Half Marathon Man

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I have been getting back in shape and ran 10 miles three weeks ago – marking my ability to run a half marathon. I jumped at the first chance I had to get back into the half marathon game and ran a half marathon on Friday December 10^th. The run was awesome, the commute was excessive, the scenery magnificent and the trip all in all very worthwhile. Here’s the skinny:

My cousin Anat told me about a half marathon being run near Bet Shean, a small city in the bottom or the northern part of Israel (see map). Bet Shean also houses amazing Roman ruins of an amphitheater and ancient mosaics. The race was the Israel Half Marathon Championships and Israel’s fastest runners as well as 2,500 others would be coming out to race in what I was told was a relatively flat course. It sounded like a great plan. Bet Shean is just under 2 hours from Jerusalem and there are no buses that head that way at 5:30 in the morning, the time I needed to go to the race to get there in time for registration. Luckily, my sister and brother-in-law bought a car from his parents neighbors two days before the race and they were kind enough to lend me their new 11 year old baby (yes the car is a 1999 – its sweet). Before I committed to taking their car, I wanted to exhaust all other options on how to get to the race. I logged on to Janglo (Jewish + Anlgo = a Craigslist-esqu site for English speakers in Israel. Although I did not find a ride, I found another runner looking for a ride – Daniel the 21 year old soldier. I called the number on the ad, which was actually placed by Daniel’s mother and I arranged that I’d drive Daniel and he would pitch in for gas:

On an aside, gas is a fortune in this country. A liter of gas is nearly 7 NIS (New Israeli Shekel), which is nearly $2 ($1/3.6 shekel). That means that a gallon of gas costs more than $6!

Daniel and I before the race

I arranged with Daniel that I’d pick him up – he lived about a mile from me – on Friday morning at 5:30. The weather Friday morning was cool as I got into the car before the sun rose. Once I picked up Daniel and one short wrong turn detour later we were on our way. The drive to the race was awesome. I got to chatting with Daniel whose family moved to Israel when he was a few years old from Chicago – he spoke perfect English. The first leg of our journey took us to the Jordan River Valley which houses the Dead Sea - the lowest place on earth. Once we cleared the mountains of Jerusalem, we were driving towards Jordan on the flat valley watching the sun rise before us. It was majestic. We made a left and began heading north. The road was very scenic – mountains and hills to our left with the lush Jordan valley to our right.

When we arrived, registration went pretty smoothly and before we knew it we were lined up to run. The weather was beautiful – a bit warm though for a half marathon – mid 70s° C – but when its 76° C in December you can’t complain that it’s too warm. Here are some of the observations and thoughts that I had during the run:

·         Here we go – everyone here looks really serious – I hope I don't come in last place.

·         There are lots of groups of soldiers in matching t-shirts running the race.

·         Israelis love brand names. They all had fancy techy running gear.

·         We ran on the road (in this area there is only one road) that the police block all traffic from during the race. The road had a slight lean to it so for a lot of the race I felt like I was running across a gentle hill.

·         The area was pretty barren - we ran past a cow stables – I hope the air doesn’t taste like this the whole run – it didn’t.

·         I started off way too fast – gotta slow down – when everyone around you is going fast it’s hard to let everyone pass you.

·         The scenery is amazing – the race could have been out of a scene from Forrest Gump – more mountains around this huge loop we are running around a bunch of fields and fish ponds (big business raising fish). The course is so flat I can see runners a mile in front of me and behind me.

Pic from the parking lot (didn't run w. my camera)

·         I have a dream that has only been realized once, which is to be in a race and lose track of how far I had gone, only to discover when passing a mile marker that I am actually further than I thought I was – this had only happened to me during the marathon – I thought I was on mile 18 and suddenly boom mile 19 (disclosure it may have been 17 to 18 – I was in the Bronx). That is one of the best pick me up feelings in the world. It’s like getting a huge bonus. Since the race was run in Israel, it was 21 kilometers instead of 13.1 miles – obviously these are the same distances, but instead of 13 mile markers there were 21 kilometer markers. Psychologically I find it harder to run 21 km than 13 mi. whenever I go for long runs I change my running watche’s setting to miles – there is something daunting about running 16 km, while 10 miles doesn’t seem so bad. As I was running the race, I thought I was at kilometer 12 (I had changed the screen on my watch to hide the distance) and as you guessed it, I was at kilometer 11… crushing.

·         The first 8 miles of the run were the flattest 8 miles I have ever run off a treadmill. It is no wonder that the championships are held there. At around mile 8, we entered Bet Shean. I was so upset to discover that there was a hill – nothing to bad, but a hill none the less in Bet Shean. I was really upset – I felt like I had been tricked. After I calmed myself down (I wasn't screaming or shouting or anything), I got to thinking about how people quickly develop entitlement mentalities – there I was running a race that was as flat as a pool table – 8 miles of pure unadulterated speed (or at least potential for speed if one was in excellent shape), and I have become so accustomed to the flat that I felt the course and the race owed it to me – who were they to put a hill in a perfectly flat race like this – it was yet another teaching of the lesson I am continually taught while living in Israel– don’t take anything for granted.

·         As the race came to an end, I felt elated to be back in half marathon shape – it had been 9 months since my last half and I am glad to be back. After a race, there is usually a water table, a food table and a fruit table. Here there were none of them. Until the end of the race, things were run very well. The end could have been a little better planed out.

o   A short walk passed the finish line runners were handed two liter bottles of water. While it was hot and people sweat a lot, 2 litter bottles may have been excessive – they cost more than cups of water, they end up getting left all over the place and very few people finish the bottle.

o   The food given out immediately after the race was about 400 meters (a quarter of a mile) down the road from the finish line – a man standing on top of three giant bins was handing out grapefruits. There were also pomelos and pomelites (small pomelos). I am pretty sure they have pomelo in the States, but in case they don't, pomelo is a large citrus fruit with a thick peel and very large pulp… they are amazing. Generally the fruit given out at the end of a race does not need to be peeled… the peels end up everywhere and it makes the food less accessible – none the less, Daniel and I stretched and ate citrus (he met me at the finish line – ran a really impressive 1:47 for his first ever half marathon).

o   After we snacked on the fruit we had to go return our bib numbers. I was pretty upset about this. The bib number is the paper number that is pinned to each runners shirt. I collect all my bib numbers and have never not kept one from a race that I ran – in this case, the time chip of the bib number that records each runners time was imbedded in the bib. In order to get my race medal, t-shirt and bag of treats (dates, Nature Valley bar and other goodies) I had to return my bib. Briliantly, the bib return area was inside a gymnasium with one door – picture 2,500 people pushing in and out of the door to return their numbers… not well arranged – the traffic was worsened by the fact that right inside the gymnasium, where everyone was pushing to get either in or out of the building, the race organizers were rapidly posting all the race results as runners finished. In theory this was really cool – in practicality they should have posted them somewhere else.

·         After we got our baggies, we headed to the car, stretched a bit and got on our way. The drive back was difficult – we were both really tired. Thankfully only Daniel nodded off on the way home.

The half marathon all in all was an awesome time and I hope to run it again, only next time I want to be in killer shape – it is definitely a course to set a PR (personal record). Oh by the way, I ran the half in about 1:58 – not too shabby – my 3^rd best time ever. In March I ran a 1:52 – that's my time to beat.

Oh and of course:

The Water Situation

I’m sorry blog readers – I have been really naughty – good thing Christmas isn’t a thing here or I’d be getting a lump of coal – I haven’t posted a blogpost in a long time. I written them, just not posted. So along with my sincere apologies, here is a post that I wrote on December 15^th. I have not changed the dates because I wanted to get it to press. I have written a short update below.

Written last week:

Let me start off by saying that before this week, I had not seen more than a strong drizzle in nearly four months since I arrived here… it does not rain a lot in Israel.

I have written in the past about the dire water situation in Israel. The country is under a constant water shortage and is heavily reliant on rain as its water source. Growing up in America, I have always taken for granted the simple things like a constant supply of fresh water. Israel, in its innovative style is the world’s most advanced nation at water recycling and management. Israel treats, purifies and recycles 80% of its waste water before it is discarded as final waste water. Spain trails Israel in the standings – it recycles about 12% of its water. I also wrote in one of my first posts about how Israelis wash their dishes – soap up a sponge, wash each dish with the faucet off, then quickly and efficiently rinse each dish under the faucet, all the while using as little water as possible. The system is rather efficient and should be adapted worldwide. In a similar vain, it is important to turn off the faucet while brushing teeth, which all too many people in the US don’t do. I think the textbook move is to use a cup of water, rinse your mouth out and use the remaining water to wash the brush.

Israel is dependent on the winter rains for its water supply. The Kineret, the fresh water lake in the North, water levels and depth-which are used as indicators of Israel’s water supply are at record lows. Every year, Jews around the world alter their prayers seasonally to pray for rain. The timing of our prayers are based around the rain season, as it was determined inappropriate to pray for rain during the summer months, at a time when we know it will not rain in Israel. We made the switch a few months back and our prayers went largely unanswered for several months. The rain season in Israel in a good year starts in October.

A bit over a month and a half ago, a public day of fast was declared – a day when people were encouraged to pray for rain in the hopes that our heightened prayers would be answered. The idea may sound crazy to some, it did at first to me as well. However, after giving it some thought, I think there can be meaning to a fast to even those who do not believe our prayers or fasting efforts are heard by G-d. I should mention that the fast was generally observed by the orthodox portion of the population, but I do not imagine that was completely the case.

I think that in addition to strengthening our prayers for rain, a communal fast can have a strong unifying impact on a society. The idea of fasting for a cause is not exclusively a religious notion. Gandhi’s hunger strike for instance was to raise awareness and support. In a similar vain, the communal fast for rain can have a unifying effect. It reminds everyone that we are in this together and in addition to praying or hoping for rain– depending on your religious beliefs – it is important to remember and show each other that we need to conserve for ourselves and each other. No mater any Israelis religious or political beliefs, everyone is serious about water preservation and understand the importance of rain. I think the fast strengthens that unification and can function as an impetus for unifying Israel as a nation on other fronts as well.

I missed the first rain fast – I didn't hear about it until after the fast had past. Two weeks ago, a second fast was called–it still had not rained. I fasted, it was a short fast that ended at 5:30. At first I did not feel all of the unification that I had hoped to feel. two of the five people in carpool that morning were not fasting – one forgot and one had a nephews bris – circumcision (which involves a festive meal that trumped the fast). At the office, there was little talk of the fast and the few people I spoke to about it were not partaking (by not partaking). It was not until Mincha – afternoon services – that I got a sense that I was not the only one who had skipped breakfast and lunch that day. In the service they recited the special prayer we add on communal fast days. Oddly enough, although I knew that the fast was not so widely observed, I could not help but feel like I was somehow doing my part – I put in as much effort as one could put in to bring about rain.

In the beginning of last week, I heard a new water saving measure that is apparently nearly as widely followed as washing the dishes with a sponge and a rinse – many Israelis shower in the same fashion. This was hard for me to stomach – the move goes like this: Once you have been in the shower for a little bit and are totally drenched, turn off the water, soap yourself up with the water off and then turn the shower back on to rinse off. When I heard the idea, I was not thrilled, but was more than willing to do my part in preserving water. I can say one thing for certain about the Israeli shower method – it increases efficiency big time – when you are soaping up without water, you get cold and a shower just does not feel the same. When you turn the water back on, it is all business – after all, if you did not care you would not have turned it off in the first place. I now take very fast showers, especially considering the surface area I need to cover (I’m 6’5”).

As the end of last week, the water situation got even more serious. A fire started in the north. Experts believe the fire started from a discarded hookah coal that sparked some brush and spread to the point that 15,000 people needed to be evacuated from their homes. Tragically, 41 people died in fire – 40 of which were police cadets on their way to evacuate a prison from the fire that was spreading. The winds changed and the bus they were traveling on was engulfed in flames. Israel was caught off guard and unable to control the fire. International help was requested and received from all over - Europe, America and the Middle East including Greece, Bulgaria, America, Egypt, and despite very tense political relations Turkey (to name a few). It took over four days to contain and stop the fire. One of the reasons the fire spread so quickly is that everything was so dry – since there had been no rain.

Thankfully, last Monday, our prayers were answered – the same day the fire fighters up north extinguished the fire, Israel was blesses with its first real rain of the year. Everywhere I went – the talk of the town was the weather – and not just to cut through awkward silences. The popular line is – oh man it is raining – I wish it wasn't right now or right here. One thing is for sure, no one straight up complains about the rain here.

Since arriving in Israel, I have really learned to appreciate what I used to consider the little things like a water supply and even some annoyances – like rain.

Update: Since the rain storm we haven’t seen much precipitation action. We are still hoping for more and conserving water as much as possible. The rain situation has got me thinking – kids, like cats, generally hate to shower and bathe. I wonder if they use the water preservation argument here as a rationale to get parents to let them go coast to coast

Cribs - The Oracle Edition

Hey readers. Happy Hanuka. In honor of the holiday, and because this post was a long time coming, I present to you the Special Edition Oracle of Jerusalem Cribs Blog Post.

For your viewing pleasure, I have recorded a tour of my (now not so) new apartment. Last Thursday night my roommates and I hosted our apartment’s annual Hanukah party. You all have the opportunity to step into the place where it all went down just hours before the jelly doughnut eating madness began. I hope you enjoy. You will also now get to see a little more of what it’s like living in one of (if not the) greatest cities in the world.

For the New Yorkers out there who saw my old place on the West Side, for reference and benchmarking purposes, you should know that my apartment here in Israel is on about the same level as my apartment was on the west side in so far as quality and relative rent costs go, but I am paying about 35% of the rent I was paying in New York. Don’t let that deceive you though – people make a lot less here.

Enjoy.

Baby I'm Back

When I got to Israel, I was in bad shape – my last months in New York had been very hectic, filled with goodbyes, weddings, trips and fun times. Unfortunately, during those months, I fell a bit out of shape and had cut back on my running.

I have now posted several times about my return to fitness. I am proud to report that last Tuesday, I completed a 10 mile run around Jerusalem. 10 miles is a significant distance, because it implies that I am now in half marathon shape. I am hoping to run my first half marathon in 9 months this coming Friday-assuming logistics can be worked out—the race is 2 hours away.

Below is my 10 mile run video. If you are wondering what you can see in 10 miles of running in Jerusalem, I can tell you – a lot. I was all over the place. If you watch the video, you best pop some popcorn because it’s quite a show.

Happy Thanksgiving X3

This year’s Thanksgiving was like none I have ever had before. Despite the fact that I am over 6,000 miles from America, the true spirit of the day ran through the entire weekend. I have never in my life celebrated Thanksgiving as thoroughly as I did when I was not actually in Israel.

On Thursday, I woke up early to study more for my Hebrew mid-term. The traffic on the way to school was one of the many reminders that the day was not a holiday in Israel. I arrived 20 minutes late and immediately began my mid-term. It went well (I hope) and I got out early. I headed to the market to buy some wine, beer and soda for the Thanksgiving feast would be attending later in the day.

When I arrived at Boy Town Jerusalem, I was especially excited for class. On Tuesdays I teach 7^th graders that are behind in their English studies. They are just starting to piece together words having just completed learning the ABCs over the past two months.

On Thursdays I teach the 11^th and 12^th graders. Teaching the older students is more fun – they have more personality and have an English base on which to stand. Usually, we go over sections of their Bagrut (Israel’s Regent or high school matriculation exam) practice books. We read stories about space junk, book sales and travel clubs and then answer questions the passages. On Thursday I decided to mix things up in honor of the holiday. On Wednesday before I left the office I ran off some copies of Wikipedia’s Thanksgiving and Black Friday as well as two Black Friday advertisements to give the students a taste of what the greatest weekend in America is like.

When I mentioned to one of the 11^th grade teachers that I was going to teach my students about Thanksgiving he was surprised and concerned. I explained to him that Thanksgiving is not a Christian holiday, but is rather a great day for all to celebrate. When we started class, I soon came to realize the major error in my preparations. I should have spent the time looking for an easier passage that would be more understandable to my class. Unfortunately we had to make due with what we had. Reading through the Wikipedia articles gave me the chance to practice my Hebrew more than usual since I had to explain large sections of the passages. Nonetheless, the students enjoyed learning about Thanksgiving and at the end of class they said they like learning about America. One noted that he now had something to speak to Americans about. After the 11^th grade class, I was excited for the 12^th graders. They have the strongest grasp on English and I was sure they would understand more of the print outs. Before class I began editing the articles – crossing out sections that were unimportant or too difficult. 15 minutes after class was to begin, another English teacher came into the class room and informed me that the 12^th graders had taken a 3 hour exam for the air force to determine their qualifications for certain engineering units earlier in the day, and that the students had been sent home after the test.

On the one hand, I was happy because I now had time to go home and change and make it to Thanksgiving dinner on time, on the other hand, I was disappointed that I would not get to share with my students my enthusiasm for Thanksgiving. I decided that although it would be twelve months away, Thanksgiving will still be pertinent next week, and I’m excited to teach my 12^th graders all about Turkey Day soon.

After school, I headed with my friend Aviva to her friend’s home for Thanksgiving Dinner Round 1. It was amazing. When we arrived, the hosts already had the Thanksgiving Day Parade streaming through the internet and we sat around watching the parade sipping whiskey sours, a family tradition of one of the dinner attendants. The meal was absolutely amazing – the turkey named Carl was cooked to perfection and the pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes and cranberry crunch were all amazing. We went around the room sharing what we were thankful for and regaling each other with great Thanksgiving stories. To keep with my families tradition, I roasted chestnuts (not on an open fire though L) and many people had chestnuts for their first times. The meal was an absolutely great time.

After dinner we Aviva and I went to town and met up with our friends Rivka and Lisa. They had just come from another Thanksgiving feast that enthusiastically celebrated the holiday to the point that they had prepared themed hats for the meal. We wore the hats out in town and got a great range of responses. Americans enthusiastically wished up Happy Thanksgivings and Israelis rudely remarked that it was not Purim (a Jewish holiday on which people dress up in costume).

Indian and Pilgrim

The following day, I attended Thanksgiving Shabbat dinner at my friend Josh’s. Both the company and the feast were amazing. The turkey was again awesome and there was stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, the whole nine yards. Gideon, the token British guy at the meal decided to get very into the celebration of the holiday and brought song sheets that he said had “classic American Thanksgiving songs.” The song Albuquerque Turkey was his personal favorite – it came complete with a dance that he taught to the table and then made everyone sing and dance along. I have suspicions that he made the song up to “have a good piss at the expense of the Yankees.” The second dinner was also very authentic and a great time, but I still wasn't done yet.

I have a lot of cousins from the US studying in Israel this year. It just so happened that several of them were in Jerusalem this weekend, so my sister had us for lunch and made a sumptuous Thanksgiving themed lunch, again I ate turkey, sweet potato pie, apple cranberry crunch, etc. It was nice catching up with the family and my sister made a beautiful meal.

When all was said and done, I did not feel Thanksgiving-ed out. I found that the more meals I attended that we went around the table saying what we were thankful for, the more introspective and appreciative I became. I am really thank G-d very blessed and fortunate and I often try to remind myself of that fact and need to continue to do so.

It's Raining America

One of the best parts about living in Israel is that many of your friends will inevitably come visit to see friends or family or to celebrate a family or friend’s joyous occasion – be it a wedding, bar mitzvah or army completion ceremony. Over the past few weeks I have been lucky enough to have a bunch of friends come to visit. In addition to catching up with friends I have not seen in a few months, I have started to plan their trips better and have been asking them to bring me things from that States that I either can’t get here or are more affordable in the US.

Two weeks ago, my friend David W was here. It was my first weekend in my apartment and my roommates and good friend Lisa threw me a surprise apartment welcome party. We had a nice time together and I really enjoyed seeing Dave. I also has my friend Aaron stay over who was here for work with E&Y.

This week, I got to catch up with Maital, another good friend from New York. We went out to the new Mike’s Place, a bar in town. If you have not yet been, you should go. They have awesome kosher bar food. Lisa Maital and I dined on chicken wings, chili fries and beef nachos. All the things I could not eat at bars in America for Kosher reasons.

In addition to getting to see Maital, which was sweet, she brought me much needed new running shoes. I have giant feet and am not sure that Israel would even have running shoes my size – especially in the brand and width that I run – Brooks Beast 15-4E. They are awesome running shoes btw, and I have been wearing the same pair since right after the marathon – December 2009. A new pair was well overdue. I used them the following night, running 8.3 miles around Jerusalem, coincidentally on a lot of the same course that the 2010 Jerusalem marathon/half-marathon will follow. I am definitely in for the half – maybe the whole. Come cheer me on March 25, 2011. Thanks again Maital for the great delivery.

In about a week and a half my friend Mike is coming and he has been gracious enough to also bring me new work shoes – I came with really old work shoes as well. Thanks Mike.

I hope you all keep coming and visiting. I am just passed the three month mark on my time spent in Israel – three more months till I am going back for a visit. Hope you make it hear sooner.

I GOT PAID!!!!!!

That, my friends, is the short of it. I got paid. The long of it is that after three months, four visits to the Ministry of Interior, two visits to the Office of Foreign Workers and one accidental visit to the Jerusalem Municipal Offices (that was a bit of a mix up on my part – I misunderstood where the Jerusalem Ministry of Interior was – the woman looked so confused when I told her I was there for a visa – then she explained I was at the desk where people come to work out property tax issues – something I hope to not have to deal with.) I finally got my work visa. I showed up to my appointment, waited an hour after the start time (of course) and sat down with David, the visa guy.

He looked at my paperwork and told me immediately that the visa the lawyer my firm had hired to arrange that took nearly 3 months would cost my firm an additional 8,000 shekel and that I could get the B-1 for free (should have spoken to Iain – my roommate a while ago). As he was processing my B-1, their servers went out (of course). David told me that if they did not come back online soon I’d have to come back. Thankfully the servers came back to life and I got my visa. It wsa kind of anti-climactic but I none the less returned to my office feeling like a champion. At the end of the day, HR gave me a check for the majority of my last three month’s wages and told me we’d reconcile the rest at the next pay period… no big deal. Finally having the visa resolved (until I need to renew it in 6 months) felt great. What a relief.

Now on to depositing the check. While this task sounds easy, don’t let if fool you, it’s not. That night (Sunday) I got back to Jerusalem at around 9 pm, the bank was beyond closed and my bank does not have an ATM. The upside of the no ATM thing is that I can use other bank’s ATMs at no cost – the downside is that if I want to deposit a check I have to hand it in to the bank. Monday was the same story – left to Tel Aviv at 7 am, and did not return until 8 pm. Tuesday was the day – I finish teaching English at Boys Town Jerusalem at 3:00 on Tuesdays and figured I’d run over to the bank on the way home. You may or may not recall one of my first blog posts about my bank and its odd hours. The short of it is my bank (and every other bank in Israel) keeps odd hours. On my way over I checked my blackberry and realized that the bank’s cashier/teller counter closed at 2:30. I called the bank and they told me I’d have to come in between the hours of 8:30 and 2:30 to make my deposit. This obviously makes no sense as anyone who is working to make the checks that one would deposit in their account is at work from the hours of 8:30 – 2:30. I decided none the less to see if I couldn’t convince them to help me out.

I got to the bank at 3:50, which was good because the bank closes promptly at 4pm. I spoke to my account manager who told me that if I could not come in to the bank to deliver the check, I could mail it in. I looked at him dumbfounded – “If I put the check in the mail it is just going to end up right here.” He understood that but did not want to accept the responsibility of keeping my check on his desk overnight and depositing it in the morning. It makes me wonder how secure the bank is if the account manager fears for the safety of a check on his desk, or even better, for safety sake locked in a drawer. I was happy to hear that someone else could drop off the check for me. Thankfully my brother-in-law had some time the following day and he deposited the check for me on Wednesday. That afternoon I optimistically logged onto my online banking. Like the bank itself, the online banking system keeps odd hours and often does not work. I managed to get online and discovered to my surprise that my account balance was negative 1,000 shekel!

I actually owed the bank about 1,000 shekel (rouphly $273.30 at todays rate o 3.659 shekel/$1). The credit card I was issued is automatically paid off at the end of the month. Many Israelis “live in the red” and the banks allow them to charge more to their accounts for small fees (I was charged 10 shekel). One reason that people live in the red lies in the timing of cash flows. Rents are paid on the first, and credit cards are paid at the end of the month; however, salaries are generally only paid monthly on the 7^th-9^th of each month, one month in arrears (only for past work not for the future month). This timing can require people that make marginally enough to cover expenses overdraft their cash balances until pay day. Other people just live beyond their means and are allowed to.

At any rate, you can now all rest assured that within a day or two, when my pay check clears, I will back on stable financial ground, able to pay back the loans I took from my kid sister to live and will be able to make my rent payment at the beginning of the month.

STREET FAIR!!!!

Last Tuesday night I was faced with a serious dilemma, go for a run or join my roommate Shimon at the Jerusalem street fair that was taking place on Emek Refaim, a popular street lined with cafes and restaurants. Expecting to be generally unimpressed, but succumbing to fatigue and appetite, I opted to skip the run and join Shimon. My decision was definitely the right one. What we saw on the street fair is hard to put into words.

Shimon had mentioned that at the last street fair there were all sorts of food vendors selling dishes that are usually hard to come by in Israel. I recalled the street fairs held in New York where two blocks of an avenue are blocked off and vendors selling socks, hats, nicks and knacks were intermingled among those selling hit dogs, smoothies, barbeque, funnel cakes and all sorts of other unhealthy but certainly delicious dishes. I was excited at the prospect of actually being able to eat the street fair delicatessens, as they would finally be kosher for once.

 We met up with Jeremy and Gavin and headed onto Emek. Our first stop was the burrito booth – kosher Mexican food is unfortunately hard to come by. At the street fair I got me a burrito with everything on it. Across the way from the burrito stand, some lights and speakers were flashing and blaring as a group surrounded a hip-hop dance group. We checked them out for a bit and moved on. Things at this point of the street fair seemed normal and expected. As we progressed down the street, thing got weird quickly. We passed the singing, mime-looking clowns and the hard to describe (lots of those) performing group.

After the burrito, I was not yet full and we were ready for more fun foods. We came across a giant pot of kubbeh – a Sephardic dish of meat filled dumplings in a sour soup. It was very tasty and the pot was just awesome. The street fair was a bigger deal than I had been initially led to believe. 

 

Even the Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat came out. I did not get a chance to snag a picture with him, but got one while he was checking out the kubbeh – notice the two body guards with the ear pieces – there were there to protect him from the street fair crazies.

An artist had created several large statues that reminded me of pictures I have seen from Burning Man. The statues were kind of scary – large skeleton papier-mâché with cloth and material on them. At one point I looked to my right and saw these large skeletal statues and to my left I saw a miming performing group. Loud music filled the air – a mix between the brass band near the statues and the break dancing troupe’s hip-hop music, bright lights were flashing and suddenly I felt transported into a "freak out" scene of a movie - the entire environment was very tripy.

We met up with my friend Aviva and picked up some “candy floss” (Australian for cotton candy) and moved on. A guy in a full monkey suit on a unicycle biked past me screeching like a monkey. I heard later that he had climbed a tree and was screaming at people below. We then encountered a group of “performers” dressed in rags. There were acting out some sort of scene that involved them standing in a picture frame, loving a post covered in advertisements and periodically being afraid of everything. They were amusing and terrifying all at the same time. At one point they were running through the crowd and one of the performers jumps in front of Aviva, screams and steals some of her candy floss. Later, Jeremy posed with them as they were worshiping the flyer pillar – again really bizarre stuff.

That is a guy on the right. A crazy guy.

Another group of performers we saw was a group of three Israelis dressed as quintessential Israelis sitting in booths on ladders yelling at each other. The crowd seemed to love this because they clogged the road to watch and we had to squeeze through. I climbed into one of the stalls for a picture.

We saw a group of slapstick comedians we named the Shims perform. At one point they were pantomiming a boxing match and they needed a girl to pretend to hold a sign between the rounds in the fight. I quickly volunteered my friend Elana. As soon as she got up there, they Shims, who dressed in futuristic jump suits and mohawk wigs, told her in their hybrid English, Hebrew, Gibberish language that she should walk across the stage “making sexy” while holding her hands up to show what round of the fight was about to take place. Her first attempt at “making sexy” by dancing like she was at a barnyard ho-down was not appreciated by the Shims. Her second attempt did the trick. After her strut across the stage announcing the first round of the fight she tried to leave but they wouldn’t let her. She cleverly escaped when she announced round two and ran off the stage.

The Shims

The Shims Getting Down

Round 1

Forced to sit

At the end of the street fair, a large group of senior citizens were dancing a dance that they knew too well – I tried to figure it out and couldn’t get it. Jeremy pointed out that they have probably been doing the same dance steps for 40 years. That made me feel better about my dancing skills. I attended a salsa class the night before the street fair with Aviva and Lisa (I know I owe a post on it too) and so Aviva and I decided to try out our dance moves in public – on the unoccupied stage next to the senior dance party. All was going well until the DJ came over to us and told us to get off the stage – apparently we weren’t good enough to be tolerated on stage.

Below are other random pictures. All in all, the street fair was complete randomness and kind of indescribable. If you have the chance to go to a Jerusalem street fair, you should definitely go for it.

My roommate Shimon and I and a guy in costume.

Man on a unicycle pushing a child in a stroller.

Hip hop dance group

Your guess is as good as mine

People could get trash everywhere except in the not overfilled can.

 

WOOOO STREET FAIR 2010!!!

Quick Update - The Return Of Im Eshkachech Man

A few posts back, I wrote about a guy that rides the train with me in the mornings whose phone consistently goes off during services (see:Israelis Aren't Feeling the Good Vibrations). This morning his phone rang before services. This afternoon I again heard the same Im Eshkachech ring. I immediately turned around to see if the culprit was indeed Mr. Im Eshkachech. To my surprise, it was not. Apparently Im Eshkachech is the prayer disturbing, ring tone of choice. For now, I will assume that in the past as well the Im Eshkachech belonged to someone other than Im Eshkachech Man.

As always, I'll keep you updated as I learn more.

Also, keep your eyes open for Street Fair, a post coming soon that will hopefully explain a fraction of the absurdity I experienced at the Jerusalem street fair next week... stay tuned.

I Bleed For This Place

Today (Thursday) started off frustratingly to say the least. My work had scheduled a meeting with Greylock for 9:30 in the morning. After the meeting, I was going to attend a conference with two coworkers on Israel’s Energy Infrastructure: Present and Future. The whole start of the day sounded great. I told my Hebrew teacher that I’d be missing class and notified Boys Town Jerusalem that I would not be able to make it due to work engagements. Unfortunately last night we were notified that due to the interest expressed in the conference, our company’s four spots had been reduced to 1. Okay, still I was going to meet with Greylock, the second oldest VC funds in the world. I set out with Shimon, my roommate—7:00 am morning services and—at 7:20 to pick up his 2 carpool mates to make the quickest commute to work – a 45 minute drive to Modi’in, a city between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The trip took about an hour and 25 minutes to get to my office – all in all not bad.

When I got to work I had a candid conversation about the visa with my co-worker, which of course is still not resolved. A few minutes later as we are about to leave the office, we get the call from Greylock cancelling the meeting. Now I was in Tel Aviv, missing Hebrew class for nothing. I left to head back to Jerusalem and decided to go to the Ministry office again (they see visitors on Thursdays). I went home to get my passport and then headed to their office. By the time I got there, there was a pretty long line so I took a seat and waited. After about an hour wait I sat down with the foreign workers permit lady who informed me that the process was pending, my company still had not sent in one form, but she did not know which form it was that was missing because she didn’t have my file with her (as in blue folder with papers in it like all the other ones strewn across her office… and this is the country that brings us the latest semi-conductor and communications technologies.) She said that the process was not being held up and that my file was being reviewed by a committee, but that we would need to submit that form in order to have my application finished.

As you would expect, I left the Ministry pretty upset – the frustration just kept growing. I met my friend Lisa near bye for lunch. It was nice seeing her, but I could not shake the disappointment stemming from this whole mess. We walked to the bus stops to go our separate ways. Next to the bus stop, there was a portable blood donation center. In Israel blood donations are made often and in addition to holding blood drives, organizations operate mobile blood donation units that are essentially trucks that have blood donation beds. I decided it was a worthwhile stop over and I headed for the truck. After filling out the forms I climbed aboard.

I like to donate blood – I think it is important and that it is amazing that at some point some of me could end up helping/saving someone else – that is huge. Whenever I donate blood, I get very chatty and try to make it a fun experience for myself and the blood drawer. As I was waiting my turn I started making small talk with the girl who was taking peoples blood. She was a 20 year old preparing to attend university. I asked her the record bleed time of the day – 4 minutes. I vowed to beat it. When my turn came, she put the needle in and counted off a “Ready, set, go.” At “go” I turned on a song on my phone and was timing my progress. I am a pretty good bleeder, which is good for donating blood and bad if I ever get cut, stabbed or shot (G-d forbid). Although I did not break the 4 minute professional bleeder, I put up a respectable 4:30. Not too shabby considering the average is 8-10 minutes (I have mad skill).

After my donation, I got a juice bag (like a box but made out of foil instead of cardboard) and a sticker. Later at the supermarket, two people gave me kudos for donating. When I walked out of the blood mobile, my mood was suddenly transformed; I was in a great mood, cheery and singing along with my country tunes. I called Lisa to tell her the good news, and she said I sounded high. I was feeling great. I think it was really caused by my forcing myself to be silly and light hearted, which I always do when I give blood – in three months I’ll be back at it, aiming for the 4 minute mark.

Welcome to Israel

It was bound to happen. I really should have expected it. I don’t think that as an American I could be equipped to handle it no matter how much I mentally prepared myself. On Sunday I had a day of Israel.

Let’s start with the back story. I arrived nearly 10 weeks ago. When I entered the country I was given a tourist visa, which allowed for a three month visit to Israel. My company hired a lawyer and started the process to get me a work visa. Until I have my work visa, I cannot be paid by my company. The visa process seemed simple enough – the company here needed to submit a bunch of forms and I needed to supply my resume and my diploma to prove that I was a technical worker that the company needed to hire. It took me a while to get my diploma to Israel since it turned out that the copy I brought was not sufficient. I got my diploma to the company on October 3^rd and was certain that the visa would soon be in order.

As the weeks past my savings that I brought with me to Israel were eaten away, and I became increasingly anxious about the visa and when I would get paid. I continued to ask my company for updates, but everyone seemed to be relying on the lawyer and had few answers. Last week when it dawned on me that my tourist visa would expire on November 17, and I would be in the country illegally or have to deal with the hassles of extending the tourist visa, I reached a new level of frustration. When everyone still had no answers for me, it was suggested to me last Wednesday that I go to the Misrad Hapanim (Ministry of Interior) to try to work things out at their office face to face. On Thursday I was out of the office and received an email in Hebrew. When I read it, it stuck out to me that the email said the process takes six weeks. Without reading further I called my office. It was clarified that the process generally takes 6 weeks from the start, not from where we were now, which was in the 5^th week of the process. I asked if I should still go and was told it could help.

When I moved into my apartment on Friday, I mentioned to Iain my Australian roommate that I did not have my work visa and I described the complex process my company was working through. He looked perplexed and explained to me that he has been in Israel for three years now on a work visa called a B-1, which is very easy to get. He told me he has been able to renew it each year in a quick office visit. I figured I’d figure it all out at the Ministry’s office on Sunday.

So, Sunday morning I head to the office in the center of Jerusalem to go get my visa. I asked my brother-in-law Itay to come with me so that I’d be able to negotiate the language barrier. I arrived before Itay and thought I’d get to it. When I got off the elevator on the 13^th floor of the Ministry’s building, I asked the security guard where I go to get a visa. His first response was “you can’t do that today – you need to come back on Tuesday or Thursday. No one can speak to you today.” Apparently the bureaucrats have visiting hours that you can meet with people.

I did not accept his initial rejection and pushed on – I took out all the forms my office had given me and showed them to him. He asked me if I was a mitapel, a helper – a lot of foreign workers come to Israel to be aides for senior citizens. He was asking because the visa that my company’s lawyer advised I get is the visa for mitaplim (plural mitapel). Why this visa needs a diploma and resume is beyond me, but in any case, the lawyer recommended a considerably more complex visa than was necessary. I decided that rather than arguing in my Hebrew I’d wait for Itay and see what he could do.

I went downstairs and met Itay. I told him of my progress, or lack thereof, thus far. As we boarded the elevator he put a hand on my shoulder, smiled and said “Welcome to Israel.” When we got upstairs, the guard first looked at Itay and said “I already spoke to him and told him to come back on Tuesday.” Itay asked respectfully if there was someone we could speak with. Initially the guard responded that we could speak with him. Despite the fact that he was being a smarty Israeli, he actually was very knowledgeable about the visa process. Eventually Itay convinces him to call someone who could look up my application in their system. The guy picked up the phone, dialed a few numbers and handed Itay the phone. The person informed Itay that my company had not submitted several forms for the visa to be considered! This was a very upsetting revelation to me. I immediately called the guy from my company that advised me to go to the Ministry and informed him of my discovery. Remarkably this was not news to him. “I know that – it was in the email I sent you on Thursday” he responded. I was nearly dumbfounded. I asked why he then re-advised me to go to the Ministry knowing that they did not have all the forms. He said it was a good idea to meet with the people face to face so they’d know me and care more. Ironically – I was unable to meet with anyone face to face. After I hung up with my office I figured it would be a good idea to at least try to meet someone face to face, so I asked the guard where the person that Itay was speaking to on the phone sat. Remarkably, the person the security guard called was on the very floor we were on, around the corner from the reception desk. However, no matter how I asked, the guard absolutely refused to let us meet this person. His simple repeated response “Asoor” (it’s forbidden) was unbudging. All of this was going on as a government worker was smoking a cigarette ten feet down the half from us, as if that were the office’s smoking room (Oh Israel).

I left the Ministry of Interior utterly frustrated with the bureaucracy I had just experienced and with the visa situation at large. After I left the Ministry, I called my office again and was assured that all of the forms would be submitted that day (Sunday) and that things would move along.

I did some research on my own and found that my roommate is indeed correct. This whole visa nightmare could have been resolved with a simple offer letter and a few other forms. I could have filed for a B-1 visa, which can be issued anywhere from the day of application up to 2 months to get and things would have been fine. I now find myself in a dilemma, I am considering filling for the B-1 and seeing if it comes through before the visa my office filed for, but I am fearful to find out how the Ministry of Interior handles two visa applications for the same passport – who knows what kind of creative trouble they could make with that. So I now find myself trapped in bureaucracy, with nearly three months of unpaid salary owed to me. I asked my company if they could “loan” me the pay, but they are not allowed to do so, because “that would be like paying me.” Hmmm… we wouldn’t want that now would we?

My Israel day did not end there. I left the Ministry at 10 and decided that there was no way I was going to the office at that point and that I would go and do work from home. My apartment building is located on a dead end street. Next to my building is an elementary school at the end of the block. Sometime in the afternoon, around 3pm, I heard a megaphone in front of the school. I could not hear what was being said and imagined the kids were getting out of school. Suddenly I heard a loud explosion. I looked out the window and saw police trucks. I immediately rand to my room, grabbed my camera and bolted for the door… the Oracle was on the story.

I got out to the front of my building in time to hear a second explosion. As I reached the end of the building walkway I looked down the street and saw a scene right out of a movie. At both ends of the street, police trucks had blocked the road and in between them was a large yellow robot with a mechanical arm looming over a bag on the floor. I was witnessing a chefetz chashud, or suspicious object. In Israel, the rule of “If you see something say something” is taken very seriously. If a bag or package is left alone in a public place, a bust station or mall for instance, it is not taken lightly. Security will quickly be notified and the bomb squad is called in. In the case on Sunday, a bag was left across the street from an elementary school. While the bag likely belonged to a forgetful child, security at the school knew that it could also be something considerably more sinister. Likely after asking children in the bag’s proximity if it belonged to anyone, the police were called. The explosions that I heard were the sounds of the robot shooting the bag with a powerful shotgun that would set off an explosion if in fact the bag were a bomb. Once the bag was shot twice, the robot first lifted the remains of the bag and shook them around and then drove over the bag several times. Once it was relatively clear that the bag was no more than a bag, a member of the bomb squad walked over to the bag in full Hurt Locker gear and checked to make sure that it was in fact a false alarm. Thankfully, the bomb scare down the street from my apartment was nothing more than a scare.

My first thought after witnessing the bomb scare was a reinforcement of the morning’s lesson, welcome to Israel. I then had a series of realizations, which I think say something about my acclimation to Israel. The first realization was that things could be worse – although I have not been paid in nearly three months – at least there was not a bomb in front of my apartment building in front of a school full of elementary school kids. I find it funny that I am seeing the glass as half full in these conditions – at least there was not a bomb at a school.

I then realized that it is kind of crazy that this is the place I want to spend my life –I feel such a strong connection here that I want to sign up for a life of having to deal with bureaucracy and threats that one would never face in America. I also realized that in a country where a bomb in front of a school is a real possibility, one has to accept that there will be bureaucracy and other absurdities to deal with.

Sunday really was a welcome to Israel of sorts. Many of the magical things that I find happening here are quickly taken for granted. I need to focus on keeping these positives in the limelight and not get weight down by the other side of my welcome to Israel. I have mentioned in previous posts about the friendliness and openness of people here – about bank managers giving me a lift from the bus stop and my company’s Yom Chevra (day long outing). These are things that also only happen in Israel. Welcome to Israel Yoel – you get the good and the bad. I still believe the good outweighs the bad.