It seems as though every day I write about everything that’s been going on around here, a few hours later something cool or exciting happens but then I’m too tired to write even more. Then when I’m ready to write, another cool thing happens…

So the senior staff university strike is still ongoing, and the heads of the universities are planning on closing down all of the universities across Israel on this Sunday, assuming that no compromise is reached by Friday. (This is mostly a tactic to put pressure on the striking professors since if the university is closed down, they can’t do their research, which has been ongoing since it is unrelated to the teaching salary.) Basically, the summary of the strike (as far as I understand) is that the salary of the senior professors has been depreciating in value for the past few years and they’re requesting a 35% salary hike. My Hebrew teacher explained that the problem isn’t really that there are so many professors employed by the universities, but that professionals in a lot of other scientific fields have salaries tied to those of the professors. If the professors were to get the raise they’re asking for, the decision would have a rippling effect on the whole economy. The strike started in October, which means that for most Israeli students, an entire semester has been lost. If a conclusion isn’t reached really really really soon, the entire academic year will have to be cancelled, which means that basically everyone will be behind. A lot of people have been saying that they can’t believe it would actually happen and that there isn’t yet extreme cause for worry, but no one really thought that we’d get to the point where the universities themselves are being locked down so it’s hard to say what’s in the realm of possibility out here in Israel.

Anyway, as a result of the strike, students here at Ben Gurion have been demonstrating and the other night a few friends and I went over to the university senate building (at 1 AM) to observe the sit-in that was taking place. Downstairs, there was a deejay from a local club playing heavy metal and Israeli students were jumping around and rocking out, it was a pretty hilarious sight (I’ll try to post a few pictures). Upstairs, the floor was packed with students who had brought sleeping mats and cards to keep themselves busy, with a movie running as well. It was a strange sit in… There is a tension between apathy and legitimate worry about the semester here. On one hand, people seem pretty certain that the semester won’t be canceled since it would be so catastrophic for so many faculty and students, but on the other hand, as the strike gets longer and longer, we’re seeing more signs of frustration from the student body. As I said before, it’s a pain to be in limbo not knowing how this will be resolved, but it’s also an interesting time to be here to observe the power struggle of the different parties in the strike.

Last night I finally made it to a frisbee game! It turns out it was a really good night since they had a pretty good turnout of 11 people. Experience levels were pretty varied with a few people who had played ultimate before, a bunch of people who were mainly beach frisbee players, and a couple who hadn’t really played at all. Everyone was really cool and it was nice to get out of the university and see a little more of Be’er Sheva. One nice thing about frisbee is that that people who show up end up being anywhere from ages 20 to 40 but you really can’t feel the difference while the game is going on. Anyway, I’m glad the game finally took place and I hope I can make it there next week (assuming it doesn’t rain).

I’ve been seeing more of my roommates lately which is really cool; usually they’ll be doing work or something when I get back at night so I’ll talk to them for a little while. Yesterday Moran, Didi (turns out it wasn’t Deedee) and I made fun of each other’s Hebrew/English for a while. Everything is in prepositions. If you don’t get the prepositions in a foreign language right, you’ll sound like a six year old no matter how many big words you know. My presentation in class went well, we ended up talking about national service in America (my topic) for a good hour and I think that I’m having an easier time forming thoughts in Hebrew without translating them from English first.

That’s what’s been going on around here lately. The strike thing should be clearer in the next few weeks, but they said that a few weeks ago, so maybe by the time I’m coming home I’ll know what the hell is going on with that. Love you and miss you : )