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| A week after |
| Friday, May 02, 2008 |
One week away from home over. It sure flew by fast. I hope time flies at the same pace the next coming weeks.
I have severe jet lag. Every night I was up until late and found it difficult to wake up in the morning. I have no clue what time zone my body is in, it is neither US nor Israel.
Food
I have no complains about food here. Morning breakfast is at the hotel. Too many choices.
Six different kinds of cereal, Six different kinds of bread, Fruits - Water melon, canteloupe, dates, Ten different kinds of cheese, Salad ingredients, Many different kinds of salad, Veggies, Eggs made like three different ways
Thats all I can remember. ;--)
Lunch at the office cafeteria. Till now I have seen variety. Too many choices again. Not sick of the food yet.
Eight different kinds of meat. I have none. Rice, peas, carrots, potato curry, not much oil. Pasta with tomato sauce. Pita Bread, hummus, tahini. Salad ingredients. Two kinds of soup. Two kinds of dessert
Dinner we have been having at the hotel restaurant. I ordered an appetizer once, and unlike the big portions of appetizers in the US, this one was really really tiny. I showed my surprise in front of the waiters and they laughed. Waiters know us well now as we are regulars. I am not liking any kind of meat here. I am trying to stick to veggie options.
With all this, how can I keep fit?
Coffee-maker
It was difficult for me to get up in the morning and not have a cuppa coffee or green tea. So I asked the receptionist for a coffeemaker. They sent one to the room.
It is a jug with a heating coil! Heating coil looks very suspicious. If I fall sick here, I know what to blame it on.
On the same note, the water here sucks big time. Even mineral water doesnt taste all that good.
The Holocaust
May 1st was Holocaust Remembrance Day. At 10AM in the morning a siren sounded through out the country for 2 minutes to be silent for the lost souls. This country and its people seem to have gone through a lot. Ok, they may be weird, but its no reason for them to be wiped out of the world! I read some articles about Hitler and his atrocities. I saw some programs related to Holocaust as well on TV the other day, and it is saddening. Hitler wanted to wipe out all the Jews, because he thought they were inferior. About 6 million Jews were killed during World War 2.
Life is beautiful is an amazing movie set in Hitler times, in a concentration camp, to give just a tiny glimpse of the atrocities the Jews had been put through. It is a must watch, I highly recommend it.
I was curious to know why this whole thing happened. If you are too, here is a link that might help understand a bit. It is horrible to say the least.
Driving
This is probably the first time I am commuting such distance to work. Almost 20kms. Yes its Kms and Kgs and Celcius here. Driving is like in India, people dont follow lanes. Tiny cars, Hyundai mostly. Lot of Mazdas, some Volvo and Wolkswagons. Corolla and Civic look like luxury cars here. There are Beamers and Hummers as well. Lot of honking. People jut into your lane without indicating.
I have been going with colleague this whole week, to get familiar with the route. Today morning, I went alone in my car. Traffic was ok, but I stuck to the lane rules and I survived! I have never driven in India, really. I only drove to get my license. Hopefully next week will be okay.
Security
When I said I was going to Israel, most non-work, non-family people asked me 'Why? Is it safe? Is it ok to go?' Tel Aviv seems to be safe, touch wood. But still mishaps and incidents keep happening looks like it. In 2006 when Israel was in war with Lebanon, some Hezbollah stuff, one of our office buildings in Haifa, which is 20kms from Lebanon border, got damaged from a bomb dropped a few miles near by! I was working with some people and I remember asking them if they and their family were safe. They worked in basements of the buildings which were wireless internet equipped.
With all the halla balla, I dont think we experienced any hinderance in the work and they all delivered their stuff on time! I am amazed at their..what should I call it,dedicationn? or indifference? or resignation? I personally find it fascinating. For the same reason I found the Kite Runner and a Thousand Splendid Suns fascinating.
Life seems to be happening, going on, like in every other place, as far as I can see.
Language Issues
The Valet forgot to turn of the lights in my car and the battery was drained. Called the Hertz, and it was a funny conversation, with me, knowing only English, the mechanic knowing only Hebrew and a lady knowing a little English and Hebrew our interpreter.
The Mechanic came and talked to me in broken English. It was funny, we resorted to sign language at times. I had a question he didnt understand, and he stopped another girl on the way to translate what I was asking to him! :--)
The laundary lady came and I talked totally in sign language. The language is not even easy to learn, it sounds very complicated, with syllables and alphabets and sound we are not so familiar with. Remember the 'zha' in Tamil? Many such queer letters in Hebrew, which are pronounced, not even close to how they are written in English.
We have stopped caring for anything written in Hebrew, if they want us to care, let them write in English ;--) Most highway signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English. How similar is Arabic to Urdu? Any idea? And it is written from right to left. ;--) The Exit on the right and the distance in Kms to the left.
Pictures
Forgot to take the Camera when we went to the beach again today. But here is my window view from 12th floor and the pool. Some colleagues live on the 33rd floor in apartments and the view from there is super, with the beach, I will try to take shots from their apartment, sometime.
By the way, did I say these people, both men and women look beautiful and handsome? In layman's words, hot. ;--)
Mood
Work has picked up. I havent been putting in my fullest, with the jetlag and new place. It seems like a mountain for now but hopefully I will trudge along and reach the other side. The initial enthusiasm of being a new country is slowly wearing off. The thought of being in an alien country away from home, away from my comfort zone is climbing up. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the happiest, I am at a 5. Already. |
posted by SK @ 6:21 AM  |
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| 13 Comments: |
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:) Hello there
I was touched after watching life is beautiful, so poignant. The "coffee maker" looks like a fancy kettle :).
This sounds like a journal/diary of sorts. You could turn it into letters :P
forgive my hang up with letters ;)
enjoy the "weekend"
-altoid
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Nice view into an alien world. How many weeks to go?
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Aii - I feel like I am living in Israel through your eyes :-)! Am awaiting your future Israel posts!
p.s. Is there some particular reason you have turned off full feed for your blog? Please to enable it and allow a poor, lazy, innocent soul (ya, ya, that's me) read your blog through reader without additional clicks. Pretty please?
p.s.1. Good to know that you are settling down :-).
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Hey Please turn on the feed in ur blog... i use google reader and u r full posts dont come there..
Have a great time in Israel..
K
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it's always a nice experience to discover a new place all alone! keep them coming.
They are hot, am not surprised. But if I have to rate their intelligence based on what I see of them here in my school, they are super brilliant people. No?
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SKKKKK. Wow! Super. I think Life is beautiful is the best movie I have seen.
The food seems good;)
And, cute post:) Like that chap who comes in that travel show on sun tv where they also play songs you have written:). I will take a breaakeee.
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I love Life is Beautiful! It was the perhaps the first popular culture thing that I'd watched on Holocaust.
As far as the Israeli attitude is concerned, I think it's more on the lines of determination and defiance than indifference. I'm not a fan of Israel and personally, in any debate, I'd probably question all that they've done to the Palestinians but at the same time, just LOOK at them, man! Living in a desert, surrounded by countries who talk of "wiping them off the map", facing suicide bombings every other day, always on the brink of war and yet, so technologically advanced with a great economy and a not-so-bad quality of life. That is definitely something worth an applause.
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great experiences they must be. And I almost assumed u r a veggie. Avoiding meat ha?! I would gulp up everything they have, do they have ham burgers though? :)
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arabic and urdu r similar but not all thatmuch...urdu sounds more like hindi :) and even the alphabets r kinda different...
and hummus..YUUMMM! I wish i could gt hummus everyday here!!!
awesome view...do keep postin photos..kinda makes me feel like im there and tatz nice :D
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Emo,
Yes its a beautiful movie. :--)
Letters...hmm.. judging by how bored I am over weekends, I might just end up writing some :--P
Laksh,
10 more to go! Counting fervently.
Archana,
Sure sure. :--)
I have turned off full feed for precisely that reason, people dont visit :--D But yeah I will enable full feed.
K,
Do I know you? I would like to know who read my blogs. :--D
Gradwolf,
heheh why do u think I am sitting here all alone. To pick on their brains :--) Yes they are smart people.
Ok,
:--D oh those shows are soo boringggg. :--)
Drenched,
Exactly my point! For such a small country with such few folks and so much tension, it is not a easy feat. I do admire them immensely for that.
Maverick,
heheh I am veggie when possible, and chickenitarian otherwise. i saw hamburgers in some places, so yes you get them! :--)
Preeti,
Ah of course you would know!! I was asking more in terms of caligraphy, similar char set? I dont know.
Haha I have hummus everyday :--) Btw it is easy to make at home as well!
And I will keep writing you guys have no choice but to read :--D
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yea calligraphy wise they r pretty much the same...very similar strokes...
I knw how to make hummus but the tahina has to be authentic...bak there we used to get tahina in bottles,...i need to make it here and see whthr its as good...
and please, readin ur posts is our pleasure, so dont stop :)
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Looks like you are in a totally different environment now,but the the beauty of the blog is I can smell Israel.
Me and DH Sunny have watched bunch of holocaust movies like Schindlers List,but I shud watch "life is beautiful"
Keep posting.
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:) Hello there
I was touched after watching life is beautiful, so poignant. The "coffee maker" looks like a fancy kettle :).
This sounds like a journal/diary of sorts. You could turn it into letters :P
forgive my hang up with letters ;)
enjoy the "weekend"
-altoid