a Jew living in Israel.

Better than playing with Arab children

Is actually meeting Arab peers, as I did in a local bar a couple of nights ago. I thought the bar, called "El Back Door" was a gay bar, but I was hungry and I went in search of food. It is not a gay bar, but I had forgotten the word for menu, and when I asked the waitress, an Arab guy sitting at a table nearby told me the word. After I ordered, I asked if I could join him and his two friends. He said yes, and we sat down, had a few beers (I aslso had a chicken sandwich) and we talked about all sorts of stuff: life, women, politics. And one point, two of the guys got into an argument in Arabic, about Sharon and Peretz. Among other things we discussed were: George Bush, Iraq, religion, abortion, and gay marriage. It was incredible. I will try to summarize what was said another time, when I have more energy, but suffice it to say that there was a ton of common ground. And interestingly, these were Muslim Arabs, not Christians. I probably learnt more that evening than I have the entire time I've been in Israel. And I made three friends.

Vacation Planning: Please Comment

So I'm trying to decide where to go for my Christmas vacation. Please send your comments to help inform my decision. Keep in mind that I have only five days. Here are the options, with their strengths and weaknesses:

Option 1: Greece

-strengths: -lots of ruins (I love ruins, I'm a history major)
-warm weather, nice beaches

-weaknesses: -expensive (they have the Euro now, and the flight is the most as well)
-Souvlaki (really a poor man's schwarma)

-wildcard: -hairy Greek women


Option 2: Turkey

-strengths: -Ruins, Hagia Sophia (apparently it's very touch will heal you!)
-Birthplace of the Schwarma (known originally, and in much of Europe as the donner kabob). Indeed, I was very disconcerted to learn that the Schwarma was born not in Lebanon, buut in Turkey. Still, as Arabs will tell you, the Schwarma may have been invented by the Turks, but it was perfected by the Arabs. Still, better than souvlaki. I wonder if all donner kabobs get an asterisk, or are they more legitimate than the McSchwarma.
-Because of my sophomore history tutorial, I know more than any normal person should about the fall of Constantinople. The story is pretty fascinating, involving the great Sultan Mehmet II ordering soldiers to pull boats along the land to get them inside the "Golden Horn" that borders the city.

-weaknesses: Apparently Istanbul is over-rated. Beyond that, it's unclear how much we will be able to see.

-wildcard: Hairy Turkish women

Option 3: Cyprus

-strengths: -very cheap
-only 1 hour flight
-nice beaches?
-natives referred to as Cypriots (I love that word)

-weaknesses: -what is there to do in Cyprus? I know there are ruins, but I don't really know much about them.

-wilcard: -hairy Greek women AND hairy Turkish women (what could be better?)

Please let me know your thoughts, dear readers.

Russian Karaoke

In North America, Karaoke is dominated by Asians, specifically Koreans and Japanese I believe. On Ben Gurion street in Haifa, however, we have found a small bar called Cobra, whose clientele is almost exclusively Russian (as is the ownership). When we went on Wednesday, there were about three middle-aged Russian women singing Russian songs on the Karaoke machine. We asked if they had English songs, and they had a handful, but they were mostly bizarre 80s songs that even I, a lover of 80s music, had never heard of. The only ones we did know, and sang, were "Killing Me Softly" (not the Fugees version), "I'm Your Venus" and "Rasputin" as in "Ra-Ra Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen." Very bizarre, but amusing. The only song I know in Russian is the Soviet National Anthem, but I don't think they had that one.

Big Schwarma News

First off, I had another schwarma, a laffa, at a little shop in the Wadi, after volunteering with the Arab kids yesterday. It was Keves, and quite good. More importantly, however, Josh and I had Schwarma Hazan today, acknowledged by many to be the best schwarma in Haifa. I have to say it was outstanding. It had a unique taste, it may have been beef, I'm not sure. It's not kosher, at it is run by Arabs, but for some reason it is closed on Shabbos (Saturday, not Friday). That's 27* schwarma on the season. I'm starting to think of my schwarma count in terms of a single-season homerun tally. 60, 61, 70 and 73 are milestones looming in the distance. I think at my current pace, my ambitious goal is 100. I think I can make it.

More Volunteering with Arab children

I made an interesting discovery today. Apparently, though my volunteering takes place in a Christian building, ALL of the children I work with, boys and girls, are Muslim. This is surprising. I found this out when we said a little prayer over food today, it was apparently a sappy, non-denominational prayer. Then the teacher told us the kids were all Muslim (she is Christian, her husband an Orthodox priest).

In an interesting political moment, one of the girls asked who I liked better, Sharon or Barak. I said Barak, though I didn't really like either of them. She said she hated both of them and liked Arafat. I said "But Arafat is dead." She knew he was dead, but still liked him. Another boy said he was there when Arafat died, I'm assuming he meant at the funeral. Then to avoid conflict, I changed the subject to soccer. The kids all liked Maccabi Haifa, and they even liked the Jewish Israeli players Yossi Benayoun and Davidovich. They also liked Arab-Israelis Walid Badir and Abbas Suan, as well as Brazilians Ronaldinho and Ronaldo and Frenchman Zinedine Zidane.

I'm starting to get to know the boys well. They are: Amir, Karim, Rabi'ah, Rami, Tamir, Ibrahim, Ahab and Ayad. I'll try to get pictures at some point.

Today was pretty tough. I had to organize a soccer game and the kids absolutely refused to listen to me. Then, some local kids came by and wanted to play. Some of them started punching our kids and I had to get between them. It was pretty bad. One of them was Arab but the other appeared to be Russian.

After the failed soccer attempt, we went inside and played games. I tried to teach two boys chess. They actually listened attentively but then got impatient and didn't really learn. Too bad. Still, they seem to be warming to me.