Zohan!!

I started my morning yesterday with a nice long skype call to Kati, my research supervisor back in the States. We had a great discussion about my analysis and plans for the future, revving me up to work straight through the rest of my Saturday. So, with only a refreshing iced-coffee break and a quick pita-run to the grocery store, by the time 6:00pm rolled around I was ready to scrap work for the time being and end my weekend with some excitement! Just around this time, Tanmay decided to start cooking a delicious Indian feast for us, using food that his parents had brought from home during their visit last weekend.

While I was afraid that the Indian food would burn my mouth and leave my entire body sweating, I was relieved to find that it wasn't any spicier than the Mexican I'd eaten back home. It was remarkably good! Along with a hot lentil dish and cottage cheese cubes dripping in a spicy orange sauce, we also ate some tortilla-like bread that Tanamay's mother had spent an entire day cooking! The bread is not really bread at all, since it doesn't have much of a dough base and is primarily made of vegetables. When you hold it up to the light it's slightly transparent but for the speckles of dark herbs and spices, almost like stained glass in a sense. Really cool.

Iron Chef Tanmay!

At 7:00pm, Tanmay and I headed over to the movie theater and got tickets to see "You Don't Mess with the Zohan." After being in Israel for five-weeks now, I can say that I've gained at least one thing—a complete and utterly new appreciation for Adam Sandler humor. I'm really sad that all you guys can't come visit me while I'm here…you just won't be able to appreciate the genius of the film on quite the same level. From being able to identify the opening scene as the beach in Tel Aviv to comprehending the Israeli's absurd (and somewhat disgusting) obsession with hummus, my stay in Israel has truly opened my eyes. I think the most interesting thing about seeing the film here was listening to the audience laugh. At one point, a Palestinian character in the movie asked the question "Why don't the Americans like us [the Arabs and Israelis]?" and a nearby Israeli character responded that the Americans "don't like the Arabs. They just mistake the Israeli people for being Arabs." At a theater back in America, I suppose this line would have been just as humorous as any other joke. Here in Israeli, it was definitely the highlight of the film. I'm still not quite sure why (perhaps many of the audience members had experienced the same sentiment), but the entire cinema burst into instantaneous laughter. I think all of Israel would be proud to know that I recommend this movie to each and every one of you back home … you'll get an uncanny sense of what your missing out on by not being in Israel! It's a truly beautiful depiction of what it means to be Israeli…right down to the crazy hair and toilet humor.