Silence: and the Finals Continue

Entering the fourth week of final exams is really nothing special at this point. I have written previously of how I miss what the procedure was at Penn State. While I’m not sure it is universal, the two incredibly stressful weeks was, in the long run, a lot kinder than a month of drawn out examinations. At this point, I am just looking forward to being back in classes (with no actual break between finals and class). This means that when I finish my degree, I’ll have been involved with school for more or less a straight year. An interesting prospect right?

It seems that I have been sucked down the rabbit whole and have missed a week. I suppose it does not matter really. I wrote last weeks post but apparently never publuished it. All that I really had to say last week was how training in Givatayim was (which was excellent). It is a small-ish group and they are absolutely amazing. Very kind hearted people and so keen to help.

Unfortunately I made a University of Texas mistake (some people will not understand that) at the training. Towards the end of Bassai Dai, I changed a few moves to Empi. No big deal, I just felt quite silly afterwards.

After training we were told that in Haifa there were also Kangeko trainings the following two days. I was convinced, without much difficulty, to attend. Of course getting to Haifa from Tel Aviv by 5:30 means a very early morning. I will spare the details of the sleepless night, but I just wanted to say how amazing the training was. Adults and kids of all levels. And in the bleachers of the gymnasium we were practicing were a dozen parents who had brought their kids and were staying until the end. Some watched on while others read a book or the morning paper.

What is the point of training so early? Kangeko, I am told, translates as purification. Or is the general term for mid-winter training. I am not sure; I prefer to think of it as purification. The wonderful early morning run and kicks galore. By the end of training every muscle was sore and I looked forward to the hour and a half ride home nap. I felt bad for the people driving. They were really quite nice to volunteer to drive all they way up, but try as I might I could not stay awake.

That said, since last Monday I went to a second training up in Haifa. It was similarly a wonderful experience, and the night before my War and Peace exam. The class is essentially world history since the fifth century BC. No biggie. I wrote and wrote for that in-class essay exam, but no idea yet on how it went. That is the story with all of my exams, and to tell the truth, it is a bit annoying. I have a total of seven more exams left, with the first coming up next Sunday. Should be a fun one. Anyway, school isn’t very fun to talk about. I’ve been writing paper after paper and generally speaking, I haven’t come to any global happy solutions as of yet.

Rather the three real fun things that I have been doing alongside my examinations have been karate, some minor exploration and geocaching. Well, the geocaching will happen this afternoon for the second time. It definitely is a fun way to pass an afternoon and explore new places! To more of each and more good times.

Silence: The Second Week of Finals

Another Monday has come. Another week has passed and I think I may have killed another tree with all I have written. As I mentioned before, official classes are now over, but that just means that the whole month has become a test of discipline to focus on the work at hand, and the sight to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

I certainly consider last week’s conference a major opportunity for myself to grow. It was very interesting and I was able to speak with a number of the panelists on different issues. It became very interesting to see how different people think and to get opinions from some panelists of the others. On the one hand, some of the panel discussions were eye opening and rather revolutionary (at least to me); however, others seemed like political rallies where the panelists barely acknowledged the others and simply read from prepared statements following the party line.

Of course I can understand this position; in front of the public, these politicians do not want to get caught saying something either contradictory to their party or things they have already said, and which may be quoted later. When asked direct question it was interesting to see how some danced around the issue without answering the question at all.

I regret to say, that aside from the conference I do not have much to present you all with this week. I should be having plenty of extra time now; however, I have not yet found those missing minutes. Some people pray for more time, while others sped days killing time. Me, I’m searching for all the lost time!

I suppose I should leave with at least one observation on the day. While depositing a check, I was standing at the ATM when behind me erupted screaming and shouting. I honestly have no idea what happened, except that a physical altercation had arisen between two women in line for the machine. I looked on, conscientious that something should be done, but I had no idea how to intervene. There was also an armed security guard and a bank employee there within five seconds. I kept my eye on the developing scene acutely aware of an exercise from freshman year in college.

 It was the first writing class, maybe the second. We didn’t know each other yet, we had no idea that one of the students wasn’t a student and we certainly did not know what was coming.

Before we knew it, in burst a loud man with threats indicating one of the students in class. We were all speechless, and the teacher seemed shocked; she politely asked the man to leave. I forget if he left for a moment and came back or not, but soon enough he was brandishing his belt at which point the student took off out of the class room, followed by the man, who was in turn followed by our teacher.

The teacher returned after a moment to explain what we had just seen; I do hope that I am remembering all the details more or less correctly. Our task was then to recreate the scene. To write and describe how we perceived it. Back then I, along with the rest of the class, was shocked into inaction. This time I stood more or less confused; however, I made a conscious decision not to intervene. There was security present and, most importantly, I couldn’t understand a thing of what was being said. I couldn’t even tell who had instigated it, but it was not a pretty sight. What would cause two adults to fight over a line at the ATM? Or perhaps it had nothing to do with the ATM. I guess I’ll never know, and maybe it is better that way. Life is about the journey, not the end. Spoilers.

The Road: One Step at a Time

Hoopoe found in Herzliya- by me

The first of my master’s classes are now over. I have never spent so much time on a paper. Perhaps that is a lie. I’m not so sure, on deeper introspect; however, it certainly feels that way when crammed into one week. I’ve got to believe my Mexican American War Newspaper Analysis took more time; however, that paper took me a semester to write, and was a lot more than four pages. There is a certain difficulty to limiting words that does not exist in giving unlimited space.

Anyway, that’s got to be quite boring to read. I am thankful that you have all made it this far! What I intended to write, days ago at this point, was something that caught me by surprise. I was thinking very hard on a walk home from the market, my eyes on the ground, and completely missed the 16 story apartment building that indicates my road. After turning back I was thinking about the way we look is related to mindset. From karate, I always hear senseis say to keep your eyes up (well level, looking at the opponent). Looking down, they explain, breaks your posture and significantly weakens everything. Other sayings talk about people with their heads in the clouds, or being grounded.

Walking around here, a lot of people walk with their heads down all the time. I can see why, I find myself doing it sometimes. There is quite the stray dog problem so, as you can imagine, it’s important to watch your step; however, if you spend the whole day looking down you’ll miss a whole lot, like a beautiful flower, a friend waving hello or a hoopoe picking up its breakfast. Looking up and looking down have nothing to do with having your head lost in the clouds. Staring into the ground, with thoughts racing, your mind can take you anywhere.

I think that is one of the beautiful things of our mind; our imagination can take us anywhere; it’s also a great danger. The important thing is, that we follow through on our dreams, and not give in despair. Our mind can open a door to a room of friends and good times, or dark dreary nights where not only the wind howls, but there is no one there. That’s quite a leap there right? But it’s a wonderful transition to recent developments. At my last job (which I honestly enjoyed) I had time for karate; however, I was falling behind on my goals of writing and practicing art and guitar. Part of it is certainly my desire and expectation to have 40 hours in a day, but that doesn’t mean I should stop trying everything. Since I’ve been here, I’e gotten sucked into school and I’ve fallen behind even on karate.

Things are turning around though. I just have to whisper to myself: I think I can, I think I can! I did teach a few classes of karate. It was a rewarding experience, and I’m glad that I taught well enough that I was asked back. Hopefully I’ll get more opportunities for that, but I definitely miss just training! It’s so much easier to be the student than the teacher, and I may have found a closer dojo I can start going to!

In addition to that, the University, may have heard wind of my complaints against the lack of clubs. Well that is a statistical chance of zero, but a recent announcement seems to be geared at appeasing my qualms. They have proposed starting a poetry club, and a salsa club. So far as I’m aware, it’s the dance, but without a description they may very well be working on a cooking club.

I mean, who in Israel would name a café “explosion” in Israel? Something has to be lost in translation there, but I return to the day at hand. I am about to attend the Herzliya Conference, which I thought was a tiny insignificant gathering. Little did I know how very wrong I was. This year’s speakers include individuals from Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the PLO, and is known and important enough to earn derision from Hezbollah. At least, the participation of the Arab participants has been condemned.

Walking home from school - a Snail

What I would like to conclude with is returning to the thoughts briefly mentioned earlier. How looking down or looking up says something about you. Like anything in life there needs to be balance. If you only look down, you’ll miss the beautiful world around you, though avoid stepping into something unpleasant; however, if you only look up you may just crush a poor snail crossing the path.

Sometimes, I have to admit, it helps me to come back here and read my own writings. I generally try to sit and write when I’m in a good mood (aside from ‘The Buzz of finals’), and it helps me remember the direction I want to go. I am a very lucky person, and have a lot of wonderful people surrounding me. I also have quite large dreams, but leat-leat (לאט לאט) as the Israelis say. Slowly slowly. The first trip to plan is to the Hula Valley. After that I will find a way to make it to Spain. I am very excited to see Seville. Pero, antes de ir a Espana, yo necisito practicar mi espanol! Ese deficil, pero pienso que es importante hablar mas de un idioma. Entonces, tengo clases de Arabic and Hebrew. El ultimo problema es que quiero usar ‘ani’ y ‘aval’ en lugar de ‘yo’ y ‘pero.’

I want to just say, that it is always a pleasure to practice speaking, even if sometimes I feel like I am three years old. So before long Spain and England is back on the list. I want to ask you, what are your dreams? Your dream destinations?  Whatever they are, I hope you never let go of them and you can always find your way. I must confess here though, as I am sure you all know, this is not a new idea. I’m sure a lot of big names have said it, but if there is one thing I have learned along the way, it’s the acts of the little people that create the big names (that is not to negate the effect of icons by any means). Personally, I take it from an important person to me who I want to thank here for helping me through tough times, for being a friend and a mentor. For leading by example and showing that the most important thing to do is never give up on your dreams.  Thank you SA!