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.


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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

Cats III

Stray cats... They are all over Tel Aviv, including our apartment.  Two days this week I have found stray cats hanging out in the dining room, jumping down from the loft, and heading out of Makai's window.  

The first afternoon I found two stray cats under our dining room table about to fight it out when we came home from the playground.  Luckily,  Sabbia was sleeping downstairs on our bed.  She was quite oblivious to what was happening when Makai followed her upstairs.  Since then, I have kept all windows downstairs closed.  This morning, Makai woke up at 8:20 a.m.  After his pamper change and a little bit of gaga goo goo we head upstairs.  I hear a thump.  I automatically think its Sabbia.  Then I hear a him say "ca, ca, ca, ca".  I say yes, cat.  Then I realize, he doesn't say "ca, ca" to fuzz.  He says "yyyaaahhhhhaaaaa!!!"  "ca, ca" are for stray cats.  I look down and there is a stray cat which he is going for.  The cat already has her back arched in attack position. I grab him and say  SCAT!  The cat doesn't move.   Then I call for my dog who takes 5 minutes to get up the stairs.  I yell "Pali cat, Pali cat!"   She doesn't do anything.  I see her wag her tail trying to stick her neck out as far as she can to smell.  Then I hear a low "woof... woof..." with her tail shaking at the top of the stairs.  She is unsure if she should go towards the cat or stay near us.  I give her attack command,  "Uno... dos... tres... vamos!"  Off she goes.   I thought the cat would head downstairs and out one of the three windows which I had just opened.  Instead she jumped out the highest window we have on the second floor  which leads to the porch.   I am assuming this is how she entered since it was the only window open this morning.   Scott and I still can't figure out how cats even get up to our patio.

This explains why Sabbia was in attack mode yesterday evening.  Pali couldn't even eat without Sabbia attacking her.  It makes me wonder if there was a cat inside which upset Sabbia.   Sabbia hasn't attacked Pali in over 6 months.  The last time she did, Pali was trying to smell her butt.

Being Kosher

Growing up in Texas, I had very little exposure to Jewish culture. Even in Boston, I remained fairly ignorant. Keeping Kosher was fairly abstract to me, generally encompassing the types of food that can or cannot be eaten. But you know what, there's a lot more to it.

One main rule I only recently learned is the requirement to keep dairy products separate from meat. This is true in terms dishes. For instance, no cheeseburgers or meat lovers pizza. But is also true in the preparation of foods.

So in the first week or two at work, I walked into the lunchroom to warm my food. To my confusion, there were two microwaves located at opposite ends of the counter. Some Hebrew words were taped to the microwave, but I skipped hebrew class that day. Being culturally sensitive, I guessed there was significance to this and decided to ask first. And indeed, one microwave is for vegetarian dishes including dairy products while the other is for meat dishes.

Good thing I asked before warming up my pepperoni pizza.


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Immigrants

As we've mentioned multiple times in this blog, there are quite a few non-Jewish immigrants here in Israel.  Many are from Asian countries, and there is a small but growing population from African countries.  Most of these immigrants are in Israel for jobs such as agriculture, construction, elder care, cleaning, etc...I guess this is very much parallel to the Central and South Americans that immigrate to the US for similar jobs. 

The one big difference though is the fact that Israel is a Jewish State and the rise in the non-Jewish immigrant population and the economic benefits that come from it may or may not challenge the identity of the country. 

Anyways, there's a good story about this on Marketplace.  You can hear the story by following this link.

Nigerians in Israel

While walking through a park next to the large Carmel market, a few buses pulled up and off came dozens of Nigerians. I only know they were Nigerians based on the Nigerian ski cap one of them was wearing. Plus, a few were in traditional dress which reminded me of photos a Nigerian friend showed me. I assume they are here as tourists though there are many
African immigrants here in Israel that make up the blue collar workforce once populated by the Palestinians.

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Veterinarians in Israel

Both animals had to go to the vet last Wednesday.  Scott "worked from home" so I could use the car.  On Tuesday nite Pali started vomiting ~ 3 a.m.  Continued til about 830 a.m. with what looked to me like traces of blood.  I take her to the "ER".   She is lethargic, puked in the car ride, didn't want to get out of the car, and I basically had to pull her to the hospital.  At one point I thought about carrying her.  But I had Sabbia in my other arm.

When we get to the ER they are ready for us.  Our veterinarian had called to give them a heads up that a dog which appears to be in gastrointestinal distress will be arriving in 20 minutes.  I am optimistic at this point.  The ER is in a new building, everyone is dressed in scrubs, and speaks English well.    One thing I realized living in Israel is as a customer you do most of the hard work. I have to lift Pali up on the table.  Seriously?  She is 52 pounds.  If I would have known this, I would have told Scott to come.   The woman could clearly see I needed help so she grabbed the other side of Pali while another doc watched.  I had to flip her onto her belly, hold her paws, shave her leg for an IV.   I think the best part was them asking me to carry her from one room to another to get an xray.  I look at the woman and said "I can't have her walk?"  No answer.   The woman grabs Pali's hind legs while I take her front and carry her to the xray room.  While in the xray room they suit me up, show me how to hold her so she doesn't move, tell me to move out of the way so I don't get in the xray, and to close my eyes before I see the bright light.  I put on my sunglasses,  closed my eyes, and opened them when they returned to the room.

The vet looks at her xray and decides to send it to a specialist to examine.  She doesn't see anything wrong.  In the meantime, Pali boarded for the day with an IV and lots of TLC.  We still don't know what's wrong with her but she is slowly recuperating and gaining her energy back.

Onto Sabbia... I take her to their vet on Sheinken. Sabbia can't urinate which is considered a medical emergency for cats.  This veterinarian I have is awesome but I also feel like I am in a 3rd world country when I visit her office.   She gives Pali injections and expresses her glands on the sidewalk.  I actually love it! I find the whole thing amusing. Pali has a bunch of people and cats walking by her as she is getting a finger stuck up her butt.    The vet usually sits on a bench while performing these procedures.  Anyways, on with fuzz... She starts to feel Sabbia's belly area to make sure there isn't an obstruction.  All is good.  She needs to take a urinalysis.  She asks would you like the expensive method or the cheap one.  I said can we try cheap and see how that goes and if you are unsuccessful we will do the expensive method.   I once again had to hold the animal.   She extracts urine from Sabbia by massaging and pushing on her bladder while collecting the urine in a bowl.  I was amazed.  In the US they stick a needle in her bladder to extract it!   The expensive method was a needle in the bladder.  

Sabbia will be returning this week for an ultrasound.  They found blood in her urine.  Pali's better but not 100%.  She is a bit lethargic but is now willing to go for walks to the playground.

Dimona Nuclear Facility

I saw this article in the NYTimes this morning. It's about a computer worm that allegedly the Americans and Israeli's jointly developed to attack Iran's nuclear facility, in particular their enriching centrifuges.

It mentions all the testing occurred at the Dimona Nuclear Facility. I drove by their once. I was told never to stop along the roads surrounding the facility. And if I did, security would swarm my car in less than a minute. All the more reason for potty breaks before any road trips.

Not sure how this photo was taken. I've linked it from another website.

26 Alro'i (אלרואי)

Well it took a few months, but we have finally settled into our apartment.  And I'm glad to say that it feels like home.  The apartment is about 15 years old though there are details which give it quite a bit of character which is out of the ordinary here in Israel (and in most cases, out of the ordinary in the US too).  

The apartment itself is two floors with 3 bedrooms, two baths, and what I call a family room on the first floor.  On the second floor is the kitchen, living room, loft, and balcony.  It's quite sizeable for Israeli standards though it's probably only ~1300 sq ft.  Jana says to me often given the smaller size of the place, "are you sure you still want to live in a bungalo?"  And you know, I do.  It's a good size for the three of us and not excessive, though Israeli's might think so.  
 
Here's is a link to more photos of our apartment.  

Potty Training

Our little guy is starting potty training. Needs to catch up to the Israeli kids. Also, seems like diapers stop at size 4 here. Atom is a size 4. Hence the urgency.

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I wanted to add to this post.  Israeli kids seem to be potty trained at a fairly early age.  Take a look at the technique used in the photo.

Reminds me of the advice my mom suggested.  Said to let him walk around without diapers.  When he starts to pee, pull down his pants and catch it with our hands.  Ok, so this was suggested to Jana by my mom.  Not sure if anything was lost in translation. 


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Our Casanova

Part of our routine in the morning is to head to the playground for 2 hours.  Usually between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.   We hit two playgrounds.  The one at the end of our street and the one at the beach.

Makai is a very loving and affectionate child.  When he sees someone he likes, he gives kisses, hugs, and holds their hands.   Given his affectionate personality trait he has no problems going up to a child he finds friendly and holding his or her hand.  He will approach them, gently touch their hand and signal that he wants them to go down the slide with him or swing.   Yesterday morning we were at the beach where he met his girlfriend for the day.   It took about 2 minutes for the mother to convince the little girl it was fine to hold his hand.  And after that, they wouldn't let go of each other!  I tried talking to the mom to see if she'd be interested in a playdate.  She never spoke back. 

Makai's girlfriend for the day. Name unknown.

T-Shirt

So we got Kippy a t-shirt from Israel as a Christmas present. From what we were told, the hebrew text reads "Solution to the Palestinian Problem."

On a more serious note, we also got him a t-shirt of his favorite recreation.

Cats II

Cats are indeed numerous here. To make matters worse, our downstairs neighbor leaves cat food out. And with this food there are a number of street cats camped outside various ledges around our apartment, including all over my car. (See paw prints on my car windshield.) I don't call them stray cats mostly because they haven't really seemed to have strayed from anywhere in particular. I think these cats simply make their home in and around our apartment.


And it is quite true that these cats are aggressive, in particular the orange cat with a striking resemblance to Frank the cat from the Whiskas commercial. Very often and more so during the night, we will hear the cries of a cat rumble as two cats try to lay claim to one ledge. When we first moved here, Jana would jump up in the middle of her sleep when she heard these cries and ask, "where's sabbia?" "no sorry honey, sabbia is over there sleeping. she hasn't gotten torn up by Frank yet."

Atom and I actually witnessed a cat fight first hand. There were two cats. Frank of course and another black cat which we'll call Felix for the sake of this story. Felix sat in the middle of the street in front of our apartment. Frank was slowly walking up to Felix. I mean real slow, giving him glaring stare down while making some crazy "meow" cries. Felix sat there completely avoiding any eye contact. Atom and I stood there watching. Frank continued is slow approach, all the while still taunting Felix. Then all of a sudden, Frank lunged at Felix and there was a cat rumble right in front of us. I was actually shocked and tried yelling at them to get them to stop. I don't think it was because of me, but they did stop for a second. Frank continued to stare down Felix. I thought, "this probably isn't good for Atom to watch. I better go inside." As I left the two cats still in stare down stances, Atom enthusiastically signed, "More. More. More."



Atom now searches for cats hoping they will provide him some entertainment.

Cats

For those of you who know my animals, my dog is a scaredy cat and my cat has no fear.   I believe Tel Aviv is the cat captial of the world.  Cat fights happen every second.  It seems to all take place outside of our apartment. They fight over cars, under cars, in rose bushes, right on our patio, and in Makai's Radio Flyer.  We live about 3 to 4 stories up.  I still can't figure out how they manage to jump and from what location. 

Since cats have a special status in Tel Aviv, I have noticed they are left alone and "green patrol" (animal control) ignore them.   Pali and I have been stopped by green patrol.  It's amazing how our US citizenship allows us not to abide by the laws of Israel.  I show my passport and Voila, you are dismissed as I watch other people getting tickets for their dogs being off leash.  

Anyways, back to the cat situation.  So, the story goes that at some point in Tel Aviv there were too many rats/mice.  There was a campaign to bring in cats so they can rid Tel Aviv of all the mice.  Well, for the most part, I find this not entirely true.  I've seen some dead mice on the street.  They were being eaten by stray dogs and birds.   I have yet to see a cat do this.  If they are like Sabbia, they chase these little critters to play with them and killing them accidentally.

Scott and I both have this fear of Sabbia getting out and getting attacked by the cats.  Cats here are aggressive.  Yesterday I left the patio door unlocked without realizing it.  When we came home Scott noticed the door wide open.  I see Sabbia on the steps.  Ok good, she didn't go out.  About an hour passes by and I ask Scott if he has seen the cat.  He says no.  I said did she go outside when you locked the door.  He said I don't think so.  So I head upstairs and about 10 minutes later something tells me to look outside to be sure.   As soon as I walk to the door I see Sabbia on the ledge of the patio about to jump.  I freak and yell SABBIA'S ON THE LEDGE OF THE PATIO!  SHE'S GONNA JUMP!   I think she wanted to catch a bird.

In my nice voice I say Saaa---bbiiiaaa...  Here Saaaabbbbiiiiaaa... Luckily she turns around, heads to the door waging her tail and shaking her butt excited to see me.  I feed her a bag of treats for coming.  Where was Pali? Sitting at the patio door whining.  She wanted to go outside but since Sabbia was out there she decided it was best to stay indoors.

Israeli Dawn and Kip

On an early morning stroll to the beach with Atom and Pali, lo and behold I see Israeli Dawn and Kip catching some waves on their paddle boards. American Dawn and Kip have some catching up to do.

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Orthodox wedding

On December 8, 2010 Scott and I attended our first Orthodox wedding in Jerusalem.  The bride is the daughter of Effie Eitman (please see previous post about Effie).

An hour an a half drive we arrive at a kibutz in Jerusalem.  We had about 20 minutes to snack before the ceremony.  There were two stations.  One side had some sort of Arab pizza; a pita with herbs on top, hummus, a bunch of middle eastern and Moroccan food.  The other side had more of an Asian influence.  Scott went for the eggroll looking dish.  I had a plate full of Middle Eastern food. He claims he didn't know there were two stations with different dishes.  My thought, why would an orthodox Jewish wedding serve Asian food only?

Onto the ceremony.  All in all the ceremony itself was festive and jovial.  The groom walked into the room with all his family and friends surrounding him in a circle with singing and dancing.  Both fathers, bride and groom's, were on each side of him and what looked like presenting him to the bride.  The bride was sitting down in a chair with a candle waiting for the groom.   Once presented there was lots of singing, dancing, clapping, and happiness all around.   At the end of the ceremony under the hoopa, a contract was presented.  The contract states if the groom decides to leave the marriage he has to pay X amt of money to the bride.  I wonder what sort of price Effie put on his daughter.  

Groom walking along side father and father in-law. 
Family and friends behind and around.

Bride waiting for groom while being
surrounded by female family and friends.

The reception was segregated for the bride and groom.  There was a wall which separated the men and women dancing and singing.  I decided to be festive and join in the woman's circle.  Just to learn it was all single women dancing.  No wonder I was holding hands with a 14 and 10 year old.

Service Providers...

If you'd like to experience the best customer service, live in Japan, not Israel.  From the countries I have visited, Israel has the worst customer service I've experienced.   Now, I am not talking about restaurants or shopping, they are actually awesome.  I am referring to service providers, technicians  for washer and dryers, internet, cable, plumbers, carpenters, and the list continues.  One thing I've realized about Israel, they don't care about their jobs as much as other countries.  They also don't take pride in what they do.   They do a crappy job and it's half ***.  In all seriousness, they try to find the quickest and cheapest fix.  

A plumber, we have had multiple ones,  has been to our house literally 20 times in the past 2 months.  I won't talk about the previous times because it will take up too much of this post.   This is our most recent experience.   Right before we left for the states I found a leak in our bedroom.  A plumber came out within 4 hours and said there is a leak in your wall and floor.  We will have to come tomorrow to fix it.  He came and then decided to come two days later because he needed a carpenter.  Luckily, our awesome house sitter Sebastian took care of everything.  Three weeks later, this is what we come home too.

How the carpenter and plumber left the master bedroom

A close up shot.

The sad thing, our house sitter did take care of everything.  He got them to go this far in 3 weeks.  He also cleaned up their mess.  Well, put the mess in a pile which is better than having it dispersed around the master bedroom.   Sebastian said they were suppose to finish on Thursday but never showed.

Where do we stand now?  Scott and I have taken over the guest bedroom, Scott wrote a letter to the landlord, who from what I hear has also been on top of things but yet it doesn't seem like it, and if all else fails, they will receive a call from Effie Eitam.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

We had planned to spend New Years eve in Tel Aviv this year.  Due to the weather in the north east as well as Texas we were rebooked and spent New Year's eve on a flight from ATL to TLV.   Our captain decided to ring in the new year by counting down with the cabin lights flashing, followed by the black eyed peas song, "I gotta feeling tonites gonna be a good night."   I found it kind of cheesey and waited for the passengers to start dancing in the aisles.  Of course no one did.   Our son was sound asleep and woke up screaming for 2 minutes til the party ended.

Our family resolution is to learn how to bargain at the markets,  explore Israel, and to lose the 10 pounds we gained after our USA vacation. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy Everything!

Wow, what an eventful December!   We started the month off Chanukah in Israel,  our first orthodox Jewish wedding (post will follow), and a long journey to the U.S. with both Scottie and I getting air sick.

On the 16th of December we headed to Boise to celebrate my nephew Kian's Baptism and Christmas.  It was great to catch up with family and finally get to meet my cutie godson!  Makai was great with Kian.  He loved putting his hand on Kian's head.  A few times he tried snuggling with Kian not understanding why he can't lay on his 4 month old cousin's stomach to sleep.   One night at Kip and Dawn's house, Scott found Makai rocking Kian in his car seat trying to give him kisses.

Look Ma!  The muffin man!

The rest of the week was filled with a few days of sledding, a party at the Bourlands, and of course a Santa sighting!

Giving Auntie Laiena a thank you kiss.

When Makai woke up on Christmas morning he wasn't sure what to do with the presents under the tree.  He pointed, walked away from them and then decided to pick one up and hand it to Auntie Dawn.  We then headed to Oma's house.  Santa visited that night and filled her living room with presents.  

Then we were back in the air and off to Houston for two days where we celebrated the holidays with the Nguyen side. James caught me some fresh fish just like I asked!   Makai spent an afternoon gardening with Yaya (grandpa) and from what I hear he loved to shovel.   He also loved to play with his bestie Maya.

Jana's plate of fresh fish.  I saved half of one for Scott and ate the rest.

Gi Ba, these are for us?!?!  What do we do with them?

 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

When Makai woke up this morning there was about an inch or two of fresh snow on the ground!  After breakfast, we got dressed to play.  He is definitely an island boy.  At first he didn't want to put his feet in the snow.  Once I sat down and played a bit he joined in.  His excursion lasted about 3 minutes literally (only because i video tapped  it).  He started babbling and pointing towards the patio.  When I asked him to show me what he wanted he walked to the sliding glass door on the patio and started hitting the glass. I opened the door and he happily walked in.  He then realized the toys he wanted to play with were outside so he went back out, grabbed them, and headed back inside.  We played let's water the plants inside.