Visiting Dubai

I am glad that I joined Dan to "see" Dubai for a few days back in March, but I wouldn't want to live there.  And I don't have any particular need to go back.  It impressed me as a screaming example of what is wrong with the world.

Shortly after my visit, I saw this article - UAE minister reveals that Dubai is amongst the top producers of waste in the world .  I noticed a lot of wasted water to create green grass around highways, A/C cranking with doors open, and what appeared to be a culture based entirely on consumerism.

Dubai is steel and pavement plopped down in the middle of a totally dry, arid desert.  The road noise makes the outdoors unpleasant (as does the heat). 

All the beaches are private (this made me appreciate the fact that the entire shoreline of Tel Aviv is designated public, so the hotels and rich can not prohibit the rest of us). 

There were a few remnants of the traditional culture that we saw, including building design with an open steeple that draws airflow into the building and acts like natural air conditioning.  We could learn from that.

We went up to the observation level of the Burj Khalifa (the building I am standing in front of).  From there I took the photo of the city from the sky.  The air quality was never clear while we were there.

The malls are bigger than the entire town that I spent my childhood in, LaConner.  We walked through to see the indoor ski area (see photo with Dan).  Otherwise it was too much, at least for me, as I do not enjoy shopping in general, and this was definitely shopping on crack.

Dubai is probably the most liberal Muslim place in the middle east.  But even here, practicing Muslim women are usually covered head to toe, sometimes including face masks, and accompanied by a man to go out of the home.  The reason for this, as I understand it, is that men can't control themselves, so women need to hide.  This sounds incredibly disrespectful to both genders.  It doesn't give any credit to either's ability to act as mature adults.  I want to have an open mind, but any culture where the rights of women are less than those of men feels too unjust for me to accept. 

As I said, it was interesting to see once.  I wouldn't have made a separate trip for it though.  There are MANY more interesting and meaningful places in the world.

 

First world, third world, and toilet paper

I used to think I lived in a first world country, in the U.S.  I was told I was moving to a first world country, surrounded by third world countries, when I moved to Israel.

I'm not sure either is accurate.  The third world is certainly more obvious in Israel, when things like this occur - a donkey drawn cart heading north, a block up from our street.

But a lot of what goes on in the U.S. doesn't seem very first world to me either (like millions of Americans without access to proper healthcare).  The terms are really just a differentiator for GDP, not quality of life.  As Einstein said, "Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted."

On a slightly lighter note, I miss U.S. toilet paper.  For a first world country (and Israel is in the same category as most of Europe in this case), they suck at producing decent toilet paper.  The stuff here reminds me of visiting my dad in Bolivia.  As I begin to run out of the little things that remind me of home, I realize I am not yet adjusted to this new place.  My apartment feels like home, but the country does not.

Community giving in Israel

Just before Passover, I was walking past Rabin Square, where all major Tel Aviv city events have their epicenter.  This was the display - hundreds of empty shopping carts lined up on the square, under a billboard which encouraged Israeli's to donate food so that no family would go without meals during the eight day holiday. 

I have learned a little about local attitudes toward giving and fundraising engagement.  It exists.  But it doesn't sound like the runs/walks/drives are common here.  I'm not certain, but it doesn't sound like corporate fundraising teams exist here.  While a little can be fun and build a sense of community and shared purpose, it can also become so pervasive that people get sick of the "cause of the week" in the U.S. 

The non-profits I've met here struggle to find funding like everywhere else though, and the trend toward unchecked capitalism is invading non-profits just as it is in the U.S., so it will be interesting to see how the culture of giving progresses - will non-profits copy the U.S. model, or find their own path?

Hit and Run

I was heading north to a conference last Tuesday, on a two lane road.  Just after I cleared straight through an intersection, I heard a horn and then "crunch."  I looked in my rear view to see a gold colored Isuzu truck pushing the back left of my little Mojito (Ford Fiesta).  But the guy driving didn't look surprised.  He didn't stop.  He only backed off enough to come up directly behind me, then zip around my right side and cut me off.  By this point, I had slowed below the speed limit to make sure other vehicles passed me and separated me from this maniac.  I was obviously a bit shook up. 

What was with this guy?  I was just heading down the road.  Now, I have learned here that there seem to be unusual expectations about right-of-ways.  For instance, often when there's a two lane road, some jerk will park in one of the lanes for his own convenience, never mind the hundreds of vehicles he's slowed down while they merge to get around him.  When this happens, there is a lot of last minute zipping across lanes, so you really have to pay attention because even if you're in the clear lane, you may have to stop suddenly to avoid someone in the blocked lane who has cut you off. 

But this Isuzu was clearly behind me.  Even if I made a cultural driving mistake, it was quite clear he hit me on purpose, not because I didn't follow some rule of the road.  The only thing I could have done to try to avoid him if I had seen him before he hit me was speed up beyond the speed limit, as there was a car in the lane to my right. 

We were on a road with plenty of traffic and lights, so he only got a few vehicles ahead of me before the next light.  At that point, I wrote down his plate, make and model.  With the local vehicle distributor's help, we reported the guy.  The damage wasn't as bad as it sounded and felt.  But how would I know, I've never been hit before. 

Israel = home of many first experiences.  And plenty of them I could do without.

Sirens, take two.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 2, was my first experience with a nation-wide moment of silence (sure, we have these in the U.S, but they are not nationally observed with 100% participation).

During the week between that day (more on that experience in a previous post) and the following week, it was business as usual here, except symbols of nationalism were being erected everywhere.  And we started getting formation fly-by rehearsals for the following two holidays.

On May 9th, Israeli Memorial Day was observed.  Days are confusing here, because they are observed from sundown to sundown, so when there is a holiday, it is observed over two days.  Therefore, on the evening of Sunday, May 8th, at 8pm, another siren rang out and the whole country stopped for a minute.  Just before 9pm, we walked to Rabin Square, about 15 minutes from our apartment, where the Tel Aviv city memorial ceremony was held.  There were speakers, singers, and many stories of lives lost, recorded and told by surviving family members.  It was sad.  Really sad.  There are very few Israeli's who do not have a personal connection to a life lost here - family or friends, as they have nearly all served in the military, and it is, afterall, a very small country, collectivist culture.

The next day, morning began with another siren.  People were noticably in mourning still.  But as the sun went down, schizophrenia set in.  It became Independence Day.  We took dad to a friend's home for a BBQ, a Memorial Day tradition that is shared between Israel and the U.S.  It couldn't start until 8pm however, after sundown, when the day of mourning was over. 

We arrived back home just before midnight.  As we pulled into the driveway, I said to Dan and my dad, "boy, that's loud.  I'm glad it's not in our building."  What a dummy.  As we came up the elevator, it got louder......and LOUDER.  Stepping into the hall, I could no longer hear Dan as we tried to discuss who should get their keys out. 

Although dad had the best room in the apartment, farthest wall away, surrounded by concrete, and only one small window, he still had to put on his noise canceling headphones and throw a pillow over his head to try to sleep through it.  Dan and I weren't so lucky.  We have sliding glass doors from our bedroom next to the neighbors apartment.  So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? 

We had been invited, "hey guys, we're having a party tomorrow, so you'll either want to leave town, or come over."  They had a DJ with speaker system, trays of sushi, and a bar staffed by two scantilly dressed young women.  A few drinks, rooftop fireworks display, and three hours later, I was ready to call it quits.  I laid out my camping mattresses, grabbed my pillows and blankets, and shut myself into our bunker to see if I could get a little shut eye.  Unfortunately, there is a window there too.  It was marginally successful, but I still woke. 

At 4am I decided it was time to try the cops, just to quiet it down a wee bit for us old folks who wanted to fall asleep before the sun came up (I was hoping to take my dad to Caesarea that same day and wanted to feel semi human for it).  After transferring me to an English speaker, they told me it's the one night of the year Israeli's can party all they want.  They don't enforce the noise ordinance until after 6am!  I crawled back in my cave, and hoped my exhaustion would overcome my ears.  Luckily, when I woke again just before 5am, I heard silence.  The DJ had gone home.  Hooray!  Back to a real bed for me.  Did I mention this was a Monday night? 

There is one more day worth mentioning in this May series of holidays here.  It's Nakba Day, May 15th, and represents the Palestinian view of Israeli independence - "the day of catastrophe."  Palestinians organized protests all over the country, and in neighboring countries.  There was a young Arab who drove his truck into a bus and pedestrians just a few miles south of where we live, in Jaffa, the Arab part of Tel Aviv.  He sent dozens to the hospital, and at least one person died.  Also, a crowd of hundreds of Syrians charged the border into Israel, breaking through.

In the U.S., most of us are fairly removed from the significance of Memorial and Independence Day.  These holidays are very personal for the vast majority of Israeli's.  The middle east is a complicated place.  I don't feel unsafe.  But I do feel more aware.   

Sirens

My first day back to Ulpan after the Passover holiday was Monday, May 2nd.  At 10am everyone stopped for 2 minutes. I was told that even people in cars would stop on the freeway, get out, and observe these 2 minutes. In Ulpan, the break times were adjusted to bring all classes together in their gathering hall for a ceremony. The room was packed, more than during previous holiday observances. A siren started, and we all stood up (it could not have lasted for more than a minute, and afterwards I could hear the sirens outside for a moment). There was a candle lighting ceremony by students representing various countries. This was followed by the resident singer guitar player and half an hour of songs.


Then we went back to class. Dad (he's visiting right now) told me he went out on our balcony when the sirens sounded and saw everyone get out of their vehicles on the roads below. He also noticed walkers stop and others inside buildings come to their windows.  This however, also lasted for under a minute.

Next week a similar event will occur at 11am on Memorial Day for soldiers. After these two somber days will come Independence Day which I am told is a big celebration here.

Stay tuned for more...

Religion at work

On a networking/job board I read in Israel, the below question was recently posted which fueled a hot debate as to the interpretation/intent of both the question and the employer in question:

I have a question. A friend's place of employment is requiring workers to sign a declaration that they are "religious/shabat observant" and for that reason can not work Shabat. If at any time, someone that has signed the declaration is "caught" not observing the Sabbath, they can possibly lose their job.
The management has not answered the following:
1 - who decides what is Shabat observant?
2 - who is checking?
3 - how is it documented?
4 - Can this be legal?
 
The responses posted ranged from a comparison of Israel to Iran (which not surprisingly made some readers defensive), to the belief that this company is probably observant and just wants to be sure their employees don't do any work on their behalf during the holiday. 
 
As a citizen of a country that separates church and state (well, is supposed to), this obviously wouldn't fly.  But in a country where the religion is central to it's very existence, I can see where this must become an issue on a regular basis.  For instance, I wonder if all government / corporate cafeteria's have to abide by kosher laws?  There is strong pressure for businesses that serve/sell food to observe. But some have done a cost-benefit analysis and decided to pay the penalty fees levied by local and state goverment because they still come out ahead by being open on Shabat, and/or offering non-kosher options. 
 
I can't imagine working anywhere that would impose their religious beliefs on me.  I've seen job postings that I would be an excellent candidate for here in non-profit, but most have a religious purpose or tone, thus taking me out of the running. 

I know Israel is not the only country in which church and state are intertwined, but I wonder whether there are any others where religion equals culture and it can't be separated from the fundamental establishment of the state?  There are many Israeli's who don't believe it should be this way, but there are not enough of them in positions of power.  Interestingly, statistical models show that Israel's Jewish population will become a minority within the next decade.  If the country wants to hold onto it's claim of of democracy, will this lead to a shift in leadership to represent the new mix? 

Back in the U.S.A.

On my way to the U.S.A., I stopped in Prague for a night to visit my in-laws with my husband.  The first thing I noticed in their apartment (ok, maybe I am strange), was that the light switches were located inside the bathrooms.  They don't do this in Israel.  Imagine, you could be in there, and anyone can come along and shut the light off on you.  That's Israel.  Its really just one of those tiny annoyances that you notice when you go in, and realize you have to go back out to turn on the light.

Returning to the States, everyone's first question to me is, "Wow, how is it there?"  This is a hard question to answer.  It's all the little things like light switch locations that wouldn't normally even hit one's radar, that create the sense that you are in a foreign place (until they become the norm - and suddenly I am finding myself searching for light switches outside of US bathrooms).   

But there are also fundamental differences in human behavior, such as culturally accepted boundaries and expectations for type and quantity of interaction.  I couldn't have traveled between further opposites in this regard.  I am being reminded of the stark differences in parenting styles and family expectations.  Israel has a very traditional culture.  The northwest United States has gathered all the people who purposefully left traditional cultures over the last 200 years (with the exception of the Native Americans here, I suppose).   

It's nice not to have to think so hard about daily activities again.  But I'm already missing all the fresh fruits and vegetables from the shuk. 

Ugly America

It's not all sunshine and roses here in Israel (ok, maybe sunshine), but recent dealings with U.S. lawyers and healthcare insurers have reminded me just how pathetic some American social systems are. 

The lawyers
We have assistance from lawyers as part of our relocation to ensure that we can be in a foreign country legally.  The work is outsourced to an American firm, which acts as a third party liason between corporate and the local country lawyers, who actually do the work here.  The American firm (ask me if you want to know which one so you can avoid them, although I have little faith that they are an exception to the rule), has done nothing but worry the local firm about the scope of help they can provide.  AND, they are now bullying the local firm against working with us directly (at our own expense) so that THEY can upcharge and take their piece of the pie.  Behavior like this should be criminal. 

Health insurers
Our plan offers 15 visits of accupuncture per calendar year, per person.  I have asked at least 6 phone agents since we got here whether there are any restrictions or special "medical necessity" paperwork required.  I have been told as many different answers.  Reading between the lines (or piecing together the bits of information they have let slip), there seems to be an internal list of which diagnoses they will actually approve in the claims processing department.  However, this list is not printed in any materials that they make public.  I have been able to get phone agents to rattle off parts of the list - coverage for pain, but not for carpel tunnel syndrome, for instance.  All I can say is, if you're going to provide coverage, do it.  If you're going to restrict it, put it in writing, and arm your customer service agents with the same information you give your claims processing agents.  Don't tell me that "acupuncture is covered, no pre-approval needed," and then reject a claim because the diagnosis was on your secret do-not-fly list. 

Sylvester

No, I don't mean Stallone, or a cat.  Sylvester refers to New Year's Eve, named for the Catholic Saint that corresponds to December 31st. 
To celebrate, we walked from our apartment down to a neighborhood street party in the Neve Tsedik / Florentine neighborhoods.  The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo had officially declared a "no open alcohol / street parties" policy this year (past years have been well organized, we were told, with on-street DJs, bars, etc) but the city decided there were too many days that this was taking place (Independence Day, White Night, etc).  The neighborhood fought back by holding it anyway. 

So the city sent down their security forces to "keep the peace."  As you may be able to see from the middle picture here, these guys aren't like your friendly neighborhood police (although they seemed friendly enough).  They are border patrol types, or so I was told.   The lower picture is one of those hi-tech mobile command centers that was parked at one end of the street. 

There were a dozen or so blocks with wall to wall teenagers hanging out.  It appeared that everyone over 18 had gone into the bars.  We met our friends Tali and Yair and went up to their apartment for a more subdued drink and chat.  Then we walked home around 3am.  By the time we reached home my dogs were barking - we had walked a 5K to bring in the New Year! 

In the name of security

Yesterday I had a new experience.  I had just finished a meeting at Tel Aviv University with the Director of one of the Masters programs - Conflict Resolution and Negotiation (rather appropriate for the region, right?)  Upon return to my car, it wouldn't start.  Now, on the one hand, you could say that this shouldn't have surprised me, as it was the third time.  But on the other hand, it should have, as I had run it for over an hour, just an hour before I left for my meeting (to jump it). 

And it's a new car!  What's the problem?  Here's the deal.  Car dealers here in Israel are mandated to add safety and security features - I have a key that looks like a space alien, I have to punch in a 4 digit code within seconds of entry to avoid the alarm, and a hands-free cell phone receiver is installed.  These aftermarket gadgets are installed to avoid break-ins and car jackings (common in areas close to the West Bank), and to keep both hands on the wheel (important when driving with these maniacs.)  Much to my despair, they drain my battery if I leave the car sitting in the garage for a couple weeks.    This happened a couple months ago and it happened this week.  Dan helped me jump it before I headed out, and I ran it for over an hour.  So why wouldn't it start up again an hour later (mechanical engineering friends, step in any time here)?

It got me thinking about the stupid things we do in the name of security (in the US as much as Israel).  When has a car alarm ever deterred a robber?  I wasn't once asked if the car was mine during the half hour that it was going off every 2 minutes at the University.  It's surprising how used to security checks I have become at entrances.  Israel is a lot like New York City was after 9/11.  I used to get all kinds of security checks and clearances when visiting Executives there on behalf of the American Heart Association.  New York City has relaxed quite a bit in the five years since I started there, but this is a steady state situation in Israel. 

Unfortunately I will be testing the Israeli security system at the airport next month as well.  My current B1 Visa expires February 1st.  I had an appointment to renew scheduled for January 30th, but with my sister's early delivery of my new nephew, Ernest, I am leaving for Washington State next week.  Our legal council says that getting the new appointment end of February shouldn't be a problem, and they will provide me with documentation to bring with me upon my return, but it's likely to raise some eyebrows and create a circus of questions anyway.  As unfair as it feels to say this, thank goodness that I don't fit the threat profile in any way. 

If you don't see any blog posts after February 21st, I've been swallowed by the system.  Ha!

Can't you pop into an Israeli Starbucks, if you really have to go NOW?

I haven't quite been able to figure out what's going on here in Israel, on the subject of peeing.  Yes, peeing.  Dan's first week here he had to chase off a man he caught peeing on the entrance to our driveway.  Since then, I have caught parents on more than three occasions directing their young children to drop trou in the planting strips along the sidewalks to both pee and poop!  (This post didn't seem appropriate to include a photo).  Walking down the sidewalk requires a keen eye for land mines of excrement, and I'm no longer certain that they are from the neighborhood dogs and cats. 

Yet, it is a common complaint by Israeli's all summer that they can't wait for the first rains to come and wash away the smell.  So WHY do they do it?  I suppose the answer is, the ones who don't like it are different from the ones who do it. 

Well, I'm not the only one who has noticed this behavior.  Check out this article on Greenprophet.com -
How Green Is A Quick Wee In Public? 

A little joke about land in the middle east

The following is a little email joke that was sent to me by an Israeli.  It has to do with the conflict over rights to land in the middle east. 

"Who does Israel belong to?An Israeli Sense of Humor at the UN set the record straight.  An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly and made the world community smile.  A representative from Israel began:  'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses: When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath!'  Moses removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water. When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished.  A Palestinian had stolen them!'
The Palestinian representative jumped up furiously and shouted, 'What are you talking about? The Palestinians weren't there then.'  The Israeli representative smiled and said, 'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech...'

Obviously this joke makes light of a complex situation steeped in years of history, tradition, and limited resources.  Take it for what it's worth, a clever little arguement for a particular point of view. 

Changes around us

Tel Aviv is a young city.  It celebrated it's 100 birthday last year.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world, among other things. 

It has become the 17th most expensive city in the world.  We discovered this when we began our adventure with our apartment hunting visit last May.  The place we chose was built just last year, so our neighbors also recently went through move-in balagan. Our building is only about 35% Israeli, the other 65% are foreigners like ourselves, or mixed marriages, like the southwest unit on our level (6/5) which is occupied by a British man and Israeli woman, and their kids.   

We continue to see city lots all around us in varying stages of destruction and reconstruction.  The weekday morning orchestra of city noises often includes jack-hammers with the car horns.  So Saturdays are a real treat, as it is nearly silent for this "day of rest."  This week we passed the above pictured lot around the corner from our place on the walk up to Ulpan.  Tel Aviv is continuously changing, and rapidly.  What I don't yet know is whether the city is taking this opportunity to enforce greener building standards.  In general though, most Israeli's I've met say that Israel is "waking up" to sustainable planning, not just as an economic opportunity, but as a social and environmental responsibility and necessity as well.

Drylands, Deserts, and Desertification Conference

On Sunday evening November 7th (my birthday), our bus load of participants drove down to the Sede Boquer campus of Ben Gurion University.  It was a 2 hour drive, punctuated by a stop in Be'er Sheva at a mall to buy dinner (not the best).

We arrived at about 8pm, well after dark.  After dropping eight participants at a hotel outside the campus which looked like a glorified motel complex (they used four locations for boarding the 600 participants from 65 countries), we arrived on campus at the field school housing (no better than the off campus options). 

We were greated by frantic 20-somethings, students and staff who were nearly as confused by what needed to happen as we were.  It took them about a half hour to track down all the room keys for the participants.  They could not answer basic questions about the campus, such as where/when breakfast was to occur the next morning, or whether there was internet access somewhere nearby (as there wasn't in the rooms).  Remember, these participants are experts in their fields from all over the world.  This was not their first conference, and I could tell they were more than a little frustrated by the lack of information and resources that enabled them to prepare for their speaking engagements in the following days. 

After about an hour and a half of trying to get participants settled, I was ushered onto the lap of one of the student coordinators in a tiny car full of oranges, pizzas, and more, with my suitcase in tow.  We drove to the one retail outlet in the area, a pizza joint, where we waited a half hour for them to bake 4 more pizzas.  Finally we drove to the student housing area where we met with the conference chairman.  He proceeded to provide the 20 or so student volunteers the structure for the upcoming day.  I asked about the possibility of getting a few basic resources for the participants, based on my observations earlier, including printed maps of the campus that they could use to get around.  I was brushed off in typical "don't bother me with the details" fashion, at which point I wondered if anyone was thinking about the details at all.

The student coordinator took me across the path to her apartment around 11pm (don't forget we had to be up at 6:30 to get the conference going the next day.)  Instead of finding the location where I was to stay, she insisted that I sleep at her place, in her bed (not with fresh sheets, mind you).  Although a very nice girl, she clearly hadn't the head for events management, appearing quite frantic, and insisting that she planned to stay up all night to everyone who would listen.  I gave up and tried to get some sleep in her bed, despite the chatter downstairs.  After 2 hours of restless sleep, I awoke to her coming in to bed herself, on our couch.  She said she found the key to my place, but at 2am I wasn't interested in searching for it in the dark.  Luckily though I was given another opportunity at 6am when her alarms started going off every 5 minutes for 20 straight minutes.  She was 5 feet from them, but didn't budge.  So I gave up, dressed, grabbed the key from the table, and went out to look for this illusive room. 

Rolling my little suitcase along behind me, I headed for the guard shack, hoping for help.  Unfortunately, they weren't even up at work yet.  While surveying my options in the intersection (north, east, south or west), I saw a guy a block down walking his dog.  I went up to him and tried my hebrew on for size, "eifo ha ___" and pointed to the sheet of paper with the info on it.  I was pleased to learn he knew exactly where to go, and he walked me there himself.  It turns out this room was in a small trailer, surrounded by other trailers, which I can only imagine became the cheapest, quickest way to house incoming research students on this tiny campus.  With my copy of a copy of a key that would sometimes take 5 minutes of attempts to unlock the door, I finally got in to discover a clean, never-before-used, mini apartment.  Perfect for a shower (and a nap later that day!)

The Conference opened with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Luc Gnacadja.  I was excited for this section, hoping to learn a bit about the global strategies employed in this field.  My excitement ended in disappointment as his accent was so strong that he was hard to understand.  While there were translators for the participants listening with headphones, there weren't translators for the presenters, so the non-native English speaking presenters were really at a disadvantage trying to communicate their hypotheses and discoveries.

Despite the organizational challenges, there were some great presenters.  On Monday morning I attended the Public Health and Desertification session.  Professor Jonathan Patz of the Univ. of Wisconsin talked about the impact of the 3 degree Celcius increase in air temperative that the earth is currently undergoing in relation to public health.  Two examples that I had never considered really stuck with me.  Afterall, how could a slight temperature increase impact our health?  If anything, us northerners would be happy with a little less snow, right?  (Never mind the melting of the polar ice caps and rise in sea levels, but I digress).  Patz talked about the impact of 3 degrees on mosquitos.  Mosquitos are cold blooded, and thus take on the temperature of the air.  Any blood they suck will then also be air temperature.  When that blood carries malaria, it is now warmer which means it is less likely to remain dormant and quicker to spread.  A few degrees isn't a lot for a human, but it can be deadly via those pesky little mosquitos.  Second, with the temperature change we are seeing an increase in precipitation intensity (not volume).  This is leading to things like sewer overflows into places like Lake Michigan.  When tested, these waters have E. Coli and all kinds of little nasties, and guess what?  Our drinking water is being pulled right back out from these lakes.  Another very important point he made was that if you consider a more holistic view of the cost to convert to clean energy, it suddenly becomes a no-brainer.  Cities in the midwest U.S. showed a $4B healthcare cost savings by electing one day per week without driving (less polution, more exercise - kind of makes your head explode with the obvious simplicity of it).

In the Economic Development Strategies, Public Policy and Remote Sensing category, Alan Grainger from Leeds University talked about the World Forest Observatory, the first global monitoring system for the forest lands we have left.  Sounds crazy that we wouldn't have global monitoring systems by now (doesn't google monitor everything?) but it has been a real challenge create a publicly accessible data warehouse or wiki.  This one appears to be launching this year, however, and they hope it will lead to other global resources for gathering and monitoring data that spans the globe. 

In this same panel, I learned about two Israeli companies that have developed Concentrator Photovoltaics which significantly improve the efficiency of solar energy.  The companies are Zenith Solar and MST. 

During our Monday field trip, we visited a UNESCO world heritage site - the ancient Nabataean city of Avdat.  It was a major stop on the incense route from Asia for over 600 years B.C.  Continuing with the theme of the conference, we were shown their advanced agricultural techniques which allowed them security and prosperity with less than 8cm of rain per year, that hasn't existed in the area since.  While there, a military helicopter did several fly-bys and then hovered over us for a while (quite irritating when trying to listen to a speaker.)  This wasn't the last of the military operations overhead though.  There were planes rocketing overhead on a regular basis out there in the Negev.  Sadly, less than a week after the conference, a plane went down due to pilot error in practice, killing the 28 and 30 year old pilots.  It has been big news here.

The bottom picture here is the view from the field school in Sede Boqer.  I went out for a morning walk on Tuesday and ran into a family of mountain goats.  They were curious about me, but as long as I didn't get too close to the two young ones, the parents left me alone and continued along the edge of the cliff.   I didn't know what to expect in the "desert,"  but I was surprised by the large valleys.  I could never live in a place that dry, but it was definitely worth a visit!

A Floating Band

At the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Getting hired in Israel

Leave the U.S. and you will be reminded that while we have crossed the line of common sense with litigation, the original intent for having some legal recourse is a good thing.

I have been hearing some of the "horror stories" from job hunting first hand from a friend here.  While most of the major public corporations follow international hiring standards, she has had some interesting experiences with a few private firms. 

Not long into a recent interview, she was asked, "What does your father do for work in the U.S.?" and then, "So, are you married? Do you have any children?" She handled this as gracefully as she could, by replying with, "How will that be relevant to the position?"  The hiring manager apparently viewed this as an open opportunity for debate, as his response was, "Well, if a woman comes in for an interview, and she has four children, don't you think I have a right to know this?"  A few minutes of this back and forth made it quite clear that she wasn't interested in working with these people, so she gave him the best response she could - "Well, I'm single, have no kids, and would you like to know when I'm ovulating?"

On the other hand, she has had better luck getting an explanation when not selected, whereas in the U.S. the standard response is, "we had many highly qualified candidates and had to choose the one who was the best fit for the position."  And that basically means, I'm not telling you a thing because I don't want a lawsuit.

I have been networking a little here so far, but haven't gone on any official interviews.  I'll let you know what I discover first hand, although my meager Hebrew skills will probably preclude me from access to the good story-making interviews.

A day in Jerusalem

Last Thursday I joined Dan's colleagues for their tour of Jerusalem.  We left Tel Aviv about 8:30am, and drove the hour in reverse traffic, luckily, as the inbound traffic to Tel Aviv was at a stand still. We arrived in Jerusalem via some off-highway roads that were used to get the women and children out of Jerusalem during the occupation before the 1967 reunification.  Our guide, Yuval, was one of the babies taken out of the city, because his family had already made Jerusalem their home nearly 40 years earlier, having immigrated to Israel from Poland before WWI.   

We also drove a steep, winding old street that was the original road into the city before modern roads were built.  Jerusalem sits on top of a series of hills.  We started with a view of the old city from an adjacent hill.  The valley between is a large Jewish cemetary, however along the wall to the old city there are Muslim graves, put there in an attempt to keep the Jews out, as Orthodox Jews are not allowed to pass through this type of cemetary.  It had something to do with being "unclean." 

Inside the old city is the Temple Mount, a holy site for Muslims, the Western "Wailing" Wall, a holy site for Jews, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a holy site for Christians.  The old city is made of layer upon layer of construction, so the archaelogical digs that you can tour are fascinating.  They go back to Herod's temple, built over 2,000 years ago.  This was at a cultural turning point from polytheism to monotheism.  If you're interested, there's a lot more on Wikipedia.  It is fascinating to see the solutions that Israel has come up with since the last bombing of the city in the late 1960's in order to allow those living there to rebuild, while creating access for the archaologists to uncover the history below. 

Unfortunately, at street level it has become in many ways like every other tourist destination on earth - vendors hauking clutter, looking for suckers.

It was nice to come back here, having spent a day in 2006, and this time not worry about "seeing, doing, and buying" like I'd never be back.  I'm looking forward to exploring more of the country so that I can provide  an insiders guide when you come to visit us.  

A day in Bethlehem and the Dead Sea

Last week Dan's colleagues were in town for a business meeting.  Two came from Dubai, and two from Dearborn, MI.  One of the guys from Dearborn brought his wife and they stayed a few extra days, as this was their first visit to Israel - a "trip of a lifetime," she indicated on several occasions. 

A tour of Jerusalem was scheduled for the Ford team on Thursday. But because she expected to be on her own for Wednesday, she had scheduled a tour guide then as well, to see Bethlehem and the Dead Sea.  I offered (via Dan) to take her to dinner in the evenings and show her around Tel Aviv, so she reciprocated and invited me on her Wednesday tour.  It was my first time out toward Jerusalem since 2006, which was the only time I have visited Israel before we moved here. 

We started with a drive up through Jerusalem, to the Scrolls of Fire monument that is a memorial of the Holocaust. It is in the Martyrs Forest, comprised of 6 million trees, representing the lives lost. 

Then our guide, Yuval, took us to the border of the West Bank where we transferred to another vehicle (a border shuttle service for tourists).  I had my passport with me, but it turned out not to be required.  The border guards obviously knew the driver, a Christian Arab who lives in the West Bank but has ID allowing him to go back and forth.  Yuval did not go with us, likely because Israeli's are not generally allowed into the West Bank.  Crossing was easy, and once over there, we transferred cars again to join a guide who took us into the Church of the Nativity.  This is where they say Jesus was born.  There is a church built over the site, as with all the bibilical locations here.  It is a combination church, in that the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic each have a side to the building. 

Next we transferred to yet another guide in order to go about 5 minutes away to the Shepard's Field.  The Arab guides in Bethlehem have specific sites that they cover, not unlike a gangster's territory, however, these guys were focused on cycling through the tourists referred their way to earn their share of the daily fees.  I asked how things are over there for them.  Recent relative peacefulness has increased the number of tourists, and that's good news for them.  40% of Bethlehem is working in the tourist industry.  So they have a strong vested interest in peace.  One of the guides said he was able to freely go back and forth before 2000, when the suicide bombings in Israel drove the government to start restricting travel.  That is what lead to the building of the Wall that now restricts most Israeli's from the West Bank, and most Arabs from the rest of Israel.  But I met others there who do have access to travel back and forth.  They just weren't young men.  Profiling is a way of life here, unfortunately.  But it's working, for both sides, from an economic standpoint at least.  I don't see that it helps cross-cultural understanding.  Business and tourism seem to be driving forces in cross-cultural interaction, which from what I have seen tends to break down stereotypes.  We did pass by an interesting settlement outside Jerusalem (before we got to the West Bank) where Yuval explained that Christians, Jews, and Muslims are purposefully coexisting peacefully.  He said their model is based on the education system - they go to their own religious establishments for religious education in the morning, and have a co-educational environment all afternoon.

After the Shepard's Field our guide took us to his tourist shop and tried to sell us his over-priced goods.  Unfortunately this is standard operating procedure, as are kick-backs for taking your tourists to specific restaurants and vendors (as we learned once back with Yuval, who ate and drank for free everywhere we paid).  Once back with Yuval, he took us to a Kibutz for lunch and then we drove out to the Dead Sea and floated around at 1500 meters below sea level where the salt concentration is 8.6 times that of the ocean.  When I say float, I mean float!  Once you lift your feet up, you can barely get them back down to the mud.

From there, it took about an hour and a half to drive home.  This will be a guaranteed stop on your local Israel tour, should you decide to come visit us.

Social media and cultural exchange

Coincidentally, I saw two movies in the same night, thanks to an invitation by Triwaks Communications to the premiere of "Social Media," the story of Mark Zuckerberg (through a Hollywood lense of course), and "The Hebrew Lesson", a small independent film about Ulpan Gordon, the hebrew language school that I am attending right now. 

"Social Media"
This is the dramatized story of the founder of Facebook (founded in 2004).  It's shot on location at Harvard, and the jury is out on whether there was a brief reference to Wellesley in there.  It shows the interesting series of decisions and driving motivations behind a "genius mind."

"The Hebrew Lesson"
This documentary followed a class of students in 2004 from January through June.  These stories ranged from a Russian man who came here to be closer to his young daughter and astranged ex-wife, to a Chinese woman who worked as a housekeeper and married the man she kept house for, to a Peruvian woman who came here to serve in the army and stay with her boyfriend then becomes pregnant.  It is a movie about relationships and the process of adjusting to foreign culture.  A woman in my class hosted the screening at her apartment.  She is a German woman with an Israeli partner.  Watching the movie was a bit like watching our own class on film.  (albeit more dramatic than ours, but maybe I just don't know my classmates well enough yet).

These two movies together, which were not in any way associated, held common relationship themes that kept both of the stories engaging, despite completely different formats and content.  Both took us through the process of individuals coping with the challenges of trying to assimilate to a culture that was not their own.  Some "failed" and/or gave up, while some persisted and created a new reality for themselves and others.   Either way, time keeps passing for all.