Saturday night

Saturday 7:00 PM ID came to pick me up to ZH. Together we drove to the Yarkon St. near the American embassy to a restaurant named MESADA. We shared 2 dishes since ID doesn't like to eat at nigh (very good!). We took salad and pumpkin ravioli and it was quite good( b+). We talked, ID mainly on her lost relatives that disappeared after WWII and she found again in Belgium and Denmark. She told us about her kids: Her son - AD (28) finished undergraduate in Information systems and started his Masters but decided to live and start laws. He would like to be a layer for social justice. She said that he loves Beer Sheva and they have there a whole community living in a few buildings. They even rented one apartment as a community apartment. Her daughter (25) lives in Rishon with her boyfriend. She did the usual trip to the far east: Thailand and such. ZH, didn't say too much but I was a little uneasy when ID pushed her and asked if they are traveling a lot and talked too much about how she is happy not to work and so.. ZH has to work and they cannot afford traveling so :(
OK, anyway it was nice to met together, but as before ZH wasn't too thrilled about ID and now it probably can take years till all of us will meet again.

Friday before Rosh Hashana

ZH came back from Poland a couple days ago and I didn't call since I assumed she will be busy with catching up. But ID called and reminded me that she want us the girls from the old place to meet. Since one died a few month ago and with A no body kept in touch only 3 of us left. So I called ZH and asked her to decide time/place with ID and it will be today - Shabat 7:00 PM. ZH and me also decided to meet yesterday so I took savta's car and got to her place. From there we walked to the beach through the Yarkon. I was surprise to see that the Yarkon was full of water and people were rowing the boats (Friday - most people are not working in Israel), because, in the past there was a lot of pollution. It really looked much nicer since the days that Ari and UB took a boat there 25 years ago and fished out bottles and cans. She told me that since there almost no water left in the Yarkon they are pumping water from the sea the opposite direction of the natural flow.
It was quite hot and humid and it seems that today we'll get the first rain (Called "HAYORE"). So we tried to walk in the shade. But suddenly a very nervous biker passed us from the opposite side and screamed with wrinkled face that that shady side was the biker's side... We kept on , because that side is ALSO the biker side, but we had no intention to walk in the sun...
Well, we got to the old port of Tel Aviv that once was full of run down storage houses and now it turns to be a shopping /restaurant center (including Y's and K's "Beni HADAYAG").
I convinced ZH that we should enter to each store and compare the strength of the air condition and although it seemed to her crazy the beginning, she got into it and on the way we also saw some interesting things in the stores.
OOPS... the first rain started pouring now....How fun! It smells so good!
Anyway, we sat in an ice cream parlor and I invited her for a huge ice cream :( and than We walked some more and saw a farmers market. We talked with a guy who came from a MOSHAV near Gaza and sold small cucumbers - very tasty ZH and him were talking about how wonderful is that the shelling from Gaza stopped.
Anyway after tasting some good stuff we went on since as I mentioned it was hot, humid and we still had a long walk.
When we got to their place UH was there. He just came back from shopping to the weekend (most shops closed on Saturday).
I asked to watch the DVD from A's wedding because I wanted to see the dance she and SH prepared. So they also saw the DVD for the first time and it was fun. A lot of youngsters, A looked very nice and happy. Both of them seemed happy! A lot of dances and also dances when the groom and the bride are carried on the shoulders of 2 guys. Once it was only in religious weddings And it is fun to see...It certainly was a very happy wedding.
UH prepared dinner and I was still full from the ice cream so I didn't eat a lot J
We talked a lot and exchanged stories but at 7:00 I jumped and decided to go back to savta. Well, it is more the fact that I am around since as you know TV is the best partner.
This morning (Saturday) After the coffee I sat with her and continued arranging her documents. I am trying to put some order and clean up unnecessary papers in order that she will be able to find what she needs.
We still have a lot of work, although more and more is done in the house.
This evening ID will come to pick me up to Tel Aviv to meet with ZH.
Now, savta has a crisis. IT is Saturday and as I wrote, the first rain poured suddenly and stopped, but with that also the TV and the Internet lines stopped, so she is trying to call them. No chance! No body will come now... SHABBAT... and even on another day prayers gets here more than the support teams. It is probably a general problem in the area.
Monday eve is Rosh Hashanna, just try to get some honey cake or dip some apple with honey for a sweet year...Just to get some of the festive feeling of this holiday...Also fish head - in order to be a head of ... and not a tail.. :)

Visiting the M family

MM called me on Sunday and Asked me if I can come over on Wed because on Thursday they were leaving to Turkey. So I took the car (I usually prefer to take the minibus and let the driver to work) and tried to follow the directions from imaps.co.il. The problem is the the signs are small and when I realized thatI have to turn left to road #4, I couldn't do it, so I just continued through the city and tried to navigate by memory of the general direction. Somehow I got there. The two daughters: IM and DM were there and DM laughed every time I called her sister by her childhood name: diti. I had a good time with them. They told me the development of their mom's illness and I felt the pain although they seem very well from the outside. They think that the death was a result of the aggressive treatment and not from the cancer. Anyway, DM is on her second year of agriculture studies and she got the idea while working in the Golan picking fruits. She said she liked it and thought: why not studying it. I think that it is a great profession because with the food shortage that starting to show in the world we will need people like her. Her dad, MM would like her to study economic like him. IM as you know a musician and she still didn't find her passion and everyone in the family is worrying about her. She is a excellent Clarinet player but didn't want to sign for any orchestra, although she said that she worked as a freelancer and was the busiest musician freelancer in Israel. But, she got tired of it and went to some general art school. After a year she left it because she felt it wasn't good. So, now when I was there she told her sis and dad that she enrolled in the Tel Aviv University to general Art because it is too late to enroll in the film division. She hopes to start there and to transfer later. Her dad and sis didn't like the idea. It seems that they don't trust her to stay there. You know, I think that if IM didn't have the comfort of a strong financial backing she might be more on some track. Any way they were saying that although the mom ZM was a very difficult person they really miss her. Idit your (Y, D & M) emails and might look for you on Facebook. She is playing in a very interesting band and she hopes that next time one of you will be in Israel you will meet her. I got some preliminary CD.

Visiting the H family

I met UH on Friday night. A & her husband Sh came and stayed for a while and then went to sleep. A is very sensitive to smells and noise and UH told me that he cannot fry anything when she is around or asleep. Also we had to whisper although UH said that they installed in her room a special door that suppose to block all the noise. When her brother, RH,was at home with his girlfriend she gave them hard time.
U insisted on cooking something for me although I wasn't hungry and told him that I am trying not to eat when I am not hungry, but this is a problem since every one just try to feed me. It is a conspiracy :( Ari, it is not my fault...:)
Anyway UH took 2 small fish from the ones he prepared for Saturday lunch and frayed them, also prepared a salad and cooked potatoes in the micro. A & SH joined us although they came back from a dinner in his mom's home. A is very thin and hardly eats, she said that a few days ago she found she has high cholesterol and now she is afraid and she didn't eat anything in SH mother's home except lettuce since the food had a lot of fat.
Anyway the only impression that left me wondering was SH remark that the situation in the army is not good. He was quite pessimistic and I was surprised since he serves in a very good unit. It is bad when the youngsters are not optimistic.
I met with UH again on Monday. He called before and asked if I want to come. So after meeting OB for a late lunch I went to his place. UH wanted to go to the beach but I didn't want since I didn't have my swimming suit, so later we went to the Tayelet near the old port of Tel Aviv. We walked pass "Beni Hadayag" where Yael and Kirk enjoyed the calamari.This is a great part of Tel Aviv. There are always people near the beach, sitting in restaurants, bars and coffee houses. The waves are breaking on the walls on one side and on the other side are the people, the lights and the smells. I love the sea.

From Boston To Tel Aviv

On the morning of Wednesday i was still debating whether to take a cab or to use the public transportation which required to switch trains with my luggage. Finally I called a cab for 10:30 and on 10:10 I brought my luggage to the side walk and waited. I saw a woman with a baby in the stroller and I had a feeling she was an Israeli, so I just walked by and tried to hear in what language she will talk to the baby, then I asked her if she is living in the building. She said yes and We started to talk in Hebrew. She came with her husband who is working on his post doc in MIT in Biology. She is originally from Kibutz Beit Hashita- remember? the one that is doing pickles and you visited there around 10 years ago. We still have their cap in our closet.Anyway I told her about Yael and gave her Yael's phone number, but then the cab came and I left.

The driver asked me about which route I would like to take and I said the shortest hoping that it will cost me less. I got a nice tour while driving toward the Pike (the toll road) but the road had only one lane working so it wasn't very fast and I found out that the public transportation is paying 4 times the price for the toll which added of course to the sum and I ended paying 48$....Well I try to use it as a lesson to understand better the implication of each choice.

When I arrived to the airport the clerk asked me if I want to take the flight that leaves in 35 minutes and not the next one that leaves in 2 hours. I was pleasantly surprised and jumped on the plan, that gave my more time in NY and in Borders. I took Kindle with me and used my time in Borders to brows the books and to order 5 books!!!The airplane was packed. Three days before I saw the the diagram of the airplane and chose my seats. I chose a seat in a row of tree that left an empty spot in the middle, the same thought led the other guy to choose it, but just minutes before the plane was going to leave a girl literally jumped in, opened the luggage door above and the other guy's bag fall of and than after a sorry she took her place in the ... empty seat :( We both felt the same.She was very cheerful - 21 years old Israeli chubby girl, just got off the army and took a trip with 2 other friends in the US. Her mom is Israeli Greek and works for Continental so her ticket was a standby free, but what amazed me was that the family gets almost unlimited stand by tickets and also 10 tickets to give to friends for 300$. So her friends payed 300$ for tickets in the high season to Israel. She told me that she is starting Architecture in the Tel Aviv Universityץ. She told me that she is starting Architecture in the Tel Aviv University.

The airplane was full of religious people swinging back and forth with their prayer books and shawls. Some had the black big hats and some just the small knitted caps. One with that cap was with his small child and wife. The wife took care of the child and he prayed from a small booklet and rocked back and forth full of energy. The whiskey near his Coke probably contributed to the fun. I tried to read what he was reading and there was something about a chicken and more. May be it was a pray for better food in the airplane - no complains here!Anyway, in Ben Gurion Airport I took a cab which was fast and nice to Savta.

Savta is OK - no more pain. Her wound is still ugly but, healing. Today we went shopping (I drove). Prices here are really high and more than I remember. Even fruits and vegetables which were cheep are higher. When I told mom to buy some lemons she said that their price jumped (almost 20 shekels for a kilo)ץ.

Dani called yesterday since he got the email from Ari telling him what happened and Varda called today and invited us for Rosh Hashanna. We will probably stay home since Savta will be better here.

Soon I am leaving to meet Uri. Tzipi is in Poland with her family to film a documentary about her fathers memories from the Holocaust.

Till the next time,

Good night (morning) everywhere around the globe.