Company Outing

While growing up, I remember very well the times my father's company held their annual company picnic.  All the employees and their family would get together at a park with barbecue and games like hot potato and sack races.  Oh I yearn for those good ole days.

Rather than follow the same US tradition I was use to, the company held a family-included outing by going to a stalactite cave, ATV riding, and then dinner at a fancy restaurant.  Atom and Jana came along too.

The stalactite cave was beautiful and quite impressive compared to the others I've seen though waiting 2 hours for the 15 minute walk through the cave was not worth it.  That was then followed by some ATV riding.  I had never driven an ATV before, and so I thought it might be some fun.  After signing some papers in Hebrew basically removing any liability to the ATV company, we were ready to go.  However, we all had to stay in a single file and never went too fast.  So in the end, I came out disappointed and dusty. 

Jana and Atom stayed back.  Since he was under 3 years of age their choice was to go in a jeep for an hour and half or stay back and hike up and down some of the trails I drove on.  Jana made the little man hike and said he had fun kicking the dirt, throwing rocks, and picking wild flowers.  They also played "market" where Makai went behind a counter and pretended to take Jana's order.  Then Jana saw him going into a real cash register and taking money out.   They went back to hiking after that.

We didn't stick around for the dinner.   Here are some photos of the ATV riding.

The last photo is of Effie Etam (bazooka man from an earlier post) getting lectured for straying out of line.  I wonder if the guys recognized who he was.  Ironic that a former brigadier general is getting yelled at for breaking formation. 

Dog Police

Every morning, Pali and I head out for a walk at around 6 AM, generally following the same route through the neighborhood and to the beach.  Finding an excuse in the local habit of not picking up after the dog, I have also become very lazy if a plastic bag is not readily at hand when I leave the house.  This one morning, Pali did her business in the same parking lot she's grown accustomed to, and also this morning, I did not have a plastic bag on hand.  We walked, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed a man who also took notice of Pali's poop.  When he yelled out, "Slikhah!" I ignored it and continued to walk away.  I was probably two blocks away turning a corner when the man ran and caught up to me.  He then held out his badge.  I realized they were the "Dog Police" Jana and the neighbors had warmed me about. 

The Dog Police as we call them since we do not know their official title are a group of city employees who patrol the streets of Tel Aviv on mopeds enforcing the various city dog ordinances.  Jana had a previous run in with one of them at the park who warned her that Pali needed to be on leash.  Jana held up her bag of poop in response and said, "At least I picked up her poop." 

At the moment he showed me his badge, all I remember thinking was "I don't want to get a ticket."  Out of all the reasonable options I could have taken, I decided to try the "I'm an immigrant who doesn't understand Hebrew or English" plan.  So he spoke in Hebrew, and I blankly looked at him.  So he spoke in English and I looked blankly at him.  He asked, "Do you speak English?" and I simply stared.  He started getting frustrated and kept repeating "English, English, English?"  So I finally responded with "Vietnam."  He recognized the "Vietnamese" and continued to ask some question in English for which I really don't remember, and I guess really isn't so important in this story.  He did finally call up another one of his Dog Patrol buddies who quickly came on his moped.  And again I repeated the same scene with the new guy.  At some point, I was thinking, "you must find this a big waste of time, give up, and let me go."  That point though never came.

I was taken back to the scene of the crime.  I saw the poop and scooped it up with a nearby cup littered on the ground.  After throwing away the poop, I said "Beseder?" which is "OK?" in Hebrew.  He said, "No, I must write you a ticket."  But to write me a ticket, I needed to give him my ID which I didn't have on me.  I also never responded to him where I lived.  One of the guys even took out his iphone and went to google translate to translate from hebrew to vietnamese.  I gave him a confused look because indeed I was confused as I never really learned to read.  We kept on waiting though, and I soon realized that he had called for the police.  The real police.  Thinking that's too far of an escalation, I came clean and said to him, "So you just need my ID to write me a ticket."  He responded, "Yes.  I need the ID.  Wait! You speak English." 

He wasn't too happy a camper after that but there wasn't much he could do.  I took them back to my apartment and gave them my Passport and Pali's dog registration card, but the story doesn't end there.  A third Dog Policeman came to scan Pali's RFID tag and verify her paperwork.  Now since we're not Israeli citizens, we do not have an Israeli ID card or number.  For all our identification needs, we use our Passport number.  This was also the case for the dog registration paperwork.  When they called in to check the ID number, it came back with an Arab person in some Palestinian village as the owner of Pali.  They were soundly confused. 

It finally ended with them saying, "Ok, there's something wrong that we have to sort out.  What's your phone number?  We'll call you when it's sorted out to give you your ticket.  And don't give us a fake number."

Amazement

I'm still in amazement that my family and I are first hand witnesses to this...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/opinion/17abbas.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Catastophe Day

May 15th marks the anniversary of Yawm an-Nakbah or Catastrophe Day in Arabic.  On that day in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palenstinians were driven from their homes following the establishment of the state of Israel.  The anniversary of that day generally involves some protests we hear, but this year, the protests were a bit more extensive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13373006

Independence Day

Today is Independence Day.  Israel's Independence Day.  Actually it started at dusk last night, and the somber mood of Memorial Day gave way to celebration.  In our neighborhood, this was marked by a block party to which we brought Corona Lights.

Kids sprayed each other with white foam, adults danced, inflatable hammers boinked people's head, and Atom raved.  Yes, he raved just without the ecstasy. 

We'll now head to Kibbutz Givat Brenner for some communal lovin.  Ok, no lovin.  Just grilled meats.  Kosher meat of course.

Memorial Day

Yesterday in Israel was Memorial Day or officially known as Yom Hazikaron day.  It commemorates Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, and it precedes by one day Israel's independence day.

At dusk the day before, we were invited by my colleague to visit the Tel Nof Airbase, Israel's largest airbase with over 6000 soldiers and some large number of fighter jet and helicopter squadrons.  Every year the air force base holds a commemoration on this day for all the fallen soldiers who were posted at the base.  My colleague was the base commander 10 years back which afforded us practically unlimited access to the various areas of the base and front row seats to the ceremony. 

Thousands of people attended the ceremony, and the mood was completely somber.  Songs were sung in A-minor, there was no clapping, and over 250 fallen soldiers' names were called out.  Side note: As the names were read in alphabetical order,  a power-point slide with a photo and listing of the name, rank, and date of death where shown on the large screen.  I used the occasion to brush up on my hebrew alphabet.  I would say the hebrew letter מ for "m" is not intuitive.

The ceremony ended quite abruptly, at least to a non-hebrew speaking observer, and again with no claps.  In fact, Jana turned around and said to me "Is it over or are we offering the sign of peace."  People were shaking hands and hugging.  No, they were simply saying goodbye.

My colleague continued the tour of the base, showing us the various figher jets (F-15 and F16s) where I got a close up of a laser guided missile.  And we got our photo taken in front of a drone.  Those things are huge!

What protects us from Hamas

We also visited the squadron offices, checking out the latest air force technology.   But coolest of it all, we took a trip down memory lane.  My colleague was one of the first aces in the Israeli air force, and he showed us photos of his first "MIG-kill."   In the photo, one can see the missile right before impact and in a following photo, the resulting explosion.  In total, he has 5 MIG-kills (all Syrian).  What a completely different world. 

Anyways...the following day, a siren goes off at 11 AM for two minutes, and everybody stops in their tracks to pay their respects including those that are driving on the road.  Well everybody except for Jana.

Tomorrow is independence day, and we're scheduled to attend a bbq.  Guess there's a universal way to celebrate independence days.

And one final note:  Jana and I learned today that ultra-orthodox Jews do not celebrate or participate in Memorial Day nor Independence Day.  They believe that the formation of a Jewish State can only be by God which will occur with the next coming of the Messiah.  Israel on the other hand was a creation of man, and therefore the ultra-orthodox do not actually recognize the State of Israel.   Guess they do have something in common with the Arabs. 

Extending our radius

We recently bought two bicycles.  It took a few months from when Jana asked for one to the point we actually went out and purchased one.  But it wasn't for lack of trying.  Jana wanted a bike to cruise around town with Atom in tow and explore some of the other parts of Tel Aviv, in particular, Tel Aviv Port which is about 3 miles north from us.  Because we live on the 2nd floor and don't have too much space, Jana really wanted a bike that could be folded and easily carried upstairs.  Unfortunately every bike dealer except for one did not recommend putting a child seat on the folding bikes.  In the end, we decided to purchase two bikes, one folding and one like a cruiser.  And the child seat was placed on the cruiser.  And best of all, they were cheap.  About 1000 shekels cheaper than the other bike stores we went to.  And that's 1000 shekels per bike.  Anyways...

Now with the bikes, we are able to extend the range of our treks into Tel Aviv.  Last weekend, we biked south along the beach to see what was going on in Jaffa.  To our surprise, Jaffa has a little port that's kinda like a Fisherman's Wharf.  In the port, we past by some old Russians men sitting outside a warehouse drinking and snacking all around a rickety table.  Jana and I looked at each other and both thought, "Russian Mafia."

We then made it to a large park along the beach where Atom climbed around the jungle gym and wore himself out.  He fell asleep in the child seat on the ride back home.

Ancient Caves

This weekend we decided to take a day trip to Scott's collegues house near Be'er Sheba, an area which gets a fraction of Hamas's rockets fired in from Gaza.  We needed to get away from the crazy Pesach city life where the mobs Israeli out on vacation were stressing me out!  After spending two hours outside our apartment in Neve Tsedek, all of us (Pali, Makai and I) would return home needing to nap from all the stress and stimulation from this week.  Scott just stayed home and worked. 

Back to our weekend...   We had a great time with Doda (aunite) Dana (Dah-nah) and her husband Shaha.  They took us on a hike to explore caves in the area.  When we made it to the caves, the first word out of Makai's mouth was "moon."   I thought he was trying to say "more" since Dana was helping him jump from rock to rock.  He kept saying "moon".  When I asked "Makai, where's the moon," this is what he pointed too.

Top of the cave.  People repel down and climb back up.

Makai and Doda jumping from rock to rock.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doda Dana.  Makai's best buddy.

The caves are what is left of an ancient quarry dating 2 to 3000 years ago.  The rocks are limestone and therefore easy to work with and useful as a building material.  The people at the time would dig a hole at the surface (what Makai calls moon) and then work their way down in a spiral, cutting out huge blocks to be used on surface.  What's left are these huge cathedral like caves.

We then were then invited to Dana's house for a salami and cheese lunch.  She lives in a small farming village, and we tasted the first peaches of the season.  Makai took to Doda Dana quite well and cried if he thought we were going to leave.  If only she lived closer, she could be our babysitter!

My First Passover

Today marks the first day of Passover.  It's an eight day holiday (though we don't officially get all those days off from work) celebrating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt back to Israel.  Much of the country shuts down during this time, and we generally hear the phrase at work, "after Pessah."  So many activities wind down even before Passover is here.  I'm told half of the country ends up traveling abroad during this period while the other half tours Israel.  And because of this, Jana and I have decided to simply stay here in Tel Aviv.

Tonight, Pessah Eve, we have been invited to our neighbor's father's home for our first ever Passover dinner.   Now fortunately, Auntie Kim and Amy (Christians, by the way) gave Atom (also a non-Jew) a book titled "My First Passover."  And since then, we have read the book two times.  Now I have a better idea of what Passover is (and I especially like the story of the 10 plagues), but I think Atom still has no clue.  And amusingly, my colleague summed it up that all Jewish holidays are based on some event in history where somebody wanted to kill the Jews but they managed to escape somehow. 

Oh yeah back to the dinner we're going to tonight.  During Passover, people become very strict about things being Kosher. 

Another side note:  I also participated in the selling and buying of "chametz."  Chametz is any grain or yeast product and is forbidden to be consumed during Passover.   They're actually not even supposed to have it in their house.  But you know what?  They can sell it to a non-Jew and then buy it back after Passover is over.  The items don't even have to exchange hands.  And of course they can only go into one of these contracts with a non-Jew.  Normally you find your local Arab for this.  But since they don't get along so well these days, I'm the next best thing.  So for 1 shekel, I am currently the owner of all the Chametz in the office building.  They didn't explain to me any of this before hand.  While they were drafting up the contract, I asked, "Am I being sold all your sins right now?"  But no, it was only grains but which happily enough includes beer!

Ok, back to the dinner story.  It was recommended by a colleague to bring only Kosher wine to the dinner we were invited to.  I never even knew there was such a thing as Kosher wine. We then heard that our neighbor's father loves foreign wines which I'm sure the majority of are not Kosher.  So I went out to a special wine shop and split the difference.  I purchased one Kosher wine, and one Chilean wine.  It turns out though that Jana spoke with our neighbor today who said, "Don't bring any Kosher things.  We're not religious at all.  We'll even have pork there at dinner tonight." 

So that will be my first Passover experience.

Twin's Visit

The twins Kim and Amy came out to visit a few weeks ago. Even with the flare up in the country, they still decided to come. And after being here for 12 days, they loved it. Never would have come to visit if we weren't here. They toured much of the country but didn't make it everywhere. Here's a short recap of their itinerary for those who may also want to come visit us.

• Day 1: Arrive in Tel Aviv.  Kim got held back at the immigration desk because she told them she wanted to visit other middle eastern countries like the West Bank.  The officer promptly replied with, "The West Bank is in Israel."
• Day 2: Toured Tel Aviv.  Walked through the Fashion District and then onto Sheinkin and the Carmel Market.  Kim and Amy tried on 300 pairs of sunglasses and bought one.
• Day 3: Private guided tour to north Israel (Nazarath, Golan Heights, and more.)  They left at 9 AM and didn't make it back till midnight.  They met a cute old Arab cafe owner and wanted to marry him.  And he was like, "American twins.  What more can an Arab ask for."
• Day 4: Private guided tour of the Old City in Jerusalem.  We went through 3000 years of history.  So please excuse us if we don't have our historical events all in order.  And had awesome hummus for lunch.  Arab dessert not to great.
• Day 5: Visited Caesarea.  Kim and Amy climbed some ruins they were not allowed to be on.  
• Day 6: Mitzpe Ramon/Negev Desert.  Kim and Amy saw camels up close for the first time.  They originally imagined all of Israel to be a desert.  
• Day 7: Hiking in Mitzpe Ramon.  We hiked in the crater on a trail that the park ranger had recommended but not for that day.  Due to the rain storms, flash floods could occur. We took the risk anyways and made the hike.
• Day 8: Camel rides and Jaffa at night.  Amy originally wanted a long camel trek.  Upon seeing the camel farm, the girls opted for a 5 minute ride around the holding pen.
• Day 9: Jerusalem.  The twins went back to the old city and visited Jesus's tomb.  They also paid 100 shekels for a taxi ride when it should have been only 20.
• Day 10: Guided tour through the West Bank.  The twins saw Bethlehem, Jericho, and the Dead Sea.  If you want to get into a heated debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, give Kim a call.
• Day 11: Barbecue in Tel Aviv.  We hosted a barbeque, inviting some Israeli friends to eat lots of non-Kosher meat.  
• Day 12: Flight back to the US.  Wonder if Kim got stopped at the immigration desk again.

Kim and Amy at the end of the Caanite Tunnel in the City of David

Hiking the lip of the Ramon Crater

Hummus and pita at a cafe in the
Muslim Quarter of the Old City

Rooftop view in the Old City

At the entrance of a wormhole taking them back to the future!

Hanging out at the Beach

It's been awhile since we made a post.  Jana says it's more fun hanging out at the beach than writing on our blog.  And I tend to agree.  Well, unless it's 95 degrees outside which it is today.  There's a heat wave right now which has interrupted the generally nice weather that we have been experiencing this spring. And with the nice weather, as referenced before, we have been hanging out at the beach often.

Atom and Jana are there almost every day.  I head out there in the mornings for a short walk with Pali, and on the weekends, Atom and I have a bit of bonding time at the beach.  Here are some photos of our beach fun.

Purim

Purim is Israel's version of Halloween which lasts for 3 days.  It's a holiday that commemorates the Jews escape from the Persian Empire. Instead of trick or treating, families show up to your doorstep with a poppy seed cake, cookies or pastry.  I consider it sort of like fruit cake.  Tastes nothing like fruit cake but you get so many during Purim they go into your freezer.

To make an extremely long story short, Purim is a story of good vs evil.   During the biblical era King Ahasuerus married a Jewish woman, Esther, whom he did not know was Jewish.  Esthers uncle who raised her would not bow to Haman, the King's right hand man.  He said he bows to no one but his God.  Haman is insulted and decides to  kill and extirpate all Jews throughout the Persian empire.  When Esther heard of his plan she manipulates the King to kill Haman instead.   Jews wear masks to acknowledge that goodness, holiness and God are most often hidden.

Makai was Tigger for Purim.  It was the only costume we could find in short notice.  He didn't want to wear it for more than 30 minutes.  I tried to teach him to roar but he looked like he was gagging more than roaring.

Venturing into the West Bank

Given the recent events in Israel, the story I'm about to tell isn't quite as amusing as I thought when it originally happened.  I'm going to tell it anyways.

Two Thursdays ago, we ventured into the West Bank on a tour organized by a colleague of mine.  The intent of the trip was multi-fold: to visit Herodyan, try to find a drilling company, philanthropy, and treasure hunting. 

Herodyan is supposed to be a great site to see, and so Jana and Atom came along too.  And adventure we had.

It started with a group of two cars crossing into the Israeli controlled area of the West Bank.   We first had to pick up two main characters of the story at their village (might be considered a settlement by some).  Meet Miro.  Miro is some sort of security head for areas in the Judean Desert.  He's an expert in desert survival and combat, providing training to military special forces including the US.  For that day, he was our unofficial tour guide.
 

Meet also David.  David is a self-proclaimed archeolgical scholar.  And one of the main reasons for this trip was for me to meet with him.  Ok, well not necessarily him.  I was supposed to meet with someone who had worked with Wendell Jones.  Now Mr. Jones, also called Indiana Jones by some, was in search of the treasures of the Second Temple for quite some time.  He unfortunately died at the end of last year before I had a chance to meet him.  It was thought by my colleague who arranged this trip and Miro that given my knowledge of rock-penetrating measuring instruments, I may be able to help in locating some of the archelogical treasures that may be hidden in the Qumran caves as described in the Copper Scroll.  Anyways, the original person I was to meet couldn't make it (former Mousad operative), and David was asked to substitute.  More on this in a bit.  

In the village we were first asked to visit the synagogue.  There a Rabi explained how he wanted to expand the synagogue such that one could see the top of the Dome of the Rock from the second floor.  It would be the only synagogue that had such a view.  He also had a theory that linked old Judea (present day west bank) with the shape of a fetus.  For instance Bethelem was at the mouth and "lechem" is hebrew for bread.  Another was that Hebron was at the center of the head and Hebron meant something in some language, and many other connections of those sorts.  That particular part of the trip was intended for my colleague with a small fortune.  I'm not sure if he was convince to contribute though.

From there we drove into the Judean Desert.  We drove past a few Palestinian Villages and many goat herds.  We were in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful.

During the car ride, I spoke with David.  Like I said before,  David had worked previously with Wendell Jones.  His claims though were quite interesting to say the least.  First, he believed the Arc of the Covenent is still in a sealed vault in the First Temple and that only politics were keeping us from uncovering it.  He also thought the Arc was ancient technology for controlling water and weather.  That was how Moses was able to lead 7 million Jews through the desert back to the holy land.  I was hoping to hear more specifically about the efforts to search for the lost treasures of the Second Temple, but he never really got around to talking about it though he did talk quite a bit.  Oh one last thing about David, he thought that the Jews and Palestinians should live harmoniously together.  Sounded great until he followed that up with "because they were really Jews before they became Muslim."  Anyways, guess you have to be a bit cuckoo to be a treasure hunter.

Now, we were also out looking for some drilling rigs that Miro had spotted and relayed back to my colleague.  We thought it would be useful to see who was doing the drilling and maybe have them work with us.  So in the middle of the Judean Desert we found the wellsite. It turns out these were water wells being drilled for the Palestinian Authority courtesy of USAID.  It was nice to see my US tax dollars at work.  They were drilling 6 other water wells in the area.  

From there we headed back out with hopes of reaching Herodyan.  The lead car though was driving quite fast.  Rather than speed to catch up on the very winding roads, I went slow and took in the scenery.  I thought I new the way back but very soon, the scenery didn't look so familiar.  I didn't remember being in such a dense Palestinian village.  I didn't remember seeing so many Palestinians staring at us so awkwardly.  When I made it to the mosque, I admitted to the car, "I have no clue where I am."  I had two Israeli's in the car along with Jana and Atom.  The Israeli's made comments such as "I don't like the way they're staring at us" and "I'd feel safer if I had a gun."  Surprisingly, Jana said she wasn't scared.  And we couldn't get cellphone signal to reach the lead car.  Rather than stop to ask direction from the locals, I did the manly thing and simply turned back around.  We could not however high tail it out as we ended up being stuck behind a school bus.  So we slowly left the village, stop by stop.  

We finally left the village and met up with the lead car waiting for us at the Zone A entry point.  Little did we know that we had entered Zone A, areas of the West Bank that are under Palestinian controlled and illegal for Israeli's to enter.  Afterwards, I googled Zone A and found that the signs marking the beginning of Zone A generally stated: This way leads to Area 'A' located in control of the Palestinian Authority. Entrance of Israeli citizens into Area 'A' is forbidden, life-endangering, and a criminal offense.  I thought that was pretty cool.  I'm sure the two Israeli's in the car didn't. 

After that we finally made it to Herodyan.  For being 2000 years old, it's amazing what has remained intact.   There are also a series of tunnels used by the Jews in the various revolts to launch sneak attacks on the Romans.   The little dude thoroughly enjoyed it.  

 
And after that, we were homeward bound, but I have plans to head back.  The treasure hunt part of the trip didn't quite live up to expectations.  I'll have to try again. 

Of

Israel is a very lazy society. And by lazy I mean they don't put much effort into their jobs. Exhibit a: "Of" which is the Hebrew word for chicken.

Feathers.  The ones which I could not pluck.

Different piece.  More feathers.

The back of the piece above

 

I told Scott we were going to become vegetarians.  Then we both discovered a love for lamb in this country.   Why am I still making chicken?  For the little man.  He likes to hold the drumettes.  If I make breasts, he doesn't eat much.  If I put breasts on a stick, he is not convinced.  I give him these deskined so he is not chocking on the feathers and he will eat at least 2.

Bomb shelter

A colleague of mine is building a new house, and I was able to visit the site last week.  Two things stood out.  First, there was a lot of concrete and brick.  The structure of the house is built with bricks and mortar unlike the wood frames that are used in the US.  It's a much sturdier build, but probably much more difficult to knock down when making major renovations.  Second, the first main structure after the foundation to be built is a bomb shelter.  The house is about 15 miles as the rocket flies from the borders of Gaza.  Hamas's rocket range is ~30 miles. 

Photos of the house. US houses have burglar bars, Israeli houses have bomb shelters. 

Add caption

Structure on right is the bomb shelter

Words

The drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem takes about 50 minutes though every once in awhile I hit traffic and it takes up to 1.5 hours.  And since all the radio stations are either in Hebrew or Arabic, I resorted to listening to various podcasts to entertain me during the daily drive.  As of right now, the line up includes: Planet Money, Marketplace, This American Life, Freakonomics, and Radiolab.  They are all great, and I especially enjoy This American Life and RadioLab because of their storytelling.  If you have recommendations for any other podcasts, please let me know.  I do not quite have enough material to fill a week's worth of driving.

Anyways, I was listening to a RadioLab show this morning that they did sometime last year titled "Words."  And it just blew my mind.  I highly recommend taking an hour and listening to this episode.

The main mind blowing point of the stories is that words are not just a tool for communication between people, but it also links thoughts within one's own mind.  And the power of words or more specifically language is that by providing a way for the mind to link these thoughts, it enhances cognitive ability.  And the more developed the language, the more developed the cognitive ability.  Two stories in the podcast that really capture this are the one with the rats and babies and the second about deaf kids in Nicaragua.  And if you think about it, is it possible to really think without some sort of language?  Language and words provide a way to tie things together and create new understanding.  The development and application of math as a "language" are just extensions of this notion.   I wouldn't understand much physics without it.

Anyways, after hearing this podcast, I couldn't help but remember my first week in Israel when I attended an energy conference.  Everything was in Hebrew, but I had headphones listening to translations.  And I noticed that the tone of the speeches tended to be more aggressive than I was used to.  An Israeli colleague explained that Hebrew vocabulary tended to be more black and white and not to have many words to span the gray areas.  And because of that, Israeli's tend to come off more aggressive.  At least that's what my colleague claims.  I guess it doesn't have anything to do with their history of persecution.  :)

Turmoil in the region

There has been much turmoil in the region and gladly for us only in the countries surrounding Israel.  Though the people here are somewhat nervous at the uncertainty of the political upheavals now underway, life is still pretty much the same.  And this is especially true in Tel Aviv where everyone admits is a city living in a bubble.  So other than Jana having some bad dreams of the Muslim Brotherhood, we're doing fine and thank everyone who have wrote or called to check in on us.  (We now know who our real friends are.)

Anyways, the turmoil in the region has brought renewed focus on the role that oil plays in geopolitics.  Oil is now around $100 per barrel which means your gasoline bill will be increasing in the next week or so, followed by price increases in food and other petroleum based products.  Though high oil prices are great for me and my company and not so much you or anyone else, there's a different aspect of oil's impact that was recently highlighted by Planet Money.  I highly recommend listening to the podcast

NPR Planet Money Podcast

There's always been a correlation between oil prices and autocratic control in oil rich nations.   And I'm sure this is the case for other natural resource rich nations too though oil gets the most press.  Interesting enough though, the technology I've pretty much focused my career so happens will also provide countries that are currently without traditional oil resources into major oil producers.  This includes Israel and Jordan.  And as can be inferred from the podcast, maybe being an oil rich country isn't such a good idea for the people of Jordan. Here's another kicker.  There's also oil shale in the West Bank.  At least there's none in Gaza. 

Not only am I killing the world slowly, I am also aiding evil. :)

Safari in Israel

We were invited to the Tel Aviv Safari by an Israeli couple name Nir and Michal that we were introduced to by Kip and Dawn's friends Eli and Maz.  They have two kids around the same age as Atom.  So it's always a nice little outing each time we hang out.

The Safari is a combo safari/zoo right on the eastern edge of Tel Aviv in a town/neighborhood called Ramat Gan.  It's a combo zoo and safari where one initially drives the car through the "wildlife" habitat, and then comes to a normal zoo. On the safari part of the visit, we saw hippos, rhinos, zebras, antelopes, ostriches, and other crazy looking animals.  It was quite amazing not to see them in cages or behind any restrictions and to see these animals "freely" roaming around and being right in the midst of them. And many of them came right up against the car.  There was an ostrich that poked it's head into people's car looking for food. 

Quick aside here: I saw many cars doing this and so I'll just blatently generalize.  The Israeli's tended not to follow the ban on feeding the animals. Many were throwing bread out like they were feeding pigeons.  Hence the friendliness of the ostrich and other animals.  I just hope none turn aggressive, especially the rhinos.  

Anyways, Atom thought the ostrich was hilarious and laughed each time it it tried to poke it's head into our car. I kept the window up on that one. (There was also a rule to keep the windows up.  And the Chamarro in the car didn't want to follow that rule either.)  Crazy ostrich neck moved like it was a snake. Truely scary.

We'll have to make a trip to Botswana soon.

Here are some photos from the outing.   

Knesset

I had the opportunity to visit the Israeli Parliament, also known as the Knesset.  Our company was invited to speak to the Science and Technology Committee. Similar to the committee's in the US Congress, these committees are staffed by the Parliament politicians themselves rather than any scientists.  

Also invited were members of the Israeli community that don't really like our project.  The meeting was conducted almost all in Hebrew, and I was only able to follow what's going on based on body language, tone, and volume.  Here's a list of the actual text messages I sent Jana while sitting in the meeting:

• Its all in hebrew.  I have no idea what's going on.  Just know its not going as we planned.  Fun!
• We weren't allowed to present our slides.  And there's a lot of loud tones spoken by the chairman.  
• All I understand is Neft and Delek which is oil and gasoline in Hebrew
• I think there's some mudslinging going on

So at the end of the meeting, my colleagues said it actually wasn't too bad.  Much better than the other meetings.  

By the way, Atom loves his daily baths!

Tel Aviv Traffic

Traffic in the day time in Tel Aviv can be pretty bad. I'm glad I leave early and come home late. Next time I have to travel through Tel Aviv during the day for a meeting, I'll use my skateboard.

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Update: It took me 45 minutes to travel the 1.4 miles back home.


Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from orange

Fridays

Friday mornings are "my time."   My routine is to wake up, drink some coffee, and head to the organic farmers market while Scott spends time with Makai and Pali at the playground.  I meet them an hour or two later with fresh pomegranate and orange juice.

One of my favorite things to buy at the market are fresh eggs.  I have never been an eggs fan but I must say eating eggs which were picked the same morning are delicious!   I have also never been a tomatoes, olives, or fig fan.  The tomatoes here are so sweet and juicy.  I have no clue what makes them different than US tomatoes and tomatoes which are purchased at a grocery store.   Scott can attest.  The only way he would eat tomatoes back home was in a tomato sauce, grilled or with a pesto sauce.  Here he plops raw ones in his mouth.  I sometimes send Scott to work with fresh tomatoes and egg's for his boss's family.   From what Scott told me, they did an experiment.  They made a salad with the fresh tomatoes and added the rest of their grocery store tomatoes.  They said there was a distinct taste between the two with the fresh tomatoes stealing the spotlight.

Now on my to do list is to learn how to cook with the mediterranean favourites the olive and figs!

Here's a look at some of the tasty food which I purchased this past week.  Not all of the items would fit in the photo.  Pay attention to the small cucumbers on the left side of the photo.  I call them toddler cucumbers.  Makai loves them!

Makai's Milestones

We've been looking for a pediatrician since we first arrived.  Doctors here work JAG and JanLG hours.  Sundays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Wed from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  The first pediatrician appointment we had I ended up canceling.  The woman on the phone told me, we have one available at 8:20.  I said "oh wow, that's kind of early.  He's just waking up and we'll have to drive there.  Do you have anything later, say 10 a.m.?"  She responds with "this is 8:20 in the evening."   "Oh. He's in bed by then.  Do you have anything earlier?"  "We open at 8 p.m."   Hmm....

Scott's good friend Kristine is a nurse at a children's hospital in Chicago.  She emailed a few doctor's there who sent us the head of GI here in Israel.  I contacted him for a pediatrician recommendation.  He was extremely kind and got back to me within an hour.   I called her a few weeks later and she gave me an option.  I can either a) head to the hospital for a meeting with her, but the waits are usually 3 hours, b) meet her at her house (well, an office above her house) where it will be just us.  It costs more but there is no wait and you can chose your time.  Guess which option I went for.

We went for a meeting last nite and he took to her very well.  As soon as we entered her office he went right up to her lap and held her hand.   Since it was their first meeting, she gave him a few tests to see where he's at in his milestones.  She gave him a mini mouse clock and he was able to point out all body parts as well as the clock.  When stacking blocks he didn't want the same color on top of each other.  He chose one of each color and stacked them without being told in under a minute.  When he reached 9 blocks she goes OK, he really passed that one.   The shape puzzle he didn't want to play with at first.  After about 5 minutes went by, she told us we should have these puzzles at home for him.  I told her we do but we work with animals.  He must have realized she was talking about him.   He then walked up to her, handed her the reflex hammer, went to the puzzle, took out all the shapes, and put them back in the appropriate spot.  Then grabbed the hammer back from her hand and went onto play.   His favorite part of the meeting was playing with her knee reflex hammer.   Once she hit his knee, he grabbed the hammer and tried hitting his own knee and dads with a huge smile on his face.  She said Wow! He catches on very quickly.  Most kids his age don't do this.   She was also impressed at his ability to feed himself with a fork and spoon.  She said he has very good motor coordination.   Then told us not to put him in kindergarten til after his second birthday.  

She wasn't concerned about his delay in speaking.  She said kids who are bilingual have a delay.   She did recommend speaking one language at home since Hebrew is spoken as soon as we walk out the door. 

Big Mak

Big Mak is a year and eight months as of January 29th.  He claps for himself when he succeeds at something new and cheers himself on.   He can say a few words now:  "this, that, dad, juice, apple, more"  and from what Russian's have told me, he can speak Russian.   He communicated with a little Russian girl at the playground.  The grandmother was surprised I didn't speak Russian since he was pronouncing some of the words well.  Words such as "ana" (means she, i thought he wanted a banana),  "da" (yes in russian) --apparently the little girl was asking him a question and he responded with "da", and the word "ty" which is "you"--he wanted her to go down the slide first.  What a gentleman.


He absolutely ADORES daddy time!  He copies dad when he's home and we are out and about.  He stands next to dad, watches his mannerisms,  facial expressions, the way he walks, and when dad is in the bathroom fixing his hair, guess who pushes his hair the same way. 

Shilav store playground.

Old Jaffa lookout. 

He dances to Weezer, but only the intro to Beverley Hills,  loves eating empanadas filled with chickpeas (they are actually really good),  putting sand on Pali, and helping mom cook and bake.  He also enjoys going to the organic market daily with mom and Pali.  Everyone knows him and calls him "Kai".  He is starting to be adventurous with his food.  He tends to pick up one of each fruit and vegetable which is within reach and trying them on the spot.  If he doesn't like it, he puts it back in the bin.  Yesterday evening he decided to try a fresh lima bean.  You can imagine how quickly that left his mouth.  When we reached the check out counter the cashier asked if the lima bean was ours.   Yes.  Only one lima bean?  Yes, only one.  What do you use one lima bean for?  Nothing.  He tried to eat it but decided he didn't like it.  He also likes to carry mom's basket for her and grunts the whole time. 

Here are a few videos and a link to photos of Makai.   ISRAEL: 01/11

UFO sighting?

For Jan LG's 70th birthday she hired the psychic David to come to the house and do a family reading.  During Scott's reading, David mention Scott will have and "encounter" with a UFO and be near water.  Now by encounters we believe he meant a sighting, no abduction.

About a week ago, there was a UFO sighting in Jerusalem "hovering over the holiest landmark of Islam, the Dome of the Rock".  The Dome of the Rock is a Muslim shrine which is built over sacred stone.  This stone is believed to be the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven.  The sacred rock or foundation rock over which the Dome of the Rock is built was considered holy before the arrival of Islam.   Jews believe the rock to be the very place where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (an event which Muslims place in Mecca).

"The foundation stone is the holiest site in Judaism. Just as Muslims pray towards the Kaaba at Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, Jews pray towards the Foundation Stone. Jews have traditionally regarded the location of the stone as the holiest spot on Earth... The most propitious site for Jewish prayer is the spot that is nearest the Foundation Stone. Because Muslim authorities refused to permit Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, the custom developed of praying near the Western Wall, since it was the site nearest to the Foundation Stone..."  ~Taken from wikipedia~

Anyways, back to the UFO sighting.  Some experts are declaring it a hoax saying more videos would have shown up even though it was 1 a.m. in Jerusalem on a Saturday, their holy day.  Others say it can't due to the different angles.   You decide.  I personally am wondering if I should send Scottie out to the beach with the dog and a tent.  See what sort of story he comes back with. 

UFO Huffington Post 

You Tube video