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.   

On Hold in Israel

My sister forwarded this article from the Tufts University news about an Israeli visiting professor's take on the current situation in the middle east. It resonates with exactly what I've been hearing here.

On Hold in Israel

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. 

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. 

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 Weekend in Jerusalem with Desert Scientists

Last Tuesday (Nov 2nd), I received a call from the conference coordinator of the Drylands, Deserts, and Desertification Conference to be held Nov 8-11th, asking if I was still available to volunteer (and thereby attend) the conference.  She asked that I meet a group of incoming participants in Tel Aviv Friday morning November 5th and escort them for the weekend, a pre-tour that seven individuals had elected as part of their visit to Israel. 
How did the conference get my name?  I shared a book on sustainability with the Wellesley Club of Israel, to which one of the members responded.  Turns out she's the PR Director for Ben Gurion University, the host of the conference.  I agreed (and Dan rescheduled my birthday dinner to Thursday evening before I left). 

I met five individuals at a hotel just 10 minutes north of our apartment, tracked down our bus driver, and we were on our way by 11:10am.  We drove the hour to Jerusalem (top pic), where we met our tour guide, Noa Karmon, who works in Shimon Peres' office during the week.  Tour guiding is a weekend side-gig for her, and based on the receipt she gave me to pass along to the conference coordinator, it is a lot more lucrative than her 6,000 shekel/monthly salary (less than $2,000, for which she works 12+ hour days). 

Our first stop was the Jerusalem Shuk (outdoor market).  It was not unlike the one here in Tel Aviv.  At the opportunity to split up for lunch, I encouraged Noa to show us a place that she recommended (to try to get something more authentic).  The little home-cooking spot she chose was excellent.  I suggested we order for the table to share, and the others seemed greatful for the chance to try a variety of local arabic dishes, including kibbe, mousaka, rice and chicken. 

After lunch we walked through the neighborhood across the street from the shuk.  This historical district (2nd pic from top) has gone through many changes, but thanks to a little foresight, has maintained it's character.  A cheap place to live in the 1970's due to newer, more modern developments elsewhere, it is now one of the hottest neighborhoods in town.  As part of it's historical significance, there are plaques on the outer walls of some of the homes with photos and stories of the families that lived in/owned the properties during the establishment of the state of Israel.  Tel Aviv has a neighborhood like this which is walking distance from our place, Neve Tsedik.                                    

We spent the late afternoon on Friday at the Israel Museum, where the dead sea scrolls are housed.  In order to create an environment that would mimic the cool, dry climate of the caves that they were "lost" in for over 1000 years, the museum built a water cooled underground space that looks a bit like a white spaceship on top (3rd from top).  Two hours here wasn't nearly enough time, but luckily I can go back.  I walked through the ancient civilizations section and the modern art section (rather quickly).  My favorite piece in this wing was the floating band (see right).  The large square building (right) is the Knesset, or Parliament building, the seat of the Israeli legislature. 

Noa left us from the museum, so I was in charge of helping our driver get us to the hotel, Ramat Rachel Kibutz, where we were staying two nights.  The bus driver wasn't familiar with Jerusalem, but luckily he asked for directions from other vehicles, as I wouldn't have been much help.  (As an aside, I have heard that the joke about men not asking for directions doesn't translate here.)  At the hotel I spent a little time sorting out the reservations, as we were missing two who had cancelled, they had my name wrong, and they didn't have our driver's name.  After a few phone calls we worked it out, and put in a request to track down one participants luggage (El Al lost it on the way in from Africa).   

Once everyone had a chance to get settled, we met up in the dining room for dinner.  Buffet style, it included hot dishes and a variety of salads.  Turns out this was the same cafeteria that the guide brought us to for lunch a few weeks ago, when I was out in Jerusalem with Dan's work colleague's wife from Dubai.  The participants were happy with the variety and quality, which worked well, although I am not usually one for mass produced cafeteria style food.  It wasn't the best, but it was convenient.  Of the five participants, there were three from the U.S. (one born in China), one from Australia and one from Africa.  The Americans were two professors and a grad student in agricultural sciences.  The Australian and African were from the public sectors in their respective countries.

On Saturday we met Noa for a full day in the old town of Jerusalem, including a visit to the Western Wall /Wailing Wall.  At our lunch break the group split off for coffee so I had a chance to go with Noa deep into the Muslim quarter where we ducked into a little 3 table eatery where the chef brings in home-cooking and sells until it's gone each day.  We had hummus with meat, pita, pickles, rice, and boy was it delicious!  In the evening I escorted the Australian and African women to a multimedia performance at the Tower of David, back in the old city.  The Americans decided to get some rest, due to their jet lag. 

Sunday morning we said goodbye to our driver Riad, and joined several groups of incoming conference participants for a full 35 person bus tour day in the old city again. This was a bit repetitive, and gave me the first taste of the disorganization that was to follow.

Ahmadinejad in Lebanon last Thursday

It was just another regular day here for us.  No talk about politics at Ulpan.  But it was all over CNN Thursday night.  It appears Iran is using Lebanon to build support and position itself against Israel.  Sounds like this isn't new, although Ahmadinejad's media exposure seems heightened.

I did hear at least one local perspective on the peace talks taking place right now.  It sounds like the American position is so concerned about trying to make the peace talks work that they are making huge concessions to try to temporarily hault construction in the West Bank now that the freeze on construction has ended.  The reason this is important is that the two sides won't have a meaningful conversation as long as Israeli construction is permitted there.

Another Israeli who says that she doesn't really follow the politics shared her sense of irony, in that Iran was one of Israeli's closest allies years ago.  In fact, her family even lived in Iran for a short time.  But changes from Kingdom to democracy changed the Iranian leadership's relationship with Israel (obviously, for the worse).

It seems to me that the middle east is like a family.  Fighting all the time, but more like each other than anyone else.  The ultimate, epic family feud.

I

Brunch at the Ambassador's house

On Wednesday last week I was forwarded an invitation from our relo agency, ORI, to attend a welcome coffee hosted by the US Ambassador’s wife. It said family members of embassy employees welcome, so I wasn’t convinced it would be open to me, but I called anyway. I was initially told I could attend future events, but not the one on Friday morning at the Ambassador’s house. However, I was given information about the International Women’s Club of Israel which I followed up on. Then I received a call back on Thursday inviting me, pending clearance via my passport #.


I drove to Herzilya Pituach, about 25 minutes north of Tel Aviv via car, for the 10am event on Friday morning. There was an interesting mix of about 40 women there. Most were wives of embassy employees, a few were employees themselves. Some had grown children and have lived around the world in places including Rome, Belarus, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq. A few were on their first assignment abroad like us. Many were from Texas, most have lived in Washington, D.C. for some period of time, and a couple had lived in the Seattle area (UW grad and Fort Lewis).

I also met the Community Liason for the Embassy (the only man there), who is a BIG fan of the Sea Bear smoked salmon from the Skagit Valley – so much so that he gets it shipped here, and he plans to retire to Orcas Island.

The event was an informal networking opportunity, except for a brief introduction and presentation from the International Women’s Club President and the lead for the Embassy Wives Club. Apparently this summer brought one of the biggest turnover’s of embassy staff in a long time, which explained the large number of attendees who were as new as me. All of us newbies introduced ourselves, and the women who have kids at the American School knew Dan’s predecessor well, as he had 5 kids attending there during his assignment.

It was nice to spend time with people who understand the challenges of tiny Israeli kitchens, inadequate wiring, and limited storage space. I hope to find more meaningful commonalities as I get to know them better.

On a side note, just before we left the event, clouds moved in, thunder took over, and we got our first REAL RAIN STORM!! The streets were flooded as Dan and I drove out to run our Friday errands. Fall is finally here!

"ha mora" (the teacher)

Had an interesting experience in hebrew class during our last week.  Our teacher (who is a wonderful teacher, by the way), asked our class why we came to Israel and what impressions of Israel exist in our home countries.  The general consensus was that the media in all our countries (US, Norway, Ukraine, Germany, UK, Canada) did not reflect Israel in a positive light.  Well, this really hit a nerve for her.  She came in to class the following day and spent the first half hour of class telling us how upset she was by what we had told her (can't imagine her previous classes provided different feedback).  She felt that it is not fair how the media in other countries portray Israel's political actions.  Well, who ever said the media has a monopoly on the truth?  No surprises here.  As my high school physics teacher used to tell us, "it's all relative."

What was interesting was how upsetting it was to her; how careful she feels Israel is to lead by moral example in this region, particularly from a humanitarian stand point.  She believes that Israel is grossly misunderstood.  Her identity is so closely tied to Israel that this was extremely personal for her.  I've seen this blurring of personal identity and country here much more than I have in the U.S., or in other countries.

I certainly have felt both pride and embarrassment at American news and actions, but I can't think of a time that it has interacted with my sense of self. 

It was suggested to me that a key difference is that as a smaller country, there is a stronger sense of defensiveness when feeling misunderstood than for citizens in a country that is a leading world power. 

I am curious - what impressions do you have of Israel and more importantly, why?  Where did your impressions come from?
If you're not sure, or want to learn more, I am extending an open invitation to come and decide for yourself what Israeli's are like.  We have a spare room now.

US Embassy e-alerts

The below content was emailed to me by the US Embassy last week.  I thought it was rather interesting (I've been working on identifying adequate sources of news in English here).  For those of you worry-worts, this is at least a 6 hour drive from Tel Aviv.  Google the country of Israel, and you can see it's at the very southern tip.  I hear there was a sqirmish in the north with Lebanon as well, but that's about 2 hours drive north from Tel Aviv.

"Warden Message as of August 2, 2010


This morning, August 2, 2010, at approximately 0800 hours, five rockets were fired towards the city of Eilat, a resort town located in the south of Israel. Media reports that the rockets were fired from an area in the Sinai, with several of the rockets landing in open areas in Eilat. At least one of the rockets landed in Jordan causing several injuries. Anyone traveling to Eilat or in Eilat should be aware of this incident. Israel requires buildings to have bomb shelters. U.S. citizens should take steps to find out the location of the nearest bomb shelter."