First of all, sorry it's taken me a while to write a new chapter in my blog but with keeping up with working-out and my army service, time is not something that I have to spare.So in this chapter, among other things, I would like to clear a few myths regarding Israel. I should probably start with the fact that camels DO NOT walk on the street! Tel Aviv is a very modern city with anything you can ask for. Second, some of you might have the imagination that everybody is religious. Well, that is far from the truth, even though there is a large population of religious Jews in Israel, most of the people live a "normal" life, although many may eat Kosher food and go to synagogue on Saturdays, holidays, etc.
The other thing I should talk about is my personal excitement regarding the league. Man, it is getting close! There are now less then two months left and this is my final stretch to get ready for the league. I most say that is seems that lately I hear about baseball in Israel all the time there is excitement that I had never seen before in Israel. I get phone calls from reporters looking for interviews and TV stations looking to film our league and all kinds of other press.
In the last part of my blog today I just want to try to let you understand what it is like for me to live in Israel. I should start and say I am very proud in my parents for raising me in
Israel. (so thank you Mom and Dad). (My Dad even immigrated here from America, so it was definitely a big step for him. I am very proud to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, even though I am not a combat fighter I feel that my service is very important and I feel very proud to wear the olive green uniform every day.
Just to sum it all up, I can't wait till June 24th and the opening pitch to cross home plate!
I'll try to write again soon.
Amit.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Life in Israel
Hi, to you all it's nice to write again. Well, I should start with saying how excited I am about the new league. There has been a ton of press all over the world this past week about it.
Even in ISRAEL, I don’t think that I ever heard so much about baseball in the Israeli press as in this last week. Just yesterday, I had a 20 minute interview with a reporter from Yedioth Ahronoth ("latest news" in English), which is the top daily newspaper in Israel (probably something like the New York Times).
Finally, it really seems that something that looked so far away a year ago might happen in Israel: bringing professional baseball to Israel.
Besides this, maybe I should talk a bit about day-to-day life here. The first thing I should say is never believe what you see on TV. Maybe you see the Gaza Strip and places like that on TV, but the reality in Tel Aviv, for example, is completely different.
Even though we are not too far from Gaza, about a 45 minute drive I guess (in Israel that is considered far because we are such a small country) and you could drive it from north to south in about 7 hours. Anyways, here in Tel-Aviv, I can't say we live any differently than in New York.
For example, we have malls (a lot of them) we go to bars (here I can drink – the law is if you are above 18) and we go to clubs (if anyone wants any recommendations, contact me and I can give you a lot of them). I also shouldn't forget the great food in Israel -everything from street food such as falafel, shwarma, humus, etc. to the most elite restaurants that serve the best flavors of the world.
I didn't even talk about the beach yet - as you know, we have a beautiful coast line all the way from the border of Egypt to the border of Lebanon. Right now it is a little cold for the beach but I can't wait in a month or two to go out with friends and chill out there. It is a beautiful coast and it is packed with people almost every day during the summer - from the early morning with the older people doing their morning workout to young teenagers staying all day and all the way through the night!
The beach in Israel is truly a great place to chill out, meet people and just relax.
Anyway, I need to get going to the army this morning, so I will keep you guys up to date about Israel and most important, about baseball, (and I didn't even say a word about spring training) anyway got to go - I'll update you soon!
Amit
Even in ISRAEL, I don’t think that I ever heard so much about baseball in the Israeli press as in this last week. Just yesterday, I had a 20 minute interview with a reporter from Yedioth Ahronoth ("latest news" in English), which is the top daily newspaper in Israel (probably something like the New York Times).
Finally, it really seems that something that looked so far away a year ago might happen in Israel: bringing professional baseball to Israel.
Besides this, maybe I should talk a bit about day-to-day life here. The first thing I should say is never believe what you see on TV. Maybe you see the Gaza Strip and places like that on TV, but the reality in Tel Aviv, for example, is completely different.
Even though we are not too far from Gaza, about a 45 minute drive I guess (in Israel that is considered far because we are such a small country) and you could drive it from north to south in about 7 hours. Anyways, here in Tel-Aviv, I can't say we live any differently than in New York.
For example, we have malls (a lot of them) we go to bars (here I can drink – the law is if you are above 18) and we go to clubs (if anyone wants any recommendations, contact me and I can give you a lot of them). I also shouldn't forget the great food in Israel -everything from street food such as falafel, shwarma, humus, etc. to the most elite restaurants that serve the best flavors of the world.
I didn't even talk about the beach yet - as you know, we have a beautiful coast line all the way from the border of Egypt to the border of Lebanon. Right now it is a little cold for the beach but I can't wait in a month or two to go out with friends and chill out there. It is a beautiful coast and it is packed with people almost every day during the summer - from the early morning with the older people doing their morning workout to young teenagers staying all day and all the way through the night!
The beach in Israel is truly a great place to chill out, meet people and just relax.
Anyway, I need to get going to the army this morning, so I will keep you guys up to date about Israel and most important, about baseball, (and I didn't even say a word about spring training) anyway got to go - I'll update you soon!
Amit
Monday, February 19, 2007
First Blog: First Time Blogger
Well this is the first time I have ever written a blog in my life, so I guess to start out I'm sure some of you fans would like to know a little bit about me. As you know my name is Amit Kurz. I live in Givatayim which is a suburb of Tel-Aviv. I was born in New York and moved with my family to live in Israel when I was six months old, and ever since I've been living in Israel.
My baseball career started when I was 8 years old and I started playing T-ball every Friday on a team that was coached by Leon Klarfeld (the IBL Director of Israeli Operations). I have played on several teams in Israel and on 6 national teams in international tournaments.
I wanted to start off by writing about what is going on with me right now. As some of you might know, in Israel everybody has to go to the army once you turn 18. I was drafted about three months ago. I was really privileged that the army has allowed me to be on a special athletic program. This program provides all the top athletes in Israel with the opportunity to continue their sports profession while in the army. This means that I have a job that demands of me to be in the army 6 hours a day and then allows me to practice and play baseball the rest of the day. After finishing my basic training (which was a great experience, where we were sleeping in tents for a month and we got to go to the shooting range a few times) I went to a special course that trains you to be a soldier-teacher. This means that as a soldier, I go to schools and help kids who made Aliyah (the Hebrew word for people who immigrate to Israel). I will teach them Hebrew and help them with day-to-day life. I feel that it is very important that I contribute a great deal to the community.
So, now that I have completed the course I am glad that I can shift all of my efforts to get ready for the IBL season and our Israel Senior Baseball Spring season. I think that it is a great opportunity for me and for baseball in Israel.
I have to tell you that I am incredibly excited about playing in the IBL and I can't wait for the first game. Until then there is a long time to go! So I will just keep working hard by lifting weights and getting stronger, faster and bigger! I really hope you enjoy my blog - I will follow up on my army service and my day-to-day life and most importantly, my baseball life. I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog and if you have any questions please post a comment and I will be happy to talk about them in upcoming blogs.
Hope to see you in the summer!
-Amit
My baseball career started when I was 8 years old and I started playing T-ball every Friday on a team that was coached by Leon Klarfeld (the IBL Director of Israeli Operations). I have played on several teams in Israel and on 6 national teams in international tournaments.
I wanted to start off by writing about what is going on with me right now. As some of you might know, in Israel everybody has to go to the army once you turn 18. I was drafted about three months ago. I was really privileged that the army has allowed me to be on a special athletic program. This program provides all the top athletes in Israel with the opportunity to continue their sports profession while in the army. This means that I have a job that demands of me to be in the army 6 hours a day and then allows me to practice and play baseball the rest of the day. After finishing my basic training (which was a great experience, where we were sleeping in tents for a month and we got to go to the shooting range a few times) I went to a special course that trains you to be a soldier-teacher. This means that as a soldier, I go to schools and help kids who made Aliyah (the Hebrew word for people who immigrate to Israel). I will teach them Hebrew and help them with day-to-day life. I feel that it is very important that I contribute a great deal to the community.
So, now that I have completed the course I am glad that I can shift all of my efforts to get ready for the IBL season and our Israel Senior Baseball Spring season. I think that it is a great opportunity for me and for baseball in Israel.
I have to tell you that I am incredibly excited about playing in the IBL and I can't wait for the first game. Until then there is a long time to go! So I will just keep working hard by lifting weights and getting stronger, faster and bigger! I really hope you enjoy my blog - I will follow up on my army service and my day-to-day life and most importantly, my baseball life. I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog and if you have any questions please post a comment and I will be happy to talk about them in upcoming blogs.
Hope to see you in the summer!
-Amit
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