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
Wednesday, August 9
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.
Wednesday, September 7
Towards end of summer in Pittsburgh
It's been way too long since the last time I (Giora) provided you with an update about what's going on with the Prior-Unger family here in Pittsburgh. Some of the things I intended to write about seem by now to have become ancient history, and there's simply too much to tell... So let's start. Well, an additional note beforehand–I'm intentionally not referring to major current events, such as the disengagement from Gaza or the terrible "Katrina" hurricane. I believe all of you have sufficient sources of information and opinions about these.
Shortly after sending the previous post, we came to Israel for a (much too) short visit. The main reason was celebrating Anat's (my sister) wedding but obviously, as most of you witnessed personally, the 10 day visit was packed with tons of other things. Though not restful, the visit was terrific, and we'd like to take this opportunity and thank you all for taking the time and helping us enjoy it so very much. The first few days back in Pittsburgh weren't easy, a feeling that was intensified by the terrible heat which welcomed us. There's a lot to say about the feelings involved in such a visit, but in order to keep this message not-too-long I'll skip it here. At any rate, after a few more days, we merged again into our relaxed and pleasant Pittsburgh daily life.
As I've written previously, the summer here is extremely active, in the sense of outdoors activities and the like. There is no question that this summer was the busiest we have ever had, surely as a family. Long weekends, along with generous vacations we took were combined with the wealth of possibilities and festivities, so that we were basically jaunting around most of the time. Still in the New Zealand travel spirit, we did a LOT of hiking and camping, and were very pleased to see that the girls enjoy it as much as we do – for them sleeping in our cute tent is a real treat! In Israel, after 20 years of hiking and explorations, we got to the point of mostly hiking in familiar trails. And here, naturally, there is a whole new world to discover.
I might provide some more information about Pennsylvania in a future post, but for now it's worth mentioning that there is a huge number of very well maintained state parks and beautiful nature spots in this state and in bordering states, many of which are easily accessible from Pittsburgh. Even more so as, when living here, 2 hours of driving no longer seem like too big an ordeal. Our most recent journey deserves several additional lines. Faced with a week-off in Hadas' daycare, we decided to take one more long vacation this summer and set off for a 10-day trip to Boston. We broke the very long drive (more than 12 hours) into 3 days in each direction, and used these days to hike in two gorgeous areas –the Poconos in north-eastern Pennsylvania and the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. The Boston part of our trip was particularly pleasant, mostly thanks to our dear relatives there - Sheila, Bill, Stacy, Art & sweet little Dahlia - and their marvelous hospitality. Obviously, we didn't skip some site-seeing in the city, including the famous duck-tour, and also got to meet Israeli friends who livein Boston. All in all, we had a perfect mix of nature, city, family, friends and some rest. Even the weather smiled on us, with 6-7 beautiful sunny days – definitely not something to take forgranted in this part of the world. Oh, and most importantly – shortlyafter departing, we were thrilled to be told about our first niece!!! Hilla (Anat's sister) gave birth to Shira, a lovely baby girl, andwe're sooooooooooooo happy for Benny & Hilla.
Another aspect of our lives here, which I'm not sure I've elaborated about previously, is our pleasant social environment. One of the main barriers when moving to a new place, especially with no family nearby, is lack of friends. As things turned out, we were lucky to acquire many friends here, some of which live within a short walking distance from our apartment. Naturally, many of the families we're friendly with are Israeli; however, as time passes relationships with American families are being formed as well, many times through Noga's play-dates.Talking about the girls and their extreme friendliness with the surrounding, I'll try and limit myself to a couple of paragraphs in a grandparent-oriented style :-)
Hadas is speaking fluently, all of a sudden, articulating Hebrew as if she always knew the language, and she's pretty fluent in English as well. We speak almost only Hebrew at home, so we don't get to hear much of her English, but we're told she has no language difficulties whatsoever. She is really a big girl by now, fully potty-trained and without a diaper for quite some time now, even during night time (before the age of 2.5!). She is extremely charming and regularly conquers the hearts of those she interacts with. I guess it sounds like the usual "parent writing about his child", but I really am under the impression that she's exceptionally cute. And (well, this is an aspect hidden from most of the world), stubborn. Additionally, following some carelessness on our part, she recently started saying "shit" whenever something happens not to her liking. Not educational as it is, it's still hilarious hearing her curse... Other than that, the beginning of her new daycare last week was almost insulting: despite being moved to a new room, with new teachers, Hadas hardly bothers to give us a second look in the mornings and is usually very upset when we come to pick her up by the end of the day, practically telling us to go away. Yes, yes, I know it's better than the opposite alternative.
Noga had an exceptionally busy summer, with two types of day camps ("kaytana", that is). She was swimming in the pool at least twice a day, and developed a gorgeous tan. With so many different "frameworks" in which she has been spending time, so many different counselors and teachers, we started wondering whether there is anything in the world which might jeopardize her constant happiness. So far, we're pleased to say, it seems that there isn't–she's simply happy and shining most of the time. I don't think I fully understand it to date, but within a few days she'll be starting school!!!! Indeed, they call it kindergarten here, but for all practical purposes this is what an Israeli kid undergoes when entering first grade ("Kita Aleph"). They're physically in school (Colfax, the neighborhood public school in our case), studying and not playing for the most part. Kindergarten kids here are being taught how to read and have a specific syllabus and requirements to meet in math and science. The excitement around this transition, both for us the parents and for Noga, is huge. This is, without a doubt, a major milestone and I must say it has arrived much faster than I expected. I kind of keep asking myself - do I really have a daughter who already goes to school?!?!
Both girls are extremely confident, and trust people very easily.They instantly form connections with other kids or adults, and seeing their interactions with the world is a source of great pride for me. At the risk of being too corny, I'll say (again) that they are both girls who make parenthood a pure pleasure. Both Anat and I have numerous magical moments of many sorts with the girls, one-on-one or the whole family together. And these moments simply make life good. My current way of life explicitly puts family in the topmost priority, and as far as this aspect goes, I couldn't ask for more. Well, enough with blabbing ;-)
About my job - I still have the same non-ideal job, and will probably stick to it. Recent developments in my job-hunt left me with only options which are marginally more interesting, however extensively more demanding, leaving far less time for family life.These options were also financially superior, but oddly enough (or possibly naively?!) this is not my emphasis. At the same time my current job became less boring. Considering all the tradeoffs I decided to practically stop searching for an alternative, though if an attractive new option will pop up, things might change. Anat is working full steam on her research, working on multiple projects concurrently, studying Spanish furiously. I started taking a class at the university - auditing a course out of mere interest, though the reading tasks consume lots of time. We're both reading a lot, and are proud to say that the TV is almost never on in our home. Combine the above with regular exercising - Yoga for Anat, basketball twice a week for me, as well as the mundane unavoidable house chores (you know – cleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry etc.),and you'll see why I'm saying that our lives are pretty busy and full of activities. But, as I said, they're very good and enjoyable.
Hope you're all doing fine, Love and kisses,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
PS:I'll conclude with introducing a new thing – recommendations about useful web sites. Most of you use the web regularly, and it might beof help. Featuring this time:1. Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) – an excellent service, significantly better than MapQuest. Try the "Satellite" option which shows you a photo of whatever you're after. Additionally, when viewing instructions about directions between places, you have a sleek drag-and-drop capability, as well as zoom-in on every step ofthe explanation, when you click on it. Admittedly, though, it's useful mainly for maps and directions in the US and not in Israel.
2. BugMeNot (http://www.bugmenot.com/) – are you familiar with the case where all you need from some web site is a tiny thing, and still that site requires a tiring and awkward registration? I bet you are. Well, in such a case go to http://www.bugmenot.com/, feed the URL of the site you want to login to and poof, you have a login and a password. Very convenient!
Hope these tips are useful – I'll appreciate any feedback.
Shortly after sending the previous post, we came to Israel for a (much too) short visit. The main reason was celebrating Anat's (my sister) wedding but obviously, as most of you witnessed personally, the 10 day visit was packed with tons of other things. Though not restful, the visit was terrific, and we'd like to take this opportunity and thank you all for taking the time and helping us enjoy it so very much. The first few days back in Pittsburgh weren't easy, a feeling that was intensified by the terrible heat which welcomed us. There's a lot to say about the feelings involved in such a visit, but in order to keep this message not-too-long I'll skip it here. At any rate, after a few more days, we merged again into our relaxed and pleasant Pittsburgh daily life.
As I've written previously, the summer here is extremely active, in the sense of outdoors activities and the like. There is no question that this summer was the busiest we have ever had, surely as a family. Long weekends, along with generous vacations we took were combined with the wealth of possibilities and festivities, so that we were basically jaunting around most of the time. Still in the New Zealand travel spirit, we did a LOT of hiking and camping, and were very pleased to see that the girls enjoy it as much as we do – for them sleeping in our cute tent is a real treat! In Israel, after 20 years of hiking and explorations, we got to the point of mostly hiking in familiar trails. And here, naturally, there is a whole new world to discover.
I might provide some more information about Pennsylvania in a future post, but for now it's worth mentioning that there is a huge number of very well maintained state parks and beautiful nature spots in this state and in bordering states, many of which are easily accessible from Pittsburgh. Even more so as, when living here, 2 hours of driving no longer seem like too big an ordeal. Our most recent journey deserves several additional lines. Faced with a week-off in Hadas' daycare, we decided to take one more long vacation this summer and set off for a 10-day trip to Boston. We broke the very long drive (more than 12 hours) into 3 days in each direction, and used these days to hike in two gorgeous areas –the Poconos in north-eastern Pennsylvania and the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. The Boston part of our trip was particularly pleasant, mostly thanks to our dear relatives there - Sheila, Bill, Stacy, Art & sweet little Dahlia - and their marvelous hospitality. Obviously, we didn't skip some site-seeing in the city, including the famous duck-tour, and also got to meet Israeli friends who livein Boston. All in all, we had a perfect mix of nature, city, family, friends and some rest. Even the weather smiled on us, with 6-7 beautiful sunny days – definitely not something to take forgranted in this part of the world. Oh, and most importantly – shortlyafter departing, we were thrilled to be told about our first niece!!! Hilla (Anat's sister) gave birth to Shira, a lovely baby girl, andwe're sooooooooooooo happy for Benny & Hilla.
Another aspect of our lives here, which I'm not sure I've elaborated about previously, is our pleasant social environment. One of the main barriers when moving to a new place, especially with no family nearby, is lack of friends. As things turned out, we were lucky to acquire many friends here, some of which live within a short walking distance from our apartment. Naturally, many of the families we're friendly with are Israeli; however, as time passes relationships with American families are being formed as well, many times through Noga's play-dates.Talking about the girls and their extreme friendliness with the surrounding, I'll try and limit myself to a couple of paragraphs in a grandparent-oriented style :-)
Hadas is speaking fluently, all of a sudden, articulating Hebrew as if she always knew the language, and she's pretty fluent in English as well. We speak almost only Hebrew at home, so we don't get to hear much of her English, but we're told she has no language difficulties whatsoever. She is really a big girl by now, fully potty-trained and without a diaper for quite some time now, even during night time (before the age of 2.5!). She is extremely charming and regularly conquers the hearts of those she interacts with. I guess it sounds like the usual "parent writing about his child", but I really am under the impression that she's exceptionally cute. And (well, this is an aspect hidden from most of the world), stubborn. Additionally, following some carelessness on our part, she recently started saying "shit" whenever something happens not to her liking. Not educational as it is, it's still hilarious hearing her curse... Other than that, the beginning of her new daycare last week was almost insulting: despite being moved to a new room, with new teachers, Hadas hardly bothers to give us a second look in the mornings and is usually very upset when we come to pick her up by the end of the day, practically telling us to go away. Yes, yes, I know it's better than the opposite alternative.
Noga had an exceptionally busy summer, with two types of day camps ("kaytana", that is). She was swimming in the pool at least twice a day, and developed a gorgeous tan. With so many different "frameworks" in which she has been spending time, so many different counselors and teachers, we started wondering whether there is anything in the world which might jeopardize her constant happiness. So far, we're pleased to say, it seems that there isn't–she's simply happy and shining most of the time. I don't think I fully understand it to date, but within a few days she'll be starting school!!!! Indeed, they call it kindergarten here, but for all practical purposes this is what an Israeli kid undergoes when entering first grade ("Kita Aleph"). They're physically in school (Colfax, the neighborhood public school in our case), studying and not playing for the most part. Kindergarten kids here are being taught how to read and have a specific syllabus and requirements to meet in math and science. The excitement around this transition, both for us the parents and for Noga, is huge. This is, without a doubt, a major milestone and I must say it has arrived much faster than I expected. I kind of keep asking myself - do I really have a daughter who already goes to school?!?!
Both girls are extremely confident, and trust people very easily.They instantly form connections with other kids or adults, and seeing their interactions with the world is a source of great pride for me. At the risk of being too corny, I'll say (again) that they are both girls who make parenthood a pure pleasure. Both Anat and I have numerous magical moments of many sorts with the girls, one-on-one or the whole family together. And these moments simply make life good. My current way of life explicitly puts family in the topmost priority, and as far as this aspect goes, I couldn't ask for more. Well, enough with blabbing ;-)
About my job - I still have the same non-ideal job, and will probably stick to it. Recent developments in my job-hunt left me with only options which are marginally more interesting, however extensively more demanding, leaving far less time for family life.These options were also financially superior, but oddly enough (or possibly naively?!) this is not my emphasis. At the same time my current job became less boring. Considering all the tradeoffs I decided to practically stop searching for an alternative, though if an attractive new option will pop up, things might change. Anat is working full steam on her research, working on multiple projects concurrently, studying Spanish furiously. I started taking a class at the university - auditing a course out of mere interest, though the reading tasks consume lots of time. We're both reading a lot, and are proud to say that the TV is almost never on in our home. Combine the above with regular exercising - Yoga for Anat, basketball twice a week for me, as well as the mundane unavoidable house chores (you know – cleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry etc.),and you'll see why I'm saying that our lives are pretty busy and full of activities. But, as I said, they're very good and enjoyable.
Hope you're all doing fine, Love and kisses,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
PS:I'll conclude with introducing a new thing – recommendations about useful web sites. Most of you use the web regularly, and it might beof help. Featuring this time:1. Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) – an excellent service, significantly better than MapQuest. Try the "Satellite" option which shows you a photo of whatever you're after. Additionally, when viewing instructions about directions between places, you have a sleek drag-and-drop capability, as well as zoom-in on every step ofthe explanation, when you click on it. Admittedly, though, it's useful mainly for maps and directions in the US and not in Israel.
2. BugMeNot (http://www.bugmenot.com/) – are you familiar with the case where all you need from some web site is a tiny thing, and still that site requires a tiring and awkward registration? I bet you are. Well, in such a case go to http://www.bugmenot.com/, feed the URL of the site you want to login to and poof, you have a login and a password. Very convenient!
Hope these tips are useful – I'll appreciate any feedback.
Tuesday, June 14
Summer Festivities
This postg is written several hours before we set out on our more-than-20-hours-long journey to Israel, for our first visit since we left on our way to New Zealand seven months ago. We will soon meet many of our readers, however due to our expected hectic schedule there is no chance for us to orally communicate most of what we're going through. Hence, I (Giora, who has become the official bulletin-writer of the family...) decided that another monthly update is in place.
Summer has recently hit Pittsburgh full-force. The past two weeks were disastrous, with about 30 degrees (Celsius) and awful humidity. Additionally, unlike in Israel, rain, thunderstorms and grey skies are almost the daily standard. Pittsburgh, probably as well as most of north-eastern US, is most definitely not blessed with pleasant weather. However, hot and humid as it is, the atmosphere in the city is of a continuous festival. Or at least this is the way we've been experiencing the past two weeks. Festivals, carnivals, parties and other types of outdoors events take place, seemingly every day and everywhere. It sometimes looks as if the city's inhabitants are trying to compensate themselves for all those freezing indoor months, and for us this is great fun.
To mention a few of our recent activities, we attended a circus, a Chick Corea concert, an Israeli Shavuot celebration and more. Interestingly, we took the bus to some of these attractions, which at times seemed to be of greater excitement for the girls than the event itself :-) I wish I had a camera with me, to document their ear-to-ear smiles that lasted during the whole ride. Prior to the heat wave and the festival attack, our weekends were filled with hiking in some of the fine nature spots around Pittsburgh. We are still, in a sense, holding on to the spirit developed and maintained during our fabulous trip in New Zealand, including camping in a tent (to the great delight of the girls) and spending a lot of time amidst forests and lakes. Fortunately, Pennsylvania turns out to have an impressive number of state parks,with numerous hiking trails and campgrounds, some of which are really beautiful, even with our newly created New Zealand standards…
The girls are terrific, and are both now fully acclimatized to their new environment. Noga completed her pre-school daycare, and when we'll get back from Israel she'll spend her days in a summer day-camp. This is essentially daycare for the summer, though with activities that make it sort of "kaytana". She is chatting fluently (in English that is) with the other kids, and is definitely over her tough start. As we previously wrote, she indeed had language-related difficulties through the first 3 months or so. As much as it was tough to see her then (I think there is nothing as frustrating as seeing your child experiencing social difficulties), it is pleasant to see her now, loved by her class mates and tightly connected to them.
Hadas, who didn't have any rough start, is as comfortable in daycare as she was before, and is extremely cute (yeah, I'm repeating myself, I know...). She recently started her potty-training, so far with impressive success, in which she (justifiably) takes great pride. Language-wise, she is becoming more fluent, in two languages–a real miracle. Hilariously, due to a Russian-American teacher, her English is at times colored with a Russian accent. A few examples: van-two-three, or vait, or vatch ;-) Furthermore, she is fully absorbing the patriotic American education aimed at her at daycare: in front of my astonished eyes, in their end of year party, she cheerfully sang with all the other kids the American national anthem, as well as other patriotic songs. Here are a few lines forexample:"...For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain!America! America!God shed his grace on thee..." Need I say more?!
Best of all, though, is seeing Hadas and Noga's relationship. They have become truly good friends and really love each other. Sure enough, there are still those typical sisters' small fights now and then, but for extended stretches of time one can find them playing together in their room, building trains, setting a make-believe table, dressing dolls etc. It's a real delight for us to see them so close and loving. I'll conclude with a few words about us, the parents. Anat's research is definitely progressing – she started running a big experiment, and is very busy with it. Additionally, she's studying Spanish furiously: 4 times a week she has to hurry in the morning for class, she has homework, quizzes etc. A real student…My long, slow job-hunt so far bears no significant news, and the bottom line is that I still haven't found the job I'm after. There are spikes of frustration from time to time, but in general it doesn't affect my daily mood. This is so both because I believe I will eventually find something that will be satisfying (or, alternatively my current job will improve in this sense) and because I explicitly don't regard it as the most important thing. Familylife and leisure time are definitely of higher priority for me nowadays, and as I tried to communicate in the above paragraphs, these are truly wonderful.
This is it. We have some packing to do, during which we might at last realize that we'll be going to Israel shortly. As I said, we have a hectic schedule in the coming 10 days, but nevertheless planto have LOTS of fun. We sure will !!!
See you all shortly,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Summer has recently hit Pittsburgh full-force. The past two weeks were disastrous, with about 30 degrees (Celsius) and awful humidity. Additionally, unlike in Israel, rain, thunderstorms and grey skies are almost the daily standard. Pittsburgh, probably as well as most of north-eastern US, is most definitely not blessed with pleasant weather. However, hot and humid as it is, the atmosphere in the city is of a continuous festival. Or at least this is the way we've been experiencing the past two weeks. Festivals, carnivals, parties and other types of outdoors events take place, seemingly every day and everywhere. It sometimes looks as if the city's inhabitants are trying to compensate themselves for all those freezing indoor months, and for us this is great fun.
To mention a few of our recent activities, we attended a circus, a Chick Corea concert, an Israeli Shavuot celebration and more. Interestingly, we took the bus to some of these attractions, which at times seemed to be of greater excitement for the girls than the event itself :-) I wish I had a camera with me, to document their ear-to-ear smiles that lasted during the whole ride. Prior to the heat wave and the festival attack, our weekends were filled with hiking in some of the fine nature spots around Pittsburgh. We are still, in a sense, holding on to the spirit developed and maintained during our fabulous trip in New Zealand, including camping in a tent (to the great delight of the girls) and spending a lot of time amidst forests and lakes. Fortunately, Pennsylvania turns out to have an impressive number of state parks,with numerous hiking trails and campgrounds, some of which are really beautiful, even with our newly created New Zealand standards…
The girls are terrific, and are both now fully acclimatized to their new environment. Noga completed her pre-school daycare, and when we'll get back from Israel she'll spend her days in a summer day-camp. This is essentially daycare for the summer, though with activities that make it sort of "kaytana". She is chatting fluently (in English that is) with the other kids, and is definitely over her tough start. As we previously wrote, she indeed had language-related difficulties through the first 3 months or so. As much as it was tough to see her then (I think there is nothing as frustrating as seeing your child experiencing social difficulties), it is pleasant to see her now, loved by her class mates and tightly connected to them.
Hadas, who didn't have any rough start, is as comfortable in daycare as she was before, and is extremely cute (yeah, I'm repeating myself, I know...). She recently started her potty-training, so far with impressive success, in which she (justifiably) takes great pride. Language-wise, she is becoming more fluent, in two languages–a real miracle. Hilariously, due to a Russian-American teacher, her English is at times colored with a Russian accent. A few examples: van-two-three, or vait, or vatch ;-) Furthermore, she is fully absorbing the patriotic American education aimed at her at daycare: in front of my astonished eyes, in their end of year party, she cheerfully sang with all the other kids the American national anthem, as well as other patriotic songs. Here are a few lines forexample:"...For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain!America! America!God shed his grace on thee..." Need I say more?!
Best of all, though, is seeing Hadas and Noga's relationship. They have become truly good friends and really love each other. Sure enough, there are still those typical sisters' small fights now and then, but for extended stretches of time one can find them playing together in their room, building trains, setting a make-believe table, dressing dolls etc. It's a real delight for us to see them so close and loving. I'll conclude with a few words about us, the parents. Anat's research is definitely progressing – she started running a big experiment, and is very busy with it. Additionally, she's studying Spanish furiously: 4 times a week she has to hurry in the morning for class, she has homework, quizzes etc. A real student…My long, slow job-hunt so far bears no significant news, and the bottom line is that I still haven't found the job I'm after. There are spikes of frustration from time to time, but in general it doesn't affect my daily mood. This is so both because I believe I will eventually find something that will be satisfying (or, alternatively my current job will improve in this sense) and because I explicitly don't regard it as the most important thing. Familylife and leisure time are definitely of higher priority for me nowadays, and as I tried to communicate in the above paragraphs, these are truly wonderful.
This is it. We have some packing to do, during which we might at last realize that we'll be going to Israel shortly. As I said, we have a hectic schedule in the coming 10 days, but nevertheless planto have LOTS of fun. We sure will !!!
See you all shortly,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
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