Meanwhile, In Israel

This one counts as two, because I feel bad that I haven’t posted in pretty much a month. So you get to experience the face-melting awesomeness of Sam-In-Israel TWICE today. Here’s what I’ll be covering:

1. The Protests!

2. The Job!

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1. The Protests!

It had been a long, difficult day of work, and all I wanted was a nice artik (popsicle), a beer, and possibly a nap outside on our porch once I got the apartment. I got off the train, making my way toward the bus stop just outside the front of the train station. This was a new and welcome luxury for me, thanks to a… borrowed bus pass from a friend who was no longer in need of his. Several colorful folk of Florentine, a few soldiers, and myself clambered about the bus and picked out what seemed to be the cleanest-looking seats. Usually this would be the part of the story where I pull out my iPhone and shut out the sights, sounds, and people around me as I concentrate on getting past a few more islands in TinyWings. With Israel, however, ‘usually’ is not usually the case. I had been forced to leave my sweet, sweet iPhone in a drawer in my ro0m back in Michigan, and so, I had to work with my surroundings. Especially because my Mac has zero fun games on it. I glanced up and out the dingy, slightly cracked window and watched the scenery roll by. Familiar shops, intersections and tent cities came into view…wait what? Perched on our usual soccer field was a throng of tents, complete with people holding signs and police standing around watching.

Being an ignorant American, I assumed it was just some little thing the smallfolks were doing to keep themselves busy and I paid it no mind. I came back to the apartment to find everyone else getting ready to leave. “We’re going to check out the protest on Rothschild, you should come!” And just like that my dream of late-afternoon ice cream and beer dissolved. Off to Rothschild.

the tent city on rothschild -- image courtesy of SustainableCityBlog

And the above picture represents only about a fifth of the entire protest. It stretched on forever. And this was all happening in my figurative backyard! We wandered among the tents; attempting to listen to the impassioned speeches (all hebrew) and talking to some of the protesters. And even though it was a “protest,” there really wasn’t any of the usual “news footage” type anarchy and chaos, with Molotov cocktails and police with tazers. The atmosphere was more like a concert festival (still bitter about missing Bonnaroo). Everyone was pleasant, just hanging out, playing music, eating. It was nothing like what I read about online from American news outlets. From the way they covered it…we attended two different protests. I asked some friends back home if they knew anything about the protest and what it represented. Most had no clue, and those who had heard about it just naturally assumed it had something to do with the territories. Which brings me to a much larger topic: why aren’t we (teens and young adults) paying attention to Israeli current events? We come here and we learn, whether it was on Birthright, Maor, with friends, with family, or maybe even TAMID…and then we go home and forget. This needs to change.

And now I’ll climb back down off of my soapbox and move onto more fun things.

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2. The Job!

Is over. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, my short-lived yet spectacular career as a BillGuard Guardian has come to an end. For pretty much the entire internship, I’ve been heavily focused on product development, and these last few weeks have been no different. Basically, there are a couple major features BillGuard has been looking to include in upcoming releases of its product, and my job has been to take a serious look at these possible features, decide whether or not they are viable and supportable, and then give my recommendation. For one of these features, I was even asked to go as far as to create a “proof-of-concept”…which I spent the last two weeks  slaving over. But now it’s done! Just in time, too. My last day was today but the guys have invited me back up to Herzliya one last time tomorrow for a little going-away party. That’s by far been my favorite part of working at BillGuard: the familial atmosphere present. They are such a close-knit group, and they welcomed me in right from the beginning. It’ll be tough to say goodbye to such an awesome team. Oh and I’ll also miss our office because, well, it kicks the crap out of your office guaranteed.

note: comfy chairs

Those chairs are ridiculous. They even have a little pump on the side so you can poof up the chair by your lower back. They’re actually the Tempur-Pedic of chairs.

Writing a blog is hard. And kind of annoying. And time-consuming. So I was going to promise here that I’d “add more later” about other stuff I’ve been doing while I’ve been off, you know, not writing my blog. But instead, dear reader, I have chosen not to do so. And I feel not a shard of remorse.

“Sorry, I Thought You Were Israeli”

After weeks of wearing only sandals regardless of the occasion, pushing and shoving my way through the shuk, and blurting out the only hebrew words/phrases I’ve learned (shniah*, kamma zeh oleh** and shloshim***)…it finally happened. I was walking home from the train station, about half a kilometer from the apartment, when a disheveled, rusted down car with a duct taped back window sidled up alongside the curb next to me. The driver, a typical citizen of Florentin (old, very few teeth, smoking a cigarette, no shirt) manually cranked his window down and jabbered at me in Hebrew for all of 15 seconds. The second he began speaking, I knew that I would be of absolutely no help to this “seasoned” old man, and so I spent the remaining 14 seconds of his diatribe wondering what he could have possibly wanted. Was he offering me a ride? Did he want directions? Was I being robbed? Was it all three? When he finally closed his mouth and looked up at me, expectantly, I managed to stammer out the phrase I’ve offered up at least once per day since I arrived here a little over 3 weeks ago. “Ani lo medeber ivrit.” As always, I tried looking apologetic, and I let a little sense of hopelessness creep into my voice. I have the “culture-shocked American in a foreign land” look down to an exact science. He put his car into drive and muttered the title of this post as his car limped back into rush-hour traffic.

Driving skills are the only things Israelis and Michiganders have in common.

Finally, someone thought I was Israeli!!! What an awesome feeling. For the past few weeks I had wandered around Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Herzliya feeling like a huge American flag was jutting out of my backpack, from the way people looked at me. But in that brief second, the old man in the crappy car searched the side of the road for someone who looked like they belonged, and he chose me. I came here with TAMID in order to get a better understanding of Israeli business culture, but in doing so, I have begun assimilating into the ethnic culture here as well. I eat shnitzel, falafel, and shwarma every day (see below). I grumble when the light turns green, and cars take more than a second to begin moving forward. I walk to the shuk and haggle for my groceries. It’s a pretty cool feeling, knowing that I can live and prosper in a totally different country on my own.

not pictured: me passing out on the couch afterward

In BillGuard news, I started coding for them a little bit. Nothing too impressive, just automating some tasks using Python. I’m getting pretty good at SQL now too, which I think will be really beneficial to me in the future; it’s a great thing to put on a resume. I completed my research project on transaction dispute resolution and get my next project tomorrow. I’m told I will get to start listening in on the business-side of things, which I’m ecstatic about. Entrepreneurship is my passion and Raphael and Yaron really seem to have their stuff together (and I’m not just saying that because I know they’re reading this). This past month, I’ve watched them lead their team through challenge upon challenge, and every time they’ve come through with flying colors. I can’t wait to start learning from “the masters” themselves.

That’s all for now, I might add more to this post regarding some of my non-TAMID activities later in the week.

 

*shniah = ‘second’, as in “wait a second I’m trying to decide what toppings to get on my shwarma.”

**kamma zeh oleh = ‘how much does it cost’, as in “how much does it cost? No, I’m not paying 30 shekels for an apple you greedy shopkeeper. Ani lo fryer!”

***shloshim = ’30′, as in “literally everything in israel costs 30 shekel.”

I Join The Workforce

Wow, what an exhausting week! My first day was Monday, and I tackled my first work-related obstacle the previous evening: finding the BillGuard office. Not an easy task. In case you’re not yet aware (or haven’t read my earlier posts), the TAMID fellows and I are living in downtown Tel Aviv in the Florentin district. I found out my office was somewhere on Meskit street in Herzilyya…which at the time meant nothing to me. I trekked over to the offices of Aardvark Israel and asked for some help, which they were more than happy to provide. Turns out I needed to get on a train (no clue where the train station was), get off at the Herzliyya station (can’t read/speak Hebrew), and take a shuttle (of which there are several, all unmarked and yet going to different locations) to Meskit, where I then had to “look around” and figure it out from there. Honestly, now that I’m reading over what I went through, I’m surprised that I’m still not wandering around somewhere in the Neghev desperately asking passing Bedouins if they have ever heard of BillGuard. And yet, I made it, thanks in part to several helpful Israelis who would be unstoppable in a tournament of charades. I made it to Meskit, and then went into crisis mode: there was no aesthetically pleasing, large “BillGuard” sign conveniently located at eye level. Instead, I spent a half hour scouring buildings, going up to auto repair shops, pita places, and one shady electronics store, squinting into the windows, looking for any sign of that friendly shield.

Note: friendly shield

Eventually, on a gritty signpost, I came across those two words (one word?) that made my morning: BillGuard. Climbed up the stairs, opened the door, and made it right on time at 10:00AM, ready to meet my crew.

What.

I really wish this would’ve been the scene when I arrived, but nah. It was just another pretty typical day for them (which for them is actually pretty similar to the above picture…) It’s a start-up, so the team is pretty small: only about 13 in total, and they were extremely welcoming and nice when I arrived. And they immediately put me to work. I’ve been helping them out a lot with the English of the application (spreadsheets, emails, names of financial institutions, more spreadsheets) and also with implementing fraud-detection programs within the site itself. I’m not exactly doing any programming, but just helping out with some of the back-end stuff. If you don’t yet have a BillGuard account, you really should get one here. I already signed up myself and my family; it’s just a very cool, unique movement to get behind. Plus, when we find a fraudulent charge on your credit card statement and email you about it, you just never know who might’ve written the template for that email

Sam Shapiro, Guardian Extraordinaire

In other news, TAMID made another beautiful Shabbat dinner last Friday, and our weekly attendance grew…by a lot! We had to bring in an extra table to fit all of our guests. Props once again to Chef Jeff and Chef Ally for all their hard work. Oh, and to Chef Me for making sure the potatoes didn’t burn. Just call me a sous chef. Also, I can’t resist plugging this little tidbit of exciting news: I got into the Ross School of Business at UofM! A future chock full of cars, money, girls, and flashy bling awaits. Thanks TAMID, for giving me something to write about in one of my essays!

Jet Lag, Sun Burn and Shwarma

I have successfully arrived in the Holy Land! I had never taken El-Al before (last time I flew Lufthansa) and was very, very impressed with the service/flight. The food was great, the in-flight movie options were superb and up-to-date, and I got a whole row to myself. The only aspect I took issue with (at first) was the security. The check-in woman in Newark, where I boarded Tel Aviv, interrogated me to the point where I had to recite the names of the Rabbis at Temple Israel (my synagogue), I had to tell her, in full detail, about my job and living situation, and at one point, after I told her about the stated goals of TAMID she snapped back “What if I said I don’t believe you?”

After I was cleared, I silently fumed, humiliated, in my seat by the departure gate. How dare she question me thoroughly, I thought. Do I really look like that much of a threat in my yellow baby v-neck and fake Aviators? After some time had passed, and I calmed down, I realized the absolute importance of her job, and why she tried her best to make me wet my pants (I didn’t.) Generally speaking, I have felt absolutely safe during my stay here, and I think I can owe that feeling of security, in part, to that security guard. El-Al, and by extension, Israel, remains in a constant state of alert against detractors, even more so than the guards in the U.S. Back home, I have never felt the sense of nationalism and vigilance in my country that most Israelis embrace every day. I guess I have taken my citizenship and secure upbringing for granted. Lesson One learned…and I’ve only been in the country for less than 72 hours. As cliché as it may be, it seems I not only have a lot to learn about Israel, I have a lot to learn about myself as well.

After meeting up with and going over the formalities with the nice people at Aardvark (from whom we are renting our apartment), I started unpacking and began settling in. Zac, Adam, Jeff, Tammy, Yaniv, and Evan were already here when I arrived, so I sat down with some of the guys to learn about the area we live in. Our apartment is absolutely beautiful and modern, with air conditioning units in every room in the house, a gigantic backyard, and comfortable beds. Just outside of our front door is Ha’Alyia street, with plenty of Mom and Pop stores with affordable prices for all sorts of stuff…not just groceries. In fact, the TAMID team and I were recently laughing at some of the completely random storefronts we have nearby. One small side street near us sells nothing but lamps, lampshades, and lightbulbs. Not kidding. There is one (relatively) large store which specializes completely in nuts, so we have an ever-growing supply of pistachios and almonds. Another place deals exclusively…and only… in cords and chargers for computers, iPods, cameras, you name it.

My first night, on Thursday, we took a bus to Jerusalem and saw Hadag Nahash, a cool band that has a song in the Don’t Mess With the Zohan soundtrack. Before we went into the concert, we explored one of the shuks in Jerusalem, where I managed to find the absolute greatest shwarma I’ve ever had in my life. Hadag Nahash has sort of a hip-hop feel, so imagine our surprise when we saw that they had a full orchestra on stage, ready to preform. The performers leading up to Hadag Nahash were…varied. The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra played a few songs, they had some random crooners up on stage, until eventually the main act came on. None of us really knew any of the songs that well, but we still managed to have a great time, and we got to check out the Jerusalem nightlife too.

Friday: My best friend from home, Danny, came to stay with me after we got back from Jerusalem. He had been on Taglit, and was now bumming around Tel Aviv until his flight home on Monday. Because he had already been living in Tel Aviv for a week, he helped me sort of get my bearings in the city. I woke up around 1 (extremely groggy from the jet lag) and Danny and I made our way to the beach, where I learned how to navigate the sherut (group taxi). The beach in Tel Aviv is absolutely beautiful, but also terribly crowded. After a few hours there we met up with some of his Taglit friends and made our way to Tel Aviv University, to see the RedBull Flugtag. In case you’re not aware of what that is (which I’m pretty sure you’re not), see the link below.

If you skipped over the youtube link and went right on reading this post, you really have to go back, right now, and look at the video. It was amazing, hilarious, and by far the strangest event I have ever witnessed. The video above, even though it took place in Miami, was pretty similar to what we experienced. After this fiasco ended, Danny and I made our way back to the TAMID apartment, where we helped prepare and then devour a delicious Shabbat dinner, masterfully crafted by Head Chef Jeff Ong. I think Tammy is planning on uploading pictures of that event later.

Which brings me to today, Saturday. The term “day of rest” has taken on a whole new meaning for me here. Even in mostly-secular Tel Aviv, almost every storefront was closed, the streets were drastically less populated, and I’m pretty sure every citizen in Tel Aviv and its surrounding areas made their way to the beach. It was packed. I got a terrific sunburn (I guess wearing 15SPF here is the same as wearing nothing) and came back to the apartment for a quick nap. What a great past few days!

I’ve been in email and phone contact with Raphael, one of my mentors at BillGuard. I start on Monday at 10AM and was told to “bring a computer;” can’t wait to get started. Their offices are located in Herzliya, about a 30 minute drive from our apartment, so I plan on spending tomorrow afternoon figuring out how to make the fastest commute possible. I’m having an awesome time here, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next few days.

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UPDATE: See Tammy’s blog at www.tamidtammy.wordpress.com for pictures of our delicious meal!

A Familiar Place

Israel and I have some history together. When I was 15, my family and I packed up and schlepped out to the Holy Land for 2 weeks, doing the tourist bit and meeting up with estranged family members there. So yes: I’ve been to the Kotel, yes, I’ve climbed Masada (ok, to be fair, I climbed down Masada), and yes, I’ve slathered myself in lukewarm mud at the Dead Sea. From these examples, and from the countless hundreds of touristy things to do in Israel, I feel pretty confident in calling myself an “experienced tourist.” But that’s the problem: I’m a “tourist.” In Israel, I’m the geeky American with the camera around his neck, or the guy wearing socks and sandals as he walks down the beach.

Over the course of this two month Fellowship, my main goal is to shed this tacky image. I want to go native. I want to be able to navigate the streets of Tel Aviv with ease…or at least be able to find our apartment by myself. When my family and I came to Israel, we treated the country as if it was a museum: stay on the path, follow the guide, don’t touch anything. I won’t make that mistake again. Israel isn’t something locked up behind a wall of Plexiglass; it is a living and growing country that I need to go out and experience first-hand.

This summer, I am interning at BillGuard. According to Yaron Samid, BillGuard’s CEO, BillGuard is “a people-powered antivirus for our bills,” which, to me, sounds like an awesome, catchy idea. They are in a really exciting place right now: BillGuard took 2nd place at Tech Crunch Disrupt  a few days ago, and recently released the beta version of their software. I am so excited to see what goes on behind the scenes at this awesome company! I’ve been creepily stalking them on Facebook and Twitter, and I’m seeing a lot of…interesting things. All of its employees look like fun-loving, exciting people who really care about what they  do. But more on that later; I haven’t even left the States yet.

For now, I’ve just got to focus on my 7AM flight out of Detroit…followed by my 6 hour layover in Newark…followed by a monstrous leap across the pond and then some, until I finally arrive at my new home. Oy.