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.

All cities should have this

Bicycle sharing.  It's like ZipCar for bicycles (with a much lower cost of entry).  Except that you don't have to return your bike to the same location.  You can pick up and drop off at any of the stations around town.  So no more worries about your bike being stolen. 

We fell in love with the system in Paris (I took the top picture here of Dan and my mom, Charolette, last September).  Dan has used bike-sharing in Montreal.  And now it is coming to Tel Aviv!  According to the bike-sharing blog, Vancouver, Canada and Seattle, WA are studying the possibility of adding a system.  Portland, OR is implementing a plan.  And Denver, CO already has it.  Washington, D.C. does as well, and Boston, MA was supposed to get it last year (not sure if it is operational).

Just one more reason you should come visit us here (besides the fact that I planted my tomato seeds outside this afternoon, in shorts and a tank top.)

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!

Why bicycles don't belong on the sidewalk

On my way to Ulpan this morning, I looked away for a second, and when I looked forward again, I saw two people in a half roll with a bicycle about to land on the sidewalk about 50 feet in front of me.  The biker had come up behind the pedestrian woman and must have misjudged his clearance sending her in a spin to the ground.  There's nothing she could have done to avoid it.

Two people, who were already beyond the accident when it occurred, heard the crash and turned around to come back to help.  The biker had one of those, "I'm a real dunce" smiles on his face as he tried to check on her, and pick his bike up.  As I passed (I didn't stop because there were already 3 people trying to help them at this point), she was holding her leg and arm.  It didn't look like she was going to be walking away from that one. 

Israel certainly doesn't have a monopoly on poor city planning, but it was still sad to see.

Why it's important to park close to the curb

This is the second time I've seen a truck get stuck on our street.  Our street is like a funnel, narrowing as you drive around the curve and toward the light.  Last time the result was a car with a large horizontal gash from the tail light to the headlight on the passenger side. 

This time it was a tow truck, looking for victims.  In Israel the tow trucks pull up beside the car, extend a fork under the car, lift it up in the air, and slide it onto a flatbed.  I should know.  Check out my post "Learning for next time" dated 8/10/10. 

apparently you CAN fight city hall

Tel Aviv residents are allowed a resident parking sticker, making street parking free in your zone, and about 10% of the price in other city zones.  Dan got his back in early July.  But when we requested mine, they rejected it because each car needed to be linked to a separate employee and paycheck. Most professionals in Israel are given a company car by their employer, and pay a small amount out of their monthly paycheck. This is what the city uses to validate their application and issue the sticker.  But both of our cars are under Ford Motor Company, under Dan.  The city said a resident/employee is only allowed one sticker (assumption being that without employment, you'd never have a car I guess, and a single employee would certainly never have two cars!).  However, we both pay city taxes, so we were prepared to fight.

After a month and a half of waiting in city hall lines, phone calls that no one answers, an appeal to the Tel Aviv municipal authority, a rejection, ratcheting our complaint up the food chain, and general all around noise-making - success! 

They delivered my Tel Aviv resident parking stickers yesterday morning at 8am, by messenger!

shana'a tova!

Last night we celebrated the Jewish New Year with dinner at Uncle Igor's house in Nes Ziona, about a 40 minute drive from our place in Tel Aviv, going southeast.  Everyone had a half day of work yesterday (like Friday's, when they're getting ready for shabbat), and today is a holiday. Rosh HaShana'a (which literally means "head of the year" in hebrew) lasts 48 hours, so with the way the holiday falls this year, it ends when shabbat begins, which means another day and a half of closed stores and empty roads afterwards. 

I went to the Shuk HaKarmel (the big street market in Tel Aviv) yesterday and came home with a backpack full of fruits and veggies for 140 shekels ($37).  Then we took a cooler with us on our way to Igor's so we could stop at the Tiv Tom near his house and buy some meat and dairy.  We try to go out there because the city only has smaller, more expensive grocery stores.  Tiv Tom is a big chain here, opened by russian immigrants.  It is not kosher, so you can buy shrimp and pork there, and they stay open a few hours later.  It is on the higher end, so it looks a lot like a large Whole Foods.  Hope this food will last, because everything is shut down now until Sunday.

There were about 20 people at Igor's.  Aunt Nechama cooked a traditional meal.  It starts with a series of appetizers that are the same every year, as each item represents something.  A prayer is read before each item is passed.  (Although there was discussion that Nechama's brother, who was trying to get through the readings over the chatter at the table, wasn't even reading the correct blessings).  The most well known of the foods passed around is the combination of apples and honey.  This is a wish for a "sweet" new year.  They also pass some foods that are savory (or sour) like zuccini to which you are also supposed to add honey to make the new year sweet.  There were also pomegranite seeds and fresh dates (not dried).  Then came a first course of more traditional foods - fish cakes (gefiltefish), liver pate, boiled eggs, roasted veggies and garlic (yum!), potato salad, and lettuce and tomato salad.  Soup came next, and this of course was matza ball soup.  When you didn't think you could fit any more food in, out came the mains - beef stew, chicken over potatoes, and several rice dishes.  It's a good thing they took an hour break before bringing out the honey cake and ice cream cake!

As you have just read, it sounds a lot like an American Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Get the family together, eat until you pass out, then eat leftovers for a week. 

The one difference I noticed was that while family travels to be together (the road traffic is WORSE than the day before Thanksgiving in the U.S.), people don't stay over.  We left at 11:30pm, and got caught in the traffic jam of a lifetime on the highway.  Except instead of sitting in it like we would have in the U.S., we joined dozens of other vehicles that pulled into the breakdown lane and then backed up about half a mile to the last turn off.  Can you IMAGINE?!?!? 

chutzpah, they say

Parking in Tel Aviv is a lot like Boston.  Dan has a resident sticker on his car, so we've been trying to park it on the street overnight to save the hotel parking fee on a 2nd car.  (I don't have a resident sticker yet, thanks to the bureaocracy at city hall, but that's a whole other story).

So tonight Dan parked in the short-term hotel spaces that are reserved for 20 minute in-and-out visits.  On our walk back to the hotel after dinner, we saw a great spot close by, so I stood in it, while Dan went to get the Explorer and bring it around.  This is where it gets fun.

Within 30 seconds a guy pulls up to within a foot of my legs.  When I didn't move (I kept reading a little brochure I'd picked up on the way home), he got out and started telling me how you can't reserve city spots (never mind that I've lost oodles of spots to other people doing the same thing here).  How did I know what he said?  Because he used English.  I think he figured I wouldn't know how it goes here, and so began the game of Chicken.  While he continued his rant, a jeep started to back into the spot from the other end.  He came within a few feet of me as well.  Not sure what the two of them thought they'd do if I actually moved.  But I didn't.  The first guy got back in his car, rolled a few more inches toward me, and sat there.  The guy in the jeep now got out and asked me what was up.  I told him I was parking here.  So he gave up and drove off.  Guy number 1, still there.  After another couple minutes of trying to engage me in a heated debate while I continued to ignore him, he drove off. 

Another minute passed, and a third car pulled up.  This one didn't get out or ask anything, just tried to pull in.  When I didn't move from my strategically positioned middle of the spot stance, he drove off too. 

Next came a woman, on foot!  She walked up, and started asking me in English if I speak Hebrew or English.  I ignored her initially, but she was persistent.  She said, "it is a big spot, for two cars, no?"  I said, "well, I doubt it.  We're parking an Explorer here."  She gave me a confused look.  So I stretched out my arms wide and said, "a big truck."  At which point she lost hope and walked away. 

Another minute passed and Dan finally made it around the one-way streets and pulled up.  Here they call it chutzpah.  I call it survival in Israel.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, eh?

Learning for next time

There are a lot of "firsts" for things you take for granted when you move to a new country.  The first time I drove here.  The first time I got blocked into a parking spot.  The first time I got towed.  The first time I got allergy shots (and the second).  The first time Dan tried to cash a check at the bank. 

Yes, last Thursday I got towed.  I was parked in a zone that should have been ok.  But there was a sign in hebrew behind me (and the other cars around me) that apparently indicated an exception to the general rule during certain hours. 

Last Thursday I went to get my allergy shots.  At the clinic they told me to go get my payment voucher.  At the payment voucher office they told me to go pay, then bring back the receipt.  Then they gave me the voucher, sent me back to the clinic, where I finally got in the queue 45 minutes later.  Then I was going to have to wait an additional hour until I could leave, so I left and came back after Ulpan, rounding out a 2 1/2 hour process.  In the U.S. I would have been in and out in under 10 minutes.

Today we walked into the best known bank brand in Israel, Bank Leumi, where Dan has his business account.  However, because we were in the Tel Aviv branch, they weren't willing to cash his check for 400 shekels (that's about $100).  It took a call to the branch where the account was opened, a fax, a copy of his ID, and then they figured out he was listed by his US passport instead of his Israeli ID as the account owner.  Still, they had to deposit the check, then take out the cash.  They wouldn't just cash it.  Oye ve!