Well, it's been quite awhile since my last entry, but that is because I have been so very busy! Here are some updates:
1) As many of you know, me and Oren have been preparing to renovate an apartment that he has owned and been renting out for a few years that is located on the best street in Tel Aviv, Rothschild Blvd. He bought the apartment years ago before the area got popular, and it is now one of the best investments that anyone could have made, as it is more than doubled in value since he bought it. Anyhow, we have been working with interior designers since October to create a space that would be comfortable for us, found a contractor last Saturday evening, and as of Sunday morning, the walls came a-tumblin down. It is a fantastic project and we could not be more excited. The contractor tells us the place can be finished in 4-5 weeks, so if that holds true, we will be living in our new place in mid-January which would be AMAZING. We just finished the "demolition" phase which was accomplished incredibly quickly, and next week begins the electrical stuff. I will keep you all updated on the progress, as it is so very exciting!
2) My client list is growing which is also very exciting. This also means my free time is decreasing rapidly. I now spend 5 hours in the morning at Ulpan, come home, and then have meetings or do work all afternoon and into the evening. It also now appears that it is possible that I will be in the states 3 times between the end of February and beginning of April which would be a little ridiculous. That will all get figured out though.
3) Last night, me and Oren celebrated one year of being together (a lot can happen in a year, huh?) by going to one of the new, hot restaurants in Tel Aviv called Herbert Samuel. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the best culinary experiences I have had in recent memory. The items on the menu can be served tapas style or main dish style, so we were able to try many different dishes. Just to give you a taste of the experience, we started with an artichoke soup that was amazing. We then moved on to a spicy shrimp with green beans, onions, and olives in a red pepper sauce, prosciutto with apple, a rice noodle "ravioli" filled with raw tuna and avocado in a soy vinaigrette, moved on to a filet of steak with a roasted onion and awesome mashed potatoes, and then a risotto with scallops. For dessert, a wafer with baked bananas and poppy seed ice cream, plus a complementary dessert that is a signature of the chef's, which was a cookie with layers of mousse and nuts all covered in hardened chocolate. All of this plus the delicious bottle of champagne, made for an absolutely perfect meal. We are definitely taking my family there when they come in 2 weeks.
And with that brief update, we are off to celebrate Oren's dad's birthday. Happy holidays!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Taking a stand
Well, I am back in Tel Aviv after almost three weeks in the states where I got to go to Nashville (ew), Chicago (thanks Sally!), Minneapolis, New Jersey, and NYC. It was a great trip, had a great time with friends and family, showed Oren a real American Thanksgiving, and even got to navigate while Oren drove from New Jersey to New York City and back a few times for his friend Charles' wedding.
Now, back in Tel Aviv, I have started Ulpan which is the school that teaches me Hebrew. I go to class 5 days a week from 8:15am-12:50pm. They are long classes, but after just attending 3 of them, I am confident that it will be extremely worthwhile. Plus, the class has a real international flair, having students ranging from 16 years old to 65 years old, and coming from the USA, France, Russia, Italy, Singapore, Peru, and Taiwan.
The title for this blog entry comes from what occurred after I left Ulpan today. I walked past a fruit stand (these are quite common here in Tel Aviv) and saw a great looking mango. When I went to purchase it, the man told me that it would cost me 31 shekels. This sounded very high to me, but as I always like to give people the benefit-of-the-doubt, I rationalized that maybe they are currently out of season (as I haven't seen them at any other stores lately) and that is why it was so expensive. So, I paid for my fruit and started walking home. On my walk home, I was talking to Oren and decided to ask him if the price sounded appropriate. He angrily confirmed that the price I paid was, indeed, outrageous and that I had been taken advantage of. After his initial anger at his Israeli people for being so mean to his girlfriend, he suggested that I go into a nearby store and see what their cost for a mango would be. So, I approach a cash register, explain that I bought the mango elsewhere and that I expected I had been cheated, and asked them if they could tell me how much it weighs and therefore, how much it would cost in their store. So, it weighed .85 kilos and would have cost me 10 shekels at their store. With this new information, Oren got increasingly angry and suggested I take the mango back. At first, being the non-confrontational American that I am, I considered just letting it be and learning my lesson to be more careful next time. However, that notion passed quickly and I agreed with Oren that if I wasn't going to stand up for myself, than who would? So, I marched back 7 block to the fruit stand, getting more aggravated with every step thinking "Who does this fruit vendor think he is trying to mess with a nice Jewish girl from Minnesota who moved to HIS country and is learning HIS language, and working with HIS members of government and non-profit organizations to make HIS country a better place to LIVE????" By the time I got back to the fruit stand, I was no longer the nice, non-confrontational girl from Minnesota, but rather an angry member of Israeli society with a whole lot of Chutzpah!
I stormed up to the man who sold me the mango and the conversation went as follows:
Schmuck: There is a problem with the mango?
Me: No, there is not a problem with the mango. However, I realized that I can buy this same mango down the street for 10 shekels instead of 31 shekels and I refuse to pay for something that I was so over-charged for.
Schmuck: What do you mean? This is a good mango!
Me: I'm sure it is, but it is not worth 31 shekels and I think it is awful that you charged me that much.
Schmuck: But it is over 1 kilo!
Me: Actually sir, it is .85 kilos.
Schmuck: So you don't want the mango?
Me: I do want the mango, but I am not going to pay 31 shekels for it, so I would like to return it and get my money back.
Schmuck: (Begins to argue) But...
Me: Sir, you should really be ashamed of yourself for trying to take advantage of a person living in your country just because I am not from here and don't speak Hebrew yet. It is really unfortunate for me, as someone who is a contributing member of society, to have to experience something like this, and I think that next time you are in this situation, you should choose to act differently.
So, the Schmuck apologized and gave me my money back, and I walked away victorious and very proud of myself.
Now, back in Tel Aviv, I have started Ulpan which is the school that teaches me Hebrew. I go to class 5 days a week from 8:15am-12:50pm. They are long classes, but after just attending 3 of them, I am confident that it will be extremely worthwhile. Plus, the class has a real international flair, having students ranging from 16 years old to 65 years old, and coming from the USA, France, Russia, Italy, Singapore, Peru, and Taiwan.
The title for this blog entry comes from what occurred after I left Ulpan today. I walked past a fruit stand (these are quite common here in Tel Aviv) and saw a great looking mango. When I went to purchase it, the man told me that it would cost me 31 shekels. This sounded very high to me, but as I always like to give people the benefit-of-the-doubt, I rationalized that maybe they are currently out of season (as I haven't seen them at any other stores lately) and that is why it was so expensive. So, I paid for my fruit and started walking home. On my walk home, I was talking to Oren and decided to ask him if the price sounded appropriate. He angrily confirmed that the price I paid was, indeed, outrageous and that I had been taken advantage of. After his initial anger at his Israeli people for being so mean to his girlfriend, he suggested that I go into a nearby store and see what their cost for a mango would be. So, I approach a cash register, explain that I bought the mango elsewhere and that I expected I had been cheated, and asked them if they could tell me how much it weighs and therefore, how much it would cost in their store. So, it weighed .85 kilos and would have cost me 10 shekels at their store. With this new information, Oren got increasingly angry and suggested I take the mango back. At first, being the non-confrontational American that I am, I considered just letting it be and learning my lesson to be more careful next time. However, that notion passed quickly and I agreed with Oren that if I wasn't going to stand up for myself, than who would? So, I marched back 7 block to the fruit stand, getting more aggravated with every step thinking "Who does this fruit vendor think he is trying to mess with a nice Jewish girl from Minnesota who moved to HIS country and is learning HIS language, and working with HIS members of government and non-profit organizations to make HIS country a better place to LIVE????" By the time I got back to the fruit stand, I was no longer the nice, non-confrontational girl from Minnesota, but rather an angry member of Israeli society with a whole lot of Chutzpah!
I stormed up to the man who sold me the mango and the conversation went as follows:
Schmuck: There is a problem with the mango?
Me: No, there is not a problem with the mango. However, I realized that I can buy this same mango down the street for 10 shekels instead of 31 shekels and I refuse to pay for something that I was so over-charged for.
Schmuck: What do you mean? This is a good mango!
Me: I'm sure it is, but it is not worth 31 shekels and I think it is awful that you charged me that much.
Schmuck: But it is over 1 kilo!
Me: Actually sir, it is .85 kilos.
Schmuck: So you don't want the mango?
Me: I do want the mango, but I am not going to pay 31 shekels for it, so I would like to return it and get my money back.
Schmuck: (Begins to argue) But...
Me: Sir, you should really be ashamed of yourself for trying to take advantage of a person living in your country just because I am not from here and don't speak Hebrew yet. It is really unfortunate for me, as someone who is a contributing member of society, to have to experience something like this, and I think that next time you are in this situation, you should choose to act differently.
So, the Schmuck apologized and gave me my money back, and I walked away victorious and very proud of myself.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
In the words of Neil Diamond: We're comin to America
Well, it's been a crazy week. It has been crunch time with Yoel's upcoming fund-raising trip to the states, I had a donor in town, there was a private film screening of a movie about Ariel Sharon for his staff... I don't think we have been home one night this week!
Furthermore, this past week we decided it was a good idea for me to be at the United Jewish Community's General Assembly which is in Nashville this coming weekend. Unfortunately, this means I have to go back to Opryland again which I had vowed I would never do. Yuck. Furthermore, this completely altered my schedule as I was planning to be in MN for Thanksgiving, and me and Oren were heading home on November 16. Well, the GA starts the 11th and ends on the 13th, so it would be silly for me to come back to Israel for 2 days to turn around and fly back to the states. So, when I was originally only going to be in the states for 10 days, I am now going to be there almost three weeks. This isn't a bad thing, but of course, it was this week that various potential clients that I have been trying to get meetings with all decided that next week would be a good time to meet... and now I have to tell them I will not be available for 3 weeks... Not the ideal situation, but I am confident that my time at the GA will be well spent in regards to doing some major networking with donors and Israeli organizations which is exactly what I need to be doing right now. In honor of the GA, me and Oren constructed a lovely business card for me to hand out and we just got them back from the printer today. They are very pretty. Now I feel like a real business (Don't worry Jodi, I have 9 saved for you)!
So, Yoel has officially been in the states for about 12 hours now. It is extremely difficult for me that I am not there traveling with him from meeting to meeting. Never have I sent a client off to do meetings alone, let alone on their first official fund-raising trip. The original decision was made for him to go alone because a) We didn't want to spend the money on another ticket at this point- we need to raise the money first! b) I did not want to be gone for 3 weeks (guess that didn't end up working out anyway.) So, considering I cannot be there with him to make sure he is on schedule and such, I have been obsessively calling him all day. I know, it's obnoxious, but I can't help myself, and luckily, Yoel is very good and understanding about it (except for that I just called him twice to find out how his 4pm meeting went and he hasn't answered... it's making me nervous... so I texted him. Ridiculous, I know, but would it kill Israelis to start using Blackberries?? There is something about being able to email someone at any time that gives me a strange sense of comfort... This is what living in Washington, DC does to people.) I'm finding that, while these fund-raising trips can be stressful when in the states, it's even worse when I have to calculate the time difference so that I know when he should be done with a meeting or in a taxi to his next meeting, etc. so that I can call him. My brain is going into overdrive.
So, I have one more day of stressing out about Yoel's trip from a distance and then on Saturday I get on a plane and fly to Nashville via Newark and Cleveland. I will meet Yoel in Nashville for some good old Opryland fun, and then I am busting out of there Monday night, flying to Chicago, staying overnight (Thanks Sally!) and then home to Minneapolis on Tuesday morning where I will have quality time with the family, and then Oren will join us on Friday. I cannot wait for a vacation- this whole starting a business thing is exhausting!
Furthermore, this past week we decided it was a good idea for me to be at the United Jewish Community's General Assembly which is in Nashville this coming weekend. Unfortunately, this means I have to go back to Opryland again which I had vowed I would never do. Yuck. Furthermore, this completely altered my schedule as I was planning to be in MN for Thanksgiving, and me and Oren were heading home on November 16. Well, the GA starts the 11th and ends on the 13th, so it would be silly for me to come back to Israel for 2 days to turn around and fly back to the states. So, when I was originally only going to be in the states for 10 days, I am now going to be there almost three weeks. This isn't a bad thing, but of course, it was this week that various potential clients that I have been trying to get meetings with all decided that next week would be a good time to meet... and now I have to tell them I will not be available for 3 weeks... Not the ideal situation, but I am confident that my time at the GA will be well spent in regards to doing some major networking with donors and Israeli organizations which is exactly what I need to be doing right now. In honor of the GA, me and Oren constructed a lovely business card for me to hand out and we just got them back from the printer today. They are very pretty. Now I feel like a real business (Don't worry Jodi, I have 9 saved for you)!
So, Yoel has officially been in the states for about 12 hours now. It is extremely difficult for me that I am not there traveling with him from meeting to meeting. Never have I sent a client off to do meetings alone, let alone on their first official fund-raising trip. The original decision was made for him to go alone because a) We didn't want to spend the money on another ticket at this point- we need to raise the money first! b) I did not want to be gone for 3 weeks (guess that didn't end up working out anyway.) So, considering I cannot be there with him to make sure he is on schedule and such, I have been obsessively calling him all day. I know, it's obnoxious, but I can't help myself, and luckily, Yoel is very good and understanding about it (except for that I just called him twice to find out how his 4pm meeting went and he hasn't answered... it's making me nervous... so I texted him. Ridiculous, I know, but would it kill Israelis to start using Blackberries?? There is something about being able to email someone at any time that gives me a strange sense of comfort... This is what living in Washington, DC does to people.) I'm finding that, while these fund-raising trips can be stressful when in the states, it's even worse when I have to calculate the time difference so that I know when he should be done with a meeting or in a taxi to his next meeting, etc. so that I can call him. My brain is going into overdrive.
So, I have one more day of stressing out about Yoel's trip from a distance and then on Saturday I get on a plane and fly to Nashville via Newark and Cleveland. I will meet Yoel in Nashville for some good old Opryland fun, and then I am busting out of there Monday night, flying to Chicago, staying overnight (Thanks Sally!) and then home to Minneapolis on Tuesday morning where I will have quality time with the family, and then Oren will join us on Friday. I cannot wait for a vacation- this whole starting a business thing is exhausting!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Bikram Yoga Hell
Well, another week has gone by and it is time for a brief update. First and foremost, I am officially and legally the president of a small business now, so that is exciting.
Also, yesterday, I experienced my first Bikram Yoga class. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Bikram yoga is when you do yoga in a room that is 105 degree with 40% humidity. I know, it sounds awful, but Oren has raved about it since he started going it in Cambridge so I agreed to give it a try. Well, needless to say, it was literally like Hell. It was hot and painful. I don't particularly like heat, and I don't like pain.... so the combination of the two made me quite angry (which I'm assuming is the opposite response you are supposed to achieve from yoga...) About half way through the class (which was all in Hebrew, by the way, and when Oren would try to interpret something into English for me the teacher yelled at him for talking during class) I vowed I would never step foot in a Bikram Yoga studio ever again, and started getting extremely angry at Oren for convincing me that this was something that was actually enjoyable as opposed to a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Thanks to the heat and the bending over and having the blood rush to my head to try and achieve particular poses, I got pretty dizzy and nauseous about 3/4 in to it which I used as a good excuse to lie on my mat and silently curse my situation while rudely looking at my watch to see how much longer I had in Hell. However, I did stay in the room for the entire 90 minutes (you'd be surprised (or maybe not) by how many people walked out half way or 3/4 of the way through because they couldn't handle it anymore) and once I finally got out of the boiler room and cooled down a bit, I somehow came to the conclusion that I wanted to try it again. I'm not sure what it is.... maybe the challenge, maybe the curiosity of wanting to know if it is always this awful, or if it gets better... and after all of that sweating, I did feel quite cleansed... We'll see.
Alright, I'm about to call it a night. Happy Halloween to all!
Also, yesterday, I experienced my first Bikram Yoga class. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Bikram yoga is when you do yoga in a room that is 105 degree with 40% humidity. I know, it sounds awful, but Oren has raved about it since he started going it in Cambridge so I agreed to give it a try. Well, needless to say, it was literally like Hell. It was hot and painful. I don't particularly like heat, and I don't like pain.... so the combination of the two made me quite angry (which I'm assuming is the opposite response you are supposed to achieve from yoga...) About half way through the class (which was all in Hebrew, by the way, and when Oren would try to interpret something into English for me the teacher yelled at him for talking during class) I vowed I would never step foot in a Bikram Yoga studio ever again, and started getting extremely angry at Oren for convincing me that this was something that was actually enjoyable as opposed to a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Thanks to the heat and the bending over and having the blood rush to my head to try and achieve particular poses, I got pretty dizzy and nauseous about 3/4 in to it which I used as a good excuse to lie on my mat and silently curse my situation while rudely looking at my watch to see how much longer I had in Hell. However, I did stay in the room for the entire 90 minutes (you'd be surprised (or maybe not) by how many people walked out half way or 3/4 of the way through because they couldn't handle it anymore) and once I finally got out of the boiler room and cooled down a bit, I somehow came to the conclusion that I wanted to try it again. I'm not sure what it is.... maybe the challenge, maybe the curiosity of wanting to know if it is always this awful, or if it gets better... and after all of that sweating, I did feel quite cleansed... We'll see.
Alright, I'm about to call it a night. Happy Halloween to all!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Update...
Since I wrote that last post this morning, I was invited to attend the private ceremony for the anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in the Prime Minister's office by Oren's boss and sat two rows behind Prime Minister Olmert. Cool stuff.
Live from the Knesset
Boker tov (good morning)!
I am writing to you live from the Knesset (aka the Israeli Parliment- in DC, this would be the Capitol building). I am here at the Knesset in Jerusalem for the second time this week to start working on Yoel's fundraising. Monday was my first day here and, needless to say, it was quite interesting.
It started out with me going with Oren to his office in the building where the Prime Minister works (in DC, this would be the White House) and got a great tour from Oren. However, unlike a White House tour, I was able to actually walk into the PM's office and take a picture behind his desk, etc. It was pretty cool. I then made my way over to the Knesset where I went through some of the most intense security for the 2nd time in an hour (the first time was in the PM's office)... The security here to get into one of these buildings is like trying to get into the Captiol, White House, and Regan National Airport all put together. Ridiculous. But I do understand and appreciate it.
After finding my way to Yoel's office, I quickly bonded with his other staff members who are great and then got down to business. Yoel is going to be in the states for the GA in November and has asked me to plan a 4-state fundraising trip for him while he is there. This gives me roughly 3 weeks to make this happen, but I think we will make it work... anyway.
Right after I got to the Knesset, I had a meeting with another Member of Knesset who had heard about me and wanted to talk with me about doing some fundraising for her. It was a very interesting meeting and I am going to do a bit of research on her potential donor base and get back to her in a few weeks...
After spending some time with Yoel's intern, Nicole, who is assisting me, Oren and Avi came over to go to lunch with us in the Knesset dining room. Of course, during lunch, Yoel had to point out to me that I have been in Israel less than 4 weeks and I am sitting in the Knesset dining room which few people ever get to be in, but not only am I there, but I am there with a "Member of the Jewish Parliament" (I was able to quote that last part along with him- it is one of his favorite statements) and that I should appreciate how special that is. It was quite funny. One minute I am in Joe Lieberman's kitchen, the next I am in the Knesset cafeteria... crazy.
So, this next part can be appreciated by my fundraising colleagues... I am trying to see how the "American style" of fundraising works here, meaning very structured, very detailed, very "American". So, I spent my afternoon making a few call sheets for Yoel (we make these for American politicians to give whoever is making the calls a feel for who they are speaking with, the background of their relationship to the person, and specifically what to ask them- they are a pain to make, but expected by US politicians). Also, I only made about 4, because the chance of getting an American politician to make more than 10 calls in one sitting is a rarity, and I wanted to start slow with Yoel since this was new for him. So, around 5:30 I finally sit down with him to start making calls. He picks up his master list of contacts and points to one and says "I am going to call him." I say "Ok... but you know, I have these call sheets with our priority calls..." And he says "Ok... we will call them later, but I'm going to call him now." I say, "Ok... well, do you want to take a look at the purpose of these other calls so that you know what we are asking these people?" He looks, says "Very professional..." I say "Thanks..." and he says "Ok, I am going to call this person now" and just picks up the phone and starts making calls. At first, this worried me, because it was so much less formal than our "American" system. However, Yoel turned out to be a natural, and as we made calls, he would ask me if he was saying things appropriately, I would coach him on how better to say this or that, etc. So, he makes a few calls and I figure we're good for the night, as I didn't want to overwhelm him on his first time... but then he kept going. And going. And going. Yoel must have made about 40 phone calls which, at least from my experience with American politicians, is unheard of. It was ridiculous. And amazing. We were here until 9:30pm, picked up Oren, and then went to dinner until 12:30am. Needless to say, I was completely exhausted (it was my first full day of work in a month!) but really pumped about how productive it had been.
That was Monday. Yesterday, I worked like mad from home all day until I had my meeting with the accountant, during which, I filled out the necessary paperwork to officially establish my own business. So crazy. Yossi, my accountant (I've never had an accountant before!) is fantastic and I could not feel more comfortable knowing that he is handing all of my "stuff."
So, I am back at the Knesset today, having lunch with Oren and his boss, and getting ready to go over the status of our trip with Yoel later this afternoon. I'm going to get back to work, but wanted to give a quick update because it has been awhile and a lot has happened!
Hope all is well with you!
I am writing to you live from the Knesset (aka the Israeli Parliment- in DC, this would be the Capitol building). I am here at the Knesset in Jerusalem for the second time this week to start working on Yoel's fundraising. Monday was my first day here and, needless to say, it was quite interesting.
It started out with me going with Oren to his office in the building where the Prime Minister works (in DC, this would be the White House) and got a great tour from Oren. However, unlike a White House tour, I was able to actually walk into the PM's office and take a picture behind his desk, etc. It was pretty cool. I then made my way over to the Knesset where I went through some of the most intense security for the 2nd time in an hour (the first time was in the PM's office)... The security here to get into one of these buildings is like trying to get into the Captiol, White House, and Regan National Airport all put together. Ridiculous. But I do understand and appreciate it.
After finding my way to Yoel's office, I quickly bonded with his other staff members who are great and then got down to business. Yoel is going to be in the states for the GA in November and has asked me to plan a 4-state fundraising trip for him while he is there. This gives me roughly 3 weeks to make this happen, but I think we will make it work... anyway.
Right after I got to the Knesset, I had a meeting with another Member of Knesset who had heard about me and wanted to talk with me about doing some fundraising for her. It was a very interesting meeting and I am going to do a bit of research on her potential donor base and get back to her in a few weeks...
After spending some time with Yoel's intern, Nicole, who is assisting me, Oren and Avi came over to go to lunch with us in the Knesset dining room. Of course, during lunch, Yoel had to point out to me that I have been in Israel less than 4 weeks and I am sitting in the Knesset dining room which few people ever get to be in, but not only am I there, but I am there with a "Member of the Jewish Parliament" (I was able to quote that last part along with him- it is one of his favorite statements) and that I should appreciate how special that is. It was quite funny. One minute I am in Joe Lieberman's kitchen, the next I am in the Knesset cafeteria... crazy.
So, this next part can be appreciated by my fundraising colleagues... I am trying to see how the "American style" of fundraising works here, meaning very structured, very detailed, very "American". So, I spent my afternoon making a few call sheets for Yoel (we make these for American politicians to give whoever is making the calls a feel for who they are speaking with, the background of their relationship to the person, and specifically what to ask them- they are a pain to make, but expected by US politicians). Also, I only made about 4, because the chance of getting an American politician to make more than 10 calls in one sitting is a rarity, and I wanted to start slow with Yoel since this was new for him. So, around 5:30 I finally sit down with him to start making calls. He picks up his master list of contacts and points to one and says "I am going to call him." I say "Ok... but you know, I have these call sheets with our priority calls..." And he says "Ok... we will call them later, but I'm going to call him now." I say, "Ok... well, do you want to take a look at the purpose of these other calls so that you know what we are asking these people?" He looks, says "Very professional..." I say "Thanks..." and he says "Ok, I am going to call this person now" and just picks up the phone and starts making calls. At first, this worried me, because it was so much less formal than our "American" system. However, Yoel turned out to be a natural, and as we made calls, he would ask me if he was saying things appropriately, I would coach him on how better to say this or that, etc. So, he makes a few calls and I figure we're good for the night, as I didn't want to overwhelm him on his first time... but then he kept going. And going. And going. Yoel must have made about 40 phone calls which, at least from my experience with American politicians, is unheard of. It was ridiculous. And amazing. We were here until 9:30pm, picked up Oren, and then went to dinner until 12:30am. Needless to say, I was completely exhausted (it was my first full day of work in a month!) but really pumped about how productive it had been.
That was Monday. Yesterday, I worked like mad from home all day until I had my meeting with the accountant, during which, I filled out the necessary paperwork to officially establish my own business. So crazy. Yossi, my accountant (I've never had an accountant before!) is fantastic and I could not feel more comfortable knowing that he is handing all of my "stuff."
So, I am back at the Knesset today, having lunch with Oren and his boss, and getting ready to go over the status of our trip with Yoel later this afternoon. I'm going to get back to work, but wanted to give a quick update because it has been awhile and a lot has happened!
Hope all is well with you!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
New bike (again)
Well, I finally got over my bitterness from getting my new bike stolen after having it for less than 24 hours and bought another new bike yesterday! This one is hot pink, cruiser style, with a basket. It is very pretty, but more importantly, it has a heavy duty lock (for the daytime, at night, it will be sleeping on our deck of our apartment- taking NO chances with this one). Pictures coming soon!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
More interesting dinner guests
Last night, we went to another dinner. This one was at the home of a guy who Oren knew through the Prime Minister's office and he had been a Wexner Fellow a few years before Oren. As I had noted yesterday, there always seem to be really interesting people at these dinners, and last night was no exception. Not only was it an international dinner with guests from India, Brazil, New York, and LA, but the one guest that I think you, as my American friends, could appreciate most was Ryan Seacrest's agent. Yeah, the guy from American Idol, and E!, and the Academy Awards host... This guy's actual job was not only representing Ryan, but he was also responsible for shows like Project Runway and Next Top Chef. He turned out to be a really nice guy, so we now have a friend in "Show biz" ;-)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Subliminal
Last night, Oren and I went to dinner at his friend Ami's house. Ami is Oren's dear friend and attorney, and he is going to be my legal counsel as I start my business. Ami and his wife live in a beautiful apartment that opens up to a rooftop where we had our dinner by candlelight overlooking the city. It was really quite impressive. Not only was the dinner impressive, but the guests were as well. Probably the most unique dinner guest was someone named Kobi, who I quickly learned was the top hip hop/rap artist in Israel and goes by the stage name Subliminal. He is becoming a world-wide phenomenon so you may know who he is if you are a hip hop/rap fan. I also learned that he has his own record label that is hugely successful and has been collaborating with a bunch of American rappers recently... Needless to say, it was a very interesting dinner, and everyone had good stories that we were there until 2am. Another dinner tonight... more stories to come.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Pics
I've finally learned how to use Picasa and will now periodically be posting random pictures from my time here at the following link for your viewing pleasure...
http://picasaweb.google.com/stein.debbie/TelAviv02
http://picasaweb.google.com/stein.debbie/TelAviv02
Monday, October 8, 2007
Hit the ground running
Well, it's been awhile! Since the wall and bike "incident", we spent our last few days of vacation doing a lot of walking and a lot of relaxing- it was fantastic. However, yesterday marked the end of the 10 days of vacation, and so it meant Oren went back to work and I was on my own for the first significant period of time since moving here. I was ready!
My first task of the day was to go to the Ministry of the Interior to get some paperwork taken care of. It was a good 30 minute walk to get there (would have been a much shorter bike ride...) and once I got there, the only experience I can compare it to is going to the DMV. That is how slow, disorganized, and annoying it was. However, here you had the added ingredient of pretty much everyone there not speaking English or Hebrew, and an unfortunate lack of deodorant. I had to stand in line in front of an older "foreign" woman who had no sense of personal space, and kept standing against me in line. And then, when she thought I should be moving forward, she would put her hands on my hips and guide me forward, or tap my butt. I kept giving her looks because I was pretty sure she didn't speak any English, but finally I turned around to her and said "Ma'am, there really isn't anywhere else for me to go so please stop pushing me." Then she stopped and ran away. It was weird.
Anyway, once I put in my 2.5 hours there, I made my way back towards home with the intention of doing some cooking. I love cooking, but between graduate school, work, and being out of town every other weekend, I have not had much time for this hobby over the past few years. However, until my business gets totally up and running, I need to take advantage of this free time. So, I decided I wanted to make some pasta with bolognese sauce (a favorite from living in Florence) and apple turnovers. Long story short, I had to make three separate trips to the grocery store because I kept buying the wrong things, as I was basing my purchases mostly on the pictures on the boxes because everything else describing the product I was buying was written in Hebrew. Mind you, I've shopped in foreign grocery stores before, but at least in Italy, words are written using the same alphabet that we use and you can somewhat figure out what things say... in Hebrew, not so much. The bolognese turned out great, but I was unable to make the apple turnovers because no one here seemed to know what puff pastry was...
After dinner last night, we went out for a second dinner with Oren's friend Gil. Gil had been invited to join us for our first dinner, but he does not eat glutton and, therefore, could not eat my pasta, so we compromised and decided to meet him for a 2nd lite dinner. I met Gil on my last visit here and we became instant friends. He recently became an adviser to one of the Ministers, and was telling us amazing stories from the past 10 days he spent with her in New York. Half way through our second dinner, Yoel joined us. It is hard to describe in writing how completely amusing Oren, Yoel, and Gil can be when they are all together. I'm not sure how one would expect the head of an agency for the Prime Minister's office, a member of Knesset, and an adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to act, but if you did not know this about them, you would probably never guess it. Especially when we are in the car and Oren is tickling Yoel from the back seat and Yoel is screaming "STOOOP! I AM A MEMBER OF THE JEWISH PARLIAMENT!" Yup. Needless to say, it was a fun way to end the day.
Oren just got home from a few meetings in Tel Aviv and we're going to go grab lunch before he has to go back to more meetings. More later!
My first task of the day was to go to the Ministry of the Interior to get some paperwork taken care of. It was a good 30 minute walk to get there (would have been a much shorter bike ride...) and once I got there, the only experience I can compare it to is going to the DMV. That is how slow, disorganized, and annoying it was. However, here you had the added ingredient of pretty much everyone there not speaking English or Hebrew, and an unfortunate lack of deodorant. I had to stand in line in front of an older "foreign" woman who had no sense of personal space, and kept standing against me in line. And then, when she thought I should be moving forward, she would put her hands on my hips and guide me forward, or tap my butt. I kept giving her looks because I was pretty sure she didn't speak any English, but finally I turned around to her and said "Ma'am, there really isn't anywhere else for me to go so please stop pushing me." Then she stopped and ran away. It was weird.
Anyway, once I put in my 2.5 hours there, I made my way back towards home with the intention of doing some cooking. I love cooking, but between graduate school, work, and being out of town every other weekend, I have not had much time for this hobby over the past few years. However, until my business gets totally up and running, I need to take advantage of this free time. So, I decided I wanted to make some pasta with bolognese sauce (a favorite from living in Florence) and apple turnovers. Long story short, I had to make three separate trips to the grocery store because I kept buying the wrong things, as I was basing my purchases mostly on the pictures on the boxes because everything else describing the product I was buying was written in Hebrew. Mind you, I've shopped in foreign grocery stores before, but at least in Italy, words are written using the same alphabet that we use and you can somewhat figure out what things say... in Hebrew, not so much. The bolognese turned out great, but I was unable to make the apple turnovers because no one here seemed to know what puff pastry was...
After dinner last night, we went out for a second dinner with Oren's friend Gil. Gil had been invited to join us for our first dinner, but he does not eat glutton and, therefore, could not eat my pasta, so we compromised and decided to meet him for a 2nd lite dinner. I met Gil on my last visit here and we became instant friends. He recently became an adviser to one of the Ministers, and was telling us amazing stories from the past 10 days he spent with her in New York. Half way through our second dinner, Yoel joined us. It is hard to describe in writing how completely amusing Oren, Yoel, and Gil can be when they are all together. I'm not sure how one would expect the head of an agency for the Prime Minister's office, a member of Knesset, and an adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to act, but if you did not know this about them, you would probably never guess it. Especially when we are in the car and Oren is tickling Yoel from the back seat and Yoel is screaming "STOOOP! I AM A MEMBER OF THE JEWISH PARLIAMENT!" Yup. Needless to say, it was a fun way to end the day.
Oren just got home from a few meetings in Tel Aviv and we're going to go grab lunch before he has to go back to more meetings. More later!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Cement pics
As promised...
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=fml55jd.cjp0p1o9&x=0&y=4wgxpy
And, for the record, today was much better than yesterday!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=fml55jd.cjp0p1o9&x=0&y=4wgxpy
And, for the record, today was much better than yesterday!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
It was all going so smoothly until now...
So, something I have yet to mention in the blog is that, as Tel Aviv is an always expanding city, they are always building and renovating apartment buildings. One of the apartment buildings that they are currently building is, unfortunately, right next door to us (literally) and every morning we are woken up at 6:45am when they start hammering outside of our window. So, we have started a daily tradition of moving from the bed to the couch around 6:45am, and then sleeping a few more hours on the couch. This is annoying, but not a big deal- especially when we actually have to start getting up for work in the morning anyway.
So, this morning, like every other morning, we are woken up at 6:45am, bring the pillows and blanket to the couch, and fall back asleep. As I am drifting in and out of slumber, I am hearing banging and sawing and thinking "wow, that is getting so loud.. it sounds like they are in our apartment..." and then would fall back asleep. After doing this a few times, I was woken up by a buzzing noise which meant someone was outside of the apartment. We both somewhat ignored it, because we didn't know of anyone who was coming over. A few minutes later, we had an actual knock on our door but by the time we got up and got to check who it was, there was no one there. As I turned around to walk past the kitchen and back to the couch, I looked through the kitchen into our back storage room, and I saw two men standing in there. Needless, to say, I freaked out and started yelling for Oren that there were two men in the storage room. Oren ran in and started asking them (in Hebrew) what they were doing, and we realized they did not speak Hebrew, rather, they spoke Arabic. Upon closer inspection, we realized that they were in our storage room for a good reason- they were removing the 3 feet of cement that had broken through the wall of our storage room and flooded it. Apparently, someone miscalculated something, and whatever was supposed to be in place to prevent the cement from breaking through the wall was not in place. So, as the two Arab men stood in 3 feet of cement and shoveled it into buckets, their supervisor who spoke Hebrew explained to a stunned Oren and me what had happened and told us that they would rebuild the way by Sunday and reimburse us for any property that was damaged (luckily we didn't have a ton of stuff in the room...) So, we spent the rest of the day sitting in the apartment to keep an eye on the "progress" they were making in removing the cement. Photographic proof of this memorable experience coming soon...
At a point later this evening, we finally left the apartment only to be faced with the incredibly sad reality that our bikes had been stolen overnight. Yes, both Oren's bike and the pretty green retro bike with a basket that I got yesterday. Stolen. Oren had been locking his bike up there for months now and never had any trouble... Ridiculous, right?
So, we have concluded that it is time to take matters into our own hands, and first thing tomorrow morning we are going out and purchasing an evil eye to ward off whatever yuckiness has fallen upon us and finally get the parchment for our Mezuzah (non-Jews inquire within and I will explain) and get it hung up ASAP. Call it superstitious or whatever you like, but we are willing to try it.
Alright, time for bed. Here's hoping that tomorrow goes more smoothly than today!
So, this morning, like every other morning, we are woken up at 6:45am, bring the pillows and blanket to the couch, and fall back asleep. As I am drifting in and out of slumber, I am hearing banging and sawing and thinking "wow, that is getting so loud.. it sounds like they are in our apartment..." and then would fall back asleep. After doing this a few times, I was woken up by a buzzing noise which meant someone was outside of the apartment. We both somewhat ignored it, because we didn't know of anyone who was coming over. A few minutes later, we had an actual knock on our door but by the time we got up and got to check who it was, there was no one there. As I turned around to walk past the kitchen and back to the couch, I looked through the kitchen into our back storage room, and I saw two men standing in there. Needless, to say, I freaked out and started yelling for Oren that there were two men in the storage room. Oren ran in and started asking them (in Hebrew) what they were doing, and we realized they did not speak Hebrew, rather, they spoke Arabic. Upon closer inspection, we realized that they were in our storage room for a good reason- they were removing the 3 feet of cement that had broken through the wall of our storage room and flooded it. Apparently, someone miscalculated something, and whatever was supposed to be in place to prevent the cement from breaking through the wall was not in place. So, as the two Arab men stood in 3 feet of cement and shoveled it into buckets, their supervisor who spoke Hebrew explained to a stunned Oren and me what had happened and told us that they would rebuild the way by Sunday and reimburse us for any property that was damaged (luckily we didn't have a ton of stuff in the room...) So, we spent the rest of the day sitting in the apartment to keep an eye on the "progress" they were making in removing the cement. Photographic proof of this memorable experience coming soon...
At a point later this evening, we finally left the apartment only to be faced with the incredibly sad reality that our bikes had been stolen overnight. Yes, both Oren's bike and the pretty green retro bike with a basket that I got yesterday. Stolen. Oren had been locking his bike up there for months now and never had any trouble... Ridiculous, right?
So, we have concluded that it is time to take matters into our own hands, and first thing tomorrow morning we are going out and purchasing an evil eye to ward off whatever yuckiness has fallen upon us and finally get the parchment for our Mezuzah (non-Jews inquire within and I will explain) and get it hung up ASAP. Call it superstitious or whatever you like, but we are willing to try it.
Alright, time for bed. Here's hoping that tomorrow goes more smoothly than today!
Monday, October 1, 2007
My new wheels
I have learned quickly that one of the best ways to get our Tel Aviv is by bike. A few days ago, me and Oren went for a 4 hour bike ride along the sea and then the river using his bike and a bike left behind by the lady who used to live in our apartment. Neither bike was really the right size or style for me, but I did my best, and even though it was too tall (and I fell a few times- don't worry, nothing serious) and the seat was quite painful, I still really enjoyed seeing the city by bike and wanted to get one of my own.
So, today, still sore from my ride 2 days ago, I bought a pretty green bike. But not just a green bike- it is lime green and retro style, so it's all curvy with high handlebars and such. And, it has a basket. It's really quite wonderful and I love riding it. And, I'm pretty sure that I look really cool riding my green bike with my white helmet, stuff in my basket, and ringing my bell. Don't worry, there will be photos soon so that you don't have to use your imagination.
A random note- I have never watched more Star Wars than I have since I got to Israel. By the time me and Oren get home every night around 11pm, it seems that one of the only shows on TV in English is one of the Star Wars movies. I still am not sure why this is so popular in Israel (though I did hear one of the characters say "shalom" in the first movie). So far, I have now seen the first movie (the new one) and the fourth one (the first of the "old" ones). They are pretty good...I like the old ones better than the new ones... kinda random though. Maybe before I start having to go to bed at reasonable times I will have seen the entire series of Star Wars movies... one can only hope.
Anyway, I'm off for now. Force be with you.
P.S. Megster- Chutzpah is a Hebrew word, not Yiddish, and I am happy to help you continue your Hebrew education ;-) Today I learned Nak-ni-ki-ya- it means "Hot dog." I have found that Israeli's tend to like to re-create the "American fair" atmosphere on various occasions- last time I was here I experienced it in Jerusalem, and tonight in Tel Aviv. They put up all sorts of food stands in an area that sell all "American" style fair food... like hot dogs, pizza, burgers, fries... and even sell frozen yogurt called "American Ice Cream" which basically really thick frozen yogurt. It's very funny and after I had some "American Ice Cream", I started craving a hot dog, hence, the new vocab word. Enjoy!
So, today, still sore from my ride 2 days ago, I bought a pretty green bike. But not just a green bike- it is lime green and retro style, so it's all curvy with high handlebars and such. And, it has a basket. It's really quite wonderful and I love riding it. And, I'm pretty sure that I look really cool riding my green bike with my white helmet, stuff in my basket, and ringing my bell. Don't worry, there will be photos soon so that you don't have to use your imagination.
A random note- I have never watched more Star Wars than I have since I got to Israel. By the time me and Oren get home every night around 11pm, it seems that one of the only shows on TV in English is one of the Star Wars movies. I still am not sure why this is so popular in Israel (though I did hear one of the characters say "shalom" in the first movie). So far, I have now seen the first movie (the new one) and the fourth one (the first of the "old" ones). They are pretty good...I like the old ones better than the new ones... kinda random though. Maybe before I start having to go to bed at reasonable times I will have seen the entire series of Star Wars movies... one can only hope.
Anyway, I'm off for now. Force be with you.
P.S. Megster- Chutzpah is a Hebrew word, not Yiddish, and I am happy to help you continue your Hebrew education ;-) Today I learned Nak-ni-ki-ya- it means "Hot dog." I have found that Israeli's tend to like to re-create the "American fair" atmosphere on various occasions- last time I was here I experienced it in Jerusalem, and tonight in Tel Aviv. They put up all sorts of food stands in an area that sell all "American" style fair food... like hot dogs, pizza, burgers, fries... and even sell frozen yogurt called "American Ice Cream" which basically really thick frozen yogurt. It's very funny and after I had some "American Ice Cream", I started craving a hot dog, hence, the new vocab word. Enjoy!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Sophisticated Chutzpah
Yesterday I spent most of the day with Oren and Yoel- Yoel is Oren's very good friend, a member of Knesset, and my first independent fundraising client. Yoel found himself with a car and without a license, and me and Oren were with a license and without a car, so we decided to team up and Yoel would come with us where we needed to go, and we would drop Yoel off and pick him up where he needed to go. Besides Oren and Yoel being best friends for years, I have spent some quality time with Yoel during his visit to DC and my last visit in Israel, so this day of driving resulted in much quality time, and many conversations. By the end of the day, we were driving Yoel back home after picking him up from his mom's house, and after he went into great detail explaining what Tunisian food was (his mom is Tunisian), he abruptly switched gears and started telling me that, since he met me in Washington, DC last March, he thought that, if I ever decided to move to Israel, I would have no trouble adjusting. I asked him why he thought this, and first he told me it was because I have (some Hebrew word I didn't know). When I asked Oren to translate, he said that in English, it would literally translate into "Pepper" or "Spice", though when said in this context in Hebrew, means that I am sharp and engaging in a way that makes people want to do things for me. I thanked Yoel for this compliment, and then he proceeded to tell me that I had another very important quality that would ensure my success in Israel. He said that I had chutzpah (for the non-Jews, it is roughly defined as 'a quality of audacity'), but not just Chutzpah, because anyone can have Chutzpah and it's not necessarily a good thing. Rather, I had sophisticated chutzpah-just like he and Oren- and THAT was the key to being successful in Israeli society. I like it.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Ani po! (English translation: I'm here!)
Well, two flawless flights on British Airways later (I feel this was owed to me after my AWFUL experience with Continental Airlines last time around), I am ending my first day in Tel Aviv. First, I must say, that flying to Israel via London is a great way to go. It is much easier (at least for me) to break the long flight in half, rather than the one long flight from the USA. And Heathrow airport has some amazing shopping. Anyway.
I landed in Tel Aviv at 4:30am this morning, and was pleased to see my two massive (and overweight) pieces of luggage were the first to come down to baggage claim. I took this as a good omen. I exited into the greetings area to find Oren and his friend Lior who he had convinced to come and pick me up at the airport at 4:30 in the morning, as Oren is currently without a car for a few days. Lior is a very good friend. He even helped Oren carry my extremely heavy bags up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment at 5am. Truly appreciated, as I think I would have been little help with my 70-something pound suitcases.
After some early morning hummus and pita (that I had been craving since I was here a month ago), I fell asleep around 7am and didn't wake up until 3pm. Once I figured out where I was, I did a little bit of unpacking, and then decided to leave it until tomorrow and we decided to walk to one of our favorite restaurants- Giraffe. It was already cooling off outside by the time we left around 4:30, which meant it was probably around 80 degrees. It was a nice 10 minute walk to dinner, where we proceeded to order our favorites- fried calamari with an amazing lime dipping sauce, two types of sushi rolls, and pork and shrimp fried rice (go ahead, insert your "very kosher" statement here). It was delicious and I could eat it all again right now. After that, we walked another 15 minutes to Arcaffe (if you recall, we spent a lot of time there on my last visit while we were in Jerusalem) and had some hafooch (a latte) and some dessert. From there, we walked another 15 minutes to the boardwalk and along the sea and proceeded to walk for probably another 30 minutes around the city. It felt great after the long flight, and it is nice to get a lay of the land here. And it was so beautiful outside near the sea.
Once home, we proceeded to eat our leftovers from dinner (yes, I had dinner, and the leftovers, and could still eat it again right now), and have been catching up on emails and lounging. It is just wonderful. Tomorrow we plan to run by the market, maybe the beach, possibly a bike ride... whatever we feel like :-) It's great, because Oren has these 10 days off due to Sukkot, so we are basically on vacation until after the holiday. Love it.
I love getting your emails- keep them coming!
I landed in Tel Aviv at 4:30am this morning, and was pleased to see my two massive (and overweight) pieces of luggage were the first to come down to baggage claim. I took this as a good omen. I exited into the greetings area to find Oren and his friend Lior who he had convinced to come and pick me up at the airport at 4:30 in the morning, as Oren is currently without a car for a few days. Lior is a very good friend. He even helped Oren carry my extremely heavy bags up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment at 5am. Truly appreciated, as I think I would have been little help with my 70-something pound suitcases.
After some early morning hummus and pita (that I had been craving since I was here a month ago), I fell asleep around 7am and didn't wake up until 3pm. Once I figured out where I was, I did a little bit of unpacking, and then decided to leave it until tomorrow and we decided to walk to one of our favorite restaurants- Giraffe. It was already cooling off outside by the time we left around 4:30, which meant it was probably around 80 degrees. It was a nice 10 minute walk to dinner, where we proceeded to order our favorites- fried calamari with an amazing lime dipping sauce, two types of sushi rolls, and pork and shrimp fried rice (go ahead, insert your "very kosher" statement here). It was delicious and I could eat it all again right now. After that, we walked another 15 minutes to Arcaffe (if you recall, we spent a lot of time there on my last visit while we were in Jerusalem) and had some hafooch (a latte) and some dessert. From there, we walked another 15 minutes to the boardwalk and along the sea and proceeded to walk for probably another 30 minutes around the city. It felt great after the long flight, and it is nice to get a lay of the land here. And it was so beautiful outside near the sea.
Once home, we proceeded to eat our leftovers from dinner (yes, I had dinner, and the leftovers, and could still eat it again right now), and have been catching up on emails and lounging. It is just wonderful. Tomorrow we plan to run by the market, maybe the beach, possibly a bike ride... whatever we feel like :-) It's great, because Oren has these 10 days off due to Sukkot, so we are basically on vacation until after the holiday. Love it.
I love getting your emails- keep them coming!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)