Summer in the 'burgh

I went to a baseball game! With Noga (Hadas is too young and impatient for such a lengthy ordeal). The Pittsburgh Pirates are probably one of the crappiest teams in their league, but it's still Major League Baseball.

Watching a live baseball game was something I had to do at least once; I can't really live here and miss this important piece of Americana, can I?! The experience over all was definitely pleasant – socializing with my colleagues (it was a company outing), enjoying an almost-brand-new stadium with the beautiful skyline of downtown Pittsburgh and especially spending quality time with Noga who enjoyed her hamburger and cotton candy immensely.

But... boy, this game is sooooooooo booooooooring!!!!!!!! I cannot possibly convey how uninteresting it was. Nothing really happens, and this nothing goes on for a heluva long time!! We were lucky enough to have a relatively short game, meaning less than 3 hours, but in other cases it can keep going forever. As an aside, this is not a total exaggeration of mine – once 9 innings are over (if you don't know what an inning is, consider yourself lucky and preserve this blessed ignorance), if there is a draw, the game will continue for more and more innings, 'till there is a victory to either of the sides. The American culture despises a draw – there must be a winner and a loser ;-)

So now I know what a baseball game looks like, and I'm astounded that it is such a popular sport here. I know it sounds extreme and I risk being flamed for this, but hey, this posting is for me to express my opinions, isn't it? I still need to attend an American football game (that violent sport in which players barely use their feet, but is strangely called football after all), which is supposed to be a completely different experience. Problem is, because the Pittsburgh Steelers were last year's champions it's virtually impossible to get a ticket, even assuming one is willing to depart with a large amount of money.

Talking about sports, I've had the wonderful opportunity in the past month to stick with the sport I enjoy watching most - football, i.e. the real one, which in the US is called soccer. Living here for about a year and a half, one of the things I miss most is playing and watching football. Football is simply not a part of American culture, and despite becoming slightly more popular in the past two decades, it is essentially a non-issue here. While as an active player I always had basketball, as a spectator there is a constant vacuum. With the 2006 world cup, a satellite dish was arranged, and my June was filled with many high-quality delighting football matches. Fantastic!! And unlike in Israel, it doesn't even cost any extra here. But enough with sports.

The summer in the states "officially" starts on Memorial Day which falls on the last Monday of May; a very smart American way to guarantee that holidays are adjacent to a weekend. So we took advantage of this long weekend and embarked on a 3-night trip with Anat's dad, Yehiam, to West Virginia (Seneca Rocks) and Virginia (Shenandoah National Park). West Virginia borders Pennsylvania, and while being one of the poorest and most primitive states in the US, its nature is simply sublime. The scenery is amazing and the nature attractions are fantastic. We had a terrific time – camping, hiking, climbing on marvelous rocks and generally spending quality time as a family. This, with several other short trips in the past few months, is only a preparation for the bigger vacation we have planned for this summer. In about a week we'll fly out to the north-west of the US for 2.5 weeks. We'll start in Seattle, where we'll meet our friends Lisa & Ron and their daughters, and travel with them for a few days. Then we plan to drive to Jasper and Banff National Parks in Canada (aka the "Canadian Rockies"), and finish up in Glacier National Park in Montana. I trust that we'll have lots of fun, and will probably provide a more detailed account when we get back.

In general, our summer is packed with lots and lots of activities. As I previously wrote (last year) Pittsburgh has a surprising amount of outdoors events to offer, many of which are open to the public free of charge. Thus, every weekend we have at least one festivity such as a concert in the park, a circus performance and the like. On top of that, the weather so far is fairly reasonable – not too wet and not terribly hot and humid, so we have plenty of opportunities to hang out with friends in playgrounds or one of the many city parks.

The summer atmosphere we live in also has to do with the fact that Hadas and Noga are in summer camps. While in Hadas' case it's a new name for the same daycare with swimming added, for Noga it's an entirely different environment – what you'd call in Israel "Kaytana" – being outdoors all day long, including going to the pool several times every day. She had a fantastic year at school, and as she put it she's already considered "a first grader"… It's unbelievable to me how big she is. Hadas is also huge, extremely verbal and is constantly surprising us by how developed she is and how much she understands. The last kick for her is riding her new bicycle, of which she's so proud; and she's the cutest thing in the world! But I gave my kitschy pitch in my last posting, so I'll spare you this time...

So as you can see, life is great for us here in Pittsburgh. We're looking forward to our vacation in the north-west, and afterwards an August which is expected to be filled with visiting grandparents – lots of fun!!

Kisses and hugs,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora