My previous post was written around the Hebrew New Year, and after quite a while here I am, writing again, as the Gregorian New Year is approaching. Re-reading my previous post I realized that I didn't yet say that the baby we're expecting will be a third girl. Well, that isn't really surprising, is it? What else can we make?! ;-) As far as I'm concerned, anyway, girls are the best thing to have!
Anat is ambitious to get a lot done before giving birth (due early February), thus our lives have been pretty hectic recently. She is working frantically on multiple projects and papers, to the extent that it's sometimes hard to believe she's pregnant. All that in addition to attending a couple of conferences in Canada and Texas, not to mention the extensive traveling we went through in the past few months.
We spent a perfect long weekend in New-York city, enjoying the fantastic hospitality of our friend Itsik and his family and tasting a lot of the Big Apple. Shortly afterwards we spent a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation with our friends Yael & Yaniv and their kids in Bloomington, Indiana. Each of these two destinations entails 7-8 hour drive in each direction, which went as smoothly as a long drive can. Our tolerance for long drives has definitely improved. I'll refrain from providing detailed accounts of these two vacations, due to complaints about the length of my postings ;-)
Generally speaking, in the past several months we've been doing many things that won't be as accessible with a newborn, such as going out (with or without the girls), going to concerts etc. There is no doubt - our lives are going to change drastically in going back to having a baby. Noga and Hadas are sooooo big by now, such that for extended periods of time they're totally self-sufficient. For example, it's not uncommon for them to wake up on a weekend morning, get breakfast and entertain themselves for a long while, allowing both of us to sleep very late. Such luxuries, obviously, will soon be gone… However, laying my hands on Anat's enormous basketball- shaped belly and feeling my third daughter kicking and dancing is an instant reminder of the joys expecting us. In addition, Noga and Hadas are utterly excited about their future sister. Well, I'm not sure Hadas fully understands the implications, but their attitude is definitely positive.
Talking about the girls, they are really amazingly huge. Hadas is intrigued by numbers and by opposites, which are recently her favorite bed time entertainment. Cuddling her and smelling her addicting after-bath freshness, we cover long-short, high-low, wide- narrow and the like. It's fascinating to observe the way she is learning things, and especially (that wasn't there when Noga was her age) the influence of her bilingualism. For example, answering the question "which number comes after 20" is instant in English, but much slower in Hebrew. On the other hand, her command of opposites is much better in Hebrew than in English. What a complex system… Noga is thriving at school and really loves it. As an anecdote, when as part of her homework she was requested to list the things she's thankful for, "school" was at the top of the list... It's really great seeing her enjoying her daily activities so much! Just like her Mom she is quickly becoming a book worm, and she's reading a LOT, including full-length books, such as "Little House on the Prairie".
I could fill pages telling about how cute they are, how they both lend themselves gleefully to kisses, hugs and cuddling. Or elaborate about our small daily traditions, such as each family member telling over dinner about their day's highlights. But I'll only say what's probably most important - both of them are very happy girls the vast majority of the time, a fact that naturally makes our lives bright!
It might be a good idea to tell more about the pregnancy and the planned labor. Both Noga and Hadas were born in a hospital ("Beylinson"), leaving us with very bad feelings about the way birth is handled and managed in a hospital. I'll spare you the details, and will only say that after Hadas' birth we decided that if at all possible, we'd prefer our next child *not* to be born in a hospital. That's why we were so happy to discover that Pittsburgh has an alternative institution, called the "midwife center". There is tons of fascinating information about midwifery, but in a nutshell, this means that the person helping the woman give birth is not a medical doctor, but a nurse midwife. The birth itself is bound to be natural (no Epidural). Nurse midwives undergo special graduate education and receive state certification (at least in Pennsylvania). In addition to the labor itself, all the prenatal care is performed by midwives rather than by doctors, in a setting which is anything but a hospital. I probably cannot say anything definite until after the birth, but at least so far it's hard to convey how different an experience this has been for us!
The differences are felt in every tiny detail - the atmosphere at the center, the welcoming design of the place and most importantly - their basic attitude of sharing information with the pregnant woman and her spouse, ultimately leaving all the choices and final decisions up to us. Don't get me wrong - the midwife center is a respectable professional institution, that has existed for more than 20 years and whose services are covered by every major health insurance provider. The key point, in my opinion, is that midwifery views pregnancy and labor as natural processes rather than a necessarily medical procedure. That is, as long as they progress normally. If a medical need is discovered during prenatal care or develops during labor, then the birth will take place in a nearby hospital. But only then.
Weather-wise, this winter is fairly strange and surprising. After a very chilly start back in October, the temperatures went drastically upwards. It's still very cold in Israeli terms, most of the time not much warmer than 0 degrees Celsius, but in Pittsburgh terms this isn't a winter. Let alone the almost total absence of snow - we had only one mild snow so far, making us more or less even with Jerusalem ;-) I guess that this global warming thing, which we all conveniently ignore in our daily routines, is here and is tangible. While we're at it, in http://tonykaron.com/2006/11/18/marx-and-fukuyama-were-wrong-its-the-environment-stupid/ you can find a very interesting article about the issue, with the first part giving scary information about potential scenarios.
Happy New Year!
Giora
Monday, January 1
Saturday, September 23
Shana Tova!!!
In a couple of hours those of you living in Israel will sit to the holiday table and celebrate Rosh Hashana. We, in a different time zone, will be doing the same a few hours later, and wanted to wish everybody Shana Tova U'metuka!!!
I also wanted to share some more happy news with all of you. Anat is pregnant, and we're expecting our third child in early February. So far the pregnancy is progressing just as it should and we're all very excited about it. Other than that, due to the unpleasant events back in July-August, my previous posting neglected to elaborate about our wonderful travels in the Pacific North-West. As I previously wrote, I have a lot to tell, and I'll try to catch up now.
To begin with, we embarked on a very long vacation, in American terms - 17 days. We flew out to Seattle and spent a few very pleasant days with our friends Lisa & Ron and their lovely daughters Laila and Maayan. Not only did we enjoy their wonderful hospitality, but we also went hiking and camping together in Olympic National Park, a fantastic park not too far from Seattle. As an aside, Seattlers have 3 nearby beautiful National Parks. Lucky them... It's been a long while since we lived close to Ron & Lisa in Israel, and getting together again was terrific!
We decided to skip Vancouver and most of British Columbia (can't win 'em all) and had a long drive (about 11 hours) to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies. As you probably know, Canada is a gigantic country, second largest in land-area (yep, Russia is still the biggest, even without being the USSR). When you think that there are only 33 million Canadians (compare to almost 300 million Americans), you realize how sparsely populated this country is. Indeed, that vast majority of the Canadians live within 200 miles from the border with the US, but still even in this belt you could drive for hours and see very few people. We split the long drive into two days, and on the way stopped in a local park (called Well's Gray) which turned out to be surprisingly attractive. We didn't plan this part of the trip in advance, and were thrilled to discover that the park boasts several huge and magnificent waterfalls. One of the things I love most in nature is waterfalls; I can watch waterfalls for a very long time, fascinated by the perpetual movement of inconceivable amounts of water. Add to that the relatively sparse crowds in this park (as opposed to, say, the Niagara Falls), and you'll understand how pleasant the visit was.
We travel a lot in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, and not infrequently also further away, camping and hiking in state parks, be it Pennsylvania, West Virginia or other nearby states. As beautiful as these places are, one thing I've already learned is that in North America places declared as National Parks are indeed something else, on a different order of magnitude. A perfect example would be the breathtaking views one absorbs when driving into the Canadian Rockies, especially Mount Robson. In the Rockies, both in the Canadian part (Jasper and Banff National Parks) and in the US part (Glacier National Park in Montana) you get nature in all its majesty: snow-capped mountains, turquoise lakes, lots of greenery, extensive wild life and many glaciers. We took full advantage of these and for about two weeks our days included gorgeous hikes, along with occasional sailing and other activities. One excursion worth mentioning is a tour we took on an ice-Explorer, which is a unique bus-like vehicle that drives you on an Ice-field, which for all practical purposes is a gigantic glacier. There aren't many ways for us, with two young daughters, to wander around on a glacier...
Generally speaking, of the two parks on the Canadian side, we liked Jasper better. Banff is equally gorgeous, but to our taste too crowded and touristy. A funny anecdote, though we didn't witness it first hand, is that Banff is extremely popular with Japanese tourists, to the extent that there is a Japanese soap opera taking place in Banff, and Japanese couples sometime choose the location for their weddings. Pretty odd ;-) Glacier National Park in Montana is probably one of the most amazing national parks in the US. It's noteworthy that despite it being also part of the Rockies, the scenery is significantly different from the Canadian Rockies: it is rockier, with less vegetation and more interesting shapes of the mountain tops. Interestingly, there are very few glaciers in this park nowadays - the name comes due to ice- age glaciers that shaped the mountains. It is not nearly as crowded as Banff, which was commensurate with our preferences. The park still throngs with tourists, but you definitely get the feeling of nature most of the time, and in most trails. We were told that the average visit duration in the park is a meager 8 hours, we spent almost a week there and still didn't see all we wanted...
I wouldn't like to tire you with a day-by-day account, but for those of you who might plan a trip to the northern Rockies, I'll list the places which we found most impressive: Lake Maligne and Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper; Lake Moraine, Lake Louise and the Gondola in Banff; The astonishing drive on Highway 93 between Jasper and Banff, arguably one of the most beautiful drives in the world (well, at least that's what the brochure writers and other Mavens say :-); Lake Grinnell, Sun Point and Lake Avalanche in Glacier National Park. On another note, in such a trip it was inevitable to conduct mental comparisons with our New Zealand travels. Here are some aspects I found worth mentioning:
- The distances in Canada and the US are nothing like the short distances between attractions in New Zealand. In NZ we drove 5000 km in 2 months; this time we drove about 3500 km (more than 2/3) in about two weeks. Clearly our daughters' tolerance for long drives has greatly improved. Generally speaking, Americans drive a LOT, and it's not uncommon to see in Montana vehicles from many states, some of them as distant as Florida, Oklahoma and Texas. - Hadas literally doubled her age and is no longer a baby: no diapers, she was walking on her own feet most of the time. A huge difference! (yes, yes, I know that soon traveling for us will be *with* a baby again)
- Noga is also much bigger and a better hiker. With Hadas on my back, we could extend the range of our hikes significantly, Noga being able to walk as long as 5 miles. It makes a big difference, and the selection of possible trails is greatly increased.
- Nature is fantastic in both places, but while in New Zealand it's the whole country, in North America it's encapsulated in parks and reserves, which is probably the only way to preserve and protect the natural resources.
- Unlike in New Zealand, the great weather in the Rockies during summer time enabled us to camp most of the nights - mostly in tents, sometimes in camping cabins and once in an Indian Tipi (!). I must say that for me camping is an important aspect of the trip. It's hard for me to explain, but lighting a fire, cooking outside, sleeping in a tent and smelling the morning freshness outdoors - are all a big part of the experience.
Last but not least: wild life. One of my hopes was to spot a bear. Grizzly Bears and Black Bears are very common in the northern Rockies. We saw a lot of wildlife - moose, deer, mountain goats, but not a single bear. Very disappointing... Fortunately, a few weeks ago, this was corrected. On Labor Day weekend, we went camping and hiking with our friends Tamar & Amir in a beautiful State Park in north-east Pennsylvania. In an early morning hour, when we were having breakfast, a cute black bear came wandering through the campground. Shortly after we spotted it some other campers made intentional noise to scare it away (which is obviously the right thing to do), but at last I got to see a real bear in nature, not inside a cage in the zoo ;-)
So, as you can understand, we were preserving the momentum - hiking in the surrounding state parks, enjoying several visits of grandparents and siblings, and we even spent a weekend in Washington DC. We should hurry up before winter comes along and the only reasonable outdoors activity would be skiing and snow sledding...
Shana Tova to all of you,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
I also wanted to share some more happy news with all of you. Anat is pregnant, and we're expecting our third child in early February. So far the pregnancy is progressing just as it should and we're all very excited about it. Other than that, due to the unpleasant events back in July-August, my previous posting neglected to elaborate about our wonderful travels in the Pacific North-West. As I previously wrote, I have a lot to tell, and I'll try to catch up now.
To begin with, we embarked on a very long vacation, in American terms - 17 days. We flew out to Seattle and spent a few very pleasant days with our friends Lisa & Ron and their lovely daughters Laila and Maayan. Not only did we enjoy their wonderful hospitality, but we also went hiking and camping together in Olympic National Park, a fantastic park not too far from Seattle. As an aside, Seattlers have 3 nearby beautiful National Parks. Lucky them... It's been a long while since we lived close to Ron & Lisa in Israel, and getting together again was terrific!
We decided to skip Vancouver and most of British Columbia (can't win 'em all) and had a long drive (about 11 hours) to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies. As you probably know, Canada is a gigantic country, second largest in land-area (yep, Russia is still the biggest, even without being the USSR). When you think that there are only 33 million Canadians (compare to almost 300 million Americans), you realize how sparsely populated this country is. Indeed, that vast majority of the Canadians live within 200 miles from the border with the US, but still even in this belt you could drive for hours and see very few people. We split the long drive into two days, and on the way stopped in a local park (called Well's Gray) which turned out to be surprisingly attractive. We didn't plan this part of the trip in advance, and were thrilled to discover that the park boasts several huge and magnificent waterfalls. One of the things I love most in nature is waterfalls; I can watch waterfalls for a very long time, fascinated by the perpetual movement of inconceivable amounts of water. Add to that the relatively sparse crowds in this park (as opposed to, say, the Niagara Falls), and you'll understand how pleasant the visit was.
We travel a lot in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, and not infrequently also further away, camping and hiking in state parks, be it Pennsylvania, West Virginia or other nearby states. As beautiful as these places are, one thing I've already learned is that in North America places declared as National Parks are indeed something else, on a different order of magnitude. A perfect example would be the breathtaking views one absorbs when driving into the Canadian Rockies, especially Mount Robson. In the Rockies, both in the Canadian part (Jasper and Banff National Parks) and in the US part (Glacier National Park in Montana) you get nature in all its majesty: snow-capped mountains, turquoise lakes, lots of greenery, extensive wild life and many glaciers. We took full advantage of these and for about two weeks our days included gorgeous hikes, along with occasional sailing and other activities. One excursion worth mentioning is a tour we took on an ice-Explorer, which is a unique bus-like vehicle that drives you on an Ice-field, which for all practical purposes is a gigantic glacier. There aren't many ways for us, with two young daughters, to wander around on a glacier...
Generally speaking, of the two parks on the Canadian side, we liked Jasper better. Banff is equally gorgeous, but to our taste too crowded and touristy. A funny anecdote, though we didn't witness it first hand, is that Banff is extremely popular with Japanese tourists, to the extent that there is a Japanese soap opera taking place in Banff, and Japanese couples sometime choose the location for their weddings. Pretty odd ;-) Glacier National Park in Montana is probably one of the most amazing national parks in the US. It's noteworthy that despite it being also part of the Rockies, the scenery is significantly different from the Canadian Rockies: it is rockier, with less vegetation and more interesting shapes of the mountain tops. Interestingly, there are very few glaciers in this park nowadays - the name comes due to ice- age glaciers that shaped the mountains. It is not nearly as crowded as Banff, which was commensurate with our preferences. The park still throngs with tourists, but you definitely get the feeling of nature most of the time, and in most trails. We were told that the average visit duration in the park is a meager 8 hours, we spent almost a week there and still didn't see all we wanted...
I wouldn't like to tire you with a day-by-day account, but for those of you who might plan a trip to the northern Rockies, I'll list the places which we found most impressive: Lake Maligne and Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper; Lake Moraine, Lake Louise and the Gondola in Banff; The astonishing drive on Highway 93 between Jasper and Banff, arguably one of the most beautiful drives in the world (well, at least that's what the brochure writers and other Mavens say :-); Lake Grinnell, Sun Point and Lake Avalanche in Glacier National Park. On another note, in such a trip it was inevitable to conduct mental comparisons with our New Zealand travels. Here are some aspects I found worth mentioning:
- The distances in Canada and the US are nothing like the short distances between attractions in New Zealand. In NZ we drove 5000 km in 2 months; this time we drove about 3500 km (more than 2/3) in about two weeks. Clearly our daughters' tolerance for long drives has greatly improved. Generally speaking, Americans drive a LOT, and it's not uncommon to see in Montana vehicles from many states, some of them as distant as Florida, Oklahoma and Texas. - Hadas literally doubled her age and is no longer a baby: no diapers, she was walking on her own feet most of the time. A huge difference! (yes, yes, I know that soon traveling for us will be *with* a baby again)
- Noga is also much bigger and a better hiker. With Hadas on my back, we could extend the range of our hikes significantly, Noga being able to walk as long as 5 miles. It makes a big difference, and the selection of possible trails is greatly increased.
- Nature is fantastic in both places, but while in New Zealand it's the whole country, in North America it's encapsulated in parks and reserves, which is probably the only way to preserve and protect the natural resources.
- Unlike in New Zealand, the great weather in the Rockies during summer time enabled us to camp most of the nights - mostly in tents, sometimes in camping cabins and once in an Indian Tipi (!). I must say that for me camping is an important aspect of the trip. It's hard for me to explain, but lighting a fire, cooking outside, sleeping in a tent and smelling the morning freshness outdoors - are all a big part of the experience.
Last but not least: wild life. One of my hopes was to spot a bear. Grizzly Bears and Black Bears are very common in the northern Rockies. We saw a lot of wildlife - moose, deer, mountain goats, but not a single bear. Very disappointing... Fortunately, a few weeks ago, this was corrected. On Labor Day weekend, we went camping and hiking with our friends Tamar & Amir in a beautiful State Park in north-east Pennsylvania. In an early morning hour, when we were having breakfast, a cute black bear came wandering through the campground. Shortly after we spotted it some other campers made intentional noise to scare it away (which is obviously the right thing to do), but at last I got to see a real bear in nature, not inside a cage in the zoo ;-)
So, as you can understand, we were preserving the momentum - hiking in the surrounding state parks, enjoying several visits of grandparents and siblings, and we even spent a weekend in Washington DC. We should hurry up before winter comes along and the only reasonable outdoors activity would be skiing and snow sledding...
Shana Tova to all of you,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Wednesday, August 9
Thinking of Israel
Exactly one week ago we returned from a wonderful trip in the Canadian Rockies, Glacier National Park and other fantastic places. Had things been normal I would have now sat down and tell you about beautiful places and awe-inspiring nature attractions. Sadly, though, things are anything but normal and my capacity for escapism is fairly limited these days. The gloom and doom from Lebanon and northern Israel fills every corner of our mental state, as is probably the case with every Israeli citizen, no matter where they live. I hope to eventually write about our travels, but for the time being I'll focus on conveying my feelings and opinions in light of the awful reality in the Middle East.
This whole mess started a couple of days before we embarked on our vacation. Indeed a weird timing to set on vacation, but it was all planned long ago, and besides we all hoped then that this was going to be a short, limited and successful operation, nothing like what this war has evolved into. While traveling, our updates relied mostly on intermittent phone calls to Israel and occasional internet caf? updates, so we were somewhat detached. However, since coming back to Pittsburgh, with internet access 24/7, I find it very hard to concentrate on mundane things like my job, and mentally I'm almost fully absorbed by the events back home in Israel. My general feeling is that during such a crisis, living abroad and far away is even harder on me than living in Israel. Whereas in central Israel running normal life is sort of a mission, doing so in Pittsburgh feels awkward and makes me feel guilty.
I hate to politicize this medium, but I think I should express my opinion this time. For those of you who don't know, my traditional tendency is to the political left. Looking back I have always voted for the Labor party, sometimes considering alternatives which are more left-winged. My opinions about Gaza and the West Bank are strict - we shouldn't be there, for our own sake. However, this war is something totally different. As I see it (along with the vast majority of Israel's citizens) it was forced on us, and we should feel no guilt for fighting hard to guarantee our existence. Furthermore, I clearly see it as a proxy war for the US and western civilization in general. This is one of the frontiers in the war the fundamentalist Islam is waging on the West, and we're unfortunate to take the heat. I found no better way for putting it than an excellent article by Ben Caspit (Hebrew: http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/457/134.html, English: http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/457/743.html). This article expresses EXACTLY what I think.
However, being just and feeling no guilt do not necessarily alleviate the pain and concern. On top of the collective pain, I guess that each of us has loved-ones who are in harm's way. For me, it's first and foremost my brother, Matan, who was called by the army and is now serving in Lebanon. Anat's sister, Hilla, had to leave her home in Haifa with her family and move to a safer place. My parents in Binyamina are within the reach of the long-range missile that fell near Hadera. My aunt Michal, my cousins and their families live northern to bombed Haifa, spending much of their time in shelters. I must say that I still find it unfathomable that a huge part of Israel is under constant attacks! I must also say that through the media I get the impression that Tel-Aviv is too detached from what's going on in the northern Israel, in a way that makes people in the north feel neglected, but that is another story, for another time.
It didn't come to me as a surprise, but this nasty war clarifies to me how Israeli I am. One could claim that even on a daily basis much of what I do is Israel-oriented, such as the music in my car CD ("Behind the Tunes" this morning), the language I speak etc. But obviously, my Israeliness is accentuated these days; it's very deep in my cultural origins. I'll give a sentimental example - I read yesterday about another soldier who lost his life in Lebanon, and he lived in Kibbutz Beit-Hashita. Immediately, my mind wandered to the famous song "The Wheat Keeps Growing" which was written after the Kibbutz lost 11 of its men in 1973. When I then read the song words in one of the talkbacks I literally shivered, tears filling my eyes. And this is only one of many examples. The thought that this kind of an ethos could be something of the past is probably indeed an illusion, and we have to admit that we'll forever live on the sword, at least periodically. And in my opinion, the implications are far more significant than the death toll we pay in such an episode. It will greatly affect resource allocation inside Israel, budgets being given back to military purposes rather than to elderly people, handicapped, education, welfare, health etc. It will emphasize and sharpen the violent aspect of our society and culture - just have a look at talkbacks in web sites (and if you say they are to be ignored I disagree, they are an important way for people to express what they feel). It will enlarge the gap between affluent and poor people, the focus of the public being brought back solely to national security. It will restore and strengthen the inherent chauvinism of a military society, where women need to be protected by hero macho soldiers (as you might have guessed this one bothers me a lot). I'm fairly pessimistic about all these issues: all the problems for which we were hoping to see some solution in the future will only aggravate, I'm afraid. Very depressing.
As an aside, we were on a ferry back to Seattle with our friends Ron and Lisa, when the newspapers shouted about Haifa being bombed, with many casualties. They also showed graphically, to a certain extent, what you get when a war is going on. And Noga saw the paper... The rain of painfully sharp and clear questions typical for my bright and curious 6 year old daughter caught me off-guard (almost all citations below are things she asked word-by-word): Why was the baby in the photo injured? Did people die in Israel? Did someone in our family die? Did people die in Lebanon? More people died in Lebanon?! Yeah! [answer: not quite, we're not happy when people die] But then how do you know who wins if not by how many people died? Why do wars start? But when Hadas and I disagree upon something we don't open a war!
And so on and so forth. I was so unprepared for such a situation, that I'm afraid I provided many more details than I would have otherwise, eventually putting a stop to this chain so that her dreams won't ruin her night's sleep. But really, how can you explain a war to her?! I couldn't.
I'd also like to further explain why it's so hard on me living here at such times. Whereas in Israel these events are in the minds of everybody, this is obviously not the case here. For most of the people around me, this is at most an ongoing news issue, a sad thing happening on the other side of the world. For some of them it's not even that. I guess some people would even blame me for belonging to the evil side, although I didn't experience any such encounters personally. Ultimately, though, the concern and pain which are filling my days are not shared by the people around me, and it feels very much like running dual lives. Interestingly, as we don't receive any of the national news TV channels at home (CNN, Sky etc.) my exposure is only through the web, mostly Israeli sites and internet-TV. That is, I cannot even say anything about the way this situation is perceived in the US media. Not that I'm sure this is a bad thing for me...
I'll conclude by wishing us all happier and quieter times,
Giora
This whole mess started a couple of days before we embarked on our vacation. Indeed a weird timing to set on vacation, but it was all planned long ago, and besides we all hoped then that this was going to be a short, limited and successful operation, nothing like what this war has evolved into. While traveling, our updates relied mostly on intermittent phone calls to Israel and occasional internet caf? updates, so we were somewhat detached. However, since coming back to Pittsburgh, with internet access 24/7, I find it very hard to concentrate on mundane things like my job, and mentally I'm almost fully absorbed by the events back home in Israel. My general feeling is that during such a crisis, living abroad and far away is even harder on me than living in Israel. Whereas in central Israel running normal life is sort of a mission, doing so in Pittsburgh feels awkward and makes me feel guilty.
I hate to politicize this medium, but I think I should express my opinion this time. For those of you who don't know, my traditional tendency is to the political left. Looking back I have always voted for the Labor party, sometimes considering alternatives which are more left-winged. My opinions about Gaza and the West Bank are strict - we shouldn't be there, for our own sake. However, this war is something totally different. As I see it (along with the vast majority of Israel's citizens) it was forced on us, and we should feel no guilt for fighting hard to guarantee our existence. Furthermore, I clearly see it as a proxy war for the US and western civilization in general. This is one of the frontiers in the war the fundamentalist Islam is waging on the West, and we're unfortunate to take the heat. I found no better way for putting it than an excellent article by Ben Caspit (Hebrew: http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/457/134.html, English: http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/457/743.html). This article expresses EXACTLY what I think.
However, being just and feeling no guilt do not necessarily alleviate the pain and concern. On top of the collective pain, I guess that each of us has loved-ones who are in harm's way. For me, it's first and foremost my brother, Matan, who was called by the army and is now serving in Lebanon. Anat's sister, Hilla, had to leave her home in Haifa with her family and move to a safer place. My parents in Binyamina are within the reach of the long-range missile that fell near Hadera. My aunt Michal, my cousins and their families live northern to bombed Haifa, spending much of their time in shelters. I must say that I still find it unfathomable that a huge part of Israel is under constant attacks! I must also say that through the media I get the impression that Tel-Aviv is too detached from what's going on in the northern Israel, in a way that makes people in the north feel neglected, but that is another story, for another time.
It didn't come to me as a surprise, but this nasty war clarifies to me how Israeli I am. One could claim that even on a daily basis much of what I do is Israel-oriented, such as the music in my car CD ("Behind the Tunes" this morning), the language I speak etc. But obviously, my Israeliness is accentuated these days; it's very deep in my cultural origins. I'll give a sentimental example - I read yesterday about another soldier who lost his life in Lebanon, and he lived in Kibbutz Beit-Hashita. Immediately, my mind wandered to the famous song "The Wheat Keeps Growing" which was written after the Kibbutz lost 11 of its men in 1973. When I then read the song words in one of the talkbacks I literally shivered, tears filling my eyes. And this is only one of many examples. The thought that this kind of an ethos could be something of the past is probably indeed an illusion, and we have to admit that we'll forever live on the sword, at least periodically. And in my opinion, the implications are far more significant than the death toll we pay in such an episode. It will greatly affect resource allocation inside Israel, budgets being given back to military purposes rather than to elderly people, handicapped, education, welfare, health etc. It will emphasize and sharpen the violent aspect of our society and culture - just have a look at talkbacks in web sites (and if you say they are to be ignored I disagree, they are an important way for people to express what they feel). It will enlarge the gap between affluent and poor people, the focus of the public being brought back solely to national security. It will restore and strengthen the inherent chauvinism of a military society, where women need to be protected by hero macho soldiers (as you might have guessed this one bothers me a lot). I'm fairly pessimistic about all these issues: all the problems for which we were hoping to see some solution in the future will only aggravate, I'm afraid. Very depressing.
As an aside, we were on a ferry back to Seattle with our friends Ron and Lisa, when the newspapers shouted about Haifa being bombed, with many casualties. They also showed graphically, to a certain extent, what you get when a war is going on. And Noga saw the paper... The rain of painfully sharp and clear questions typical for my bright and curious 6 year old daughter caught me off-guard (almost all citations below are things she asked word-by-word): Why was the baby in the photo injured? Did people die in Israel? Did someone in our family die? Did people die in Lebanon? More people died in Lebanon?! Yeah! [answer: not quite, we're not happy when people die] But then how do you know who wins if not by how many people died? Why do wars start? But when Hadas and I disagree upon something we don't open a war!
And so on and so forth. I was so unprepared for such a situation, that I'm afraid I provided many more details than I would have otherwise, eventually putting a stop to this chain so that her dreams won't ruin her night's sleep. But really, how can you explain a war to her?! I couldn't.
I'd also like to further explain why it's so hard on me living here at such times. Whereas in Israel these events are in the minds of everybody, this is obviously not the case here. For most of the people around me, this is at most an ongoing news issue, a sad thing happening on the other side of the world. For some of them it's not even that. I guess some people would even blame me for belonging to the evil side, although I didn't experience any such encounters personally. Ultimately, though, the concern and pain which are filling my days are not shared by the people around me, and it feels very much like running dual lives. Interestingly, as we don't receive any of the national news TV channels at home (CNN, Sky etc.) my exposure is only through the web, mostly Israeli sites and internet-TV. That is, I cannot even say anything about the way this situation is perceived in the US media. Not that I'm sure this is a bad thing for me...
I'll conclude by wishing us all happier and quieter times,
Giora
Thursday, July 6
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
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
Monday, April 3
Spring bulletin from Pittsburgh
Again, it's been quite a while since I last wrote. Finding the time and muse to sit and write has become more of a challenge lately. Life is fairly busy on our end, but definitely in a very positive way. My job is still as good and satisfying as I previously described, though after all it's a full-time one, leaving little time for such things as reporting about what's happening with us here in far Pittsburgh. But here I am, trying to find the time and get the word out, even if not as often as I used to in the past.
For those of you who may not have the time to read this lengthy bulletin (Banai? ;-), I'll start with the bottom line – life is great!
Let's start then with the two main reasons for this cheerful mood of ours – Hadas and Noga, what else. They're a source of constant happiness and joy to us, and spending time as a family is simply pleasant. There many things I could write about; the four of us rolling on the carpet, hugging, tickling and laughing so loud that the neighbors might complain; our blessed put-to-bed routine, watching them playing together in the bath; sneaking a glance at the imaginary games they often play; seeing the reaction towards Noga from her classmates when she joins them; caressing, kissing and sniffing Hadas after her nap, when she is still almost fully-baked; listening to Noga fluently reading a book (in English, reading Hebrew is not as advanced); celebrating Hadas's 3rd birthday, seeing how happy and non-envious Noga was for her; observing each of them thrilled in their swimming classes, the two cute little fish; Yep, it probably sounds corny and one could say it's the usual bla- bla produced when parents talk about their kids, but what can I do, this is really how I feel.
In several personal communications with some of you I realized that many things about our general way of life here weren't necessarily conveyed in my previous bulletins. So I decided to provide some details, risking the boredom of some.
Other than spending time as a family, we have lots of social activities. We have far more social options around than we have available time, which I suppose is a good thing. We have many friends, some of them Israelis and some American. One nice surprise we had about Pittsburgh is the huge Jewish community and sizeable Israeli community. We live in a neighborhood in which circa 60% of the residents are Jewish, and the Jewish Community Center (JCC) is a walking distance from our place. It is so extreme in American terms, that two weeks ago we participated in a fully-fledged Purim carnival. My point is that the sense of community here is very prominent, which wouldn't necessarily be the case for us in many other places in the states.
Typically our weekends are full of activities such as going to a museum/show/park, visiting or hosting friends, attending birthdays (the girls have many classmates…) or simply going to a playground. The winter was fairly mild in Pittsburgh terms (yes, in Israeli terms it was still frickin' freezing ;-), and didn't force us to constantly stay indoors. Now that the spring has emerged, we'll probably spend even more time hiking, camping and generally going outdoors. During weekdays we also have various evening activities – basketball (me, usually twice a week), yoga and book group (Anat). In short, for a very long time now our lives by no means feel temporary or under adjustment - our routines are well established and stable. I already mentioned above that I'm very happy with my job, so I'll also add that Anat is working hard on her research, and travels fairly often to destinations such as Texas and California. It seems she is making good progress; she is running multiple projects and experiments and is very active and interested.
On top of all the above we were, are and will be fortunate to have many family visits. Without delving into the details, I could say that there's hardly a month without a family member(s) visiting us, which is wonderful and very impressive considering the distance from Israel. Combined with our plans for several upcoming trips and vacations, it'd be fair to say that there's not a dull moment for us. On a more fundamental note, I sometimes find myself realizing that my life is being run in the US, and it's definitely strange to think about it. As I explained above, the transition was totally smooth, but I'm not (and probably will never be) an American in my feeling. Although all my communications and interaction with colleagues in the office are obviously in English, I still feel handicapped many times. My written English is decent, if I may say so myself, but my spoken language is not nearly as good, and my accent is pretty strong. It is not uncommon for me not to find the words needed for conveying an idea, and many times the verbal exchange between other people is simply too fast for me and I miss some words. It's nothing which prevents me from understanding what's going on around, or from performing my professional duties, but it's definitely different from being in a Hebrew speaking environment. English is my second language and will always be. But, it's a fascinating experience and I'm learning a lot every day, not only about the language, but also about cultural aspects. Since I was young I knew I would like to try living a different country, even if for a limited amount of time. I must say that this desire makes a lot of sense to me also in retrospect, when I am fulfilling it.
We hope you will all have a delightful spring and as The Seder is looming – happy Passover! Hugs and kisses, Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
For those of you who may not have the time to read this lengthy bulletin (Banai? ;-), I'll start with the bottom line – life is great!
Let's start then with the two main reasons for this cheerful mood of ours – Hadas and Noga, what else. They're a source of constant happiness and joy to us, and spending time as a family is simply pleasant. There many things I could write about; the four of us rolling on the carpet, hugging, tickling and laughing so loud that the neighbors might complain; our blessed put-to-bed routine, watching them playing together in the bath; sneaking a glance at the imaginary games they often play; seeing the reaction towards Noga from her classmates when she joins them; caressing, kissing and sniffing Hadas after her nap, when she is still almost fully-baked; listening to Noga fluently reading a book (in English, reading Hebrew is not as advanced); celebrating Hadas's 3rd birthday, seeing how happy and non-envious Noga was for her; observing each of them thrilled in their swimming classes, the two cute little fish; Yep, it probably sounds corny and one could say it's the usual bla- bla produced when parents talk about their kids, but what can I do, this is really how I feel.
In several personal communications with some of you I realized that many things about our general way of life here weren't necessarily conveyed in my previous bulletins. So I decided to provide some details, risking the boredom of some.
Other than spending time as a family, we have lots of social activities. We have far more social options around than we have available time, which I suppose is a good thing. We have many friends, some of them Israelis and some American. One nice surprise we had about Pittsburgh is the huge Jewish community and sizeable Israeli community. We live in a neighborhood in which circa 60% of the residents are Jewish, and the Jewish Community Center (JCC) is a walking distance from our place. It is so extreme in American terms, that two weeks ago we participated in a fully-fledged Purim carnival. My point is that the sense of community here is very prominent, which wouldn't necessarily be the case for us in many other places in the states.
Typically our weekends are full of activities such as going to a museum/show/park, visiting or hosting friends, attending birthdays (the girls have many classmates…) or simply going to a playground. The winter was fairly mild in Pittsburgh terms (yes, in Israeli terms it was still frickin' freezing ;-), and didn't force us to constantly stay indoors. Now that the spring has emerged, we'll probably spend even more time hiking, camping and generally going outdoors. During weekdays we also have various evening activities – basketball (me, usually twice a week), yoga and book group (Anat). In short, for a very long time now our lives by no means feel temporary or under adjustment - our routines are well established and stable. I already mentioned above that I'm very happy with my job, so I'll also add that Anat is working hard on her research, and travels fairly often to destinations such as Texas and California. It seems she is making good progress; she is running multiple projects and experiments and is very active and interested.
On top of all the above we were, are and will be fortunate to have many family visits. Without delving into the details, I could say that there's hardly a month without a family member(s) visiting us, which is wonderful and very impressive considering the distance from Israel. Combined with our plans for several upcoming trips and vacations, it'd be fair to say that there's not a dull moment for us. On a more fundamental note, I sometimes find myself realizing that my life is being run in the US, and it's definitely strange to think about it. As I explained above, the transition was totally smooth, but I'm not (and probably will never be) an American in my feeling. Although all my communications and interaction with colleagues in the office are obviously in English, I still feel handicapped many times. My written English is decent, if I may say so myself, but my spoken language is not nearly as good, and my accent is pretty strong. It is not uncommon for me not to find the words needed for conveying an idea, and many times the verbal exchange between other people is simply too fast for me and I miss some words. It's nothing which prevents me from understanding what's going on around, or from performing my professional duties, but it's definitely different from being in a Hebrew speaking environment. English is my second language and will always be. But, it's a fascinating experience and I'm learning a lot every day, not only about the language, but also about cultural aspects. Since I was young I knew I would like to try living a different country, even if for a limited amount of time. I must say that this desire makes a lot of sense to me also in retrospect, when I am fulfilling it.
We hope you will all have a delightful spring and as The Seder is looming – happy Passover! Hugs and kisses, Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Monday, December 26
Happy Hanukkah from Pittsburgh
It's been a long while since the last time I wrote. At least I have kind-of an excuse... :-) Big portions of this period were filled with health problems, visits (e.g. Anat recently came back from 10 days in Israel) and a new job for me. Health-wise, I was unfortunate to have a hernia ("ki`le" in Hebrew slang), and underwent minor surgery. Indeed this is a simple and almost risk-free operation, but still it was performed with full anesthesia, and recovery took a while; as a matter of fact to this moment I'm not yet fully recovered, and I'm still holding back on returning to physical exercise. Along with quite a few illnesses of all family members, these past two months weren't the healthiest for us, but we hope this is behind us now. And for what it's worth, this was another reminder that we ought to cherish our usual good health...
Winter has arrived in full force, and we've already experienced several full-fledged snow blizzards. Shoveling the stairs and the pathway in front of our home and sprinkling salt to melt the ice have become frequent and necessary activities. Driving is often tricky, and in certain conditions the icy roads are really dangerous and call for driving really slowly and carefully. Luckily, the minivan we purchased as a second vehicle when I started my new job is pretty massive and hence is much more stable in winter road conditions. Typical temperatures are between -10 to 0 degrees (Celsius), and going out every morning is a lengthy ordeal that involves bundling up with scarves, gloves, heavy coats, hats and boots. Not to mention scrapping the ice from the windshield, or shoveling the snow from the car after a snowy night. The resulting daily routine is very different from the winter routine we were used to in Israel, but I must say that one gets used to it fairly quickly. It simply becomes an inherent part of life, and it comes with several advantages as well: beautiful white landscape around and the peaceful atmosphere when it's snowing to name a couple. Most of the optional activities during the coming months are indoors, such as museums, library etc., but there are some opportunities thanks to the weather, such as skiing, ice-skating and snow-sledding. We have all of them around here, and are cheerfully enjoying them.
As I mentioned above, I started a new job with a company called Vocollect less than two months ago, and so far it's everything I could have hoped for. The actual work I'm doing (as a software development engineer) is very interesting, surely comparing to other alternatives here in Pittsburgh, the people with whom I work are both very nice and very professional and the company culture is commensurate with what I was looking for. Even my daily commute is reasonably short: 15-20 minutes in each direction. Vocollect (http://www.vocollect.com/) is one of the few "real" high- tech companies in the area. It manufactures a voice-based product which is used by employees in large warehouses. To make a long story short, the product consists of a wearable computer on the user's belt, and a headset. The system instructs the user where to go next, how many boxes to pick etc., and then uses speech recognition to make sure that the instructions were followed accurately. Users interact with the device using speech only, leaving both their hands free. The company was founded almost 20 years ago, it has almost 300 employees and tens of thousands of its products are installed and being used daily all around the world.
Getting back to my perspective, the fact that this is not a young and small start-up is a key advantage. A typical work day is of 8 hours, and not 9, 10 or even 11 as is the case in many high-tech companies, here and in Israel. One is almost never expected to work on weekends, and for the most part deadlines are reasonable, making crunch times sufficiently rare and short. Most of the people around me have kids, which has a lot to do with a culture of working sanely and leaving enough time for family life. In short, my new job allows me to lead my life the way I want to, with Hadas, Noga and Anat being my highest priority. It wasn't clear to me that I would be able to find a position that would work out so well, and our general feeling in the past month is that we are very lucky to be able to maintain two full-time jobs with this level of leisure time and attention to the girls.
Speaking about the girls, they are AMAZING!!! I just had 10 days with them while Anat was away, and they were simply fabulous! They are so mature, so understanding and helpful, that at times I was wondering whether they were as young as they really are. They are both almost constantly happy and cheerful and the range of activities with which they can be entertained is ever expanding. Hadas suddenly became so big and so verbal, that it's sometimes hard for us to believe it is actually her speaking to us in these full and complex sentences. She had a brief period of tantrums a while ago, but it has almost completely vanished by now. Noga is a school girl in all respects, and is very happy with studying. She's reading and writing (in English) more and more, and has started speaking some Spanish as well, as her school teaches the language. The best part, however, without a doubt, are the relations between them. For extended stretches of time they play with each other, and they each other's best friends. For example, when Noga is visiting a friend, and Hadas wakes up from her nap, the first thing asked is usually "Where's Noga?". As a parent, this is the thing which I enjoy more than anything.
Finally, this time of the year is the "holidays" time here in the states. In the office, we had a week full of parties of all sorts, there are several formal vacation days and even work-days will probably see a half-empty company. Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year and school winter-break are all combined, reminding us of the Israeli atmosphere between Rosh-Hashana and the end of Sukkoth… We have many plans for Hanukkah, almost every day hosting or visiting friends to light candles and celebrate the holiday of lights.
We wish you all a happy and joyful Hanukkah, full of light, candles and happiness.
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
PS: Following multiple individual inquiries, I'll point again the link to our updated family web site (http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/aprior/personal/index.html). It contains numerous photos, some of which are fairly recent.
Winter has arrived in full force, and we've already experienced several full-fledged snow blizzards. Shoveling the stairs and the pathway in front of our home and sprinkling salt to melt the ice have become frequent and necessary activities. Driving is often tricky, and in certain conditions the icy roads are really dangerous and call for driving really slowly and carefully. Luckily, the minivan we purchased as a second vehicle when I started my new job is pretty massive and hence is much more stable in winter road conditions. Typical temperatures are between -10 to 0 degrees (Celsius), and going out every morning is a lengthy ordeal that involves bundling up with scarves, gloves, heavy coats, hats and boots. Not to mention scrapping the ice from the windshield, or shoveling the snow from the car after a snowy night. The resulting daily routine is very different from the winter routine we were used to in Israel, but I must say that one gets used to it fairly quickly. It simply becomes an inherent part of life, and it comes with several advantages as well: beautiful white landscape around and the peaceful atmosphere when it's snowing to name a couple. Most of the optional activities during the coming months are indoors, such as museums, library etc., but there are some opportunities thanks to the weather, such as skiing, ice-skating and snow-sledding. We have all of them around here, and are cheerfully enjoying them.
As I mentioned above, I started a new job with a company called Vocollect less than two months ago, and so far it's everything I could have hoped for. The actual work I'm doing (as a software development engineer) is very interesting, surely comparing to other alternatives here in Pittsburgh, the people with whom I work are both very nice and very professional and the company culture is commensurate with what I was looking for. Even my daily commute is reasonably short: 15-20 minutes in each direction. Vocollect (http://www.vocollect.com/) is one of the few "real" high- tech companies in the area. It manufactures a voice-based product which is used by employees in large warehouses. To make a long story short, the product consists of a wearable computer on the user's belt, and a headset. The system instructs the user where to go next, how many boxes to pick etc., and then uses speech recognition to make sure that the instructions were followed accurately. Users interact with the device using speech only, leaving both their hands free. The company was founded almost 20 years ago, it has almost 300 employees and tens of thousands of its products are installed and being used daily all around the world.
Getting back to my perspective, the fact that this is not a young and small start-up is a key advantage. A typical work day is of 8 hours, and not 9, 10 or even 11 as is the case in many high-tech companies, here and in Israel. One is almost never expected to work on weekends, and for the most part deadlines are reasonable, making crunch times sufficiently rare and short. Most of the people around me have kids, which has a lot to do with a culture of working sanely and leaving enough time for family life. In short, my new job allows me to lead my life the way I want to, with Hadas, Noga and Anat being my highest priority. It wasn't clear to me that I would be able to find a position that would work out so well, and our general feeling in the past month is that we are very lucky to be able to maintain two full-time jobs with this level of leisure time and attention to the girls.
Speaking about the girls, they are AMAZING!!! I just had 10 days with them while Anat was away, and they were simply fabulous! They are so mature, so understanding and helpful, that at times I was wondering whether they were as young as they really are. They are both almost constantly happy and cheerful and the range of activities with which they can be entertained is ever expanding. Hadas suddenly became so big and so verbal, that it's sometimes hard for us to believe it is actually her speaking to us in these full and complex sentences. She had a brief period of tantrums a while ago, but it has almost completely vanished by now. Noga is a school girl in all respects, and is very happy with studying. She's reading and writing (in English) more and more, and has started speaking some Spanish as well, as her school teaches the language. The best part, however, without a doubt, are the relations between them. For extended stretches of time they play with each other, and they each other's best friends. For example, when Noga is visiting a friend, and Hadas wakes up from her nap, the first thing asked is usually "Where's Noga?". As a parent, this is the thing which I enjoy more than anything.
Finally, this time of the year is the "holidays" time here in the states. In the office, we had a week full of parties of all sorts, there are several formal vacation days and even work-days will probably see a half-empty company. Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year and school winter-break are all combined, reminding us of the Israeli atmosphere between Rosh-Hashana and the end of Sukkoth… We have many plans for Hanukkah, almost every day hosting or visiting friends to light candles and celebrate the holiday of lights.
We wish you all a happy and joyful Hanukkah, full of light, candles and happiness.
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
PS: Following multiple individual inquiries, I'll point again the link to our updated family web site (http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/aprior/personal/index.html). It contains numerous photos, some of which are fairly recent.
Friday, October 7
Shana Tova!!!!
Dear family and friends, First and foremost, we wanted to wish you all Shana Tova!!! Better late than never... We hope you will all enjoy every single day and find yourselves surrounded by love and happiness!
This post will be dedicated to a bunch of observations I have collected about living in the US from my point of view, interleaved with some background about the place we live in (if this is of no interest to you - feel free to stop reading. Really!). Before getting there, however, I wanted to tell you all that I've finally found a new job, as a software engineer in a company named Vocollect. This company has been my first preference for a long time, and it seems like my persistence and patience paid off. Indeed, it's an industry job, with all the implications, both good and bad, but all in all I believe it will be an improvement, and I'm very happy about this new development. I will start there in a few weeks, at the end of the current month full of holidays-and-no-daycare... A new year and a new beginning!
A note in place: all the observations below reflect my opinion, and are by no means absolute truth. I'll start by elaborating a bit about the place we live in. Pennsylvania lies on the east coast of the United States, and is one of the first states in the US - the second when considering statehood dates, and one of the only 3 which were established by the end of 1787. Its population is about twice that of Israel (circa 12 millions) and its area is almost 6 times larger than Israel. And still, in US terms Pennsylvania is a rather densely populated state (more than 3 times the average population density in the US), which reflects the inconceivable size of this nation.
Politically speaking, it's interesting to note that Pennsylvania for the most part is blue (democrat) on its west and east sides (namely in its two big cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), with a big red (republican) area in the middle, composed mainly of smaller villages and towns. This dichotomy is fairly prominent, and is also reflected by the big number of hate groups in the state (see http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp, where PA is ranked pretty high). In a sense, this is a smaller-scale phenomenon similar to the big picture in the US - blue on the coasts, red in the mid-west and south.
Pittsburgh, located in the south-west part of Pennsylvania and reputed to be a steel-industry city with a heavy mid-western feel, is indeed not as east-coasty as Philadelphia, but nowadays it's certainly a liberal and modern city. The steel industry has practically vanished, and the city boasts a huge medical center serving people from many states in the north-east, several good universities (Carnegie Mellon University being the most famous) and a high quality of life. As I've written previously, it is a wonderful city to live in, at least for families with kids.
For us, Israelis who are used to living in practical isolation from neighboring countries, the reality here is very different: within about 2 hours driving we can be in Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia or even New-York. Sure enough, there is no border to cross and the only indication that you drove into a different state is a road sign, and this is exactly my point - despite some differences between the states, this is one HUGE country. I am amazed every time I examine a map.
It's obvious, though, that it is not mere physical size which lends the US its astonishing power. I should emphasize that with "power" I'm not referring only to military power, but to a much broader definition. Examining areas like science, technology, economy, innovation and many others shows that America is an exceptionally strong nation! Furthermore, my belief is that if faced by an external challenge or threat, the ability of the American people to unite and deal with such a challenge is far better than any other nation, including the European Union altogether. Don't get me wrong - this is not to say that American society has no flaws and weaknesses, on the contrary! I wonder how, despite all these weaknesses (I'll mention some of them below), this society is so strong.
What is it, then, that makes the United States so powerful? To me, I must say, this fascinating question is only partially-solved. Before speculating, though, I'll raise another question: who's an American?
There are people from all over the world here - India, far-east, middle east, Europe, south-America… you name it. On the bus ride from Carnegie Mellon University to our home, one can hears numerous languages on a daily basis - Spanish, Chinese, French, Hebrew, Russian, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Hindi and many others. True, this isn't the case everywhere in the states, but it is the case in many cities. While this is also the case in London or Berlin, I doubt if it is in Liverpool or Hamburg, which are comparable to Pittsburgh in this sense. Furthermore, I'm still surprised sometimes, when a totally Chinese-looking person opens their mouth and the English, intonation, accent and everything, is so very American.
I'm saying nothing new when emphasizing the role of immigration in American history, but it is my opinion that this country's main source of strength lies in its immigrants. This country has been attracting immigrants from all over the world for many decades. For the most part, by natural selection, only the more creative, determined and ambitious managed to make it, bringing with them new ambitions, entrepreneurship and eagerness to this society. There surely are additional possible explanations, and I would love to hear about them if you'd like to share your ideas.
The most prominent weakness of the American society, in my opinion, lies in the unbelievable gaps between the wealthier Americans and the poor ones, incredible wealth side by side with extreme poverty. None of you could miss the sights from New Orleans, and it was no coincidence that most of the victims were exceptionally poor. We all know that pure capitalism is inherent to the American way of life, but only when I started living here did I fully grasp its implications, with some help from a book called "Nickel and Dimed" I recently read (highly recommended, by the way, see http://www.nickelanddimed.net/). You hear many (justified!) complaints about the deteriorating situation in this sense in Israel, but in this aspect the US is far worse. Poor people here are truly miserable, with almost no social services, very little welfare support and practically no affordable health services. Furthermore, a basic conception in the American society is that if you're poor it is your fault - you didn't succeed in "making it", implying that you did something wrong along the way.
Another aspect is the speculative nature of pensions here - big portions of pension money are invested in speculative avenues such as stock markets. This has a lot to do with the fact that so many retired people can barely support their basic needs. What's more, many inherent things in the structure of society work towards sustaining the socioeconomic stratification. Take, for example, the cost of high-education here, averaging $30,000 per year in a top private university, usually to be funded by the students or their family. It's no wonder that poor people have little chance being admitted into such institutions, and their career path, future earnings and standard of living are often determined early in their lives. Sure enough, there are exceptions, and the social mobility in America is relatively high, but these factors cannot be ignored.
In general, my very strong impression is that in the United States, the dollar is king: if you have the money you'll have access to everything you want, and accordingly if you don't have the money you're screwed. And you're on your own! It touches many other characteristics of the society here - the extreme materialism, blatant consumerism and the culture of admiring the rich. However, I already mentioned these aspects in previous postings, so I'll skip them here.
America is full of contradictions: as opposed to abandoning the poor people, the American society treats people with special needs truly admirably (e.g. kids and adults with down-syndrome). Unlike in Israel, where such people are virtually hidden as much as possible, the approach here is that they should be equal participants in the society. I was thrilled to see kids with down-syndrome participate in a summer camp with all the other kids, as well as group of special-needs teenagers having all sorts of activities adjacent to the JCC daycare classes. Interestingly, the kids usually don't notice the difference, and without an adult to indicate, they learn that this is a natural part of life. I think this is definitely a tribute to the American society.
Almost last but definitely not least, I'd refer to the culinary issue. You all heard of the obesity problem in the states, but when living here one sees on the streets people of inconceivable sizes!!! The sad part is that it's fairly clear why this is happening - fruit and vegetables are so very expensive, while junk food is relatively cheap and amazingly accessible, virtually present everywhere. Add the enormous size of portions in restaurants (did I mention extravagance?) and the culture of eating out instead of cooking at home, and you'll have the full picture. A couple of specific examples: in Noga's summer camp, the daily lunch menu included potato chips, usually without any fresh fruit or vegetables. In her public school, lunch is based on a *federal* menu, and you'll find mainly greasy junk food (French fries, pizza and the like). Need I say more?!
I've already mentioned fundamental materialism, and it relates to the American tendency to make things BIG. The cars here are humongous, real monsters, with SUVs all over the place. Even in models that can be found in Israel and Europe, the engine volumes are consistently larger. The size of houses here is astonishing - I frequently wonder why a family with 2 kids (at least with Caucasian families here, you rarely see more than 2 kids) would want to live in a 5-bedroom home, plus basement. In many suburbs in the US, local zoning laws prohibit residential land allocations below a fixed size, typically 2 acres or more. To give you an idea - 2 acres are more than 8000 square meter! The relation between these aspects (huge houses to heat or cool, stretching into endless suburbia, fuel- consuming vehicles) and ecological issues is obvious, but as I previously wrote this is another weak aspect in America - the environment isn't a particularly high priority here. For example, an interesting fact: in the past two decades or so, the average size of new residential homes built in the US increased by about 30%! We can only hope that recent spikes in gasoline prices will encourage a more responsible energy policy in the US, though I wouldn't hold my breath...
Shana Tova again to everybody, Giora
PS: We decided to renew the family web site we once had (indeed, it needs some update, which I hope to complete soon). Check it in http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/aprior/index.html.
This post will be dedicated to a bunch of observations I have collected about living in the US from my point of view, interleaved with some background about the place we live in (if this is of no interest to you - feel free to stop reading. Really!). Before getting there, however, I wanted to tell you all that I've finally found a new job, as a software engineer in a company named Vocollect. This company has been my first preference for a long time, and it seems like my persistence and patience paid off. Indeed, it's an industry job, with all the implications, both good and bad, but all in all I believe it will be an improvement, and I'm very happy about this new development. I will start there in a few weeks, at the end of the current month full of holidays-and-no-daycare... A new year and a new beginning!
A note in place: all the observations below reflect my opinion, and are by no means absolute truth. I'll start by elaborating a bit about the place we live in. Pennsylvania lies on the east coast of the United States, and is one of the first states in the US - the second when considering statehood dates, and one of the only 3 which were established by the end of 1787. Its population is about twice that of Israel (circa 12 millions) and its area is almost 6 times larger than Israel. And still, in US terms Pennsylvania is a rather densely populated state (more than 3 times the average population density in the US), which reflects the inconceivable size of this nation.
Politically speaking, it's interesting to note that Pennsylvania for the most part is blue (democrat) on its west and east sides (namely in its two big cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), with a big red (republican) area in the middle, composed mainly of smaller villages and towns. This dichotomy is fairly prominent, and is also reflected by the big number of hate groups in the state (see http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp, where PA is ranked pretty high). In a sense, this is a smaller-scale phenomenon similar to the big picture in the US - blue on the coasts, red in the mid-west and south.
Pittsburgh, located in the south-west part of Pennsylvania and reputed to be a steel-industry city with a heavy mid-western feel, is indeed not as east-coasty as Philadelphia, but nowadays it's certainly a liberal and modern city. The steel industry has practically vanished, and the city boasts a huge medical center serving people from many states in the north-east, several good universities (Carnegie Mellon University being the most famous) and a high quality of life. As I've written previously, it is a wonderful city to live in, at least for families with kids.
For us, Israelis who are used to living in practical isolation from neighboring countries, the reality here is very different: within about 2 hours driving we can be in Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia or even New-York. Sure enough, there is no border to cross and the only indication that you drove into a different state is a road sign, and this is exactly my point - despite some differences between the states, this is one HUGE country. I am amazed every time I examine a map.
It's obvious, though, that it is not mere physical size which lends the US its astonishing power. I should emphasize that with "power" I'm not referring only to military power, but to a much broader definition. Examining areas like science, technology, economy, innovation and many others shows that America is an exceptionally strong nation! Furthermore, my belief is that if faced by an external challenge or threat, the ability of the American people to unite and deal with such a challenge is far better than any other nation, including the European Union altogether. Don't get me wrong - this is not to say that American society has no flaws and weaknesses, on the contrary! I wonder how, despite all these weaknesses (I'll mention some of them below), this society is so strong.
What is it, then, that makes the United States so powerful? To me, I must say, this fascinating question is only partially-solved. Before speculating, though, I'll raise another question: who's an American?
There are people from all over the world here - India, far-east, middle east, Europe, south-America… you name it. On the bus ride from Carnegie Mellon University to our home, one can hears numerous languages on a daily basis - Spanish, Chinese, French, Hebrew, Russian, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Hindi and many others. True, this isn't the case everywhere in the states, but it is the case in many cities. While this is also the case in London or Berlin, I doubt if it is in Liverpool or Hamburg, which are comparable to Pittsburgh in this sense. Furthermore, I'm still surprised sometimes, when a totally Chinese-looking person opens their mouth and the English, intonation, accent and everything, is so very American.
I'm saying nothing new when emphasizing the role of immigration in American history, but it is my opinion that this country's main source of strength lies in its immigrants. This country has been attracting immigrants from all over the world for many decades. For the most part, by natural selection, only the more creative, determined and ambitious managed to make it, bringing with them new ambitions, entrepreneurship and eagerness to this society. There surely are additional possible explanations, and I would love to hear about them if you'd like to share your ideas.
The most prominent weakness of the American society, in my opinion, lies in the unbelievable gaps between the wealthier Americans and the poor ones, incredible wealth side by side with extreme poverty. None of you could miss the sights from New Orleans, and it was no coincidence that most of the victims were exceptionally poor. We all know that pure capitalism is inherent to the American way of life, but only when I started living here did I fully grasp its implications, with some help from a book called "Nickel and Dimed" I recently read (highly recommended, by the way, see http://www.nickelanddimed.net/). You hear many (justified!) complaints about the deteriorating situation in this sense in Israel, but in this aspect the US is far worse. Poor people here are truly miserable, with almost no social services, very little welfare support and practically no affordable health services. Furthermore, a basic conception in the American society is that if you're poor it is your fault - you didn't succeed in "making it", implying that you did something wrong along the way.
Another aspect is the speculative nature of pensions here - big portions of pension money are invested in speculative avenues such as stock markets. This has a lot to do with the fact that so many retired people can barely support their basic needs. What's more, many inherent things in the structure of society work towards sustaining the socioeconomic stratification. Take, for example, the cost of high-education here, averaging $30,000 per year in a top private university, usually to be funded by the students or their family. It's no wonder that poor people have little chance being admitted into such institutions, and their career path, future earnings and standard of living are often determined early in their lives. Sure enough, there are exceptions, and the social mobility in America is relatively high, but these factors cannot be ignored.
In general, my very strong impression is that in the United States, the dollar is king: if you have the money you'll have access to everything you want, and accordingly if you don't have the money you're screwed. And you're on your own! It touches many other characteristics of the society here - the extreme materialism, blatant consumerism and the culture of admiring the rich. However, I already mentioned these aspects in previous postings, so I'll skip them here.
America is full of contradictions: as opposed to abandoning the poor people, the American society treats people with special needs truly admirably (e.g. kids and adults with down-syndrome). Unlike in Israel, where such people are virtually hidden as much as possible, the approach here is that they should be equal participants in the society. I was thrilled to see kids with down-syndrome participate in a summer camp with all the other kids, as well as group of special-needs teenagers having all sorts of activities adjacent to the JCC daycare classes. Interestingly, the kids usually don't notice the difference, and without an adult to indicate, they learn that this is a natural part of life. I think this is definitely a tribute to the American society.
Almost last but definitely not least, I'd refer to the culinary issue. You all heard of the obesity problem in the states, but when living here one sees on the streets people of inconceivable sizes!!! The sad part is that it's fairly clear why this is happening - fruit and vegetables are so very expensive, while junk food is relatively cheap and amazingly accessible, virtually present everywhere. Add the enormous size of portions in restaurants (did I mention extravagance?) and the culture of eating out instead of cooking at home, and you'll have the full picture. A couple of specific examples: in Noga's summer camp, the daily lunch menu included potato chips, usually without any fresh fruit or vegetables. In her public school, lunch is based on a *federal* menu, and you'll find mainly greasy junk food (French fries, pizza and the like). Need I say more?!
I've already mentioned fundamental materialism, and it relates to the American tendency to make things BIG. The cars here are humongous, real monsters, with SUVs all over the place. Even in models that can be found in Israel and Europe, the engine volumes are consistently larger. The size of houses here is astonishing - I frequently wonder why a family with 2 kids (at least with Caucasian families here, you rarely see more than 2 kids) would want to live in a 5-bedroom home, plus basement. In many suburbs in the US, local zoning laws prohibit residential land allocations below a fixed size, typically 2 acres or more. To give you an idea - 2 acres are more than 8000 square meter! The relation between these aspects (huge houses to heat or cool, stretching into endless suburbia, fuel- consuming vehicles) and ecological issues is obvious, but as I previously wrote this is another weak aspect in America - the environment isn't a particularly high priority here. For example, an interesting fact: in the past two decades or so, the average size of new residential homes built in the US increased by about 30%! We can only hope that recent spikes in gasoline prices will encourage a more responsible energy policy in the US, though I wouldn't hold my breath...
Shana Tova again to everybody, Giora
PS: We decided to renew the family web site we once had (indeed, it needs some update, which I hope to complete soon). Check it in http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/aprior/index.html.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
