Weekends here can be very boring. We often find ourselves lolling about the apartment, occasionally getting up from our spots in front of the computer or TV, walking over to the refridgerator just to make sure that nothing got up and walked away. Usually, the celery has moved a few inches but it has yet to flee the fridge entirely. I think it may just be as restless as we are.
On Sunday Gillian and I decided to take our first trip away from our home base of Karmi'el. Haifa, a very pretty city on the water which happens to be not far from us seemed like the perfect destination for our maiden voyage. So we packed our bags for the day and went off in search of transportation. (We have yet to figure out our primary means of getting around. Renting a car is very expensive but everything else is a tremendous pain in the ass.)
Just outside the college gate we expected to take a taxi cab to the bus station and then catch a bus to Haifa. While waiting for the cab a small van pulled up with a sign in its window that said Haifa, but in Hebrew. We quickly asked the driver if we had read the sign correctly upon which he turned to a passenger and asked him to translate. It seemed that we were correct and he was indeed driving in the direction we wanted to go. You see, in Israel there are large taxi cabs called "sherut cabs" that follow the bus routes. As I understand it, they are a direct result of people's understandable fear of being blown up as a passenger on a bus. However, that being their origin, I think that in a more modern framework they are simply more practical and reasonably priced. Anyhow, back to the story.
We climb aboard and proceed to drive around looking for other people to join us on our trip to Haifa. It seems that two people you can't communicate with are not a sufficient fare for such a long trip. (It's really only about a half hour by car but in Israel it's only a six hour drive from one end of the country to the other.) So after circling around several times and picking up various characters, we actually left Karmi'el. 45 minutes later we arrived in Haifa without a clue in the world as to where to tell the driver who didn't understand us where to drop us off. So, he left us in the middle of a fairly run down area with the assumption we would find our way from there.
NOTE: I don't handle situations such as the one above very well. I have this little thing I like to call a control complex. I like to be in control. I like to know where I am going. I like to know where I am. I like to know how to ask where I am. I prefer to be in control. Gillian on the other hand has a fabulous throw-caution-to-the-wind-everything-will-be-ok philosophy. She backpacked across France never really knowing what to expect, perfectly comfortable not being comfortable. In this scenario, she was better prepared.
Soon after the cab pulled away from the curb and I began feeling like an abandoned puppy in the middle of a city didn't know, an awful feeling hit me. It started in my throat as if my ability to collect air and send it to my lungs had been put on hold. Then, it moved from my throat to stomach where each labored breath I managed to squeeze into my lungs felt as if a 10 pound rock had settled in my abdomen. No, breakfast was not the culprit, but simply my own stupidity and lack of awareness. I had left my bag in the back of the taxi.
Contents: 1 piece of paper with bus schedules and phone numbers, 1 flashlight, 1 pair of clip-on sunglasses, 1 iPod (2nd generation) including earbuds, 1 U.S. passport (authentic) and 1 brand new Nikon Coolpix 7900 digital camera.
Following 45 seconds of near breakdown antics Gillian quickly got on the phone and called our contact in Karmi'el. She in turn put her best people on the case, subsequently tracking down the two taxi companies that run service between Karmi'el and Haifa. Meanwhile, I continued breaking down, alternatively thinking back and forth about stepping into traffic and how it would feel if my mother threw me into traffic for being an imbicile. Gillian was smart enough to stand between me and the curb while making phone calls.
Only 15 minutes after making the call we received a call in return telling us that the driver had phoned in the bag to his dispatcher and that it would be returned to the college without a problem. I caught my breath, hugged Gillian for her fast-acting intellect and calmed down to best of my ability, still thinking every now and then that I should at least have my leg run over if for nothing else than the shame of being so careless and stupid. Nevertheless, Gillian and I proceeded to have a pleasant afternoon in Haifa, not seeing much, but in the least picking up a map to guide us on our next visit.
The next morning, Gillian picked up my bag so that I didn't have to face the shunning stares of the college administration. You know, the kinds of stares that make you wish you were a turtle, retracting your head beneath your collar, impervious to unpleasant glares. After breakfast I opened up the bag and took inventory.
Contents: 1 piece of paper with bus schedules and phone numbers, 1 flashlight, 1 pair of clip on sunglasses, 1 iPod (2nd generation) including earbuds and 1 U.S. passport (authentic).
I looked again.
Contents: 1 piece of paper with bus schedules and phone numbers, 1 flashlight, 1 pair of clip on sunglasses, 1 iPod (2nd generation) including earbuds and 1 U.S. passport (authentic).
Something was missing. Something was gone. Something had been stolen.
Someone had to go find a busy street.
Alas, it is gone. I will never see it again and will most likely have to replace it as I have no intention of spending 5 months in a country as beautiful as Israel and not have some visual record that I was here. But for now, don't ask for pictures.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Karmi'el 7 Day Forecast
Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm. 82°F
Wednesday: High level clouds. Warm. 79°F
Thursday: Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm. 79°F
Friday: Sunny. Pleasantly warm. 80°F
Saturday: Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm. 82°F
Sunday: Sunny. Mild. 75°F
Monday: Mostly sunny. Mild. 70°F
Wednesday: High level clouds. Warm. 79°F
Thursday: Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm. 79°F
Friday: Sunny. Pleasantly warm. 80°F
Saturday: Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm. 82°F
Sunday: Sunny. Mild. 75°F
Monday: Mostly sunny. Mild. 70°F
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Just Getting Started...
A lot has happened in the past few days. I'm not sure if I can do it all justice but here it goes...
On Friday, the entire state of Israel shuts down at 3pm. You know how the world keeps revolving everywhere else in the world? Stores don't close, buses still run and people act all normal and go about their happy little lives using electricity, driving to the supermarket and doing their jobs? Nope, not it Israel. Ok, I admit that I am exaggerating slightly, but I won't admit to lying. This "sabbath" business lasts all through Saturday and can really kill a guy's weekend. Especially when the country doesn't even wait until Monday to start revolving again. That's right, you heard me, people go back to work and kids start school again on Sunday. Crazy, I know. Insane, I know. Alright already, get over it.
On Sunday morning Gillian and I took a short walk to the high school that sits just outside of the college campus on which we live. Here we spent an hour or two looking for the people in charge of putting us to work for the next six months. After a few painful "conversations" (see previous posts for definition) and a trip to another high school, we finally met with a few English teachers from each of the high schools in Karmi'el. A tentative schedule was thrown together, apparently subject to many expected revisions, and we were sent on our merry way.
On Monday we picked up our toaster oven.
On Tuesday we started work in one of the high schools to high praise and much appreciation. I hope. When I said before that we worked out a schedule, what I really meant was that they told us what days we were going to what schools. Which classes we are working with is being left up to the last minute. So essentially we were thrown to the wolves, working with students right away. It was daunting but a surefire way to know whether or not we're good at it. Sink or swim if you know what I mean. I think Gillian & I proved that we are perfectly capable of treading water with the best of them. We worked with two levels of students and I think both groups gained something from the encounters. If nothing else I'm sure they appreciated the fact we practically did their homework for them.
Today, Wednesday, was interesting. Or I'm sure it would have been if I understood a word of Hebrew. We were invited to tag along on a field trip to a city south of Karmi'el called Yoqna'em. The students participating are preparing for a month-long trip to the U.S. where they will stay with families in both Cleveland and Atlanta. The students come from a few different ORT schools in Israel and the purpose of the trip is to allow students who otherwise wouldn't get the chance to travel overseas the opportunity to do so. Each of the students goes for completely free and hopefully will make life-long friends and learn passable spoken English. An excellent idea and I was happy to be included in their preparation. Over the next few weeks Gillian and I will help them practice English and answer questions about the US and other stuff. But today we just sat around and listened to presentations in Hebrew that we didn't understand. Needless to say we were bored beyond belief. Just one more concrete reason to learn the damn language as soon as possible. On that particular front I have no known progress...
So that's what we've been up to. But don't close your browser window just yet. I have a few more things to say.
If at all possible, if and when you leave a comment, please be sure to include your first and last name. As more and more people tune in to these ridiculous ramblings, I have found it difficult at times to distiguish which Jake is leaving comments and who the heck Anonymous is. Thanks!
Also, as stated in previous entries, I hate shutterfly.com. I have done a minute amount of research and have decided not to use any of the other frustrating photo-sharing sites either. I think I'll just be selective and post pics directly to the blog. It seems to be the easiest solution on both ends of the transaction. I don't have to deal with two sites and neither do you. Woohoo.
Oddly enough a strange rivalry has broken out amongst some of my readers. (Can I call you My Readers or is that way too pretentious?) Recently, I changed the name of my blog from The Deklein of Society to the one word shorter The Cultural Deklein. An outpouring of emotion ensued. Divided sharply into two camps, some of you liked the witty, "edgy" quality of Society, while others screamed "NO!" at the very thought of erasing the equally witty Culture from the title. I'm not sold either way on this issue and believe further arguing should commence. Please share your opinion and let me know which you prefer...
I think I have officially given up on trying to get any of you to utilize god's gift to internet users, Skype. Hardly any of you answered my call for conversion and I'm tired of sermonizing. I still think it's an awesome application and easy as heck to use and I whole-heartedly believe you should download it immediately and ring me up, but alas, this is my last attempt to enlighten the masses. Check it out if you want. Please. I can't use AIM and it's the cheapest and easiest way for us to stay in touch, damn it! Ok, I'm done, I promise.
Miss and love you all. Or at least most of you. Email me or comment. Either way I'd like to hear from you. Homesickness might set in soon and the best way to stave it off for another week or so is if I get bombarded with correspondence. Later.
On Friday, the entire state of Israel shuts down at 3pm. You know how the world keeps revolving everywhere else in the world? Stores don't close, buses still run and people act all normal and go about their happy little lives using electricity, driving to the supermarket and doing their jobs? Nope, not it Israel. Ok, I admit that I am exaggerating slightly, but I won't admit to lying. This "sabbath" business lasts all through Saturday and can really kill a guy's weekend. Especially when the country doesn't even wait until Monday to start revolving again. That's right, you heard me, people go back to work and kids start school again on Sunday. Crazy, I know. Insane, I know. Alright already, get over it.
On Sunday morning Gillian and I took a short walk to the high school that sits just outside of the college campus on which we live. Here we spent an hour or two looking for the people in charge of putting us to work for the next six months. After a few painful "conversations" (see previous posts for definition) and a trip to another high school, we finally met with a few English teachers from each of the high schools in Karmi'el. A tentative schedule was thrown together, apparently subject to many expected revisions, and we were sent on our merry way.
On Monday we picked up our toaster oven.
On Tuesday we started work in one of the high schools to high praise and much appreciation. I hope. When I said before that we worked out a schedule, what I really meant was that they told us what days we were going to what schools. Which classes we are working with is being left up to the last minute. So essentially we were thrown to the wolves, working with students right away. It was daunting but a surefire way to know whether or not we're good at it. Sink or swim if you know what I mean. I think Gillian & I proved that we are perfectly capable of treading water with the best of them. We worked with two levels of students and I think both groups gained something from the encounters. If nothing else I'm sure they appreciated the fact we practically did their homework for them.
Today, Wednesday, was interesting. Or I'm sure it would have been if I understood a word of Hebrew. We were invited to tag along on a field trip to a city south of Karmi'el called Yoqna'em. The students participating are preparing for a month-long trip to the U.S. where they will stay with families in both Cleveland and Atlanta. The students come from a few different ORT schools in Israel and the purpose of the trip is to allow students who otherwise wouldn't get the chance to travel overseas the opportunity to do so. Each of the students goes for completely free and hopefully will make life-long friends and learn passable spoken English. An excellent idea and I was happy to be included in their preparation. Over the next few weeks Gillian and I will help them practice English and answer questions about the US and other stuff. But today we just sat around and listened to presentations in Hebrew that we didn't understand. Needless to say we were bored beyond belief. Just one more concrete reason to learn the damn language as soon as possible. On that particular front I have no known progress...
So that's what we've been up to. But don't close your browser window just yet. I have a few more things to say.
If at all possible, if and when you leave a comment, please be sure to include your first and last name. As more and more people tune in to these ridiculous ramblings, I have found it difficult at times to distiguish which Jake is leaving comments and who the heck Anonymous is. Thanks!
Also, as stated in previous entries, I hate shutterfly.com. I have done a minute amount of research and have decided not to use any of the other frustrating photo-sharing sites either. I think I'll just be selective and post pics directly to the blog. It seems to be the easiest solution on both ends of the transaction. I don't have to deal with two sites and neither do you. Woohoo.
Oddly enough a strange rivalry has broken out amongst some of my readers. (Can I call you My Readers or is that way too pretentious?) Recently, I changed the name of my blog from The Deklein of Society to the one word shorter The Cultural Deklein. An outpouring of emotion ensued. Divided sharply into two camps, some of you liked the witty, "edgy" quality of Society, while others screamed "NO!" at the very thought of erasing the equally witty Culture from the title. I'm not sold either way on this issue and believe further arguing should commence. Please share your opinion and let me know which you prefer...
I think I have officially given up on trying to get any of you to utilize god's gift to internet users, Skype. Hardly any of you answered my call for conversion and I'm tired of sermonizing. I still think it's an awesome application and easy as heck to use and I whole-heartedly believe you should download it immediately and ring me up, but alas, this is my last attempt to enlighten the masses. Check it out if you want. Please. I can't use AIM and it's the cheapest and easiest way for us to stay in touch, damn it! Ok, I'm done, I promise.
Miss and love you all. Or at least most of you. Email me or comment. Either way I'd like to hear from you. Homesickness might set in soon and the best way to stave it off for another week or so is if I get bombarded with correspondence. Later.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Pictures of Karmiel
These are pictures of the ORT Braude College and of surrounding Karmi'el. Comment with questions...
This is the entrance to the college.
This is a sign at the entrance to the college.
This is the dormitory building in which we live.
This is the administration building at the college.
This is the main road that we walk to get into the middle of town.
This is the crappy little mall in the middle of town.
Across from the mall is the "midrachov" or pedestrian street where the majority of restaurants and shops are located.
A view of surrounding Karmi'el.
Another view of surrounding Karmi'el.
This is the entrance to the college.
This is a sign at the entrance to the college.
This is the dormitory building in which we live.
This is the administration building at the college.
This is the main road that we walk to get into the middle of town. 
This is the crappy little mall in the middle of town.
Across from the mall is the "midrachov" or pedestrian street where the majority of restaurants and shops are located.
A view of surrounding Karmi'el.
Another view of surrounding Karmi'el.
Friday, November 18, 2005
a few pics...
pictures from london can be found at the following address: http://deklein.shutterfly.com
i think i hate shutterfly and will be shopping around for a new photo sharing site. but for now, this is what i'm stuck with.
miss you all!
i think i hate shutterfly and will be shopping around for a new photo sharing site. but for now, this is what i'm stuck with.
miss you all!
Thursday, November 17, 2005
join skype now!
you're all very pathetic. i spent an entire paragraph last post extolling the virtues of Skype and only one of you checked it out, signed up and gave me a call. yes that's right, a call. maybe i wasn't clear. maybe i didn't explain it well. or maybe you're all just dragging your feet on the the coolest service to revolutionize communication around the world.
download skype, register a skype name and CALL me. I even have voicemail. it's frickin' free people. and if you're not gonna get on the band wagon have the decency to email me or comment. those have really fallen off in the past week or so as well. in fact, i think i sent out a few emails and never heard from some of you at all. in the eternal words of Stephanie Tanner, "How rude!"
(i'm not really angry, but it sure would be nice to hear from you!)
download skype, register a skype name and CALL me. I even have voicemail. it's frickin' free people. and if you're not gonna get on the band wagon have the decency to email me or comment. those have really fallen off in the past week or so as well. in fact, i think i sent out a few emails and never heard from some of you at all. in the eternal words of Stephanie Tanner, "How rude!"
(i'm not really angry, but it sure would be nice to hear from you!)
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
They Get Big Here
So I'm in the bathroom and I'm about to engage it the sorts of activities one engages in when they're in the bathroom when I realize I'm not alone. Accompanied by a 6-legged creature the size of a small dog I audibly yelped with excitement as it scurried behind a waste basket. After my heart returned to my chest cavity from its trip to my throat, I quickly found my heaviest pair of shoes and disptached the chihuahua-sized cockroach with swift, yet fair, justice. Let's be reasonable. He had four more legs than I did. Not exactly a fair fight. I think I was entitled to a weapon of sorts.
Oh yeah, and we have ants. Lots of ants.
Oh yeah, and we have ants. Lots of ants.
We're here!
WARNING: THIS POST HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE VERY LONG. DO NOT CONTINUE READING UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO DEDICATE THE TIME NECESSARY TO FULLY DIGEST THIS ENTRY.
Holy shit. That's all I can come up with to describe the past 24 hours. I'll attempt an explanation:
Yesterday, Gillian and I woke up at 5am in order to make an 8:30am flight from London Heathrow. Several hours later we landed at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. After a pleasant flight and lots of laughs from watching Wedding Crashers we got off the airplane and shlepped down to passport control whereupon Gillian realized she had forgotten her cell phone on the plane prompting me to run (yes, i ran) back to the gate and find a security person to help me find the phone. In the end, the phone beat us through customs and was waiting at the Lost & Found station in the baggage claim. So, I did a lot of running for nothing.
Next, we met up with our very talkative (in impressively fluent english) taxi driver. He shuttled us to the college all the while talking politics, economics, and god knows what else. I think all we really wanted to do was sleep, but it was a nice ride anyway. So there we are, exhausted, confused, out of our element, not knowing what to expect, and we're shown into the dormitory that will house us for the next 6 months. Wow. For the first time in our lives, Gillian and I are the proud occupants of a two bedroom apartment. Sure, it doesn't have a full kitchen, but it's ten times what we expected. Honestly, we didn't know what to expect but what we got is far beyond what we would have expected if we had been expecting anything. Luckily, a nice gentleman named Mark, a student here at the college, gave us a brief tour of the campus after translating how each appliance worked for the dormitory supervisor. He was very helpful and even offered to hang out with us. And no, it was not out of pity for the silly americans.
Considering that airplane food was the only sustenance obtained all day it quickly became clear that finding something to eat was of the highest importance. After talking (from here on out it will be known that the word "talking" stands for "awkwardly attempting to communicate with people who either speak only Hebrew or broken English) to a few people we ventured off campus and went scavenging for food. after a number of wrong turns and conversations (same definition as above) with locals we stumbled upon something magical in the distance. For a short time we had trouble making the figure out, but it seemed to be glowing. Upon further inspection, the sign seemed to call to us, as if it were saying, "Everything is going to be alright. You aren't going to starve in this strange land." And then, it all became clear as the golden arches came into focus. I have to say that I find it oddly comforting that no matter where you go in the world McDonalds french fries taste exactly the same. Am I slightly ashamed that I travelled half-way around the world to consume my first meal in the holy land at an awful American fast-food export? No, we were fucking hungry.
Airplane food and McDonalds can really screw up your internal organs, so we'll skip through the rest of the night and move right on to the events of this morning.
If I thought my stomach was turning, you should have seen my head spin today. First thing we had a breakfast appointment with our contact and shepherd here on campus, a lovely woman named Maxine. Born in Philly and an Israeli resident for over 30 years, Maxine couldn't understand our situation any better. Anyhow, back to breakfast. We met her in the dining cafe, a low key place where students hangout throughout the day and are greeted with a full scale israeli meal. Dining at the only table with a table cloth, we consumed delicious pastries, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, orange juice, tea, etc. It was wonderful.
After breakfast Maxine took us on a full tour of the campus and introduced us to everyone, including the president of the college. We were paraded around like prize turkeys, shuffled from office to office for inspection. It was overwhelming. I can honestly say that I've met a very large number of people in a very short period of time and each one of them and been kinder and more anxious to be of assistance than the last. If this continues I'll be in serious need of a New Yorker's attitude in order to keep me sane and balanced. It's just not normal for so many people to be so helpful.
Talk about going above and beyond, Maxine finished her welcome wagon schedule with a tour of downtown Karmiel and a trip to the supermarket so that Gillian and I could obtain some food stuffs and other necessary items to make our apartment a home. Later in the day, Lillit, the human resources officer for the college, an extremely nice woman we met on our whirlwind tour of the college and a recent grandmother to a beautiful new granddaughter named Mica, was extremely kind and shuttled down to the Orange store for some more essential shopping. Orange store you say? What on earth does a community need with an entire store dedicated to a delicious acidic fruit? Don't be ridiculous. It's only a cell phone store. Have a little more faith in the country, jeez. So anyhow, after many hours trying to understand our options and rates and phones and blah, blah, blah, we have local cell phones. If you would like the numbers email me and I'd be happy to oblige. After receiving a few random comments from anonymous spammers I'd prefer not to post them on the blog.
So that was the majority of the day. This evening has been just as fascinating however. I discovered (not really, I just hooked it up. I've known about it for a while.) Skype. I've become an addict and yet, I don't really have anyone to use it with yet besides my mother. If you are technologically unknowledgeable, Skype is a fantastic program for most modern operation systems that allows people to talk for free over the internet anywhere in the world. All you need is the program, a microphone and a set of headphones and you're good to go. Sure, that's amazing but that's not all! Skype not only slices and dices and slashes the prices, with just a small investment of $22.00 dollars, I purchased a local CT number that allows people at home to make a free phone call on a regular phone that makes my computer in Israel ring and enables us to talk for absolutely free any time, day or night. Also, I can make Skype calls to regular phones at home for the next to nothing price of just 2 cents a minute. That's cheaper than dirt cheap. How could you go wrong? Get in on it today and visit www.skype.com, or just email me for the local CT number so that we can speak anytime for however long we'd like.
So that's the scoop. Don't think I've left anything important out, but you never know. I may wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, just itching to tell the world some important detail I've carelessly omitted. Or maybe it can wait til tomorrow. Goodnight.
Holy shit. That's all I can come up with to describe the past 24 hours. I'll attempt an explanation:
Yesterday, Gillian and I woke up at 5am in order to make an 8:30am flight from London Heathrow. Several hours later we landed at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. After a pleasant flight and lots of laughs from watching Wedding Crashers we got off the airplane and shlepped down to passport control whereupon Gillian realized she had forgotten her cell phone on the plane prompting me to run (yes, i ran) back to the gate and find a security person to help me find the phone. In the end, the phone beat us through customs and was waiting at the Lost & Found station in the baggage claim. So, I did a lot of running for nothing.
Next, we met up with our very talkative (in impressively fluent english) taxi driver. He shuttled us to the college all the while talking politics, economics, and god knows what else. I think all we really wanted to do was sleep, but it was a nice ride anyway. So there we are, exhausted, confused, out of our element, not knowing what to expect, and we're shown into the dormitory that will house us for the next 6 months. Wow. For the first time in our lives, Gillian and I are the proud occupants of a two bedroom apartment. Sure, it doesn't have a full kitchen, but it's ten times what we expected. Honestly, we didn't know what to expect but what we got is far beyond what we would have expected if we had been expecting anything. Luckily, a nice gentleman named Mark, a student here at the college, gave us a brief tour of the campus after translating how each appliance worked for the dormitory supervisor. He was very helpful and even offered to hang out with us. And no, it was not out of pity for the silly americans.
Considering that airplane food was the only sustenance obtained all day it quickly became clear that finding something to eat was of the highest importance. After talking (from here on out it will be known that the word "talking" stands for "awkwardly attempting to communicate with people who either speak only Hebrew or broken English) to a few people we ventured off campus and went scavenging for food. after a number of wrong turns and conversations (same definition as above) with locals we stumbled upon something magical in the distance. For a short time we had trouble making the figure out, but it seemed to be glowing. Upon further inspection, the sign seemed to call to us, as if it were saying, "Everything is going to be alright. You aren't going to starve in this strange land." And then, it all became clear as the golden arches came into focus. I have to say that I find it oddly comforting that no matter where you go in the world McDonalds french fries taste exactly the same. Am I slightly ashamed that I travelled half-way around the world to consume my first meal in the holy land at an awful American fast-food export? No, we were fucking hungry.
Airplane food and McDonalds can really screw up your internal organs, so we'll skip through the rest of the night and move right on to the events of this morning.
If I thought my stomach was turning, you should have seen my head spin today. First thing we had a breakfast appointment with our contact and shepherd here on campus, a lovely woman named Maxine. Born in Philly and an Israeli resident for over 30 years, Maxine couldn't understand our situation any better. Anyhow, back to breakfast. We met her in the dining cafe, a low key place where students hangout throughout the day and are greeted with a full scale israeli meal. Dining at the only table with a table cloth, we consumed delicious pastries, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, orange juice, tea, etc. It was wonderful.
After breakfast Maxine took us on a full tour of the campus and introduced us to everyone, including the president of the college. We were paraded around like prize turkeys, shuffled from office to office for inspection. It was overwhelming. I can honestly say that I've met a very large number of people in a very short period of time and each one of them and been kinder and more anxious to be of assistance than the last. If this continues I'll be in serious need of a New Yorker's attitude in order to keep me sane and balanced. It's just not normal for so many people to be so helpful.
Talk about going above and beyond, Maxine finished her welcome wagon schedule with a tour of downtown Karmiel and a trip to the supermarket so that Gillian and I could obtain some food stuffs and other necessary items to make our apartment a home. Later in the day, Lillit, the human resources officer for the college, an extremely nice woman we met on our whirlwind tour of the college and a recent grandmother to a beautiful new granddaughter named Mica, was extremely kind and shuttled down to the Orange store for some more essential shopping. Orange store you say? What on earth does a community need with an entire store dedicated to a delicious acidic fruit? Don't be ridiculous. It's only a cell phone store. Have a little more faith in the country, jeez. So anyhow, after many hours trying to understand our options and rates and phones and blah, blah, blah, we have local cell phones. If you would like the numbers email me and I'd be happy to oblige. After receiving a few random comments from anonymous spammers I'd prefer not to post them on the blog.
So that was the majority of the day. This evening has been just as fascinating however. I discovered (not really, I just hooked it up. I've known about it for a while.) Skype. I've become an addict and yet, I don't really have anyone to use it with yet besides my mother. If you are technologically unknowledgeable, Skype is a fantastic program for most modern operation systems that allows people to talk for free over the internet anywhere in the world. All you need is the program, a microphone and a set of headphones and you're good to go. Sure, that's amazing but that's not all! Skype not only slices and dices and slashes the prices, with just a small investment of $22.00 dollars, I purchased a local CT number that allows people at home to make a free phone call on a regular phone that makes my computer in Israel ring and enables us to talk for absolutely free any time, day or night. Also, I can make Skype calls to regular phones at home for the next to nothing price of just 2 cents a minute. That's cheaper than dirt cheap. How could you go wrong? Get in on it today and visit www.skype.com, or just email me for the local CT number so that we can speak anytime for however long we'd like.
So that's the scoop. Don't think I've left anything important out, but you never know. I may wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, just itching to tell the world some important detail I've carelessly omitted. Or maybe it can wait til tomorrow. Goodnight.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
...worth a thousand words
Until now I haven't been able to post pictures so we've got a little bit of catching up to do. This first pic is of Yvette & Alan's home in Stamford, England. It's very pretty and fairly small but we were very cozy and comfortable.
This one is of the house that Gillian & I purchased during our stay in England. I can't tell you how much we paid for it because of the complicated exchange rate between dollars and pounds and bullshit but I can assure you we got a very good deal. It's known as Burghley House and is situated on a tremendous amount of land.
This is Fotheringhay Church where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned and beheaded. Lovely don't you think?
Monday, November 14, 2005
The Last Dispatch From London...
A week gone by in London, two in England and I more than ready to move on. Who's with me? Grab your coat, throw away your umbrella, check out of your cell at 5am and we're off to the airport. Next stop on our whirlwind trip around the world: Israel!
Tomorrow we'll leave the gray skies of the Uk behind us and join our Jewish friends in the birthplace of all religion, where Gillian and I will live and work for 6 months at the ORT Braude College of Engineering in Karmiel.
OK, I'll touch base with you blokes when we touch down on the otherside. Hope things are good and the weather is better than it is here... Thank god we're leaving. Come to think of it, I'll just thank him when I get to Israel. I hear he keeps office hours there.
Tomorrow we'll leave the gray skies of the Uk behind us and join our Jewish friends in the birthplace of all religion, where Gillian and I will live and work for 6 months at the ORT Braude College of Engineering in Karmiel.
OK, I'll touch base with you blokes when we touch down on the otherside. Hope things are good and the weather is better than it is here... Thank god we're leaving. Come to think of it, I'll just thank him when I get to Israel. I hear he keeps office hours there.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Filling in the details
My feet hurt. We've walked up, down and around this damn city and my feet hurt. Don't get me wrong, I still swear by my Merrells, but when you spend one day walking through 3 museums (Globe Theatre, Tate Modern & Hayward Gallery) and then walk from Trafalgar Square down The Mall to Buckingham Palace, you're tootsies are bound to be in pain. But I guess it's worth it...
I've done a lot in the past two weeks that I haven't shared with you either because I didn't have the time or I forgot. Now is no better a time nor has my memory improved but here we go:
Out in the countryside, while staying with Gillian's family, I drove their car. Sure it doesn't sound like much until you remember that they drive go-carts with manual transmissions and if you drive on the right side of the road you face the distict possibility of driving into oncoming traffic. Luckily, (or not depending on the way you look at it) out in the countryside the roads are only wide enough for one car anyway so worrying about left and right is almost moot. The grass along the roadside is littered with tire tracks... and provided that the steering wheel is on the other side of the car I also deem it an accomplishment that I only struck the curb once as a result of a screwed up sense of perspective.
Theater: We've seen 2 shows. 1 musical and 1 play. The Producers was lots of fun but not as good as the production I saw on Broadway. Gillian throughly enjoyed it but agreed with most of my critcisms and even had a few of her own. All in all, it was worth seeing and a most enjoyable evening.
The play we saw was A Few Good Men starring Rob Lowe and written by Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing. A beautiful production but alas not good enough to escape my critical eyes & ears. Unfortunately, it seems that shows produced in the West End that take place in America require the british actors to put on bad american accents, and this in turn screws up the comedic timing and ultimate flow of the show. Both The Producers & A Few Good Men were plagued by this. Gillian astutely referred to the productions as "crippled." I whole-heartedly agree.
That's just a brief overview, if you really care about my thoughts on either show in depth, email me and I'll elaborate. For now, I'm moving on.
Dessert: After The Producers, Gillian and I felt like dessert and popped into an interesting-looking establishment around the corner from the theater. Decor designed by an operatic set designer, you can imagine what it looked like. We sat down, glanced at the menu and ordered, Gillian the Creme Brulee and myself the assorted cheese platter. We wait. Out comes the tiny dish of Creme Brulee and for me a huge tray with 6 cheeses. Full wedges and blocks of cheese accompanied by a beach ball sized basket of breadsticks and toasts. Gillian and I are stunned long enough for the waiter to go back into the kitchen and return with a "on-the-house" fruit platter incuding 6 apples, 6 oranges, 3 banannas and 1 kiwi all nicely arranged around a gigantic pineapple. At this point we think it to be a joke... you know, "Ha, ha, stupid americans, think they can come in here and order dessert like normal people. We'll show them!" But alas, it was no joke, and I proceeded to eat lots of cheese.
So that's all I can remember for now. I'm sure there's more and I'll remember it all as soon as I sign off and start wandering around the next museum. Hope alls well at home!
I've done a lot in the past two weeks that I haven't shared with you either because I didn't have the time or I forgot. Now is no better a time nor has my memory improved but here we go:
Out in the countryside, while staying with Gillian's family, I drove their car. Sure it doesn't sound like much until you remember that they drive go-carts with manual transmissions and if you drive on the right side of the road you face the distict possibility of driving into oncoming traffic. Luckily, (or not depending on the way you look at it) out in the countryside the roads are only wide enough for one car anyway so worrying about left and right is almost moot. The grass along the roadside is littered with tire tracks... and provided that the steering wheel is on the other side of the car I also deem it an accomplishment that I only struck the curb once as a result of a screwed up sense of perspective.
Theater: We've seen 2 shows. 1 musical and 1 play. The Producers was lots of fun but not as good as the production I saw on Broadway. Gillian throughly enjoyed it but agreed with most of my critcisms and even had a few of her own. All in all, it was worth seeing and a most enjoyable evening.
The play we saw was A Few Good Men starring Rob Lowe and written by Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing. A beautiful production but alas not good enough to escape my critical eyes & ears. Unfortunately, it seems that shows produced in the West End that take place in America require the british actors to put on bad american accents, and this in turn screws up the comedic timing and ultimate flow of the show. Both The Producers & A Few Good Men were plagued by this. Gillian astutely referred to the productions as "crippled." I whole-heartedly agree.
That's just a brief overview, if you really care about my thoughts on either show in depth, email me and I'll elaborate. For now, I'm moving on.
Dessert: After The Producers, Gillian and I felt like dessert and popped into an interesting-looking establishment around the corner from the theater. Decor designed by an operatic set designer, you can imagine what it looked like. We sat down, glanced at the menu and ordered, Gillian the Creme Brulee and myself the assorted cheese platter. We wait. Out comes the tiny dish of Creme Brulee and for me a huge tray with 6 cheeses. Full wedges and blocks of cheese accompanied by a beach ball sized basket of breadsticks and toasts. Gillian and I are stunned long enough for the waiter to go back into the kitchen and return with a "on-the-house" fruit platter incuding 6 apples, 6 oranges, 3 banannas and 1 kiwi all nicely arranged around a gigantic pineapple. At this point we think it to be a joke... you know, "Ha, ha, stupid americans, think they can come in here and order dessert like normal people. We'll show them!" But alas, it was no joke, and I proceeded to eat lots of cheese.
So that's all I can remember for now. I'm sure there's more and I'll remember it all as soon as I sign off and start wandering around the next museum. Hope alls well at home!
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Pressed For Time
AHHH! I hate internet cafes. I'm sitting in an internet cafe around the corner from our hotel (which is awful. details to come) and above my browser window is a countdown of how long I have until I have to pay more money. It's really stressful. 14 minutes and 22 seconds to go...
The Hotel: The Hyde Park Court Hotel is awful in every way. awfully small, awfully dirty, awfully expensive for what you get. Our toilet is in our shower stall and you can brush your teeth from the shower stall. If I flex my elbows I hit both walls. The room is no picnic either. For those of you who have heard me complain about my accomodations at SVA, you can apply the same descriptions here. It's tiny and cell-like, has barely enough room between the bed and dresser to stand up and we found a bottle of sour milk on our window sill. Did I mention that we have four heavy bags and there is no elevator? A word of advice to future travellers: Stay elsewhere.
So I've got 10 minutes left and I keep having to edit my mistakes. The keyboards here in the UK are only slightly different than US keyboards.
Today was a productive and tiring day: We walked and shopped a lot along Oxford Street and Covent Gardens. Tonight we're going to a show. The Producers. I can't wait cause it's an awesome show. Gillian has never seen it but I have. It should be lots of fun.
That's all I've got for now. More to come after we've done and seen more. Keep the comments coming!
The Hotel: The Hyde Park Court Hotel is awful in every way. awfully small, awfully dirty, awfully expensive for what you get. Our toilet is in our shower stall and you can brush your teeth from the shower stall. If I flex my elbows I hit both walls. The room is no picnic either. For those of you who have heard me complain about my accomodations at SVA, you can apply the same descriptions here. It's tiny and cell-like, has barely enough room between the bed and dresser to stand up and we found a bottle of sour milk on our window sill. Did I mention that we have four heavy bags and there is no elevator? A word of advice to future travellers: Stay elsewhere.
So I've got 10 minutes left and I keep having to edit my mistakes. The keyboards here in the UK are only slightly different than US keyboards.
Today was a productive and tiring day: We walked and shopped a lot along Oxford Street and Covent Gardens. Tonight we're going to a show. The Producers. I can't wait cause it's an awesome show. Gillian has never seen it but I have. It should be lots of fun.
That's all I've got for now. More to come after we've done and seen more. Keep the comments coming!
Sunday, November 06, 2005
First Entry of Interest
Here I sit, in Stamford, England, having been the guest of Gillian's Aunt Yvette & Uncle Alan. They have been wonderful hosts and thus far have taken excellent care of us. Between Toad in the Hole and Shepherd's Pie I've been quite satisfied on the food front and god knows I've had enough tea to last me a lifetime.
The story of my flight over here isn't very interesting I'm afraid. I left from JFK in NY on Tuesday night with my mother and Gillian's mother Michele bidding me fairwell. My flight left at 8:30pm and six hours later I landed at Heathrow airport in London, England at 8:30am. Luckily I'm one of those people who can sleep anywhere and I was able to get a few hours of shut-eye. I did however watch The Fantastic Four movie on a tiny screen 8 inches from my face and it was aweful. I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with the fact the screen was so close I couldn't focus on the image. The movie was just bad. Although I have to say that seeing Jessica Alba only 8 inches from my face made my in-flight nap that much more enjoyable.
After disembarking from the plane I trekked a mile and a half to the customs line where a scary looking woman asked me various questions to make sure I wasn't a terrorist (I think the facial hair makes them suspicious) and that I knew where I was going. When I told her I was on my way to Peterborough to spectate at a fox hunt, her frightening face changed and she promptly told me that she should be the last person I tell my plans to. Apparently, the rumors are true and the majority of England is vehemently against "The Hunt". (Did you know that on UK computers the @ symbol and the " symbol are in reverse locations on the keyboard?)
So we've been here for 5 days and much of our time has been taken up with very funny conversations with Yvette & Alan. They both have excellent senses of humor and enjoy wine. Lots of wine. We're getting along swimmingly...
A day trip here and there has taken us to Burghley House, which is much more of a mansion or castle than it is a house considering it's massive, has a moat and stands on a ridiculous amount of land. Yesterday we took a train to Cambridge and tried to fit in with smart people. It appears that having an English accent doesn't automatically make you an intellectual. We saw a few "Uni" or University buildings, traipsed around a few art galleries and the hopped back on the train back to Peterborough for a late dinner out in Stamford with Yvette & Alan.
Tomorrow is our last day here as we will be travelling to London in the evening. I have no idea what we'll be doing there yet but I'm sure we'll figure something out.
As far as Israel goes, I still can't believe I'm in England so comprehending 6 months in Israel isn't really feasible at the moment. What I do know is that when we get off the plane in Tel Aviv, a taxi will be waiting to pick us up and take us to Karmiel. So that's a start.
It will probably be a few days before I can get back on the interweb (europeans are weird)but when I do I'll try and throw a few picture up here.
Hope all is well back in the states. Lots of love.
The story of my flight over here isn't very interesting I'm afraid. I left from JFK in NY on Tuesday night with my mother and Gillian's mother Michele bidding me fairwell. My flight left at 8:30pm and six hours later I landed at Heathrow airport in London, England at 8:30am. Luckily I'm one of those people who can sleep anywhere and I was able to get a few hours of shut-eye. I did however watch The Fantastic Four movie on a tiny screen 8 inches from my face and it was aweful. I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with the fact the screen was so close I couldn't focus on the image. The movie was just bad. Although I have to say that seeing Jessica Alba only 8 inches from my face made my in-flight nap that much more enjoyable.
After disembarking from the plane I trekked a mile and a half to the customs line where a scary looking woman asked me various questions to make sure I wasn't a terrorist (I think the facial hair makes them suspicious) and that I knew where I was going. When I told her I was on my way to Peterborough to spectate at a fox hunt, her frightening face changed and she promptly told me that she should be the last person I tell my plans to. Apparently, the rumors are true and the majority of England is vehemently against "The Hunt". (Did you know that on UK computers the @ symbol and the " symbol are in reverse locations on the keyboard?)
So we've been here for 5 days and much of our time has been taken up with very funny conversations with Yvette & Alan. They both have excellent senses of humor and enjoy wine. Lots of wine. We're getting along swimmingly...
A day trip here and there has taken us to Burghley House, which is much more of a mansion or castle than it is a house considering it's massive, has a moat and stands on a ridiculous amount of land. Yesterday we took a train to Cambridge and tried to fit in with smart people. It appears that having an English accent doesn't automatically make you an intellectual. We saw a few "Uni" or University buildings, traipsed around a few art galleries and the hopped back on the train back to Peterborough for a late dinner out in Stamford with Yvette & Alan.
Tomorrow is our last day here as we will be travelling to London in the evening. I have no idea what we'll be doing there yet but I'm sure we'll figure something out.
As far as Israel goes, I still can't believe I'm in England so comprehending 6 months in Israel isn't really feasible at the moment. What I do know is that when we get off the plane in Tel Aviv, a taxi will be waiting to pick us up and take us to Karmiel. So that's a start.
It will probably be a few days before I can get back on the interweb (europeans are weird)but when I do I'll try and throw a few picture up here.
Hope all is well back in the states. Lots of love.
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