Social media and cultural exchange

Coincidentally, I saw two movies in the same night, thanks to an invitation by Triwaks Communications to the premiere of "Social Media," the story of Mark Zuckerberg (through a Hollywood lense of course), and "The Hebrew Lesson", a small independent film about Ulpan Gordon, the hebrew language school that I am attending right now. 

"Social Media"
This is the dramatized story of the founder of Facebook (founded in 2004).  It's shot on location at Harvard, and the jury is out on whether there was a brief reference to Wellesley in there.  It shows the interesting series of decisions and driving motivations behind a "genius mind."

"The Hebrew Lesson"
This documentary followed a class of students in 2004 from January through June.  These stories ranged from a Russian man who came here to be closer to his young daughter and astranged ex-wife, to a Chinese woman who worked as a housekeeper and married the man she kept house for, to a Peruvian woman who came here to serve in the army and stay with her boyfriend then becomes pregnant.  It is a movie about relationships and the process of adjusting to foreign culture.  A woman in my class hosted the screening at her apartment.  She is a German woman with an Israeli partner.  Watching the movie was a bit like watching our own class on film.  (albeit more dramatic than ours, but maybe I just don't know my classmates well enough yet).

These two movies together, which were not in any way associated, held common relationship themes that kept both of the stories engaging, despite completely different formats and content.  Both took us through the process of individuals coping with the challenges of trying to assimilate to a culture that was not their own.  Some "failed" and/or gave up, while some persisted and created a new reality for themselves and others.   Either way, time keeps passing for all.

wireless, wireless, where have you gone?

Internet access has not exactly met my expectations here.  In a country that boasts one of the biggest high-tech industries around the world, I expected internet to be a given, like water and electricity.  While it IS widely available, it is NOT reliable.   The concrete building construction isn't helping, nor is the lack of thinking during building to ensure different floors in the same apartment can receive signals.  Between the lack of thoughtful wiring and lack of power outlets in useful places, accessing the web and setting up other electronics has been a challenge, to say the least. 

This is impacting our Vonage phone as well.  Over the course of several hours, internet will go from flying, to crawling, to crapping out completely, then picking up again.  So, bear with us, if you've tried to call or Skype from the States.  There's only so much time one can spend with unreliable technology before you're ready to throw it off your 6th floor balcony (or at least lock it up in a room and leave the problems for another day).