Weird weekend in Tel Aviv...
It rained all Friday, even coming down torrentially some times, and hailing.
Around 22:00 Friday night I realized that we didn't have running water. I went downstairs to see what was going on and found that the main water line to the building had exploded and a river of water was gushing out into the back of the building.
I tried to call the apartment manager and he didn't pick up. I tried to see if any of the neighbors were up, only one answered the door and didn't really have any ideas.
I called the city and they said that it was a private problem, not a municipal one, and suggested that I call a plumber. Some friends came over and we eventually found the main water line to the building and were able to shut it off.
The water ran and ran for hours though. It's a real shame. I wonder what kind of bill is going to come from this...
Today, Saturday, in the afternoon, some psycho guy walked into our third floor apartment as I was shaving my head. He had his shirt around his head and whispered in English and refused to leave. He then asked me to leave instead. I tried to get him to leave but he went into the living room and locked himself inside.
I dialed 100 to get the police but the number kept ringing busy and hanging up on me. Nice to know they're there when you need them...
I was standing with my head half-shaved, with the living room door locked, with the front door of the house open, and didn't really know what to do.
A police officer came upstairs, I guess they'd been looking for the guy?? I pointed them in the direction of the room and they said that they were going to break down the door. Eventually they figured out a way to open it without tearing it down completely, which was good. They took the psycho dude out of the living room and out of our apartment.
We're going to be locking the doors, even when we're home....
I just saw "into the wild" which was an interesting movie. I didn't really connect with the parental angst story line but I did with the rest of it. Glad to have finally caught it.
Anyway... weird weekend!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
25 self observations
1. I was placed under the air conditioning vents when I was born and almost froze to death, the doctors said I'd always be sensitive to cold. I guess I am? not really...
2. There have been years of my life where I ate one type of food the majority of that period. At one point, it was pasta shells and tomato sauce, at one point it was super burritos, at one point it was burger king. I would eat the mentioned food more often than anything else by far.
3. I've since adopted slightly healthier eating habits but still have the ability to eat one thing over and over and over happily.
4. I used to be addicted to soft drinks, especially coca-cola. I would become irritable and physically uncomfortable without them. Somewhere around my teenage years I forced myself to learn how to drink water.
(Yes, I was a healthy child... mind and body.. err...)
5. I have played a game in my head (and sometimes with others) for years where 'if you were in hell, and hell would be eating *insert food* for all eternity which food would be optimal/acceptable/hellish etc?' super burritos for the win.
6A. Whenever the phone rings, even if it's someone I want to talk to, I always cringe a little. This is a real problem and seriously affects most of my relationships in life. I hate telephones. Sms me, email me, write me, fax me, anything but call me. It's not you, it's me. It's not me, it's the damn phone.
6B. Same goes for voicemail. Don't check it, hate it, don't do it to me.
7. I used to have one dominant language. If I spent a lot of time in Israel it would become Hebrew, when I was in the States it turned to English and would waiver back and forth until I was 16. Around then I taught myself to read and write in Hebrew and started listening to music in Hebrew intensively but was in the States for most of that period. Both languages then melded into one big language. I am fully bilingual in both and sometimes don't remember which language things happened in.
8. I think I look like a 12 year old when I shave and so I don't do it. I trim with a buzzer.
9. I really liked playing with my hair when it was long. There was this one cold wintery weekend in Boston where I played with it so much that half the hair on my head fell out. I freaked out and immediately stopped with the habit, but then for months regretted playing with it so much and would look at other people's hair to judge its thickness. Whenever I see men with long hair now, I always look to see how thick their hair is.
10. The lady at the passport office when I was three transliterated my name Amiti instead of the common and much more logical Amitai. It is still a problem. Most of my official documents therefore perpetuate her mistake. My name has been misspelled more often than spelled correctly. It's been any variation of Amiti/Amitai Wolt, Valt, Welte, Volt etc. Ideally, Amitai Wolt, though I think I want a new last name.
11. I have an internet addiction and have realized it a long time ago. The first and last things I do everyday is check the internet. I don't know if I could stop if I wanted to, not that I want to.
12. There are few things I like to do more in life than go hiking, though I always have a really hard time getting out there. I get really weird and insecure about going hiking and many times find lame excuses not to, but then once I'm out in nature, it's the glory hallelujah jubilee. I always have to fight my anti-social urge to excuse myself out of hiking trips. It's made a lot of people not want to go hiking with me anymore and has significantly reduced the times I've gone out, especially in the last year. I am aware of the problem but find it difficult to overcome.
13. I really want to keep bees. I fantasize about forgoing a traditional career path and becoming a cheese-maker, bee-keeper, vegetable grower instead. I'd make jams and breads and stuff and sell them. I would be very happy living a rural life.
14. My parents would always wait till the last minute to pay bills. There wasn't really a logic to it, they would just wait until the last possible second. I always hated that and now pay bills early. I get a ridiculous amount of satisfaction paying off the full balance of my credit cards every month ten days early.
15. I love very cold nights and big soft blankets.
16. I don't understand ball-oriented sports. I've never seen/played a ballsport I liked. I've tried to force myself at times and can respect why other people like ball sports, I just can't get into it. I was never even able to play ball sport games as video games.
17. There's a community blog about Davis Square (near Tufts where I went to college) that I have been following for years and years. I probably know more about Davis Square than most people who live there. I think the urban planner in me finds the way people interact with their environment fascinating and like to read about what people like and dislike about a place and how it evolves over time.
18. I used to love playing sim city, sim farm, the sims, etc. My favorite part of the Warcraft/Starcraft/Risk type games was not the fighting it was the building. When I look back at it, studying urban and regional planning makes sense, I've always like this kind of stuff.
19. I have a problem finishing things I like. There have been a lot of books that I've really enjoyed and then for some reason I put them down right before the end and have a hard time getting myself to finish them. This is also the case with Six Feet Under... I was so obsessed with the show that when the fifth and last season came out, I couldn't get myself to watch it because then it would be over. I still don't know what happens at the end and have avoided finding out for over four years. I've recently ordered the complete series on Amazon and will watch the whole thing when I get it.
20. Ever since 1994, I've flown on an airplane at least every two years, usually every year. After I moved to Tel Aviv (in Feb 2007) and before I went to India (in Oct 2008) was the longest I had been in one country continuously since I was 11 and I felt the wanderlust very intensely. I didn't plan on a month in Asia too long before I went, but as soon as I could, I seized my opportunity and flew. I think that I'll always feel the need to repeat the pattern I'm used to and fly somewhere or I will feel the anxiety of remaining in one place. This is okay with me because I plan to travel a lot more. It's one of the things I like to do most.
21. My first two years of college, I had the same roommate for two years. We shared two small cramped rooms and had to share bathrooms with 20 other people. Considering that we both had private rooms for most of our lives, that I had never known anyone from Chicago before, or anyone named Todd before, or that we had almost nothing in common, or that he didn't speak Hebrew and it was the first time I lived with someone who didn't and that I need a lot of alone time in general, it sounds like sharing a small room would have been hard... and it would have been, except that we got along so well the entire time. Other than maybe once in two years, there was never a time we argued about anything. I liked living with him the whole time.
22. I hate most reality tv and most tv in general. I do however really like watching the US version of "Biggest Loser" I think it really changes people's lives and gives them the power to win one of their biggest life challenges. I like watching how much the contestants change from week to week and then at the end how different their lives are.
23. I like people's names. If you have a name that I like, I am much more likely to like you and if you have a name I don't like, I have a really hard time with it. It's almost a game-stopper. I am superficial.
24. I've lived near oceans all of my life and don't know life otherwise, however I am much more of a mountain person than an ocean person. Hills, valleys, creeks, mountains, prairies do it for me. Lack of mountains in South Florida is one of the reasons why I wouldn't live there again.
25. Ever since my first visit to California I felt a weird connection to the land there. A lot of the plants and geology reminds me of Israel which is partly responsible, but I think it might be more than that. I could definitely see myself there for a few years at some point. I don't have any plans to leave Israel anytime soon, but if for some reason I had to leave, I would most likely head to California. I think its part of the reason I enjoyed John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" so much.
2. There have been years of my life where I ate one type of food the majority of that period. At one point, it was pasta shells and tomato sauce, at one point it was super burritos, at one point it was burger king. I would eat the mentioned food more often than anything else by far.
3. I've since adopted slightly healthier eating habits but still have the ability to eat one thing over and over and over happily.
4. I used to be addicted to soft drinks, especially coca-cola. I would become irritable and physically uncomfortable without them. Somewhere around my teenage years I forced myself to learn how to drink water.
(Yes, I was a healthy child... mind and body.. err...)
5. I have played a game in my head (and sometimes with others) for years where 'if you were in hell, and hell would be eating *insert food* for all eternity which food would be optimal/acceptable/hellish etc?' super burritos for the win.
6A. Whenever the phone rings, even if it's someone I want to talk to, I always cringe a little. This is a real problem and seriously affects most of my relationships in life. I hate telephones. Sms me, email me, write me, fax me, anything but call me. It's not you, it's me. It's not me, it's the damn phone.
6B. Same goes for voicemail. Don't check it, hate it, don't do it to me.
7. I used to have one dominant language. If I spent a lot of time in Israel it would become Hebrew, when I was in the States it turned to English and would waiver back and forth until I was 16. Around then I taught myself to read and write in Hebrew and started listening to music in Hebrew intensively but was in the States for most of that period. Both languages then melded into one big language. I am fully bilingual in both and sometimes don't remember which language things happened in.
8. I think I look like a 12 year old when I shave and so I don't do it. I trim with a buzzer.
9. I really liked playing with my hair when it was long. There was this one cold wintery weekend in Boston where I played with it so much that half the hair on my head fell out. I freaked out and immediately stopped with the habit, but then for months regretted playing with it so much and would look at other people's hair to judge its thickness. Whenever I see men with long hair now, I always look to see how thick their hair is.
10. The lady at the passport office when I was three transliterated my name Amiti instead of the common and much more logical Amitai. It is still a problem. Most of my official documents therefore perpetuate her mistake. My name has been misspelled more often than spelled correctly. It's been any variation of Amiti/Amitai Wolt, Valt, Welte, Volt etc. Ideally, Amitai Wolt, though I think I want a new last name.
11. I have an internet addiction and have realized it a long time ago. The first and last things I do everyday is check the internet. I don't know if I could stop if I wanted to, not that I want to.
12. There are few things I like to do more in life than go hiking, though I always have a really hard time getting out there. I get really weird and insecure about going hiking and many times find lame excuses not to, but then once I'm out in nature, it's the glory hallelujah jubilee. I always have to fight my anti-social urge to excuse myself out of hiking trips. It's made a lot of people not want to go hiking with me anymore and has significantly reduced the times I've gone out, especially in the last year. I am aware of the problem but find it difficult to overcome.
13. I really want to keep bees. I fantasize about forgoing a traditional career path and becoming a cheese-maker, bee-keeper, vegetable grower instead. I'd make jams and breads and stuff and sell them. I would be very happy living a rural life.
14. My parents would always wait till the last minute to pay bills. There wasn't really a logic to it, they would just wait until the last possible second. I always hated that and now pay bills early. I get a ridiculous amount of satisfaction paying off the full balance of my credit cards every month ten days early.
15. I love very cold nights and big soft blankets.
16. I don't understand ball-oriented sports. I've never seen/played a ballsport I liked. I've tried to force myself at times and can respect why other people like ball sports, I just can't get into it. I was never even able to play ball sport games as video games.
17. There's a community blog about Davis Square (near Tufts where I went to college) that I have been following for years and years. I probably know more about Davis Square than most people who live there. I think the urban planner in me finds the way people interact with their environment fascinating and like to read about what people like and dislike about a place and how it evolves over time.
18. I used to love playing sim city, sim farm, the sims, etc. My favorite part of the Warcraft/Starcraft/Risk type games was not the fighting it was the building. When I look back at it, studying urban and regional planning makes sense, I've always like this kind of stuff.
19. I have a problem finishing things I like. There have been a lot of books that I've really enjoyed and then for some reason I put them down right before the end and have a hard time getting myself to finish them. This is also the case with Six Feet Under... I was so obsessed with the show that when the fifth and last season came out, I couldn't get myself to watch it because then it would be over. I still don't know what happens at the end and have avoided finding out for over four years. I've recently ordered the complete series on Amazon and will watch the whole thing when I get it.
20. Ever since 1994, I've flown on an airplane at least every two years, usually every year. After I moved to Tel Aviv (in Feb 2007) and before I went to India (in Oct 2008) was the longest I had been in one country continuously since I was 11 and I felt the wanderlust very intensely. I didn't plan on a month in Asia too long before I went, but as soon as I could, I seized my opportunity and flew. I think that I'll always feel the need to repeat the pattern I'm used to and fly somewhere or I will feel the anxiety of remaining in one place. This is okay with me because I plan to travel a lot more. It's one of the things I like to do most.
21. My first two years of college, I had the same roommate for two years. We shared two small cramped rooms and had to share bathrooms with 20 other people. Considering that we both had private rooms for most of our lives, that I had never known anyone from Chicago before, or anyone named Todd before, or that we had almost nothing in common, or that he didn't speak Hebrew and it was the first time I lived with someone who didn't and that I need a lot of alone time in general, it sounds like sharing a small room would have been hard... and it would have been, except that we got along so well the entire time. Other than maybe once in two years, there was never a time we argued about anything. I liked living with him the whole time.
22. I hate most reality tv and most tv in general. I do however really like watching the US version of "Biggest Loser" I think it really changes people's lives and gives them the power to win one of their biggest life challenges. I like watching how much the contestants change from week to week and then at the end how different their lives are.
23. I like people's names. If you have a name that I like, I am much more likely to like you and if you have a name I don't like, I have a really hard time with it. It's almost a game-stopper. I am superficial.
24. I've lived near oceans all of my life and don't know life otherwise, however I am much more of a mountain person than an ocean person. Hills, valleys, creeks, mountains, prairies do it for me. Lack of mountains in South Florida is one of the reasons why I wouldn't live there again.
25. Ever since my first visit to California I felt a weird connection to the land there. A lot of the plants and geology reminds me of Israel which is partly responsible, but I think it might be more than that. I could definitely see myself there for a few years at some point. I don't have any plans to leave Israel anytime soon, but if for some reason I had to leave, I would most likely head to California. I think its part of the reason I enjoyed John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" so much.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
mensaje en una botella
Dearest Anna's Taqueira -
You are what I miss most about my time in Boston. I would come visit you most days while I lived in New England, sometimes twice. I visited you in Davis Square, I visited you in Brookline, I visited you in Porter Square, but mostly in Davis.
You were always so kind to me and offered me your delicious offerings.
After two years of almost-daily visits I left for 12 months and when I came back, your Davis Square associates remembered me and asked where I'd been! After a year! That meant a lot.
Today is a harder day than usual without you so I felt the need to write you a note. Though to be honest, most days without you are difficult, I think about you constantly.
It's been two years and six months since we've seen each other.
I hope we meet again soon. I'll be thinking about you in the meantime.
Love,
me
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Joys of Sunday Morning
Hope.
Hope for a sunny morning and short-seeming first day of the Israeli work week.
Sundays have received the dread-value that Mondays used to occupy when I was living in the United States.
The week actually unofficially begins Saturday night with rage against the dying of the weekend and, as of late, the bitter realization that I didn't accomplish half the homework goals I set for myself. It also includes, invariably, going to sleep past midnight. I am a go-to-sleep-between-midnight-and-2am person by nature and even just a few extra hours on friday and saturday mornings push me further back in my ongoing attempts of getting used to an earlier bedtime. It's okay, I have bigger battles to fight. I'm usually unnecessarily tired on Sunday mornings as a result.
And so it begins: As the land transitions from leisure to toil I have an unchanging date with the 6:20am alarm. We smile slightly at each other, the cellphone alarm and I, knowing our mutual dependence mixed with mutual loathing. We'll meet again Monday morning, at 6am not 6:20am. I'm out of the house by 7am, though this morning I was a little late leaving because of Gonen the cat.
He was out all weekend and finally made an appearance in the wee morning hours. When I walked into the living room this morning, I was hoping he would be curled up in the blanket I set out for him on the chair in the living room. I put one for him on the chair and one for Xuxa, the other cat in the house, on the couch.
When I walked in there were indeed two cats in the living room, each curled up in a blanket left for them. One problem. Xuxa was no where to be seen, and a stranger-cat was curled up on the couch. When she saw me she knew the jig was up and she promptly saw herself out through stage left. The windows were promptly closed after her so that she realizes that her talents are no longer required. We're going to keep the two cats we're obligated to inside and the rest of the neighborhood posse outside for now. I'm sure Gonen and Xuxa will be thrilled.
After a few minutes of petting and chastising Mr. Gonen for his frolicking in the streets of the big city, I left my apartment and rounded the corner to catch the shared taxi that takes me to the main road outside of Yakum. This morning was a little off because I was out about 10 minutes later than my usual for Sundays and there was a driver I didn't know and someone was sitting in the seat I always sit in. Variety is the spice...
The groundhog rule worked it's magic. I arrived at 7:52am, eventhough I caught the taxi at 7:20am. No matter when I get on those things, 6:50 or 7:20 or anytime in between, I'll get to Yakum around the same time. It's a rule.
I like the walk from the main road to the office. It takes about 15 minutes. I start by rounding the gas station and entering Yakum's boundary from the fields on the west. I walk
up the path until I pass the village cemetary. It's a beautiful plot set in between evergreen pines and a citrus grove. Most of the graves have flowers all around and there's a gentle seabreeze blowing. It's a very peaceful and shady spot. I pass through the western neighborhood with it's modest single story houses with large backyards and pass by the kindergartens. There's one that has a big cage full of parrots and lovebirds and such behind it. I usually sneak by to see how things are going. There's a flock of wild parakeets that always hang out near the cage to catch the seeds that fall to the ground. They're a loud bunch but a nice site in the morning. I love the wild parakeets. I want one of these huge room-sized cages myself someday. There's enough room for a few dozen squeaking birds to move around and fly from side to side and have a blast stuffing themselves with seeds and gossip.
I round the pool and come in to the office. Usually Sundays are quieter than other days in the office because people have off-site meetings and work from home. I can definitely respect the appeal of working from home on Sundays, I am unfortunately not high enough on the food-chain to be so lucky.
I come in and set my laptop up and make some tea.
The workweek begins with the traditional weekly reading of the latest post secrets.
Then I read the new york times and some Israeli news sites, check out what Ree the Pioneer Woman has been up to.
And then...
Then without any more excuses (unless I think of a few more) I start working.
Good morning and Good week.
Hope for a sunny morning and short-seeming first day of the Israeli work week.
Sundays have received the dread-value that Mondays used to occupy when I was living in the United States.
The week actually unofficially begins Saturday night with rage against the dying of the weekend and, as of late, the bitter realization that I didn't accomplish half the homework goals I set for myself. It also includes, invariably, going to sleep past midnight. I am a go-to-sleep-between-midnight-and-2am person by nature and even just a few extra hours on friday and saturday mornings push me further back in my ongoing attempts of getting used to an earlier bedtime. It's okay, I have bigger battles to fight. I'm usually unnecessarily tired on Sunday mornings as a result.
And so it begins: As the land transitions from leisure to toil I have an unchanging date with the 6:20am alarm. We smile slightly at each other, the cellphone alarm and I, knowing our mutual dependence mixed with mutual loathing. We'll meet again Monday morning, at 6am not 6:20am. I'm out of the house by 7am, though this morning I was a little late leaving because of Gonen the cat.
He was out all weekend and finally made an appearance in the wee morning hours. When I walked into the living room this morning, I was hoping he would be curled up in the blanket I set out for him on the chair in the living room. I put one for him on the chair and one for Xuxa, the other cat in the house, on the couch.
When I walked in there were indeed two cats in the living room, each curled up in a blanket left for them. One problem. Xuxa was no where to be seen, and a stranger-cat was curled up on the couch. When she saw me she knew the jig was up and she promptly saw herself out through stage left. The windows were promptly closed after her so that she realizes that her talents are no longer required. We're going to keep the two cats we're obligated to inside and the rest of the neighborhood posse outside for now. I'm sure Gonen and Xuxa will be thrilled.
After a few minutes of petting and chastising Mr. Gonen for his frolicking in the streets of the big city, I left my apartment and rounded the corner to catch the shared taxi that takes me to the main road outside of Yakum. This morning was a little off because I was out about 10 minutes later than my usual for Sundays and there was a driver I didn't know and someone was sitting in the seat I always sit in. Variety is the spice...
The groundhog rule worked it's magic. I arrived at 7:52am, eventhough I caught the taxi at 7:20am. No matter when I get on those things, 6:50 or 7:20 or anytime in between, I'll get to Yakum around the same time. It's a rule.
I like the walk from the main road to the office. It takes about 15 minutes. I start by rounding the gas station and entering Yakum's boundary from the fields on the west. I walk
up the path until I pass the village cemetary. It's a beautiful plot set in between evergreen pines and a citrus grove. Most of the graves have flowers all around and there's a gentle seabreeze blowing. It's a very peaceful and shady spot. I pass through the western neighborhood with it's modest single story houses with large backyards and pass by the kindergartens. There's one that has a big cage full of parrots and lovebirds and such behind it. I usually sneak by to see how things are going. There's a flock of wild parakeets that always hang out near the cage to catch the seeds that fall to the ground. They're a loud bunch but a nice site in the morning. I love the wild parakeets. I want one of these huge room-sized cages myself someday. There's enough room for a few dozen squeaking birds to move around and fly from side to side and have a blast stuffing themselves with seeds and gossip.I round the pool and come in to the office. Usually Sundays are quieter than other days in the office because people have off-site meetings and work from home. I can definitely respect the appeal of working from home on Sundays, I am unfortunately not high enough on the food-chain to be so lucky.
I come in and set my laptop up and make some tea.
The workweek begins with the traditional weekly reading of the latest post secrets.
Then I read the new york times and some Israeli news sites, check out what Ree the Pioneer Woman has been up to.
And then...
Then without any more excuses (unless I think of a few more) I start working.
Good morning and Good week.
Friday, January 23, 2009
introducing Gonen the handsome cat
It all started a few months ago when I was alone in the apartment for a few weeks when the air outside was so hot and so still that I wanted to be as still as the air.
I noticed that something orange was running between the kitchen and the living room. My housemate's cat is a big fat grey cat and so I was very surprised to discover a young male orange cat who learned how to sneak into the apartment from the kitchen window.
I didn't really know what to do with him at first so I closed the window to the kitchen and thought that it was over.
A few weeks later he learned how to get in from the bathroom windows which I don't like to keep closed perpetually because that's gross and he came in every now and then.
In the last week he's been spending more time inside the apartment than outside of the apartment.
We've slowly been developing a relationship and he now likes to come and sit next to me or on top of me and get petted. He's very adorable and quite handsome and hasn't really given me any choice in the matter because he has slowly adopted me.
The other cat does not like him, she minds him less when he isn't getting attention, but when he's being pet and cuddled she gets very very jealous. She's going to get special attention for a little while so that she's not too depressed by having to share the cat role.
Overall I think it's good for her, she used to be a very lonely and miserable cat before she discovered that she could sneak out of the windows in the rear of the house. I think that having a companion will be good for her in the long run, make her life less lonely and terrible than it used to be.
I took him to the vet today and he got his rabies and other vaccines and was dewormed. He is going to be neutered next month after all the shots and such are over with.
Without further adieu, I'd like to introduce you to the handsome cat that adopted me and that I am in the process of adopting back, Gonen:
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
days when the alarm bells toll 3
Fridays
The title is misleading, this is an alarm free day!
The de facto Israeli weekend in the last few years has become a Friday and Saturday affair, it used to only be a saturday one. The official work week is supposed to be 45 hours, which means the five day week the north americans among us are familiar with and half a day on fridays. I don't think I'd be able to cope with a 6 day week and one day weekend. I am lucky that Fridays are weekend proper for me. I usually wake up between 9am and 10am and putz around a little before heading on a bus to my grandma's house (20 min away by car, 50 min away by bus on a good day). I relish my weekly date with grandma.
We've had a friday lunch tradition in our family since forever and the menu very rarely changes. We start with fish in a tomato sauce with fresh challah, have shnitzel (almost always) or some other meat, rice and beans, and then cake. Back in the haydays when my grandfather still lived in the house (he's at a nice retirement center in the Jezreel valley these days) and there were more aunts and uncles and cousins bouncing around there would be more frequent changes to the menu and the company, but for the last two years it's been my sister, my grandmother, my uncle and his daughter, and me.
I usually get there an hour and a half before anyone else does and grandma and I have coffee together. She tells me stories, most people in my family don't have the patience to listen to her stories. Sometimes she tells the same ones a million times, sometimes she remembers ones I've never heard before. A lot of her memories have softened with time to become a sort of narrative fiction that we both are familiar with and both know isn't exactly the truth, but it doesn't matter. I can listen to her stories forever and she knows that I appreciate every word she has to say, so she feels comfortable rambling on to me. I love it.
Ever since I did the culinary arts program, I've earned a legitimate place in her kitchen. When she was younger no one was allowed to do anything to help, and in general today she isn't very happy when people try to help, except for me. She let's me make the shnitzel. During Hannukah I fry the latkes, when we make Iraqi Kubbeh I am designated frier, and in general she's finally opened up to sharing the food preparation experience with me. I feel very lucky to be able to learn from her and to cook with her and that she feels comfortable with me there. We try to get it all done before my sister and uncle come so that there isn't a big hullabloo.
My cousin, uncle, and sister come and we all have lunch, usually with some shouting, usually my grandma tries to annoy everyone with stories she knows they'll yell at her for. She likes to push buttons and get the attention involved with that. Usually she's home alone during the week, except for when she sees my mom when my mom gets off work, so friday lunch is her time to be social and to get attention.
My sister usually drops me off back in Tel Aviv around 2:30pm, sometimes we visit my mom at work on the way. My mom works at a plant and flower nursery close by and loves every second of it. I might make a separate post about that at some point....
An incredible laziness falls on me on Friday afternoons. It's my favorite time of the week. If I feel especially energetic I make my way to the farmers' market - the Carmel Shuk. Friday afternoons are kind of a mess there, with prices dropping sharply with sellers eager to go home and with a lot of other people like me who don't have any other time to go there other than friday afternoons. It's a messy, crowded experience but usually worth it. I buy as much as I can carry in fruits and vegetables and with much lower prices and much higher quality than I can find at the local supermarket.
If I'm not in the mood for the shuk, I usually do something wonderfully lazy around the house, often times involving one or several naps until the evening.
The title is misleading, this is an alarm free day!
The de facto Israeli weekend in the last few years has become a Friday and Saturday affair, it used to only be a saturday one. The official work week is supposed to be 45 hours, which means the five day week the north americans among us are familiar with and half a day on fridays. I don't think I'd be able to cope with a 6 day week and one day weekend. I am lucky that Fridays are weekend proper for me. I usually wake up between 9am and 10am and putz around a little before heading on a bus to my grandma's house (20 min away by car, 50 min away by bus on a good day). I relish my weekly date with grandma.
We've had a friday lunch tradition in our family since forever and the menu very rarely changes. We start with fish in a tomato sauce with fresh challah, have shnitzel (almost always) or some other meat, rice and beans, and then cake. Back in the haydays when my grandfather still lived in the house (he's at a nice retirement center in the Jezreel valley these days) and there were more aunts and uncles and cousins bouncing around there would be more frequent changes to the menu and the company, but for the last two years it's been my sister, my grandmother, my uncle and his daughter, and me.
I usually get there an hour and a half before anyone else does and grandma and I have coffee together. She tells me stories, most people in my family don't have the patience to listen to her stories. Sometimes she tells the same ones a million times, sometimes she remembers ones I've never heard before. A lot of her memories have softened with time to become a sort of narrative fiction that we both are familiar with and both know isn't exactly the truth, but it doesn't matter. I can listen to her stories forever and she knows that I appreciate every word she has to say, so she feels comfortable rambling on to me. I love it.
Ever since I did the culinary arts program, I've earned a legitimate place in her kitchen. When she was younger no one was allowed to do anything to help, and in general today she isn't very happy when people try to help, except for me. She let's me make the shnitzel. During Hannukah I fry the latkes, when we make Iraqi Kubbeh I am designated frier, and in general she's finally opened up to sharing the food preparation experience with me. I feel very lucky to be able to learn from her and to cook with her and that she feels comfortable with me there. We try to get it all done before my sister and uncle come so that there isn't a big hullabloo.
My cousin, uncle, and sister come and we all have lunch, usually with some shouting, usually my grandma tries to annoy everyone with stories she knows they'll yell at her for. She likes to push buttons and get the attention involved with that. Usually she's home alone during the week, except for when she sees my mom when my mom gets off work, so friday lunch is her time to be social and to get attention.
My sister usually drops me off back in Tel Aviv around 2:30pm, sometimes we visit my mom at work on the way. My mom works at a plant and flower nursery close by and loves every second of it. I might make a separate post about that at some point....
An incredible laziness falls on me on Friday afternoons. It's my favorite time of the week. If I feel especially energetic I make my way to the farmers' market - the Carmel Shuk. Friday afternoons are kind of a mess there, with prices dropping sharply with sellers eager to go home and with a lot of other people like me who don't have any other time to go there other than friday afternoons. It's a messy, crowded experience but usually worth it. I buy as much as I can carry in fruits and vegetables and with much lower prices and much higher quality than I can find at the local supermarket.
If I'm not in the mood for the shuk, I usually do something wonderfully lazy around the house, often times involving one or several naps until the evening.
days when the alarm bells toll 2
Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays
The other three days of the Israeli workweek, I wake up at 6:20am and leave the house around 7am heading on a shared taxi from Tel Aviv to Yakum about 45 minutes away. Yakum is a former Kibbutz just south of Netanya. I pick up the taxi from right around the corner from my apartment in Tel Aviv which is very convenient and then get dropped off on the main road outside of Yakum.
I've discovered a nice path that takes me through the agricultural fields and by the small communal graveyard into the Kibbutz and through the residential paths to the office. My job has a three story converted children's dorm on the eastern edge of Yakum. Across from the office there's a nice open field/meadow, it's small but serene and next to it as an organic avocado grove I only discovered last week. Most people that come visit the office comment on how nice it is, and I have to agree with them.
I get to work around 8am. There's some weird groundhog trick with the taxis that always gets me here around the same time. I can leave the house at 6:45am or at 7:15am and still get here at 8am. Sometimes it's freaky how it's usually true.
I set up my laptop, in the winter I put the kettle on for some tea, and I settle in for the workday. Around 11am I usually head out for a walk to the local grocery store. Yakum is a small little community and by this point all of the workers at the post office and at the grocery store know me and we chit chat. I like feeling like a small part of the community, in my own outsider way.
I've earned the chitchat and smile, they used to ignore me before they got to know me.
Those of us that don't have a meeting off-site or aren't working from home eat lunch together, and the 11am visit to the grocery store is my chance to pick up fresh vegetables, bread, hummus, cheeses, etc. for our daily lunch. We eat the same thing everyday and don't seem to have a problem with it.
The office manager usually takes charge on the salad making and she and I conspire together to make sure lunch is ready no earlier than 1:30pm. It's always harder for us to work after lunch and so we try to make the time between lunch and when we go home as short as possible. On an average day we eat around 1:30pm - 2:00pm and then continue working till 4pm.
Some of us come 9am-5pm, I prefer 8am-4pm because it saves me from going home in rush-hour traffic on the way home and makes the commute back from Yakum to Tel Aviv about an hour instead of an hour and a half or more. I also prefer to have more free time in the evening than in the morning.
In high school, I used to wake up at 5:55am and hated it. Now I wake up around 6am most days and I can tell you, I am still not a big fan. It's easier than it used to be, I worked my butt off in high school and was generally exhausted for four years, but still not a fan of the tolling 6am alarm bells.
I get home at around 5pm. I'll tell you about a typical evening after work in the future... we're focusing on the daily routine this time.
The other three days of the Israeli workweek, I wake up at 6:20am and leave the house around 7am heading on a shared taxi from Tel Aviv to Yakum about 45 minutes away. Yakum is a former Kibbutz just south of Netanya. I pick up the taxi from right around the corner from my apartment in Tel Aviv which is very convenient and then get dropped off on the main road outside of Yakum.
I've discovered a nice path that takes me through the agricultural fields and by the small communal graveyard into the Kibbutz and through the residential paths to the office. My job has a three story converted children's dorm on the eastern edge of Yakum. Across from the office there's a nice open field/meadow, it's small but serene and next to it as an organic avocado grove I only discovered last week. Most people that come visit the office comment on how nice it is, and I have to agree with them.
I get to work around 8am. There's some weird groundhog trick with the taxis that always gets me here around the same time. I can leave the house at 6:45am or at 7:15am and still get here at 8am. Sometimes it's freaky how it's usually true.
I set up my laptop, in the winter I put the kettle on for some tea, and I settle in for the workday. Around 11am I usually head out for a walk to the local grocery store. Yakum is a small little community and by this point all of the workers at the post office and at the grocery store know me and we chit chat. I like feeling like a small part of the community, in my own outsider way.
I've earned the chitchat and smile, they used to ignore me before they got to know me.
Those of us that don't have a meeting off-site or aren't working from home eat lunch together, and the 11am visit to the grocery store is my chance to pick up fresh vegetables, bread, hummus, cheeses, etc. for our daily lunch. We eat the same thing everyday and don't seem to have a problem with it.
The office manager usually takes charge on the salad making and she and I conspire together to make sure lunch is ready no earlier than 1:30pm. It's always harder for us to work after lunch and so we try to make the time between lunch and when we go home as short as possible. On an average day we eat around 1:30pm - 2:00pm and then continue working till 4pm.
Some of us come 9am-5pm, I prefer 8am-4pm because it saves me from going home in rush-hour traffic on the way home and makes the commute back from Yakum to Tel Aviv about an hour instead of an hour and a half or more. I also prefer to have more free time in the evening than in the morning.
In high school, I used to wake up at 5:55am and hated it. Now I wake up around 6am most days and I can tell you, I am still not a big fan. It's easier than it used to be, I worked my butt off in high school and was generally exhausted for four years, but still not a fan of the tolling 6am alarm bells.
I get home at around 5pm. I'll tell you about a typical evening after work in the future... we're focusing on the daily routine this time.
days when the alarm bells toll 1
Let's start with the days when the alarm bells toll.
Mondays and Thursdays
So, I am about 3 weeks away from finishing the first semester of my masters in urban and regional planning. I go to school twice a week and to work three times a week. On Mondays and Thursdays, I wake up at 6:00am and leave the house by 6:20am and take a bus and train and shared taxi/bus to the Technion Israel Institute of Technology campus in Haifa (about 2 hour commute) on a small forested hill in the Carmel mountain range. I have class from 8:30am to about 6:00/6:30pm and then make my way back to Tel Aviv (another 2 hours...) Man, those days are long. Especially the ones that only have a one-hour break from 8am to 6:30pm because my professors don't really pay attention to the clock. They can talk about urban planning forever.
Mondays and Thursdays
So, I am about 3 weeks away from finishing the first semester of my masters in urban and regional planning. I go to school twice a week and to work three times a week. On Mondays and Thursdays, I wake up at 6:00am and leave the house by 6:20am and take a bus and train and shared taxi/bus to the Technion Israel Institute of Technology campus in Haifa (about 2 hour commute) on a small forested hill in the Carmel mountain range. I have class from 8:30am to about 6:00/6:30pm and then make my way back to Tel Aviv (another 2 hours...) Man, those days are long. Especially the ones that only have a one-hour break from 8am to 6:30pm because my professors don't really pay attention to the clock. They can talk about urban planning forever.
introduction to my life-bits
I like to read other people's blogs and to hear about the small details of their lives. Today I was thinking about how much things change in people's lives. I was thinking about how many things have changed in my life over the last few years, especially since 2002, and think that it might be worthwhile to think about life-bits, the small details of life that make up the whole.
I'd love to hear about your routines and days and the small details of your lives, please feel welcome.
I'd love to hear about your routines and days and the small details of your lives, please feel welcome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
