Somewhere along the way in the last 2 days, I lost my memory card reader. Which means no more picture updates from the road right now. Sorry!
We've had a productive 2 days in the north of Israel. Went to a winery tour and wine tasting on the way up to Tiberius yesterday. We had meetings yesterday afternoon and dinner at the hotel, and then I wound up at an Irish Pub with most of the Israelis. Also at the Irish Pub - about 50 18-year-old drunk Americans on a Birthright Tour. It was an interesting flash back to college days! I can't believe we were ever that young and stupid (though I'm sure we were, and then some).
Today was morning and early afternoon meetings, and then an offroad Landrover tour through the area around the Sea of Galilee. It was fantastic, though out of all the days of the year in an arid, desert climate, it was raining today of course. Still, we had good views (if not fantastic) and a little bit of rain made the offroad track slippery and fun to drive on with the Landrovers!
Tomorrow we head back to Tel Aviv in the afternoon, and I meet up with my mom for a few days of sightseeing. Can't wait! And just maybe, I left my card reader at the TLV hotel and it's still there in lost and found.
Hiking exploits, experimental cooking, general nerdery, and cat pictures.
Seriously. Do not call me Katy.
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Tel Aviv
View from my hotel room. I'm on the south side this time, so have a nice view all the way down to Old Jaffa. Surf is much higher that it was in May, too.
Saturday night dinner at Gordo's Beach Bar. Chicken escalope and steamed veggies. I ate at Gordo's several times back in May, and I figured they would probably be closed for the season along with all the other open-air beach cafes. Nope, they just put up temporary walls for the winter, invest in space heaters, and offer you a blanket if you are cold!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
That Which Everyone In the Israel Office Would Like To Know
1) Why aren't you staying for the RTS meeting?
and
2) Your mom is coming to Israel for only 5 days? Why such a short time?
The answers being
1) Sigh. Ask my boss.
and
2) Yes, because I can only afford to stay that much longer after my work trip. Some of us only get a couple of weeks of vacation and have to use our days judiciously.
Some quick background on work. My official title is Applications Engineer. I work for the Customer Support department. There is one other Apps Eng in the company who also works for the CS department; he is in the Israel office. There are actually quite a few other Apps Engs around the world, we've got two in our office back home, but they all work for the Sales Operations department. Basically, they are the technical applications resources up until the customer signs the purchase order; and I am the technical applications resource after installation. We also have 3 Regional Technical Specialists in our office who also work for the CS department. They deal more with the "my machine broke, how do I fix it" side of things. Ultimately, we do all collaborate together, but we each have our own special areas of focus. Clear as mud?
So. Even though I work for CS and not SO, I got myself invited to the annual SO Applications Worldwide meeting (which is why I'm in Israel right now). That's this week. There is also a RTS Worldwide meeting next week. Back in December when we got the dates for both of these meetings, I asked my boss what he wanted me to attend: Apps, RTS, or both. One of the Apps guys in my office had already forwarded me the agenda for the SO Apps meeting; it's pretty heavy on the sales side of things. Nevertheless, my boss said I should go to that as it would be a good chance to mind-share knowledge. He also said that the RTS meeting agenda was focused on hands-on "how to fix the broken machine" stuff, and I didn't need to plan to go to that one.
So I booked my tickets and hotel. My mom booked her tickets and hotel. And the following week, I got the agenda for the RTS meeting, which yes, has plenty of "how to fix the broken machine" sessions, but also has several theoretical and applications-based sessions. That I really should be at. But now it's too late. Argh!
And yes, Mom and I would both love it if we could stay an extra 2 weeks. However, I only could manage to take 2 extra days of vacation. Maybe next time. You'd be surprised how much you can see and do in 4-5 days though, especially in a country the size of New Jersey.
and
2) Your mom is coming to Israel for only 5 days? Why such a short time?
The answers being
1) Sigh. Ask my boss.
and
2) Yes, because I can only afford to stay that much longer after my work trip. Some of us only get a couple of weeks of vacation and have to use our days judiciously.
Some quick background on work. My official title is Applications Engineer. I work for the Customer Support department. There is one other Apps Eng in the company who also works for the CS department; he is in the Israel office. There are actually quite a few other Apps Engs around the world, we've got two in our office back home, but they all work for the Sales Operations department. Basically, they are the technical applications resources up until the customer signs the purchase order; and I am the technical applications resource after installation. We also have 3 Regional Technical Specialists in our office who also work for the CS department. They deal more with the "my machine broke, how do I fix it" side of things. Ultimately, we do all collaborate together, but we each have our own special areas of focus. Clear as mud?
So. Even though I work for CS and not SO, I got myself invited to the annual SO Applications Worldwide meeting (which is why I'm in Israel right now). That's this week. There is also a RTS Worldwide meeting next week. Back in December when we got the dates for both of these meetings, I asked my boss what he wanted me to attend: Apps, RTS, or both. One of the Apps guys in my office had already forwarded me the agenda for the SO Apps meeting; it's pretty heavy on the sales side of things. Nevertheless, my boss said I should go to that as it would be a good chance to mind-share knowledge. He also said that the RTS meeting agenda was focused on hands-on "how to fix the broken machine" stuff, and I didn't need to plan to go to that one.
So I booked my tickets and hotel. My mom booked her tickets and hotel. And the following week, I got the agenda for the RTS meeting, which yes, has plenty of "how to fix the broken machine" sessions, but also has several theoretical and applications-based sessions. That I really should be at. But now it's too late. Argh!
And yes, Mom and I would both love it if we could stay an extra 2 weeks. However, I only could manage to take 2 extra days of vacation. Maybe next time. You'd be surprised how much you can see and do in 4-5 days though, especially in a country the size of New Jersey.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Shalom
Guess where I am?
I'll give you a hint. Today it was sunny and in the 60s, my body is still all jet-lagged, and now that the sun has set and Sabbath is over and all the restaurants are open, I'm going to go grab a quick dinner.
That's right, I'm back in Israel! Shorter trip this time; back in May, I was here for 3 weeks. This time I have a week of work, and then using a couple of days of vacation time to give me a 4-day weekend of sightseeing with my mom. She is flying over next week to join me, arriving on my last day in the office. Tomorrow I go into the office and meet with my Israeli counterparts in Customer Support. The rest of the week I am attending the Applications annual meeting - which oddly enough, looks to be focusing mainly on sales. Ah well, it is a good experience and good face time with some of the other guys as well. Plus, they are taking us off-site for a couple of days up to Tiberius, which will be cool as I didn't get to head north last trip.
The trip over wasn't bad, though didn't go exactly as planned. My flight out of NH was delayed an hour, and then we were delayed again after we boarded the plane and pulled away from the gate. I was supposed to have almost a 3:30 layover in Newark; instead I had about 45 minutes between getting off one plane and wheels-up on the next. It was just enough time to switch gates, go to the restroom, stock up on water, Pringles, and sleeping pills, and then go through the secondary security for the Israeli flight. By that point, most of the passengers had boarded the plane, so I got to scramble for overhead space and crawl over my two seatmates to get to my window seat. Although I was stuck in coach, my carry-on suitcase got to fly in business class, since there was not enough overhead space available in my cabin. Harumph. I hope my suitcase enjoyed it.
As usual, I forgot things. On the "still at home" list this time are both sleeping pills/melatonin, as well as workout clothes. Boooo. I picked up some Unisom in the airport and already had Advil PM with me, so fingers crossed that will work to get me on the right sleep schedule ASAP. As for the workout clothes - well, I may be the girl going running in a bathing suit top and yoga pants along the Tel Aviv beachfront. We'll see!
I'll give you a hint. Today it was sunny and in the 60s, my body is still all jet-lagged, and now that the sun has set and Sabbath is over and all the restaurants are open, I'm going to go grab a quick dinner.
That's right, I'm back in Israel! Shorter trip this time; back in May, I was here for 3 weeks. This time I have a week of work, and then using a couple of days of vacation time to give me a 4-day weekend of sightseeing with my mom. She is flying over next week to join me, arriving on my last day in the office. Tomorrow I go into the office and meet with my Israeli counterparts in Customer Support. The rest of the week I am attending the Applications annual meeting - which oddly enough, looks to be focusing mainly on sales. Ah well, it is a good experience and good face time with some of the other guys as well. Plus, they are taking us off-site for a couple of days up to Tiberius, which will be cool as I didn't get to head north last trip.
The trip over wasn't bad, though didn't go exactly as planned. My flight out of NH was delayed an hour, and then we were delayed again after we boarded the plane and pulled away from the gate. I was supposed to have almost a 3:30 layover in Newark; instead I had about 45 minutes between getting off one plane and wheels-up on the next. It was just enough time to switch gates, go to the restroom, stock up on water, Pringles, and sleeping pills, and then go through the secondary security for the Israeli flight. By that point, most of the passengers had boarded the plane, so I got to scramble for overhead space and crawl over my two seatmates to get to my window seat. Although I was stuck in coach, my carry-on suitcase got to fly in business class, since there was not enough overhead space available in my cabin. Harumph. I hope my suitcase enjoyed it.
As usual, I forgot things. On the "still at home" list this time are both sleeping pills/melatonin, as well as workout clothes. Boooo. I picked up some Unisom in the airport and already had Advil PM with me, so fingers crossed that will work to get me on the right sleep schedule ASAP. As for the workout clothes - well, I may be the girl going running in a bathing suit top and yoga pants along the Tel Aviv beachfront. We'll see!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Testing
Hopefully there is a picture that posts here! If so, it's a shot of me at one of the beach bars in Tel Aviv on my last Thursday night there.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Israel By Numbers
10:15 PM Israeli time.
11 - number of days a 3oz bottle of contact cleaner will last
14 - number of showers I can take before I run out of shampoo and conditioner (also in 3oz bottles)
16 - number of days before using up a travel-sized tube of toothpaste
4 - greatest number of showers taken in one day
3 - number of those showers that included washing my hair
In my defense, it was the day I went to Masada and the Dead Sea, so one in the morning, one after getting out of the sulfur bath at the spa (no hair washing that time), one after swimming/floating in the Dead Sea, and one when I got back to the hotel in an attempt to not smell like sulfur any longer.
1 - number of restaurants where I actually did see bacon on the menu
0 - number of times I ordered bacon. I figured I could control my cravings and be culturally sensitive for 3 weeks.
Eleventy-six - approximate number of times I craved bacon
$178 - amount spent sending laundry out through the hotel
$107 - additional price it would have been had I not washed socks, unders, bras, and 3 blouses in the bathtub
$4 - price of a can of Coke from the mini bar in the room
3 - number of cans of Coke pulled from the mini bar when I was either too tired to go elsewhere, or it was Sabbath and everything was closed
3 - number of glasses of wine I consumed the night before going to Jerusalem
1 - number of glasses of wine I should have consumed the night before going to Jerusalem
Probably less than 0.5 - liters of water I drank on a hot sunny day wandering around Jerusalem
3 - liters of water I drank on a hot sunny day wandering around the Dead Sea, after learning my lesson the hard way in Jerusalem (plus about 750mL of Coke, for extra liquid and to keep my sugar level somewhat up)
19 - number of days we teased the guy from CA about eating nothing but chicken here
1 - number of days I successfully goaded him into picking the beef dish at lunch. For the record, he said he enjoyed it.
4 - number of days I forgot my key card to get into the office and had to borrow someone else's every time I needed to go to the bathroom
1 - days when I discovered after getting back to the hotel that the key card was actually in my purse all along
3 - number of chicken livers I ate at our class "graduation" dinner. First time I've ever eaten liver. It was actually pretty tasty.
UPDATE, 6/3/11:
2.5 - number of hours it took me to get from being dropped off at Ben Gurion Airport to finally being inside security. They aren't kidding when they tell you to get there at least 3.5 hours early.
11 - number of days a 3oz bottle of contact cleaner will last
14 - number of showers I can take before I run out of shampoo and conditioner (also in 3oz bottles)
16 - number of days before using up a travel-sized tube of toothpaste
4 - greatest number of showers taken in one day
3 - number of those showers that included washing my hair
In my defense, it was the day I went to Masada and the Dead Sea, so one in the morning, one after getting out of the sulfur bath at the spa (no hair washing that time), one after swimming/floating in the Dead Sea, and one when I got back to the hotel in an attempt to not smell like sulfur any longer.
1 - number of restaurants where I actually did see bacon on the menu
0 - number of times I ordered bacon. I figured I could control my cravings and be culturally sensitive for 3 weeks.
Eleventy-six - approximate number of times I craved bacon
$178 - amount spent sending laundry out through the hotel
$107 - additional price it would have been had I not washed socks, unders, bras, and 3 blouses in the bathtub
$4 - price of a can of Coke from the mini bar in the room
3 - number of cans of Coke pulled from the mini bar when I was either too tired to go elsewhere, or it was Sabbath and everything was closed
3 - number of glasses of wine I consumed the night before going to Jerusalem
1 - number of glasses of wine I should have consumed the night before going to Jerusalem
Probably less than 0.5 - liters of water I drank on a hot sunny day wandering around Jerusalem
3 - liters of water I drank on a hot sunny day wandering around the Dead Sea, after learning my lesson the hard way in Jerusalem (plus about 750mL of Coke, for extra liquid and to keep my sugar level somewhat up)
19 - number of days we teased the guy from CA about eating nothing but chicken here
1 - number of days I successfully goaded him into picking the beef dish at lunch. For the record, he said he enjoyed it.
4 - number of days I forgot my key card to get into the office and had to borrow someone else's every time I needed to go to the bathroom
1 - days when I discovered after getting back to the hotel that the key card was actually in my purse all along
3 - number of chicken livers I ate at our class "graduation" dinner. First time I've ever eaten liver. It was actually pretty tasty.
UPDATE, 6/3/11:
2.5 - number of hours it took me to get from being dropped off at Ben Gurion Airport to finally being inside security. They aren't kidding when they tell you to get there at least 3.5 hours early.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
The Dead Sea and Masada - Day 15
10:30 PM Israel time.
Just a taste of today with some pictures, before I go to bed and pass out! Descriptions and other updates coming tomorrow.
IMPORTANT QUESTION: Can anyone else see the pictures below? My mom says she can't; I logged out of Blogger/Google and reloaded and I can see them, but not sure if there's a Picasa cookie buried somewhere on my laptop or not. Hit the comments below and let me know please!
UPDATE: I think I figured out what was wrong, and hopefully you can see pictures below!
Just a taste of today with some pictures, before I go to bed and pass out! Descriptions and other updates coming tomorrow.
IMPORTANT QUESTION: Can anyone else see the pictures below? My mom says she can't; I logged out of Blogger/Google and reloaded and I can see them, but not sure if there's a Picasa cookie buried somewhere on my laptop or not. Hit the comments below and let me know please!
UPDATE: I think I figured out what was wrong, and hopefully you can see pictures below!
Masada:
 |
| Self portrait from the Visitors Center at the bottom of the funicular. |
 |
| Going up... |
 |
| The Snake Path. This is how King Herod and the Jews accessed the top of Masada, and also why it was a stronghold against the Romans for so long. You can still climb it today; someday if I am back and not on a tour I'd like to do that. |
 |
| Panoramic view of the funicular line from the top. |
 |
| This was one of 29 storerooms for food in the complex. This provided enough food for 10-15 YEARS. |
 |
| Looking down onto the three tiers of Herod's palace. |
 |
| One of the cisterns (on the right) with what was probably a connected well/water gathering locations. By creating dams in the nearby hills, any rainwater was channeled into lower cisterns at the base of Masada and then hand-carried at night to cisterns at the top, ensuring enough water supply in a hilltop desert stronghold for not just drinking but to also supply three separate bath houses with steam saunas. |
 |
| This room was once the synagog of Masada, and may be the oldest synagog in the world. Documents from before this time only discuss the Temple in Jerusalem, but no mention of other synagogs. |
 |
| This is the ramp the Romans constructed (by slave labor) to breach Masada. It took them 6 months of building, during which time, the Jewish community at the top threw both water and food down on the Romans, to say "you will not force us out by starvation or thirst." When the Romans did finally break into Masada, they had found that the entire community of 1000 Jews had committed mass suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans. |
 |
| Dovecote |
 |
| One of the original mosaic tile floors still in existence today. This was the dressing room for one of the bathhouses, which was entered by a stairway on the lower left corner of the picture. |
 |
| Another view, showing the stairs to the steam room. |
The Dead Sea:
 |
| Ein Gedi Spa, on the Dead Sea. Lowest point on earth, 420m (1400ft) below sea level. We spent 3 blissful hours here. I soaked for 15 minutes in a sulfur bath inside, rinsed off, went outside and slathered myself with Dead Sea mud, waited for it to dry, rinsed off in a sulfur shower and then a shower of fresh water, then went to the sea and floated for about 20 minutes. |
 |
| Salt crystals that form along the shores of the sea. The bottom is not sand or stones, but is crystallized minerals. You do not want to go barefoot on this beach! |
 |
| Relaxed after my swim/float! The Dead Sea is 34% solid, so you are much more buoyant than in even normal ocean water. The floating was amazing, but you really have to struggle to put your feet back down when you want to get out! Also, the water is so high in mineral content that you do NOT want to get it in your eyes. |
 |
| There are a few sun shelters on the beach, and then a couple like this one built in about 2 feet of water. The salt crystallizes on the pillars and forms really cool shapes. Also, my pictures do not do the color of the water justice. |
 |
| Panoramic of the Dead Sea from shore. The mountains in the distance are the Moav mountains in Jordan. |
 |
| Other swimmers (saying "other floaters" sounds a bit morbid, but maybe I've just been watching too much CSI!) |
Friday, May 27, 2011
Lost In Translation
2:45 PM Israeli time.
A word of warning. Should you find yourself on the Tel Aviv beach promenade and need to avail yourself of the public facilities, do not enter the door with the sign "lavatory".
A word of warning. Should you find yourself on the Tel Aviv beach promenade and need to avail yourself of the public facilities, do not enter the door with the sign "lavatory".
The public toilets are in another room, around the corner and marked "restrooms".
Here you will find the public toilets! And, thankfully, no naked Russians.
I do find it interesting that while I speak neither Russian nor Hebrew, I've been here long enough now to distinguish between the two.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Awesome Things I Have Seen In Israel
10 PM Israeli time.
It's late, I'm tired, the Jerusalem post is not going up today! Instead you are getting a list of some of the awesome things I have seen in Israel that I either didn't have the camera for or couldn't get it out in time. So no photo evidence, you'll have to take my word for it.
-A group of 11- or 12-year-old girls walking to school in their uniforms: navy blue skirt, pink blouse. And all of them with pink backpacks! (Makes me miss my Girl Scouts).
-A girl in her 20s riding a gorgeous turquoise blue retro-style pedal bike on the beach promenade, wearing a turquoise beach cover-up to match.
-A guy pulling up to the beach on a scooter (in flip-flops, of course) with his Chihuahua riding along in between his feet.
-High tension, relatively new-looking power lines that have the old green glass insulators instead of ceramics.
-Crazy-ass motorcycle and scooter drivers by the hundreds. Actually, crazy driving aplenty.
-At least two guys dropping trou in public to change out of swim trunks into...well, into what I'm not to sure. I'm pretty sure I saw one of them just wrap a beach towel around his naked waist and get in his car to drive home.
-A sunset beach dance party with a DJ. Which would be normal, except there were no speakers, everyone had a pair of wireless headphone. They were clearly all grooving to something, but the rest of us certainly couldn't hear it!
Today was a late day at class; we were there until 7 because we've finally gotten to the troubleshooting portion of class. The instructors set three different things on each machine to wrong/bad values or settings, and we had to figure out what they were. Unfortunately, the machines weren't at perfect (or even good) calibration before, so my team kept finding something that was wrong...and then being told "oh, that's good, but that's not one of the things we changed." Argh! Hopefully as the week goes along and we dial things in, we'll be finding less unintentionally wrong things in troubleshooting.
Tonight's excitement was doing laundry in the tub. Since the trip is more than a week long, work will pay for me to send my laundry out, but it's pretty expensive through the hotel and I don't exactly want to waste time and try to go find a laundromat. At the end of last week, I sent out 3 pairs of pants, 7 shirts, and a pair of pjs, and it was about $100. That's without having unders or socks washed - those cost 11 NIS per pair to be washed (the exchange rate is somewhere around $1 to 3.5-4 NIS, so about $3.50 each to wash a pair of socks!) which easily would have added another $75 to the laundry bill. I think work would have choked on that. I brought some single-use detergent packets with me, so the tub it was!
Tomorrow is more troubleshooting in class, and then work is taking us all out to dinner tomorrow night. At which point I will be halfway through my trip - can't believe how quickly it is going!
It's late, I'm tired, the Jerusalem post is not going up today! Instead you are getting a list of some of the awesome things I have seen in Israel that I either didn't have the camera for or couldn't get it out in time. So no photo evidence, you'll have to take my word for it.
-A group of 11- or 12-year-old girls walking to school in their uniforms: navy blue skirt, pink blouse. And all of them with pink backpacks! (Makes me miss my Girl Scouts).
-A girl in her 20s riding a gorgeous turquoise blue retro-style pedal bike on the beach promenade, wearing a turquoise beach cover-up to match.
-A guy pulling up to the beach on a scooter (in flip-flops, of course) with his Chihuahua riding along in between his feet.
-High tension, relatively new-looking power lines that have the old green glass insulators instead of ceramics.
-Crazy-ass motorcycle and scooter drivers by the hundreds. Actually, crazy driving aplenty.
-At least two guys dropping trou in public to change out of swim trunks into...well, into what I'm not to sure. I'm pretty sure I saw one of them just wrap a beach towel around his naked waist and get in his car to drive home.
-A sunset beach dance party with a DJ. Which would be normal, except there were no speakers, everyone had a pair of wireless headphone. They were clearly all grooving to something, but the rest of us certainly couldn't hear it!
Today was a late day at class; we were there until 7 because we've finally gotten to the troubleshooting portion of class. The instructors set three different things on each machine to wrong/bad values or settings, and we had to figure out what they were. Unfortunately, the machines weren't at perfect (or even good) calibration before, so my team kept finding something that was wrong...and then being told "oh, that's good, but that's not one of the things we changed." Argh! Hopefully as the week goes along and we dial things in, we'll be finding less unintentionally wrong things in troubleshooting.
Tonight's excitement was doing laundry in the tub. Since the trip is more than a week long, work will pay for me to send my laundry out, but it's pretty expensive through the hotel and I don't exactly want to waste time and try to go find a laundromat. At the end of last week, I sent out 3 pairs of pants, 7 shirts, and a pair of pjs, and it was about $100. That's without having unders or socks washed - those cost 11 NIS per pair to be washed (the exchange rate is somewhere around $1 to 3.5-4 NIS, so about $3.50 each to wash a pair of socks!) which easily would have added another $75 to the laundry bill. I think work would have choked on that. I brought some single-use detergent packets with me, so the tub it was!
Tomorrow is more troubleshooting in class, and then work is taking us all out to dinner tomorrow night. At which point I will be halfway through my trip - can't believe how quickly it is going!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Comments From A Friday Night
5:30 PM Israeli time.
In one of my many shopping sprees through Target before my trip, I found some little notebooks of blank paper in the same size and style of a passport. They were on clearance for less than $3 for a pack of 3, and they have cute little designs on them, so I scooped them up. Stuck one in my purse before I left on my trip, figuring that there would be things I might want to jot down while I was out and about.
I did wind up getting out of my funk mood and out of my room last night, and went to Gordo's, which is a beach bar right next to the hotel. Much like the upstairs tavern at my favorite local restaurant back home, Gordo's seating is couches, chairs, and low tables. I parked myself in a deck chair, ordered a glass of Israeli white wine and a plate of pasta and shrimp in garlic butter, and pulled out my passport notebook to write down some observations. Here is some of what I wrote.
"Enjoying the summery feeling of humid air combined with a cool ocean breeze."
"Oddly, this is not the first time on this trip that someone has assumed I am Russian and spoken to me in (yet another) language I don't understand. The taxi driver who picked me up at the airport assumed I was because of my first name ("Is Russian name, yes?") and tonight was the second waiter/maitre d' who thought that. Which makes me wonder - do I look Russian? As far as I know, I have absolutely NO Russian blood in my background!"
"There is an orange and white tabby cat at my feet, trying to make friends with me. He must know I ordered the shrimp." There was a black and white one making friends with me at the seafood place a couple of nights ago, too. Clearly it is obvious to the feline world that I am a sucker.
"The three women at the seating area next to me (who may actually BE Russian) ordered a bottle of Chardonnay with ice to put in the glasses." Blasphemy!
"Clearly not a Jewish/Kosher restaurant, because in addition to the pasta with shrimp, I could have ordered a bacon cheeseburger!"
"Interesting how my handwriting gets larger as I get further into the second glass of wine...."
"And now the women sitting next to me sound like they are speaking French. But I can't imagine any self-respecting French person sullying a glass of wine with ice."
"Why is it that my brain, when faced with any foreign language EXCEPT French, comes out with the French? I did this in high school in Italy and I'm doing it now - formulating all my conversations in my brain in (bad, grammatically incorrect) French. But when I'm actually in France or Quebec, it all abandons me. What the hell?!"
And at that point, Brian from class showed up and ordered a 2-foot tall beer. So I had a third glass of wine to keep him company. And we shut the place down at 2AM - which I can assure you was NOT the best plan for the night before an 8:30 start to Jerusalem. More on that trip later.
In one of my many shopping sprees through Target before my trip, I found some little notebooks of blank paper in the same size and style of a passport. They were on clearance for less than $3 for a pack of 3, and they have cute little designs on them, so I scooped them up. Stuck one in my purse before I left on my trip, figuring that there would be things I might want to jot down while I was out and about.
I did wind up getting out of my funk mood and out of my room last night, and went to Gordo's, which is a beach bar right next to the hotel. Much like the upstairs tavern at my favorite local restaurant back home, Gordo's seating is couches, chairs, and low tables. I parked myself in a deck chair, ordered a glass of Israeli white wine and a plate of pasta and shrimp in garlic butter, and pulled out my passport notebook to write down some observations. Here is some of what I wrote.
"Enjoying the summery feeling of humid air combined with a cool ocean breeze."
"Oddly, this is not the first time on this trip that someone has assumed I am Russian and spoken to me in (yet another) language I don't understand. The taxi driver who picked me up at the airport assumed I was because of my first name ("Is Russian name, yes?") and tonight was the second waiter/maitre d' who thought that. Which makes me wonder - do I look Russian? As far as I know, I have absolutely NO Russian blood in my background!"
"There is an orange and white tabby cat at my feet, trying to make friends with me. He must know I ordered the shrimp." There was a black and white one making friends with me at the seafood place a couple of nights ago, too. Clearly it is obvious to the feline world that I am a sucker.
"The three women at the seating area next to me (who may actually BE Russian) ordered a bottle of Chardonnay with ice to put in the glasses." Blasphemy!
"Clearly not a Jewish/Kosher restaurant, because in addition to the pasta with shrimp, I could have ordered a bacon cheeseburger!"
"Interesting how my handwriting gets larger as I get further into the second glass of wine...."
"And now the women sitting next to me sound like they are speaking French. But I can't imagine any self-respecting French person sullying a glass of wine with ice."
"Why is it that my brain, when faced with any foreign language EXCEPT French, comes out with the French? I did this in high school in Italy and I'm doing it now - formulating all my conversations in my brain in (bad, grammatically incorrect) French. But when I'm actually in France or Quebec, it all abandons me. What the hell?!"
And at that point, Brian from class showed up and ordered a 2-foot tall beer. So I had a third glass of wine to keep him company. And we shut the place down at 2AM - which I can assure you was NOT the best plan for the night before an 8:30 start to Jerusalem. More on that trip later.
 |
| Brian and his impressively tall beer. It has a spigot on the bottom! |
Friday, May 20, 2011
Ups and Downs
Or maybe, Mostly Downs. 7:30 PM Israeli time.
I read something recently that mentioned it takes one day per hour of time change to get over jet lag. Israel is +7 hours from the east coast and I got here last Saturday, so today is Day 7. I thought I was over my jet lag a few days ago, but today I slept until 9, didn't actually make it out of the room until 11 (when I found out I had missed breakfast, despite the hotel guide saying they serve until 11:30), was back in the room after a walk by 12:30, and slept from 1 until 4. I should drag myself out to dinner, since I skipped breakfast and just snacked on random food I have in my room for lunch, but I'm still feeling pretty tired/lazy.
This feels pretty similar to how I felt for a while back in February, which to be honest, isn't a great sign. I think a lot of it has to do with being a little lonely - despite my introvert rant the other day. I'm in this beautiful, glorious place and don't have anyone to share it with. It's just enough of a culture change here that I'm not nearly as comfortable going out to dinner by myself as I am in the States. And it's not that I feel unsafe walking around Tel Aviv or sitting in a restaurant by myself, I just feel much more awkward and alone. I know I could try being more social with my classmates. But my classmates aren't people I would normally choose to hang out with (unlike other coworkers I have traveled with in the past) and after a day/week of class, I want a break from them. So it's a Catch-22 situation. Honestly, a big part of it is that I walk around here and keep thinking of how much Le copain français would enjoy it here, and I still really miss him. I know most people's opinion is that I should try to focus on moving on, and that I should try to use this trip as a "reset button" and a fresh start, but still....
So despite the fact that I originally had big plans to go to the street market, poke around Jaffa some more, and maybe do a walking tour I found online, I did nothing. And now I'm disappointed with myself that I wasted a day here - after all, I only have 4 "free" days that don't involve class, and tomorrow we have the group tour planned for Jerusalem. On the other hand, maybe I just needed to catch up on my sleep. If nothing else, I think this has shown me that I need to do better next weekend about making plans to fill my time, and not try to play it by ear. And I really hope this isn't an indication that next year's planned trip to Paris will result in me holing up in a short-term rental for 2 weeks....
I read something recently that mentioned it takes one day per hour of time change to get over jet lag. Israel is +7 hours from the east coast and I got here last Saturday, so today is Day 7. I thought I was over my jet lag a few days ago, but today I slept until 9, didn't actually make it out of the room until 11 (when I found out I had missed breakfast, despite the hotel guide saying they serve until 11:30), was back in the room after a walk by 12:30, and slept from 1 until 4. I should drag myself out to dinner, since I skipped breakfast and just snacked on random food I have in my room for lunch, but I'm still feeling pretty tired/lazy.
This feels pretty similar to how I felt for a while back in February, which to be honest, isn't a great sign. I think a lot of it has to do with being a little lonely - despite my introvert rant the other day. I'm in this beautiful, glorious place and don't have anyone to share it with. It's just enough of a culture change here that I'm not nearly as comfortable going out to dinner by myself as I am in the States. And it's not that I feel unsafe walking around Tel Aviv or sitting in a restaurant by myself, I just feel much more awkward and alone. I know I could try being more social with my classmates. But my classmates aren't people I would normally choose to hang out with (unlike other coworkers I have traveled with in the past) and after a day/week of class, I want a break from them. So it's a Catch-22 situation. Honestly, a big part of it is that I walk around here and keep thinking of how much Le copain français would enjoy it here, and I still really miss him. I know most people's opinion is that I should try to focus on moving on, and that I should try to use this trip as a "reset button" and a fresh start, but still....
So despite the fact that I originally had big plans to go to the street market, poke around Jaffa some more, and maybe do a walking tour I found online, I did nothing. And now I'm disappointed with myself that I wasted a day here - after all, I only have 4 "free" days that don't involve class, and tomorrow we have the group tour planned for Jerusalem. On the other hand, maybe I just needed to catch up on my sleep. If nothing else, I think this has shown me that I need to do better next weekend about making plans to fill my time, and not try to play it by ear. And I really hope this isn't an indication that next year's planned trip to Paris will result in me holing up in a short-term rental for 2 weeks....
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Fish Heads, Fish Heads
11:15 PM Israel time
Today was a much, much better day than yesterday. I screwed up and then successfully fixed some things on one of the machines this morning, and I leveled another one to almost perfect this afternoon. We had much more hands-on time than lecture time, which is really what I need. Especially since I've seen half of these slides in the office already. And we finally started learning about some of the materials too, which I definitely find cool.
I also decided I was tired of the tourist-beach-bar fare and asked some of the Israeli guys in the office for recommendations on restaurants. I came away with a list of suggestions, as well as a tentative plan to grab dinner and drinks with one of the guys tomorrow. I wound up going out for dinner to a recommended seafood place tonight with one of the other Americans. I'd like to hang with the Brits, they seem like a couple of guys who would be a blast to get a drink with, but they both disappear pretty quickly as soon as the taxis drop us off each night.
Anyway, the seafood was fantastic, fresh and with a great fried breading on it. They brought out a tray of meze plates before we even ordered - small salads and coleslaw and veggies. I had a mixed seafood plate, which had calamari and shrimp, both of which were delicious (and huge pieces of calamari).
Brian ordered a mixed fish plate. Oddly, the fish looked to be all the same type. They also still looked like fish. They were delicious, though (we swapped food samples), but a little bony.
This week is going pretty quickly, only two work days left as they work Sunday to Thursday here. I'm not sure what I'm going to do on Friday, but the office has organized a day trip for all of us to Jerusalem on Saturday, which I'm really looking forward to.
Pictures, finally!
Today was a much, much better day than yesterday. I screwed up and then successfully fixed some things on one of the machines this morning, and I leveled another one to almost perfect this afternoon. We had much more hands-on time than lecture time, which is really what I need. Especially since I've seen half of these slides in the office already. And we finally started learning about some of the materials too, which I definitely find cool.
I also decided I was tired of the tourist-beach-bar fare and asked some of the Israeli guys in the office for recommendations on restaurants. I came away with a list of suggestions, as well as a tentative plan to grab dinner and drinks with one of the guys tomorrow. I wound up going out for dinner to a recommended seafood place tonight with one of the other Americans. I'd like to hang with the Brits, they seem like a couple of guys who would be a blast to get a drink with, but they both disappear pretty quickly as soon as the taxis drop us off each night.
Anyway, the seafood was fantastic, fresh and with a great fried breading on it. They brought out a tray of meze plates before we even ordered - small salads and coleslaw and veggies. I had a mixed seafood plate, which had calamari and shrimp, both of which were delicious (and huge pieces of calamari).
Brian ordered a mixed fish plate. Oddly, the fish looked to be all the same type. They also still looked like fish. They were delicious, though (we swapped food samples), but a little bony.
This week is going pretty quickly, only two work days left as they work Sunday to Thursday here. I'm not sure what I'm going to do on Friday, but the office has organized a day trip for all of us to Jerusalem on Saturday, which I'm really looking forward to.
Pictures, finally!
Monday, May 16, 2011
How Do You Say "Argh" In Hebrew?
Warning - the following post contains self-pity and whining. Please check back tomorrow for a more positive attitude.
7:45PM Israeli time
Sartre said "Hell is other people", and right now I very much agree. This introvert has had more than enough socialization for today, to the point I'm trying to decide if I'm up to heading down to the lobby cafe for dinner by myself, or if I'm just going to order overpriced room service.
To start with, class was frustrating today. I want to succeed at this; I don't want to be the little girl who can't fix the machines. And of course, in attempting to do a relatively routine part replacement, it took me 3 times (and someone else finally inserting the part) to get it right. So frustrating. Also frustrating is the fact that we're doing a lot of listening to lectures/slides right now. Which is fine with me, especially since we're going to get plenty of hands-on time later this week and next, but everyone else keeps asking questions that would really be better answered by just trying scenarios out on the machines.
And then there's the language barrier. Which for once does not seem to be a problem for me, but for everyone else. The course is in English - it was actually specified on the invitation that English fluency was a prerequisite. There is at least one person in the class who not only is not fluent, but you can tell understands only a small percentage of what is being said by anyone. Within the fluent speakers, there are 5-6 different accents competing. Some people understand some accents but not others, et cetera et cetera et cetera. The Israeli instructors sometimes use slightly different terminology than what we use in the States, which seems to be throwing some people off. And so all this amounts to a lot of redundant questions, discussions going around and around the same topic, and questions that are asked in a way such that the given answer really doesn't answer the question at all.
Finally, there seems to be a bad combination of "this is not the same as at home; wah wah wah" and cultural apathy with a lot of the group. We're here in Israel for 2-3 weeks, basically all-expenses paid work trip. And yes, it is great that they have put us up on the beach here in Tel Aviv. The company is also organizing a day-trip for us to Jerusalem this coming weekend with a tour guide - something that runs $100+ per person through the hotel, and the company is doing this for us for free. And yet, there are people complaining because they wanted to go to the beach, go surfing, go dune buggying, go to the freaking Harley Davidson store instead. I'm listening to endless whining about the price of dining out. I've listened to whining about the fact that service is not included in the restaurant bill and oh the horrors, our waiter was acutally "rude" enough to point that out to us last night. I've listened to complaints about slow service - how we waited "an hour" after dinner to get our bill last night. We didn't, we waited maybe 20 minutes, which is nothing. I'm so frustrated by people who expect this to be exactly like the US (or whatever their home country is) and who also have no interest in exploring Israel at all. Don't these guys have any cultural curiosity at all?
I'm hoping most of this annoyance is just delayed jet lag on my part. I remember that the first time I went to France for work, the second day there was the worst and most frustrating. With any luck I will get a good night of sleep tonight and will be less vexed by everything tomorrow.
7:45PM Israeli time
Sartre said "Hell is other people", and right now I very much agree. This introvert has had more than enough socialization for today, to the point I'm trying to decide if I'm up to heading down to the lobby cafe for dinner by myself, or if I'm just going to order overpriced room service.
To start with, class was frustrating today. I want to succeed at this; I don't want to be the little girl who can't fix the machines. And of course, in attempting to do a relatively routine part replacement, it took me 3 times (and someone else finally inserting the part) to get it right. So frustrating. Also frustrating is the fact that we're doing a lot of listening to lectures/slides right now. Which is fine with me, especially since we're going to get plenty of hands-on time later this week and next, but everyone else keeps asking questions that would really be better answered by just trying scenarios out on the machines.
And then there's the language barrier. Which for once does not seem to be a problem for me, but for everyone else. The course is in English - it was actually specified on the invitation that English fluency was a prerequisite. There is at least one person in the class who not only is not fluent, but you can tell understands only a small percentage of what is being said by anyone. Within the fluent speakers, there are 5-6 different accents competing. Some people understand some accents but not others, et cetera et cetera et cetera. The Israeli instructors sometimes use slightly different terminology than what we use in the States, which seems to be throwing some people off. And so all this amounts to a lot of redundant questions, discussions going around and around the same topic, and questions that are asked in a way such that the given answer really doesn't answer the question at all.
Finally, there seems to be a bad combination of "this is not the same as at home; wah wah wah" and cultural apathy with a lot of the group. We're here in Israel for 2-3 weeks, basically all-expenses paid work trip. And yes, it is great that they have put us up on the beach here in Tel Aviv. The company is also organizing a day-trip for us to Jerusalem this coming weekend with a tour guide - something that runs $100+ per person through the hotel, and the company is doing this for us for free. And yet, there are people complaining because they wanted to go to the beach, go surfing, go dune buggying, go to the freaking Harley Davidson store instead. I'm listening to endless whining about the price of dining out. I've listened to whining about the fact that service is not included in the restaurant bill and oh the horrors, our waiter was acutally "rude" enough to point that out to us last night. I've listened to complaints about slow service - how we waited "an hour" after dinner to get our bill last night. We didn't, we waited maybe 20 minutes, which is nothing. I'm so frustrated by people who expect this to be exactly like the US (or whatever their home country is) and who also have no interest in exploring Israel at all. Don't these guys have any cultural curiosity at all?
I'm hoping most of this annoyance is just delayed jet lag on my part. I remember that the first time I went to France for work, the second day there was the worst and most frustrating. With any luck I will get a good night of sleep tonight and will be less vexed by everything tomorrow.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Tel Aviv, Day 2
10:45 PM Israeli time
Yes, I am starting my blog posts from Israel with Day 2. I will go back and post more on Day 1 (which was more eventful, since I wasn't at work!) when I am more awake.
So far things are going very smoothly. The jet lag isn't too bad, I'm just tired earlier in the evening than I normally am. I'm sure that will work itself out over the next couple of days. I did actually get some solid sleep on the flight over, and then took a midday nap once I got here, so that helped a lot. I know they say that you should stay up as long as you can in the new time zone to avoid jet lag, but that just doesn't work for me. There is not much of a language barrier here, certainly not as bad as my previous work trips to France. Most of the hotel staff speaks excellent English, as do the office staff at work. And our waiter tonight was from Dublin!
We started our training class today - as typical in this industry, I'm the only woman. I'm also the only one who is not training as a field service engineer. Everyone else actually needs to know how to fix the machines as part of their jobs; I just need to know as much as I can to help the customer. Still, I want to pass the course (yes, we get tested) and learn as much as I can.
There are 9 of us total in the class, with a variety of Israeli instructors from the home office. 3 of us from the US, 2 young (and kind of cute!) guys from the UK, 2 from China, and one each from Sweden and Mexico. This is a pretty big class, I think usually their basic field training is around 5-6 people. But we are going to get lots of hands-on experience with the machines, which is great. After 2 years of doing nothing but marketing, I'm ready to get back into the problem-solving world of engineering, even if it is just troubleshooting large electronics!
So far the food has been pretty standard - breakfast is included at the hotel, where it is a buffet. Oddly, they serve salads on the breakfast buffet! That works in my favor though, since I don't like the standard melon/cantaloupe offerings that usually go with breakfast. I also had odd scrambled eggs this morning - had a texture like cottage cheese. They do have an omelette station, so if I get there in time tomorrow, I'll try that. There were some delicious looking pastries at breakfast, but of course some of them had nuts, so I stayed away from all. Lunch we have as a group at the office cafeteria. For dinner tonight, we were all on our own, so the 2 US guys and I took a walk down the beach to an al fresco restaurant where we all ordered the cheeseburger. Honestly, I was a little surprised to actually get a cheeseburger in Israel, so I wasn't about to turn it down! Very very good, but I think tomorrow it is time to venture out for something a little less American.
The weather has been great; sunny, breezy, and in the 70s (F). Everyone is here this weekend, and the US guys are also here the following weekend, but it looks like I may be on my own for doing tours - they were all talking today about finding surfboard rentals, but honestly, I can surf in the US. I am definitely going to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, even if it costs me a pretty penny!
And on that note, I will post one picture I took on the way to dinner, and go to bed.
Yes, I am starting my blog posts from Israel with Day 2. I will go back and post more on Day 1 (which was more eventful, since I wasn't at work!) when I am more awake.
So far things are going very smoothly. The jet lag isn't too bad, I'm just tired earlier in the evening than I normally am. I'm sure that will work itself out over the next couple of days. I did actually get some solid sleep on the flight over, and then took a midday nap once I got here, so that helped a lot. I know they say that you should stay up as long as you can in the new time zone to avoid jet lag, but that just doesn't work for me. There is not much of a language barrier here, certainly not as bad as my previous work trips to France. Most of the hotel staff speaks excellent English, as do the office staff at work. And our waiter tonight was from Dublin!
We started our training class today - as typical in this industry, I'm the only woman. I'm also the only one who is not training as a field service engineer. Everyone else actually needs to know how to fix the machines as part of their jobs; I just need to know as much as I can to help the customer. Still, I want to pass the course (yes, we get tested) and learn as much as I can.
There are 9 of us total in the class, with a variety of Israeli instructors from the home office. 3 of us from the US, 2 young (and kind of cute!) guys from the UK, 2 from China, and one each from Sweden and Mexico. This is a pretty big class, I think usually their basic field training is around 5-6 people. But we are going to get lots of hands-on experience with the machines, which is great. After 2 years of doing nothing but marketing, I'm ready to get back into the problem-solving world of engineering, even if it is just troubleshooting large electronics!
So far the food has been pretty standard - breakfast is included at the hotel, where it is a buffet. Oddly, they serve salads on the breakfast buffet! That works in my favor though, since I don't like the standard melon/cantaloupe offerings that usually go with breakfast. I also had odd scrambled eggs this morning - had a texture like cottage cheese. They do have an omelette station, so if I get there in time tomorrow, I'll try that. There were some delicious looking pastries at breakfast, but of course some of them had nuts, so I stayed away from all. Lunch we have as a group at the office cafeteria. For dinner tonight, we were all on our own, so the 2 US guys and I took a walk down the beach to an al fresco restaurant where we all ordered the cheeseburger. Honestly, I was a little surprised to actually get a cheeseburger in Israel, so I wasn't about to turn it down! Very very good, but I think tomorrow it is time to venture out for something a little less American.
The weather has been great; sunny, breezy, and in the 70s (F). Everyone is here this weekend, and the US guys are also here the following weekend, but it looks like I may be on my own for doing tours - they were all talking today about finding surfboard rentals, but honestly, I can surf in the US. I am definitely going to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, even if it costs me a pretty penny!
And on that note, I will post one picture I took on the way to dinner, and go to bed.
 |
| Sunset on the beach at Tel Aviv |
Friday, May 13, 2011
On My Way
Here we go, next stop Israel! Well, next stop Newark, but next time I will be breathing fresh air will be Israel.
Currently waiting at the Manchvegas airport for my flight, which is slightly delayed. Luckily I have a 2 hr layover in Newark, so delayed connecting flight should not adversely affect the hop across the pond.
As usual, I was packing right up until the moment I left. One of these days, I will manage to be organized enough to pack ahead of time. And then the world will stop from the shock. I've been stressed and anxious and tired all week, but I knew I just needed to get to the airport and it would all be ok. And it was - of course, the glass of wine I had at the bar might have something to do with that! But by now, it is past the point of no return. Anything I forgot to bring I will either live without or will find in Israel. Anything I didn't get finished at the house before I left, will still be there when I get back. I still feel guilty about leaving the kitties for 3 weeks, but what can you do. Auntie Neighbor will take good care of them, and they'll actually be more spoiled with her than they are with me.
So. A few more deep breaths, and in about another 10 minutes I'll be boarding my short flight to Newark. See you all on the other side of the pond!
Currently waiting at the Manchvegas airport for my flight, which is slightly delayed. Luckily I have a 2 hr layover in Newark, so delayed connecting flight should not adversely affect the hop across the pond.
As usual, I was packing right up until the moment I left. One of these days, I will manage to be organized enough to pack ahead of time. And then the world will stop from the shock. I've been stressed and anxious and tired all week, but I knew I just needed to get to the airport and it would all be ok. And it was - of course, the glass of wine I had at the bar might have something to do with that! But by now, it is past the point of no return. Anything I forgot to bring I will either live without or will find in Israel. Anything I didn't get finished at the house before I left, will still be there when I get back. I still feel guilty about leaving the kitties for 3 weeks, but what can you do. Auntie Neighbor will take good care of them, and they'll actually be more spoiled with her than they are with me.
So. A few more deep breaths, and in about another 10 minutes I'll be boarding my short flight to Newark. See you all on the other side of the pond!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)