Can You Learn Creativity?

Last Wednesday our Israel Seminar class started discussing the idea of what it means to be a "secular" Israeli. At some other point, when I have fleshed out my thoughts on this, I will post something about the different relationships to Judaism that exist in Israel. This time I want to talk about our speaker.

To give the secular view we heard a discussion from Etgar Keret, a great Israeli author. He showed us one of his movies and read from one of his stories. Some of the other students had already purchased some of his books, and I have had the chance to read more of his stories. He also took the chance to sign some of these books. Included with his signatures were little drawings. All I have to say is that I wish I could be THAT creative.

His little drawings were of two or three completely random things combined to make really interesting pictures. In listening to him talk about how he creates his stories was fascinating. A part of his writing process is to focus on a situation or a sentence that doesn't sit well in his head. Around that, a story develops. Sometimes it is incredibly short. Other times, the stories end up longer. In any event, they are fascinating stories.

I don't see my mind working in the same way. I'm left thinking, is it possible to learn creativity? Is there a way that I can train my mind to spin that way?

When I have free time, I can't wait to add some of his work to my reading list. They were great stories.

What about Secular Israelis? More to come as I let my feelings on this steep a little.

Kid A & Winter

I don't understand why I have this association, but Kid A, by Radiohead will always have an association with winter for me. It could be that the first time I heard the album was in the winter. Maybe it was the number of times I played it while driving to and from Fargo, thanks to Kaitlin for that high number of drives, many of which were in the winter. It might have something to do with the album cover, or just the quiet, calm sounds of the first tracks. I really have no idea the real reason, and maybe it is a combination of all of them.

I'm sitting here in Jerusalem with a nice warm cup of coffee reading an assignment or two for class tomorrow and one of those songs popped up on my iTunes. It felt very out of place to me. I looked out the window to a bright sunny day, and realized that I still have all the windows open wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The current temperature is 68 and it's supposed to get a lot warmer today. I'm left wondering, where is winter? What happened to Jerusalem being freezing? All I heard about the winters here, before I came, was that it gets much colder than you will anticipate. Be prepared. The houses don't keep heat during the winter because they are designed to stay cooler in the summer. What is going on?

From what I've heard floating around, this winter is abnormal. It's actually getting dangerous for the agriculture of Israel because there hasn't been any rain yet. I was really excited the first time I was poured on, because it hasn't really since I arrived. I'm sad to say that it hasn't really rained here since then either. The drought is so bad that for last Thursday, the Chief Rabbi of Israel made it a fast day, for those who listen to him, and told people to say additional prayers for rain. I take that with a grain of salt, or two, since I don't really follow much of what he says, but it demonstrates the nature of this problem.

There was a story in the Jerusalem post this week that blamed the recent butter shortage (yeah, there is a butter shortage right now) on the heat. Apparently, according to the story, in heat like this the dairy cows do not produce as much milk, or the right byproducts to create butter. I guess that explains why the butter was so expensive for me to buy to bake blondies last week.

Now before my friends and family back in Minnesota start complaining about the fact that I'm sitting here in a comfortable climate and they're stuck in a freezer with a potential snowstorm for Thanksgiving, (although I'm not sure how the weathermen could predict that over a week away) I miss the snow. I miss the cold. I miss the seasons changing. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I'm still wearing sandals and I'm going to go play football outside this afternoon. I just feel strange not bundling up to leave the house.

Until the "bone-chilling" rains set in, I guess I will just have to listen to a different album while I do my homework.

Occupy My Mind

A large chunk of my family started doing one of those, "15 random songs from your iTunes library" notes on Facebook. Since I'm looking for a way to occupy my mind for a little bit, I decided to do one on here.

The first 15 songs, on random, that came up on my iTunes are;

Artist, Song Title, Album Title

blink-182, Apple Shampoo, Dude Ranch

The Beatles, For No One, Revolver

The Offspring, Gotta Get Away, Smash

Led Zeppelin, The Lemon Song, Led Zeppelin II

Spacehog, I Want To Live, The Hogyssey

Godsmack, Voodoo, Godsmack

The Arctic Monkeys, Brainstorm, Favorite Worst Nightmare

weezer, Dope Nose, maladroit

Synergia, Lekchbek Otakch, Tzoakim Al Ahavah

Dispatch, Prince of Spades, Who Are We Living For?

The Beach Boys, I Get Around, All Summer Long

Sublime, Caress Me Down, Sublime

Third Eye Blind, How's It Going To Be, A Collection

Fuel, Empty Spaces, Something Like Human

Flogging Molly, The Ol' Beggars Bush, Swagger

I'm not sure what the point of this is, but I found some songs I hadn't listened to in a long time...

Sometimes I Wish I Had a Tail

I know you Minnesotans reading this will think that I’m making this up, but I never thought I would miss the mosquitoes of the suburbs. Yeah, yeah, I know they’re a pain in summer, but until you are around these flies, oh geeze.

I don’t know what it is about me, but I seem to attract the flies around here. We’ve been taking a bunch of field trips and walks around the area and I can’t seem to escape them. They jump at my legs, they flay in my face. The only thing I can think of is that I want to have a tail.

Not in the Avatar sense, more in the sense that, like a horse, I would love to be able to flick these pesky flies away and not need to stop what I’m doing.

The problem with the flies is that they are faster that mosquitoes and they know you’re trying to swat them. So they take off and come back three seconds later to land on my legs again. And I’m still waiting for the satisfaction of squishing one.

My Father Was A Wandering Aramean

To anyone who has been at a Passover Seder, this phrase should sound familiar. It is a piece of text that we read every year. The image is supposed to help us think about all of the travels and wanderings that the Torah describes our ancestors taking part in. Sometimes I want to join them.

I grew up camping a decent number of times with my family and as a part of my wonderful teenage rebellion decided that I was too cool to keep doing that. That was not the best decision I’ve made and I’m realizing that I really want to get out into the wilderness a little bit.

I’m writing this while riding the bus towards our tiyyul to the north of Israel. As we are passing through the desert, I’m not sure which one, I can see the hills of Jordan off to one side and all I can think about is how cool it would be to wander off into the hills for a day or two.

I wrote about the little hike I took with some of my friends while we were in Haifa, you can read the story at this link at TCJewfolk. I really want to get out and do another one. During one of our discussions, another one of my classmates this year said that she misses the openness of Canada and how it is so easy to get out and wander in wide-open spaces.

Our group leader told us that there are some really nice places to hike just outside Jerusalem. Another one of my classmates went out to hike for a little while on the National Trail that actually cuts into Jerusalem. I don’t know which way I want to go. Maybe I’ll have the chance to do both. The bottom line is that I really need to get out and wander. Maybe sleep out under the stars, or maybe I just need to walk a few hours out until I decide to turn around and come back. Hey, it could make a really cool experience to write about.

Until then, I will keep looking out into the hills and wait to go for a hike.

Random Brain Droppings

So our house in Haifa is slowly waking up at 9:45 in the morning. Surprise! I guess I'm now a morning person. When did that happen?

So I just wanted to share a few random nuggets from the last few days. Things that didn't really fit into the flow of a story.

1) There was a very cute couple at Or Chadash celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. It was very very sweet to see them standing there together. I hope I make it to that point in my life with someone that I still glow while standing next to them.

2) I need to keep working on my Hebrew. The hard part is just sitting down and doing it. I really just need to use the language and stop worrying about all of the mistakes I will make. This means I need to chill with Israelis more often than I have been.

3) I'm giving in on Fantasy Football. I wasn't planning on playing, or caring at all about football anymore, but it's the end of August and it only feels right to be looking at statistics and mock drafts. Oh where or where did my will power go?

4) Beha'i is an interesting faith. We learned a lot about them at the gardens yesterday and they are very interesting too me. I want to learn more about their actual practices and about them as a people. They have a solid, universal message. But I want to learn about their actual practices.

5) I still have a major aversion to cabs and busses. I was trying to explain it to friends the other day. My real issue is that I would just rather take care of getting somewhere myself, on my own two legs. I feel like I get to know a city better on foot and it's healthier. I dunno.

6) Pick your battles. While at dinner with the host family last night, it was really interesting to talk to some of the people my age. One of the daughters was very anti-Arab. Being in the army, this is an understandable position. Although she was in the minority of the people at the table expressing that opinion, it was a good chance to pick your battles. Not worth arguing with her at that point. The same goes for when a very conservative Jew stops you on the street and asks if I have wrapped T'fillin. Instead of arguing on the street, or telling them that I don't want to do it, it's just a lot easier for me to say, I did it this morning.

7) Taglit doesn't count. I used to want to count Taglit as visiting Israel. It was a great chance to see a lot of the country and to come here for free. I would reccommend it for anyone who wants to come here. But for myself, it doesn't really count. It's not the same as getting a chance to live here. I need to work more to get outside the HUC bubble, but I really think it's tough to get a feel for what Israel really is on Taglit. It could have been my experience on Oranim that was like this. It could also be that I'm getting a chance to be here in a much different capacity. I think I may stop counting it as previous Israel experience.

8) I miss Joselynn. I brought my guitar, Callie (the mellow, soft toned, Ibanez Classical Guitar) to Israel with me. I miss Joselynn. Callie is too quiet, and not as much fun to play. Maybe I need to have someone come out here with a guitar for me and send the other one home.

That's all for now.