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| Work on Sunday **Updated** |
| Sunday, April 27, 2008 |
So where did I leave off last? Saturday afternoon at the gym.
Saturday Evening
Evening a colleague and his wife came by and we went with them to see our route to work place and then to Tel Aviv beach. I asked them where a nearby Church would be, as I was reluctant to ask at the Hotel Front Desk for some reason. Found one, age old church, with English, Polish and Spanish masses. I have to go from next week.
The Church, the Mosque and the Synagogue are always close together apparently. It was strange.
Tel Aviv, first glance
The water color was super, but the beach was dirty though. Reminded me a lot of India. We saw some 'alley ways' which looked similar to the alley in the Bible stories, stone paths, stone walls. It was interesting.
Dinner was okay, decent, edible. Colleague is very particular about eating well, I dont care much.
Night was spent tossing and turning. Jetlag. :--(
Work on Sunday
Today we had to go to work. Oh yes, in Israel, the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a working day! Went with friend to work, as I wasnt ready to handle morning traffic plus new place plus uncertain route all at the same time on the first day to work. Work place is in the middle of nowhere.
Cubicles reminded me of some offices I have seen in India. In fact the whole work place reminded me of India. People are different, but the work is the same. Work is the only thing that is a familiar zone for now.
We met a whole bunch of people, forgot names.
This one guy, refused to shake hands with me, as I gave it to him to shake following this other guy. He said he doesnt touch women!! For religious reasons! In general people are nice and friendly. They talk work related stuff in Hebrew as well. For now Hebrew sounds totally grinding in the ears, but I have heard others say it sounds pleasant after awhile.
It was nice to put faces to names of people with whom you have only chatted in emails and IM or on the phone.
We saw Microsoft and Google offices as well. They have sites here too.
Lunch was decent. Too much meat, I had veggie stuff.
Everything is small in size, coffee cups, tumblers etc.
Met with some guys from Bangalore site, what irony! There are here on relocation for a year or so.
More language barriers: we got into the elevator and it had 1 and 2 buttons and two other buttons with hebrew letters on them. We didnt know which one to press to go to 'ground floor'. Pressing 1 or 2 didnt help. Finally we got out and took the stairs.
Doors to parking lot in the hotel, had something written in Hebrew in Red background. I cautiously openned the doors, as it might as well have said, CAUTION, EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY, ALARM WILL SOUND or something! Nothing happened.
Sabbath Elevator
In the hotel, there is a 'special' elevator called the Sabbath elevator. I didnt understand initially. But apparently during Sabbath, which is from Friday 3PM to Saturday 9PM, Jews dont touch any electronic stuff, even light switches. So this Sabbath Elevator, apparently stops in every floor of the hotel tower. So people dont have to press the buttons on the elevators!!
It is interesting to observe a different culture. I will jot down whatever as much as possible.
For now, keeping fingers crossed, hoping to get some good sleep, so I dont walk like a zombie at work tomorrow. :--(
**Updated - With all the interest on Sabbath, I googled some to find out more about Sabbath and electronic stuff. Looks like anything related to 'electricity' is considered as 'fire' and hence 'work' by some traditional beliefs, and Sabbath is all about resting from work and hence any activity related to electricity including cooking is prohibited . Looks like driving is prohibited as well. No wonder the streets were pretty deserted when we stepped into the country. ;--) I was amazed to learn that there are special kind of lights and cooking/heating apparatus, that have timers and switch on and off and preset times on Sabbath (too lazy to Google, please do it at your leisure ;--)). Some also tape the refrigerator lights so it doesnt light up when you open it. Basically, this is to say the people have created innovative workarounds to follow Sabbath without sacrificing much of their daily life. Sabbath Elevator is one such example. |
posted by SK @ 12:01 PM  |
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| 16 Comments: |
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cool! I found teh Sabbath elevator refreshing :D
So, why come to work? They don't touch computers rt? Then how abt light switches, voice-activated? How about the coffee pot? The a/c? The microwave? The copy machine?
Boy, I know wrong person to ask, but this is enlightening. I am so glad you went there ;-p
Please keep writing. This is nice :)
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I second rads. I am pretty sure I will never go to Israel. So please keep educating us.
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Wow! Don't touch electronics eh? Its interesting. Why electronics? What is the deal with electronics and not touching them. Like Rads said, how about the rest of the gadgets. I suppose the heavy equipment falls under "electrical" than electronics. But then you have phones and pagers and what not. How about those? Hmm..maybe the deal with electronics is that they are made out of sand? (Silicon you see;) ) I am really curious why they don't touch electronics, can you find out? :D
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I think its not electronics as such. Check this out:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/39_categories_of_activity_prohibited_on_Shabbat
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No Sundays off? And no electronics?
Wow, that it new.
Anyways, good luck in Israel- Your new Work Station.*i.e: where your office now is.
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@Ok & Rads:
Amen. Educate us more!
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It's always nice to read about life in different countries. Look forward to reading more on this!
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Very enlightening! Nice to read about your perspective on a different culture. Look forward to your promised posts with excruciating details in them :)
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Well, Tel Aviv sounds like fun! Should be a great experience. Enjoy u'r stay :)
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Rads,
:--) I can ask my colleagues here once I get to know them better, for now, Google ki jai :--)
Hope the Updated post helps :--D
Ok, Sure will do! :--D
Divs, Thanks for your enthu, I went ahead and googled it. Hope the Updated post helps :--)) And its not an issue with Silicon, as you can see. And yes, anything considered as work, lighting a fire included.
Varsha, Sure maam! :--)
Aparna and Laksh,
Will do certainly!
Arun, Yes it been ok so far, but work is starting to get ahead of me.
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Wish I could go to Tel Aviv :( I love Chennai but I'm bored here :( I'm sad :( Reallyyyy sad!! :(
P.S: A bad bad day at work...As is obvious!
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Waaaaw. Israel.
Lol @ the dude who wouldn't touch women. Reminds me of guys at home who wear 'maalai' when they go to sabari malai. In school we (girls) had great fun poking them.
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Israel? WHOA! How's the general atmosphere there? Have the news channels just hyped up the whole blasts and all thingie or is it really dangerous?
I know about that Sabbath deal! I had a couple of Jewish classmates at Someplace and they even used to avoid touching money on Fridays. And they said they used candles on Sabbath (Shabat, as they called it) and all. Weird. Hate to sound mean but they were kinda weird and pretty selfish. One of my desi classmates used to call them 'jewtiyas'. :P Hahahahaha.
So, how long is this Israel trip? Did you go and check out the Palestinian areas?
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Enjoy your stay while you are there. It's always interesting to learn different culture and customs. I am aware of Shabat. It's basically a day to take rest completely. I'll checkout this space for more updates. Take care.
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oo vow!!! u in Israel? That must be a gr8 experience. Sabbath sounds crazy to me, it must be fun though. have fun, write more abt life there and bring in some jewish wisdom while u come :)
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Preeti, :--) Hope you are feeling better now. Its nice to go to a different country but with the right people ;--)
Coco,
hehe I remember the 'maalai' guys. :--) Too much no. In what way are women inferior. My blood boils. ;--)
Drenched,
heheh, safety wise, it seems to be ok for now. They are a little different yeah, I agree, But your friend was too much. ;--) I am here for a couple of months, I dont know if I will be able to check out the Palestine side, let me see.
Joy,
yeah I know Sunday is the rest day and all, but to take it to such degreees :--)
Maverick,
Will do! :--))
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cool! I found teh Sabbath elevator refreshing :D
So, why come to work? They don't touch computers rt? Then how abt light switches, voice-activated? How about the coffee pot? The a/c? The microwave? The copy machine?
Boy, I know wrong person to ask, but this is enlightening. I am so glad you went there ;-p
Please keep writing. This is nice :)