Reason #38 why the U.N Sucks

As I was lovingly crossing the street when it was my turn to cross, I almost got hit by a United Nations van. Stupid U.N.

Anyway I haven't posted in a while. Whoops. But this past month has definatly been entertaining. I have seen some amazing concerts, such as a Carlbach tribute/memorial concert, and this past Thursday (12/1) I went to Tel Aviv University to see one of my favorite bands perform! They are called the Apples and they are a mix of jazz and funk and they have a DJ. No guitar, stand up bass player, and a horn section to bring it to a win. Afterwards I walked around the campus, and it was beautiful. It was much more similar to a campus you might find back in America. It had lots of statues. I have also gone to school. You know, the usual. But the biggest disappointment was my deep dish pizza fail.

I also had the wonderful experience of accidentally walking into a very religious neighborhood in the rain. I naturally looked amazing in my no-black-suit-and-black-hat. I naturally got lots of looks in the rain. It got better when I boarded a bus that was just happened to have all the men in the front and all the women in the back. Technically it was an Egged bus. Egged is the public bus in Jerusalem and most of Israel. In theory it is illegal to segregate, but the ultra orthodox do it.

As you can see, we had some mix ups in the ingredients, so I am going to try again this week, in theory.

I am going to post more often.
Until next time.
-Zach

School in Israel / What I have been doing so far

Hi Everybody!! Yes I am alive!
Alright time to update you on my life.

What have I done the past few two months?
- Met the U.S. Ambassador to Israel on the first day of Rosh Hashana
- Jammed on my saxophone, including playing Careless Whispers (sexy sax man song) on Ben Yehuda Street, which is the busiest shopping area in all Jerusalem
- Saw a Beatles Tribute Band
- Saw an Israeli ska-jazz-funk band
- Went to Tel Aviv and enjoyed the beach
- Hiked in the Negev
- Fractured my clavicle (collarbone) playing football


- Visited the Intel Factory
- And studying at Hebrew University

So to help give you a better idea of what school life is like, I will break down an average Tuesday.

9:30 take Egged bus #19 to Mount Scopus (הַר הַצּוֹפִים) Campus. Hebrew University has two campuses. The original (Mt. Scopus) was opened in the early 1900s and was closed after the 1948 War of Independence, where it was completely surrounded by Jordan, making it an island in a way. So they built a new campus and after the 1967 war, they regained the areas around Mt. Scopus and reopened it. Albert Einstein donated his papers to the University when he did.

Sow how are we different?
Unlike American campuses, we go through security everyday. From our campus you can see the West Bank




and the Old City (To lazy to find a good spot to take picture of Old City, so I took one from the Old City)


Like most of Israel, we have cats. But they also enjoy going inside and hanging around.


I am at the international school, and have people from various countries in my class, such as Australia, Germany, France, China, England, and many more countries. During Ulpan (Hebrew Language studies) I talked to the guy from China in mostly Hebrew, since he wasn't very strong in English. Very fun experience and definately unique.

I will try posting more often.