July 3, 2006
Great - clean page - summer is beginning - this week is dedicated to exploring some fun things to do in this country, from the Bahai Temple in Haifa to Jeff's restaurant on Tschernichovsky Street.
Appropos traveling - i'm going to reveal two secrets of jewish women: 1. we have very strong thighs from not sitting down on public toilets 2. and frequent bladder infections from holding it in - it's a form of self-poisoning.
Gilad Shalit sits in our minds all the time. The shelling in Gaza, the terrifying deadline - what would you suggest be done? I myself simply don't know. But I had a son in the army once. And a few daughters.
July 4, 2006
No negotiations. No Fourth of July party for us. No negotiations either.
What is my stomach ache from? The virus that's going around? The couscous in the 3-table hole-in-the-wall near where my x-ray was today? The heat? The pressure? Whatever it is it is typical of Tel Aviv right now - and i am not alone.
The x-ray - nothing serious. The interesting thing is the medical system. I go in this morning for the x-ray. In an hour the results are on my medical website, along with some of the lab tests i did in the morning. My doctors get them automatically, and so do i, and I also don't have to stress out about the results because if anything is wrong, the doc will call me. Now that's cool. All right, the hospitals are understaffed and the food is awful, the facilities for seniors lacking, etc. But the computer services are amazing!
Why no fourth of july party? the ambassador didn't invite me again this year. and there is no other celebration anywhere to be found around here. Why should we celebrate anyway, my friend asks. Americans abroad have no representation, which is pretty creepy. And although once there were many activities in the cultural area around the embassy, cutbacks have dried up the excitement, as far as I know. So it doesn't feel too Independence Day around here.
A Kassam fell in Ashkelon just now - which means the range is improving.
World Cup again tonight - Italy against Germany. "So who are we for, the wife asks her husband staring at the screen, "The Fascists or the Nazis?" [That was a cartoon in today's paper]
July 5, 2006
"See?" says my friend, "You see what your disengagement got us? Rockets in a school in Ashkelon!" Well I never said unilateral disengagement without talks. Disengagement has to be worked on. But first - those rockets have to be stopped. You would think that once the Israelis pulled out more attention would be paid to independent economics, education, but I guess it's hard to stop focussing on terror. It's sad that they destroyed the basketball courts and stuff when they could have played there.
July 6, 2006
So there are these families who moved from Sderot to Ashkelon to get away from the rockets. One of them was interviewed last night on tv. It seems like a warning - that wherever we make the borders, we'll be defending them.
In a different world, herzlia, we had dinner at Metzo at the port. It was early because we had a doctor's appointment at the medical center later, but the food was so basic and so good we developed an appetite. It's also fun to watch all the brides coming by to get photographed in the sunset.
