We went for a three day trip to Eilat. The first day was very busy. We watched "The West Wing" on the way down. We got to our hotel and decided to spend the first day sitting by the pool, going in and reading in our chairs. We had dinner at a place called Ginger an Asian Indonesian fusion restaurant. Very tasty food. We went to sleep early because we had a big day ahead of us.
Day 2:
We woke up at 6:00 to have breakfast in order to be ready for the 6:30 AM pickup. Off to Petra. Petra is located in Jordan. While Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, we were still a little bit nervous. They take you through passport control and have you walk through a no man's land to get to Jordan. 1 Jordanian Dinar = $1.5 USD. Nonsense. We took a 2 hour ride to Petra. Along the way our guide told us that there were 6 million people in Jordan, 2 million in Aman. UNREAL!! Petra is hidden among the mountains. We got to Petra and took a 1 Kilometer walk to the main attraction the Hizna. Along the walk, you see idols carved into the walls, and a water system that allowed the Nabateans, a Pagan civilization which became powerful by controlling trade routes through the middle east, to have water throughout the dry season (all year long basically). The ceramic pipes and dams the Nabateans built were sensitive to water pressure which had the propensity to break the ceramic pipes. They also built their treasury (Hizna) away from the wind. The Hizna is carved from the sandstone, right into the mountain. It was later found to be the burial site for rich Nabateans. Their are other caves and tombs, but the Hizna is the biggest and most well preserved. It was amazing.
Day 3:
We got up and went to the underwater observatory to see the sharks get fed and to watch them feed the anacondas. 1) Sharks in the wild eat once a week. Sharks there get fed 2x a day, so they are not usually hungry. We missed that. 2) They have 1 snake. We did not stay to see that. 3) some things are more interesting as a kid. This is one of them. But we spent the rest of the day by and in the pool and went home later that night.
Conclusion: Eilat is relatively boring. It is nofesh (vacation for the soul) Petra was amazing. One of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Eilat and bathing suits.
It has been a long time since I last blogged. The reason is because I had promised our loyal blog readers that I wouldn't blog again until Yuval did. Well, I am happy to say that this will be a joint blog post.
Yuval will blog about our trip to Eilat and Petra, and I will now tell you a story about how I just bought 2 bathing suits. Now, it seems to me that my bathing suits have shrunk (or something...) and I needed ones with a little more coverage. There are a few bathing suit stores, right next to each other near our house. We went into one the other day, and it was the smelliest store I have ever stepped foot into, so we left promptly. We went to go try another store this afternoon, after a lunch of pizza bagels at a cafe we basically go to every day. --At the cafe, I poured an entire ice coffee on Yuval, but he recovered-- Back to the bathing suit story. So, we went into a smallish store, that looked like a tornado had ripped through it and immediately the owner starts handing me styles that he thinks will look good on me. I really did not even have a chance to look at the racks, because he was just handing me bathing suits that were basically Kineret's size. I decide to go with the flow (I know, a big feat) and try on the tops he had handed me. The first two were itty bitty. Then the 3rd, I thought looked OK, so I called to Yuval to come and see. Now, Yuval opens the curtain only so his head can pop through and the guy who owns the store is looking over Yuval and starts going on and on about how perfect the bathing suit is. Now, this guy was very nice. He wanted to help me find a bathing suit that looked good on me and he wanted to sell me something. So, again I decide to go with the flow and let this guy tell me what he thinks. Finally I pick 2 bathing suits and the best part is--he makes them especially for me. So, I picked out the styles of the tops and the bottoms that I wanted and the color that I wanted, and he is making them for me to pick up tomorrow! And then he gave me a pair of flip flops. What a day. Now, for Yuval...
Well, I have to write about quite a few things. Let's start off with the day that Safta, Eytan and Niva went to the Opera. So, we met them afterwards so that we could have dinner together. We all ordered and Safta asked for her soup very warm "burning not she said". "I understand what you mean" the waiter said. As I assured him that he did not understand he left. He brought back soup which was steaming, but not scalding, which was sent back. As we ate Safta asked how our food was. We all told her it was very tasty. When she got her soup back she said "Now it is warm enough. So what do I add for taste?" That was an interesting start to the dinner. Then we asked how the opera was, and that we had not ever been to the opera. Two days later,we were going the following week.
Yom Hazikarom and Yom Ha'atzmaut were both amazing days. We went to a memorial service in Rabin Square. The square was filled with thousands of people. The MC read poems of fallen soldiers. Famous artists such as Idan Raichel sang songs, some were self written, others which were written by fallen soldiers. In between these poems and songs were short movies, with interview of parents, friends and families of fallen soldiers. Some of the stories have stuck with me. ONe father of 2 was called back for reserve duty. He was a ground soldier commander. One day a grenade was thrown into the bunker he was in. He immediately jumped on it in order to save his soldiers. Between 5-10 were saved. This hero's son, who was 4 at the time was teased by his classmates who told him that if his father was really a hero, he would not have died, he would have survived. The second story was about a boy who as a kid said he would not serve as a field soldier because he did not want to fight. As a soldier, he decided to serve as a ground soldier. His father told him that his son said "I am going to fight for peace". In the middle of his service, his great grandmother passed away. His father suggested that he come home to be with the family. His son said that if he left the base, someone else would have to fill in his spot, so he did not return home. He was killed two days later. The family sat Shiva in the middle of their Shiva. We hear these stories in the states, but to see these interviews reminds you that these soldiers are just kids. They are just children. So when we hear that women and children were killed on the Palestinian side, we MUST remember that these soldiers are kids. One of the most amazing parts of Yom Hazikaron is that every store closes. Walking to Rabin square, we wanted to get a bottle of water, but EVERY store was closed, even though this could have been one of their busiest days. We were inspired by the respect shown. Also, the whole country stood still as a a siren sounded.
Yom Ha'atzmaut. What a celebration. A great ceremony on TV which took place in Jerusalem. Then we went back to Rabin Square for singing and dancing. First there were speeches by government officials and the mayor of Tel Aviv. Next, a group called Groovatron (like Givatron, but not as good) sang. They took perfectly amazing Israeli songs and killed them. Then they stabbed them repeatedly to make sure that you would never want to hear them again. But the ceremony was filled with other musicians and fireworks and ice cream. One of us, even had two ice creams (not Sarah). We left to find the place that Niva said had Israeli dancing at around 11:00. We had been at Rabin Square for 2 hours. WE got lost and nobody knew where we really were supposed to go. So, we decided to go home. But we did so via Rabin Square, were Anat Saroof was singing. 3 Hours of Shira Be'tziboor with dancing b'ma'agalim. We were exhausted at the end but what a day. Kids running around the streets with shaving cream, spraying shops, cars that did not belong to them and random strangers. I took pictures of one girl defacing a car. He mother asked me why I was shooting photos of her. I explained not wanting her to be offended, that was taking pictures for my mother. She said I should send it to the Tel Aviv newspaper. Not exactly what I thought she would say.
The opera was great. The main tenor had an amazing voice. Still don't like sopranos. We saw Tosca. The average age in the theater was about 2000 years old. We thought the first act was a little too long, but it was overall (to be read in a Borat voice) VERY NICE!!
Yuval will blog about our trip to Eilat and Petra, and I will now tell you a story about how I just bought 2 bathing suits. Now, it seems to me that my bathing suits have shrunk (or something...) and I needed ones with a little more coverage. There are a few bathing suit stores, right next to each other near our house. We went into one the other day, and it was the smelliest store I have ever stepped foot into, so we left promptly. We went to go try another store this afternoon, after a lunch of pizza bagels at a cafe we basically go to every day. --At the cafe, I poured an entire ice coffee on Yuval, but he recovered-- Back to the bathing suit story. So, we went into a smallish store, that looked like a tornado had ripped through it and immediately the owner starts handing me styles that he thinks will look good on me. I really did not even have a chance to look at the racks, because he was just handing me bathing suits that were basically Kineret's size. I decide to go with the flow (I know, a big feat) and try on the tops he had handed me. The first two were itty bitty. Then the 3rd, I thought looked OK, so I called to Yuval to come and see. Now, Yuval opens the curtain only so his head can pop through and the guy who owns the store is looking over Yuval and starts going on and on about how perfect the bathing suit is. Now, this guy was very nice. He wanted to help me find a bathing suit that looked good on me and he wanted to sell me something. So, again I decide to go with the flow and let this guy tell me what he thinks. Finally I pick 2 bathing suits and the best part is--he makes them especially for me. So, I picked out the styles of the tops and the bottoms that I wanted and the color that I wanted, and he is making them for me to pick up tomorrow! And then he gave me a pair of flip flops. What a day. Now, for Yuval...
Well, I have to write about quite a few things. Let's start off with the day that Safta, Eytan and Niva went to the Opera. So, we met them afterwards so that we could have dinner together. We all ordered and Safta asked for her soup very warm "burning not she said". "I understand what you mean" the waiter said. As I assured him that he did not understand he left. He brought back soup which was steaming, but not scalding, which was sent back. As we ate Safta asked how our food was. We all told her it was very tasty. When she got her soup back she said "Now it is warm enough. So what do I add for taste?" That was an interesting start to the dinner. Then we asked how the opera was, and that we had not ever been to the opera. Two days later,we were going the following week.
Yom Hazikarom and Yom Ha'atzmaut were both amazing days. We went to a memorial service in Rabin Square. The square was filled with thousands of people. The MC read poems of fallen soldiers. Famous artists such as Idan Raichel sang songs, some were self written, others which were written by fallen soldiers. In between these poems and songs were short movies, with interview of parents, friends and families of fallen soldiers. Some of the stories have stuck with me. ONe father of 2 was called back for reserve duty. He was a ground soldier commander. One day a grenade was thrown into the bunker he was in. He immediately jumped on it in order to save his soldiers. Between 5-10 were saved. This hero's son, who was 4 at the time was teased by his classmates who told him that if his father was really a hero, he would not have died, he would have survived. The second story was about a boy who as a kid said he would not serve as a field soldier because he did not want to fight. As a soldier, he decided to serve as a ground soldier. His father told him that his son said "I am going to fight for peace". In the middle of his service, his great grandmother passed away. His father suggested that he come home to be with the family. His son said that if he left the base, someone else would have to fill in his spot, so he did not return home. He was killed two days later. The family sat Shiva in the middle of their Shiva. We hear these stories in the states, but to see these interviews reminds you that these soldiers are just kids. They are just children. So when we hear that women and children were killed on the Palestinian side, we MUST remember that these soldiers are kids. One of the most amazing parts of Yom Hazikaron is that every store closes. Walking to Rabin square, we wanted to get a bottle of water, but EVERY store was closed, even though this could have been one of their busiest days. We were inspired by the respect shown. Also, the whole country stood still as a a siren sounded.
Yom Ha'atzmaut. What a celebration. A great ceremony on TV which took place in Jerusalem. Then we went back to Rabin Square for singing and dancing. First there were speeches by government officials and the mayor of Tel Aviv. Next, a group called Groovatron (like Givatron, but not as good) sang. They took perfectly amazing Israeli songs and killed them. Then they stabbed them repeatedly to make sure that you would never want to hear them again. But the ceremony was filled with other musicians and fireworks and ice cream. One of us, even had two ice creams (not Sarah). We left to find the place that Niva said had Israeli dancing at around 11:00. We had been at Rabin Square for 2 hours. WE got lost and nobody knew where we really were supposed to go. So, we decided to go home. But we did so via Rabin Square, were Anat Saroof was singing. 3 Hours of Shira Be'tziboor with dancing b'ma'agalim. We were exhausted at the end but what a day. Kids running around the streets with shaving cream, spraying shops, cars that did not belong to them and random strangers. I took pictures of one girl defacing a car. He mother asked me why I was shooting photos of her. I explained not wanting her to be offended, that was taking pictures for my mother. She said I should send it to the Tel Aviv newspaper. Not exactly what I thought she would say.
The opera was great. The main tenor had an amazing voice. Still don't like sopranos. We saw Tosca. The average age in the theater was about 2000 years old. We thought the first act was a little too long, but it was overall (to be read in a Borat voice) VERY NICE!!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
CRAZY
I promise not to post anymore about the negative things here, at least until Yuval posts a funny post. So, I have a cold, ok no big deal. I spent a couple of hours in bed this afternoon reading/napping, while Yuval made some fruit salad and cabbage salad. It is now 9:30pm and we were cleaning the floor before getting ready to go out to eat something. I am changing my clothes in our bedroom when someone starts pounding on our door. Well, we have a new neighbor who is an older man, I would say in his 60's, who told us he just made aliyah after being a lawyer in Canada for the past 25 years. He was forced to retire after his 2nd bypass surgery. Now, we open the door and he starts screaming. No introduction, just full on screaming, asking us if we are doing construction in our apartment. Now, I have been on and off sleeping for the past few hours, so if there was banging in our apartment, I didn't notice! He wouldn't even let Yuval get one word in. 2 minutes into his tirade, our other neighbor (there are 3 apartments on our floor), opens his door to see what all the ruckus is about. I am standing behind Yuval and the other neighbor is looking at me like, "is this guy insane?" Well, clearly! Anyway, so the guy continues to scream that we have been banging for 1.5 hours, and the other neighbor starts to try and diffuse the situation, saying he heard nothing, we are good neighbors, blah blah blah. Yuval did not get excited and did not yell back at this lunatic, and the guy basically yelled himself out and slammed his door. We were all left standing there in total shock. Now, this guy had knocked on our door politely a few days before to introduce himself and tell us that he had just made aliyah and that there were obstacles at every corner. If you act like a lunatic, like he did, EVERYTHING will be hard. Especially in this country, where people love to yell at each other. It also seemed clear, that he has some serious anger problems, and no wonder that he was forced to retire from his stressful lawyer job because of heart problems. This totally freaked me out, because this guy is clearly unstable. Our other neighbor said that he would talk to the landlord--but I don't really know what that will do, because this guy is just a lunatic. Anyway, hopefully, he will move out soon-these apartments are short-term, so if he is making aliyah, he's probably not staying here forever.
Love,
Sarah
Love,
Sarah
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Yom HaZikaron
Last night we went to a ceremony in Rabin Square in remembrance of all of Israel's fallen soldiers. On the way there, at 8pm, there was a siren that was heard throughout the country, and on the street everyone stopped, the cars, the buses, the people walking. Many who were in their cars got out of the car and stood. It was as if the city held its breath for the one minute of the siren. It made me think about the difficulty of life here. That teenagers from every generation die, every generation. There is no break. By the time we got there, there were no chairs left--and thousands of people standing in the square. The program started 15 minutes late, and it was a mix of poems, songs (sung by Noa, Idan Raichel and some other famous Israeli artists) and videos which told the stories of soldiers who had died. They interviewed the families of these soldiers and it was incredibly emotional. The pain in the square was so palpable it was unbearable. The ceremony was a little over 2 hours long and after hearing so many horrific stories, and watching so many mothers crying over their children, I think I just shut down. My hebrew became non existant, and all I can think is that it was self-preservation. I really just couldn't take any more. All in all, it was definitely a worthwhile experience, albeit especially painful.
Tonight is the beginning of Yom HaAtzmaut, which is Israeli independence day. It is a total switch. The mourning ends and the celebration begins. Last night, I said to Yuval that I needed a day in between to get into the mood to celebrate. I can't imagine what it is like for people who today visit their loved ones grave and then tonight are expected to dance in the streets.
That is the big activity for the week. Oze is coming to stay with us tonight, along with one of the boys who he is hiking with; we are very excited for that! Tomorrow we will go to a bbq in the park.
It has been really hard to transition back into life here. I can't seem to find the patience to accept almost any difficulty. I am really trying hard to act like a normal person, but the lifestyle here is just so not for me. Anyway, I will keep trying.
Love,
Sarah
Tonight is the beginning of Yom HaAtzmaut, which is Israeli independence day. It is a total switch. The mourning ends and the celebration begins. Last night, I said to Yuval that I needed a day in between to get into the mood to celebrate. I can't imagine what it is like for people who today visit their loved ones grave and then tonight are expected to dance in the streets.
That is the big activity for the week. Oze is coming to stay with us tonight, along with one of the boys who he is hiking with; we are very excited for that! Tomorrow we will go to a bbq in the park.
It has been really hard to transition back into life here. I can't seem to find the patience to accept almost any difficulty. I am really trying hard to act like a normal person, but the lifestyle here is just so not for me. Anyway, I will keep trying.
Love,
Sarah
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Back.
We are back in Israel after a much needed and enjoyed trip home to the US. While we were home I had the chance to think about what this blog really is/should be and I realized that I have not been writing what I really want to write. So, this post is just a disclaimer. I am using this blog, not only as a way to keep everyone up to date with what we are doing here in Israel, but also as an online journal. I like the idea of having a record of how I really felt during this time, and so far I have really been censoring myself. I want to say that I do not mean to offend anyone by anything I write, and this disclaimer only applies to Sarah's posts. I knew that this experience would be difficult, but it is more difficult than I had originally imagined, and from now on, you will be hearing my honest and frank view of the world around me.
Sarah
Sarah
Monday, March 30, 2009
Jerusalem and Soccer
So, we have had an exciting week. On Wednesday we went and spent a wonderful day in Jerusalem. We woke up early and took a bus to the bus to Jerusalem. We started driving (it was 9am) and we were out of the bus station by 10 minutes and we were stuck in completely stopped traffic! Now, I thought, "well, this isn't good", but I assumed that it would only be part of the way to Jerusalem. Boy, was I wrong. There was terrible traffic the ENTIRE way. I'm not a fan of bus travel to begin with--but this was torture. We finally got there, and we had to be at the Kotel for our tour of the Tunnels at 10:35. We arrived at the bus station at 10:20, hopped into a cab and we made it to the Kotel in time. The tour was really interesting--both Yuval and I had done it before, but that didn't matter it was still great. The tour ends in the Muslim quarter, so we walked back with 2 guards, and I was happy to be back in the Kotel plaza. After this, we were hungry and looked for something to eat. We ended up in the Cardo, had some terrible pizza, and terrible falafel. Really the worst of both we have had in Israel. I did have a good ice cream though. We then made our way through the cardo and a shuk to the Jaffa gate where Midgal David (the tower of david) stands. It was a fort built in the 2nd century BCE. Inside there is a museum which explains the history of Jerusalem from biblical times to today. The museum is very well done and the citadel itself, impressive. We spent about 2.5 hours exploring the museum and then we went to meet my friend Hollie, from genesis. She is studying at a Yeshiva in a neighborhood called Katamon in Jerusalem, we took a cab to meet her. It was so much fun to talk with her after not seeing each other for a long time. After some more delicious ice cream, we took a cab back to Migdal David for the highlight of the night. We stopped for a little dinner, only Yuval ate, I was stuffed from my meals of ice cream..and then we went to Migdal David for an amazing light and sound show. They project a movie type thing onto the walls of the citadel, and the technology is amazing. It is difficult to explain, but if you have the chance to go, go! After the show, we were exhausted and went back to the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem to catch a bus back to Tel Aviv. This time it took barely 40 minutes.
We then spent the rest of the week in Tel Aviv, going to school, etc. Unfortunately, Yuval caught a cold, and has been fighting it, so we have been taking it easy. We went to Haifa for Shabbat, because it was Netta's birthday, and then after Shabbat was the event Yuval has been waiting for. The Israel-Greece World Cup Qualifying game. We had gotten tickets the previous week, bought Israel team jerseys and were ready to go to Ramat Gan to watch the game. After figuring out exactly how to get to the stadium on Shabbat when the buses do not run, we were there 2 hours early. Part of the reason we got there so early was that many cabs didn't want to drive us there because they thought it would be so congested. When we finally found a cab to take us, it was a mere 10 minute drive from the train station, no traffic at all. The best part of the game for me was the beginning when everyone was singing and cheering. After that, the game was pretty boring. The hardest part about Israel for me is dealing with the people here. It just seems like rudeness/meanness is the default behavior. At the game, the people in our section spent most of the time screaming at each other to sit down. Now, in my mind, these people paid money to go to a sporting event, which is supposed to be a fun activity, but they chose to spend it red in the face screaming at the people around them. It is hard for me to understand.
This weekend Yuval developed a cold, but he is getting better. We are beyond excited to come home, and will try to be better at blogging more often.
Love,
Sarah
We then spent the rest of the week in Tel Aviv, going to school, etc. Unfortunately, Yuval caught a cold, and has been fighting it, so we have been taking it easy. We went to Haifa for Shabbat, because it was Netta's birthday, and then after Shabbat was the event Yuval has been waiting for. The Israel-Greece World Cup Qualifying game. We had gotten tickets the previous week, bought Israel team jerseys and were ready to go to Ramat Gan to watch the game. After figuring out exactly how to get to the stadium on Shabbat when the buses do not run, we were there 2 hours early. Part of the reason we got there so early was that many cabs didn't want to drive us there because they thought it would be so congested. When we finally found a cab to take us, it was a mere 10 minute drive from the train station, no traffic at all. The best part of the game for me was the beginning when everyone was singing and cheering. After that, the game was pretty boring. The hardest part about Israel for me is dealing with the people here. It just seems like rudeness/meanness is the default behavior. At the game, the people in our section spent most of the time screaming at each other to sit down. Now, in my mind, these people paid money to go to a sporting event, which is supposed to be a fun activity, but they chose to spend it red in the face screaming at the people around them. It is hard for me to understand.
This weekend Yuval developed a cold, but he is getting better. We are beyond excited to come home, and will try to be better at blogging more often.
Love,
Sarah
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
רק בישראל
A lot has happened since my last post. I finally recovered completely from the worst ear infection EVER. A warning: try never to get an ear infection as an adult. It sucks. Now, that I am better, we have been venturing out of the house to do a little more Tel Aviv exploring. This past weekend was the first weekend we have stayed in Tel Aviv, and we had a visitor! Yuval's first cousin Ian! Ian is here on the Schecter Neshama program, and he came to us for his first free weekend. Now, Ian got here last Thursday around 5pm, Yuval had class so I went to pick him up at the train station. I took the bus there--because that is how we get around and waited. Yuval had spoken to one of the counselors in Hebrew a few days earlier, and the main rule seemed to be "don't take him to crowded places." Now, we were unsure how to interpret this rule, especially regarding taking the bus. So, I went to pick Ian up unclear on how we would get home. I got there early and waited until he called, at first I was running around the parking lot trying to find where they were, and after 10 minutes of looking like a crazy American, I found him. He was with a group of Schecter kids, and a counselor who looked about my age. She looked at me and handed me a paper which was completely in hebrew and told me to give it to my parents! She then told me she had to watch us get into a cab and drive away, and that is what we did. I showed Ian around our neighborhood--we walked along the tayelet, and met Yuval for dinner, at a cafe around the corner from our apartment that has the best hamburgers ever.
The next day we took Ian to the shuk and the artists fair on Nachalat Binyamin, and I got a pair of earrings that I have been pining over for the last 3 weeks. March Madness began that night, so we spent the evening watching the basketball and having a n extremely mediocre shabbat dinner. We are going to have to practice a little more working with our little toaster/convection oven.
Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day, so we went to the beach. We met up with two kids from Yuval's school, (ben from brandeis and david from canada), we had a really nice time. The beach was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, it was a great day.
Sunday morning, we got into a cab to take Ian back to his group, and me to Ulpan. This was the first Ulpan class that I was bored in. Sometimes in classes, activities work and sometimes they don't, this time the activities the teacher prepared just didn't work. As I continue with the ulpan there are things that are very frustrating. The first is that there are a number of people in the class who seem to not care at all. This is confusing to me, because they are all paying out of pocket for this class, and if they don't want to be there, then what are they doing?? The other issue is that there are numerous Russian women in the class, who have been in Israel for a number of years, and they also seem afraid to participate. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if most of the class didn't revolve around group work. But, it does. So, its frustrating when I do the work and then the people I am paired up with expect me to do their work also.
Yesterday was a very interesting day. We woke up and went out to buy tickets to the Israel-Greece Soccer game this weekend. Yuval is extremely excited about this...I'm sure it will be fun. We then had to go fix Yuval's phone. Now, Yuval thought he knew where it was. He didn't. We ended up walking 439457469843740 miles until finally finding it. I was cranky from that.
Anyway, this was much longer than I expected. We are very very very very excited to be coming home next week!!
Love,
Sarah
ps. I wanted to tell everyone how grateful I am to Yuval for cleaning the floors in our apartment for me whenever I ask.
The next day we took Ian to the shuk and the artists fair on Nachalat Binyamin, and I got a pair of earrings that I have been pining over for the last 3 weeks. March Madness began that night, so we spent the evening watching the basketball and having a n extremely mediocre shabbat dinner. We are going to have to practice a little more working with our little toaster/convection oven.
Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day, so we went to the beach. We met up with two kids from Yuval's school, (ben from brandeis and david from canada), we had a really nice time. The beach was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, it was a great day.
Sunday morning, we got into a cab to take Ian back to his group, and me to Ulpan. This was the first Ulpan class that I was bored in. Sometimes in classes, activities work and sometimes they don't, this time the activities the teacher prepared just didn't work. As I continue with the ulpan there are things that are very frustrating. The first is that there are a number of people in the class who seem to not care at all. This is confusing to me, because they are all paying out of pocket for this class, and if they don't want to be there, then what are they doing?? The other issue is that there are numerous Russian women in the class, who have been in Israel for a number of years, and they also seem afraid to participate. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if most of the class didn't revolve around group work. But, it does. So, its frustrating when I do the work and then the people I am paired up with expect me to do their work also.
Yesterday was a very interesting day. We woke up and went out to buy tickets to the Israel-Greece Soccer game this weekend. Yuval is extremely excited about this...I'm sure it will be fun. We then had to go fix Yuval's phone. Now, Yuval thought he knew where it was. He didn't. We ended up walking 439457469843740 miles until finally finding it. I was cranky from that.
Anyway, this was much longer than I expected. We are very very very very excited to be coming home next week!!
Love,
Sarah
ps. I wanted to tell everyone how grateful I am to Yuval for cleaning the floors in our apartment for me whenever I ask.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Going to the bank, and other fun information
So, it has been a while since my last post. The good news, is that I am still in 1st place in our NBA fantasy basketball. Secondly, it is great to report that Sarah is in the 99th percentile in her fantasy basketball March Madness college basketball bracket.
So, let's get down to business and talk about the high tech in dustry of personal banking. Let me tell you, when your grandmother said that it was better to put all your money under your matress, she was right. Especially, if your grandmother lives/lived in Israel.
Opening an account. This takes a little over a week (or 168 hours). I don't mean to get the cards, and for the account to be active. I mean to open an account. Well, actually it only takes 144 hours (6 days, 24 hours a day) because just like God, the banks don't work on Saturday. Well, truth be told, it really only takes
because the bank is only open 29 hours per week (see schedule below).
Sunday: 8:30 - 2:00
Monday: 8:30 - 1:45 and 4:00 - 5:00
Tuesday: 8:30 - 2:00
Wednesday: 8:30 - 2:00
Thursday: 8:30 - 1:45 and 4:00 - 5:00
Friday: Closed
Saturday: Closed
Please notice that if you have a full-time job (Sunday-Thursday), you can't have a bank account. You might not want one anyway, because the bank charges you for everything.
So, we started the process of opening an account. I think we wrote a little about this earlier. You have to sign about 2,000 peices of paper. After that, the lady says, "so you will have one card". We then said, that we would need two cards. The bank charges you per debit card which you need. Then we neede to transfer money into the bank account. In case you didn't see it coming, they charge you for the wiring INTO a non-interest bearing savings account. But 5 days later, we had debit cards with our Hebrew names on them.
However, I had cash which I wanted to deposit into my account. Every time that you use the teller, they charge you 6 Shekels($1.50). If you use the ATM, they charge you 1.3 Shekel ($.35). So, to deposit my own money into my account, they charged me. This is not even the fun part yet.
The money that was wired into the account was in dollars. However, I needed to have it in Shekels. So, one day while walking around the city, we went into another branch of our bank and asked to withdraw dollars. They said that we had to go to OUR ORIGINAL bank in order to sign a paper which would allow us to withdraw from our foreign currency account. I went to our branch, and they said that there was no such form. So, I asked to take out dollars. They said that I could do so, but that they did not have dollars at this branch. So I took the bus to another branch to withdraw dollars. As I spoke to the teller, I realized that I was going to be charged for using him. However, I did not think that I was going to be charged for taking out dollars (money which was wired into the account for a fee). Why would I pay a fee twice? Wow! Am I naive!?! Then I had to take that money to a change place and exchange it for Shekels and then deposit it at my bank (at the machine for a charge of only 1.3 Shekels. The nice lady who originally sent me on this mission which took 3.5 hours, helped me deposit at the ATM. As we were doing so, she asked "So, what are you doing here in Israel"? "I am a student" I said. She then told me that I should show them my student ID so that I don't have any transaction fees. Trying very hard not to punch her, I just smiled and said thank you.
As PopPop says "To make a long story short", DO put all your eggs in one basket, and keep the basket away from the bank.
Getting a student bank account.
So I showed them my student ID. It has a student ID number on it which is supposed to correspond to my teudat zehut (Israeli ID number). Of course, when I sent in my paperwork to Tel Aviv University, they decided to disregard the Israeli passport with my real ISraeli ID number. So, they randomly assigned me a number, which is not good, because the two ID's don't match and cannot be used to create a "student" account at the bank.
I emailed the program leader, and she said she would have my number changed. She didn't tell me which number she would change it to, or the corresponding password. The password is important, becasue you use the same ID number to log into the Tel Aviv University website, where the professors load all the readings. Too bad I can't currently do them.
I can't remember if I wrote about the professors:
Professor 1, Class 1) He told us he was lonely and didn't like grading papers. Oh yeah, he is lonely because he is single.
Professor 2, Class 1) Showed up 15 minutes late and said "how come you are all sitting here so early? Doesn't this class start at 5:30?" He also started off by telling us that it was the first class he had ever taught. Also, can't really speak English well. The class is about strategy. He interchanges vision, goal and strategy. Oops!
Professor 3, Class 1) He is professional and very knowledgeable. I love him!
Professor 1, Class 2) His phone goes off in the middle of class, and instead of just muting it, he checks to see who is calling.
So far, we are 1 for 3 in classes. However, the Mergers and Acquisitions class is truly one of the best I have taken in my two years at IBS.
Since this is a long one, I will follow it up with some more information about Ian's visit and other things tomorrow or int he next few days.
So, let's get down to business and talk about the high tech in dustry of personal banking. Let me tell you, when your grandmother said that it was better to put all your money under your matress, she was right. Especially, if your grandmother lives/lived in Israel.
Opening an account. This takes a little over a week (or 168 hours). I don't mean to get the cards, and for the account to be active. I mean to open an account. Well, actually it only takes 144 hours (6 days, 24 hours a day) because just like God, the banks don't work on Saturday. Well, truth be told, it really only takes
because the bank is only open 29 hours per week (see schedule below).
Sunday: 8:30 - 2:00
Monday: 8:30 - 1:45 and 4:00 - 5:00
Tuesday: 8:30 - 2:00
Wednesday: 8:30 - 2:00
Thursday: 8:30 - 1:45 and 4:00 - 5:00
Friday: Closed
Saturday: Closed
Please notice that if you have a full-time job (Sunday-Thursday), you can't have a bank account. You might not want one anyway, because the bank charges you for everything.
So, we started the process of opening an account. I think we wrote a little about this earlier. You have to sign about 2,000 peices of paper. After that, the lady says, "so you will have one card". We then said, that we would need two cards. The bank charges you per debit card which you need. Then we neede to transfer money into the bank account. In case you didn't see it coming, they charge you for the wiring INTO a non-interest bearing savings account. But 5 days later, we had debit cards with our Hebrew names on them.
However, I had cash which I wanted to deposit into my account. Every time that you use the teller, they charge you 6 Shekels($1.50). If you use the ATM, they charge you 1.3 Shekel ($.35). So, to deposit my own money into my account, they charged me. This is not even the fun part yet.
The money that was wired into the account was in dollars. However, I needed to have it in Shekels. So, one day while walking around the city, we went into another branch of our bank and asked to withdraw dollars. They said that we had to go to OUR ORIGINAL bank in order to sign a paper which would allow us to withdraw from our foreign currency account. I went to our branch, and they said that there was no such form. So, I asked to take out dollars. They said that I could do so, but that they did not have dollars at this branch. So I took the bus to another branch to withdraw dollars. As I spoke to the teller, I realized that I was going to be charged for using him. However, I did not think that I was going to be charged for taking out dollars (money which was wired into the account for a fee). Why would I pay a fee twice? Wow! Am I naive!?! Then I had to take that money to a change place and exchange it for Shekels and then deposit it at my bank (at the machine for a charge of only 1.3 Shekels. The nice lady who originally sent me on this mission which took 3.5 hours, helped me deposit at the ATM. As we were doing so, she asked "So, what are you doing here in Israel"? "I am a student" I said. She then told me that I should show them my student ID so that I don't have any transaction fees. Trying very hard not to punch her, I just smiled and said thank you.
As PopPop says "To make a long story short", DO put all your eggs in one basket, and keep the basket away from the bank.
Getting a student bank account.
So I showed them my student ID. It has a student ID number on it which is supposed to correspond to my teudat zehut (Israeli ID number). Of course, when I sent in my paperwork to Tel Aviv University, they decided to disregard the Israeli passport with my real ISraeli ID number. So, they randomly assigned me a number, which is not good, because the two ID's don't match and cannot be used to create a "student" account at the bank.
I emailed the program leader, and she said she would have my number changed. She didn't tell me which number she would change it to, or the corresponding password. The password is important, becasue you use the same ID number to log into the Tel Aviv University website, where the professors load all the readings. Too bad I can't currently do them.
I can't remember if I wrote about the professors:
Professor 1, Class 1) He told us he was lonely and didn't like grading papers. Oh yeah, he is lonely because he is single.
Professor 2, Class 1) Showed up 15 minutes late and said "how come you are all sitting here so early? Doesn't this class start at 5:30?" He also started off by telling us that it was the first class he had ever taught. Also, can't really speak English well. The class is about strategy. He interchanges vision, goal and strategy. Oops!
Professor 3, Class 1) He is professional and very knowledgeable. I love him!
Professor 1, Class 2) His phone goes off in the middle of class, and instead of just muting it, he checks to see who is calling.
So far, we are 1 for 3 in classes. However, the Mergers and Acquisitions class is truly one of the best I have taken in my two years at IBS.
Since this is a long one, I will follow it up with some more information about Ian's visit and other things tomorrow or int he next few days.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Hopefully the end of the ear infection
So, it has been a week since we went to the doctor and my ear infection proceeded to get worse, not better. My dad made some calls and found us a private ear, nose and throat doctor we could go to here. Since healthcare is universal here, it is difficult to get care if we do not have Israeli insurance. And as we found out later, the clinic that we went to last week usually does more harm than good.
We were able to get an appointment with the doctor on Friday afternoon (which is rare in Israel, since the weekend is Friday and Saturday). Her office was in an apartment building and when we got there, we realized that her office WAS her apartment. She took us into a room with a desk, a doctors bed, and some kind of machine that was covered with a sheet. I told her what the other doctor said and did, and told her that I had gotten worse, and I thought that I had a sinus infection. She then whipped the sheet off the machine in the room and it was a large stainless steel suction machine! On top, she had many glass bottles, which was reminded me of an apothecary from the middle ages. She then looked into my ear, and said she couldn't see, so she started to suction out my ear. I thought she was suctioning out my brain! She then said I had a definite ear infection and that the doctor who I saw last week probably made the infection worse. She then put a piece of cotton on a stainless steel skewer and put it into my sinus! She then let go of the metal and it stayed there, like sticking straight out of my nose! We wish we would have taken a camera to the doctor. Anyway, she said I didn't have a sinus infection, but very bad allergies, which is not surprising because the dust here is unbearable. As much as I try to sweep and mop and clean, the dust is everywhere. The doctor gave me an antibiotic, more ear drops and an antihistamine. So far, 24 hours later, nothing has changed, but I'm hoping tomorrow morning I will wake up better! I hope this is the last post about our adventures with the Israeli medical system.
Sarah
ps. Oze is beginning his hike from Eilat all the way up to the north of the country tomorrow, GO OZE!!
We were able to get an appointment with the doctor on Friday afternoon (which is rare in Israel, since the weekend is Friday and Saturday). Her office was in an apartment building and when we got there, we realized that her office WAS her apartment. She took us into a room with a desk, a doctors bed, and some kind of machine that was covered with a sheet. I told her what the other doctor said and did, and told her that I had gotten worse, and I thought that I had a sinus infection. She then whipped the sheet off the machine in the room and it was a large stainless steel suction machine! On top, she had many glass bottles, which was reminded me of an apothecary from the middle ages. She then looked into my ear, and said she couldn't see, so she started to suction out my ear. I thought she was suctioning out my brain! She then said I had a definite ear infection and that the doctor who I saw last week probably made the infection worse. She then put a piece of cotton on a stainless steel skewer and put it into my sinus! She then let go of the metal and it stayed there, like sticking straight out of my nose! We wish we would have taken a camera to the doctor. Anyway, she said I didn't have a sinus infection, but very bad allergies, which is not surprising because the dust here is unbearable. As much as I try to sweep and mop and clean, the dust is everywhere. The doctor gave me an antibiotic, more ear drops and an antihistamine. So far, 24 hours later, nothing has changed, but I'm hoping tomorrow morning I will wake up better! I hope this is the last post about our adventures with the Israeli medical system.
Sarah
ps. Oze is beginning his hike from Eilat all the way up to the north of the country tomorrow, GO OZE!!
Monday, March 9, 2009
An ear infection and a burn
This weekend, the weather was much nicer, so we ventured to Haifa again. We were hoping this time that we would be able to leave the house! We did, we went to a lovely Shabbat dinner at Savta's house and acquired some purim costumes. The next day we went on a hike with Niva and Savta. I (Sarah) had been having some pain in my ears, and one of them was pretty much clogged. As we were hiking, my ears started to get worse, and I started to feel sick. We went home, and tried to figure out how to go to the doctor without an Israeli ID number, and israeli insurance. In Tel Aviv (and all around the country) they have these clinics that are open only at night and on Shabbat, when regular doctors are not open (and it isn't an emergency). So, we came back on the train from Haifa and went straight to the doctor's office.
I'm finding that there seem to be things in this country that are difficult just for the sake of being difficult. This seemed like an odd strategy in a doctor's office. Anyway, we were told to go to room number 1. So, we walked back to the area where the rooms were and we see, Nurses room, room 2, 3, 4. Now, we don't want to look like stupid Americans but, there was no room number 1! We go into the nurse, and she takes my temperature, and Yuval asks if we could speak in English. The nurse says of course, and goes to write down stuff. She looks up at Yuval and barks, "Why would you think I didn't speak english?" She was offended at the question. Now, my thinking is, well we asked to speak in English because that is not the language that most people speak in this country...but she was offended by the request. She did speak to us in English though.
We then waited about 15 minutes and we went in to see the doctor. Again, we asked if we could speak in English. This time, he said no, only Russian. So, we stuck with Hebrew. The doctor looked into my ears and stuck a Q-tip pretty much all the way into my brain. It hurt like crazy. He told us that I had a viral infection in my ears and it maybe had something to do with something in my throat (we didn't really understand that part). He gave me some antibiotic/anti-inflammatory drops to put into my ears. It really hurts when we put in the drops. I am feeling a little better 2 days later.
Now, we come home after the adventure at the doctors and I pour myself a cup of tea. As I pick up the mug, it explodes in my hand and scalding hot water pours onto my feet. I was wearing socks and the hot water burned my foot through my socks. Now, my ears didn't hurt so much!
Yuval cleaned up the mess, but cream on my burn and we went to sleep. It was an eventful day.
Now, we are back in Tel Aviv, looking forward to going to a Purim parade in Holon tomorrow.
We love and miss you!
Sarah
I'm finding that there seem to be things in this country that are difficult just for the sake of being difficult. This seemed like an odd strategy in a doctor's office. Anyway, we were told to go to room number 1. So, we walked back to the area where the rooms were and we see, Nurses room, room 2, 3, 4. Now, we don't want to look like stupid Americans but, there was no room number 1! We go into the nurse, and she takes my temperature, and Yuval asks if we could speak in English. The nurse says of course, and goes to write down stuff. She looks up at Yuval and barks, "Why would you think I didn't speak english?" She was offended at the question. Now, my thinking is, well we asked to speak in English because that is not the language that most people speak in this country...but she was offended by the request. She did speak to us in English though.
We then waited about 15 minutes and we went in to see the doctor. Again, we asked if we could speak in English. This time, he said no, only Russian. So, we stuck with Hebrew. The doctor looked into my ears and stuck a Q-tip pretty much all the way into my brain. It hurt like crazy. He told us that I had a viral infection in my ears and it maybe had something to do with something in my throat (we didn't really understand that part). He gave me some antibiotic/anti-inflammatory drops to put into my ears. It really hurts when we put in the drops. I am feeling a little better 2 days later.
Now, we come home after the adventure at the doctors and I pour myself a cup of tea. As I pick up the mug, it explodes in my hand and scalding hot water pours onto my feet. I was wearing socks and the hot water burned my foot through my socks. Now, my ears didn't hurt so much!
Yuval cleaned up the mess, but cream on my burn and we went to sleep. It was an eventful day.
Now, we are back in Tel Aviv, looking forward to going to a Purim parade in Holon tomorrow.
We love and miss you!
Sarah
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Ulpan starts, and some other surprises
Sarah’s first day of ulpan
So, she went and could not pay, because everything in Israel takes forever, and we still don’t have a bank account. However, we do have some charges to the account, but since Israel’s high tech banking system has not learned to have an online banking website in English…We hope to figure this out in the next two days. Also, banks close at 2:00. We found this out when we got to the bank at 2:03 today. But Sarah has a great teacher, probably because Safta called to inquire about the teacher. Also, she has made two friends there as well. More on this topic to follow.
Friendly remarks from the dean
We met the dean of our faculty. He has about as much personality as driftwood. He looked as full of happiness addressing us as Sarah looks after I drink this amazing Israeli chocolate milk. He said things like “it is great to have you here” and “we are so excited to have you in our country”, but he looked like Pat Riley coaching the Knicks during his postgame interviews with reporters.
We now have clean floors
In terms of the floors, everything is under control. We are now cleaning experts, and Sarah has cleared the stones out of our water heater.
Thunder and lightning and rain
As god promised to Noah, never to again flood the Earth. She lied. God has been causing rain throughout this country for an endless period (which finally ended today). I actually had to buy an umbrella a few days ago, because it was pouring. In Haifa, we had to stay indoors the whole weekend because of the Mabul (flood from Noah’s time). We hope that this weekend will be much sunnier. We want to go folk-dancing. However, I did show Niva how to use the Cutco knives. Wa-wa-wee-wa! She exclaimed. Safta sent us home with food as usual, and we have yet to cook hot food for ourselves.
Pot shower
Good news. Our shower is completely unclogged. Bad news is…This might have been the most exciting part of our trip so far. We arrived back from Haifa on Saturday night to find our hot water to be non-existent. I called David, our landlord who said he would check it out. By the next day, I was checking the gas tanks, which he said he would replace the following day. But after being replaced on Monday, that was not the problem. So Tuesday came around bringing more rain, and very oily hair. For me, it was not really a problem. I don’t have much hair. But for Sarah, it was. When she took her hairband out, her hair stayed in a ponytail. So we decided to shower anyway. We were inspired from Marisa telling of her travels to Africa. We had no hot water. We did have a koomkoom (hot water heater). So, here is how we showered. I ran to heat water in the koomkoom, then put it in a large pot in the bathroom. Ran back to fill the koomkoom up with more water. Ran back to the bathroom to add some cold water to the boiling water in the pot. Then I took a smaller pot, dipped it into the larger pot and put water in it, which I put on Sarah’s hair. Then as Sarah put shampoo in her hair, I ran to get the new hot water. Then I poured it into the larger pot and then added cold water, but not before running back to refill the koomkoom and start warming it. Then I added more cold water to the pot and then scooped some more up into the smaller pot in order to help get the shampoo out of her hair. It is as easy as cleaning the floor…(see second entry) .And this is how we showered that night The next day, the hot water was fixed just in time for Oze to arrive.
Oze comes to Israel
Oze here, excited about the opportunity to contribute to this blog, one of the greatest sites to hit the internet since Google. Meteorologist Bowen had predicted that my chances of flying out of JFK on Sunday night were about 50-50. Though the plane was late arriving because of the weather and icy stuff was coming down, Delta decided to board all the passengers and keep us there as hostages with no food for 4 hours. After 2 hours or so, 2 passengers started expressing their disappointment rather loudly and were politely asked to leave the plane by half a dozen security guards. They had the last laugh however, as when we were finally released from the plane and the flight was officially delayed at 3:15am, they greeted us warmly in the terminal with cups of duty-free whiskey in their hands.
So we slept Sunday “night” on the floor of JFK (“night” = 4:30-6am). Around 6am they made an announcement urged passengers to organize a minyan if they wanted, as we would be boarding shortly for our “7am” flight. The 7am flight was delayed to 7:30, then 8 then 8:30, then they made an announcement that they were waiting for one of the pilots who was an hour and a half away, then they announced that the airport would be closed until noon, then they said it was unlikely the weather would clear up before 6pm, then at 11am they told everyone to stand up and prepare for boarding. We boarded the plane around noon, spent 10 minutes rocking back and forth as the plane pusher truck tried to push us backwards but kept slipping in the snow, spent a half hour being sprayed with some chemical that was supposed to take all the ice off the plane, taxied into the incredibly long line waiting for the runway, taxied out of line because the pilot announced that we hadn’t yet received permission to enter the airspace of some of the countries we would be flying over, taxied back into line because there was a near mutiny on board with so many people cursing the airline company over its inability to not only provide food for any of its stranded passengers but also to fill out the simple paperwork needed to fly an international flight, and finally took off somewhere around 2:45 pm on Monday. Once we landed 10 hours later, the captain thanked us for flying Delta and hoped that they would see us again soon, to which several dozen people audibly replied “LO!” But all’s well that ends well. I made it to Yuval and Sarah’s, slept a good 13 hours last night and am starting to resemble a person again. They’re too good to me these two, I’d be in pretty bad shape without them.
Visiting in Haifa
It rained like Boston. Boston Sucks! Let’s go Yankees!
Laundry is delivered, like the Jewish people
Not much else to say about this. Only that like our people before us, laundry was delivered (no pun).
So, she went and could not pay, because everything in Israel takes forever, and we still don’t have a bank account. However, we do have some charges to the account, but since Israel’s high tech banking system has not learned to have an online banking website in English…We hope to figure this out in the next two days. Also, banks close at 2:00. We found this out when we got to the bank at 2:03 today. But Sarah has a great teacher, probably because Safta called to inquire about the teacher. Also, she has made two friends there as well. More on this topic to follow.
Friendly remarks from the dean
We met the dean of our faculty. He has about as much personality as driftwood. He looked as full of happiness addressing us as Sarah looks after I drink this amazing Israeli chocolate milk. He said things like “it is great to have you here” and “we are so excited to have you in our country”, but he looked like Pat Riley coaching the Knicks during his postgame interviews with reporters.
We now have clean floors
In terms of the floors, everything is under control. We are now cleaning experts, and Sarah has cleared the stones out of our water heater.
Thunder and lightning and rain
As god promised to Noah, never to again flood the Earth. She lied. God has been causing rain throughout this country for an endless period (which finally ended today). I actually had to buy an umbrella a few days ago, because it was pouring. In Haifa, we had to stay indoors the whole weekend because of the Mabul (flood from Noah’s time). We hope that this weekend will be much sunnier. We want to go folk-dancing. However, I did show Niva how to use the Cutco knives. Wa-wa-wee-wa! She exclaimed. Safta sent us home with food as usual, and we have yet to cook hot food for ourselves.
Pot shower
Good news. Our shower is completely unclogged. Bad news is…This might have been the most exciting part of our trip so far. We arrived back from Haifa on Saturday night to find our hot water to be non-existent. I called David, our landlord who said he would check it out. By the next day, I was checking the gas tanks, which he said he would replace the following day. But after being replaced on Monday, that was not the problem. So Tuesday came around bringing more rain, and very oily hair. For me, it was not really a problem. I don’t have much hair. But for Sarah, it was. When she took her hairband out, her hair stayed in a ponytail. So we decided to shower anyway. We were inspired from Marisa telling of her travels to Africa. We had no hot water. We did have a koomkoom (hot water heater). So, here is how we showered. I ran to heat water in the koomkoom, then put it in a large pot in the bathroom. Ran back to fill the koomkoom up with more water. Ran back to the bathroom to add some cold water to the boiling water in the pot. Then I took a smaller pot, dipped it into the larger pot and put water in it, which I put on Sarah’s hair. Then as Sarah put shampoo in her hair, I ran to get the new hot water. Then I poured it into the larger pot and then added cold water, but not before running back to refill the koomkoom and start warming it. Then I added more cold water to the pot and then scooped some more up into the smaller pot in order to help get the shampoo out of her hair. It is as easy as cleaning the floor…(see second entry) .And this is how we showered that night The next day, the hot water was fixed just in time for Oze to arrive.
Oze comes to Israel
Oze here, excited about the opportunity to contribute to this blog, one of the greatest sites to hit the internet since Google. Meteorologist Bowen had predicted that my chances of flying out of JFK on Sunday night were about 50-50. Though the plane was late arriving because of the weather and icy stuff was coming down, Delta decided to board all the passengers and keep us there as hostages with no food for 4 hours. After 2 hours or so, 2 passengers started expressing their disappointment rather loudly and were politely asked to leave the plane by half a dozen security guards. They had the last laugh however, as when we were finally released from the plane and the flight was officially delayed at 3:15am, they greeted us warmly in the terminal with cups of duty-free whiskey in their hands.
So we slept Sunday “night” on the floor of JFK (“night” = 4:30-6am). Around 6am they made an announcement urged passengers to organize a minyan if they wanted, as we would be boarding shortly for our “7am” flight. The 7am flight was delayed to 7:30, then 8 then 8:30, then they made an announcement that they were waiting for one of the pilots who was an hour and a half away, then they announced that the airport would be closed until noon, then they said it was unlikely the weather would clear up before 6pm, then at 11am they told everyone to stand up and prepare for boarding. We boarded the plane around noon, spent 10 minutes rocking back and forth as the plane pusher truck tried to push us backwards but kept slipping in the snow, spent a half hour being sprayed with some chemical that was supposed to take all the ice off the plane, taxied into the incredibly long line waiting for the runway, taxied out of line because the pilot announced that we hadn’t yet received permission to enter the airspace of some of the countries we would be flying over, taxied back into line because there was a near mutiny on board with so many people cursing the airline company over its inability to not only provide food for any of its stranded passengers but also to fill out the simple paperwork needed to fly an international flight, and finally took off somewhere around 2:45 pm on Monday. Once we landed 10 hours later, the captain thanked us for flying Delta and hoped that they would see us again soon, to which several dozen people audibly replied “LO!” But all’s well that ends well. I made it to Yuval and Sarah’s, slept a good 13 hours last night and am starting to resemble a person again. They’re too good to me these two, I’d be in pretty bad shape without them.
Visiting in Haifa
It rained like Boston. Boston Sucks! Let’s go Yankees!
Laundry is delivered, like the Jewish people
Not much else to say about this. Only that like our people before us, laundry was delivered (no pun).
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Getting used to the land
So, this is my(Yuval) first time blogging. We are still getting used to the culture, noise, lack of savlanoot and other things. But what makes us smile is even more interesting.
A few nights ago, we went to have dinner at a pargiyot restaurant, because we love the taste of baby chickens. Anyway, the owner was a Sephardic Jew who happily showed us to our table. After getting our various salads, two Asian guys sat at the table next to us. This was clearly their first time in Israel. The owner was trying to take their orders for salads, but the guys did not speak English very well, and frankly, neither did the owner. As he struggled to put together sentences in English for them, he inserted some choice phrases in Arabic as well. Anyway, he brought them out some salads and two big lafot. One guy took the lafa, which was about 12 inches in diameter folded it in half twice and stuck his fork through the middle. He then proceeded to eat it for the next few minutes. It was truly amazing. It made Sarah and I think about the commercial where Dywane Wade and Charles Barkley eat live sea creatures in China. Yao Ming tells them to bite off the head as they squirm in their plates.
We have walked around the city quite a few times. I would say we spent about 20 hours so far looking around the city. There are more nail places in Tel Aviv than in Caldwell. We have had falafel three times so far.
We also spend a significant amount of the day at the supermarket and ACE (hardware). Luckily each of those places are less than 1o minutes away from the house, so that trips are short and sweet.
We also learned how to clean the apartment. It is much harder than it sounds. There are no carpets. you have to use a cloth that you dip in water which has chemicals, but don't put it all the way at the bottom of the pail, because it will get the dirt that you just took of the floor on it, and then you can't put it back on the floor which has all the dust on it. But the cloth keeps falling off of the squeegie thing, and the squieegie works well if you put the water on the floor and clean. But it is hard to do the corners. Then you have to use another cloth to absorb the water from the floor and dispose some of water in the toilet and some outside. Then you have to squeeze dry the cloth, but be careful not to do it against the grain of the cloth, otherwise it rips. Then you ahve to hang it to dry, but everything outside is dusty so you hang it inside, but it is dirty so you want to keep it off everything. So you turn the squeegie upside down and hang it on that, but it has to be in the sun. Other than that, it is quite simple though.
Also, hot water heaters somehow get small stones in it. So, you have to let the hot water heater sit with vinegar in it once a month. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you have to clean the house with the squeegie once every few days. Lots of fun.
We went to see Tel Aviv University. It is much bigger and more beautiful than we imagined. The bus stop is about 5 minutes from our apartment, and it takes about 10-15 minutes to get from that stop to the University entrance. We hop on the 24 or 25 Dan bus, and within minutes we are at school. It is very strange, but the University prohibits students from taking their bags into the library. Not sure why. We thought it might be so that students don't steal books on their way out. Why don't they just invest in that sensor like they have in every US library and shopping store? Eyfo HaHigh Tech?!?
We opened our bank account, and one guy standing on the line actually let us pass him on the line. That is mucho Savlanoot que ask anachnu.
I also went to the supermarket today. I had to buy vanilla. That was quite a challenge considering I had no idea where to look. Also, I got on a line which was the longest line in the history of supermarkets in Israel. An old lady standing in back of me asked me if the lady immediately in back of me could go ahead of me because she was wearing her baby. I let her go in front of me. Afterall, she had only three things, and since I saw that candid camera thing on TV I am scared. Also, I didn't mind waiting another 3 minutes. Anyway, the point is that the old lady was now in back of me. She had two things of jam, and it looked like she had a hard time walking. As I was about to offer her to go ahead of me, she said "I am behind you". I said "OK". She left the two things of jam in the cart in back of me, and then went to find other things she was looking for. She got milk and bread and came back. Then she went and got rice, eggs and came back and then went to get tomatoes. In the meantime, another lady in her mid-30's got on line actually in back of me. She was on her phone. When the old lady got back to the line, now with 20 items, and said "I was in back of him" the younger lady just let her go. WOW. As they say in Israel, "Rak BeYisrael" only in Israel.
I would also like to report (because Sarah told me to) that our shower is doing much better. We are about to go tto take the bus to the train station to go to Haifa for the weekend.
A few nights ago, we went to have dinner at a pargiyot restaurant, because we love the taste of baby chickens. Anyway, the owner was a Sephardic Jew who happily showed us to our table. After getting our various salads, two Asian guys sat at the table next to us. This was clearly their first time in Israel. The owner was trying to take their orders for salads, but the guys did not speak English very well, and frankly, neither did the owner. As he struggled to put together sentences in English for them, he inserted some choice phrases in Arabic as well. Anyway, he brought them out some salads and two big lafot. One guy took the lafa, which was about 12 inches in diameter folded it in half twice and stuck his fork through the middle. He then proceeded to eat it for the next few minutes. It was truly amazing. It made Sarah and I think about the commercial where Dywane Wade and Charles Barkley eat live sea creatures in China. Yao Ming tells them to bite off the head as they squirm in their plates.
We have walked around the city quite a few times. I would say we spent about 20 hours so far looking around the city. There are more nail places in Tel Aviv than in Caldwell. We have had falafel three times so far.
We also spend a significant amount of the day at the supermarket and ACE (hardware). Luckily each of those places are less than 1o minutes away from the house, so that trips are short and sweet.
We also learned how to clean the apartment. It is much harder than it sounds. There are no carpets. you have to use a cloth that you dip in water which has chemicals, but don't put it all the way at the bottom of the pail, because it will get the dirt that you just took of the floor on it, and then you can't put it back on the floor which has all the dust on it. But the cloth keeps falling off of the squeegie thing, and the squieegie works well if you put the water on the floor and clean. But it is hard to do the corners. Then you have to use another cloth to absorb the water from the floor and dispose some of water in the toilet and some outside. Then you have to squeeze dry the cloth, but be careful not to do it against the grain of the cloth, otherwise it rips. Then you ahve to hang it to dry, but everything outside is dusty so you hang it inside, but it is dirty so you want to keep it off everything. So you turn the squeegie upside down and hang it on that, but it has to be in the sun. Other than that, it is quite simple though.
Also, hot water heaters somehow get small stones in it. So, you have to let the hot water heater sit with vinegar in it once a month. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you have to clean the house with the squeegie once every few days. Lots of fun.
We went to see Tel Aviv University. It is much bigger and more beautiful than we imagined. The bus stop is about 5 minutes from our apartment, and it takes about 10-15 minutes to get from that stop to the University entrance. We hop on the 24 or 25 Dan bus, and within minutes we are at school. It is very strange, but the University prohibits students from taking their bags into the library. Not sure why. We thought it might be so that students don't steal books on their way out. Why don't they just invest in that sensor like they have in every US library and shopping store? Eyfo HaHigh Tech?!?
We opened our bank account, and one guy standing on the line actually let us pass him on the line. That is mucho Savlanoot que ask anachnu.
I also went to the supermarket today. I had to buy vanilla. That was quite a challenge considering I had no idea where to look. Also, I got on a line which was the longest line in the history of supermarkets in Israel. An old lady standing in back of me asked me if the lady immediately in back of me could go ahead of me because she was wearing her baby. I let her go in front of me. Afterall, she had only three things, and since I saw that candid camera thing on TV I am scared. Also, I didn't mind waiting another 3 minutes. Anyway, the point is that the old lady was now in back of me. She had two things of jam, and it looked like she had a hard time walking. As I was about to offer her to go ahead of me, she said "I am behind you". I said "OK". She left the two things of jam in the cart in back of me, and then went to find other things she was looking for. She got milk and bread and came back. Then she went and got rice, eggs and came back and then went to get tomatoes. In the meantime, another lady in her mid-30's got on line actually in back of me. She was on her phone. When the old lady got back to the line, now with 20 items, and said "I was in back of him" the younger lady just let her go. WOW. As they say in Israel, "Rak BeYisrael" only in Israel.
I would also like to report (because Sarah told me to) that our shower is doing much better. We are about to go tto take the bus to the train station to go to Haifa for the weekend.
Monday, February 23, 2009
A New Beginning
Shalom from Tel Aviv! We have decided to start a blog, so that we could share all of our adventures with you.
Leaving the US was bittersweet for both of us. We were excited to come on this new adventure, but also very sad to be leaving our families. We arrived at the airport and were greeted by Savta, Niva, Eytan and Tamar. It was very reassuring to see friendly, familiar faces. Our apartment is at 80 Nachum Sokolov St. in northern Tel Aviv. It is within walking distance to the center of the city, Sarah's Ulpan, the beach and many shops, cafes and restaurants. We have spent the first two days of our time here exploring the city.
Our apartment is nice. Everything here is coated in a little bit of "Israeli dust". We need to invest in a squeegee, to really get everything dust free. Our living room/kitchen has a nice brown couch, coffee table, tv and a kitchen table and chairs. The kitchen has a refrigerator, toaster oven, and 2 burners. The landlord is bringing us a microwave in the next few days, but we don't quite know where we will put it as we are very short on counter space.
The bedroom has a queen size bed and a closet with shelves. Sarah has taken up the entire closet, so we had to go out and buy some shelving for Yuval.
The part of the apartment which is the most unpleasant is the bathroom. When we got here it was very dirty and the drain in the shower did not work. Therefore, we have not been able to shower since we got here! The landlord was just here, and he poured something down the drain that hopefully fixed the problem, and we will be able to take showers when we finish this post!
UPDATE: The landlord came and he thought fixed the shower, but he was wrong. We decided that even though the shower would not drain, we were too desperate to wait any longer. So, we turned on the shower and the bathtub began to fill up, and since the drain was clogged, gunk was coming out of it. It was pretty yucky. We took the fastest showers of our life, and reached for towels, but they were as small as bathmats! We ended up partly drying off with Sarah's blow dryer because it was so freezing. For Sarah, this was the worst part of our Israel experience yet. Until the shower is fixed and we can clean up the mess, we will not be photographing the bathroom...trust us, its better.
As of right now, our internet connection is too slow to post the pictures here, so I will try on facebook, if that doesn't work, then we will email them to anyone who asks!
Tomorrow we will continue exploring the city and maybe take a bus up to Tel Aviv University to check out Yuval's school. We will try and update this blog as much as possible! Email us a lot!
We love and miss you!
Sarah and Yuval
Leaving the US was bittersweet for both of us. We were excited to come on this new adventure, but also very sad to be leaving our families. We arrived at the airport and were greeted by Savta, Niva, Eytan and Tamar. It was very reassuring to see friendly, familiar faces. Our apartment is at 80 Nachum Sokolov St. in northern Tel Aviv. It is within walking distance to the center of the city, Sarah's Ulpan, the beach and many shops, cafes and restaurants. We have spent the first two days of our time here exploring the city.
Our apartment is nice. Everything here is coated in a little bit of "Israeli dust". We need to invest in a squeegee, to really get everything dust free. Our living room/kitchen has a nice brown couch, coffee table, tv and a kitchen table and chairs. The kitchen has a refrigerator, toaster oven, and 2 burners. The landlord is bringing us a microwave in the next few days, but we don't quite know where we will put it as we are very short on counter space.
The bedroom has a queen size bed and a closet with shelves. Sarah has taken up the entire closet, so we had to go out and buy some shelving for Yuval.
The part of the apartment which is the most unpleasant is the bathroom. When we got here it was very dirty and the drain in the shower did not work. Therefore, we have not been able to shower since we got here! The landlord was just here, and he poured something down the drain that hopefully fixed the problem, and we will be able to take showers when we finish this post!
UPDATE: The landlord came and he thought fixed the shower, but he was wrong. We decided that even though the shower would not drain, we were too desperate to wait any longer. So, we turned on the shower and the bathtub began to fill up, and since the drain was clogged, gunk was coming out of it. It was pretty yucky. We took the fastest showers of our life, and reached for towels, but they were as small as bathmats! We ended up partly drying off with Sarah's blow dryer because it was so freezing. For Sarah, this was the worst part of our Israel experience yet. Until the shower is fixed and we can clean up the mess, we will not be photographing the bathroom...trust us, its better.
As of right now, our internet connection is too slow to post the pictures here, so I will try on facebook, if that doesn't work, then we will email them to anyone who asks!
Tomorrow we will continue exploring the city and maybe take a bus up to Tel Aviv University to check out Yuval's school. We will try and update this blog as much as possible! Email us a lot!
We love and miss you!
Sarah and Yuval
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