Some Stuff ...

Are we moved in ...??? We'll I guess the answer to that question would have to be yes. We have all our stuff here and we also have the new refrigerator here, we have our bed and the little furniture that we own right now. So yes, I guess we are moved in. We still have quite a few touches to add to this place before it feels like home, but that's what it is right now all the same, this is our home.

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Yesterday was interesting. Late last night while we were still at Miri and Shlomo's Tafat called me downstairs in her mischievous little voice because she said she wanted to tell me something. She looked at me and happily asked me if I knew what day it was.

"Monday?" I said.

"It's Christmas," she said enthusiastically. "I had no idea, isn't that great!"

If you aren't aware, my wife is somewhat of a grinch. I had actually noticed what day it was and also it's conspicuous absence from the television, stores and basically every other aspect of life. Christmas eve and Christmas day passed almost invisibly through this country.

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It's raining. I'm supposed to be happy about it cause it's good for the country and the farms and the Kineret and all that stuff. But its really been pouring out. I was running around out there looking for an ATM to get some cash to pay for our new fridge. I got completely drenched, I mean soaked. We keep saying we need umbrellas but it starting to get ridiculous.

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Random Israeli Politics Posting:

PM Olmert has just approved a plan to improve the lives of the Palestinians in the West Bank. Apparently this plan is aimed at helping PA President Abbas gain some popularity. Personally, I think if Israel declared war on him, that would be the best way to hero status on the Arab street.

One of the main features of the plan, as noted by Ha'aretz, is the removal of several checkpoints from throughout the West Bank.

Olmert approved the plan Monday, which, among other gestures, includes the removal of 27 roadblocks across the West Bank.

Following a meeting between the prime minister, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and several other senior defense officials, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said the prime minister accepted all of Peretz's proposals for easing restrictions.

"The prime minister directed that restrictions be eased immediately for the Palestinian population in order to strengthen moderate elements and implement the agreements and understandings that were achieved [at his meeting with Abbas]," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

Normally, I wouldn't pay to much attention to this story. It's not that I don't care, its just that these types of "goodwill" gestures never produce any goodwill whatsoever. But this time the situation is very different because I'm here in Israel. Those roadblocks are supposed to help protect me. But now whoever might want to do me harm has 27 fewer roadblocks to worry about. Well, maybe it will work, this time.

We Did a Little Dance When ...

... we found an apartment in Tel Aviv!!!!

After watching Shlomo have a long discussion about the contract and the apartment in Hebrew, with me standing there understanding none of it, the owners went upstairs and printed new versions of the contract for us to sign. We did the deal and we'll be moving in next week.

The apartment seems great. Its in a great location, on a quite street, but close to the center of the city. It's a renovated apartment in a beautiful building. It's a little pricey but I think its worth it.

When Tafat and I got back to Haifa we did an idiotic little celebratory dance and started thinking about all the details we have to iron out before we can move in.

The Official "We're in Israel Post"

I guess since we've been here almost two and a half weeks its time to confirm that Tafat and I are here in Israel. I'll try and run through the last two and a half weeks as best I can to let everyone know what the experience has been like.

After a long flight to London, and a very pleasant extended lay over spent walking around in the city, and then another shorter flight to Tel Aviv, we finally landed at the new terminal in Ben-Gurion Airport. The name of the project to build the new terminal was "Ben-Gurion 2000" which is unfortunate since it didn't open until the end of 2004. At any rate it's really impressive, it's beautiful, clean and very modern looking. It's certainly far more impressive than the terminal was the last time I came here. It's also fairly big. Tafat and I walked for quite a while before we got from our gate to passport control. It's not Minneapolis or Detroit big, but for such a small country to have such a big airport strikes me as some form of compensation.

We were met warmly at the airport by our surrogate Israeli mother Miri. She has been taking extremely good care of us and has kept us well fed. In the states the stereotype of the Jewish mother is someone who is constantly feeding you and taking care of you. In Israel, a country full of Jewish mothers, that stereotype is reserved for Polish mothers. Miri is the quintessential Polish mother. When we got to Haifa Tafat met Miri's husband Shlomo who has been extremely busy with his business the whole time we've been here. Shlomo is also in many ways a good example of the eccentric Israeli some people have pictured in their minds. His favorite pastime is to lament all the foods he can't eat because of the special diet he's on to lower his blood-pressure.

Tafat and I spent our first week in the country slowly recuperating from lingering jet-lag, running a few errands here and there with Miri and getting a feel for Haifa where we've been staying. We also took a very short trip to Tel Aviv to get a feel for the city in which we'll be living. Tel Aviv is everything I thought it would be. That is to say, its a very eclectic, very urban, somewhat run-down and dirty, yet completely appealing city. Being in Tel Aviv is frustrating because it's really not a pretty city yet it has the potential to be a beautiful city. Its a city badly in need of some paint and plaster, but where the architecture is at times stunning and also stunningly bad. Tafat and I are excited to be living there because in many ways it is the antithesis of LA - you can walk almost everywhere and many people don't even own a car.

Our first weekend here was wonderful since it featured a guest appearance by Miri's grandson. Her son and daughter-in-law were also here but the rule, as it is at my parents house as well, is that the grandchild is the star.

With our second week here we began our apartment search, and its been keeping us busy since then. Finding an apartment in Tel Aviv is tricky because you have to keep track of several factors including price, the apartment itself, the location, the noise ... Ok, maybe it's just as tricky here as everywhere else but where you're right in the thick of it it seems really hard. Maybe it's so difficult because really nice apartment seem so few and far between.

We took a break from apartment hunting last week to go to Jerusalem to visit Tafat's aunt Nadine. She is a fascinating woman and her mannerisms really reminded me of Tafat's mother. She also showed me how to make real Turkish coffee and I can see this quickly becoming a new hobby for me. Nadine took Tafat and I (well it was really for me) on a tour of the city. She took us to Tafat's old neighborhood and Tafat gave me a tour of where she grew up. It was really nice to see where she spent her childhood because it can really tell you a lot about a person.

Since then it's been a lot if trips to Tel Aviv on the train, mixed in with a little bit of shopping here and there. We also both got a kick out of going to a kosher hamburger joint in the mall in Tel Aviv. This should seem perfectly obvious that in a Jewish country it will be a lot easier to find kosher food, but all the same it made us both smile.

I would love to show you pictures of where we've been. Unfortunately my digital camera had a bit of an accident and it is no longer working. I'm not going to describe exactly how it happened but suffice it to say that is was a very "Jonah" moment, or in other words - stupid. But fortunately a replacement should be here in about a month, hopefully.

And ... well ... that's about it.

Where We're At ... Haifa

Just so you know ......

You Know You're in a Jewish Country When ...

... the Supermarkets are filled with Kosher meat and products but you have to go looking for a speciality store to find shrimp, lobster or pork.

... the weekend starts on Friday and ends on Saturday. Sunday is the first day of the work week.

... the cute, sentimental add for the cellphone company features an adorable little boy, whose Sufganyot (doughnuts served during Hanuka) stand isn't drawing any customers, until his mother snaps a picture of him on her cell phone and send it out as a text message to all her friends.

... all of the stores in the mall have Mezuzahs on the door.

... you walk past a trendy shoe store on the street and look inside to find a giant picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

... the graffiti is meant to help bring the Messiah.

... there's a Synagogue at the bus station.

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane

We're leaving for Israel on Friday evening. Basically in a little less than 48 hours. Blogging has been light lately as Tafat and I have been spending a lot of time making lots of last minute preparations, packing, running errands and spending alternating periods of time panicking and feeling overwhelmed. I take a great deal of comfort in knowing that when we land in Ben Gurion we'll have a very welcoming and helpful reception from our interim Israeli mother.

But even though were gonna have a very comfortable place to stay once we land I don't want us to get too comfortable there. I really want to get to Tel Aviv but I know that finding a place there is going to be huge challenge. I've been hearing nightmare stories about the total lack of apartments there and its got me worried. Several friends have said that its almost as hard to find an apartment in Tel Aviv as it is to find a date in Los Angeles.

At any rate I'm sure were gonna have lots to say when we get there. I always thought this blog would be a useful tool to communicate with everybody while were in Israel and that was one of the main reasons for starting it. But I always have a lot to say and I've been searching for the right soap box for a while now. But I hope not to opine to much and bore all of you with my rantings.

But now is not the time to start ranting. My sister and brother-in-law are on their way here with the kids in tow. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we want to spend our time saying goodbye. We leave Friday but we don't land until Sunday. About ten of those hours will be spent in London on an extended layover. We probably wont be truly settled for a while but I'll do everything I can to keep everyone up to date while were in limbo.

See ya on the flip side.

We're Back ... and we're not happy!!!

So Tafat and I just got back from Hawai'i today after a wonderful two week honeymoon. Sorry for not blogging the last two weeks but I had more pressing matters like going to the beach and surfing and all of these other important things. Anyway the hard work can now begin as we get ready for our move to Israel. Pictures of Hawaii will follow shortly. Suffice it say that Tafat and I had a wonderful time and were not pleased to be back in Los Angeles.

See Ya Later

Today is my last day at StandWithUs. Iv'e learned a lot in the two and a half years I've been working here. A lot about the world and working and also a lot about Israel. It sounds cliche but I've also learned a great deal about myself, about my strengths and weakness and how I act in a day-to-day work environment. In many ways this was my first real job in the sense of showing up and going to an office on a completely regular schedule. I'm sure that I'm not completely done with SWU considering I'll be doing some work for them in Israel and also working the student conference in a few weeks, but I don't know if I'll ever be back to a regular everyday schedule here.

Today we had a lunch as sort of a going away gathering for me. It made things real in a whole new way. Sitting there at lunch it really hit me that in about a month I'll be moving to a country where I don't speak the language, don't have a full time job lined up, and where I don't have an actual residence waiting for me. I should be terrified and in many ways I am. However, I know that I need to do this. I need to go and figure out for myself what this Jewish state business is really all about. Maybe its a brialliant idea or maybe its crazy. But its my idea and I'm running with it.

Technorati Tags: StandWithUs Israel

I Think He Had a Good Time in Israel

If you search YouTube for "Tel Aviv" or "Israel" you're bound at one point to come across some videos of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team. One player in particular stands out in those clips and is even the main subject of several of them. Anthony Parker played for Tel Aviv for five seasons and helped them to two championships while helping himself to two MVP awards. He recently signed with the Toronto Raptors but he's still gushing about his former residence.

Now he has an appreciation for a part of the world many find confusing, complex and incomprehensible.

"A lot of my close friends and family have been over to visit and they had one mindset going in but certainly they were completely the opposite leaving," he said.

"It's a shame that that part of the world is portrayed in the news the way it is. You see it as a war zone instead of the beautiful part of the world it is.

He'll even be wearing number 18 as a homage to his fans in Israel.

UC Irvine is a Crazy Place

I stopped over at Concerned UCI Student today for the second time. I took a good look around today and found it really interesting so I'm adding the site to my blogroll. I've been spending a good deal of time at UCI over the last 20 months working for StandWithUs so I can understand why 'Concerened UCI Student' is ... well ... concerned. In fact I was down there earlier this month filming everybody's favorite Israel hater Amir Abdel Malik Ali. If you want to see the video I'm posting it below. By the way listen till the end to hear a brilliant question from someone in the audience ;).

Concerned also linked to some of the cartoons from the "Iran Holocaust Cartoon Contest". I think these cartoons are the perfect pick-me-up for when your feeling down on a rainy day, so go check them out.

Amir Abdel Malik Ali at UC Irvine:

When Should I Start to Panic

I woke up this morning, flipped on my computer and saw this story: Disaster declared as quake hits Hawaii. Suffice it say, Tafat and I are concerned. Were concerned for the well being of everyone in Hawaii of course, but were also concerned because in about a week were getting on a plane to Hawaii for our Honeymoon. Hopefully, this quake will amount to just a small inconvenience for everyone. Having lived through the '94 "Northridge Earthquake" I know how scary things can get so I hope all is well for everybody over there. I also hope that all is still well for our Honeymoon plans.

Tenacious

Wow, my husband is really into this blog thing and he keeps "asking" me to write something and contribute. I've tried repeatedly to tell him that if I have something that I think you readers would be interested in reading, I'll write! Right now because we're going on our honeymoon in a week and a half and moving to Israel in 5 weeks, I am not working. So, what do I really have to contribute? Life is slow, uneventful (though I'm still enjoying married life and how that feels), and since I don't get out of the house much I don't have too many stories to tell. Life is on hold in a way for me right now. It is funny how much happens to me that I analyze, evaluate, laugh over, learn from, etc. when I work. I had stories upon stories every day. Anyway, until I feel like people are actually interested in reading about my life, I'm not sure I'll be writing much until I move, start working again, and live life.

The Axe is Staying in Madison

Tomorrow the Badgers play the Gophers in Madison for Homecoming. The winner takes home the Paul Bunyan Axe, which has served as the trophy for this rivalry since 1948. I'll be up at 9:00 AM to watch the game and I hopefully won't wake up my wife with all my yelling and screaming. Tonight I'll drink to a victory and in the morning I'll hopefully watch the Badgers get their sixth win of the season. ON WISCONSIN!!

Update:
After writing this post I saw this story on ESPN: "Hazing, booze, sex led to Wisconsin band probation." Intrigued, I read on.

UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said a band member was pressured into shaving his head in a hazing incident and other members danced seminude during the band's trip to the Sept. 23 University of Michigan football game.

"It has become increasingly clear that certain types of sexualized and hazing behavior are an ingrained part of the band's culture," Wiley said Thursday. "We will not provide an ongoing venue for this inappropriate and demeaning behavior."

So let me get this straight, Chancellor Wiley is shocked by booze and sex at UW? This of course begs the question, has Chancellor Wiley ever actually set foot in Madison?

Inside Iraq

Sandmonkey linked to one of the most chilling blog posts I've ever seen. Check out these threat letters that are popping up all over Iraq. When the Bush Administration was selling the war I bought in to the idea of bringing democracy to Iraq. I still believe that is a realistic goal and should be the objective in Iraq. However, I never considered the possibility of civil war - which is what's going on right now on some level. These letters demonstrate the extent of the hatred in that country.

Fascinating Brittish News Doc

Honest Reporting has put up a British News Documentary by David Aaronovitch. This piece is a breath of fresh air in many ways. Aaronovitch, claims to show liberal and progressive thinkers who a) don't blame Israel for all the worlds problems and b) take the threats of extremism and terror seriously. It's refreshing that there are liberal thinkers out there who are taking an honest look at the problems facing the world today. I was raised in a fairly liberal environment, and though I consider myself permanently planted in the center, it's important to me to have some common ground with individuals on the left of the political spectrum.

Will The Real Video iPod Please Stand Up

engadget is reporting that Apple is preparing to release the often discussed and most anticipated true Video iPod. Not only that but it will also have wireless connectivity. As always my take on Apple rumors is 'who the hell knows.' But like engadget I'm betting that Apple still has something up their sleeve and we'll hear from Jobs and Co before the year is out.

Hat Tip Mac Rumors

My Car Just Keeps On Chuggin

Well its been about two-weeks since I first noticed smoke rising from the hood of my car. Somehow my car just keeps on going despite its problems. When i had Steve our mechanic look at the car he said I would have to add fluids every two weeks or so, because there was some sort of leak in the car. The very next day the oil gauge in my car dropped down to zero and when I checked the oil level of my car it was basically at zero. Of course my car is so old and messed up that it's not even worth it to fix the problem anymore. So my plan was basically to keep adding oil until the car crapped out. Somehow this has worked so far and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will last just a few more weeks until we move. If anyone wants a 96 Jeep Cherokee with 120,000 miles, no radio, suspension problems, transmission problems, a temperamental radiator and some kind of mystery oil leak leave a comment and we can talk. (But the leather seats are still lovely)

Whither the Golan?

There has been a lot of discussion lately on the Israeli news sites about the future of the Golan Heights. Ever since the conclusion of the Hezbollah war, this piece of territory seems to keep popping up in the agenda in way that it hasn't for some time. A few weeks after the war the possibility of returning the territory to Syria was raised by a minister from the ruling Kadima party. After that it seemed like everyone was throwing in their two cents on the subject. So being one to always follow a crowd its my turn to weigh in.

I remember when I visited Israel on Birthright in 2004 they shlepped us up north to visit the Galilee and the Golan. At Kibbutz Misgav Am the fowl mouthed security coordinator explained that the Golan would be the next item on the agenda. This always seemed non-sensical to me because I assumed it wouldn't come up on the agenda until the Palestinian issue was resolved, which of course could take until the next millennia.

However, lo and behold Ha'aretz publishes an article calling for Israel to withdraw to the International border. This article amazed not because of the position it argued, which in itself is not at all radical or original. But rather that the author believed that the Israeli public would accept a withdrawal from the Golan in the near future.

From my experience with Israeli society there is one issue that seems to unify Israelis of all political spectrums, and that is there determination never to give up the Golan. The attachment to the land is to strong and the distrust of the Syrians is to great for most Israelis to even begin to think about leaving. Furthermore, there is so little incentive for Israel to withdraw that its amazing this could even scratch the surface of the political radar. There's a good reason there is an Israeli saying "Another Lefty With the Golan." Or as my honorary Israeli mother would say "Over My Dead Body"

What I really think Israel needs to do, is to give Syria alternatives to regaining the Golan. Whether the alternative is economic or political I believe it exists. Jews and Israeli's only need to be creative enough to discover it.

CAMERA: Lebanon Casualty Figures Flawed

CAMERA, which is a great media watchdog organization, has a fascinating analyses of how the media reported the casualties from the recent Israel - Hezbollah war. Throughout the conflict the claims of casualties on both sides were radically different. Hezbollah has reported it lost approximately 80 fighters, while Israel is simultaneously claiming it killed 600 fighters.

This issue is too important to be given a cursory examination, which is what most of the media has done. CAMERA's breakdown points out some of the most blatant inconsistencies in the media's coverage of the issue, and sheds some light on what the real picture may look like.

Right now there are way too many people who think that Israel simply bombed Lebanon into the stone-age and yet couldn't manage to weaken Hezbollah in any way. This false perception is dangerous not because of the damage it does to Israel's reputation, but rather because it allows a false picture of a critically important world conflict to masquerade as the truth.

Excerpts from CAMERA's report:

Regardless, the accumulated evidence from various sources exposes as a deception Hezbollah’s claims to have lost 68 or 74 fighters .

Israel’s claim to have killed 500-600 Hezbollah fighters, meanwhile, is buttressed by the government’s partial list of names of Hezbollah fighters who died through Aug. 6, and is corroborated in some media reports.

These different assessments suggest that Hezbollah losses may have been comparable in number to the civilian losses in Lebanon. Allegations by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International–organizations often criticized for their disproportionate and deceptive focus on Israel–that Israel used indiscriminate force and even targeted civilians should be viewed warily in light of this evidence. And when casualty figures and breakdowns cited by news organizations are based on figures supplied by Hezbollah, Lebanese officials, or Israeli officials, those claims should be meticulously investigated for inconsistencies, and should not be reported as accepted fact.

Prime Rib and Yom Kippur

After watching one of my "Good Eats" DVD's I couldn't let go of the idea of cooking a Prime Rib. Well not actually a Prime Rib but a Standing Rib Roast which is essentially the same thing only with out the Prime label. I had the idea stuck in my head and couldn't let it go. At first I thought about preparing it for Shabbat dinner but I couldn't get out of work with enough time to prepare it.

So in the end we decided that the Rib Roast would make for an excellent Erev Yom Kippur meal. It appealed to the idea of starting the fast with one last hurrah - a fabulous piece of meat. I woke up early on Sunday to get over to Ventura Kosher Meat ( which I think is the best Kosher Butcher in LA by far) to ensure I got what I wanted. I picked up a nice roast and headed home confident that all was well. I knew I was missing one critical tool but I figured it would be easy to pick. Alton Brown had used an electronic probe thermometer to cook his roast on the DVD, and I figured it would be easy to find one at any major store. Being the net geek that I am I looked online first to see where I could pick one up, but couldn't find a store that carried one. This was a mistake, cause if I had simply called the store I was planning to go to in the first place they could have told me they had exactly what I was looking for.

The unfortunate result was several minutes of me yelling at my mothers oven because the probe thermometer it came with didn't work the way I wanted it to. The poor dog was literally shaking in fear because of my temper tantrum. Eventually the probe spontaneously started working and I was able to cook the roast essentially the way I wanted to. I had to cook at a higher temperature because I was up against a deadline, but I was still happy with the results. This time was a good learning experience and I 'm confident that next time will run smoothly with the exact results I want. Of course, a Standing Rib Roast isn't exactly cheap so I'd better think of a good reason to cook it again.

The odd thing was I ended up thinking about the roast during various parts of Yom Kippur services, but not out of hunger. I was sitting in Shul thinking about the ways I could perfect the cooking process of the roast. I really need to learn how to channel all this food thinking in a more effective way.