The Jokes on You

There are jokes that have been around for ages, like “knock-knock” jokes, or new ones that are created everyday through everyday experiences and through the gatherings of friends. One of my favorite jokes is not an old classic one, but a new one that was created one day during one of these gatherings of friends. The creation occurred last year during my study abroad in Israel. The reason this is important to note is because half of the joke is in Hebrew and half is in English. The multilingual joke is exactly why my friends and I think it is so funny. To the normal person, they would either not understand it due to the language barrier, or not think it’s funny because it is more of an inside joke. The two languages are imperative in order to somewhat comprehend the joke. If the joke was told completely in Hebrew, it would not make complete sense. This is because not all English is translated directly into Hebrew and it would make it a bit complicated. The joke would make sense in English, but it just way more fun in Hebrew.

Here it is:

Mah haHevdel bein dag l’psanter? (What’s the difference between a fish to a piano)
Ee efshar l’Tuna Fish. (It’s not possible to “tuna fish”).

You may not think this joke is funny when you read it, but it has a lot more meaning to me. Being able to combine things that I love (Hebrew and humor) means a lot to me and being able to share this joke (even though I didn’t create it) with others means even more. It was always amusing to tell this joke to little Israeli kids because they don’t know what tuna fish is, but they understand the rest of the joke, so they think you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Jokes mean different things to different people. This joke is very funny to friends and me, but not to other people. There are many different kinds of jokes that strike and wonderful chord with some, but insult others. There are blonde jokes, women jokes, and much worse kinds. There are jokes that kids create for fun, jokes for stand up comedy, and many others. I don’t know very many jokes, but when I hear a good one, I keep it in my memory to try to pass on to others

Even better than Lion King...

I went to go see the Drummers of Burundi on November 2, 2006. The entire evening was definitely an interesting experience. The night started with walking into the auditorium and hearing the sounds of drums. My friend and I weren’t sure what was going on so we ventured into the lobby where different people were performing in a drum circle. The idea was to get the audience into the mood and it sure did the trick. As the concert neared, we got more and more excited and found our way to our seats in the balcony of the IU Auditorium.

The concert started with the Mombasa Party group. This group consisted of only 4 performers. They all played different percussion instruments and there was some singing. There were also some interesting native instruments like the tashkota, which is like a table-top banjo. Interestingly enough, when I searched this word on Google and Wikipedia.com, the only time this word came up was when the Drummers of Burundi were being talked about. This leads me to wonder if the group essentially invented this instrument. The music that was played was divided into six different sections. Each song had a different title that was to indicate the type of music that was going to be played. All of the music was more “flowing” than the drumming in the lobby and very easy-going. My favorite piece was the last one entitled “All Jambo”. Jambo means hello in Swahili which is a language spoken in the native lands of these peoples. I particularly enjoyed this song because the beat was really fun to follow and the words were very familiar as they were, Hakuna Matata.

After the Mombasa group played, there was a brief intermission and then the Drummers of Burundi came to the stage. Literally, they came into the auditorium by the side door with their drums on their heads and played up to the stage. There were twelve drummers in all, all wearing red, green and white. Once they got onto the stage, they assembled into a semi-circle with a single, more decorated drum in the middle of the circle. Drummers would take turns going into the middle and continuing with the beat or creating a new one. Sometimes there would be two drummers in the middle and that would create much more excitement. Three of the drums would essentially do a base beat and the other drums would all be in-sync with a different beat. Along with the drumming were some fancy footwork and hand work. Many times the drummer in the middle of the semi-circle would “wrap the stick around their head”. The way they would do it would make it seem like they were actually wrapping it around like a rope, but that just shows how good they were. One of the funny moments of the evening was when one of the drummers accidentally lost control of his stick and it flung into the orchestra pit. I thought that he would just get a new one from back stage, but eventually he climbed down into the pit and got it himself. The performance ended with them group coming out the same way they came in. One by one they put their (what looked like very heavy) drums on their heads and headed off the stage.

This performance was definitely one I had never witnessed before. I’ve heard this kind of drumming on CD before, but to see it on stage in real life was definitely an experience I will remember for a while. Seeing the group come in with the insanely heavy drums on their heads gave me a new found appreciation for carrying things on my back and complaining. Hopefully I will have a chance to see more of this group or similar groups in the future.

This is the Musical Performance Visit Project.

This will make you hungry!!!

I am not one to eat very ethnic foods. Last year, while studying abroad in Israel, I had a very hard time going to many of the restaurants there because most Mediterranean food has lots of spices and zip to them. It's not that I don't like spicy food, I just can't eat it. My mouth gets insanely hot and dry and I feel like my stomach will explode at any minute. When given this assignment, at first I wasn't sure how I was going to do because a lot of the ethnic restaurants here are Asian or other influences that my stomach can literally not handle. A good compromise was the Irish Lion. It is an Irish restaurant that most people don’t know about. I asked several of my friends in the past week if they had ever heard of it, and while some said yes, absolutely no one knew where it was. It is next to Crazy Horse (about ½ block from the Court House on West Kirkwood).

The décor is very Irish. There are fake animal heads adorning all of the walls, with plaques and posters boasting Guinness Beer and other wall hangings to make Irish Lion more authentic. The menu is also very authentic, more so than the wall decorations, because the food is real. Ireland has always been known for the use of potatoes in its cuisine. This comes from the time when there was the Great Potato Famine in 1849. One of Irish Lion’s signature dishes, it certainly is signature as it has a trademark next to its name on the menu, are the Blarney Puffballs. These little balls are little gooey blobs of potato mixed with garlic and cheese. Garlic is another essential ingredient in Irish cuisine according to Wikipedia.com. A little added touch was the sour cream with scallions on top. As you can guess, the scallions are also important in Irish cuisine. There were many things to choose from on the menu ranging from very traditional cuisine like coddle (layers of boiled pork sausage with sliced potatoes and onions cooked in the stock The only flavoring is usually salt, pepper, and parsley), other stews, many different types of meat, and fish.

I was very lucky when doing this assignment because I went with my boyfriend and a bunch of his coworkers, so there were plenty of people to get different things off the menu. Our waiter was very helpful with telling us what was more traditional fare to order off the menu. The first thing we ordered was the Blarney Puffballs because they were the most authentic and the only thing that my boyfriend and I could eat. I keep kosher, so this assignment was even more difficult without being able to eat any of the meat. A couple of us also ordered what are known as “half yards”. They are literally half yard glasses (basically only 22 oz because they are very thin) with any alcohol you want in them. The guys ordered traditional stout and I ordered Irish cider. The glasses are so long that it is almost impossible to drink it without hitting your neighbor. They also have full yards, but with the policy of “you break you buy it” with the glasses ($70 a piece) it seemed a little too intense to try.

After the appetizer we ordered the main courses. There were so many options to choose from. One guy ordered the Liffey Salmon. Salmon is one of the most common fishes used in Irish cuisine. I didn’t know this at the time, but the Liffey River is a river that flows through Dublin, Ireland. Two people from the group ordered coddle and stew. Both of these soups came with soda bread is an absolute staple of Irish Cuisine. It is just as important as potatoes. The stew also had the main ingredient of lamb which is also very popular and ethnic. Due to the no meat policy, I got the trout entrée. According to Wikipedia.com, trout is more and more popular in Ireland now because obesity has taken its toll of the residents of the country to the high fat content of its very traditional foods. Now more healthy foods, like trout and more vegetable have been added to the menus to help with this issue.

Upon the end of our meal, we heard some loud yelling come from a back table. When we asked our waiter what was going on, he said they were yelling an old Irish drinking toast. He said the basic gist to the toast was “health to the men, and may the women live forever”. We later found out that they didn’t know what they were saying and their waiter had just told them to yell it. The whole evening was very fun and gave me some more insight on a culture that I did not know much about. Hopefully I will be able to go back again soon with more friends so more people can find out about the glory that is Irish Lion.