MEMRI and Natan Sharansky

Shalom Lekulam!

This week, though slow to start and not necessarily a glamorous week, had some notibale highlights.

To begin with - I have *officially* established that my boss does not have any work for me. On the one hand, this is incredibly unfortunately. The department which I was placed in seemed like a match made in heaven. I have the skills for marketing, some previous work experience, and large amounts of enthusiasm. However, the reality of the situation is that nobody within the New Media Marketing department knows what they are doing. That is to say, that they are not trained marketing professionals. Of course, it's not like I graduated with some fancy shmancy business degree, however a lot of things (esepcially in marketing) are common sense. Yet, the people in my department don't seem to have this kind of knowledge. Whether it's cultural differences, lack of qualifications, or beurocracy, the bottom line is that there isn't any meaningful or legitimate work for me to do.
The good thing about this news, is that at least it has finally been fully and openly established. I would like to think that I did everything I could before comming to this conclusion. I don't necessarily want to leave my ministry (since I have already committed 3 months there), but I simply can't handle wasting any more of my time (or my parents money) doing nothing. Sure, I could sit in the office and study Hebrew or prepare for the GRE, but I don't need to be in Israel to do that. I busted my ass to get into this program, and I am going to try and get everything that I deserve and was promised out of it! So, once my program director gets back from vacation (December 30th), we will start looking at other internship options for me. I am asking everyone to start praying and crossing their fingers/toes so that I don't end up in yet another shitty situation. I need all the good universe vibes I can get right now! Of course, I will let you all know how this whole situation develops and where I end up.

Now, Thursday is really when all the interesting stuff happened. Every Thursday, instead of working, we have an IGF seminar day. This usually consists of lectures, meeting various political figures/heads of organizations, and other educational activities. This week we got to do a couple of interesting things.
Firstly, we got to visit MEMRI = The Middle East Media Research Institute (http://www.memri.org/content/en/main.htm). You know all those YouTube videos that are online - of the Hamas religious leader giving a sermon about 'death to America', or the infamous clip of the children't program teaching little Muslim kids that Jews are descendants of 'apes and pigs'. (If you haven't seen them, here are some links:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjbJnZUJTYU&feature=PlayList&p=F6A416AF9D7CD1E1&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=53). In any case, these videos are an example of what MEMRI does. They translate and analyze numerous media sources (t.v., newspapers, websites) generated from various Middle East countries. They don't only monitor the content for anti-semitic/anti-israel/anti-american statements, they also give voice to the moderates and those who try speak out against their governments. I personally believe that the work they are doing is not only incredibly fascinating, but also incredibly important. I got really excited after our lecture, so I came up to the professor who gave us the lecture and asked him if they ever need interns or volunteers. I'll admit - I don't know a word in Arabic, don't really know any Hebrew either, but hey, it never hurts to ask. He took my contact information and wouldn't you know it - I recieved an email that very day asking for my resume!!! eeee! we'll see how it goes . If they do decide to take me on to do some work, that would be *really* amazing!!! Oi!

Later we got to meet with.....*drum roll please*.... NATAN SHARANSKY!!! That's right, Mr. Sharansky came to meet all of this year's IGF'ers. A local media source (called Arutz Sheva) got wind of his appearance, so they decided to come to the Begin Center and do a little piece about the IGF program. Guess who was asked to be interviewed on camera?! Here is the link to the webpage where you can watch the 5 minute piece on the IGF program, and get to hear some of my collegues:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135192

After our little session with Mr. Sharansky, we took a group picture with him, and he literally sat right next to me for the photo. Yes, I was completely star struck! But don't be fooled by his small stature - Mr. Sharansky is a very fascinating man with a great sense of humor, sharp wit, and a genuine concern for the future of Jews around the world. Hopefully IGF will email that picture to all of us, in which case I will be sure to put it up on the blog.

That's all the official stuff. I do have a cute little story though that happened to me later that evening. I went down to Emek Refaim to the book store. I had some time to kill and figured I could just treat myself to a book and then go sit in the next door coffee shop to read for a bit. (I am making an effort to push myself out of my house and out into the world of Jerusalem). As I was standing in the shop, debating if I should get Alan Dershowitz's book "The case against Israel's enemies" - I see there is a guy standing next to me leafing through an English book. I asked him if he has read Dershowitz's book, he says no, and we end up having a small chat about various authors and what not. I find out that his name is Wayne, he's originally from South Africa, he lived in Israel for some time, but has moved back to S.A. and just on a visit in IL for a friends wedding. He recommended some authors to me, and in particular, this one book called 'the lion's honey'. bla bla - i say thanks, enjoy your night, go to pay for my book, and take a seat in the coffee shop as originally planned. 10 minutes later, Wayne comes up to me, and says "here, I got you this - because I like to do crazy things and I really think you will enjoy this book" - and he hands me 'the lion's honey' which he previously mentioned to me in the bookshop!
I was totally stunned and tried to offer him a coffe, but he kindly refused and said that he was actually meeting up with friends and had to run. Don't get the wrong impression here guys, this wasn't skeezy or a pick up line or anything like that. It was just an honest gesture of kindness and thoughtfulness for no reason other than being nice! I can't say that anything like that has ever really happened to me (at least not as far as I can remember) but it's really refreshing to come across a genuinely kind person. Especially when everything else around you seems to be more on the crappier side. I guess it was just a reminder that there really still are some decent people in the world and it was nice that it happened in Israel. hehe. I'm about a third of the way through the book (it's really short) and so far Wayne has kept his promise - the book is great! :-D

Well - that's the most of it for the week. Could be better, but also could be a lot worse. The sun has been shining during the day, I am in Ashdod with family (and my cousin who is here from Lithuania), got a stomach bursting from delicious food, good books, and a hopeful outlook :)

with that said - time for me to go to bed! (HA - i'm a poet and I don't even know it). Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate! Merry chinese food and movie day to all those that don't!

Hope everyone is doing well!
Lots of Love!
<3