27 December 2005
At 5 o'clock sharp in the morning, the alarm
went off. Well, actually Norma woke us just a minute or so before
the alarm would have gone off. Then began the last frantic minutes,
trying to make sure that we had not forgotten anything important.
As a matter of fact, because it was in the refrigerator we nearly
did forget David's entire insulin supply!
Then we had to get everything into the rented
Camry: 5 large suitcases, one medium U-Haul box (with 35 snakes
inside it!), a carry-on bag of maximum size, a carry-on backpack,
and, of course, kitty Katom in his traveling cage. It had taken several
attempts to get his tranquilizer pill down his throat.
So, off we went, feeling rather packed into
the car, with kitty frequently meowing his protest as he looked
out of his cage on daddy David's lap. We had intended to leave at
5:30, but it was more like 5:45 or 5:50 before we actually pulled
out of the driveway.
Luckily, traffic was quite light almost all
of the way, and we arrived at our first destination, the APHIS
office of the USDA near the Los Angeles airport, just shortly after
7:30 a.m. We needed their signature and official stamp on the document
from the veterinarian, certifying the all the snakes were healthy.
This is where we hit our first snag. The man at the office informed
me that ALL of the vets were over at the airport inspecting a shipment
of horses that had just arrived that morning. He said that they weren't
expected back for 2 hours. Since our flight was scheduled for 12:10,
we were supposed to be checking in at the airport by 9:10 (3 hours
before the flight), and we still needed to turn our rental car in.
First, we hoped that the vets might return sooner. We drove a short
distance, got something to drink, went to the bathroom, gave some tsedakah,
and returned to the APHIS office. The vets were still not back. So
we had to go return the car and get to the airport.
Before we could check the box in with the snakes
in it, we needed the veterinary form, so I hailed a taxi and
headed back to the APHIS office. This time, we were in luck. The
vets had returned, the document was signed and sealed, and I hopped
back into the waiting taxi and got back to the airport. The taxi cost
was a little more than the cost of the permit.
Now we were, of course, flying El Al, the safest
airline in the world. The down side is that they check EVERYTHING.
They had to paw through all of our suitcases and carry-ons, and
they had to open the snake box and see that there really were snakes
in there and that there was nothing hazardous with them. Before they
even finished going through our carry-ons (David's contained almost
nothing besides his medicines, which they had to check carefully)
they sent us scurrying through security to the gate and onto the airplane,
Before the plane left the gate, they brought our carry-ons to us as
we sat in our seats!
The flight left a little late, but it went
fairly uneventfully, though perhaps a bit more turbulent than
usual. I had completely forgotten to order vegetarian meals, but,
at least on the first leg (from LA to Toronto), they managed to
scrounge a couple for us. On the second leg, we just took the tray
without any entree at all. I think I actually slept quite a bit more
on both legs than I usually can.
28 December 2005
Upon our arrival in Israel, a volunteer from
AACI (the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel)
met us as we disembarked. She guided us through the arrival process
so graciously. What a wonderful greeting! The Misrad Klitah (absorption
office) at the airport was seriously under-staffed, since most
of their personnel were over at the old terminal, preparing to
receive the Nefesh B'Nefesh flight that was scheduled to arrive full
of olim chadashim (new immigrants) from New York just an hour or
so after our arrival. Nevertheless, they did manage to process us through,
including giving us our first sal klitah (absorption basket) payment
in cash: 1250 shekels (about $267) for each of us. During the time
we were in their office, they were also processing 6 other people from
3 different families, all from France. Despite my weak French, I was
actually able to be of some small assistance by coming up with the French
word for "rights".
Then we went down to claim our baggage. So
much time (over 2 hours) had passed since we arrived that our
baggage had been taken off of the carousel and placed on the floor
nearby. Everything seemed okay except that our cat, Katom, was
nowhere to be seen! We finally located him in the lost-and-found
area, and he seemed fine despite his long ordeal. So we packed all of
our things onto 2 carts and wheeled them out to the area where the
taxi would pick us up. One of the rights of olim chadashim is to receive
a free taxi ride to anywhere they choose in Israel!
It took a bit longer than usual for them to
find a taxi big enough for us and all of our things, but eventually
one was located, and we started on our way. By now, it was somewhere
around 8:00 p.m., and, of course, we were quite tired. Still, we
were glad to finally be on our way. Gradually, it became apparent
to me that our young Russian taxi driver, who spoke essentially no
English, did not really know where, exactly, Tsfat was! Not only would
I have to direct him to our house, I would first have to direct him
to Tsfat, all in Hebrew! Fortunately, I did know the way quite well,
and the only Hebrew words I had to know were "yashar" (straight),
"smolah" (left), and "yaminah" (right). The only part that made me slightly
nervous is that I knew, from experience last summer, that following
highway 65 through Afula could be just a bit tricky. Luckily, I was able
to find the way with no problem. Just another of the many ironies
of Israel: an American ole chadash (new immigrant) directing a Russian/Israeli
to Tsfat, in Hebrew!
When we were not too far from Tsfat, I called
Zion, our builder, using the driver's cell phone, and arranged
for him to meet us near the spot in Tsfat where we would leave the
main road and go towards our house. When we got to our house, we
quickly unloaded our stuff and got it into the house. Since the heat
was not yet installed (and most of the faucets, drains, and toilets
were also not yet working!), Zion had arranged for us to spend the
night in a room in the basement of his mother's house on the other
side of town. Since I wasn't sure exactly what the arrangements would
be, we decided to leave Katom in his cage in the house. So he and the snakes
spent the first night in our new house without us!
29 December 2005
Tsfat feels very cold at this time of year,
although the temperatures have actually been well above freezing.
So by Thursday afternoon Zion got a kerosene heater for us, with
a good supply of kerosene, so that we could at least heat our bedroom
in the new house. He also got some additional plumbing working for
us. Besides all this, he got us connected with the best furniture
store in town, so that we could get some essentials. We ended up
spending $4000 (!) on a bed (actually 2 very basic twin beds that
we put next to each other, since this seemed cheaper than getting a
single fancier bed for 2), a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a washer,
a dryer, a blender/food processor combo, an MP3-capable CD and radio
boom box, and several small appliances, all of which they were able
to deliver the same day! A representative from the cable company (HOT,
that's its name, believe it or not!) came out and got us signed up
for cable, which is actually a cheaper as well as quicker way to get
telephone and high-speed internet services. She was really better
at English than she gave herself credit for. So David got considerably
more than the new house for his 50th birthday, which was actually
that very day (December 29)!
30 December 2005
On Friday morning, we walked to the market
(probably a bit more than a mile away) and back in order to
get a few more groceries. In the afternoon, I got a call from
the ISP who will actually be providing the cable internet connection.
He's got us signed up for high-speed access over the cable as soon
as it is installed.
31 December 2005
I had found out from our neighbor, who is an
Ashkenazi rabbi from Southern California, that Shabbat morning
services at the nearest synagogue (Sephardi) would begin at 7:40
a.m. So we got up in time (not so difficult, since we're not quite
fully on Israeli time yet and tend to wake up early anyway), and
headed down there. With some minimal help from a couple of guys sitting
near us, we were able to follow quite a bit of the service, including
the Torah reading. The only familiar melody, though, was "Ma oz tsur",
although they were singing some other words, which I think might
have been from a psalm. It was just a bit surrealistic hearing a bunch
of Sephardim lustily singing what is essentially a German chorale!
The Torah scrolls were in exquisitely beautiful
cases in the Sephardi style. The cases are hard and open up on
hinges. The scrolls remain in the cases and are read in a vertical
position. The trope is different from Ashkenazi trope. There is no
gabai, but when the reader had any trouble (which wasn't very often
at all, by the way), a whole chorus of voices would rise up from
the congregation to help him get it right. If I'm not mistaken, I think
that they read the entire parashah for this week. Although it may not
become our regular congregation, this will not be the last time that
we attend services there.
The weather on Shabbat (December 31) was mostly
overcast, but the sun did shine some, and it did not seem particularly
gray in general. There was a fairly good breeze, though, so it
was still quite chilly out, even in the late morning.
On Shabbat morning, we looked out our bedroom
window and noticed, for the first time, that someone about a
quarter of a mile northwest of us has several horses. There's a black
one, a bay, and at least 3 buckskins.
1 January 2006
On Sunday morning, we planned to go into town
to run several errands and to help David get a little better
orientation to downtown Tsfat. Zion called us and said that he
would be coming by and could take us to town, so we rode in with
him.
The first stop was Zion's office so that I
could check my e-mail on his computer. I spent most of the time
deleting junk and semi-junk mail. I only sent out one brief e-mail,
to Norma, so that she would know that we're okay.
We stopped at a pet store and bought some food
and kitty litter for Katom. We were relieved that they offered
free delivery in the evening (accomplished very nicely except
for some very understandable complications due to an almost complete
lack of street signs and the fact that the "street" really doesn't
quite get to our house yet!).
At Bank HaPoalim we had to open a different
account than the one that I opened last summer, since I now am
an oleh instead of a tourist. However, although he could reserve
a number for the account, he couldn't actually open it, since we
don't have our teudat zehut (identity card) yet. We tried to get them
last week, but misrad hapnim (the ministry of the interior) told us
that we couldn't get them for 2 weeks, something which I think is not
actually correct. Also, I think the ladies at the misrad klitah (absorption
ministry) at the airport forget to give us our copies of the papers we
signed there. I'll see if I can get AACI (the Association of Americans
and Canadians in Israel) or NBN (Nefesh B'Nefesh) to help us sort all of
this out tomorrow on the phone.
We checked out most of the downtown area of
Tsfat and bought several other items that we needed. We ended
up at the little market, where we bought more groceries and a few
more kitchen items. Then we waited for a taxi to take us back home.
I'm not sure that the one we took was actually the one that I called
(using a number that Zion had given me), but his price was not the minimum
price that we had learned from our neighbor, Mordecai, we should be able
to get. Still, we were too tired to care that much, and so we bit the bullet
and got back home.
Meanwhile, the HOT representative (HOT, as
you recall, is the cable company) called and said that they
could not accept a non-Israeli credit card. Since we couldn't
open an Israeli bank account without our teudot zehut, we seemed
to be in a bind. Finally, she said that we could pay cash for 6 months
in advance (about 1485 shekels, which is just over $300). I used the
ATM to withdraw enough money from one of my U.S. accounts to be able
to do this. Later she called and said that even cash was not good enough
to get the telephone. So, we'll just get the cable and the internet, the
latter of which is really the whole reason for all of this anyway. With
the internet, we can do VoIP (voice over internet protocol), using some
service like Skype, to call the U.S. She will come out to get the cash
tomorrow, and then the installation can be scheduled, probably later
this week.
The electricity to our house is still jerry-rigged,
with both Mordecai and us getting power from a single cable running
from the house of a nearby-neighbor (it's metered separately so
that the neighbor does not end up paying, too!). This means that we
really don't have much power; even a pot to warm water could cut off
the electricity to both us and Mordecai. Now, Mordecai and Naomi, his
wife, will be leaving tomorrow for a 2 or 3 week visit in the U.S., so
that will ease the situation slightly, but we still will certainly
not be able to operate any major electrical appliances, including the
heater/AC (which still hasn't been installed yet anyway!). So we continue
to heat and even cook using only a kerosene heater. Quite a trick! Still,
the warmed, canned beans and fried potatoes and onions tasted quite delicious.
It's a little like camping with the important differences that we have
a roof over our heads and the room is reasonably warm. Zion says that
it will be 7-10 days until we get the proper electrical hook-up, so I'm
hoping it will all be ready within 2 weeks. I wouldn't bet too much on
it, though.
2 January 2006
Today, they began work on the railings for
the stairs. They set up the vertical support posts and measured,
but now they have to go back and actually make the railings themselves,
so it will be several days, at least, before they can finish the
installation.
Yasmin, the cable representative, came out
and collected the money today. She said the cable installers
will be here tomorrow morning. With a lot of luck, we MAY have
cable (but no TV, so we can't even be sure that it will work) and,
most importantly, an internet connection.
David & I walked over to the nearest drug
store and market to get a few items today. We also stopped and
had falafel at a stand there, and it was the best meal we've had
since we arrived in Israel. It was of comparable quality to the
falafel that I ate nearly every day last summer at the University
of Haifa!
They installed the tiles on the wall behind
the kitchen sink today. They look very nice.
Zion says that the AC units will be installed
on Thursday, that the bathroom sinks will be installed tomorrow,
and that the railings, including those for the stairs and those
on the balconies, will be installed soon. I think the electricity
will be the biggest delaying factor, but, who knows?
3 January 2006
The kerosene heater barely worked last night.
It sputtered and sputtered all night and finally went out entirely
at about 5:00 a.m. Luckily, we kept fairly warm under the blanket
and slept reasonably well.
We decided today to get our own kerosene heater,
figuring that it could serve as backup heating even when we
do have all the electricity working properly. But we had to wait
for all the various installers, so we couldn't leave in the morning.
By the time I left to go into town to buy the heater, it was about
2:00. I went by myself because David needed to wait here for the cable
installers. More on that later... :-)
I took a taxi into town, but when I got to
the store it was closed. The taxi driver said it might open
again at 4:00, so I figured I'd just wander around town for
a couple of hours. I found another grocery store that had some
different items from the 2 grocery stores that we already knew
about, and I also found a nice produce store. Most of the stores
were closed, though. Many will probably open again later for the
evening. When I went back to the appliance store just after 4:00, it
was still not open. I hung around for another half hour, thinking it
might open by 4:30 (there was no sign at all telling their hours of
business). Finally, I asked a guy in another shop, across the street,
and he said that they don't open at all on Tuesday evenings! So my
whole trip into town was basically a waste, other than a few items
I bought at the grocery stores.
When I called the taxi driver who had taken
me into town (he's also the one that Mordecai recommended as having
the best rate), he was out of town as he had told me he might be.
So I decided to take the bus, which actually turned out to be very
easy and very cheap. So I learned how to get between our house and
downtown quickly, easily, and cheaply! The cheap taxi rate is 12.50
shekels per trip, while the bus costs only 3.80 shekels. Of course,
two can travel as cheaply as one in the taxi but must pay twice for
the bus. Still, this means that both of us can travel to town for 7.60
shekels each way, which is still cheaper than 12.50 shekels. So we'll
probably only use the taxi when we're in a hurry or have so much to
carry that we want door-to-door service. The bus stop is maybe a quarter
of a mile or so from the house.
Meanwhile, back at the house, the cable installers
finally arrived. So, it's a good thing that David stayed there.
They got everything hooked up, but I they had no directions
for connecting a Mac. I finally connected with user support,
they found a problem on their end, and they fixed it. So, now I'm
connected to the internet at home!!!! Hurray!!!!!!!
4 January 2006
This morning, we went in first thing to buy
ourselves a kerosene heater (Zion's heater sputtered out at
about 4:00 a.m. this morning!). We traveled into town together
by bus, which means that we got to see some parts of Tsfat that
neither of us had seen before. While we were there, we also got:
a TV, a dishwasher, a kitchen stove, a dinette set with a table and
4 chairs, 2 more chairs, a matching couch and love seat, a deep frier
(for falafel!), and a crock pot (slow cooker). All of this cost just
slightly over $3000 (after some good discounts that Meir gave us), which
we paid partly from David's B of A account and partly on my Visa card.
Isn't the world an amazingly small place!
We did some grocery shopping and returned home
by bus, so that we'd be here by the time our things were delivered.
After that, we walked over to the grocery store in the center called
Sha'arei Tsfat (Gates of Tsfat), where we had the same really delicious
falafel that we had had yesterday. We had planned to take the bus
from there into town, but after waiting a while, we decided just to
walk. It's downhill most of the way, and it really was quite a nice
walk. The other way would be QUITE another matter! We walked over to
the 3rd grocery store, the one that I had found yesterday (it's called
Supermart Rav Chesed) and bought quite a few items. Then we just called
Asher, the taxi driver, to pick us up and take us home, since we had 6
bags of groceries.
I called today and made a dental appointment
tomorrow for David in Tsfat. He has a tooth that has been aching
quite a bit since before we even left California. Our lawyer's
brother, Alan, is a dentist in Haifa in the same building where our
lawyer, Scott's, office is, so we'll travel there tomorrow by bus.
It should be a GREAT adventure! I checked the bus company website
and found that the buses leave about every half hour and that the fare
is 34 shekels per person. Then, of course, we'll have to pay the local
fare in Haifa, which I know is 5.50 shekels per person per trip. Since
$1.00 = 4.5 shekels (approximately), these are very reasonable fares
(I'm sure they're subsidized by the government).
5 January 2006
Last night, just about the time we were going
to bed, the electricity went out. We were basically done using
it for the day, and the new kerosene heater was providing adequate
light in the bedroom. I really should have called Zion right away,
but for some stupid reason, I decided to wait until morning. So we
had to get ready to go to Haifa by flashlight. Besides that, we had
lit the heater so early in the evening and not stopped it, filled
the tank, and re-lit it later that it burned out before morning. So
it was also rather cold in the house.
Anyway, we managed to leave the house by about
6:30 and got to Haifa way early. All the bus connections worked
out fine, and there really were, thankfully, no surprises there.
We were in the dentist's office a little before 9:30, although our
appointment was for 10:45. The dentist actually took David in a little
early. He fixed one obvious problem (something that needed to be glued
back in place) and sent him to another location down the road for complete
x-rays so that he would be able to see any others problems that there
might be. We got a hard copy of the x-ray, and Alan, the dentist, will
receive his by e-mail. After he looks at that, he'll call us, and we
can decide together what steps need to be taken next.
After getting the x-ray, we took the bus up to
the University of Haifa, and I took David to eat falafel at the
Cafe Deshe, a little stand run by the students association and
subsidized by the University. Last summer, I had falafel there nearly
every day for lunch. The guy who makes the falafel got to know me
quite well, and he immediately recognized me today, 5 months later!
The falafel was absolutely delicious, as always, and I introduced him
to David, too.
After that, we made the bus trip home: a local
bus in Haifa, the intercity bus to Tsfat, and a local Tsfat
bus out to near our house. We got home a little before 4:00 I think.
This evening, we had beans with kosher parve
(neither dairy nor meat) wieners heated on top of the kerosene
heater, corn shnitzels (also kosher parve), toast with jam, milk,
and a chocolate bar. So we're certainly not starving! We also took
a few minutes to see what channels we can get on the cable TV.
6 January 2006
We kept nice and toasty warm last night with our
kerosene heater, and we both slept quite well. I think we're just
about past our jet lag now.
When we opened the blinds this morning, there
was a whole herd of cows just across the street. A little later,
the man who walks his dog by here each morning came by, and apparently
the dog spooked the cattle a bit. They went running on down the
road, and it was at that point that we saw that one had a calf with
her. He was so cute!
We went into town this morning on the bus. Our
first goal was to order gas service. We went to the PazGas office
to do this. The woman working there spoke English quite well, and
the process turned out to be fairly simple and not too expensive. They
will come out to install it next Monday morning. We will get 2 small
tanks. When one becomes empty, we switch to the other and order a refilled
tank. While we were in town, we got some new shoes for David, some fuzzy
slippers for each of us, some gourd seeds, a challah (for Shabbat), and
some additional groceries. Just as we were getting ready to head home,
Zion happened to stop by and gave us a ride.
I see that I forgot to mention some of yesterday's
news. The cabinet people came while we were in Haifa and installed
some very lovely kitchen cabinets of high quality. Also, the railing
people came back and welded the railings along the stairs to the
vertical posts that they had set up earlier. The welding, though,
is of rather poor quality, so more work will have to be done in order
for it to be acceptable.
7 January 2006
We had planned to so to services again this Shabbat,
but David was too exhausted, so we just stayed home. We did go
for a walk later in the morning, exploring an area not far from
here where we had not gone before.
A trio of horses walked by on the dirt road in front
of our house at one point today. It's so wonderful to see them
and the cows, just running loose in the area!
The new kerosene heater that we bought just a few
days ago is now giving us trouble. We'll probably have to clean
the wick. We tried this afternoon but without much success. It looks
like it's going to be a very cold night for us tonight. Darn!
8 January 2006
Well, the heater worked well enough to keep us from
being too cold, but it was still pretty chilly this morning.
We ate breakfast and caught the bus into town. We
went to Zion's office, but no one was there yet. Fortunately, the
sun was shining, so we basked for a few minutes until Molly, Zion's
sister who works in his office, arrived. Zion has promised that Molly
would accompany us to the Interior Ministry Office to help us get
our teudot zehut (our Israeli identity cards). She also needed to go
to the same office for herself, so she was quite happy to accompany us
and to help us. On the way, we stopped by the post office (which is near
their office) and got the ball rolling on getting our snail mail. But
about that time it began to rain, and we had not brought our umbrellas.
Fortunately, a friend of hers was there with his car, and he gave us a
ride down to Misrad HaPnim (the office of the interior). It was a good
thing that Molly was with us, because things got typically complicated.
We needed copies of several documents, but fortunately there was a shop
nearby where we could get them. While we were there, we also noticed
that they sold watch batteries, so we got batteries for David's insulin
pump. Finally, everything seemed to be in order, and the man said our
teudot zehut would be mailed to us (at Zion's office) in about a week.
Then we went downstairs in the same building to the
supermarket. This one is MUCH larger than any of the others that
we've seen in Tsfat, and it's better organized, too. So we did some
good shopping, including buying an electric heater! We had way too
much stuff to carry on the bus with just 2 of us (Molly had already
left), and, besides, the bus that goes near our house doesn't go by
this market, so we'd have to ride 2 different busses. So we called
Asher, the taxi driver. He arrived there very quickly, helped us load
all our groceries into the trunk, and brought us right home quickly.
That was very nice!
The electric heater is good. It's not powerful enough
to warm a whole room, but it does helped to take the chill off,
and it can keep us quite warm if we put it right by our feet as we
sit on the couch. Later, it will help to keep the bedroom from being
too cold during the night. This evening, we watched parts of several
movies on TV, including one about a gay boy and his boyfriend in a British
high school and their struggles with closet issues. It was really quite
well done, but we don't know the title, since we missed the beginning
of it.
9 January 2006
We waited all morning for the installer from the gas
company (Pazgaz) to come. Finally, just before noon, I called the
office to see what was up. Eventually, I managed to talk to the same
person that we had talked to and paid when we ordered the service. She
apologized for the overbooking and said that the installer would be
here in about an hour. He actually arrived just before 2;00 (not so
surprising, because "an hour" here almost always means "about 2 hours").
The installer didn't speak English, but he went about his work quite
efficiently, which included drilling a small hole in the concrete wall.
He got it all set up but informed me (I managed enough Hebrew to communicate
a little with him) that the gas tanks themselves would be delivered
later, about 5:00. Sure enough, they were, and we were able to cook
on the stove top for the first time! Yay!
Although it was sunny and clear early in the morning,
it was drizzly and rainy much of the day. We didn't go anywhere.
In the evening, we watched Mary Poppins on TV, a movie which I somehow
had never seen before. It was quite enjoyable.
10 & 11 January 2006
Well, here it is, the evening of the 11th here in Israel,
and I still haven't written the update for the 10th. So I'll just
combine them.
Actually, the weather has been rainy and cold both days.
On Tuesday the 10th, we went out, but the only thing we actually
got done was to pay 12.5 shekels each at the post office (that's less
than $3) for our first 6 months of health insurance.
On the 11th, we got much more done. We started out at
Misrad HaKlitah (the ministry of absorption) office here in Tsfat,
where, after waiting for quite a while we met our counselor, Emma. Unfortunately,
she speaks very little English. The main reason that we were there was
to turn in a form so that our sal klitah (absorption basket) payments
can be deposited directly into our bank account. We had set up a single
account for both of us at the bank, but she told us that we have to have
a different account for each teudat oleh (immigrant certificate), so,
since we each have our own teudat oleh, we must have separate accounts.
She really did try to work around this problem, even calling the main
office in Jerusalem, who didn't answer for quite some time, to find our
what could be done. They weren't able to do anything, so we trekked on over
to the bank and opened another account. We needed to go to that bank building
anyway, because, on a lower floor of the same building, we needed to go
to the office of kupat cholim macabi (Maccabee Sick Fund), the HMO that
we chose to enroll in. Luckily, Malkah, the woman there who enrolled us,
spoke English quite fluently, so that went quite smoothly, and now we have
our health plan cards.
After that, we walked over to the shuk (the open-air
market) that only happens on Wednesdays. This was our first visit
to the shuk, and we were quite impressed. We saw more different vegetables
and fruits than we had seen in all the markets we have visited in
Tsfat (4 of them!). We bought bananas, apples, fennel, giant radishes,
orange and yellow bell peppers, cucumbers, a piece of a very large
yellow-fleshed squash, garlics, carrots, and yams. Then we headed for
the nearby bus stop to wait for the bus.
And we waited and waited and waited. It was quite cold,
but at least there was a shelter with a dry bench to sit on. And
the young man who sat down just to my left was very easy on the eyes,
too! Finally, the bus arrived, but it was already quite full of people,
and by this time there were quite a few of us waiting to get on, too.
We all squeezed in, but just barely. Of course we were standing and also
packed in like sardines. There were lots of young people, so I presume
that some schools must have just let out a few minutes before. But we made
it safe and sound to our bus stop and got off and walked the rest of the
way home without incident.
Today, there was heavy fog in Tsfat all day. So it felt
even colder than it was. I don't think the temperature even got to
50˚F (10˚C) today. Nevertheless, despite the wintry weather, we saw
quite a few flowers blooming all around town. The wet weather, unfortunately,
causes the dirt road to our house to turn to mud. Luckily, there are
LOTS of little rocks and gravel, but we still do get our shoes pretty
muddy by the time we get home. We now take them off just inside the
door and wear the cozy slippers that we bought last week.
Shortly after we got back from our crowded bus ride,
I got a call from Zion, our builder, telling me that our teudot
zehut (identity cards) were ready for us at Misrad HaPnim (the interior
ministry office). He had done some calling, or we might not have gotten
them for a week or two still. You see, he's a native of Tsfat, so just
about everybody in town knows who he is!
Despite all the produce that we had gotten at the shuk,
we still had many things on our market list that we needed to get.
Since the best supermarket that we have discovered so far is in the
same building as Misrad HaPnim, we decided to go into town again in
the afternoon, pick up our teudot zehut, and do some grocery shopping.
So that's what we did. Our bus, #4, doesn't go to that part of town,
but it's not too long a walk from the nearest bus stop, and it's downhill
all the way. Luckily, almost no one was at the office when we got there,
and our teudot zehut were waiting for us, so that went exceptionally well.
Then we went downstairs, visiting the hardware store first and then the
market. We bought lots of stuff, so we'll have plenty of good food to eat
for several days or even a week or two.
The number of different kinds of frozen vegetarian fake
meats here is quite astounding, even at the smaller grocery stores.
There are several shnitzels that are made of soy, or corn, or vegetables,
or some combination of these, all in a kind of breaded patty. There
are also fake chicken steaks, fake sausage patties, and fake wieners, both
long and very short. All of them are certified kosher pareve (that is, they
can be eaten with either a milk or a meat meal). Since we're both vegetarians,
these are WONDERFUL for us, and they're very tasty, too!
With so many groceries to carry, we, of course, called
our faithful taxi driver, Asher, who showed up quite promptly and
took us home. What a great guy he is!
12 January 2006
This morning Emma, from the absorption office, called.
This time, she had a translator to speak to us in English. They
gave us the details about our ulpan (intensive Hebrew language study).
Unfortunately, there are not currently enough students to start an
ulpan in Tsfat, so we will have to travel to Karmiel for our ulpan.
This is a bus ride of about 40 minutes from the central bus station
in Tsfat, but, of course, we have to take the local bus (#4) to get
to the central bus station. All in all, we will probably have to leave
the house between 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning in order to get to ulpan,
which begins at 8:00 and goes to 12:30. Oh well! It IS very important
for us both to learn Hebrew.
We went into town today and did several things. First,
we made the last payment (I hope!) needed to get our electrical connections
to the electric company. Still, we won't actually GET the connection
until next week sometime (this after paying a total of something like
$1700!). Anyway, whenever we DO get connected it will be most welcome.
This morning, the electricity went out, and Zion had to come over to
get it going again. Then, this afternoon, they had to come over again
to get it going. The guy instructed us this time to use only one major
electrical appliance at a time. So, if we want to use the hot water pot
(for tea), or the toaster, or the hot water heater (for a shower or
bath), or the microwave, or the oven, we have to turn off the electric
heater. Oh well! It should be less than a week now until we get a proper
electrical hook-up.
Another task we needed to do in town was to open our
accounts at the bank. We were not able to do this before because
we didn't have our identity cards. Now that we have them, we went
in and actually opened the accounts (they had only reserved the account
NUMBERS for us before). The amount of paper work and the number of
signatures to open a bank account here is amazing! We must have been
in the bank at LEAST an hour (or maybe more!), just opening 2 simple
accounts. Anyway, Meir, the bank guy (who is originally also from the
U.S.) did finally get us all set up, and we deposited a bit of money
into each of our accounts. While I was there, I also managed to get
enough cash at the ATM out of 2 different U.S. credit union accounts
of mine to complete the payment for the electrical hook-up.
I also got over to the post office only a few minutes
before they closed to pick up out post office box keys. Mail is not
actually delivered to our house here but instead to a kiosk of post
office boxes right by the bus stop where we usually catch the bus. So,
we FINALLY have our official postal address here in Israel:
Arlan Wareham
David Fyffe
P.O. Box 8571
Tsfat, ISRAEL
or, for those of you who know Hebrew and whose computers
can display it also:
ארלן וורהם
דויד פייף
ת. ד. 8517
צפת, ישראל
I had asked Molly before I left Zion's (and Molly's)
office if there would be a charge for the keys, and she said that
there should not be. She also said I should call her if they DID try
to charge me. Well, they DID! So I called her and she had me put Shimon,
the guy at the post office, on the line. According to David, who was
sitting in her office during the conversation, she really balled him
out (in Hebrew, of course, so David didn't know EXACTLY what she was
saying, but he did catch something about olim chadashim, new immigrants!).
Shimon gave me the keys after that without charging me the 33 shekels
that he had initially told me I would have to pay. By the way, if you
did send us any mail at any previous address that I might have given out,
it will PROBABLY still get to us, since our names should be tied to this
address. Still, this IS Isarel, so, who knows?
The last thing that we needed to do in town was to pick
up a crock pot that Meir (a different Meir), the one at the appliance
and furniture store, had included in our last purchase but which
had not been in stock at the time. We went over there, picked it
up, and called Asher to pick us up and take us home, both because
the crock pot box was quite large and also because it was raining.
In fact, it was raining or at least drizzling all morning
with fairly heavy fog, as well. By afternoon, it cleared some, but
I think it's only a lull in the storm. The bad weather is still supposed
to continue for several more days, from what I have heard. There was
even a prediction of snow possible for tomorrow, but locals seem to doubt
that it will actually snow this time.
13 January 2006
This morning we got up and were actually able to take
a nice, much-appreciated, hot shower! Then, after a good breakfast,
we went into town to get some things before Shabbat.
We got a couple of nice challot (braided bread for Shabbat)
at our favorite bakery, got a few other miscellaneous supplies for
the house and some milk, and headed back home. The bus back was a little
crowded, but at least we did both get seats.
When we got home, they were busily working to get the
sinks installed in our upstairs bathrooms. Kitty Katom stayed in
the bed under the blanket all day, which he actually does quite often.
Today, though, was particularly scary, with strange voices, and loud,
frightening noises. But just as he had hoped, no one even noticed the
strange lump in the bed! :-)
Today started out nice and mostly sunny, although it later
got overcast and threatened to rain. I don't think it actually rained
much, if any, right here at our house, though I did hear a bit of thunder
late in the afternoon and even saw a flash of lightening out of the
corner of my eye.
Just before Shabbat started, I swept the whole house,
something which we had not yet done since we have been here. It
really does make the place look much nicer, I think.
We had a wonderful Shabbat dinner this evening. Besides
the challah, we had baked potatoes with butter, fake chicken shnitzels
with something called bulgarit (I think that's the right transliteration)
that seems about half way between sour cream and cream cheese, and
a fruit salad containing orange pieces (with their skin), apple pieces,
raisins, and canned pineapple pieces, all in pineapple juice. It was
a delicious and unusual fruit salad. I really felt stuffed and satisfied.
14 January 2006
Well, we made it to services this morning, and I followed
a bit more than I had when we were last there, 2 weeks ago. The service
was more straight-forward (and there were less people there, too),
since last time it was the Shabbat during Khanukah, whereas this Shabbat
was just a regular Shabbat.
At one point, one of the leaders came over and asked us
if we were kohanim (priests)! Of course, we said, "Lo" (no). Then,
later he came and motioned for us to come up to the Torah. Since only
one of us could go, it just happened to be David. Somewhat to his horror,
he found out that he was getting an aliyah (being called up to bless and
witness the reading of a part of the Torah reading for the week)! They were
very patient, helpful, and respectful, and they helped him read the Torah
blessing, which were printed on a plaque in the area where they read Torah
(near the middle of the room), so it all went off fine. What a nice honor!
We had 3 nice, delicious meals today, which we prepared
cooperatively (as we generally have been doing here).
The rest of the day was just a bit boring. It was too cold,
and there was too much chance of rain for us to take a walk. Still,
we had a restful day, and David also got a nice long nap. This is
important, since tomorrow we will have to get up at about 5:40 a.m.
in order to be sure that we get to our ulpan in Karmiel by 8:00. Of course,
we'll also go to bed quite a bit earlier than usual! So a new phase of
our adventure begins tomorrow as we begin to learn Hebrew very much in
earnest!
15 January 2006
The day began at about 5:35, the time we had set
the alarm to go off. Of course, we were already awake a little before
(I hate alarms going off when I'm sound asleep!). So we got up,
ate breakfast, gathered our notebooks and the directions to the
ulpan, and left the house at about 6:25. The walk to the bus stop
takes about 10 minutes, then we waited for 5 or 10 minutes for the
next bus, and then we rode to the main station, which only takes about
5 minutes. We got there in plenty of time to catch the next bus #361
to Karmiel, which left the station promptly at 7:00.
When we got to Karmiel (at about 7:40), it was raining.
We had only one umbrella, because the small one that David had
had fell out of his pocket somewhere on Friday. So we took a taxi
to the address for the ulpan class. It actually was a good thing
that we did, because I would have gone the wrong way based on the
directions I had! The taxi only cost 12.1 shekels (about $2.70).
We got to the building way early (about 7:45), and
it was still locked. Luckily, there was a small area under cover
and out of the rain where we could wait. Karmiel is not as cold as
Tsfat because it's at a much lower elevation.
Eventually, everyone got there, the building was
unlocked, and the class began. The teacher, of course, was expecting
us, and she is VERY nice. Her name is Tovah (which is the feminine
form of the Hebrew adjective that means "good"). She is very good
with the class, which is almost all beginners or nearly beginners.
David will learn a lot. I, however, already know essentially all of
what she is teaching now, which is not surprising, since I spent 4 weeks
last summer in the intermediate ulpan class. So Tovah is arranging
for me to be in a more advanced class, which I will start on Tuesday
(on Monday, we won't be able to go to class because we have an appointment
at 10:00 with Emma in the absorption office here in Tsfat). I'm going
to miss the people in Tovah's class, though, because it's quite an interesting
group. We didn't meet all of them formally, but I think we're the only
ones from the U.S., although certainly not the only English-speakers.
There is a couple from India, at least one couple from Brazil, and at
least one person from each of the following countries: Argentina, Uruguay,
Holland, Surinam (although he was most recently also in Holland),
and Ukraine. So there are quite a few Spanish-speakers in the class,
and it's a very international and diverse group of people, all of whom
have only recently made aliyah to Israel!
After class, we walked back towards the bus (the
rain had cleared several hours earlier, and the sun was shining).
We stopped at a falafel place to get some falafel for lunch. It was
fairly good, but not the best we've had. As I looked out the back
window of the falafel place, I saw that there was a store selling umbrella.
It was in a shopping plaza on a lower level. So when we finished eating,
we went around and went down the stairs to get an umbrella. They had
lots of pretty and inexpensive umbrellas. We found a rainbow one and
decided to get 2 to match. They were only 10 shekels each. It was
an interesting shop with lots of school supplies, games, and toys.
So we also got a set of dominoes, a set of playing cards, and a battery
re-charger (I brought one that I bought here in Israel last summer,
but I don't know where it is -- I think I may have packed it into the
shipment rather than putting it into our suitcases to travel on the plane
with us). There were several other shops in the same plaza, and we browsed
a bit more and bought a few more items. Then we headed on back and caught
the bus back to Tsfat. The local Tsfat bus (#4) was waiting at the station
when we got there, so we hopped right on and got home quite quickly.
After supper in the evening, I helped David with
his Hebrew writing. He is used to only the printed form of the letters,
such as one would see in books or on most signs. But many of the
letters look very different in the standard form of writing by hand,
which is the form we must use for our homework, of course, and is also
the form that the teachers uses when writing on the board and in hand-outs.
So it's absolutely crucial for him to be familiar with the hand-written
letters. I sat down with him, and we went through the letters one at
a time. I showed him how to write the letter, and them he wrote a whole
row of just that letter, saying its name each time he wrote it. We also
discussed some of the similarities between different letters and how
to distinguish them from each other.
Then we played a few rounds of dominoes, just for
fun. After that, David taught me how to play Rummy, and I proceeded
to trounce him thoroughly in every round! Beginners luck!
16 January 2006
Well, we went over to the absorption office today,
but the appointment was actually for 10:30 rather than 10:00
as I had thought. Anyway, we did get in, and now we are all set
up to receive our sal klitah (absorption basket) payments in our
bank accounts. Later, we also went to the bank and arranged it so
that David will be able to transfer money from his account to mine,
since the mortgage payments will come out of my account (which we also
signed for today). There's still some more paper work to be done for
the mortgage, and I still need to arrange for the required life and property
insurance. We will get some assistance from the government on our mortgage,
since that's one of the rights of olim chadashim (new immigrants). The
exact amount depends on some point system, so it has yet to be determined.
This afternoon, 2 different sets of workers showed
up at the house. The first set consisted of 2 men (both very easy
on the eyes, by the way) delivering the railings for our balconies.
Tomorrow, they will return to install them, but for right now, they're
all in our living room. They do look very nice. The second set of
workers came to start installing the A/C units. They should have been
here at least 2 weeks ago, but at least they're finally beginning. We
will have 7 different A/C systems, one in each room. They are also heating
systems, so we are really looking forward to having them. They only worked
on the biggest one, for the living room/kitchen area, and they didn't
even quite complete that yet, either. However, we won't actually be
able to use any of these units until we are connected to the regular
electricity. Fortunately, that should happen any day now. ... We hope....
17 January 2006
The day started again at 5:30 this morning. Again,
I awoke well before the alarm went off. Again we ate breakfast and
left the house at about 6:25, caught the #4 bus into town, and caught
the #361 bus to Karmiel. This morning, it left at about 6:50, so we
got to Karmiel plenty early. It wasn't raining, so it was pretty easy
to get to our classes. My new class is in a building that is much nearer
to the bus station. I found it quite easily.
The director of the ulpan talked to me and then placed
me in a class with the book that actually comes BEFORE the one that
I used last summer. But the class will be very good for me, since
the teacher gives us lots of practical examples and practice in useful
Hebrew words and phrases. The class actually has 2 different teachers,
and I haven't met the other one yet, but the only other American in
the class told me that the other teacher is also excellent. So I'm very
happy in the new class.
Most of the students in the new class are from various
parts of the former Soviet Union. One group is preparing to study
at Ort Braude College, an engineering school located in Karmiel. I
visited Ort Braude College last summer and talked with a faculty member
of the mathematics department there. He is Israeli, but he said ALL of
the other faculty members in the math department there (including the chair)
are Russian!
When the students in my class found out that I was
a math professor in the U.S., they immediately hoped that I could
help them with math. Of course, I will, but only for pay. It may be
a good source of some income for me at some point. I had thought that
tutoring might be a way to earn money here, and this may definitely
provide me with some connections.
Meanwhile, David is being more than challenged in
his class. I certainly understand the feeling, because I had a
similar feeling last summer at the beginning of my ulpan at the
University of Haifa. I told him to be very patient with himself and
to try not to panic, because he'll actually learn more than he thinks.
Of course, he has LOTS of homework, but I'll help him with it, and
it, too, will help him learn more.
After class, David & I met and ate falafel again
at the same place that we ate on Sunday. Then we headed for the
bus station and took the bus back to Tsfat.
At the Tsfat bus station, I inquired and found out
that we can buy a ticket that will give us 5 rides on the intercity
bus for the price of 4, and also we can get 10 rides on the local
Tsfat busses for the price of 8. I bought the local tickets (for 10
rides) for each of us when we got on the local bus to return home, and
tomorrow morning we'll each get a ticket for 5 rides on the intercity
bus. Emma, at the absorption office, had told us that they will reimburse
us for 90% of the bus tickets we use to get to ulpan in Karmiel, but
I don't know which price they calculate that from, and I also don't
know if that will include reimbursement for the local rides, something
which I rather doubt.
When we got home, we found that all the railings on
the balconies had been installed. They look really nice! As I
write this (at about 4:46 in the afternoon), the A/C guys have not
yet returned to continue their installation work.
18 January 2006
Another day of ulpan. We had a test right at the beginning
of my class today, which I had not realized was going to happen.
Still, it wasn't hard, and I think I only made a few minor mistakes.
I always do quite well on WRITTEN tests! It's the conversation that
I have trouble with.
After the test, we had the first break of the morning,
which lasts half an hour. During that time, Zion happened to call
me, saying the the electric company person was out. He put the
guy on the phone so I could give him some information, including
our mailing address and my teudat zehut (identity) number. So, I thought
that maybe the electricity would be hooked up by the time we got back.
Of course, it wasn't. I called Zion, he didn't think it would be hooked
up until maybe next Sunday. Hmmm. Well, EVENTUALLY it really will happen,
I'm sure! LOL
After the break, we did some work on declining prepositions
(that is, the different forms one uses depending on the gender,
person, and number), only a very small amount of which was actually
new to me (I had a couple of vowel sounds wrong). But, more importantly
for me, the teacher also had lots of illustrations of practical, everyday
phrases and situations where we would use these forms, and we practiced
many of them in class. Now THAT is useful to me!
After eating our daily falafel after class, we did
just a bit of shopping. We got a pad of small pieces of paper for
David to make vocabulary flash cards, we got a ruler, we got some
plastic protectors to carry our school things in, we got some tape,
we got a couple of coffee cups, we got some pens, and we got a mirror
(we had NO mirrors in the house!). Then we headed home. I was a little
tired, and David was exhausted. So, he's taking a nap, and I'm writing
this.
No more work that we could detect, at least, was done
on the house today. Although it was foggy and raining when we left
early this morning (the worst weather yet!), it is sunny and clear,
with a beautiful view of the Hula Valley from our house this afternoon.
There is quite a cool breeze outside, though. Right now, it's 4:33,
and the sun will set in about 20-30 minutes. Then I'll roll all the
blinds down to try to conserve what little heat we might have picked
up during the day.
19 January 2006
Today was a beautiful sunny day all day with only a
few clouds in the sky, both in Tsfat and in Karmiel.
Yesterday, when we were riding the bus, a guy got on
at Meron (a small town along the way) and dropped some coins. After
that, he sat down just across the aisle from me and we started talking
and found out that his aunt owns a gas station near Cal State San Bernardino
and that he had lived with her for a while and even taken some classes
at Cal State! His name is Pascal, and he lives in an even smaller
town called Gush Khalav. Today, he got on the bus again and we talked
some more. He rides the bus all the way to Haifa, where he is taking
a course to get a license to drive a taxi. When I asked some questions
about his family, it became apparent that he is a Christian Arab-Israeli.
We already knew that he loves this country and that he speaks fluent
Hebrew. When he asked about how we were related, I told him that we were
a couple. It took him just a half a second or so to get it, and then
he was fine with it. We'll look forward to seeing him on the bus every
weekday morning.
Today we completed our first week of ulpan. David says
that his Spanish has improved even more than his Hebrew. This is
because there are so many students in the class that he is in who
are from Latin America, and they are always talking to each other in
Spanish. Yesterday, when David told the class about himself, one of the
things he told them was that we have 35 snakes. So they asked him to bring
one to class. He did exactly that today. We took one of our prettiest,
a yearling name Gavnoni (which basically means "bumpy", a name we chose
because he had some bumps in his back, which seem to have gone away now),
and he was a big hit in David's class. We both were carrying all our things
in big blue plastic bags today, and it makes me chuckle just a bit to
think of all the people on the various busses we rode today who had no
clue that there was a snake on board!
Although nearly everyone else in MY class speaks Russian,
I haven't learned any of that language at all! But I know that
MY Hebrew is definitely improving. Today, I met the other teacher,
who teaches usually on Monday and Thursday. Her name is Aznat, and
she is also a very good teacher (as is Shuli, the teacher I had already
studied with on Tuesday and Wednesday). Both of them often spend some
time on a particular grammatical point and then do lots of examples where
we learn about practical, everyday uses of the words or expressions we
have learned, and we also get to practice them in class. Aznat also does
something really unique and interesting after the main break. She has us
take a passage of text or dialogue from the book and translate it into our
native language. Then she has us come up one by one with our translations
and with the book open to her but not to us. Then we look at our translation
but say the original Hebrew back to her. It sounds a little strange, but
it does seem to actually be very helpful. I'm happy to say that I did my
passage very well. It was about the menorah as a symbol of Israel.
When we came back to Tsfat, we went to Hiperneto, the
largest grocery store that we have found in town, to get things
on our grocery list. Because they wanted us to leave our bags by
the door and we really didn't want to leave Gavnoni unattended, David
waited outside while I got all the things on the list and got through
the line at the kupah (the cash register). The woman in front of me must
have had a very large family because she had a LOT of groceries. The lines
move more slowly in Israel because everyone has to bag their own groceries.
I eventually got through. I called both taxi drivers whose numbers were
in my phone, but neither was available, so we just hailed a taxi that
happened to be hanging around in front of the store (there are taxis EVERYWHERE
here in Israel!). It cost us 18 shekels instead of the 12.5 that Asher
charges, but we were just glad to get home, and there was no way that
we would take the bus with so many bags to carry, especially since we would
have had to take 2 different busses from there.
Zion had called me while I was waiting in line and had
told me that the regular electricity was finally hooked up, and, sure
enough, when we got home we found that it was. We also found that
they had unplugged essentially everything in the house, including the
refrigerator. Luckily, we discovered this pretty much right away and
got everything plugged back in.
20 January 2006
No ulpan today! So we slept in and got up late. We did
need to go into town to get challah for Shabbat, and we knew that
if we got there too late there might not be any really good challah
left. So we took the bus into town and got there by about 9:00, I think,
and got some good challah. Then we went on down the street to get some
other things we needed. We got a funnel, yams and a coconut from a little
produce store, an electric radiator with oil in it (2000 watts, the
same power as the little one we already have but a completely different
system), more thermal underwear, a bottle of sweet red wine, and some
spices (including curry powder) from a little store that specializes
in spices, nuts, beans, and grains.
I decided it was past time for me to get a haircut, so
Zion came along and took us to a shop where his cousin, also named
Zion, is a barber. I had to wait a little while, but I got a really
good haircut. Then Zion took us home, so we didn't need a taxi.
The wines we had gotten for previous Shabbats here were,
quite frankly, vile! So David decided to mull them yesterday. He
put orange rinds and pieces of orange, both with cloves stuck into
them, and cinnamon sticks and a cup of sugar and the bad wine from
2 different bottles all together into the crock pot and heated it all
night long. Then, today, he added the bottle of wine that I got today
(which, ironically, was very good all by itself despite being one of the
cheapest I could find!). The result of this was a very sweet and delicious
wine for this Shabbat (and probably about 3 more, too!).
So, we ate well today, and we were just a little warmer
from running BOTH heaters in the kitchen area. Tonight, we'll run
both of them in our bedroom, and it should be considerably warmer in
there.
This afternoon, a real storm came up, and it is still
continuing (it's about 8:00 p.m. as I write this). There has been
rain and fog and a strong, whistling wind. We are very thankful that
we don't have to go anywhere! We certainly hope that it will clear by
morning so that we can go to services. If it doesn't, we'll have to
stay home because we'd get soaked by the time we got to the synagogue!
Both last night and tonight, we used the jacuzzi that
is in the bathtub in our upstairs hall bathroom. It's really just
a bit small for 2 people at once, but it feels so good! Not only do
the jets stir the water vigorously, but it also has a built-in heater
with a thermostat, so the water stays nice and hot for as much time as
we want to spend there. When we get thoroughly warmed through and through,
we get out and feel warm for quite some time. It's one of the few real
luxuries that we have, and now that we have a good supply of electricity,
we can take full advantage of it.
21 January 2006
With both heaters in our bedroom, we finally had a really
good night's rest last night. I stayed under the blanket, but I
could put my ears or hands out without them getting cold. David had
thrown the blanket completely off by morning. We were so thankful for
the second heater (and for enough electricity to power it). Actually,
the electricity did get knocked out briefly during the night, probably
by the storm, but not enough for us to get cold.
When we woke up and opened the blinds this morning, we
saw that it was clear and sunny, a dramatic change from last night.
The storm had passed. There was even more snow on Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon),
which was clearly visible even though it's up near the point where Israel,
Syria, and Lebanon meet.
We got to synagogue quite early this morning, and I was
able to follow a bit more of the service than I had before. I knew
when they were doing MiChamocha and Ashrei and El Adon and the Barchu,
and the Amida, to mention a few. I also followed essentially all of
the Torah reading. At this synagogue, they always read the entire
Torah portion for the week, as well as the haftarah reading. Several
people shook our hands and bid us Shabbat Shalom today when the service
was over.
The rest of the day was a day of rest. After we came back
from services, we just stayed home. Even though it was sunny out,
there was at least some wind, and the air was quite cold. We watched
several episodes of "Friends" and of "The Benny Hill Show" on TV. This
evening, I listened for a while online to Weekend Edition (on Saturday
morning California time) on KVCR, the NPR station in San Bernardino that
we always used to listen to when we lived there.
22 January 2006
It was another bright, sunny day this morning, although
it became overcast by afternoon.
It was a rough day today for David in his ulpan class.
He had so much trouble that he was just about ready to quit and forget
it all. But he got a nice nap this afternoon, and this evening I helped
him with his homework, so now he doesn't feel quite so lost.
In my class, we spent some time today in the computer lab
doing grammar exercises on the computer and in the listening lab listening
to readings on cassettes and answering written questions about what
we had heard.
This morning, during our half-hour break, I called to confirm
an appointment I had made last week for someone to come and install
our washing machine. They weren't able to find someone to speak English,
so I cobbled together enough Hebrew to confirm the appointment and
to give them Zion's number so that they would be sure to get in. Sure
enough, by the time we got home, the washer was all installed. So,
I guess I AM making progress!
This afternoon I called and made an appointment for David
to see the doctor tomorrow (both the doctor and whoever it was who
was making the appointment speak fluent English). It was surprisingly
easy, at least once I had the right telephone number.
We took another soak in the jacuzzi this evening, and we're
still feeling quite warm from that, even though we've been out for
maybe 30 or 40 minutes now.
This afternoon, shortly before sundown, I took some pictures
from the balcony just outside our office (actually, the third upstairs
bedroom). Here's a view of Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon), the highest point
in Israel. In fact, it's right on the border between Israel and Syria,
and it's also very close to Lebanon. Of course, it's covered with snow.
23, 24, and 25 January 2006
Wow! I missed 2 days, and now it's the 3rd day.
We really have been busy. We've hardly even had time to get all
our homework done. On Monday (the 23rd), David had his doctor's appointment.
But it was at 5:00, so, before we went there, I went to Bank Tefachot,
the bank from whom we'll be getting our mortgage. Although we're getting
it from their main branch in Jerusalem (because that's where our mortgage
broker is), I needed to go into this branch so that they could calculate
the amount of government help that I'll get. I thought everything had
been done, but the next day I found out that there was an application
form that needed to be filled out that they had not done. So I'll have to
go back in on Thursday, because Monday and Thursday are the only days
that they are open in the afternoon (4:00 - 7:00). Sigh!
Anyway, after the bank, we walked over and found
where the doctor's office is. He saw David, asked about his
illnesses and medicines, and wrote him a prescription for one of
them that he has already run out of. At least one other of his HIV
medicines is not available anywhere in Israel, so this could be a problem.
Either we'll have to figure out a substitute, or we'll have to find
a way to get it from the U.S. The doctor seemed fairly nice, but he
didn't really seem to know much about HIV treatment, and he had the typical
Israeli laid-back attitude, even though he's originally from South Africa.
The next day, we took the prescription to the
pharmacy nearest to us. First, they didn't have any in stock,
which was hardly surprising. So I asked if they could order it.
Of course, they could. But apparently it's not on the approved list
for our HMO, Maccabi, so we'll have to go over to their office and
get them to put it on. This may be routine, or it may be a big struggle;
we don't know yet which.
We had our first guests here last night (Tuesday)!
Three friends of Jim Potter, a friend of ours from BCC, had
written e-mail to us about a week ago, letting us know that they
were in Israel and would be visiting in the North sometime. Of
course, we wrote back and invited them to visit us. A few days ago,
they had written that they were heading north and wouldn't have e-mail
access, so they gave me their cell phone number. I was supposed to
call them on Monday, but I was so busy that I forgot all about it. When
I was checking my e-mail Tuesday evening, I was reminded to call them.
So I picked up the phone right away. It turned out that they were driving
around, somewhat lost, in Tsfat at that very moment! After a bit, they
happened to go by the Hiperneto, so I knew where they were. I wasn't
sure I could get them accurately through all the traffic circles from
there to the bus station, but we did manage, and, from there, it was
quite easy for me to talk them all the way to very near our house, where
I simply went out and met them! What a fun visit we had! It was really
great to talk with Americans and laugh a little about some of the Israeli
quirks. And we enjoyed showing off our house. They took some pictures,
including one with all of us (except the photographer, of course!) at
various point all the way up and down the stairwell. Quite a artsy picture,
I think. So that was a really serendipitous surprise, and we thoroughly
enjoyed their visit.
This morning, we went to the lab as soon as they
opened (which turned out to be 7:30 rather than 7:00, which was
when we got there, or 8:00, which was what the sign said). After
that, we caught the bus to Karmiel and arrived there about an hour
late for our classes. David had arranged it with his teacher the day
before, but I hadn't known for sure that we'd be going in today, so
I had not arranged it. Still, it was no problem, and, as a matter of
fact, I don't they I missed much anyway.
When we got out of class today, it was raining
quite hard (the previous 2 days had been mostly sunny). It let
up by the time we finished our falafel and went to catch the bus.
When we got back to Tsfat, we went down to the shuk (which, you may
recall, only happens on Wednesdays) and bought some fruits vegetables.
We had planned to take the taxi home, but we couldn't get ahold of
our taxi driver (maybe he was out of town), so we took the bus (after
a rather long wait). There was some rain and wind on the way home from
the bus stop, and it blew David's umbrella inside out, but, other
than that, we got home okay.
So, some homework, a nap for David, some supper,
and a soak in the jacuzzi, and now it's time for bed. Hopefully,
it won't be 3 days before I write here again!
26 & 27 January 2006
Well, it hasn't been 3 days, but it HAS been 2
days! Oh well.
Thursday was quite a good day. Our classes went
well. I had prepared a text to read to Oznat, my teacher on
Mondays and Thursdays. This time, she had copied a text from
the more advanced book, which I had actually studied last summer
at the University of Haifa. I understood the text quite well, so
making the translation to English was not hard at all. What I had to
practice was to be able to say the Hebrew back to her at a good speed
while looking only at my English translation of it. I was so proud
that I did it well, and she seemed almost stunned. It really felt good!
David had some fun in his class. One of his fellow
students had complimented him (in Hebrew, with some help from
the teacher, of course) on his nice haircut, so he wanted to compliment
her back. He was trying to tell her that her clothes looked nice,
but what he actually said was that she looked good in her clothes (with
kind of the implication that he had seen her without her clothes!).
Oh the complexities of language! LOL
Next week, 2 of David's classmates, the couple
from India, will be visiting us here in Tsfat, and they'll be bringing
his parents, who are visiting from India but will be making aliyah
next year, with them. So we decided that we had better get a few
more things for entertaining. We stopped at the dollar store (so
named because everything there costs a dollar; well, actually slighty
more than a dollar) and got salt & pepper shakers, some small serving
dishes, and some cups to serve tea in. We also went to the little market
in town and got a few more supplies.
While we were waiting at the bus stop, Zion (our
builder) called. When he heard that we were waiting at the bus
stop to go home (and it was raining), he said he'd come and give
us a ride, for which we were very thankful. He also wanted to show us
the progress they had made on the house. The most important thing was that
they got the A/C/heater unit in the living room working! We have been
running it constantly since then, and it really makes a difference in
the house. I had sent Zion e-mail the day before listing the things that
needed to be done to finish the house and the smaller things that also
needed to be touched up or fixed. So I think he realized that he had better
get busy on things.
In the evening, I had to go back into town to
Bank Tefachot to get my teudat zachaot (which will give me a discount,
paid for by the government, on our mortgage). It was raining and
cold, but I had no choice but to get down to the bus stop and wait
for the bus.
At first, the woman at the bank didn't think that
she could do it because we are getting our loan from the Jerusalem
branch and not the Tsfat branch. She tried to call her manager (the
woman who had done part of the job for me on Monday) but couldn't
get ahold of her. She asked me if I could come back in about a half
hour, and, of course, I agreed. She also took my cell phone number.
So I headed up to the Internet Café to get the application for
insurance that the agent in Jerusalem had e-mailed to me printed. While
I was still doing that, the woman from the bank called and said that
she would be happy to help me. So I went on back down there, and some
time later and 60 shekels poorer, I left, with the application done.
She said that it will take a week to 10 days to actually process it.
Today, Friday, we had several things to do. First,
we had a LOT of laundry, since we had not yet done any since coming
here. Almost all of it actually was white socks and thermal underwear.
Since the washer is quite small, it took 3 loads to get it all clean.
The washer and dryer here are both VERY different from any that I have
ever seen or used before. The washer has a side door and turns vertically
instead of a top lid with horizontal agitation and spinning. Although
it was made in Germany, the instruction booklet and all the words on
the machine itself indicating the settings are in Hebrew! With a little
help from my handy pocket electronic dictionary, I was able to figure
them all out. It's actually a very nice machine, and it washed our things
well. The dryer is not as different from what I'm used to, and it did
have some instruction pages in English. Both machines make quite a few
strange noises, which are amplified by the hard walls, floors, and ceilings
in the house (which is all made of concrete, of course!). I'm sure kitty
must have been terrified by the strange sounds, and he definitely stayed
hidden under the covers the whole time, which was just about all day!
We went into town to get our weekly challah and
Shabbat pastry. We also got some rubbing alcohol (mostly for
cleaning my glasses) and some food at the market. When we returned,
several people were busily working on various minor things in the
house. Zion came by and said that he had gotten some different people
who will be coming next Monday to install the rest of the A/C/heating
units.
In the early afternoon, we decided to walk to
the local market (about a mile away) and get some falafel at
the stand next to it. On our way, it began raining, and it was quite
cold, so we decided to try the pizza place there instead, since
it has a place to eat inside. However, although we got there before
2:00 in the afternoon, everything, including even the market, was
already closed! I think they keep Friday afternoon here even better
than the Adventists in Loma Linda! So, we walked back home and ate
lunch here. It actually was quite a good lunch.
After lunch, David took his nap, and I did my
now-traditional Friday afternoon sweeping of the entire house,
literally from top to bottom. All the floors are tile, so sweeping
them makes them all look much better, a nice reward for all that
work.
28 & 29 January 2006
Darn, I missed another day! I had intended to write
last night (Saturday night), but I got busy with homework, and,
before I knew it, it was bedtime.
We went to services again at the Sephardi synagogue,
and I think I followed even a bit more than before. It is always
fairly easy to follow the Torah reading because the chanting goes
more slowly than most of the prayers. The service was a bit shorter
than usual this time, mostly because there was no sermon and they didn't
have the usual auction of the aliyot (the privilege and honor to
stand and observe part of the Torah reading and to say blessings before
and after that part of the reading). I don't have any idea what the
reason was for either of these two differences, since really NOTHING is
actually announced (not even in Hebrew!).
Today we started our third week of ulpan. Both
of us are progressing well, I think. Today, my class spent time
practicing grammar on the computers and listening to audio tapes
and answering questions about what we heard.
After we got back to Tsfat, we went to Zion's office
and printed out several copies of our resumes. Then we went
to the post office (and waited 15 minutes for them to open) and
bought stamps and envelopes. After that, we went to the kupat cholim
(our HMO) to request them to approve the refill of one of David's
medicines that the doctor had prescribed. They needed a letter from
the doctor (who knows why? After all, he DID prescribe the medicine!),
but they agreed to call him and have him FAX it to them. So, hopefully
that will go well, but it's by no means certain as yet.
Tomorrow, I am supposed to present an essay to
the class that I wrote describing out aliyah process (MUCH shorter
than THIS lengthy tome!). I know that if I tried to read from the
Hebrew I would go too slowly and read like a first grader. So I translated
it into English, and, sure enough, I can look at the English and say
the Hebrew at a pretty good speed. It seems totally counter-intuitive,
but I can actually read and translate Hebrew (at least with a passage
that I know) faster than I can just read Hebrew.
After that, I helped David with some of his homework.
We went briefly over some the the vocabulary that the teacher had
given them today, and then we filled in a table of verb forms, and
I helped him see and understand the underlying patterns, which are
really very elegant. Even he had to agree on that point. :-)
30 & 31 January &
1 February 2006
Time must really be flying; I missed 2 days in a
row again. So, let's see... On Monday, we had expected that the
A/C/heaters would be installed, but when we came home, we were disappointed
to find that nothing had been done. When I talked to Zion, he said
that they had indeed come out but had discovered that some critical
part was missing.
Sure enough, on Tuesday, when we came home, all
the indoor units were mounted on the walls in the various rooms,
and the guys were still working. In fact, they worked until about
8:00 that evening. There were 2 guys working, the cuter one of
which spoke English fairly well. Later, they were joined by 2 additional
guys. They all spoke to each other mostly (if not entirely) in Russian.
They were good workers, and they were courteous, as well. And we
were SO happy to have all our heaters!
On Tuesday evening, David's doctor, Dr. Gold (who
will also be my doctor), called and said that the kupat cholim
(the HMO) had given an initial approval of the medicine that the
doctor had prescribed for David and had said that the doctor needed
to refer David to an AIDS clinic. This is good news, because this
will help to ensure that David gets proper care. We will find out on
Thursday, when David has an appointment with Dr. Gold, where the clinic
is and, probably, when he'll be able to go there.
Today, Wednesday, I got a call from the movers telling
me that the things we shipped had arrived. They wanted to deliver
tomorrow, but we both have doctor's appointments tomorrow afternoon,
so we wouldn't have been able to stay here the whole day. They
also needed to FAX me a sheet summarizing the additional costs and
telling me how to deposit money into their account. So, our shipment
should be delivered on Sunday. It will be very nice to have the rest
of our things!
We came back as soon as we could after class instead
of eating lunch in Karmiel first. I think we wasted less time waiting
for the bus that way. Then we ate in Tsfat, picked up the FAX that
our movers had sent us (at Zion's office), and walked down to the
weekly shuk, where we bought various fruits and vegetables.
We had Asher, our favorite taxi driver, pick us
up at the shuk when we were done. He brought us home and then waited
briefly while I put our bags in the house. Then he took us over to
the absorption office (misrad haklitah) to meet with our counselor,
Emma.
The ulpan had not yet FAXed our attendance records,
so I'll have to make sure that Efrat, the director, does that tomorrow.
We found out that we will get reimbursed 90% of the cost of a monthly
pass on the local Tsfat busses (which we bought just the other day
for February) and also 90% of the full fare for the trips we make
to Karmiel on the intercity bus. The really good part is that we buy
tickets for 5 rides at a time on that bus and thereby save 20% off
of the full fare. So we may actually MAKE a little money that way.
Furthermore, I think the money will be deposited into our accounts fairly
soon, rather than several months down the road, as had been rumored.
2 & 3 February 2006
Thursday (the 2nd) was really busy because we both
had appointments with Dr. Gold. By the time that we got home from
school, it was only about half an hour until we had to head back
into town. David's appointment was at 5:00, and its main purpose
was to get the referral to the HIV clinic. We won't find out, though,
until Sunday where the clinic is and when he may go. My appointment
was to have the doctor check an itchy rash that I've had on my ankles
that actually started months before we left the States. I'd just been
too busy to have it checked out. He gave me some cream that may help,
but if it doesn't, he told me to go to the skin clinic, which occurs once
a week at the Maccabi kupat cholim (HMO) and for which I do not need a
referral.
After our appointments, we went on down to the Hiperneto.
Well, actually we first went to the hardware store that is right
next to the Hiperneto in the same building. There, we got some more
efficient light bulbs to try out, and we also got a shovel and another
digging tool (it has 3 prongs and will be useful for digging out weeds,
of which we already have plenty!). Then I went in and got a few things
at the Hiperneto (the biggest grocery store in town), and we called
Asher to take us home.
Today, Friday, was a bit more leisurely. We did have
to run quite a few errands, though. We went to the bakery for
our weekly challah and Shabbat pastry, we got a cool rolling rack
to keep our vegetables and fruits on, we got my prescription filled,
we went again to the doctor's (because I had forgotten to bring the list
of all of David's medicines yesterday!), we got a prescription for a
medicine to substitute for one of David's that is not available here
(and, it's very expensive, too!), and we bought a couple of rose plants
to plant. Then we took the bus back home.
After lunch, we planted the roses. Then I got caught
up on my e-mail, David started heating a delicious-smelling mixture
in the crock pot for Shabbat, and I did my weekly sweeping of the
whole house. After that, we moved the snakes out of the large room
and down to the basement. We plan to use the large room to store a major
portion of our shipment when it arrives until we can sort it out and
figure where to put everything.
I've taken a few pictures of the house and of scenery
we see from the house. I've uploaded them to snapfish, and, hopefully,
the following URL will let you view them. If this doesn't work,
let me know, and I can send you an e-mail that should let you view
them. Here's the URL:
http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=36677934/a=43876740/t_=43876740
Enjoy!
4 February 2006
It was beautiful and sunny when we got up this morning,
so, after breakfast, instead of going to services, he decided
to go for a walk. I took my camera with me, and I took lots of pictures.
Many of them were pictures of wild flowers. After a while, though,
the threatening clouds began to gather, so we decided we'd better
head back home. As we approached our house, I took a progression of
pictures, first showing the cluster of all 5 houses from a distance,
and then walking through between them to our house. This is the least
muddy route home.
In the afternoon, I uploaded all the pictures from
the camera into my computer. Then I uploaded some albums of pictures
to Yahoo, including the 4 pictures that I had uploaded yesterday to
snapfish. The advantage of Yahoo is that I can publish them to a page
of pictures that anyone can reliably access from a fairly simple URL.
"So," you may be asking, "what IS that URL?" Here it is:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
There are 3 different albums there that you can view.
The first album is entitled "View from late Jan 2006". These are
4 pictures that I took on several different days. The first picture
is of the sunrise from our balcony, with the side of the house framing
it on the right. The second is a rainbow, taken from the same spot but
looking more northeast instead of southeast, as the sunrise was. The
other 2 pictures were taken at dusk. In one, you actually see more of
our neighbor's house than ours, and you can also see him, Rabbi Mordechai
Nathanson. The last picture has only our house in it. In both of these
last two, if you look closely, you can see Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon)
in the background, covered with snow.
The second album is entitled "Shabbat nature walk
4 Feb 2006". It consists mostly of wild flowers, but there are
also 2 or 3 pictures of crows. As you will see, the crows here are
gray and black instead of solid black. But they sound the same and
behave pretty much the same. They're also about the same size. In one
of these pictures, I got very lucky. I was taking a picture of a crow sitting
on the side of the dirt road, but when I actually snapped the picture, I
caught another crow in flight! I didn't even know it until I had gotten
home and was looking at the pictures on the computer! All of the crow
pictures and most of the flower pictures were taken making good use of
my camera's zoom feature.
The last album is entitled "Our house 2006-02-04".
This is a selection of the pictures I took as I approached our house.
The 2 darker, reddish colored houses are NOT our house but are the
house next to ours and the one the other side of it. Even without having
been here, you may be able to see how we went through. In the first 3
pictures, you really can't see any of our house at all. Then, in the
4th picture, you begin to see our house through the gap between other
houses. In the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th pictures you see mostly our house,
with parts of others serving as framing. In the 8th and 9th pictures,
you see only our house. Enjoy!
By the way, the crock pot lunch was VERY delicious.
We even had some more for supper, as well!
5 & 6 February 2006
We didn't go to ulpan on Sunday, because our
shipment was scheduled to arrive, and we didn't know what time
of day it would be. When I called the shippers in Haifa in the morning,
they said it would be between 12:00 and 3:00. At about 12:30, they
called and said that it would be between 3:00 and 5:00. So we actually
COULD have gone to class. Oh well.
David also needed to go into the kupat cholim
(HMO office) to get some more blood tests. The doctor is trying
to find out why he is anemic. When David came back from town, he
brought 2 trees with him (small ones, of course!), a dwarf lemon
and a kosher Yameni etrog tree (yes, they are not all automatically
kosher!). It cannot come from a planted seed, and it can't be grafted,
in order to be kosher. So we look forward to some WONDERFUL etrogs
for Succot (but probably not for a couple of years)!
The guys in the truck bringing our shipment from
Haifa first called here about 3:30. I told them which way to
come up to Tsfat (through Meron, not through Rosh Pinna). But when
they arrived in Tsfat, it was quite difficult to get them headed
in the right direction. I eventually walked about a mile, to the
main road through town. I met them there and rode back to the house
in the truck (an open flatbed truck; i could see my desk and many of our
other things on the back as it approached me; it's a good thing that
it was a bright sunny day, not a rainy day!). Then the 4 guys unloaded
the truck and brought everything into the house. Most things went into
one large room that we have, filling it about 3/4 full! Now we have the
HUGE job of unpacking and figuring out where to put everything. It will
take months to do that. It's nice, though, to have all our things here,
safe and sound at last (well, at least everything APPEARS fine, so I
don't think anything will be broken).
The cutest of the 3 movers was quite excited
when he saw the snakes. He wanted to hold one, so, when they
had finished unloading, we brought out Khalud, our beautiful male
brindle black rat snake who is also one of our largest snakes, for
him to hold. He really enjoyed that, and he also liked teasing one
of the other guys who was not nearly as excited about snakes! :-)
After the movers were finished and had left,
we decided to walk over to the kanyon (shopping center), where
the nearest market and the office of absorption are, to get some
pizza at the pizza place there. We had never tried it before, but
it was very good. We got a delicious pizza for two with olives, mushrooms,
tomatoes, and corn, and 2 Diet Cokes. The whole meal cost only 40 shekels
for BOTH of us, which is less than $10. Not bad at all!
On Monday, it was back to ulpan for both of us.
On Mondays and Thursdays, I have my favorite teacher, Oznat (although
the other teacher, Shuli, is also excellent). Oznat is the one
who has us translate a text into our native language (English,
in my case, but Russian for most in my class). Then we have to look
at our translation but say the original Hebrew to her. I had worked
hard on the last text she had given me. Translating it was not difficult,
but remembering the phrasing and wording was quite tricky. The Hebrew
is of a higher level than the simple beginning texts. I was so happy
and relieved that I did it very well, and Oznat was very impressed,
too! Now she's going to start giving me passages from ulpan level
gimel (the 3rd level) and from one of the regular, big newspapers here,
Y'diot Acharanot (Latest Information). So I stopped by and bought
today's paper at the newsstand after class today.
David is also progressing well in his ulpan,
though he had several insulin reactions (low blood sugar due
to too much insulin relative to the amount of carbohydrates he
had eaten and also probably caused by a little more exercise than
he had anticipated, since he had to walk back up to the building
where my class is rather quickly).
When we got back to Tsfat (at about 2:25), we
mostly had to just wait. I needed to meet Zion, our builder, at
the bank to sign papers so that the mortgage will go through and he
will be able to get the rest of his money for the house. The banks close
at about 12:30 or 1:00, well before we can get back to Tsfat from Karmiel,
and don't open again until 4:00. And some of them only open again at
4:00 twice a week! Talk about "bankers' hours"! Luckily, all of that seemed
to go relatively well, so Zion will very soon have his money.
As I was waiting at the bank, Zion came by but
couldn't find a parking place (they are VERY few near there!).
He spotted David out by the road, so he got out of the truck and
had David take it and park it up near Zion's office, not too far
away. So David got to drive here in Israel!
After that, we went downstairs in the same building
to the office of the kupat cholim (HMO) to get directions to the
HIV clinic. It turns out that the clinic is in Haifa, and that
David's appointment is TOMORROW at 11:00. So, we'll miss another
day of ulpan (there's no WAY that I'm sending David to Haifa alone!).
Anyway, that will be our adventure for tomorrow.
From the kupat cholim, we walked down to the
hardware store, next to Hiperneto. We bought 3 plastic cabinets,
3 plastic shelving units, a hoe, and a rake. I arranged the whole
deal, including delivery either next Friday or next Sunday, depending
on when they get the other 2 shelving units in, in Hebrew! By the
way, all of that cost only 2395 shekels, which is about $532, including
tax. We will use the cabinets for storage in the kitchen, in the bedroom,
and in the office, and we will use the shelving units to put the snake
terraria on in the security room in the lowest level of the house.
We had measured the room, and we measured the shelving units, and
this should be a very efficient way of arranging the terraria.
I did stop and buy a few things at the Hiperneto
(our favorite supermarket in Tsfat), too. We could have taken
the bus home, but we would have had to go on 2 different busses,
and it would have taken quite a long time, so we called Asher, our
taxi driver, to take us home. On the way, I practiced my Hebrew
by chatting with him in Hebrew, even though he speaks excellent English.
7 February 2006
We did the big trip to Haifa today! From the main
bus station in Tsfat to Merkazit HaMifratz (The Gulf Center)
bus station in Haifa takes about 1:35 to 1:40 on the #361 bus.
Then we had to wait a while for the #108 Haifa bus to the Rambam
Hospital. I think it took about 20 or 30 minutes to make that trip,
even though it's not really very far, since there is a lot of traffic
on the roads in Haifa, especially that part, down near the port and
the ocean.
When we finally arrived at the Rambam Hospital
(about a half hour before our 11:00 appointment) we found that
it is a HUGE complex, with multiple buildings. All the signs are
only in Hebrew, and they're not very helpful anyway. Finally we managed
to locate the right building and go up to the 1st floor (which would
be the 2nd floor in the U.S.; Israel uses the really more logical European
system) on the correct side of the building. We actually got to the
office where we needed to be right at 11:00, and they were expecting
us and welcomed us warmly.
We talked with the doctor, the nurse, and the
social worker, all of whom spoke fluent English. They were all
very friendly and very competent. After talking together, all
5 of us for a while, the nurse and the social worker took me into
the next room to talk further, and the doctor did a physical examination
on David. It's clear now that David is going to get top-notch care
for his HIV. And I found out from the nurse that all his HIV medicines
will be free by law! So we were VERY relieved.
We found a more direct way out of the complex
and back to the bus stop. Along the way, we stopped and ate falafel
at a place right next to a beach. Then we got on the #108 back
to the big bus station, caught the #361, and returned to Tsfat uneventfully.
You'd think that riding on busses would be quite restful. After all,
one just sits there. But, somehow, it's quite tiring, so we were both
pretty worn out. Nevertheless, David wanted to go up and check if a
certain shop up past the banks on Y'rushalayim Street was open. He had
seen a little chest on display in their window there that would be perfect
to display his thimble collection. But the shop had always been closed
whenever he had checked before (at least 3 or 4 different times!). This
time, though, it was open! The price was marked at 65 shekels, which
is very reasonable, but, even without my asking, the woman gave it to
us for only 60 shekels! So we were delighted as we headed over to wait
for the #4 bus home.
When we got home, David took a nap, and I wrote
a couple of e-mails to check into possible jobs for me. After
his nap, we ate supper, did some homework, worked for about 40-50
minutes on sorting things out from our shipment, took a little soak
in the jacuzzi, and then got onto the computer to write this. Now
it's after 9:00, which means that we'd better head for bed. 5:30 comes
very early in the morning!
8 February 2006
During the first break from ulpan this morning,
I went over to a nearby car rental agency to reserve a car for tomorrow,
which I will also keep over the weekend and turn back in on Sunday.
The reason is that I have an interview tomorrow evening in Jerusalem!
There is a company there that produces some kind of educational materials
for the U.S. market, and they need a math editor. It may be quite short-term,
but I should be able to do it from home, and it could provide some
income for us.
After class, we ate at our usual falafel stand
and then headed to the bus station. Since the falafel had been
already cooked when we arrived there, we got it more quickly than
usual, which allowed us to catch the bus the leaves about 35-40 minutes
earlier than the one we usually catch.
When we got back to Tsfat, we went to the shuk
and got some fruits and vegetables. Then we called Asher to take
us home.
After doing a bit of homework, we headed back to
town on the bus. We had planned to send some registered mail back
to the U.S. from the post office, but, when we got there, we discovered
that Wednesday is the one day when there are not open at all after
1:00 p.m. So we'll have to mail it tomorrow or the next day.
We then went to the nursery, where we bought a
couple more roses to plant. After that, we went to the furniture
and appliance store (our favorite one, where Meir works) to get
a freezer (for the mice that the snakes eat) and a desk for David.
We also got a chair for his desk and an iron. All of these together
cost less than $1000. A quick stop at the market, and we were all set
to head home. We caught the #4 bus, but it only went to the central
bus station. So we walked a short distance to a nearby bus stop and
waited for another bus. The #3 came along first, so we took it to the
pizza place at the kanyon (where we ate for the first time a few days
back). We got the same pizza as before, except that we got black olives
instead of green this time. Again, we only had to pay 40 shekels.
While we were at the pizza shop, on the TV there
they were showing an awards show of some sort for the best male
and female Israeli singers of the year, kind of like an Israeli
grammies award, I guess. When they announced the best male singer,
the camera of course showed the winner getting up from his seat in
the audience. Before he left to receive his award, he gave a rather
long kiss to a man sitting next to him. I rather think that they were
a couple!
The weather has been rather cold all day today,
and it kept threatening to rain, both here in Tsfat and in Carmiel.
Luckily, the whole time we were out today, I never actually had to
use my umbrella. Not long after we got home this evening, though,
the thunder began, and then it began to hail! We were very thankful
that we were home and didn't have to go out anymore tonight!
After quite a bit of hail had fallen, we peaked
out and saw that it looked almost like snow out there. So I took
some pictures. I have posted them, together with some others of the
sunrise that I took a few days ago, at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
I created a new album called "Sunrise and hail".
With the sunrise pictures, I used the rail of our balcony as
a frame. The first 2 hail pictures were taken looking out from
our front door. The other one was taken looking out onto the balcony
from the middle bedroom door. I used flash for all of the hail pictures.
9 February 2006
This morning, there was still slush from the hail
left on our front porch. And it was raining as we left the house,
too! On the way to the bus stop, the wind picked up, and we got
pretty soaked; our umbrellas were only minimally effective. My jeans
didn't get completely dry until half way through the morning, and
my feet didn't get completely dried until about the end of class, i.e.
around noon. David's feet were still wet until the evening.
Although I didn't see any snow in Tsfat or on the
way down the hill, I did see a little bit of snow near the road,
between Meron and K'far Shammai, which was rather strange, since
that's at a considerably lower elevation than Tsfat. All I can figure
is that it's more sheltered in that area, so there was probably
much less wind.
After class, I went over and picked up the rental
car that I had reserved yesterday. Then I went on down and picked
up David, and we headed for Jerusalem for my interview there. We
left Carmiel at about 1:00. On the way, we went through numerous
thundershowers and some hail. Just as we were approaching a MAJOR
junction a ways southeast of Haifa, lightning struck quite close to
us, and, when we got to the junction, the traffic signals were out. Now,
in California in a situation like this, everyone is so timid. They're
all sure that they're going to get into a major crash if they so much
as inch out at the wrong time. This rapidly causes HUGE backup of traffic
waiting to get through. Here in Israel, it's just the opposite. Everyone
pushes their way through the intersection and honks at everyone else!
Unfortunately, this ALSO results in traffic problems, mainly gridlock
within the intersection! However, we did get through fairly quickly,
probably mostly because we got to the intersection very soon after the
signals went out. Of course, I'm NOT a timid driver! :-)
I had checked with the clerk who rented me the car
and found that I could drive as much as I wanted on Highway 6 (the
Trans-Israel toll way) for only $10 extra. This saved my quite a
bit of time each way, since it's a real turnpike with no traffic signals
or cross traffic, and also since it's a shorter distance. They take
pictures of the license plates of cars as they pass, and mail the bill
to the registered owner of the car. This is why one has to check about
driving on this highway if one rents a car in Israel. In a couple of
places, near Tulkarm and near another of the Palestinian towns, the
separation barrier (constructed to keep suicide bombers from entering
Israel) runs right along the eastern side of this highway since it runs
right next to the Territories (the other side of the so-called green
line).
We got to Jerusalem around 3:30, and I managed to
find a place to park the car (in the parking garage of a kanyon),
and we found the place where my interview was (31 King George Street,
for those of you who know Jerusalem) quite quickly. The company is
called Lambda (hmmmm, I wonder if they have any idea??), and they produce
educational materials (printed books and software) for math education
for elementary students. They have already developed these for the
Israeli market, the British market, and the French market. Now, they're
working, with an American partner, to develop materials for the American
market, particularly for students who have fallen behind. There are
really 2 different jobs that I might be doing: either developing the
units, including materials for the teachers, or editing units that someone
else has already written. The editing involves more than just correcting
or improving the English. I would also help them sharpen the focus and
get rid of material not related to the current topic. Also, they want
to change things that are too British and make it more American.
For the interview, they described all this too me
briefly, and then they had me sit in a room and actually write
a unit to introduce students to fractions and make sure that they
understand the meanings of "numerator" and "denominator". They gave
me some of the materials that they had previously done, so I didn't
have to work totally from scratch. After I had finished, at least 3
different people looked at what I had done and gave me feed-back on
it. They seemed quite impressed, which is good, since this is hardly
the type of math that I'm really familiar with teaching. Before I left,
they gave me a unit that had previously been edited, including both
the pre-edit and post-edit versions, so that I could see what kinds
of changes they were looking for. Then they also gave me another unit
to edit and also sent it to me by e-mail. I'll go through and edit it and
send it back to them by Monday morning.
So, we'll see what happens. For the first job (actually
creating lesson units), they would like me to come to Jerusalem
once a week. If I have to do that, I'll have to buy a car, since
renting one every week would be too expensive. Also, I'm just not
sure that the job would pay enough to be worth it, since, at least
initially, I can only work part-time because I need to finish my ulpan.
The second job, the editing, could be done almost entirely by e-mail,
so that may work out better. If they want me to work for the long term,
and if they are willing to pay enough, I may eventually do some of both
jobs, especially after I finish my 5 months of ulpan. We didn't discuss
money or any other terms of employment yet.
After the interview, David & I walked down the
Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, and off just a little ways to a restaurant
called Rimon Restaurant & Cafe, where I had eaten when I was
in Jerusalem last summer, and had a very nice dinner. Then we walked
back to the car, paid the 40 shekels for parking, and headed home.
We hit only a little rain on the way back. We filled the car with gas
(about 160 some shekels) in K'far Tavor and came up to Tsfat from
Rosh Pinna (the east side).
We got home about 9:30, so we headed for bed rather
quickly. In fact, I'm actually writing this on Friday morning,
although it's still Thursday night for you people in California!
10 & 11 February 2006
Friday we made very good use of the car. In the morning,
we went to the post office and mailed the deposit registered mail
to my credit union in Loma Linda. Then we drove down to the hardware
store and Hiperneto, where we bought lots of things, loaded them
into the car, and drove home.
At about 11:00 or 11:30, we got in the car and headed
for IKEA, which is in Natanya. We got there about 1:00. We did
a lot of looking around and we ate there, but we didn't buy anything.
Mostly, we just needed to get a good idea of what they had and what
they charged for things. We had hoped to see an old-fashioned rocking
chair there, but they didn't have any. We also looked at armoirs,
but we hadn't measured our spaces, so we weren't sure exactly what
would fit. Still, we did get a pretty good idea of what is available.
IKEA closes at 3:00 on Friday afternoon and doesn't
open again until an hour after sundown on Saturday night. We actually
left a little while before 3:00 and headed for Tel Aviv, where
we were planning to attend Friday evening services at Tiferet Shalom,
our favorite synagogue in Israel, which we had not been able to get
to since we arrived here because we had no car. We arrived way early, which
was good, because we needed to find their new location. I had written ahead
to Rabbi Lazar that we were planning to be there, and he had given me their
new address.
The service was really WONDERFUL! It was so good
to hear and be able to sing some familiar melodies. And Rabbi Lazar
has a way of making quiet, almost poetic, comments (in Hebrew) that
help one get into the right kavanah, the right frame of mind, for a really
spiritual and emotional experience. The fact that I was able to understand
a fair amount of what he was saying was also very moving for me.
We left northern Tel Aviv (Ramat Aviv, where the
University is) at about 7:30 and arrived back home in Tsfat at
about 9:30. We were tired, but we had had a wonderful day. Now we're
quite certain that we need to try to somehow get a car.
Today (Saturday), we again made good use of the car.
We left the house at about 8:30 or 9:00 and headed north along
the western rim of the Hula Valley. We stopped at several places,
and I took LOTS of pictures of wild flowers, scenery, and cattle.
I haven't had time to post them yet, but I will try to get them up
onto Yahoo soon.
We drove all the way up to Metula, which is right
next to the Lebanon border, at the northern end of the Hula Valley.
In fact, I think the area of Lebanon north is really an extension
of the same valley, known to them as the Bekaa. I also took a lot
of pictures of Metula and Lebanon, showing how close the houses and
orchards are to the border.
After that, we drove up to the Golan, where I took
pictures of Har Khermon, the highest point in Israel, which is
covered with lots of snow. There was also snow along the road where
we drove. Then we went up to Har Bental, one of a pair of peaks in
the Golan which we can see from our house. Up there, one can see so
much in every direction. One can also see the fortifications that
were built to secure the area after it was seized from Syria during
the war (the war where Syria had attacked Israel). We had some wonderful
deserts at the restaurant there, and, again, I took LOTS of pictures.
Then we drove home, getting back here at about 3:30 in the afternoon.
12 & 13 February
Sunday (the 12th) was a pretty regular day for us.
We did get to get up a half hour later than usual, since we had the
car. The agency was not open before 8:00, so I parked the car in a
kanyon (shopping center) parking lot next to the mercaz klitah (where
my class is), and then I turned it in during the half-hour break (9:30-10:00).
In the evening, I had some work to do for Lambda, the educational company
that I may be going to work for. As you may recall, they had given
me a sample of a lesson before and after editing and then another lesson
to be edited. So I did that, and I do think I made some good improvements.
I sent it off to Stephanie before I went to bed.
Today (Monday), it was back to the busses. Shortly
after arriving at school, David's pump sounded the alarm letting
him know that it was out of insulin. He stayed at school until the
break, but by that time his blood sugar levels had risen to well over
300 (they shouldn't get above about 126), so he really needed to get
home and get some insulin into his system.
I stayed at school, however, but I left on the 1:10
bus rather than eating in Karmiel and leaving 40-45 minutes later
like we usually do. When I was nearly back to the Tsfat central
bus station, I called our friends, Pat & Sue, who were already
in Tsfat. I joined them for some more tourist sightseeing, and then
they and I and their guide, Rafi, piled into his car and drove over
to our house. They were, of course, delighted to see us and we them,
and they also really liked our house. It had been raining some, but
it stopped long enough for us to plant 2 of the 3 trees that we had bought
last week. David had already dug the holes for them, so it went quickly.
Pat & Sue had fun helping David plant trees in Israel on Tu B'shvat,
the New Year of the Trees!
14 & 15 February
Well, the 14th was a very regular day. There's really
no celebration of Valentine's Day here in Israel, although the stores
do stock some stuff. Apparently, Valentine's Day is as big in Russia
as in the States. We did take time to do just a little shopping in
Carmiel, though. You see, David had a big glass elephant with folded
paper cranes in it that broke while being shipped over here. So we needed
to find a new home for the cranes. We found a perfect bottle in a shop
in Carmiel. The cranes are precious because they were made for David by
a very good Chinese friend of his when David was quite sick. According
to Chinese tradition, if someone folds a thousand paper cranes for a
sick person, the person will get well.
This morning, there was a Tu B'shvat seder for all
the ulpan students in Carmiel. My teacher, Shuli, thought that
it was at the same place where they had had the Khanukah party (before
we got here), so that's what she told the class. Since I didn't know
where the place was, Shuli offered to give both me and David a ride there.
But when we got there, all of my class was there, but no one else! She
called and found out that the party was actually in the same building
where David's class meets. Fortunately, that was not far away at all,
and we just walked down there. So, were we late? Ha! They didn't start
until after 9:00, which is a lot later than 8:00!
The seder was really nice. There were also 2 classes
of 6th grade students from a local school. Several different groups
of them sang and played recorders for us all. One of the most moving
parts, for me, was when Efrat, our ulpan director, spoke. She compared
new olim to the young trees that people plant on Tu B'shvat. With this
kind of training in school, no wonder people here are universally welcoming
of us new olim!
During the course of the seder, both ulpan students
and 6th graders read various passages telling about the meaning
of the seder. We drank grape juice and ate walnuts, dates, raisins,
figs, and almonds. It was a nice experience for all of us.
Today, the winter weather returned (as predicted --
the weathermen do a MUCH better job of predicting the weather here
than in SoCal). Luckily, it wasn't raining much in the morning, so
we got to school, to the seder, and back to the mercaz klitah easily.
But after class, it was coming down steadily. David & I ate our
usual falafel and then went to the nearby kanyon to do a little shopping
(and to be inside and dry until it was time to catch our bus!). David
got a really pretty kufi-style kipah and a computer magazine, and I got
a little notebook to keep track of new words that I read in the newspaper.
When we got back to Tsfat, it was cold, raining, and
blowing. So we just called Asher and got a ride home. Then we worked
a little on the house, David took a nap, and we had a dinner of curried
vegetarian duck (the cans came in our shipment!) and baby corn.
16 February 2006
SNOW! This morning, when we opened the blinds before
leaving for school, we saw snow. Well, it wasn't enough to cover
the ground much of anywhere, but there was SOME on the ground in
places. Of course, I rushed to take some pictures. When we actually
left the house, we had to be VERY careful, because the snow on the walk
and stairs made them VERY slippery. But we made it without incident. Once
we got a ways from our house, we didn't see any more snow on the ground.
But some flakes did fall and even a few stuck on our jackets as we walked
to the bus stop.
When we got to Carmiel, it was raining and very cold.
We bundled up good and trekked to class. It quit raining after a
while, but the rain retuned periodically throughout the morning. About
an hour before class was out, there was a bit of sunshine and then some
HEAVY rain with hail. I was glad that I didn't have to be out at that
particular time!
When we got back to Tsfat, we caught the #6 bus (which
we had never ridden before) down to Hiperneto. But first we went
to the hardware store next door and bought another plastic cabinet,
this one only half height. We will use it as a stand for David's printer/scanner/copier
(once we locate and unpack it). We will be able to access it from
any computer on the network.
After that, we shopped at Hiperneto (now changing its
name to SuperSal, which is a major grocery chain here in Israel
that Hiperneto probably merged with, I'm guessing) and stocked up
a bit on groceries. Then we called Asher, and he took David and all
the things home. I stayed there, because I had an appointment with the
Dr. Gold, just a short ways from there, to get my prescription refilled
(apparently, here in Israel, one always has to visit the doctor to get
a prescription refilled!).
I got to my appointment about 40 minutes early, so,
of course, the doctor was not there yet. So I explored the neighborhood
where his office is located. It's a residential area with lots of
apartment buildings, not terribly interesting, but it was better than
just sitting there on the wall. The air was cold, but at least the sun
was shining!
After that, I walked up the hill to the Tsfat branch
of the bank from whose Jerusalem branch we got our mortgage. I was
supposed to get them to stamp my teudat oleh (my immigrant certificate)
to show that I had exercised the right to government help with the
mortgage. I think that this is done so that people don't try to get another
mortgage on some other property, since one can only do it once. Anyway,
when it was finally my turn, the woman helping me didn't know English.
Luckily, I was able to explain well enough in Hebrew that she could look
things up and make the necessary stamp, so I accomplished my mission.
Then I caught the #3 bus to the pharmacy nearest our house, got my prescription
filled and walked home after that. I got back about 5:45, in time to
wake David from his nap, close all the blinds, and eat supper.
17 February 2006
Friday. The weekend. We got up late this morning, and
we didn't go anywhere all day. I only left the house to take the trash
to a big trash bin not too far away. We did get a LOT of work done,
though. We have now sorted through most of the boxes that we had just
piled into the big room. Many of them are now dispersed throughout the
house, hopefully in the room where their contents will mostly end up.
So the kitchen area is piled high with boxes, the middle upstairs bedroom
has quite a few, and the office is just barely usable. But we've located
all our computer equipment and both of David's sewing machines. This is
important because, for some of these things, we will need an electrical
transformer, since they require U.S. standard 110V power, and we need
to know how many transformers and what size we will need.
We also found some of the canned food that we had brought
with us: peanut butter (natural, NOT Skippy!), FriChik, California
olives, pepperoncini, white asparagus spears, Grey Poupon, hot honey
mustard, BBQ sauce, chili radishes, vegetarian chili, vegeburger, Heinz'
Vegetarian Beans! So, for supper we had beans and weanies using Heinz'
beans. Strangely enough, though, we both agreed that the vegetarian
weanies we get here are better with the canned beans we got here!
The sunset was beautiful on Har Khermon this afternoon.
I took several pictures, which I'll try to get uploaded to Yahoo
later.
Shabbat Shalom!
18 February 2006
It was a very beautiful day out today, but neither of
us felt like going out. It was cold out there, despite the lovely
sunshine, and we just wanted to stay in and stay warm. We didn't even
go to services.
We did both work on our homework, though. Usually, I try
not to do school work on Shabbat, but this time it just seemed like
the best thing to do. Osnat had assigned us to write an essay about
our profession, using terminology from our profession. So I described
how I prepare for my classes and teach them. I think it was a good learning
experience for me. In particular, I learned the Hebrew words for "skill"
and "skills", which (in transliteration) are "myumanut" and "myumanyot",
respectively. What a mouthful!
I took quite a few pictures today, and I uploaded them,
as well as many others, including some from our trip last Shabbat.
The URL is:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
For some of the less obvious pictures, I have included
titles, which you should be able to see if you view them individually
or in a slide show. Enjoy!
19 & 20 February 2006
Sunday (the 19th) was a rather regular day. My teacher,
Shuli, was sick, so we had a substitute, Hannah. She was really
good! She spoke slowly and distinctly, she really commanded the class
so that even the young, usually noisy Russian kids were quiet, and she
really taught us some good things, too.
When we got back to Tsfat, we stopped at the nursery
and bought 4 more lemon cypress trees (so that we now have 5 of
them). We plan to make a row of them along the edge of our property
on the side that is undeveloped now but that will eventually be developed.
It will give us some privacy when they grow tall. Also, they are on
the west-northwest side of the property, so they will shade the house
from the hot summer afternoon sun (admittedly, it's been a little hard
to think about being too HOT here lately!).
The nurseryman said that they could deliver the trees
(and a couple bags of compost that we also bought there), so we
just went out and waited for the bus. While we were still waiting,
the delivery guy called me and wanted to know where our house was.
According to the nurseryman, this guy had grown up in Tsfat and knew
how to get everywhere in town, but, of course, our house is in a completely
new area on a completely new (and still unpaved!) street. And NONE of
the streets in the area even have names! Not even on the map! And certainly
there are no street signs! So there was just no way to describe to him
how to get to the house, even in English. Fortunately, I mentioned that
we were still waiting for the bus right in front of the nursery. It turned
out that he was right there, only 15 or 20 yards from us! So we just went
over there, hopped into his little truck, showed him the way to our house,
and got a ride home that way, too. Actually, the amount that I tipped
him (15 skekels) was more than I pay Asher, out regular taxi driver, but
it was worth it to get the things delivered and also to get home so quickly.
And, of course, the delivery guy was pretty easy on the eyes, too! ;-)
Today (the 20th), we decided to walk about a mile
and a half or two miles in Carmiel to a large, suburban style strip
mall. It's at the next intersection along the main highway that goes
by Carmiel, but we walked there along a parallel road in Carmiel itself.
It was quite a long walk, and we had to stop part way because David's
blood sugar was running low. I went into a nearby bakery that I spotted
and bought him a couple to pastries to help bring him back up. Across the
street from where we had stopped, David spotted a musical instruments store
with the word "Yamaha". I have a Yamaha keyboard, and I wanted to find
a transformer that I could use to power it from the electrical system
here (220V) instead of the one that came with it which, of course, was
for the U.S. system (110V). I found one and bought it (for 60 shekels,
which is less than $13). So I was very happy about that!
When we got to the mall, the first order of business
was to eat lunch. We went to a coffee shop called "Aroma" (but
transliterated to Hebrew letters), and had a delicious salad and
sandwiches. There was also bread that came with the salad, but we were
full, so we brought that home with us in a sack. The menu was only
in Hebrew, but I managed to figure it out well enough and to communicate
our order in Hebrew, mostly (the worker, of course, also spoke English!).
After that, we checked out some other stores there,
including Office Depot (yes, the same as in the U.S.!), Home Center
(it's an Israeli chain called הום סנטר for those of you whose computer
can display Hebrew letters; for the rest, that is simply a Hebrew transliteration
of, you guessed it, "Home Center"!), the largest supermarket I've
seem yet in Israel (it would put even our old favorite Stater Brothers
in Colton to shame!), and a store whose sign said that they carried,
among other animals, SNAKES! It was lying, though. They had no snakes
at all and not even any sign of snake supplies or cages. Oh well!
By then, we were both rather exhausted. We caught
the #361 bus back to Tsfat (of course, there is a bus stop right
along the main highway near the mall!). The #4 came fairly quickly
after we arrived in Tsfat, and we were home. David took a good nap, we
ate supper, and now it's just about time for bed. We definitely got our
exercise for today!
21, 22, & 23 February
Well, another 3-day stretch. I hope none of you out
there are going into withdrawal (I know at least a FEW brave souls
have been following this SOME of the time!). :-)
David has been having a rather strange problem. He'll
be walking along, and, suddenly, one or both of his knees gives
way. It's basically like the electrical system cut out briefly and
then kicked back in. Sometimes, he'll be holding something and a similar
thing happens with his hand or arm, and he'll drop or spill something.
It may have a little to do with low blood sugar levels, but it doesn't
correlate that well, so there has to be some other main cause, most likely
an improper level of one or more of his meds. He was planning to go into
Haifa to the HIV clinic on Wednesday to have it checked out, but, when
he called, he was reminded that they only operate on Sunday, Monday, and
Tuesday. So he'll go in on Sunday (and I'll go with him). The problem really
worries him, because he could fall and get hurt, especially on our marble
staircase. So far, he's always been able to catch himself well enough
to prevent any injury. Today (Thursday), though, he stayed home, and I
went to ulpan by myself.
The weather here has warmed up quite dramatically.
By today, it was so warm that I didn't even take my jacket with me
at all. Of course, I WAS still wearing thermal underwear (top and bottom)
and a sweater. By afternoon, though, I even took the sweater off.
I came directly home today, without eating in Karmiel,
so that I could catch the earlier bus back to Tsfat. After I got
back, David & I walked over to the pizza place and enjoyed a pizza
sitting outside in the warm sun. After a rather long wait, the bus
finally came, and we rode it back up the hill (of course, we still
had to walk from the bus stop).
I took some more pictures today near the house, including
some of the house itself, some of kalaniot (gorgeous red wild flowers,
of which we now have 3 right in our own yard, although the pictures
are of one just across the street), and several of Mt. Khermon. You
can see some of them on Yahoo, as usual, at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
Enjoy!
24 February 2006
Today Victor, the plumber, came and fixed the leaks
in all 3 of our bathrooms. Two of them were minor, but the one in
the master bathroom put so much water on the floor that we effectively
could not use the bathroom. There was no danger of flooding outside
the room, though, since there IS a drain in the floor, and, also, there
wasn't THAT much water. Anyway, hopefully they will all quit all their
leaking now.
I walked into town after Victor had left. I think it's
about 2 miles, and it's downhill or level just about all of the
way. I went to the bakery, bought 2 challot and some pastries for
Shabbat, and then I went over to the pet store to tell them how many
mice of various sizes we will need. The girl there who speaks fluent
English and is very friendly and helpful wrote down what we need, and
she'll check on the prices and let us know before she actually orders
them. After that, I waited at the nearby bus stop (by the nursery) for
the #4 bus, which I rode home (walking 2 miles downhill is one thing;
walking back UP is another!).
After lunch today, we planted 5 lemon cypress trees,
2 rose bushes, and 7 gladiolus bulbs. It actually went surprisingly
easy, and it was very pleasant out today. I took some pictures of
the trees and roses after we had planted them. I've uploaded some of
them to a new album on Yahoo, together with a picture of the sun just
as it rose this morning and another picture of it just before it set
this evening.
Well, I guess that'll do for today. Shabbat Shalom!
25 February 2006
Today was not sunny for the most part, but it was also
not cold. We took a fairly long walk, going part way down the canyon
(I believe it's called "Nakhal Rosh Pinna") towards Rosh Pinna. There
are wild flowers EVERYWHERE now: red ones (kalaniot), yellow ones,
purple ones, blue ones, lavender ones, even pale orange ones. I took
the camera with me and took about a hundred pictures. I've uploaded 16
of them and created yet another album on Yahoo. It's called "Shabbat
walk 2006-02-25". Enjoy!
That's really about all that we did today. I did spend
some time with "Google Earth", a free program that I downloaded from
Google. It's AMAZING! Not only can one travel to any place on earth,
one can also change the tilt so that the view is more horizontal and
less vertical. Not all places are shown at maximum resolution, of course,
but it is still astounding what one can see. I highly recommend checking
it out. Just be sure that you have a high-speed internet connection. I
don't think it would be worth even trying with only a dial-up connection.
But if you have DSL or a cable modem (as we do), it's reasonably fast
almost all of the time and very entertaining. Okay, well it's entertaining
for ME, at least. But, then again, I get entertained by many things that
no one else would even find interesting....
26 & 27 February
Sunday morning, we got up at our regular time and caught
all our regular busses, but we traveled on to Haifa instead of
getting off at Carmiel. Then we went over to the HIV clinic at Rambam
Medical Center there in Haifa. They gave David his test results (all
quite good, especially the fact that his viral load is undetectable),
and they gave him a month's supply of HIV meds.
Just after we left the clinic, we sat down to check David's
blood sugar levels and discovered that his insulin pump was behaving
erratically. We went back up to the clinic to get some alcohol to
clean the battery contacts (it seemed to be some kind of problem with
the batteries). After we rode the bus back to the Mercaz HaMifratz bus
station, we went over the nearby kanyon (Lev HaMifratz - Heart of the Gulf).
There, we got Q-tips and alcohol to clean the battery contacts better.
Then we stopped and ate some pizza. The pump seemed to be behaving better
after that.
The Jewish Agency in Carmiel had found "buddies" for
us there last week, and our buddy, Emil, had talked with me several
times on the phone. We had arranged for them to meet us in person for
the first time on Sunday afternoon at the Carmiel Central Bus Station
when we returned from Haifa. So that is what happened. Emil made aliyah
to Israel when he was only a baby (he's 58 now, and he came in 1948). He
was a purchasing agent for El Al Airlines and speaks good English. He's
retired now. His wife, who is younger, is from Russia. She made aliyah
as a young woman with an elderly mother and a small daughter. She understands
quite a bit of English but only speaks a very little. They are both wonderful
people. She cooked a delicious vegetarian meal for us. After that, they
took us to a place with a wonderful view, although, unfortunately, it was
a very overcast day, and we couldn't see anything. Still, it was a lovely
place up high on top of the hills back of Carmiel. After that, they brought
us back home to Tsfat, not long before dark. We all had a really wonderful
time together, talking Hebrew and English and even a bit of French.
When we got home, though, we discovered that David's
pump was really not working. We managed to get a hold of a MiniMed
representative (the maker of the pump) who speaks English, and she
scheduled a visit with us for Tuesday morning. But David also needed
to get some slow-acting insulin, which he does not need when the
pump is working. So we called his doctor here in Tsfat and made an
appointment for first thing Monday morning (it was already too late
to get an appointment for Sunday evening).
So this morning (Monday), David rode over with me on
the local bus to town, but he continued on to his doctor's appointment
while I traveled to Carmiel for my ulpan class. As it turned out,
not only was he able to meet his doctor, the MiniMed representative,
Tali, came THIS morning, met him as the Central Bus Station, and took
him back to our house. She determined that the problem was merely bad
batteries and gave him some good ones. So that problem seems to be solved
now.
Meanwhile, at the ulpan, I was learning so much. On Mondays
and Thursdays, our teacher is Osnat, and she is SO excellent! I always
go away feeling that I've really gotten things into my head better
than before class. For me, the most important thing is to get the language
onto my tongue and up to speed. My vocabulary is not so bad (although,
of course, there's always room for improvement), but I have trouble coming
up quickly with the right word and the right verb form. Osnat is particularly
good at helping me with this.
When I returned to Tsfat after class, David met me at
the Central Bus Station, and we went to eat at the Mountain View
Cafe in town, so named because of its wonderful view of Mt. Meron, to
the west of Tsfat. Zion had taken me to this restaurant several times
when I was here last summer, so I knew that the food was delicious, and
we were not disappointed.
After that, I took David on a little walk down from there
to the area where all the tourists go and where most of the shops
that sell tourist things are located. I wanted him to see the kinds of
things they sell and to think about whether we might find a way to sell
the kippot that he crochets somewhere there.
Next, we proceeded to the Pelaphone store (where we got
our phones - "pelaphone" is a word made from the word for "miracle"
and, of course, "phone"!). I had used up my minutes and needed to get
a re-charge.
The other thing that we needed to do in town was to arrange
to get mice for our snakes. We had to wait a while for the girl there
who speaks English well and who was arranging the mice for us. She
wasn't able to get all that I wanted, but there will be enough to get
the snakes started when they will be ready to eat in about 2 weeks.
She had live ones, so they needed to be frozen, and we had to help her
figure out how to do it. With some tsuris (and a mouse or 2 that nearly
escaped!), we managed to get the job done, and I paid for the mice. In a
couple of days, I'll go over and pick them up frozen.
While we were waiting for the pet store girl (is that
anything like a Pet Shop Boy???), we went to check out what aronot
(closets) were available at the furniture store. There seems to be
a standard size, and, without exact measurements, I'm afraid that it's
slightly too wide for the spots that are available in the master bedroom
and in the adjacent bedroom for closets. We'll have to measure exactly
and see. As you may know, houses in Israel usually do not have built-in
closets!
By the time we finally got home, it was nearly dark,
and the wind was blowing and making me rather cold. Because of the
warm day, I only had my sweater but no jacket with me (of course,
I WAS wearing my thermal underwear, top and bottom!). Still, I was
very glad to finally get inside the house and out of the wind!
28 February & 1 March 2006
On Tuesday morning (28 February) David did not feel good.
In the morning, he vomited just before we left the house. Since
he had already taken insulin to cover the breakfast he had eaten,
we had to quickly grab some food that he could eat on the way to avoid
having a severe insulin reaction (low blood sugar due to insulin entering
his system without carbohydrates available to digest). By the time school
was out, we were at the point of deciding whether to go to the hospital
in Carmiel or to return to Tsfat and go to the hospital here. He was feeling
dizzy and even had some tingling. He also got some wildly fluctuating
blood sugar readings from his meter, leading us to believe that it might
not be working correctly. However, on the bus on the way home, as he began
to cool off (it was the warmest day we've had here yet), he began to feel
better. I had already called and gotten an appointment with Dr. Gold for
4:45 in the evening.
When we got back to Tsfat, he felt quite a bit better.
We ate lunch (delicious falafel at a place in downtown Tsfat where
we had never eaten before - there are LOTS of falafel stands in that
area!). We needed some groceries, so we got some at the convenient
market near the bus stop, called Asher, the taxi driver, took the groceries
home, put the milk in the refrigerator while Asher waited, and had him
take us back to town to the doctor's office. We hoped that the doctor
would give us a prescription for a new meter. Instead, he didn't seem to
even understand the meaning of the readings (standard numbers that ANY NURSE
in the U.S. would immediately comprehend!). He told us that we would have
to see the Maccabi (our HMO) diabetes nurse, who would be at the Maccabi
office downtown from about 9:00 to sometime in the afternoon. We didn't
say much to him, but we actually left his office furious at his incompetence
and lack of caring at all! Strike one for Dr. Gold!
We decided to get some supper at the pizza place in Sharei
Ha-Ihr (gates of the city), the small kanyon not too far from our
house. By now, the guy there knows what we order (although it turned
out that he had forgotten the tomatoes). They always have a music channel
playing on the TV. The host is this young guy who is always talking to
a smaller-than-life-size papier-maché horse as though it were real.
And they pretty much seem to play a relatively small selection of music
videos over and over, all, or nearly all, of them in Hebrew. There
is one that we've now seen 2 or 3 times that is the story of the Wizard
of Oz, except that it's all in Hebrew, Dorothy is this sexy young girl
in a very short miniskirt who is always dancing provocatively and showing
her undies, Toto is a pug who raps and sings, the scarecrow and the lion
and the tin man are all cute young hunks who rap (remember, this is all
in Hebrew!), and the Wicked Witch of the West is a slinky girl all in green
who would make Elvira look matronly and who melts into a green puddle
after a bitch fight with Dorothy! The Wizard doesn't appear at all!
I really can't pick out many of the lyrics, but it's still a very funny
video.
Today, David felt MUCH better. His class also went much
better.
After class yesterday while we were waiting for the bus
in Carmiel, my main teacher, Shuli, called me on my cell phone. The
entire conversation was in Hebrew. She told me that she and the
other teacher, Osnat, and the director of the ulpan, Efrat, had discussed
my situation and my progress in Hebrew and were recommending that
I move to a more advanced class. I had already been thinking along the
same lines, so I readily agreed.
So, today I began in a new class with a new teacher, Naomi.
Actually, several students were reshuffled, so really they formed
a new class. This is going to work really well for me. All of the
students are serious, none are really beginners any more, and Naomi
really knows how to get us to learn and, more importantly, to use what
we are learning. Now I should be able to progress even faster. This
is exactly what I need!
We returned to Tsfat today on the first bus we could catch
rather than eating in Carmiel and catching the later bus. As soon
as we got here, we headed straight for the Maccabi office to visit the
diabetes nurse. That was when we discovered that the entire office was closed
and would not re-open until 4:00. Strike two for Dr. Gold!
So we headed over to the same falafel shop where we ate
yesterday and had another delicious falafel. Then we headed down
the other side of the hill to the shuk (remember, it only happens
on Wednesdays). We only bought some nuts and a couple of yams this time.
After stopping to buy and drink a couple of Pepsi Max's
to keep ourselves hydrated, we headed up to the barber shop to see
if I could get a haircut before Maccabi opened again. Alas, the barber
was also closed! After resting and talking a bit while enjoying the
warm afternoon and the view across towards K'naan (another hill in Tsfat),
we went back over to the Maccabi office took get in line to see the
diabetes nurse. When they opened, I told the nurse sitting at the desk,
in Hebrew, that we were there to see the diabetes nurse. She said that
the diabetes nurse wasn't there but gave me her number. Strike three for
Dr. Gold! He's out! I called the diabetes nurse, Nora, at the number given
me and found out that she was at the Maccabi clinic next to Sharei Ha-Ihr,
the kanyon not far from our house. She spoke English quite well and seemed
nice on the phone, so we set out to get over there.
While we were sitting waiting for the bus, along came
Zion and gave us a ride over to the Maccabi clinic. Sure enough,
Nora was there and was very nice, very knowledgeable, very caring,
and very helpful. Her English wasn't perfect, but I'll be happy if my
Hebrew EVER gets as good as her English! She gave us a number to get
an appointment next Wednesday with an endocrinologist who is at that
clinic once a week. She also recommended a good doctor at the Maccabi
downtown clinic who speaks English.
Finally, we returned home, just before dark, ate some
supper, and did some homework. It's been a long but productive and
encouraging day.
Kitty Katom is getting more and more comfortable here
in the house. He's playing with string and rubber bands that he finds,
and he's purring a lot. He really enjoys hanging out near wherever
we may be in the house. He came down to meet us right after we came
in the door today.
2 & 3 March 2006
The title for Thursday (2 March) is "Where's the post office?"
Melissa had sent us a package with 2 skeins of yarn that David had
requested, to make kipot. We got the notice in our PO box that it
had arrived on the 28th of February. So we planned to pick it up at
the post office. We knew that they didn't open until 3:30, so we waited
patiently (and also got a few other things done in town). When David went
in to get it (since it was sent to him), they informed him that it was
at the OTHER post office. Only when he told me this did I remember that
someone had mentioned something to us about another post office, over
near the college. So, we headed over there. When we got there, they
didn't have the package either; it was at yet ANOTHER post office! About
that time, Zion happened to drive by. Apparently there are at least
FOUR post offices in Tsfat! He pointed out that it said "k'naan" on
the slip that we had gotten. We found out that there was a post office
in Sharei Ha-Ihr, the kanyon nearest to us. Now we had never NOTICED
one there before, and, even when we went all over the building (and asked
several people), we couldn't locate it. Finally, I managed to find it.
It opens ONLY to the parking area, which is on the second floor. Cars
can drive into there from the BACK side of the building (on a side street).
Anyway, the package was there, and I managed to pick it up.
Meanwhile, during the whole afternoon, Yehuda, the guy
in Jerusalem who makes transformers to convert Israeli electricity
to U.S. electricity, had been trying to get us connected with the
company with whom he had shipped our transformers. Finally, we managed
to get the package (VERY heavy!) and get it home.
After that, we were pretty tired, so we decided to treat
ourselves to a nice dinner in town. Of course, this meant another
wait for the bus, but it was worth it. We ended up eating a wonderful
meal of ravioli in alfredo sauce (sinfully delicious!) at the Mountain
View restaurant (so named because of its beautiful view of Mt. Meron,
to the northwest of Tsfat). We were the only customers there during the
whole time.
In the U.S., you thank G-d for Friday because it's the
last workday of the week. Here in Israel, it's already the weekend!
So we slept in (well, actually DAVID slept in -- I woke up at about
the usual time, a little after 5:00). I did get a lovely picture of the
sky somewhat before the sunrise. We had a leisurely breakfast of scrambled
eggs and peanut butter sandwiches (with natural peanut butter that we
had shipped with our things, not the Skippy which is the only kind we can
get here!). Then we set out for town. We got our weekly Shabbat challah
and pastries, and we went over to the furniture store to get some armoires.
Remember, we have NO closet in the house. This time, we had measured, so
we knew what our size limits were. We ended up ordering two 3-door armoires
(the maximum size that will fit in the master bedroom and the bedroom next
to it) and a 4-door armoire, which will fit with no problem in the big bedroom,
which is 5 steps up from the living room level.
This afternoon, we planted more plants. David had gotten
several herbs, some of which we planted in a couple of window boxes
sitting on the front porch near the front door (the northwest side
of the house), and the rest of which we planted along the edge of
the patio (on the east side of the house).
We now have at least 15 kalaniot flowers blooming in our
yard, 11 in the yard next to the front porch and 4 more in the yard
next to the patio. They are the most beautiful WILD flowers that I
have ever seen! In addition, there are several other kinds of wild flowers
blooming in the yard.
This evening, we put together the second of the 3 plastic
shelving units that we had bought to put the snake terraria on. This
is a big pain, because there are places in the holes where the plastic
was not properly trimmed at the factory, so we have to cut plastic out
painstakingly with a utility knife. Even then, it hard to get everything
to fit together properly and get the shelves all level. Anyway, we got
it together fairly well. We need to keep working on this so that we can
get the snakes set up in their cages with heat so that they will be
able to begin eating again. Breeding season is coming up fast!
4 & 5 March 2006
On Shabbat morning (4 March) we decided to go for
a walk since it was a beautiful sunny day. We walked to Park HaPsalim
(Park of the Statues, or, if you're a bit impish, "Park of the Idols"!).
There are some interesting statues there, and I took a lot of pictures
of them when I was here last summer. When we got there on Shabbat,
however, the gate to the park was locked shut! Of course, we could
still see the statues, we just couldn't get very close to them. Anyway,
we continued our walk along the main highway in the direction of Rosh
Pinna. This way, we got to see an area of town that we hardly ever pass
through, even though it's not far from where we live. It was an enjoyable
walk, with beautiful flowers, a photogenic synagogue, and several lovely
houses. We also heard a bird song that we haven't heard before. It is a
very insistent song, short but repeated over and over in rapid succession.
It reminded David of the barker at the shuk (he actually RECORDS his shpiel
and plays it over and over, very loudly: shtaim v'khetzi, shtaim v'khetzi,
shtaim v'khetzi (2 and a half, 2 and a half, 2 and a half). So we nicknamed
this bird (we didn't see it, so we have no idea what it looks like) the
"shtaim v'khetzi bird".
In the afternoon, I began unwrapping all the snake
terraria that we had shipped. We already knew, from the glass
rattling sound, that one of them was broken. I discovered that
another had a small crack that I taped easily allowing it to be
used, and a third one had the end glass piece shattered due to the
plug-in cord that was taped to the end of it (as the cords were to
the ends of ALL of them, though, thankfully, that was the only one that
shattered). I also set up all the cords (each terrarium has an electric
heating pad at one end) connected to the one U.S. (110V) outlet from
the transformer in the snake room (way down at the lowest level of the
house). We have another transformer up in the study that we will use
when we set up our computer network (so far, I only have my laptop, which
I can run from the Israeli electricity directly using a world travel kit
that I bought from Apple last summer for my ulpan trip).
In the evening, we began the process of putting
substrate, hide boxes (mostly empty cereal boxes), and water bowls
in each cage and bringing the snakes back up from their winter naps.
Two of the 35 snakes didn't make it through the winter: Yitzkhak, one
of our babies from last summer, and Batya, one of our girls from 2004,
who was always small for her age. The rest, though, were fine. We got 22
of the 33 put into cages Saturday night, and the rest we did tonight (Sunday
evening).
This morning at ulpan, after the first break, they
split all of the ulpan students from all of the classes up into
3 groups for lectures about Purim. The lectures were in Russian,
Spanish, and English. Of course, I don't know what happened in the
Russian and Spanish groups, but for the English-speakers they had
the rabbi from the Masorti (Conservative) synagogue in Carmiel to
talk with us. His name is Tzvi Landau, and he made aliyah from New York
10 years ago. He asked us a lot about ourselves and our reasons from
coming to Israel, and he related the story of Esther to the experiences
of Jews in the diaspora throughout history. He also explained the many
customs surrounding Purim and told us about observances that will be
happening in Carmiel.
During the second break, my teacher, Naomi, came
up to me and told me that each class will be making a presentation
at the ulpan Purim party, which will be on Thursday morning. Her
plan is for our class to present the Swan Lake Ballet, in tutus! Well,
she didn't have to ask ME twice! LOL
6 & 7 March 2006
We had our first "Swan Lake" rehearsal Monday (6
March). Our ballet troupe consists of 6 guys. Four of them are
basically a chorus, and the other 2 are the white swan and the black
swan (you see, these Russians know the story, whereas we Americans
have only heard the music!). Guess who gets to be the white swan: yep,
yours truly! LOL Ivan, the 20-year-old from Russia, will be the black
swan. This will not be beautiful, but it WILL be VERY funny!
Today, Tuesday, we had a substitute teacher named
Michal in my class. She was really good, and we spent most of the
class learning about how to form adverbs from nouns to describe
HOW some action is done. It was also good for building vocabulary.
After class, David & I ate falafel in Carmiel,
caught the bus to Tsfat, and caught the local bus home, arriving
here shortly after 3:00. After drinking a glass of Diet Coke, David
lay down for his nap, and I headed back into town to pick up the frozen
mice from the pet store. I came home by taxi so that the mice would
not start to thaw on the way. When I got home, I put them right into
the little freezer that will be only for mice.
After supper, we showered, and I helped David with
his homework. I don't think I mentioned it, but last week they
finally got the sliding glass door installed to divide the shower
from the rest of the master bathroom. Before that, if we showered,
the entire bathroom floor got wet. Now it's wonderful! The shower
area, which is quite large, is all that gets wet, because we have nice,
clear sliding glass doors. We had to pay 2200 extra shekels for them,
but they are definitely worth it!
Since there's not so much news today, perhaps this
would be a good time to tell about the latest addict in our household.
First, a little background. Here in Israel, in the dairy section,
they have cartons of something called "bulgarit", which just means "Bulgarian".
What it is, though, is a slightly salty cross between sour cream and
cream cheese. Several weeks ago, David was cooking eggs, and I was
fixing toast. When we turned back to the table, there was a certain
feline who lives here (that would be Katom!), licking right out the
open bulgarit container on the table! Well, needless to say, we don't
leave the container open any more. But we did start giving him a little
bit on our finger each morning. Now, he can hardly wait. Any time we
sit down at the table, he sits on a chair right beside David and hopes
that he'll get some bulgarit. If I take the container out of the refrigerator,
his pupils immediately dilate! We may have to send him to Bulgarit
Addicts Anonymous! He such a sweet kitty, though.
8 March 2006
My teacher, Neomi, was back today. After class, we
had another rehearsal for our fabulous (ha ha ha!) Swan Lake
ballet tomorrow. She brought the paper tutus for the chorus "girls"
today, and tomorrow she'll also brings tutus for the white (me)
and black (Ivan) swans. I'm going to bring a few other costume goodies
in case anyone wants to use them.
Other than that, not too much to report today. I
did get the printer plugged into the transformer and found, to
my relief, that it works fine. I even managed to print out my Hebrew
resume, which Neomi has promised to check for me. We were worried
about whether the printer would work since ink leaked out of it through
the side vents while it was in transit here. Fortunately, this doesn't
seem to have caused any problems with its functioning at all.
9 & 10 March 2006
On Thursday morning, it was very windy here at our
house, but, luckily, the predicted rain had not yet started. When
we got to Carmiel, we headed on down to the building where David's
class is held, since that is where the Purim party was to be.
The first hour and a half or so, we were mostly making
cheesy costumes: funny paper hats and masks with glitter and bright
dots. Then the program began. The first class to present was David's
class. They presented a short play, giving the highlights of the Esther
story. Then my former class did a funny play with Dr. Ivan, a psychologist,
seeing the king, Haman, Esther & Mordecai, and a very pregnant
woman who seemed to have some difficulty identifying who the father
of the baby might be.
After those presentations, there were some games while
the 6 of us guys from my class got into costume for our ballet. Our
teacher, Neomi, was the emcee for the whole morning. So when we
were ready, she gave us a huge billing as "the world-famous Carmiel
ballet company". It was really hysterical. We only followed what little
choreography we had at a distance. After we left, the audience demanded
an encore, so we came back out and did it again, with even less attention
to choreography!
If you would like to see pictures (I KNEW you would!),
I've posted 46 of the best pictures that we got from the whole Purim
party. David took most of them (including ALL of the ones of our wonderful
ballet troupe!). Just go to:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
and check out the album entitled "Ulpan Purim Party
2006". Enjoy!
After the party, David & I walked up and got some
falafel. We sat down to eat at a table on the sidewalk, but after
a while, a light rain started, so we moved inside. That was only the
beginning. It wasn't too bad while we were in Carmiel. By the time we
got back to Tsfat, it was worse, and, of course, it's always colder in
Tsfat because of the much higher elevation. By the time we got off the
number 4 bus for the walk home, it was AWFUL! The worst part was the wind,
which guaranteed that we would get soaked, which we certainly did.
We were both so tired, that we cranked up the heat
in the bedroom and lay down, both of us, for a nap. But we couldn't
sleep too long, because David had his first appointment with the
endocrinologist, Dr. Adawi, at 5:20 at the Maccabi clinic near Sharei
Ha-Ihr. When we left the house, at about quarter to 5:00, the weather
was even worse: still lots of wind and now a bit of small hail, as well.
Stupid me, I didn't even THINK of calling the taxi until we were already
soaked and nearly to the bus stop anyway. By then, there really wasn't
much point. Then we had to wait quite a while at the bus stop, too. It's
fairly well sheltered, so we didn't get much wetter. Finally, the bus
came, and we got over to the clinic without further incident.
The doctor was running late. And, in typical Israeli
fashion, there's no such thing as a line. People just barge right
on in whenever they can. While we were waiting, two younger women
and an older woman arrived. When the doctor was free, the older woman,
who was the LAST to arrive, tried to just walk right on in. David
went in and told the older woman, in very fractured Hebrew, that he
was first. Finally, she backed off, but even the doctor wasn't very
helpful. He didn't seem to be that great a doctor, either. At least, unlike
Dr. Gold, he knew what the blood sugar numbers mean! But he seemed more
worried about the fact that David's blood pressure was slightly higher
than it should be. Duh! Do you think the rude woman just MIGHT have had
something to do with that!
After that, we went over to the nearby New-Pharm pharmacy
to pick up a prescription that we had left there last week and
to get the new one filled. We also picked up 2 or 3 other items that
we needed. Then we called Asher, the taxi driver, to take us home.
It had been an exhausting day!
Today (Friday), we mostly took it easy. We finally
walked out to catch the bus, but we saw it go by while we were still
walking down the hill. We figured that, instead of going into town,
we might as well just walk over to the market at Sharei Ha-Ihr and
get the things we needed there. Sure enough, even though we were walking
along the #4 route all the way, no bus passed us. So we got what we
needed at the market there (including a delicious large challah). Then
we did wait and catch the #4 home (which saves us from having to climb
most of the steepest part of the hill).
The rest of the day, I uploaded and titled pictures,
showered, transferred some clothes from the over-crowded middle
bedroom to the new aron (closet) in the big room, and began to get
ready to set up our computer network. David mostly slept, we he really
needed to do. We did have a good lunch and a delicious but simple supper.
I called Emil, our Israeli friend in Carmiel, today.
Tomorrow, he and his wife, Lena, are going to drive up here to visit
us, and then we may go somewhere else in their car if all of us (or
even SOME of us) are so inclined. It should be an enjoyable visit
in any case.
11 & 12 March
On 11 March, Emile and Lena arrived here sometime a
little after 11:00. We showed them all of the house, including the
snakes. Actually, in fact, we started in the snake room (at the lowest
level of the house). Lena knew more about snakes than Emile, so
she was explaining to him how they spend the winter.
After that, we sat down to a simple but delicious lunch.
Lena had brought a wonderful Russian salad, and we fixed tea and
some corn shnitzels. Then we just sat and chatted about all kinds
of things. Lena understands quite a bit of English, especially when
David is talking, since he speaks more slowly and distinctly. I also
found that I could pick up most of what Lena and Emile said in Hebrew,
and David also understood quite a bit. All in all, it was a very enjoyable
experience for all of us. I found out that Lena likes to go on the computer
and on the internet a lot, so I got her e-mail address, and we have
already exchanged a couple of e-mails, in Hebrew.
Today, 12 March, we went on the ulpan tiyul (trip)
to Rosh Pina and Tel Chai. Now, I had certainly been to those places
before, but not to the specific parts that we went to. More significantly,
I didn't know that either was important in Israeli history. Those of
you who know this history better than I did until today will just have
to forgive my ignorance. Anyway, here are the stories.
Until the 1880's, there really were essentially no
Jews living in the Land who actually earned their living FROM the
land. A group of Zionist Jews in Romania decided to find a place here
where they could move and work the land (do agriculture). They sent
a delegate here, and in February, he found a lovely place with plenty
of running water and everything green. They were able to buy some land,
and they came and founded a town, one of the very first Zionist settlements
in the Land. But there were some serious problems. First, none of them
really knew ANYTHING about agriculture! Also, by July or August, there
was no water at all coming from the springs that fed the creek, and everything
was dry and brown instead of green. Eventually, Baron Rothschild, a very
wealthy European Zionist, helped them, and they were able to learn enough
agriculture to make a living from the land, but it was not at all easy.
And where was this town? Rosh Pina, on a few short kilometers down the
hill from our house, further down the same valley where we walked a little
over a week ago! I had no idea about this history until today! The name
of the town, by the way, comes from the psalm that says, "The stone that
the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." Rosh Pina means
"chief cornerstone".
Tel Chai is also important in Israeli history. After
World War I, much of the Middle East, including all of what is
now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, went from the control of
the defeated Ottoman Empire to the allies, in this case, the British
and the French. This much I knew before. I also knew that the British
got "Palestine" (which included almost all of what is now Israel) and
that the French got Lebanon. I had assumed that the current line between
Israel and Lebanon was drawn at that time. It turns out that that is
not exactly the case. In particular, the extreme north of Israel,
the Khulah Valley and the mountains west of it, were an area where it
was not yet clear whether the British or French would control it. The
Jews had settlements in this area, including Tel Chai, but the British
were not interested in protecting them. The Arabs began to attack more
and more. To make a long story short, they attacked Tel Chai, and 8 Jews
died. The most famous was Trumpledore (whom I DID know a little about).
His famous quote just before he died was, "It is good to die for our country."
The fact that the Jews were able to defend themselves eventually in this
region had a definite effect on where the boundaries were eventually
drawn, which ultimately led to Jewish control of the strategically important
Khulah Valley and the mountains directly above it. The city of Kiriat Shmona
("Town of Eight") is named in their honor. Near Tel Chai is a memorial to
these 8 people, a statue of a roaring lion. Their deaths occurred on 11
Adar, so yesterday was their 86th yahrzeit (anniversary of their death).
So today there was a big ceremony at the memorial, which speeches, a troupe
of soldiers, singers, and VIPs laying wreaths at the statue. It was quite
impressive and moving!
After that, we drove on the highway that goes through
the mountains west of the Khulah Valley instead of returning through
the valley. Near the kibbutz of Menara, the road goes right along
the Lebanon border. This is the same road that I had been on twice
before, first last summer, and second on the weekend when David &
I rented a car. Also at Menara is the mountain station of the cable cars
(the valley station is just south of Kiriat Shmona. The view there was
very spectacular, since the air was quite clear today.
On the way back, the bus dropped us off at the junction
where the road goes up to Tsfat. We waited there about 20 minutes,
until the next #361 bus came by and rode back up to Tsfat for only
7.6 shekels each (as opposed to 21.5 from Carmiel to Tsfat). Most importantly,
we saved a lot of time and thus got home MUCH earlier.
This evening, I got our computer network up and mostly
working. There are still a few problems to be ironed out, which
I will work on tomorrow (we now have Mo, Tu, and We off from school,
for the Purim holiday). I can't access the internet through the network,
but I CAN access from my desktop Mac (instead of from my Mac laptop,
which is all I have had up until now).
13, 14, & 15 March
Monday started out fairly slowly and restfully for us.
After all, it was our first day of holiday from school! In the afternoon,
I called and connected with tech support from the cable company. I
wanted to get our computer network hooked up so that all of the computers
could access the internet simultaneously. It took quite a while (and
cost me an additional 49 shekels), but it was well worth it, and there's
no way that I could possibly have done it by myself.
On Tuesday, we planned to go to Carmiel (I know, we
just COULDN'T stay away!). First, we had noticed a tall building
there that said "Call Center" up near the top of it. David wanted
to go there and apply for a job. Second, Tsvi Landau, the rabbi of
the Masorti (Conservative) synagogue there, was having a Purim party
at his house, and he had invited us. He also agreed to meet us at the
large shopping area there next to the building with the call center
at 4:15 to pick us up and take us to his house.
So we left home early, ate lunch in town here in Tsfat,
and headed for Carmiel. When we got to the call center building,
the guard, who apparently spoke no English, was just going to take
David's resume and dismiss him. Of course, this was not acceptable
to us. Fortunately, several people in the lobby jumped to help us and
talked to him in Hebrew. He then gave us a phone number to call. We
went over to the Office Depot nearby, sat in a couple of the comfortable
office chairs there, and called the number. Elite, who answered, was very
nice and invited David to come right on up!
It turns out that the call center is the on-line help
center for an on-line gambling company! She set up an appointment
for David to return on Wednesday (today) for some tests to see how
suitable he might be for the job.
After that, we had plenty of time to browse the stores
of the shopping center. We spent a good part of the time in the Steimatzky
book store. I didn't end up actually buying anything, but David found
a multi-language speaking translator that he decided to get.
We also went over to the Super-Pharm store and got a
blood-pressure machine to use at home. We want to find out if David
is really having high blood pressure much of the time or if it's only
an occasional occurance, such as happened at the last doctor's visit.
Finally, I had to take David in to see the HUGE supermarket
there. It's really bigger than most of the markets I've seen in
the U.S., and it's very well stocked, too! We looked around quite
a bit, but we didn't buy anything, since we already had quite a bit
to carry and we still had a party to go to.
Tsvi picked us up as planned, and we went to the party.
It was really a party of mostly Americans, except for 2 Russian
girls who were there. I worried a little that they might feel left
out, since almost all of the conversation was in English and they clearly
spoke only Russian and Hebrew, but they seemed to have a great time.
I was careful not to drink too much (because it's not a pleasant feeling
for me), but I still did drink a bit more than usual. I was certainly
still far from being drunk, of course. We left fairly early, and Tsvi's
wife, Julie, drove us over to the Carmiel central bus station, where we
caught the #846 to Tsvat. Then we took local bus #4 home and went pretty
much directly to bed. We were tired, but it had been a good day.
Today, we got up about an hour and a half later than
on a school day, since David's appointment at the call center was
at 10:00. While we were eating breakfast, the rain and hail began, so
I called Asher to arrange for him to pick David up from the house and
get him to the Tsfat bus station in time for the 9:05 bus to Carmiel.
This actually gave us about an hour of extra time, since we didn't have
to allow for the vagaries of the #4 bus.
Meanwhile, I was preparing to feed the snakes for the
first time since early December. Since our snake setup here is
very different, and the house is also very different, I needed to
develop an entirely new routine for feeding. I was able to work it out
quite well. The only problem I had was that the electricity went off,
so I need to open window blinds for light. It wasn't until afternoon
that I found that it was merely a circuit breaker that had switched off
(I thought that none were off, but apparently I didn't look closely enough!).
Anyway, most of the snakes ate well, and all of them seemed to be fine.
At the call center, they gave David 3 e-mails such us
one might receive from customers and had him write responses to
them. They said he could use their suggested answers, but they encouraged
him to be creative as well. Afterwards, they said that they would call
him, but, so far, they have not. Probably they'll contact him tomorrow
sometime.
In the afternoon, I unpacked a whole stack (4 or 5 boxes)
of my things, mostly books, in the office. If I can keep doing this,
little by little the house will get in order and things will all
get put away.
Over all 3 days, I did numerous loads of laundry, so
that nearly all of our clothes are clean now. The washer and dryer
are smaller here, so the load size is only about half of the size in
the U.S.
16 March 2006
Back to school today! We started my class with the teacher
putting us in pairs (generally pairs where Hebrew would be the only
language in common!) and having each one tell the other about what
he/she did during the holiday (3 days off from school plus, for some
of us, also Sunday on the tiyul). Then, of course, we had to relate
to the class what the other person told us. Mostly, Neomi (my teacher)
used all of this as an opportunity for us to practice the Hebrew we knew
and, maybe even more importantly, to learn new words and expressions.
I just hope that I can manage to remember at least a few of them!
They called David today from the call center (while he
was napping, of course!) to schedule an interview for him on Sunday
at 10:30. So, the likelihood of him getting the job is increasing!
We both hope that this will prove to be a good opportunity for him (and
for us!).
We went into town again this evening to pick up our bank
debit cards so that we'll be able to access the money in our accounts.
Until now, money went into our accounts (from the sal klitah), but
only a little went out (in automatic payments to the kupat cholim and,
so far, one mortgage payment). We have been living almost entirely on
money from the U.S., but it's about time to start using a little of our
money here, as well. Like ANYTHING involving any office here, doing
business at the bank is a slow and tedious process. Once we got to see
Meir, our English-speaking guy at the bank, he checked and found that
our cards were indeed ready, but we had to go to a different station
to actually get them. So, that meant more waiting. But at least we did
eventually get them.
After that, we ate at the Mountain View cafe (delicious,
as always!), picked up a few things at the market, and headed home.
One game of dominoes and a few quick checks on the computer, and
now it's time for bed!
17 & 18 March 2006
The weekend! On both Friday and Saturday, I spent quite
a bit of time unpacking boxes, mostly of books. Some went onto the
bookshelves here in our office, some were cookbooks that went down
to the kitchen for later shelving, and many were various other books.
The last category went to one of the 3 bookcases that line our hallway.
These are the old-fashioned kind of bookcase, which is hard to find
nowadays. They were mostly my Mom's bookcases that we shipped here,
and they are just deep enough for actual books and are NOT designed
to house things like VCRs or stereo systems.
I also got the one remaining problem with the computers
fixed so that my MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) system
works properly. Basically, this means that Digital Performer, the
sequencing program on my Mac, can play the digitized pipe organs that
play by means of Hauptwerk, the digital organ program that runs only
on my PC. Also, I can play the organs from my Yamaha keyboard, and I
can use the Yamaha to enter notes into Digital Performer. So everything
is now set up like it was in San Bernardino.
Other than a quick trip to Shaarei Ha-Ihr on Friday morning
for a few groceries, we didn't leave the house at all this weekend.
This morning (Shabbat morning), I looked out and saw that the cows
were grazing just across the street from our house. So I grabbed my
camera and took a whole bunch of pictures, some from the patio and some
from the upstairs balcony (right next to the 3 bedrooms on the second
floor). When I stood still on the patio, it was so quiet that I could
actually hear the cows eating! I picked 10 of the pictures I took and
posted them in a Yahoo album entitled "Cows on Shabbat morning" at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
David spent some time this weekend preparing for his interview.
He's put together questions he wants to ask and also answers to
questions that they may ask him.
19, 20, & 21 March 2006
Wow! Three days again. Sunday morning, David had his interview
at the call center. It seemed to go well, but they didn't call, and
their training class was scheduled to start today. So, unless they're
much more screwed up than we think, he apparently didn't get the job.
Who knows what happened? Oh well, maybe it wouldn't have been such a
great thing anyway.
On Sunday, while we were waiting for the bus in Carmiel,
I noticed a cute soldier who was also waiting. Now, of course, this
is NOT unusual at all; there are LOTS of cute soldiers everywhere
here! What was interesting and unusual was that, when he got on
his phone, I heard him talking in fluent French! When we got on the
bus, he rode all the way to Tsfat. We were in the very back of the
bus, and he was only a couple of rows ahead of us. Several times I
saw him glance back towards us rather furtively. Was he cruising,
or just checking out the 2 strange-looking Americans with our giant
sunglasses (they are big because they fit OVER our regular glasses)?
Anyway, he WAS very easy on the eyes!
On Monday, we took the taxi (with our favorite driver,
Asher) home from the Tsfat bus station. We wanted to get home quickly
so that David, who was very tired, could get a good nap before the
guys arrived to put our new armoires (aronot) together. They had delivered
the parts Sunday night but hadn't had time to assemble them then.
I had to leave before they were finished, because I needed
to get to the post office (now that we know which one to go to!)
before they closed at 6:00 to pick up another package of things that
we had asked Melissa to send us. David stayed at home until they were
done, then he walked over to meet me at Shaarei Ha-Ihr to eat pizza there.
But it was quite a long time, so I took a walk up the road that goes off
from the main road right next to the kanyon. I had never been up that road
at all before. It turns out that it is very scenic and goes all the way
up to the Canaan Spa, a large, beautiful, and luxurious hotel that we
can see from our house (and from many places in Tsfat!). It's up at nearly
the very highest point in Tsfat on Har K'naan (Mount Canaan). Anyway,
there were some really wonderful views in all directions from way up there,
and I enjoyed it so much that I didn't even mind that it was uphill all
the way. Of course, coming back DOWN was easy!
Today, David was just too tired and discouraged to go to
school, so he stayed home. I went and had a good class. I returned
as quickly as I could to be back with him. But, in the evening, I
had to go to Hiperneto (now called SuperSal, having been bought out
by that large chain). It's the largest grocery store in town, and we
needed some things that we can only get there. But, when I tried to call
Asher to bring me home, I couldn't get ahold of him. I finally got another
taxi to bring me home. I had to pay a little more, but at least I and all
the groceries got home okay.
The last few days I've been checking out the used cars
for sale. There are quite a few of them parked in the kanyon parking
lot, right next to the mercaz klitah (where my classes are in Carmiel).
They always have signs giving the phone number to call, but very rarely
do they give prices. Two old Peugeots, however, that have been parked
there every day, did have prices. For one they are asking 10,000 shekels
and for the other 5000. I looked closer today at both of them. They are
very similar: they are both from the early 90s, and they both have about
217,000 or 218,000 kilometers on the odometer (that would be about 136,000
miles). So the 5000 shekels (around $1100) seems like a pretty good deal.
I even entered the phone number into my phone today, but I didn't actually
call. It really would be nice to have a car here!
22 March 2006
Today, I went to school alone, and, when I got there, I
asked Efrat, the director of the ulpan to call David (as he had asked
me to do). She didn't actually call him until after the morning break,
because she wanted to talk first to Tova, his teacher. She's still
not understanding very well what his problem is with learning Hebrew
or why he feels like he's wasting his time. Tomorrow, he promised to talk
to her in person, and I will go in with him.
I talked on the phone today with Emil, our Israeli buddy
in Carmiel. He called me because he had found a driving school and found
out what we have to do to get our driver's licenses. I still haven't
called the guy at the driving school, though. I also talked to Emil about
him helping us to find a cheap used car and gave him the number on the
one that I saw (the one that is for sale for 5000 shekels). He called
the number and left a message, and he'll tell me what he hears from them
(if anything!).
When I came home, David met me in town, and we went out
to eat again at the Mountain View restaurant. Their spinach ravioli
with alfredo sauce is such a nice comfort food! Then we just came
home and pretty much chilled for the rest of the day. For some reason,
I've been rather tired today, as well. So, I'm going to wrap this up,
and we'll go to bed.
23 March 2006
Many developments today. David & I went in together and
talked to Efrat first thing this morning. She really listened to what
he had to say, and she understood the problems. Now he will be able to
continue his studies, knowing that he can get whatever support he needs
in order to feel comfortable with his progress.
I called the driving school guy today, and he told me how
to get to his office, where I would be able to get all the information
on getting our drivers licenses here. After class, I met David and we
walked over there. The process is incredibly complicated, but I was able
to understand the whole description in Hebrew, and also to ask questions
and get answers. The first step is to go to an office (just up the street
a short distance from the driving school) called Memsi (it actually a
Hebrew acronym for something which I didn't bother even trying to figure
out). When we got there, their computer system, nationwide, was down. The
woman suggested that we come back after a few minutes, so we decided to
go across the street to the mall and just sit and rest a while, since David's
foot has been hurting a lot recently.
While we were sitting there resting, who should walk by but
Emil, our Israeli friend! We talked for a while, and then he walked
out with us to see the car that we are interested in buying, which is
parked right there in the mall parking lot. He called the guy's number
again and this time talked to him in person. They talked for quite a
while, and Emil said that the guy seems honest. Later, on the bus on the
way home, Emil called again and had found a garage to check the car out
(for a fee, of course). He will pick us up tomorrow morning, we'll go to
Carmiel, we'll meet the owner of the car, we'll test drive it, and we'll
take it to the garage to be checked. After that, we will probably buy it!
The cost will be somewhere around $900-$1000. It's a 1988 Peugeot, so
it won't be fancy, and it won't last a long time (since it already has about
136,000 miles on it), but it will be good basic transportation.
After leaving the car, we went back across to the Memsi office,
but the computer was still down, so we didn't wait in Carmiel any longer
and instead headed back to Tsfat.
When we got back to Tsfat, David was very tired, so he headed
home. I walked over to the college to look into possibly getting a
job there. I was able to locate the office, tell them why I was there,
and leave my resume, all completely in Hebrew! The woman who took my
resume turned out to be the same woman we see nearly every morning waiting
for the #4 bus. She lives not far from us!
After that, I went over to the bank. I got in as soon as
they opened at 4:00, paid the water bill and the property tax (both
to the city of Tsfat), and withdraw enough money to pay for the car
tomorrow in case we really are able to get it. I did all of this in Hebrew
also! So today was a big day for me in feeling confident about speaking
in Hebrew. Did you notice that I'm just a bit excited?
24 & 25 March 2006
Well, Emil picked us up, we went to the garage, and we got
the car tested. Unfortunately, the mechanic found oil in the radiator
water, which most likely means that the engine block is cracked. So
the engine will be failing before very long, and the cost of fixing that
would be as much as the price of the car. We decided that it would not
be a good buy after all. The young guy who was selling it was disappointed
(and maybe a little mad), but we suspect that he may not have been totally
unaware of the problem. We certainly were glad that we had gotten it checked!
Still, we were disappointed that we won't have a car, because it would
be SO convenient. On the other hand, we can take a LOT of taxi rides for
even the price of a cheap car, so maybe we just need to do that more often.
The weather Friday was downright HOT, though not so much
in Tsfat. This is a weather pattern known here as a khamsin (an Arabic
word, I think, which is nevertheless used in Hebrew also) or a sherav
(the proper Hebrew word, I guess). I thought that it might be something
like the Santa Ana winds of Southern California, but instead, the air was
calm and the visibility was poor. Oh well!
The sherav usually only last a day or two, and, sure enough,
today (Saturday), it was cool again. In the morning, there was dense
fog here at our house, but it cleared to partly cloudy later. I think
it was windy out most of the day, but we didn't go out at all today.
I fed the snakes today, even though I really didn't have
enough mice, and the ones I had were mostly smaller than most of the
snakes would normally eat. Still, everybody got a chance to eat something,
so it was a good feeding. I hope that we'll be able to find a better source
of mice soon. Otherwise, our snakes will not be getting enough food.
We're thinking of the possibility of raising hamsters, since we really
don't want to raise mice again because they stink so much.
So that was our weekend. Mostly, we were just lazy. Tomorrow,
though, we have to travel again to Haifa for David's appointment with
the HIV doctor there.
26, 27, & 28 March 2006
So we traveled safely to Haifa to visit the HIV doctor. We
also got them started on helping us find a diabetes doctor (also in
Haifa, but near Checkpost instead of at Rambam) and a psychiatrist (hopefully
in Tsfat, but it may not be possible). Before returning home, we stopped
and browsed a little at the Lev HaMifratz kanyon, which is next door
to the Mercazit HaMifratz bus station, one of the 2 major hub bus stations
in Haifa. Then we came back to Tsfat, ate supper at the Mountain View cafe,
and returned home (after dark).
On Monday (27 March) we went back to our classes. They moved
mine to a different room, which I think is actually better. In the morning,
when I left the house, for some reason I completely forgot to take
my backpack, which was all packed with my textbooks and notebook and
ready to go. I didn't realize it until we were nearly at the bus stop,
and, by then, of course, it was too late to go back and get it. Luckily,
I got along just fine without it.
During the first morning break, I walked over to the nearby
rent-a-car place and reserved a car for Thursday through Sunday. On
Thursday evening, Nefesh B'Nefesh, the organization that helped us
make aliyah, is having a dessert reception for all NBN olim (immigrants)
in Jerusalem, and we will be attending that. Then, of course, we will
also have the car for the rest of the weekend.
After class, we went to the kanyon and ate pizza, and then
we went over to MEMSI, where they took our pictures for our drivers'
licenses. They print them out on a form, which we must take to a family
doctor and to an eye doctor. After that, we must go to an office near Haifa
(but NOT near the bus route!). They stamp it, and then we go to a driving
school, take as many lessons as we think we need, and then take a test.
After that, if we pass, we will get our drivers' licenses (hopefully!).
Just another typical Israeli bureaucratic maze!
In the evening, we got a delivery from the pet store: 44 frozen
mice and 4 new members of our household, together with their cages,
water bottles, and food. And who are these 4? They are ogrim (the singular
is "oger"). No, this is NOT Hebrew for "ogre"; it's Hebrew for "hamster"!
It also means "collector" or "hoarder", which is appropriate because
that's exactly what hamsters do with their food. The reason we got them
is to breed snake food. We don't think that we're going to be able to
get a steady enough supply of mice to feed the snakes, and we believe that
hamsters will produce less of a nasty odor in the house than mice would.
The pet shop girl said that she was sending a white male and
3 brown females so that we could tell which were which (we had, of
course, ordered 1 male and 3 females). The male is really more of a
silver grey, but, as a kind of double joke, we decided to name him "Snow
White" and to name the 3 females "Bashful", "Doc", and "Sleepy" (nothing
like a little gender reversal!).
We left all 4 of them together for the night, but today (Tuesday),
we set up another rack and 4 separate cages for them. When female hamsters
have their babies, it's important that there be no other adults in the
cage with them, so this is why we need the separate cages. So, anyway,
they're all set up now.
Today was election day here in Israel, so nonessential government
offices and schools, including ulpans, are all closed for the whole
day! So we got a much-appreciated vacation. More importantly, we got
to vote in Israel for the first time! We found the polling place more
easily than I had thought we might. It was quite exciting to go there
and have our names on the list of voters!
Elections here in Israel are quite different from in the United
States. Here, we don't vote for candidates, we vote for a party by
selecting a piece of paper with that party's name on it and sealing
it in the envelope provided. Of course, this is done in a booth so that
it will be a secret ballot. The seats in the Knesset will be apportioned
to the various parties in proportion to the number of people who vote
for each party. There are LOTS of parties that one could vote for, but
the 3 main ones right now are Likud (right wing), Kadima (the centrist
party formed only a few months ago by Ariel Sharon before he suffered a
stroke and went into a coma), and Avodah (labour, the left wing, of course).
We both voted for Kadima because we think that they have the most sensible
plan for this country. They are also projected to get the largest number
of votes, though they will still be quite a ways from having a majority.
They will probably end up forming a coalition government with Avodah and
several minor parties.
After voting, we walked over and had a nice pizza before heading
back home. We had walked over, but we were waiting for the bus to return
(since it's uphill coming back home, of course). Before the bus arrived,
Zion came by, so he gave us a ride home.
Spring is in full swing here now, and the number, variety,
and sheer beauty of the wildflowers is absolutely breathtaking! I must
be sure to take some time this coming weekend to take some pictures.
Even many of the trees have lovely flowers of various shades on them.
One kind of tree that we see all over the place, especially along the
highways, has branches covered with yellow flowers. The general effect
reminds me of streaking fireworks!
29 March 2006
Today, we had quite a bit of talk about yesterday's election
in my ulpan class. Although Kadima didn't do quite as well as expected,
they still got more votes than any other single party. The main surprises
were that Likud, formerly the lead party in the government, got only 5th
place. They were passed by another new party, Yisrael Beitenu (Israel,
Our Home). Another surprise was that a party of retirees, who had expected
to get only about one seat, got about 6 seats! In any case, it shouldn't
be too hard for Kadima to form a government without any parties that will
oppose their main plan: "disengagement" from the Palestinians and the establishment
of permanent borders for Israel.
For the last hour and a half of class today, we again broke
up into various language groups (English, Spanish, and Russian) for lectures
about the upcoming holiday of Pesach (Passover). The lecturer for us
English-speakers turned out to be none other than my ulpan teacher, Neomi.
Although her English is quite good, I could tell that she didn't feel
very confident speaking English, and she kept wanting to make it into a
Hebrew lesson, though she did resist fairly well. It was also difficult
because most of us knew LOTS about Pesach, but there were a few, including
a non-Jew from Germany, who knew very little. For me, the most important
thing was to make sure I knew what will be closed when and what will be
available when, which she explained well when I asked about it. Basically,
the first and last days of the khag (holiday) will be like Shabbat, with
everything closed and no bus service, and the days right before these two
will be like Friday, with stores closing early and bus service stopping well
before sunset.
And for those of you in the U.S. who observe Pesach, na na
na na na na! We only have to eat matzah here for SEVEN days, instead
of EIGHT, as in every other country. Just another reason to make aliyah,
nakhon (right)!
30 & 31 March & 1 April (no fooling!) 2006
Thursday, after class, I picked up the rental
car that I had reserved, a black Hyundai Getz (not sold in the
U.S.) with a manual transmission (yes!). Since it was still only
a little after 1:00 and we didn't need to leave Carmiel for Jerusalem
until 4:00, we went for a little driving tour of the Galil. First, I
went up the road through Rama (a X-ian Arab town that we also go through
on the bus but only a short ways from the main highway). The road we drove
on goes up the along the hills and crosses over to the other side. That
was an area where I had never been before and it was quite lovely, so
I enjoyed the drive. We returned by another road that comes down the hill
a little further west, right north of Carmiel. We still had plenty of
time, so I drove up the road where Emil and Lena had taken us a month or
so ago. That time, however, there had been so much fog that we didn't get
much of a view at all. This time, though, it was very clear, so from the
viewpoint up there I could see most of the middle and lower Galil, including
some of the Kinneret (David was sound asleep, so I didn't wake him up
because I knew he'd rather get the rest than see the view). When we got
down to the "Big" kanyon (yes, that really IS its name!), we went to the
huge supermarket there and got some challah for Shabbat and some cold
Diet Coke to drink right then because we were thirsty. Then I checked the
maps, and we headed over to pick Betsy up at 4:00 at the Mercaz Klitah
(where she lives and where my ulpan classes are). We were on our way to
Jerusalem! The trip went smoothly, we found the hotel with no trouble,
and we were about an hour early (6:30 instead of 7:30). So we just hung around
the lobby of the hotel (a very fancy hotel!) until it was time for the Nefesh
B'Nefesh dessert reception and program.
The desserts were delicious, and the program
was also very good and inspiring. Particularly good were a duo
of young guys who sang a variety of songs. The younger of the two
(I think) was named Roger, and he was very easy on the eyes (what
David & I call a CYD: Cute Young Dad). Before one of his songs,
he told us how he & his fiancee had thought of making aliyah but
had not considered it a serious option. Then they talked about getting
married in Israel, and ended up not only getting married here but also
making aliyah. This was his introduction to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
It gave a whole new meaning to that song for me! This really IS like
getting to go somewhere over the rainbow, but it's much nicer here than
in Oz! Betsy got to talk to several people about her dreams of living
in a rural setting. I think somehow these connections will help her
realize her dream. Afterwards, we drove back to Carmiel, dropped Betsy
off there, and drove back up to Tsfat. We didn't get home until after
1:00 a.m., but we were very glad that we had gone!
Needless to say, we didn't get up very early
Friday morning! When we did, we got into the car and headed down
to Rosh Pinna. We had a delicious omelet at a nice little restaurant
outside under a canopy. Then we went on up the road (highway 90)
past Kiryat Shmona. We turned right and went up towards Har Khermon
(Mt. Hermon) to the Nimrod Fortress. This National Park includes
the ruins of a medieval castle built and enlarged by various Muslim
rulers in the 12th and 13th centuries. Of course, a major reason for
its construction was to defend against the X-ian Crusaders. The part
still standing is quite impressive, and the views from there are nice,
since it's set high up on a strategic ridge in order to defend the road
that used to run from Tyre, on the coast, inland to Damascus. The day
was quite clear; I think that, if I'd had a good pair of binoculars, I
might have been able to see our house, although it's quite a long ways
away. I did take quite a few pictures, but I haven't posted any of then
yet, at least.
After climbing up and down all the stairs at
the castle, we were both very thirsty, so we stopped by the kanyon
at the north end of Kiryat Shmona and got a couple of bottles
of cold Diet Coke. We also went to the market there and got some
milk so that we wouldn't run out on Shabbat. Then, of course,
we headed right home so that the milk wouldn't get too warm and
spoil. We were also quite tired from being up so late the night before,
so we needed to rest a bit, too. We got to bed quite early.
This morning (Saturday), I got up fairly early.
But it wasn't as early as I had thought. Someone had alluded Thursday
evening to something about losing an hour (that is, daylight savings
time starting). I had quite forgotten about it, but this morning
I noticed that the time on my computer was an hour later that on the
bedroom clock. So then I remembered. I wonder how many people will
be an hour late to class tomorrow, since nobody mentioned it in class?
We decided today to drive over to the Druze villages
on Har Carmel (Mt. Carmel) southeast of Haifa. Some people I
met last summer in Haifa at the Masorti synagogue had taken me
there one Saturday afternoon, so that's how I knew about these villages.
We ended up buying some very nice things at very good prices. We
got a rattan coffee table with a smoked glass top and two matching
end tables; a very nice pair of slippers for David; a beautiful seder
plate with several matching pieces, including 4 kiddush cups, an Elijah's
cup, and two serving dishes (for Pesach); a large maroon rug for our
living room; a gorgeous piece of hand-woven Druzi cloth; and a beautiful
amethyst mounted on a wood base. We also ate a delicious lunch of falafel
wrapped in Druzi bread (kind of like a large thin flour tortilla) and
a sampler of the wonderful salatim ("salads", but the name hardly does
them justice!) that are so good here in the Middle East: hummus, babaganoush,
labaneh, tabouli, Turkish salad, carrots, and one or two others. Then
we headed home. The return trip, from our parking spot in Dalia Al-Carmel
to our driveway in Tsfat, took only an hour an a half. We got everything
out of the car and into the house just before the thunderstorm began in
earnest!
When we got home, I prepared to feed the snakes.
I am gradually getting a better routine for this. Since our
supply of mice is still not really adequate, I didn't thaw a mouse
for each snake (although I did have enough to do that). Instead, I
simply set the breeding males aside without food and waited to see
which of the others might not eat. In the end, I think the only one
that didn't get any opportunity to eat was Khazir, our male hognose
snake who doesn't eat very often anyway. And I only had to flush one
wasted mouse down the toilet.
So, I guess that's about it. I've got to help
David now. He has to give a short presentation to his class tomorrow
on the Abuyudaya, the Jews of Uganda. He's written it in English,
so my main task will be to translate it into Hebrew for him. Wish me luck!
2, 3, 4, & 5 April 2006
A new record: 4 days between updates. Not so good;
I guess we've just been busy, or lazy, or some combination of
the two.
So, let's start where I left off. I translated
David's presentation for him quite easily and helped him understand
it. The Hebrew actually turned out to be quite simple. He presented
it on Sunday, and it was well received, especially by the teacher.
Well, that's about all that I can remember about
Sunday, so let's move on to Monday. After the morning break (some
time a bit after 10:00), all the ulpan students gathered together
in the dining room of the Mercaz Klitah ("Absorption Center") for
a seder (of course, technically not a "real" seder, since it's not
Pesach yet). Still we did go through the whole order, drinking wine and
eating all the traditional things. We even had an afikoman hunt, although
the prize was a haggadah, not the million dollars promised. :-) It was
really quite enjoyable. Furthermore, we got out early enough to get back
to Tsfat before everything closed. This allowed us to get cat food and
cat litter at the pet store before they closed. They delivered it the
next day to our house. Then we ate lunch at the Mountain View cafe (in
Hebrew its name is "Mul HaHar", which means "opposite the mountain").
Tuesday, I had my oral exam (mivchan baal pei).
Efrat, the director of the Carmiel ulpan, and another woman were
the examiners. They asked me questions about myself and then asked
me to tell the story that I had prepared. The entire exam must be
done with no notes (not even in English) and no dictionary. I told
about our arrival in Israel and our trip by taxi to Tsfat. It went quite
well, and they asked me questions about the story. I was able to answer
fairly well, I think. Then I drew a card from a stack. Each card
describes a situation, and we are supposed to say what we would say
in that situation. My card said that I was inviting friends to a restaurant,
and I was supposed to call and reserve a table. I think it was one
of the easiest of all the possibilities, and I did it easily and quickly.
I found out today (via e-mail from one of my fellow students, that
I got 100 gimel, which I think means that I got the top score of a
level gimel ulpan, although I don't know for sure.
This morning, we got up early to get to Haifa,
because David had understood that he had an appointment with
the psychiatrist there. However, when we got there and found the
building and the office, we discovered that she is only in on Sundays,
and that his appointment isn't until the 23rd, the same day that he
also has an appointment with the endocrinologist in the same place. The
building is quite near the Mercazit HaMifratz ("Center of the Gulf")
bus station (the Haifa end of the line for bus #361), which is next to
the Lev HaMifratz ("Heart of the Gulf") kanyon ("shopping center"),
so we went over there to browse (and shop!) a bit before returning to
Tsfat. David bought another computer magazine at the Steinmatzky store,
and we got a beautiful maroon table cloth that should look nice with
our new living room rug.
When we got back to Tsfat, we went to the shuk,
since it had just stopped raining, and bought lots of fruits
and vegetables for Pesach. We will be hosting two families from
the ulpan for Pesach. Victor and Rosario are from Mexico, and they
have two daughters, ages 11 and 5. Both parents were in David's class,
although Rosario is now in a different class. Mendel and Paula are
from Brazil, and they also have two daughers, ages 5 and 1. Both parents
in this family are still in David's class. Since there is no bus service
on the first day of Pesach (as on Shabbat), they will all come up here
the day before (Wednesday) and return to Carmiel on Friday. So we've
ordered 6 fold-up beds so that everyone will be able to sleep here for
the two nights. We are so excited to be able to have all these people
at our house for our first seder in Israel!
This evening, we both had appointments with our
new family doctor, Dr. Nechmad. He seems to be really nice.
His English isn't perfect, but it's better than he thinks it
is. So now we have done the second step toward getting our driver's
licenses. The next step will be to visit an optometrist. Then we must
go to Misrad HaRishui ("Permits Office"), after which we go to the driving
school, take a lesson or two, and attempt the test. Whew!
After our appointments at the doctor's, we went
and got some more groceries at the market. It was raining and
we really had too many bags to carry easily from the bus stop home,
so we called Asher one more time to take us home (we had also gotten
him to take us home from the shuk and from home to the doctor's office!).
Good news for all you folks in the U.S.: you can
now call us for the same price as if we lived in the 909 area
code. Or, if you just a little more adventurous, you can call us for
FREE! We have Skype on my computer. If you download Skype and install
it on your computer, you can call us for free. Our user name is ArlanDavid.
It works very similarly to Yahoo IM, except that you can actually talk
rather than merely typing (you can do that, too, just like Yahoo IM).
But I paid $38 for a year of Skype In service, which means you can call
us from any telephone by dialing 1-909-581-9623, just as though we were
in the 909 area code! If I'm not at my computer and logged in, your call
will be routed to voicemail, just like an answering machine, and I can listen
to your message later and call you back. I also have Skype Out, which
allows me to call numbers in many different countries, generally for only
about 2 cents a minute, by deducting the appropriate sum from money that
I have prepaid. One thing you may want to remember is that here in Israel
we are 10 hours AHEAD of California. So, for example, when it's 7:00 in
the evening here, it's 9:00 in the morning there.
Well, I guess that does it for now. We're now
on break from the ulpan, for the Pesach holiday. The ulpan resumes
on April 23 (although we won't be back until April 24 because
of David's appointments in Haifa on the 23rd). So, hopefully, I'll
be able to update you more frequently (don't hold your breath, though!).
6, 7, 8, and 9 April
Well, it's a good thing that I warned you not to
hold your breath! Another 4 days -- where did time go? Anyway,
let's see, what has been happening? On Thursday, the technician
came (again!) from T'veria to install our dishwasher. Unfortunately,
when he got here he had to inform us all was STILL not ready for
the installation. There needed to be holes for the pipes to run from
under the sink to the place where the dishwasher is to sit. When we
called Zion about it, he tried to insist that all was ready; we just
needed to remove one of our kitchen cabinets and all of the hook-ups
would be right there available. But we had already removed all the screws
and found out that the cabinet would NOT come out. So we went into town
to talk to Meir, our friend the salesman at the furniture store, who
had sold us the dishwasher way back when we first got here. He said he
would call Zion, too. We happened to mention to Meir that we had bought
Nutella, one of the chocolate spreads that is very popular here in Israel
(they use it more or less like peanut butter or jam). He told us that the
"Shachar" brand is much better.
While we were there, we got matzah shmurah, the
special handmade matzah that is only used at a seder, for 1500
shekels. They also threw in a free TV table and a free DVD player.
For those of you who didn't feel a tug on your leg, it was, of course,
the other way around: the matzah was actually the free gift. Still,
it's nothing to sneeze at; even just those 3 pieces of matzah shmurah
would not have been cheap to buy!
On Friday, two guys spent most of the afternoon,
working on getting the hook-ups installed for the dishwasher.
When they left, though, we STILL could not use the dishwasher, because
there was no plug to plug it into the wall! One of them showed this to
me, but I couldn't understand what he said. We thought they must have
cut it off, but I couldn't figure out why they would do that. Today,
we checked back with Meir, and he said that it is delivered that way
and that the installer also attaches the plug to the wires. On Tuesday,
he will be back up here (for the THIRD time!) to do just that!
Also on Friday, we took most of the empty cardboard
boxes, which we had been storing in the basement, across the street,
put them into a pit surrounded by rocks there, and burned them. In
a country where wood products (including cardboard) and so rare and
expensive, I really hated to do that, but I simply don't know how
to recycle them here. So they just went up in smoke!
On Shabbat, we rested quite a bit, but we also
began the work of getting the house ready for Pesach, and, more
significantly, for guests. The middle bedroom (next to ours),
the "big room" (5 steps up from the living room), and the living
room area next to the kitchen all still had many boxes in them with
books, family memorabilia, sewing and crocheting materials, kitchen
things, and even clothes. So we began the long process of sorting through
these things and getting most of them out of the rooms. A few boxes
will remain in the "big room" since it is so, well, BIG. :-) This was
actually the main reason that I needed to get rid of all those cardboard
boxes: I needed all that space in the basement to store things that
really can't be stored anywhere else! We made good progress, but we
still have a ways to go. I also took a but of time to take some pictures
of wild flowers in our yard and just across the street. I've posted the
best of them at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
Today (Sunday) we spent all the morning continuing
the work of sorting through boxes. We found many things that
will be very useful to us in celebrating Pesach, from kettles,
serving dishes and recipes, to candle holders and haggadot (books
from which to read everything during the seder). Just before 2:00,
we walked over to Shaarei Ha-Ihr and ate pizza. Then we continued by
bus into town, where we bought 8 pillows, walked down to Hiperneto (now
SuperSal), and did some MAJOR shopping for food for the holiday. We got
most of the things on our list (including that "Shachar" chocolate spread!).
There are several spices, though, including bay leaves, sage, and thyme
(we'll substitute rosemary, which is used as a ground cover all around
town), that we couldn't find. We'll check tomorrow with the spice shop
in town and see if we can find any of these missing ones. We saw no canned
milk, and cottage cheese only comes in tiny packages. Finally, there seems
to be some problem with certain kinds of cheese which MAY not be kosher
for Pesach. This has DEFINITELY gotten beyond me! It's CHEESE, for heaven's
sake! It's not made from one of the 5 kinds of grain, and it's not likely
to have vinegar in it, I think! Mi yodea (who knows)?
Now I'm working on being ready to lead a seder,
something which I've only done once before in my life, and not
too well that time, either, since it was about 6 or 7 years ago,
and I knew even less than I do now. :-) Anyway, this will be a good
experience, and I'm not too worried about it.
10 & 11 April 2006
I'm so proud of us! The house is actually beginning
to get into shape now. Both guest bedrooms (the middle upstairs
room and the "big room") are all set up, each with 3 beds (the fold-up
roll-away kind) all made up with sheets and blankets, and with towels
and washcloths set out on them for all the guests to use. In each room
we put 2 of the beds together and the 3rd separate. All of the blankets,
sheets, towels, and washcloths are ones that we brought from the U.S.,
but we laundered them here, together with many other that we also had shipped.
The washer and drier have been running almost constantly!
On Monday we went into town and bought a few more
supplies, including most of the spices that we had not yet found.
We also ate lunch at our favorite falafel stand near the bridge
in town (well, actually there are at least 3 or 4 falafel stands near
the bridge, but one is our favorite!). Then we headed back home and
got to work in earnest.
This morning, Yaakov, the appliance installer, returned
and easily got the dishwasher all set up for us. He also sold
us a water filter, rock salt, dishwasher soap, and a rinse that makes
the dishes shine. So we are very well supplied. He is so nice and so
helpful (and also very easy on the eyes!), and he explained exactly
how to operate the dishwasher. It's somewhat different from the ones
we had in the U.S., since it's a German brand (AEG). And it works WONDERFULLY!
The dishes really do shine! We've been running it all the rest of the
day, getting everything clean for Pesach (and we'll be running it all
day tomorrow, too!).
Even the living/dining/kitchen room is beginning
to get into shape. I burned more cardboard boxes today (including
the big ones that the beds came in), and that alone cleared up a
lot of space in living area. There's still more work to do, but I'm
confident that we'll be able to get it done tomorrow and have the
house in quite good shape for guests and for the holiday.
David's got a pretty good start on preparing the
food, as well. I helped him cut up fruit for the charoset today,
so that's all ready (and it's going to be DELICIOUS, as his always
is!). Of course, we tasted it, but it will be even better by tomorrow
evening after it's had a chance to thoroughly blend for 30 or 40 hours.
Yum yum! He also prepared a nice appetizer spread of various dried fruits
stuffed with nuts, and he made lentil roasts based on my Mom's recipe,
although it had to be altered somewhat (and we didn't have the directions,
only the ingredient list!). Still, it is also going to be delicious. Tomorrow
he will prepare the rest of the food, including cottage cheese and peanut
loaf, another of my Mom's staples, it will be closer to hers except
for the tomato gravy, for which we don't actually have her exact recipe
(or at least we don't know where it is!).
So we're well on our way to a good Pesach, I think.
With guest here, who knows whether I'll find time to write here
for all of you or not. We'll just have to see how it all works out.
So, to you all: chag sameach v'kasher (May you have a happy and kosher
holiday)! :-)
12, 13, & 14 April 2006
What a wonderful Pesach! Everyone managed to arrive
here one way or another. Our favorite taxi driver, Asher, though,
was not available to bring anyone here, since, as they found out
when they called him, he was on his way to Jerusalem! This definitely
complicated matters. I had to try to explain to 2 different drivers,
in Hebrew, how to get to here. The first one, bringing Rosario &
Victor and their kids, did finally manage to get here. I met the second
one near the bus stop, and Mendel & Paula and their kids just walked
with me from there (there was no room for me to get into the taxi with
them and direct the driver that way).
The dishwasher ran nearly nonstop on Wednesday, and
I managed to get the house reasonably clean and orderly. We set
up the table (our new maroon tablecloth was just barely big enough),
and got everything ready for the seder. I led the seder, and it went
quite well. There are many songs that I can sing if someone else leads
but which I don't know well enough to lead. So we read quite a few
things instead of singing them, and I even left out some. But I think
it was dignified, orderly, and not too boring.
On Thursday, we all got up late and had quite a leisurely
day. David was feeling pretty tired, so he took a nap while I
took everybody on a little walk around Neve Oranim, our neighborhood.
It wasn't quite clear enough to really see Har Khermon, but it WAS
clear enough to see the Kinneret. I kept the walk fairly short, since
I knew that the little kids would get tired. Also, it was quite a
warm day.
Victor was anxious to get back home to work on a project
that he is doing, so I checked and found out that some Egged busses
(the intercity bus company) would be running in the late afternoon
and evening. So I ordered a taxi and walked with Victor, Rosario, and
their 2 daughters to the bus stop, where the taxi picked them up and
took them to the central bus station.
Mendel, Paula, and their 2 kids, Arturo (5) and Ilana
(1), stayed another night here. Mendel, Paula, and I stayed up
late talking, but David and the kids went to bed quite early. Today,
I walked with them down to the bus stop and waited until the #4 bus picked
them up and took them into town to catch the #361 bus to Carmiel.
It was SO great to have these 2 families here! It
made it seem like a real holiday. And they are all wonderful people.
It was fun to have kids playing around the house, too, and it was
amazing how much they enjoyed the toys we have, including quite a few
that go clear back to when I was a kid! Arturo particularly enjoyed
making things with the old Tinker Toys.
Today, I was generally pretty lazy, other than cleaning
up a bit, folding the big dining room table back down to its usual
library-table size, and generally tidying up a bit. The dishwasher
had run almost as much yesterday as the day before, so most of the
dishes and pots and pans were already clean. Some had, in fact, been
washed several times!
Today we had a sherav שרב, which means that it was
actually hot. I opened almost all the windows in the house today
for a good part of the day, and the gentle breezes and fresh air
really felt great.
Tomorrow, we'll mostly laze around, I think. I do
need to feed some of the snakes, though. I don't have enough mice
to feed all of them, so I'll do a bit of triage. They'll all be okay,
as long as I can eventually get a better supply. I think about the worst
that is likely to happen is that they may lay less eggs this year, which
might actually be good, since we may have trouble selling very many baby
snakes!
15, 16, & 17 April 2006
On Shabbat, we really just rested. We needed the quiet
break after all the excitement of the holidays and guests, so
it really worked out well. The sherav continued until about 11:15
a.m., but then it broke with a cool but persistent breeze. I shut
the windows to keep the heat in.
On Sunday, I fed the snakes (or at least as many as
I had mice for, since I only had 19 mice). I also did some more clean-up
so that the house is in quite good shape now.
Today (Monday), we went to Haifa. David had an appointment
with his new psychiatrist at her house in Haifa. We left home quite
early so that we'd have plenty of time to find the place. Before
leaving Tsfat, we stopped by the pet store to order as many mice
as they could get for us. Then we got on the #361 bus and headed
for Haifa.
I had checked on the Egged site (the intercity bus
company which is also the local company in Haifa) to find out which
bus to take to get to Einstein Street (the address that Dr. Natanel
had given me over the phone and whose location in Haifa I had determined
by checking my map of Haifa).
We got off at Mercaz Khorev, a kanyon (shopping center)
with which I am very familiar, since it is the one closest to the
University of Haifa, where I studied last summer for 4 weeks. We got
some glidah (Israeli ice cream) and headed up to Einstein Street, which
begins just half a block from Mercaz Khorev. What I did NOT know was
where #101 might be. It turns out that the numbers begin with #1 and
#2 and go up as one goes up the hill. So #101 was quite a ways up (and
it really is UP, even though it's not too steep!). Anyway, we finally
got there and even managed to find her apartment, with the help of a couple
of little signs. We were 45 minutes early, so we waited for about half
an hour before ringing the doorbell.
She turned out to be very nice, a fairly typical Israeli
who can seem abrupt and just a bit off-putting at first but who
will do anything to help you once they get to know you a bit. She'll
be able to help David and will be good for him.
After the appointment, we walked back down to Mercaz
Khorev (it sure seemed a shorter distance going downhill!). We
decided to grab a bite to eat there at Broadway Bagel. Now, if you're
thinking, you're going to say, "What can they serve at a bagel eatery
during Pesach????" We just assumed that they must not be kosher
l'pesach but that we could just order a salad. It turned out that
they ARE kosher l'pesach (certified by the Haifa rabbinate!). We
did order salads, but we also got some very delicious (albeit somewhat
flat-looking) pieces of bread (like eclaires but without the filling).
I'm definitely beginning to like Pesach here!
Then we just headed home. When we got here, we ate
a bit more, and watched some television: "Just Shoot Me" and a
couple of episodes of "Friends". It wasn't until I got on my computer
that we heard about today's bombing in Tel Aviv (in an e-mail from
Maggie making sure that we were okay, bless her heart!). For those
of you who would like to be able to contact us more quickly, I guess
I should give you our phone numbers. The cheapest is Skype In. You
just dial 1-909-581-9623, the same as though we were actually in the
909 area code. This one actually comes through my internet connection,
so if I'm not at my computer, I won't hear it ring. But you CAN leave
a message for me (just like on an answering machine), and I WILL be
able to retrieve it when I log back in. Remember, we are 10 hours
ahead of California time, so we might be sleeping when it's daytime
there! You can also call our cell phones directly. For mine, dial 011-972-50-309-2050,
or, for David's, dial 011-972-50-300-4861. I generally turn my phone
off at night (and I don't know how to retrieve messages), but it's usually
on and with me at other times. David's is usually with him, but sometimes
he forgets to charge it, so then it doesn't work, of course.
Okay, I think that's enough for now. We love and miss
all of you!
18 & 19 April 2006
Two pretty lazy and uneventful days. Yesterday afternoon
and evening we watched quite a bit more TV. We even watched just
about a whole episode of an Israeli comedy program called HaR'tsua
(The Strip). I still only catch a few words here and there, but this
program is even funny without understanding the dialog, although I'm
sure if I understood it all, it would be even funnier. There are about
4 people that seem to be in every episode, and there are always some guests,
as well. One of the 4 regulars is a giant dog (obviously with a man inside,
but all we EVER see is the dog, who talks quite a bit). His name seems to
be just "Kelev" ("dog"). There is one woman who sometimes is the "straight
guy", more or less. There is a man who sometimes wears an awful wig but
who sometimes is also kind of the "straight guy" for the humor. There is
another guy who usually (maybe always!) wears some kind of outrageous
outfit, such as a Roman toga with laurel, or a short red sleeveless strapless
gown, which shows off his bulge and his chest hair (and he doesn't shave
his moustache, either!). His character is always VERY pompous and speaks
as though he were the final authority on whatever he may be talking about.
In at least a couple of episodes, there were two characters
dressed as extreme ultra-orthodox rabbis (complete with tsitsit
and an obviously fake beard and moustache). In one skit, the junior
rabbi picks up various objects off of a tray he is carrying and pronounces
a blessing. For example, the two that I caught were: "Baruch ata
Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh HaOlam, borei ha-Pokemon" and "Baruch ata
Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh HaOlam, borei ha-comdom". Even those of you
who know NO Hebrew should at least recognize the last word there, and,
yes, he picked up exactly what it says! I don't think I ever ran across
those particular blessings before! :-)
So, Pesach is over here, and we can eat BREAD again!
Of course, first we have to either make some or get to the market.
Guess where we're going tomorrow...
20 April 2006
Well, we went to the market, but they didn't have any
bread that was worth getting. We did get some nice brown whole wheat
buns. For lunch, we had ravioli alfredo at Mul HaHar (the "Mountain
View" coffee shop, although the Hebrew really translates to "opposite
the mountain"). We checked at the pet store and found out that she will
have about 40 mice frozen and ready for us to pick up tomorrow. Then we
returned home, and we both napped a bit.
David has gotten a new program for creating web sites,
and he has been keeping himself busy learning to use it. I've done
part of the sample ulpan exam that they gave me just before the break,
but I'm having a hard time getting myself motivated to finish it, for
some reason. I read and understood the text, but I haven't answered
the questions about it yet. I did the grammar section (because that's
FUN for me!), but I haven't written the essay yet. Maybe tomorrow...
Today, we had a sherav שרב, so the weather was quite
warm. The high for the day was in the lower 80s. The next 2 days
are supposed to be a little cooler but not cold. On Sunday, the prediction
is for an even hotter day than today, so summer is definitely on its
way!
For supper, we had chocolate sauce and charoset on the
buns that we bought this morning. It was delicious, but somehow it
seemed almost sinful to eat charoset on bread! We still have about
the third of the charoset left, though, and it would definitely be
sinful to let that much delicious (and nutritious!) food simply go
to waste.
21 April 2006
I went into town by myself today. Both directions, I was
lucky and the #4 bus arrived only shortly after I got to the bus
stop. I got challah and pastries at the bakery, bread and tomatoes at
the market, and 41 frozen mice at the pet store.
The weather was very pleasant today, though not quite
as warm as yesterday. Towards evening, it got quite clear, and we
had a beautiful view of Har Khermon. There's only a very little snow
left up there now.
21 April 2006
I went into town by myself today. Both directions, I was
lucky and the #4 bus arrived only shortly after I got to the bus
stop. I got challah and pastries at the bakery, bread and tomatoes
at the market, and 41 frozen mice at the pet store.
The weather was very pleasant today, though not quite as
warm as yesterday. Towards evening, it got quite clear, and we had
a beautiful view of Har Khermon. There's only a very little snow
left up there now.
22 & 23 April 2006
We were quite lazy Shabbat morning, but after lunch we
went for a nice walk. We walked along the dirt road (it's fairly
rough but it would probably be passable for a regular car) that goes
north from our house. We walked all the way to the edge of Ebicor,
which is part of Tsfat although it seems like a separate town. We have
quite a good view of Ebicor from our house, since it's north and a little
west of us. It's really on the highest part of Har K'naan (Mount Canaan)
and therefore includes probably the very highest spot in Tsfat. We didn't
go THERE, however, just to the edge of Ebicor. Of course, there IS a
paved road to Ebicor. In fact, I think there are 2, but they go up by completely
different routes. The one that I know goes up there from next to Sha'arei
Ha-Ihr.
Anyway, I took quite a few pictures along the way, mostly
of wild flowers. I also saw a very interesting bug. It was some kind
of a grasshopper, but it looked like some alien creature. The most
amazing thing was that it was the EXACT color of the dirt so that when
it stayed still it looked like just another dirt clod! Needless to
say, I didn't even bother trying to photograph it, because you'd never
be able to spot it in the picture! I've posted 8 of the best pictures
that I did take in a new album on Yahoo entitled "2006-04-22 Shabbat
walk". You can view it, together with all the other albums that I have
posted there, at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
In addition to wild flowers, there is one where you can
see 2 bugs on a flower, there is one picture of our house, and there
is a picture of our first rose just starting to open up! I continue to
be ASTOUNDED by the abundance and amazing variety of wildflowers that
we see blooming all over the place here in the Galil. It is truly STUNNING!
Today (Sunday) we went to Haifa. David had appointments
with his psychiatrist and his diabetes doctor there in Checkpost,
the area of Haifa near Mercazit Ha-Mifratz (The Gulf Center) bus station.
So we got up at about 5:15. Asher, our faithful taxi driver, arrived
here at 6:10, as I had prearranged, and took us to the Tsfat central
bus station. We caught the 6:25 bus and arrived in Haifa just in time
to walk over to the building where David's appointments were and be
on time for the first one, at 8:30!
We had met his psychiatrist last week, when he had had
an appointment at her house, which is up not too far from the University
of Haifa. This was his first time meeting the diabetes nurse and doctor
and the dietician (all women). The doctor was rather busy and had a
hard time focusing on us, since she kept getting so many phone calls.
The nurse and especially the dietician were not as rushed and had the
time and the ability to focus on our concerns and needs. So, overall,
it was a pretty good experience. They gave him a new blood glucose meter
from which they will be able to upload the records of all his tests to
their computer when he returns for his next appointment (in 6 weeks).
This way, they will be able to give him even better advice on controlling
his blood sugar.
When we got back home, David was exhausted, so he lay down
for a nap while I went to the market to get some much-needed groceries.
We're almost resupplied again with chametz now after Pesach. Our
favorite kinds of bread (the dark, heavy Russian breads), though,
are STILL not back in stock in the markets! At least I was able to get
bran flakes and Heinz ketchup (though I didn't check carefully and
thereby accidentally got the "hot" variety!).
So, we'd better get to bed now, since we've got to return
to ulpan tomorrow. It actually started back up today, but, of course,
we had to go to Haifa.
24 April 2006
גשם קל (geshem kal), that was the weather prediction for
both Sunday and Monday. It means "light rain", but on Sunday (yesterday,
when we went to Haifa as described above), there was no rain at all.
Today, though, there was HEAVY rain for much of the day, including when
we walked from the house to the bus stop and when we returned to Tsfat
after ulpan (we called Asher and rode home from the central bus station
by taxi!). So, I guess, "on average", we had "light rain" for the 2 days!
To make matters worse, David somehow lost his umbrella on
the bus to Carmiel, so we had to walk, in the rain, from the bus
station to the Mercaz Klitah with only one umbrella. I sent him on
to his class with my umbrella, since it's some distance down the road
from the Mrecaz Klitah, where my class is. During the first break,
I walked over to the kanyon (it was almost not raining at all right then)
and bought 2 umbrellas. It was raining hard enough that I used one of
them on the walk back to class, though.
Today in class, we talked quite a bit about the Shoah (the
Holocaust), since tomorrow is Yom Ha-Shoah. We will have a special
ceremony tomorrow during the ulpan to commemorate this solemn day
when we remember the 6,000,000 Jews who died as a result of the Nazi's
program to exterminate the Jews. Some of us were given passages to read
during the ceremony in various languages. I was assigned to read a text
that N'omi's husband translated into English. N'omi is my teacher, and
her husband is an "oleh vatik" (an immigrant who's been here a long time)
from the U.S. Nearly everyone in our class had stories about relatives
who died in the Shoah. In addition, we read a text about Chanah Senesh,
a very famous poet who was born in Hungary, made aliyah to Israel, returned
as a spy to try to save Jews in Hungary from the Shoah, and was caught
and executed by the Hungarian military. Tomorrow during the ceremony, several
of us who know it will sing the song "Eli, Eli", which was written by Chanah
Senesh. Our homework is to read a text in our book about Anna Frank and to
answer questions about it (as well as to do some grammatical exercises related
to the text).
25 April 2006
David felt nauseated when he sat up this morning, so he lay
back down and didn't even try to get up and eat and go to ulpan today.
I explained all of this to Efrat (the ulpan director) in Hebrew, and,
of course, she was very supportive and said that health comes before everything.
Today was Yom Ha-Shoah or, as it is now called, Yom Zikaron
La-Shoah v'la-G'vura ("Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and of Heroism").
At 10:00 a.m., sirens sounded throughout the whole country for a minute,
and everyone stopped and stood for about a minute in remembrance of all
of the worlds lost to the Shoah (our sages taught that each person's life
is like an entire world). At 11:30, we had a special memorial ceremony
at the ulpan. Efrat read a short introductory passage in Hebrew, I read
the English translation; another member of our class, Ivan, read the
Russian translation; and yet another, Daniel, read the Spanish translation.
There were several other short readings and songs, including yours truly
leading a small group of us singing "Eli, Eli" by Chanah Senesh. After
that, everyone was invited to come up and gives names of people from
their families who perished in the Holocaust. Only a few actually did
come forward, but I'm sure there were many more names in people's hearts.
We closed the ceremony by singing "Ha Tikvah" (The Hope), the Israeli
national anthem.
Although we have class tomorrow, our teacher, N'omi, will
not be there because she has a medical appointment that she was unable
to change. So she bade us all farewell today, but not without leaving
us with her name, address, and home and mobile phone numbers. She encouraged
us to keep in touch and to visit her. After the ceremony today, she stayed
and talked especially with me, encouraging me to continue in my job search
and emphasizing her invitation to visit her and to keep in touch. In
my book, this is DEFINITELY beyond the call of duty!
26 April 2006
David didn't even plan to go to class today. He felt quite
nauseated all morning, but in the afternoon he gradually improved.
We had appointments with Dr. Nechmad (our family doctor now) at 5:15
(and 5:30). He was able to prescribe most of the medications that David
still needs, although there are still a few problems to be wrinkled out.
The chief pharmacist, Musa, helped us and really did do a good job within
the constraints of the system.
I didn't get the name of the substitute teacher we had today,
but she was very good. We spent most of the class talking about שנוי
(shinui, "change") and all kinds of things connected with it. I think
it was time well-spent. Tomorrow, I only go in for the exam, and it
is in the afternoon instead of the morning.
27, 28, 29, and 30 April 2006
Wow, 4 days! Let's see, back to Thursday. I went in and took
my final ulpan exam. I think I did quite well. The exam was in 2 parts,
an hour and a quarter for each, with a 15-minute break between them. For
the first part, there were 3 readings each followed by questions about
it. I read each of them without much difficulty, albeit somewhat slowly.
I answered all the questions about the first 2 readings, but I ran out of
time before finishing all the questions about the 3rd one. I did answer some
of them, though.
The second part consisted of several grammatical exercises,
such as transforming a sentence from one tense to another or switching
between singular and plural, and an essay to write, with a choice of
4 topics. I did all of the grammar right, I think, except for one question
where we were supposed to use 2 of 4 given connecting words to complete
a sentence, and unfortunately I only remembered the meaning of 1 of them.
I guessed on a second one, so I might possibly have gotten it right, too.
For the essay, I chose to right about why a longer school day would be better
(of course, I could have defended the other side instead). I think I did
that quite well.
I was also informed that there will be an ulpan class meeting
3 days a week (it's not yet certain which days, but probably Su-Tu-Th)
that I an welcome to join. It will begin on Tuesday. I will at least try
it out because I want to take every opportunity that I can to improve my
Hebrew, especially my conversational ability.
Friday was a pretty quiet day. I did go to Sha'arei Ha-Ihr
to get a few things at the grocery store, including challah and some
pastries for Shabbat, and I did my usual Friday sweeping of the whole
house.
Shabbat was also quite restful. We did get some visitors, though.
Four guys, probably about high school age, were walking by our house
but had run out of water and were thirsty. So they knocked on our door
and asked for some water. Of course, I was happy to get them some. I refilled
their bottle with cold water from the refrigerator, and they went on their
way after bidding us "Shabbat Shalom!"
Later in the day, we went for a walk, too, since it was a nice
warm day. I took the camera with me but only actually took a few pictures,
all of wild flowers.
Today (Sunday) we had expected that Roy Liebman, from BCC,
would be traveling up from Tel Aviv, where he is visiting friends,
to also visit us. Unfortunately, he threw his back out yesterday and
so was unable to make the long bus trip up here. Perhaps we will meet
him tomorrow in Haifa, which is a shorter trip from Tel Aviv (and which
can be made by train rather than by bus).
I did go into town and get my hair cut, as I had planned, though
a bit later in the day than my original plan. David went with me,
and afterwards we ate lunch at Mul Ha-Har, after which we returned
home. David took a nap while I did some work on a piece for string orchestra
that I composed 31 years ago (when I was a senior in college). I'm transcribing
it for organ, though only to be played via MIDI not by an actual organist
(unless there is one with 3 or even 4 hands!). I already had the piece
in a MIDI sequence, so I only need to play around with things like
registration and expression.
In the evening, we went back into town to visit the optometrist
(at an "optika") to get our eye exams as required in order to get drivers'
licenses. We also bought some dried apricots and dried figs, and we ate
supper at our favorite falafel stand.
A little over a week ago, when I was feeding the snakes, I
stopped to take pictures of several of them. I have posted the best
13 of these pictures in an album entitled "Snakes (April 2006)" on
Yahoo at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
So, enjoy! Tomorrow, we will definitely be traveling to Haifa
to pick up David's HIV meds at Rambam. Hopefully, we'll also be able
to see Roy there, if he is feeling up to that much travel.
1 & 2 May 2006
Hooray! We DID get to meet with Roy in Haifa! We
traveled there by bus to pick up David's HIV meds at Rambam and
then returned to Lev Ha-Mifratz, the mall next to the bus station
in the Checkpost area of Haifa. Roy traveled up from Tel Aviv on
the train, and I met him when he got off at the mall. We spent the
entire afternoon with him and enjoyed it immensely, even though we
never even left the mall. We walked around some and sat some in the food
court. He bought a couple of cute little outfits for his granddaughter,
who will be celebrating her 6th birthday soon. Then he returned on
the train to Tel Aviv, and we returned by bus to Tsfat. It was a very
enjoyable day, and it was so nice to get to see Roy and talk with him.
When we got back to Tsfat, we decided to eat pizza
at Sha-arei Ha-Ihr before coming back home. Then we caught the
bus home. As we were walking home from the bus stop, it was 8:00
p.m. and the sirens sounded once again all over the country marking
the beginning of Yom Ha-Zikaron (Memorial Day), the day when we remember
all the soldiers who have died in all of Israel's wars and all of those
who perished in terrorist attacks. We simply stood still for about
a minute in solemn remembrance. From where I was standing, I could see
a good portion of the Galil, including much of the city of T'verya (Tiberias),
which is right by the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee).
This morning (Tuesday), I traveled again to Karmiel
to continue my ulpan there. I will be once again in Shuli's class,
but they will only be meeting 3 days a week: Sunday, Tuesday, and
Thursday. I asked about David and found out that his class is actually
still continuing, although only Sunday through Wednesday (no class
on Thursday). He hasn't decided yet what he will do. In fact, we
might both opt for the evening class, which will only meet 2 days a
week, although we don't know yet which 2 days. Anyway, my class was very
good. We talked a lot about Yom Ha-Zikaron and the wars in Israel's history,
all the while learning new vocabulary, of course. At 11:00 a.m., there
is another country-wide siren for 2 minutes. It also marked the beginning
of a special ceremony of remembrance at the Mercaz Klitah (where my class
is held). After that, I returned home.
During the break this morning, I stopped to buy the
current issue of Sha-ar HaMatkhil (a weekly newspaper for beginners
that comes out every Tuesday and to which I used to subscribe in the
U.S.). When I paid the 4 shekels for it, the man also handed me a package
as a gift. I could see immediately that it contained the Israeli flag,
so I was really excited! When I got home and opened the package, I
was even MORE excited. It is not just ONE flag but SIX flags all connected
together. I immediately took them out and tied them to our balcony, where
they all flapped furiously in the wind. Later, I took some pictures of
them with Har Khermon in the background. I haven't even uploaded them
from the camera, but tomorrow I'll probably take some more and load them
all into the computer. Perhaps I'll post a few of the best on Yahoo then.
We walked over again to Sha-arei Ha-Ihr for lunch
today. This time, we got falafel. Then we decided just to walk back,
as well, since it was a nice warm, sunny day with a pleasant cool breeze.
On the way home, we saw that the police were blocking the main highway
and making people turn left just before Park Ha-P'salim (The Park of the
Statues). This is the road that we turn onto to go home anyway. We wondered
why the highway was closed. When we got there, we decided to go over into
the park, since David had never actually been IN the park (although we
go by it on foot or on the bus every day). As we entered the park through
the open gate, we noticed that some kind of remote controlled vehicle was
traveling along the highway below the park from a police van towards a
bus stop on the other side of the highway. This is a bus stop that is
really not used much, since nobody lives right by it, and most people
living in that area would use the bus stops up on the other road, and more
busses, including our #4, go up there rather than on the highway at that
point. At first, I thought that it was repainting the yellow line that marks
the side of the road. We sat down to rest, and the robot stopped, but there
was a small tree directly in our line of sight to where it stopped, right
by the bus stop. Then the police began stopping the traffic further up the
highway, not even letting them get to the road to turn on. Suddenly, we
heard gunshots! That was when I figured out what was really happening. As
we verified a bit later, there was a suspicious package (maybe a small cooler
like one might carry a lunch in, although I was too far away to be sure
of that) at the bus stop. The robot was actually a remotely controlled rifle.
After they fired several shots at the package and nothing happened, the
robot pulled the package away from the bus stop and onto the shoulder of
the road next to the bus stop. Then it fired at it a couple of more times,
again with no explosion. At that point, a policeman with a full head helmet,
including a clear hard plastic face piece, approached the package and investigated
it. Obviously, it was harmless, so he took his helmet off and walked back
towards the police van. Although we really were not very close, we were
probably the closest people to the bus stop when all of this happened. So,
a little excitement, and a little reminder of how important and necessary
security is here!
This evening, we watched the ceremony on Har Hertzl
(in Jerusalem) that marks the end of Yom Ha-Zikaron and the beginning
of Yom Ha-Atzma'ut (Independence Day). It was a very beautiful and
well-choreographed program, with a multitude of colored lights, projected
photos, dignitaries and soldiers, honored citizens lighting torches,
speeches, singing, and dancing. I'd say I understood somewhere between
about a third and a half of what people said in their speeches. For
the most part, they tended to speak fairly slowly and distinctly.
We left the blinds open, and, sure enough, we saw
some fireworks way across the valley, in Katzrin, I think, which
is actually in The Golan. We also saw a few much closer over towards
the center of Tsfat. We had already decided not to make the trek
into town to see the fireworks there up close (and to deal with the
crowds of people!).
3 & 4 May 2006
Independence Day יום העצמאות (Yom Ha-Atxma'ut) itself
was a pretty quiet day here. It was a beautiful, clear, warm,
windy day. We did get to meet some new people, though.
Some time back, Lee, the girl at the pet shop, had
told us that there was a woman who lived out on this side of town
who had a king snake. Lee had told her about us, and she had wanted
to meet us. Lee asked us if it would be okay to give her our number. Of
course we told her that it would. But the woman had not called us. Yesterday,
she did! Not only that, she invited us, total strangers, to her house!
Naturally we agreed to go. She gave me directions over the phone, and
we walked there (downhill virtually all of the way) and found the place
easily. The whole family welcomed us warmly. She (her name is Karmit) has
a husband and two boys, ages 8 and 11. The younger boy was especially nice.
And if we were around him enough, we would certainly improve our Hebrew
and he would learn a lot about snakes (and probably English, too!). We
had a great time visiting them. Karmit offered to take us home in
her car, since it would be quite a climb back up here. We readily agreed,
and she and the younger boy both got to see some of our snakes and to hold
2 or 3 of them, too. The whole family is going to come up and visit us on
Saturday! Karmit speaks English quite fluently, since she grew up on a
kibbutz founded by people from England.
Today, it was back to ulpan for me. We will be having
a different teacher on Thursdays. She taught the class once when
I was in N'omi's class, but I didn't catch her name. She's quite
good, though. I inquired from Efrat, the director of the ulpan, again
about the evening class. It has still not been finalized due to complications
with 2 different sources of funding and the logistics of getting a teacher.
It will definitely meet on Monday nights, and also either on Wednesday
or Thursday nights. I think this may be a better option for both David
and me. He will do better in the evening than in the morning, and
I may get more opportunity for conversation in this class than in my
current one. So, stay tuned!
5 & 6 May 2006
A pretty slow weekend. On Friday morning, I walked
over to Sha'arei Ha-Ihr to pick up some medicines from the pharmacy
for David and to get a few groceries. Then I caught the bus back.
On Friday afternoon, we watched a whole bunch of episodes of "Friends"
on TV, most of which (or maybe ALL of which) we had not seen before.
We also watched some of an episode of "HaRatsua" ("The Strip"), a very
funny Israeli comedy show. The woman on the show was doing her character
who is a very ditsy Russian girl with HUGE tits who speaks in a very high,
squeaky voice. As usual, I couldn't catch most of the dialog, but there
was something about an Oscar for her. When they showed a clip, she was
dressed as a Palestinian girl who was making her video before her terrorist
mission, complete with her saying, "Alahu akbar!" (Allah is great). There
are definitely NO sacred cows on that show!
Today, I fed the snakes, and we watched some more TV.
I don't know why, but Karmit didn't call, so she and her family didn't
come up to visit. It was a beautiful, clear, warm day today, and
the view across the valley was about as good as it gets.
Tomorrow morning, it's back to ulpan for me. So I'd
better wrap this us and get to bed.
7 & 8 May 2006
Two fairly uneventful days. I went to ulpan on Sunday
and returned as early as I could. The weather was the warmest we've
had yet, since there was a שרב sherav. We walked to Sha'arei Ha-Ihr
and had a פיצה משפחתית pizza mishpakhtit (family pizza) for supper.
Then we actually walked back home instead of riding the bus.
Today, I took my bills from the city, the arnona (property
tax) and water bill, to my bank in town where I paid them from my
account. Then I walked down to Hiperneto (well, actually it's now called
SuperSal) to do some grocery shopping. I was pleased that they once
again had Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, since they didn't have it the last
time I was there and they are the only market in town where I have
ever found it. I also picked up some good dark Russian bread (our favorite
kind here), some nuts, some shnitzels, some milk, some blue cheese, and
some Sweet & Low sugar substitute. It is labeled "Sweet & Low"
in English, but the Hebrew says מתוק וקל (matok v'kal), which actually translates
to "sweet and light" or "sweet and easy". Anyway, we use it to sweeten
our coffee and tea.
Asher was not available to bring me home, and I certainly
wasn't going to try to ride the busses with 4 bags of groceries
plus two 6-packs of 1.5 L cokes! So I called another number I have
to order a taxi in Hebrew. The cab got there quickly, but when we
got home the driver wouldn't bring me quite all the way to the house,
complaining about the lack of pavement. Worse yet, he charged me 20
shekels, whereas it's normally about 17 or 18 shekels and Asher only
charges 12.5 shekels. Oh well! No other taxi driver has EVER complained
about the lack of pavement, even when it was wet and muddy, which it
was NOT today!
9 & 10 May 2006
How many of you in the U.S. know when VE Day is (Victory
in Europe)? Just as I thought; I bet NONE of you did. Well, at least
in Russia (and the rest of the Former Soviet Union), it's 9 May!
Accordingly to my fellow students (most of whom are from the FSU),
it's a big holiday there with parades celebrating the victory of the
Red Army over the Germans (the American, French, and British role is apparently
downplayed there!). Here in Israel, it's not a formal holiday, but it
IS noted. There was a ceremony just across the street from the Mercaz
Klitah in Carmiel, next to the WW II memorial, at 10:00 on Tuesday, and
those of us in the ulpan went over to it. It was really quite interesting.
They had set up a tarp to shade the area (although it really wasn't a
terribly hot day). The white plastic chairs (quite a large number of them)
were mostly filled with elderly people, who, I'm sure, were mostly from
the FSU. About 60% of the talking was in Russian, nearly 40% in Hebrew (much
of which I understood), and there was one rabbi (with a black hat) who
spoke in Yiddish (some of which I understood). Not ONE word was in English!
There were several choirs, some with soloists, who sang enthusiastically.
All of the words were in Russian, except for part of one number, which was
in Hebrew. There was a band, consisting mostly of young people with a few
older ones, that played very professionally. Overall, it was interesting
to note how strongly WW II is still remembered. Of course, so much of the
war was fought on the territory of the FSU, and the loss of civilian lives
was even greater than the 6 million lost in the Shoah (of course, there is
definitely some overlap there; many of the people killed in the FSU were
Jews). Also, one speaker noted that the percentage of decorated Jews in the
Red Army was greater than that of other people.
Today we were going to meet Rafael to pick up some frozen
mice in Haifa. But he had phone problems and so was unable to contact
us and also didn't make the trip to Haifa (he lives not far from the
airport, east of Tel Aviv) because he was dealing with the phone problem.
Luckily, we didn't just get on the bus and hope that we'd connect
with him! Finally, this evening I got a hold of him through another
number on his web site and found out what had happened. He has someone
in Haifa from whom we will be able to pick up mice as needed on a regular
basis. So, within the near future, we should finally have enough suitable
food for all our snakes, and they will cost less than half of what we
now pay (and more in line with what we paid in the U.S.).
Well, I guess that'll do for now. It's just about time
to go to bed so that I can get up early and go to ulpan in the morning.
11, 12, & 13 May 2006
Well, we really didn't do anything special that I can
think of on Thursday or Friday. They were just pretty much regular
days.
On Thursday during the morning break from ulpan, I went
over to a small music store in Carmiel and bought 3 CDs. They were
having a sale on Naxos disks, offering 3 for 69 shekels (about $18),
so I picked out 3 that interested me. One has Bach Flute Sonatas,
another has a Brahms piano quartet (piano plus string trio) and a Schumann
piano quintet (piano plus string quarter), and the third has several
suites by Shostakovich. These are the kinds of classical CDs that one
can generally only find in the largest record stores in major cities
in the U.S. Here, I found them in this small music store in a city that
is definitely NOT one of the major cities in the country! We probably have
the Russians to thank for this fact.
Today (Saturday), Karmit came over with her younger son,
Liv. She also brought a friend of hers and her 3 kids (2 daughters
and an son). Except for the oldest daughter (and, to some extent, her
mother), all the kids were interested in the snakes. Liv, Karmit's boy,
and the middle kid (one of the other mother's daughters) wanted to hold
the snakes, and of course I was delighted to bring several of them out
(1 at a time!) for them to hold. Karmit and Liv are planning to come up
here on Tuesday evenings. David will help Liv with English, and Liv will
help David with Hebrew. Karmit will help ME with Hebrew conversation.
14, 15, & 16 May 2006
Sunday, we went to Checkpost in Haifa to see David's psychiatrist,
Dr. Natanel. She was very helpful and proscribed some new medicine
for him to help him sleep better. It seems to be working quite well,
too.
Monday evening and Tuesday was the holiday of Lag B'omer
here. Lag B'omer means "33 in the Omer", and it is the 33rd day
of counting the Omer, which begins the day after the first day of
Pesach. One of the traditions is to make bonfires, so we saw several
of those from our house. The big center of celebration, though, is
in Meron, a small town at the foot of Har Meron (Mt. Meron), which is
along the route we travel on the bus from Tsfat to Carmiel. They had
been making preparations there for about 2 weeks BEFORE the holiday,
including traffic barriers and a re-routing of eastbound traffic on a
special bypass around Meron that is only used at this time of year. When
we went through Meron on Sunday, there were already dozens of police cars
in the area. Thousands of people attend the celebrations in Meron because
there is a tomb of a famous Tzadik (righteous person) there. Actually,
there are numerous tombs around this whole area of Tzadikim, but I guess
there is one in particular that is associated with Lag B'omer. I believe
that it's because he died on this day. Anyway, quite an interesting time
around here!
I have been saving more and more phone numbers on my cell
phone, and I was beginning to worry that, if something happened to
it, I'd lose a lot of important and useful information. So I inquired
at the Pelephone office about a cable to transfer the info to my computer.
They of course had one, and I bought it. But when I got home, there was
no software with it, and I was unable to find it on-line. So I went there
again to ask about the software. They gave me a website and a number
to call for help. I ended up calling the number and got someone who
guided me to the correct website (a different one!), helped me download
the program, and got it running properly. So now I can backup all the
numbers in my phone. We can also back up David's phone, although he has
many less numbers than I do.
Beginning Wednesday evening, David and I will be in an
evening ulpan class on Wednesday & Sunday evenings. Hopefully,
this schedule will make it easier for David, since he often does
not feel well in the morning, especially recently, since there seems
to be something in the air that activates his allergies. This causes
his sinuses to drain which, in turn, upsets his stomach, sometimes
causing him even to vomit. If he does not have to get up very early
and hurry off to Carmiel, he won't have as much trouble, and he can take
it easy and lie down when he does have sinus trouble. By later in the
day, he has usually stabilized much more.
17, 18, & 19 May 2006
The new ulpan class is going to be very good for both of
us, I think, but especially for me. The class consists mostly of older
people who have a fairly good foundation in Hebrew. They asked us a
lot about what we wanted to get from the class, and many of them seemed
to have the same priorities that I do: to learn to speak Hebrew better
and to learn to understand spoken Hebrew better. So I think I'll get
some good help with the very skills that I need to improve the most. But
David will also pick up quite a bit of Hebrew just by listening in class.
Thursday was a pretty bad day for David. We had an appointment
with Dr. Nechmad, our family doctor, at 9:00. David had quite a bit
of trouble with nausea and, in fact, vomited on the walk over there.
I was able to explain quite a bit to the doctor in Hebrew, and the rest
we did in English. But there was a lot of waiting while the doctor, the
nurse, and the pharmacist (where we went after the doctor) tried to
figure out how to get the diabetic supplies that David needs. Eventually,
we got what we needed (and at least one thing that we DIDN'T need), but
it was quite an ordeal. Then we had to go over to the Maccabi office in
town to get an x-ray of David's sinuses. The Russian rad-tech not only
didn't speak English but was also very surly about it, even when I offered
to try to interpret. Finally, after David blew up at her, she did get someone
in there who could communicate with him in English (since I had to wait
outside the x-ray room).
We tried out a restaurant in town (after all this tsuris)
that we had not been to before. The food was very good, but the service
was lousy, they took only cash, and they included a service charge right
in the bill. Needless to say, I didn't add any additional tip, and we're
not likely to return there, either!
We've been watching more TV in Hebrew recently. We especially
like הרצוע HaR'tsua ("The Strip"), a comedy show that I've mentioned
here before. We learned a new Shabbat song on this program. Of course,
I didn't get most of the words, but the refrain that keeps coming back
begins:
עוד שבת של קדורגל
Od Shabbat shel kaduregel...
Translation: Yet another Shabbat of soccer...
Okay, so maybe that's NOT one that you can use for Friday
night services. Maybe Saturday afternoon?? <grin>
One of the episodes of HaR'tsua that we watched this evening
(Friday) featured an appearance by Golda Meir (well, at least that's
what they claimed!). Although I didn't get most of what was said, I
did pick up that she had formed a new political party, of which she was
the head: מפלגת המיתים Miflagat HaMeitim (The Party of the Dead!). Of course,
this was a reference to the surprisingly good showing of the party of
retirees in the recent elections here. They actually got 6 or 7 seats in
the Knesset.
Tomorrow, we are planning to walk to services at the Masorti
congregation here in town. They only generally have services one Shabbat
a month, and this is it for May. They are located in town, so it will
be quite a walk to get there. However, I have been assured that someone
there with a car will be willing to bring us home, since it's uphill
most of the way back! It should be interesting. I've already talked on
the phone with a couple of the women who are members, and they were most
welcoming.
20, 21, & 22 May 2006
It looks like 3 days is becoming the norm now. I'll try not
to let it get to be more than that.
We did indeed walk into town and attend services at the Masorti
congregation on Shabbat morning. We got there at about 9:10 or 9:15
(rather than the scheduled starting time of 9:00), but the only person
there before us was the cantor (who leads the services). Nevertheless,
once we got settled, he started the service. The next people didn't get
there for quite a while, so at the beginning we literally had a professional
cantor leading a service just for us! By the time for the Torah service,
we were STILL one short of a minyan (and they, of course, count women,
too!). We waited for a little while and then proceeded to chant from the
chumash (the book containing Torah and commentary) rather than taking the
scroll out and reading from it. So there were also no aliyot. After each
section (which WOULD have been an aliyah), the woman who did most of the
chanting (and very well, too, I might add) commented on what we were reading.
At first, she only commented in Hebrew (which I understood moderately well),
but then she switched to English to make sure we could understand her. Although,
like a typical Israeli, she apologized for her English, it was actually
excellent (again, quite typical!). She is actually a rabbinic student
who lives with her husband and daughter on the kibbutz in the Khulah Valley
north of Rosh Pinna where she was born and grew up. After services, she
and her husband gave us a ride home, which we very much appreciated.
Sunday evening, we attended the second session of our new
evening ulpan class (which will be only on Sunday and Wednesday evenings).
There were several new students, most of whom had missed the first session
because they were on the ulpan-sponsored tiyul to Jerusalem. There were
at least 3 from N'omi's class (the last class I was in before the exam):
Gustavo, Daniel, and Y'hudit. It was also a very good session, and I do
think that it is helping me already to improve my Hebrew.
Today (Monday), we made a quick trip into town to run some
errands, and then later we walked to Sha'ari Ha-Ihr for pizza, taking
the bus back, mostly because the sun was rather hot and I was wearing
a black shirt.
I took some more pictures today. This morning, a baby donkey
and its mother and 5 horses were grazing near our house. We've been
seeing these donkeys nearly every day recently, and the baby is SO
cute. Late this afternoon, I took a short walk south of our house and
a little ways down a small valley. On the walk, I took pictures of
flowers, of a butterfly on one flower, and of the Kinneret (the Sea
of Galilee). I also took a zoomed picture of T'veriya (Tiberias), the
city original built by the Romans on the shores of the Kinneret, which
was the home of the Sanhedrin (the chief legislative body and supreme
court for all Jews) for many years in the early part of the common era after
the destruction of the Temple. I have posted 10 of the best of these
pictures on Yahoo in an album entitled "2006-05-22 Horses & Flowers"
at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
So, enjoy! Tomorrow we travel again to Haifa to the HIV doctor
(Dr. Shakhar). We will also be meeting someone from whom we will get
frozen mice enough to feed all of our snakes for about 10 weeks. Finally,
they will be getting enough food of the proper size!
23 May 2006
Today was such a busy day that I though I'd better write about
it before I forgot it all.
The main thing was our trip to Haifa. We went first to see
Dr. Shakhar, David's HIV doctor at the Rambam Medical Center. To do
this, we left home around 7:25, caught the #4 bus into town at about
7:40, caught the #361 at about 8:10 from Tsfat to Haifa (arriving at Mercazit
HaMifratz in Haifa at about 10:00), and caught the #108 bus from there
to Rambam, another half-hour ride. By the time we actually got to the
office, it was about 10:40.
Dr. Shakhar is not only up-to-date on all the latest treatments,
he is also a very compassionate doctor who listens to what the patient
has to say and gives personal care, and all of this despite the fact
that English is NOT his native language! So David got prescriptions for
better antihistamines and antibiotics to clear up any possible infection
in his sinuses. This should help him feel better in a short time.
After the doctor, we took the #108 bus back to Mercazit HaMifratz
bus station, one of Haifa's central bus stations, and a VERY busy
place -- busses are going in and out all the time, and the security
is very tight, especially these days. The station is surrounded by high,
strong fences. Everyone entering on foot goes through the equivalent
of airport security, and most if not all busses entering are boarded
by security agents who walk down the aisle from front to back, visually
checking all passengers.
Before leaving the Rambam area, I had called Abigail, the
woman from whom we would be buying enough frozen mice to supply food
for all our snakes for 10 weeks. She said that it would be at least an
hour before she got to the Lev HaMifratz area (next to the bus station).
So, when we got there, we went over to the mall (Lev HaMifratz -- Heart
of the Gulf), got new batteries for David's glucose meter, got some glidah
(ice cream) to hold us over until supper, and visited a musical instruments
store next to the mall that I had spied earlier to drool over the pianos
a little.
Then we met Abigail and Sammy and got the mice. Most were
in a styrofoam box, and the rest were in a smaller cardboard box.
There was enough insulation to keep them frozen until we got home.
I carried both boxes with me as we approached the bus station. First,
I came to the guard who pre-screens people before they get too near
to the electronic security area. Naturally, I expected questions! But
when I told him (in Hebrew) that both boxes contained frozen mice, he
waved me on through. It was similarly easy with the people at the electronic
security area. I guess they figured that terrorists probably wouldn't be
likely to be able to say עכברים קפואים (akhbarim k'fuim -- frozen mice)
with an American English accent!
The ride back was uneventful. The busses are not as full on
Tuesday as on Sunday. Just before we got back to Tsfat, I called Asher,
our taxi driver, and he picked us up and took us home. After putting
all the mice in the freezer, we took the bus back into town and had
our favorite, ravioli alfredo, at Mul Ha-Har, our favorite restaurant.
Today was one of the hottest days we've had so far, but the
highs were still only in the low 80's, so it wasn't too bad. Hotter
weather is on the way though...
24, 25, 26, & 27 May 2006
Oh no! FOUR days. Sorry....
Yes, summer is definitely here now! But we kinda like it, except,
of course, when we have to go out and actually walk in the sun. Seriously,
though, Tsfat is one of the coolest places in the country, and this
warm weather sure beats the bitter cold of winter (well, at least to
this native of SoCal!).
Wednesday morning, I was up quite early. As I was sitting here
at my computer, I heard a cow bellow, so I got up and looked out to
see where she was. I actually saw 2 of them. One was over on the brand
new sod lawn next door (well, actually it includes the yards of 2 houses).
The other was in the driveway of the house next door, which is just below
the window in this room. Then I saw her walk up the 3 stairs onto the porch!
At that point, I headed downstairs, figuring I could get a close look at
her just outside our back door, because that's the direction she was headed.
When I opened the door, I saw that they had built the frame for a fence
(which I had not yet seen until that moment) between our house and the
one next door. But when I stepped a few steps over and peaked around the
corner, there was the beautiful, creamy white cow with horns, ... ... ...
eating the potted plant on our neighbor's porch! I said to her very quietly
(she was only a few yards from me), "You might not want to do that...". She
looked at me, and slowly turned around and headed the other way, back down
the 3 steps to the driveway. Somehow, this whole thing struck me as very
funny. At little more on that in the next paragraph...
We were supposed to write a story for our ulpan class, so I
decided to write this story about the cow eating the potted plant (in
Hebrew, of course). Well, it wasn't quite as fancy a version as the one
above, but it was better than a 2nd-grader might write (I hope!). In the
evening, I showed it to our teacher (although I don't think she had even
remembered that we were supposed to write anything). She only found one
minor mistake in my Hebrew, so that was good. More interesting, though,
was her reaction. She didn't seem to take it as a very humorous story.
In fact, she thought it rather peculiar that I talked so nicely to the
cow. According to her, and I'm inclined to believe it, Israelis would say
something (well, actually they'd SHOUT) more like this: "Hey, get out of
there! Go away!" Well, I guess I'll just have to get more acculturated. But
I really WASN'T mad at the cow; it wasn't even my potted plant, and, besides,
I just thought the whole thing was rather funny. She was just doing what
is normal for a cow.
Today (Saturday), we rode with Margaret to services in K'far
V'radim, about 40 minutes from here. Margaret was actually the person
who answered my e-mail about the shul here in Tsfat because she is
the web master for their web site. However, she likes to go over to the
congregation in K'far V'radim. It is somewhat larger than the one here,
and they have a rabbi. And, besides that, they have services every week,
not just once a month. We enjoyed the services there. For the first part,
they met in a large room that is a gan (kindergarten or day care center)
during the week. When they got to Shochen Ad in the service, they stopped
and had a presentation about Ruth, the megillah that we will read on Shavuot
(which is next Friday). The guy who was presenting was very interesting.
He gave a handout, too, so we can study more on our own. Even though it
was all in Hebrew, I got quite a bit of it. Apparently, there is some midrash
about Orpah, Ruth's sister who went back to her family in Moab instead of
going with Ruth and Naomi to Beit-Lechem. According to this story, Orpah
later went to the Philistines and became the ancestor of Goliath! This means
that David and Goliath would actually have been distant cousins! What an
interesting twist on an otherwise very familiar story!
After the presentation, we moved over to the synagogue next
door. It is an orthodox shul, but, when they were finished with their
service (we had to wait a few more minutes), they left and we took over
the place, removing the mekhitzah (the curtain separating the women's
section from the rest of the room). There we began at Shochen Ad and
continued with the rest of the service, which included a bar mitzvah celebration.
This was a REAL bar mitzvah, not the huge party that one so often sees
these days in the States. The boy chanted Torah and haftarah, and they
did throw candy at him when he was done. But he was not dressed up particularly
special (NOBODY wears ties, and some were even wearing jeans!), and there
was only a simple kiddush after the service. This seems much more sensible
to me.
On the trip over and back, we got a chance to get better acquainted
with Margaret. She is a very interesting woman, originally from England,
although she has been in Israel for more than 2 decades. She has 2 doctorates
and is always interested in learning new things. Right now, she's in
a 2-year program in librarianship, and she also has studied voice and
khazzanut (what cantor's do: chanting prayers, Torah, and haftarah). We're
already cooking up plans with her for Friday evening services at the
shul here in Tsfat, something they have not done in some time. Even if
it's just the 3 of us, it will be fun. The shul here is actually on the
ground floor of her house, and the congregation rents the space from her.
Okay, I'll really try not to let so many days slip by before
I write again.
Okay, I'll really try not to let so many days slip by before
I write again.
28 & 29 May 2006
Sunday was fairly uneventful (or so we thought until I read
the news today!). We went to ulpan class in the evening, and it went
quite well. I made sure to sit right next to David to make sure that
he didn't get lost (not physically, silly!).
Today, I think I've got a touch of some kind of flu. I'm achy,
my chest feels congested, and I think I may have had a slight fever,
although I didn't actually measure it. I'll probably feel better tomorrow.
Anyway, I basically just lazed around and didn't do anything today.
When I read the news this morning, I was surprised to find out
that there had been some clashes along the Lebanon border on Sunday.
It apparently started when hizzbollah shot a Ketyusha missile at the Israeli
base on Har Meron (the second highest spot in Israeli, located west and
a little north of Tsfat). This means that the missile had to fly right
over the road that we traveled on just the day before, to Kfar Vradim.
Of course, Israeli retaliated and bombed several command sites in Lebanon.
There was also a small gun battle (or at least a shooting) near Menara,
right next to the border and the location of the mountain station for the
cable cars. I've been there 3 times and, in fact, have quite a few pictures
of Lebanon from that area. For a while, all the people living in Nahariya
and Kiriat Shmona were ordered into their bomb shelters, but, luckily, no
rockets were fired at either of those two cities near the border. By the time
the UN managed to negotiate a cease fire (at the end of the day), 2 Israeli
soldiers had been injured, no one was killed on our side, and several militant
leaders in Lebanon were killed by the air strikes.
Does all this frighten us? No, it really does not; it just makes
us more determined to be right here!
30 & 31 May & 1, 2,
& 3 June 2006
Five days? How can this be? Hmmmmm....
I had a pretty nasty cold this week. Both Monday &
Tuesday were almost lost days for me. I had a slight fever and just
had no energy, which is quite unusual for me. On Wednesday, though, I
felt better and we went to class in the evening with no problem. On Thursday,
it turned into a regular head cold, with runny nose and clogged sinuses.
I didn't feel as tired, though, and I managed to get to the market and
get us supplies for the long weekend.
Although neither of us actually remembered it until evening,
Thursday, 1 June, was the 10th anniversary of our wedding at BCC.
How time flies! There's no WAY we could have imagined back then where
we'd be now! What a wonderful adventure together it continues to be!
Friday was Shavuot, and we went again with Margaret to
morning services at Kfar Vradim. One of the things that is done on
Shavuot is to chant the entire book of Ruth. Margaret chanted chapters
1 and 3, and the rabbi there chanted chapters 2 and 4. We again enjoyed
the service very much. This time, they stayed in the gan room for the
whole service, rather than moving to the orthodox shul for the last part.
There was a group of young men there who had just enlisted in the army
(which is, of course, mandatory for all young people here when they finish
high school). They had a big group aliyah and all stood together under
a very large tallit. There must have been 15 or 20 of them. There were also
special blessings for them, and each received a small prayer book as a gift.
No matter what happens to them during their national service, they will
all know that there are people praying for them; people who are grateful for
the work they will be doing to make us all safe.
After services, we returned home, where we had invited
Margaret to eat lunch with us. We not only had a nice lunch, we also
had a most enjoyable conversation, all of us getting to know each other
better. Margaret is definitely going to be one of our best friends here;
she is such an intelligent and interesting person!
Since Shavuot is hardly distinguishable from Shabbat,
it felt like 2 Shabbats in a row here, a rather strange and disorienting
feeling. We decided NOT to go to services today, even though Margaret
was going and had invited us to come along. My cold is still not gone,
although I'm definitely feeling better today than yesterday, and, besides,
I needed to feed the snakes. When I did, I discovered 3 good eggs!
It was K'tanah, one of our 2 female amelanistic Emory rat snakes, who
had laid them. So, these are the first eggs of the year, our first in
Israel (in fact, almost certainly the first amelanistic Emory rat snake
eggs ever in Israel!), and the first from K'tanah, since this is the
first year that she and her sister, Y'karah, were big enough to breed.
If all goes well, this means that we'll have our first baby snakes sometime
during the first half of August.
Tomorrow, we have a LONG day. David has appointments with
the diabetes nurse and the dietician (in the same office) at Checkpost
(in Haifa) at 11:30. Rather than returning to Tsfat and then turning
around and heading back almost immediately to Carmiel, we'll simply
ride from Haifa to Carmiel, getting some lunch there and hanging out
until class, at 5:30 in the evening. But, it will make for a long day,
with no naps. At least we don't have to get up too early!
4 June 2006
We had a good trip to Haifa. As we were riding along on
the bus, I noticed that a girl just across the aisle and forward of
us had a small calico kitten in a soft bag. She was petting the kitten
very gently, and every so often the kitten would look up at her with
big, soulful eyes and say a soft "meow". It was so cute!
Although David only had appointments with the diabetes
nurse and the dietician, he also got to see the diabetes doctor
briefly. It seems that his kidney function has gone down some, so
he'll be taking some medicine for that, and he'll have to start limiting
his intake of potassium. This is rather tricky, since many healthy
fruits and vegetables are high in potassium, and nearly everything
has SOME potassium. Still, all of this should make him start feeling
better and give him more energy.
We did go to Carmiel afterwards, ate lunch there, and went
to class. The class was good, but not particularly remarkable. The
#501 bus was somewhat later than usual (and it's ALWAYS behind the
schedule on the bus company web page). Then, after we passed Meron,
we were stuck behind a slow-moving military convoy all the way up to
Tsfat. The convoy turned left to go to the Tsfat military camp at the
same intersection where we turned right, but by then we were just about
to the central bus station. It was quite windy out but not cold, so we
walked home from the bus stop quite comfortably.
5, 6, 7, & 8 June 2006
Monday (5 June) we took it quite easy, since we knew that
we had another long day ahead of us on Tuesday. We did get our second
clutch of eggs on Monday, though. Not surprisingly, this one was laid
by Y'karah, K'tanah's sister. They are both housed this year with their
brother, Mikhael, who is, of course, the papa.
Tuesday, David had an appointment again with Dr. Shakhar,
the HIV specialist at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. Since we knew
that we would be traveling to Haifa, I arranged to pick up a big
sack of vermiculite in HaBonim, a moshav south of Haifa along the coast
of the Mediterranean. So, here's the story of 8 busses, 2 private cars,
and a taxi:
First, we traveled on the Tsfat #4 bus from near our place
to the Tsfat central bus station (about a 5-7 minute trip). Then we
went on #361 to Merkazit HaMifratz (The Gulf Center) in Haifa (a trip
of 1.5 to 2 hours). Next, we went on the Haifa #108 bus to the Rambam
Medical Center (about half an hour). After David's appointment, I called
the woman at the factory in HaBonim to make sure that everything was in
order. Then we took Haifa local bus #103 from near Rambam to Merkazit
Khof HaKarmel (The Carmel Beach Center) still in Haifa (only a few minutes
along the main highway in Haifa). I had been to Merkazit Khof HaKarmel once
before, last summer when I traveled from the University of Haifa after my
ulpan there was done to Jerusalem. It is a really nice, new bus station
which also includes a kanyon (shopping mall). From there, we took the #921
bus south to where the road to HaBonim leaves highway #4 (a trip of maybe
15-20 minutes). From there, we hitchhiked the 2 kilometers to the moshav
itself. A nice lady who spoke English picked us up and took us right to
the office where we needed to be. The lady there was waiting for us (I
had called right after getting off the bus) with the big 100-liter bag of
vermiculite, which we use, soaked with water, beneath our snake eggs to
keep them from drying out. We also use it to make "swamps" for the snakes
so that they can get more moist and shed their skin more easily. In the
U.S., I got vermiculite at The Home Depot in 3.3-liter bags for something
like $2 each. So the bag I got here is equivalent to about 30 of those bags
in the U.S., but I only had to pay 70 shekels. This means I paid about a quarter
of the price. Of course, on the other hand, I had to travel to the factory
here!
Another lady in the office took us in her car back to the
bus stop along the highway, we caught the #921 bus back to Haifa,
took the #103 from Merkanzit Khof Ha-Karmel to Merkazit HaMifratz,
and returned to Tsfat on the #361 bus. When we got back here, Asher
was not available, but we took another taxi home. The 100-liter bag is
not very heavy, but it's a little bulky. On the intercity busses, we simply
put it in the space underneath where people put luggage.
On Wednesday, we ran a few errands and stocked up a bit
on groceries in the morning. Then we went to class as usual in the
evening. The walk home from Park HaPsalim (The Sculture Park) was pleasant
with a cool but not cold breeze and a nice clear night view of the twinkling
lights of T'verya along the way.
Today (Thursday) we picked up a couple of items from the
post office (from the life insurance company who will pay off the mortgage
if I should die), got David's prescriptions filled (at Sha'arei Ha-Ihr),
bought some nuts at the spice shop in town, got some cash from the
ATM, ordered more cat food and cat litter (to be delivered this evening),
and went and did some more grocery shopping down at Hiperneto (now
SuperSal) in the south part of the town. Again Asher was not available,
so I ordered another taxi, and we got a pleasant ride home in a Skoda
Fabia station wagon.
When I checked, I found out that we have more eggs! Khumah,
our caramel corn snake who is heterozygous for amelism (and so is
her mate, Khum) had laid these. There were 17 of them, but at least
2 of them are not good almost for sure. Unfortunately, she seems to
have another one stuck, and if it doesn't get out of there very soon,
she will die!
This afternoon, we traveled into town again to have late
lunch (or early supper!) at Mul Ha-Har, our favorite restaurant in
town. This was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our wedding, which
was actually a week ago, but we hadn't had a chance to really celebrate
it yet. So we had a pleasant and delicious meal (parmesan ravioli with alfredo
sauce and cheese, a side of bread, water, and a glass of white wine). After
a brief chat with Meir and Aharon at the furniture and appliance store,
we got on the #4 bus and headed home again.
9, 10, & 11 June 2006
I took Khumah, the egg-bound snake, to the vet on Friday
morning, because the egg was still stuck. Even though she was the
first snake they had ever had as a patient in their office, the vet
was able to get the egg, as well as 3 others, out of her by massaging
them back to the cloaca. So, she should be fine now. These 4 eggs are
probably not good, but one can't tell for sure, so we'll certainly keep
them and see. The vet and his assistant were both very nice, and their
office is within walking distance from here, not far from Sha'arei Ha-Ihr.
On Friday evening, we had agreed with Margaret to lead services
together. Earlier in the week, we had gotten together and figured out
what tunes we knew. There was only one other couple there besides the
3 of us, and they came in quite late. Still, we really enjoyed leading
a Friday night service once again, and this was actually the first kabbalat
Shabbat service we have ever been to in Tsfat, the city where this service
actually originated!
After the service, all 5 of us went upstairs to Margaret's
apartment and had a delicious supper that Margaret had fixed. The
other couple, Yaakov and Liz, are also members of the congregation (in
fact, Liz is the president) and good friends of Margaret. She had known
that they were planning to be there and had also invited them to supper.
On Shabbat morning, we again traveled with Margaret to services
in Kfar Vradim. They stop the service just before Shokhen Ad and have
the Torah discussion at that point. This week it was led by the rabbi himself,
Zvi Berger. Even though it was, of course, all in Hebrew, I picked up
quite a bit of what people were saying, though not enough to actually
make any comments of my own. After that, we moved over next door to the
orthodox synagogue, although we had to wait quite a while for them to finish.
There was another bar mitzvah this week (in OUR group), and, in fact, most
of the people at the service were obviously there because of their connection
to the bar mitzvah boy. I think this is the first time I've heard a 13-year-old
boy whose speaking and singing voice had already changed. One of the
neat things about being here in Israel where everyone speaks Hebrew is
that even very secular relatives who know nothing about Jewish services
or chanting can still read the Torah blessings fluently and thereby have
an important part in the ceremony.
Today (Sunday) I fed the snakes and cleaned out all their
terraria. Some are still gravid (that is, they still have eggs in them),
but no one else had laid any eggs yet.
As I write this, it's only early afternoon. In about an hour,
we'll leave the house, go into town and eat at Mul Ha-Har, and catch
the bus to Carmiel for our evening ulpan class.
12 & 13 June 2006
Our class was good, as usual, on Sunday evening. It was so
cool out when we got back to Tsfat that I was glad I had brought my
sweater.
Monday, we walked over to Sha'arei Ha-Ihr. We went first to
the pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions, and then we did a little
shopping at the market there. We waited and rode the bus home. In the
evening, we watched TV: Friends, Seinfeld, Just Shoot Me, Malcolm in
the Middle, Married with Children, and a little CNN & BBC news. A
train going north from Tel Aviv to Haifa struck a pickup that had apparently
stalled on the tracks. At least 5 people were killed, and many more, of
course, were injured. It is believed, though, that this was NOT an attack,
merely a tragic accident. Helicopters were going in and out of the base
just north of us all day. I don't know if this was related to the train
wreck or not.
This morning (Tuesday), I went into Google World after not
having opened that application in some time. If you haven't yet discovered
this really COOL program, available for free download from Google, you
certainly should check it out right away! What was really exciting this
morning was that I discovered that the resolution for this area (and much
though not all of the rest of Israel) has improved considerably since my
last visit. Previously, one could only make out the most important features
and some rather fuzzy lines showing some of the streets and roads. Now,
one can see individual houses and vehicles on the roads! The really NEAT
thing about Google World is that not can you get views from directly
overhead, you can also change the view to non-vertical, slant angles,
almost down to horizontal. Although these are all actually computed from
the overhead views (so buildings can look rather weirdly flattened),
they really give you much more of a feel of actually being in the place
you are looking at. The horizons are amazingly accurate, and you really
can sense the "lay of the land".
So I looked at Tsfat from many different angles and at many
different zoom levels. Using a program on my computer called "Grab"
(which comes free with the Mac OS!), I captured 10 of these views.
Then I went into Graphic Converter, added some notations to most of
them (including showing where our house is, where several other places
I have mentioned frequently are, and the route that we walk when we
go to Sha'arei Ha-Ihr), saved them as JPEG files, and uploaded them to
a new album on Yahoo called "Tsfat from Google World" at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/arlanwareham
If you do a slide show there, even at slow speed, you won't
have time to see all the things on each picture. So, instead, click
on the first picture, and from there you can click to move to the next
picture when you are ready. The description there are really too brief,
so here are more complete descriptions of what you are seeing in each
picture:
1. View of Har Khermon. This is the view of Har Khermon and
other peaks in the Golan from our house (or really just a little above
our house in the air). You might compare this with some of the actual
photographs that I have previously posted of Har Khermon. Remember,
this picture is actually computed by Google from photographs that were
taken from a satellite!
2. Aerial view of Neve Oranim. This is a view of Neve Oranim,
our neighborhood. All of these pictures were taken before construction
had even started on our house (meaning they are a least a year and
a half to 2 years old). Nevertheless, I have marked the approximate
location of our house. I have also circled and labeled Park HaPsalim
(the Sculpture Park). The road just to the left of it is the main road
through Tsfat. If you went south (down on the picture) on this road,
you would get to Rosh Pinna (probably 7-10 kilometers, and WAY down at
a much lower elevation), which is probably only about 2 or 3 kilometers
directly east of our house. It's so close to the hill, though, that we
can't see it from here at all.
3. K'naan and Neve Oranim. This picture is zoomed out more,
so you can see more of Tsfat. This still, however, does not show ANY
of the old city area or downtown Tsfat. On this one, I have marked
and labeled our house and Sha'arei Ha-Ihr (Gates of the City), the
nearest shopping area to us. I also drew a black line showing the route
that we walk to get from here to there.
4. Our house to Sha'arei Ha-Ihr. This picture is from more
of a slant angle and looks almost straight west with our house in the
foreground and Sha'arei Ha-Ihr in the background. Again, I have marked
and labeled both and have also drawn in our walking route.
5. Our house to downtown and Har Meron. This picture is zoomed
out more than the previous one so that you can also see the downtown
area of Tsfat and Har Meron in the distance. Here, I have labeled our
house, the downtown area, and Har Meron. One comment: because of the slant
view (and the fact that the downtown hill is lower in elevation) downtown
looks MUCH closer to Sha'arei Ha-Ihr than it actually is.
6. Downtown Tsfat towards us. For this picture, it's as though
we have traveled to the far side of downtown Tsfat. In this view, we
are looking east, with downtown Tsfat in the foreground and our house
in the background. I have labeled our house, and I have circled and labeled
the central bus station and Sha'arei Ha-Ihr.
7. Downtown Tsfat. This is an aerial view of downtown Tsfat
from directly above. On this picture, I circled and labeled the central
bus station, and I also drew a line showing Y'rushalayim Street, the
main street in the downtown area, which goes all the way around the hill.
The green area that you see just to the right of the center of the picture
is a park at the very top of the hill. At the leftmost part of Y'rushalayim
Street in this picture, it actually goes under an arch. Palmach Street
goes OVER the arch!
8. Downtown Tsfat looking northwest. Now we have moved around
the hill a little and are looking are a slant angle towards the northwest.
Again I have circled and labeled the central bus station and have marked
the route of Y'rushalayim Street.
9. Tsfat from directly overhead. This picture is zoomed out
quite a bit, so that you can see both the downtown area and our house
in the same picture. I have labeled our house and have circled and
labeled Sha'arei Ha-Ihr, the bus station, and the downtown area.
10. Tsfat. This picture is zoomed out even more, so that you
can see almost all of Tsfat. I didn't label anything here, but, by
now, you can probably figure out where most of the things I have mentioned
actually are.
This evening, we are going to a picnic in the forest just
down the hill from Tsfat, which is sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh, the
organization that helped us make aliyah. All of the people in the northern
part of Israel that they have helped are invited to this picnic, so we
may well meet quite a few other Americans and Canadians who have also
recently made aliyah. It should be very enjoyable.
Well, I guess that's enough for now.
14, 15, 16, & 17 June 2006
Four days! Oh well.
The picnic on Tuesday was indeed very enjoyable, and we did
meet some other interesting people from the U.S., including a few who
live here in Tsfat (of course, in the old city area, not near us).
Wednesday was a good day, with our usual good class in the
evening.
Thursday, David had an appointment with Dr. Nechmad, and it
was a good thing, too, because he wasn't feeling very good that day.
He finally got a prescription for fexofenadine (Allegra in the U.S.),
which works much better for him at clearing the sinuses than any of the
other 2nd generation antihistamines. We also went over to Margaret's to
help her clear books off of the tables and onto the newly installed shelves
of the library in the shul beneath her house.
Friday evening, Margaret came over here for supper and then
took us to Kfar Vradim for Friday evening services. As always, we had
a very enjoyable time visiting with her, and we also enjoyed the services.
This morning (Saturday), I found that another snake (Sarah)
had laid her eggs. This means that 6 of the 9 who may lay eggs this
year have already laid theirs.
We walked to services this morning at Shalvah, the synagogue
at Margaret's house. There were visitors from the U.S. there today,
so there were more people than last time. In particular, we had more
than a minyan (10 people), so we had a Torah service. Afterwards, Zohar,
a student rabbi who helps out there, and her husband gave us a ride home,
as they did last time.
18, 19, 20, 21, & 22 June
2006
FIVE days! I've really got to mend my ways! :-)
On Monday afternoon, we rented a car in Carmiel for 2 days.
This was because we needed to travel to Jerusalem on Tuesday to apply
for jobs. A company called IDT Global, whose main office is in Jerusalem,
had been considering opening an office here in Tsfat. They had told me
that they have open recruiting every Tuesday at noon, so we wanted to go
and check it out. They are basically a call center, that is, they accept
calls from and place calls to people in the States and other countries. This
includes sales, fund raising, debt collection, and customer service. Their
largest client is AOL. They accept calls from people who want to cancel
their AOL accounts, and, in that case, their job is to try to convince the
people to stay with AOL.
We (David; our ulpan friend, Betsy, who made aliyah from Florida;
and I) filled out the application, took the simple computer literacy
test, and waited our turns to be interviewed. It turns out that the company
had already decided NOT to open an office in Tsfat in the near future,
so it really won't be a job possibility for us after all. Nevertheless,
it was a good experience.
We picked Betsy up in Carmiel (she still lives at the absorption
center there) and traveled to Jerusalem via Highway 6 (the toll road).
After the interviews, though, we decided to return via the Jordan Valley,
a completely different route. We also brought Betsy up here to our house
in Tsfat, since she had not been here before. Then I took her home
to Carmiel and returned to Tsfat. On Wednesday, we returned to the car
to Carmiel and then went to class there later in the evening.
As we were walking home from where the bus let us off last night
(Wednesday night), we met 3 lost cows! There's really no other explanation
for 3 cows wandering around in a vacant area between houses later than
9:00 at night. Unfortunately, we were not able to help them find their
way. For one thing, we really don't even know where they belong.
Today, we had to travel to Carmiel once again. David had an
order for a bone density test, and, apparently, Carmiel is the nearest
place where they do that. So, we road the bus down, I stopped at the
electric company office there and paid our bill (I'm sure there's also
an office in Tsfat, but I haven't bothered to try to locate it, since
I know where the one in Carmiel is), and we proceeded to Mercaz Big
(yes, that's really its name!), where David's test was to be done. It
turns out that his bone density is generally normal other than a slight
reduction in the hips. After that, we ate at the Aroma restaurant there,
had a little glidah (Israeli ice cream), and headed back to Tsfat. When
we got to the central bus station, we took the #6 bus down to Hiperneto,
did some grocery shopping, and took a taxi home.
23, 24, 25, & 26 June 2006
Time is just FLYING by! We really didn't do much of anything
on Friday. On Shabbat, we went again with Margaret to Kfar Vradim for
services. Another boy was becoming a bar mitzvah, and, as always, it
was great to see a family celebrating together.
As you may have read in the news, there was an attack early Sunday
morning in southern Israel. The Palestinians had tunneled under the
border fence and attacked an Israeli military outpost. Two soldiers were
killed and a third, Gilad Shilat, was kidnapped. Today, we received an
e-mail from Rabbi Zvi Berger of the congregation in Kfar Vradim telling
us that Gilad became a bar mitzvah at that congregation 6 years ago and
that his best friend is the son of a good friend of theirs. So, although
we have not personally met him, please pray with us for the safe return
of Gilad. As of this moment, no one knows exactly where he is or what has
happened to him.
Over quite a bit of time recently, David has been having more
and more trouble with nausea. It got so bad that yesterday he wasn't
able to keep anything down. Of course, he didn't go to ulpan with me.
This morning, we called Carcom, the nurse at the HIV clinic at Rambam in
Haifa about it, and she told me to get him to the doctor here in Tsfat today.
So I called the appointment line. I am now able to schedule appointments
with the doctor in Hebrew, since often the person does not speak English
very well. This time, I found out that our regular doctor wasn't working today,
so I got David an appointment with a different doctor.
At about 9:40 I got an appointment for 11:00, so I called to
order a taxi (our favorite driver, Asher). Unfortunately, his car broke
down, so he had to call us at 10:45 and let us know that he couldn't
take us. This meant that we HAD to walk. It's about a 15-20 minute walk
from here. Fortunately, along the way Zion, our builder and next-door
neighbor, stopped and gave us a ride the rest of the way.
When we got to see the doctor (Dr. Darmon), he was obviously
an orthodox man (kipah, black slacks, white shirt, with tsitsit (prayer
fringes) hanging out from under his shirt). I'll admit that I was just
a bit prejudiced, but, in the end, he turned out to be a good and compassionate
doctor. He called both the HIV nurse (Carcom) and the HIV doctor (in Haifa)
on the phone to consult with them while we were there. He prescribed anti-nausea
medication in both pill form and suppository form (in case David couldn't
keep the pills down). Fortunately, the first pill worked really well,
and David is already feeling much better. Tomorrow, we will be going to
Rambam (the medical center in Haifa) as we had already planned last week
to pick up meds there. So David's HIV doctor (Dr. Shakhar) will also see
him at that time.
Dr. Darmon spoke some English, but he was obviously not too secure
in it. My Hebrew was definitely helpful, and I was able to use it fairly
well, too!
27, 28, 29, & 30 June
& 1 July 2006
Oh no! FIVE more days! I've got to get some better habits.
Oh well.
We did see Dr. Shakhar, and he also brought in his boss,
the chairman of the department, as well. It seems likely that one
cause of David's nausea may have been the very small dose of medicine
that he was taking to help his kidneys. One of its main affects is to
lower blood pressure, and David's blood pressure has been running so low
that this may be one cause of the nausea. Luckily, his kidney problem is
probably not very advanced, so the best solution for now is to go off
that medicine. He did do that, and he has been feeling steadily better.
On Wednesday, we went down to Carmiel early because I
wanted to get some sandals. I have tended to have trouble with sandals
previously because they often rub my feet and create sore spots.
But I wanted some shoes that I could wear without socks, and my thongs,
though quite comfortable for short distances and around the house, are
not really good for walking longer distances. We ate some pizza at a place
where we have eaten several times before, on the lowest level of the
kanyon (mall) that is next to the absorption center in Carmiel. Then I
went to the shoe store right by there and found some excellent sandals
for only 50 shekels (about $11). So, I'm gradually beginning to look a
little more Israeli (nearly everyone here wears sandals without socks in
the summer, even to services), and my feet are staying both dry and comfortable,
even when walking quite a bit.
The last several days, I have been working more intensely
on my Hebrew. At the Haifa bus station, they hand out, to each person
getting off an arriving intercity bus, daily newspapers specially
prepared for bus and train riders. The first two pages of the issue
I picked up on Tuesday when we were there were almost ALL about the
capture of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, and Israel's response. So,
I've been going through the articles, circling words I don't know the
exact meaning of, looking them up in the dictionary, and making flash
cards. In this way, I will build my vocabulary, and it is less taxing
since I am actually interested in the contents of the articles. I have
learned that Israel will not release prisoners in exchange for information
of Gilad's whereabouts, that Israel knows what to do and will do it (according
to the prime minister), that Gilad is also a French citizen (which prompted
a visit to his family by the French ambassador and promises of French help),
that Hillary Clinton has called on the international community to help
get him released, and that his family has written an open letter and believes
that his captors also have families and can understand how they feel.
Last night (Friday night), we went and ate supper with
Margaret, and afterwards the 3 of us went downstairs to the synagogue
and had our own little kabbalat Shabbat service. Then she took us
home.
This morning, she picked us up again, and we all went
to services at Kfar Vradim. There was another boy celebrating becoming
a bar mitzvah again this week, and there were many people there
who were obviously his family and friends, most of whom, I believe,
were from very secular backgrounds. The most moving moment, though,
for me was when the rabbi read a special misheberach (a prayer of request
during the time when the Torah is out of the ark) that he had written
especially to pray for Gilad Shalit and his safe return to his family.
As I mentioned earlier, Gilad had celebrated his bar mitzvah in that
very same congregation about 6 years ago.
After services, Margaret stayed and ate lunch with us,
and then we talked, and I showed her some of my music on my computers,
playing examples for her. I also showed her some photographs that
I had taken while still in the States, including Death Valley, the Living
Desert, and scenes from the Inland Empire.
2 & 3 July 2006
We went down to Carmiel early yesterday (Sunday) and tried
out a new restaurant called Art de Coco. It's located right across
from Mercaz Big. We had a very delicious fettucini primavera and a
scrumptious dessert, and it wasn't too expensive, either. Then we took
the local Carmiel bus to the main station and walked over to our ulpan
class.
Today, I fed the snakes. The 15 of them who are almost
2 years old are growing really fast. They had been eating only juvenile
mice, but they all seemed so hungry that I fed them all adults today,
and they all ate them, too, even though quite a few of them were in
shed.
Tomorrow, I travel to Nahariya to meet with the representative
in the North of the Division for the Absorption of Scientists. Actually,
their work is to help people with advanced academic degrees (doctorates)
to find work in Israel. Emma, at the local absorption office, gave
me the e-mail address of the central Jerusalem office of this Division.
I wrote them a short cover letter and sent my resume, both in Hebrew.
They called me back the same day. We talked only in Hebrew on the phone,
setting up this appointment in Nahariya. So, I'll be traveling on bus
#367, which is a Nativ Express route instead of Egged, the company
that runs most of the busses in Israel. Nativ Express (which means "express
lane") is also the local bus company here in Tsfat.
4, 5, 6, & 7 July 2006
Well, I did make the trip to Nahariya on the 4th. It was
rather interesting since the bus went off the main highway and all
around in the city of Maalot. It's quite a lovely place, with parks,
sculptures, and nice houses and public buildings. Since many of the
streets are one-way, I got a somewhat different tour on the returning
trip. We also detoured to Tarshikhah, an obviously Arab town right by
Maalot. There, we only went through a few blocks of the downtown area.
It's also quite a nice and prosperous town.
When I arrived in Nahariya, I looked around the central
bus station a bit and then asked the guard (in Hebrew) where Keren
HaYesod Street was. He didn't know, but he asked a merchant nearby
and then pointed in out to me. When I got to the street, I wasn't absolutely
certain (since there were no signs), so I asked a passer-by, who confirmed
that it was the right street. Then I easily found #14 where the office
is located. Since it was an apartment building, I called to find out where
to go.
The guy I talked to, Reuven Weisz, was nice, but the discussion
was not too encouraging. I don't really have any skills that they
need here in research and development. He will be referring me to the
department that deals with education, although working in the schools
is difficult, doesn't pay very well, and would require re-training.
He did suggest that I also contact the various colleges, some of whom
I have already gotten in touch with. I guess that generally I mostly learned
what I already knew. Anyway, I still don't think the visit was wasted.
When the visit was over, it was only about 11:30 or so,
and the next bus back to Tsfat wouldn't leave until 3:15. I had checked
the schedules from my computer at home before leaving, so I already
knew this. Even though it was rather hot and very humid, I walked along
the main street towards the sea. The beach area has been very nicely improved,
with walkways, shaded places to sit, and a short jetty out into the
ocean. So I was able to sit in the shade, and I even worked a little
on my Hebrew, having brought my pocket translator and my all-Hebrew dictionary
with me.
Then I began walking back towards the bus station. Along
the way, I took plenty of time to browse in various shops. There
were LOTS of them, but I spent more time in the air-conditioned ones!
I ate at Aroma, which is in the same chain as the one at Mercaz Big in
Carmiel. I had a nice cheese and vegetable sandwich. Afterwards, I also
stopped and got some very delicious glidah (ice cream, but better than
in the U.S.!).
As I was riding the bus back, David called while I was
on the second grand tour of Maalot. We arranged to meet at the bus
station and went to eat at Mul HaHar. I wasn't very hungry, of course,
so I just had a salad.
On Wednesday, we again went down to Carmiel early. This
time, we ate pizza in the kanyon (mall) next to the absorption center
(where our class is). Then I took my sandals, which I had only bought
a week before, back to the store because the bottom of one of them
was separating. They wouldn't exchange it, but they did agree to fix
it. I bought another pair of sandals (more expensive but of better quality),
and David got a pair of athletic shoes, since his old New Balance shoes
that he bought a couple of years ago in the U.S. are just about worn
out and were beginning to hurt his feet. He's very happy with his new
shoes.
Other than that, not too much of great interest has been
happening. Tonight, we'll make Shabbat quietly at home. Then tomorrow
morning we will travel again with Margaret to Kfar Vradim. This time,
she will be reading part of the Torah portion.
8, 9, & 10 July 2006
We had a GREAT time on Shabbat with Margaret. Services at
Kfar Vradim were enjoyable, as usual. There was a bar mitzvah again,
and the boy's mother, who, of course, didn't know me at all, invited
me for an aliyah (going up to witness and bless part of the Torah reading).
Of course I agreed, and I felt very honored. After services, Margaret again
joined us for lunch and lots of good conversation. David made curried
vegetables and mock duck, and it was delicious. We spent quite a bit of
time talking about how to develop and promote the library at the shul
here in Tsfat. We all felt that we had a better idea of what needs to be
done to make it into a real library.
Sunday (yesterday) was a very LONG day. We had to leave
the house at 7:30 in order to make it to David's appointment with
the diabetes nurse at Checkpost in Haifa. He also had appointments
in the same office with his psychiatrist and the dietician. The diabetes
doctor also saw him even though he did not have an appointment with
her. After all that, we walked over to the mall, had some pizza, and
did a little shopping. I got some new flip-flops (we called them thongs
when I was a kid; I don't really know WHAT they call them here) at the
supermarket which is in the mall there. I thought they were 30 shekels
as the sign said, but when I actually paid for them, they apparently
were 50% off because I only had to pay 15 shekels, which is really cheap.
Then we caught the bus to Carmiel, arriving there 3 or 4
hours before our class. We could have traveled home first and then
back to Carmiel, but then we would have spent practically all that extra
time on the bus, and, of course, we would have spent more money on bus
fares. Anyway, we decided to take the local bus over to the "new" kanyon,
which I had never been to before. It was interesting to see. Although it's
not that big, it's quite busy and popular. After browsing there for a
while, we traveled back to the area of the absorption center. We ate some
falafel for supper and bought 3 CDs before heading for class.
Today I went over to the post office in Sha'arei Ha-Ihr
to pay the cable bill (which also includes our internet access).
Then I bought a few things at the supermarket there and came back
home. Most of the rest of the day was spent feeding snakes. Then, just
before 5:00 we left and traveled into town to eat supper at Mul Ha-Har.
The Festival of Klezmer Music is happening here now (yesterday, today,
and tomorrow). The main streets in town are closed in the late afternoon
and evening, but virtually ALL the stores were opened, and there were
also lots of people up and down the streets selling things to tourists
at tables. It was quite a festive atmosphere. As we were walked along,
who should we see coming towards us but D'vorah, our ulpan teacher! We
chatted briefly with her, and she introduced us to the other two people
who were with her. We walked over to the area where the concert would be
later, next to the Wolfson Community Center. There were lots of plastic chairs
set up for the audience to sit on and an elaborate stage, with all kinds
of sound and lighting equipment. We decided not to stay for the concert,
though, partly because it was already rather on the cool side, even though
the sun was not quite set yet. But mostly we were worried about getting home
afterwards, since the local busses don't run all that late, and it's a long,
uphill walk to our house from town (probably a good 2 miles!).
Note: the entries after this date continue on a separate page, which
contains all the entries during the war of July/August 2006. You can go
there by clicking here.