home coming

Ok , I admit the last blog was complaititive (made up word but makes sense)

That trip did indeed has something good and that is lot and lots of flowers, not in field the way I prefer but simply many of them along the path in a huge variety.
in JFK now, waiting for a connecting flight, perfect trip sum up time.

After the trip, I think I crashed to sleep, don’t recall what I did. On Saturday we went for my grand mom for lunch of simple but my favorites homemade food(mashed potatoes and French fries (they only had 2 kinds of potatoes) stuffed peppers, chicken schnitzel and more) then we tried to conquer the world by playing civilization, with shai and shai, both shai’s lots leaving me in the lead.

Friends came over later and played some Xbox, swapped stories and shared a pizza. Here domino’s is a big deal, ‘here here’ it’s not.

Sunday and Monday that followed are a blur- which means work and then home to work some more- in the mean while making final adjustments on the invitations.

On Tuesday after my crazy mom woke up at 6 to hand wash the car, we headed north for a trip. We stopped at Alonim junction for a yam and cheese gourmet toast and drove on ward to kfar hanasie. Nothing special about this place other than a huge statue of a dragon on top of the cafeteria and a statue of a night on the grass next to if as if challenging each other. We drove on side roads, passing lots of fields, flowers and cows till we were by the river Jordan. One car was left at a certain point and we took the other for the Jacob’s daughters bridge. There is an old fort there which has not been excavated and is still in ruins, and from there we started walking south along the river Jordan banks. With a ton of flowers and huge thorns (which are also flowers). The variety is truly amazing and my camera was not on vacation.

The trail was not long and toward the end my dad decided to cut upwards towards the car. Bad decision. The seep climb took us right in to a huge thorn field, a field of Gdilan- which is a big purple thorny flowers and here in the valley where the sun shines hard, is way taller then me. There were other types of thorns and I was there with short pants...

Because it was steep we needed someone to hold, but all you can hold on too is thorns… so it was a challenge. But great shots of flowers and some of insects. We finally made it up the road and walked by it for a while till we reached the car only to find out that the trail we were on winds up and ends just by the car.

We drove to an Arabic place close to carmiel and enjoyed a great lunch and headed home.

Of course after a trip on dusty roads, the car was dirty againJ

On Friday we celebrated my premature birthday at Edna, a Persian place in Ramat Sharon with a dish I like which does not come from Persia. They make the best meat lasagna, on Saturday the next day I went with friends to an arts fair in Gdera.

I picked up the gang in the morning and we were on our way. Amit was navigating out of memory and making some mistakes while shay was checking with a gps , except where mistakes were made.  This art fair is simple- they have lots of artist and they host you in their own homes, some homes gathered several artists on their loans, so the atmosphere is extremely nice. Our first stop was a wine yard. Some guy has bottles in a shed he converted to a fridge and makes quality wine. He says its quality, I cannot tell a difference between good and bad when it comes to wine. Their limonchello and peachchello was too concentrated for my schnapps taste. But had had nice stories and shows us ancient (from last millennium) tools like the boot extractor, the enema vase and the boiled egg holder. From there we went to breakfast in a place with good food and bad service, I had a 3 cheese toast and other people had other things. We took some stupid photos and went roaming the artists house. We picked up a few items and gifts and went from boutique to boutique. At one location , we had the sales girl demonstrate how to use a shawl. This is not an average shawl but one shaped in a round- so you can wear it in 4 different ways. I knew I could never explained these ways so a terantino movie was done and soon be posted on a YouTube near you. I also tried getting her number for my friend shai, and just as am saying the he is shay … shai comes along and interferes – you should have been there, it was funny, but the girl claims to have a boyfriend , well , next time. Shay had 3 dates during this visit..

We went to another fair nearby and picked up more items then went back and stopped at Amit’s apartment. Which is in a middle of a dirty looking street in a dirty house where you have to pass unfinished staircase and a secured store type door with a padlock, but inside the is a cute and small apartments, I was surprised. After that I returned home.

Sunday evening was naomi’s wedding.

A few days prior I met our DJ and talked wedding songs, so now during at the event I was making mental notes on what songs to borrow for my event and what dishes should be borrowed. Naomi and shay (a completely other shay) went to the Hupa with the music of the Muppet show, an original and most excellent choice. the hupa was overlooking the sea which was nice and afterwards  I took my bride osh and we went back inside for food and dancing. We sat with a German girl who volunteers here for a year and an Ethiopian guy who drank too much (or was naturally drunk) and kept trying to hit on the girl with broken English. With her English being not ideal, it was a laugh. I kept taking photos.

Dancing came shortly after and shay and myself stayed on till 1 am when they closed the dancing floor. Drank one shot on something that looked like tequila but was not and 2 shots of Schnapps. A few times during dancing , some goliath stood just in front of me. This due was probably 195 and wide and got stuck there so I cannot see the middle (the bride and groom). Not on purpose of course, but shai was laughing. I tried to get a goliath osh and didn’t managed it. How could I miss a giant?

 

Mean while there were minor event on regular days like me going to work with a colleague and taking my mom’s keys with me leaving her stuck at home (it was not funny to her…) or taking the phone and leaving the charger in the office, or taking the charger and leaving the phone at home, leaving the door card at home, money at home, camera at home and you get the drift.

 

Monday evening was a day of tastings’ finally saw my future wedding hall, and it was love in first site. This place looks like an orange orchard which a ton of flowers, zoola corners, lots of grass and small hidden things. I didn’t have time to check the place out since we were late and went directly to the tastings. So we sat there, being fed one dish after another of interesting dishes. The story was that what ever I liked, was less liked by the rest (mom, moti, dad liora and my brother shai)- dish for dish the pattern was kept. They soon decided that my presence there was not really needed. I am just the groom, not someone who’s opinion matters. In the end we have 5 good opening dishes + humus and meat cigars booth (I insisted), 5 salads (one which I genuinely like…I was shocked… leaves, sweet almonds and some sweat sauce). The key for me eating leaves of lettuce is the sauce. With enough sauce, you don’t notice you are eating leaves or lettuce.

With disagreed on the fish and meats, and there is no final decision there. But the deserts were without debate, since they will have about 10 of them , so nothing to chose from. I liked 5 of them including things I never tried like finiancia of pairs and something lemony.

After that we took a tour of the place, took photos and saw a rare sighting of a night heron actually catching a fish in eating it on the pond in the middle of the place. For the rest of the night we were busy digesting.

 

I saw Alice in wonderland, and truly wondered why it was doing so well, I rate it high on the disappointment ratings. Cute effects and wardrobes but this movie is seriously lacking a story.

 

On Friday we saw the blind side, which I liked a lot, especially since the football part was minor. A very interesting story- too bad the guy signed with the ravens, as a lifelong (2 years) Cleveland browns fan, I hate the ravens from my very core (which means mildly since I moved here and was told that I should ate them) . then we went for ice cream

 

I passed my 2 years in the sates and I should write my 2^nd annual summary.

 

During my stay 2 German students came for a student exchange program from a twin city of Ra’anana in Germany, called Dramche and kicked me out of my bed room to another room , so they would be more comfortable, they tour the country for 2 weeks and its interesting to hear how they feel when they visit yad vashem and other locations.

On Friday night (before the movie) we went with them to Avazy for a fairwell dinner of salads (for them) humous for me and pargiot for everyone, they have good humus there so I approve…

 

Saturday, I visited my grandma and then Amit and Shai came over and we watched the princess bride for the 12^th time, my sister came over to say by and soon I was on my way to the airport, early and picked up fresh Burekas for alla and caught an uneventful flight (Which is an event of its own)

 

That is basically the visit

I must have forgot some things, will see in the next few days and I still did not post all the photos

 

So here there are

Un censored and unedited

http://picasaweb.google.com/gil.even/20100322Sabawell#   the wedding hall

http://picasaweb.google.com/gil.even/20100320Gdera# the gdera trip

http://picasaweb.google.com/gil.even/20100320Gdera# st patricks day evening

noomi’s wedding http://picasaweb.google.com/gil.even/20100321NoomisWedding#

river Jordan with all the flowers http://picasaweb.google.com/gil.even/20100316RiverJordan#

1^st trip- with all the flowers as well

http://picasaweb.google.com/gil.even/03122010IsraelTrip#

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

old and wize

After the flight delay I landed in sunny Tel Aviv, and went home for the traditional home coming feast with all the family. Friends came over that night, in something that becomes a tradition as well. We (they) drink bear and we update each other on recent events.

I don’t recall if it was the 1^st or 2^nd night but we have seen Shutter island, with dicaprio, a recommended movie- he picks the good movies and this gets an 8.8 on the shutter scale. The Oscars, playing that very evening, select the hurt locker – for which I would give an average 6.3 at best, luckily I didn’t pay to see it or it would indeed hurt.

days came and went fast with a lot of work.

On night 2, we went to see Allan parsons project. They have 2 songs which are on my all time favorites songs, and the rest, I almost know nothing.

I was jet legged and had a hard time keeping myself awake, but the unknown music was good. I left in the middle to refresh my self with some supper and was shocked by the prices. 20 for a ziva? 20 for a hot dog? For this sum you can buy the whole dog. Ended up paying 12 for a pretzel.

I was worried they might not play my songs,(see blog history for painful details) but Allan came through and sang both songs and I sang as loud as I could, it was a blast.

We bought some bagels later (4 for 10 after the show…. Same bagels) and crashed to sleep.

Wednesday was squash day and I defeated my foe who limped home from a pulled muscle, 2 more 2^nd and I would be the one limping, my muscles were warning me by then…stop……sttttttttttttttttttttttoooop. But I don’t listen. Great sport but very intense. Followed by Manchester Milan game. The thing I miss in the US are family, friends and watching soccer- on this trip I got a high dose of all 3.

Manchester winning is always good.

Next day ended with real Madrid losing and going home (J) and me losing to my would be wedding driver in Xbox.

I watched maccabi surprising real Madrid (same team different sport ) in Madrid, but stayed home again.

On Friday we went on a trip with the great celeb guide sefi ben yosef.

This dude is a well known guide, probably the only known guide, but now he is notorious.

The path was suppose to be 27k on the Israel route, he changed it to 10k without informing anyone. Instead of an interesting path, he took us for a 2 k lovely walk in kisalon vady and the rest on a boring path way.

Since he had the whole day, he took sooooooooooooo many stops, way way too much and annoyed everyone and wouldn’t listen when we complained and became more of an a$$ hole. In the end at tel kisalon ( a lovely place) he told us (a group of 25-30 people) that the trip ends, and now we can chose to go back on the path to  the bus, or climb the Tel (over the hill) and meet the bus on the other side.

I was so bored by now that I jumped on the option to explore, some people went up and got stuck on the many bushes and thorns. I saw they were stuck and found some small path which is likely an animal path and went up alone.

Since this is an official tour- the guide should not let people roam, or suggest that the group splits, but I didn’t care and went on ward.

There is nothing to see on the top of the hill, but there is stuff to feel.

Thorns, thorns and some more thorns and I was in shorts.

The other side of the hill was steep and not simple to get down from.

Mean while the famous guide promised my mom (who was there) that the everyone is in the group, she was worried and didn’t see me, but in this trips there is distance between the 1^st and last, but the cocky guide was sure, she was not.

Back on top I was looking for ways to descend down a cliff and walked along side it for a while till I found a path down. At some point they called.

The people who couldn’t pass the bushes joined them ain group and they went on some path together and couldn’t get through (thanx to the guidance of sefi) and they doubled back. Mean while I made it to the other side and reach a road. I was slightly to the south of where I used to be causing a walk for an extra k up the steep road till I met the group.

Then we waited for the bus for 30 minutes and more people complained on the guide, and I was stretching my muscles.

Just so we are clear- I didn’t get lost- this is for the record. I chose to roam alone out of pure boredom.

I don’t recall what I did that Friday evening, but I woke up late and we had lunch at my grandma with all the yummy food then focused on world domination.

Few hours of civilization- in which I am complaining as always, shai not deciding as always, and the other shai cheating (by mistake he says… need to watch closely next time), any who after 4 hours (we had a stop time scheduled) and few surprising plays, the great herman civilization was annihilated, and the clash of the even clans ended with my triumph (unfortunate this is not the way these games turn out in general), I usually finish 2^nd, but lets enjoy the momentarily glory. Friends came by later for more Xbox and lovely conversation.

And the 1^st week was over

 

Good night from shwarma filled Israel..

 

p.s did I mention I had shwarma almost every single day!!!

 

 

 

 

 

on the color Green, balloons and alien abduction

On a fab Feb 18, we had the green card interview and were expected to wait a month to get it.

The service we got from the USCIS was impressive. This is a government service, not usually known by quality service. However, we kept getting email notification on every little step on the way. The approval is sent, approval card is being printed, and card is on its way.

 

My driver’s license expired recently and I was unable to renew it, because of my residence status change, (they cannot renew after the i-94 date) and I cannot get an I-94 until I finish the process. So for a month I drove with my Israel driver’s license. And after getting my work authorization card, I went with that to renew it. Of course having to pay a late fee, but I could only renew it until the date of my work authorization expiration (one year) then I have to rerenew. Guess what was waiting for me when I got home. I was certain that I will have the card waiting for me; it must be this way, since I just paid without it. We come home and I am saying we need to check mail, and Yes, the green card authorization (not the card, but the approval); so I could have renewed it for 2 years (and save the renew fee next year) is sitting there in the mailbox.

 

Yesterday while the mail dude was in the room and I was waiting for a cab, I was certain that the card is there, why, because I cannot access the room, it must be there. And yes, when I got home all upset from the flight cancelation, the green reward was waiting… and although the front of the card is white, the back has some green on it with the Permanent residence status, and now I do not need my work authorization or all the other supporting documents.

Oh, did I mention that the new Ohio driver’s license is pink, my student ID is pink too, are they telling me something that I am missing?

 

On a completely other subject. I have been listening to a new collections, which I mysteriously have for some years without realizing. One of the songs was barba-aba series opening song (for non-Israelis, this is a 70s cartoon- the characters look like odd balloons, I do not know the original series name, it’s not an Israeli show)). So any who;  in the first verse, Barbaded is walking alone, and he is rejected and laughed at by all , then the chorus saying barbaDad is great and everyone loves him.

I can’t reconcile this difference, what is the nature of this change? Did he win the lottery? Did he invent something, bribe everyone; they don’t say.

The song goes on, BarbaDad walks and meets BarbaMom, these were their names before they got married (talk about parents hint hint) and in the wedding all the birds are singing for BOTH of them, “BarbaDad is great barbaDad, everyone loves you ”. Again, if they are singing to both of them, why isn’t barbamom mentioned in the chorus? Is this like the bible where woman are almost never mentioned, they still don’t say what makes barbadad great. This song is well known by a popular 70-80 kid’s song singer, how has no one outraged about it before. The last verse described their kids, who sit in the house and sing- again, barbaDed is great, barbaDed we all love you. This makes some sense, not in a nice way, these balloon kids prefer their dad (it can happen!!, he might take them orienteering or something), but it still does not say why is he great.

What should I now? Should I be looking for the author to get explanation, or just see the show (I recall the songs well, but nothing on the show itself)? Is this why some people fear balloon animals?

Wow, not even I knew I was so outraged by big balloons… on the plane now, somewhere over Spain.  Is this a new route? NY to Tel Aviv flights usually goes over England and France, not Spain. Not that this is important in seat C- middle isle, I cannot see out the window. I would have like to see Portugal, having never been there. The flight was only 51 minutes late, practically on time.

 

Last few months I started having an annoying pain in my hip. It started minor, and I noticed I was starting to develop a limp. I attributed this to my calf injury from last year, but still the pain grew and became irritating, until it became permanent and I decided to have it checked.

It is strange to fill out these medical forms, since I am in a state of great health. I do not get seriously sick, my organs are great (knock 3 times on seat D), but I keep injuring my limbs. The trainee orthopedic comes and tries a few inquisition type moves on my left hip, compares them to the right, and finds a particularly painful location, then the actual doc I came to see repeats these moves and they pretty much figure it out. A labarum tare.

A tare in the layer between cartilage and bone in the hip. Never heard about this layer before. They say it is common for ballerinas and soccer players. I have played soccer, but not a soccer player (occurs from many lift of the knee) so I guess I fall under the ballerina category.

We think we found out what I am doing wrong; I usually sit with my left leg on the side and the knee bent, kind of like sitting on my ankle, with the legs to the side, not underneath, this over time caused damage.

But the docs weren’t 100% sure so they had me do an MRI.

I GoogleMap the place, and see the location and drive up there, only to find no such place. I was asked to come a bit earlier and I am circling the area and no MRI center, I call to check and its on this same road, but on the other side of the high way (if you can’t trust Google, who can you trust?) so I arrive late ( I must say this is not a theme, I am very much an on time person, I try to be there on time, not late or early, it doesn’t always work but usually does) and the machine is booked, so I return the next day for a new appointment. Lucky there is no late fee here.

Next day comes and I am wearing a lovely gown by Calvin notClean, and laying on a bad. There are 4 people doing the procedure. 1 nurse, 1 another nurse, a doc in training and a supervising doc. These are all guys who come to see me naked (since it’s a hip MRI, nearby areas are exposed. One of the nurses is a new guy. They actually introduce themselves in the room, they have never met before, this guy is a transferee. I don’t mind being experimented by new guys, but this is too new. He just came in, no one knows his names, is he really a nurse, I want to see credentials. He seems competent, but what do I know about MRIs?. The actual procedure is done by a radiologist, the young doc; now I do what to know what is his experience since I am to get a shot right in the hip (next to the hip bone) to inject dye. But I don’t ask. They numb me with Lidocaine, then inject steroids and dye. This is very painful for nano seconds then it’s all over.  I am now waiting for the dye to spread and the numbing spreads down the thigh. 30 minutes later the MRI alien abduction begins. If you have done this before , then you know how this feels. You sit on a bed and placed in to this tube like machine. It hums, and make machine gun sounds, then stops and makes different sounds in different patterns. The techs have me listen to 80s music, and I do while lightly napping. After 20 minutes or so this alien probing process ends. The MRI confirms that it is a labarum tare. Unfortunately not much to do, the steroids resolve the pain almost that very night, and now a few days later , I am completely pain free, which is great, but this is a patch, it will return in 3-6 months, unless a miracle happens. I will have a minor surgery, to take out a part of this layer (which is pinched by the bone) and a mild layer of the bone. So kids , remember, sit up straight!

 

Passed by the Cleveland airport today and the restroom sign is interesting. It repeats in several languages. “Men” something in Arabic, something in Chinese, “Bano” (not sure which language is that), and then toilette. I guess in another language men are compared to toilettes…

 

Well nothing more to report today, about 3.5 hours away, Ibiza perhaps.

 

chers

 

 

 

 

 

how to be 10 minutes from the airpot 3.5 hours before the flight and still miss it.

12:30 pm yesterday, I am meeting my Alla in Garfield heights, the location of her 5^th pharmacy rotation, we say goodbye briefly, since this is a difficult rotation and now I am 10 minutes away from the airport, but it is too soon, I don’t want to wait at the airport, hate waiting.

So I go home and since everything is packed , I leave it that way and start to watch fame, The movie.

A colleague passes by on the high way next to my house , but it’s too early and I decline a ride.

I try to get a ride from someone else, but it’s too much out of their way (many people in the office this week , so I thought I’d have options). Usually I would just leave my car at the airport but this is a long trip, and would cost too much.

So I call a cab ask for 3 pm, they say they can’t so 3:15 it is, by this time the movie ends, and I already forgot about it (this movie is not going to leave forever).

The time for the cab comes and I go down to the lobby to wait. Our mailroom door is closed (this means the mail person is there) and I am now convinced that the green card is there waiting for me, but I cannot enter (the mail person is there, and it’s a federal offense to enter).

So I am asking loudly (in my head) for the mail dude to complete and for the cab to arrive. Nothing happens. I call the cab, and he is “on its way”. I am beginning to get nervous, since I don’t usually take cabs, and I see that if the cab will be late more, I will be late, but I hear that they are close and chose to wait (bad decision). The mail dudette is taking her time. I try to save precious seconds and go and wait on the curve. I call again, and the receptionist calls the cab guy who assures me that he is close. Finally at 3:35 the cab guy gets in (the mail person is still in the room- this is a big apartment building, so it’s a long process). The cab guy sounds relaxed, and I am already nervous.

He heads out and I am clearly nervous, and the guy (this is an airport shuttle service) tells me that I shouldn’t be worried , that the delta luggage cut of time is “like 5 minutes”. At this point I realized too late that the guy is clueless. No point in getting angry at him, he is dumb. 5 minutes… I tell him it’s 30 at the very best. 3:35 is not yet rush hour, but there is traffic. By flight is at 4:28, so I think that getting in by 3:58 and I might make it.

The minutes go by quickly, and he keeps reassuring me that I should not be nervous, that I should take a breath. All I want to do is take a stick, bash his head, take over the car and drive faster, but I subside my murderous rage and keep quiet. 3:58 passes by as we pull in to the airport. And 4:00 hits as I pull in to the curve. The guy suggests is use the faster curve side check in, and doesn’t see that the booth is empty. I rush to the delta counter and ……

Arrive too late.

The delta guy suggests that I let go of the luggage, while he looks for an alternative. There isn’t.

Another flight to Atlanta is over sold by 4 people..

With no other flights and flight time rapidly approaches, I say I will take a carryon of some stuff and leave the bag behind. I start unpacking right there at the counter. Then they say that they cannot do that (what they suggested just a few minutes earlier), I can’t even leave it on the side , and I cannot board.

Anxiety hits record high levels, since I have never missed a flight (I had them cancelled, over booked, late luggage, delayed, rerouted, but never missed).

The plane flew away and I remained on the ground. Air Alla came to pick me up. We didn’t give up and drove to Akron, the closest airport, in an attempt to fly to Atlanta from there. There was a flight from there to Atlanta, which was oversold, but I could use another airline, only if they would reroute my ticket. All the way I am on the phone with our travel agents and delta.

 

Btw , I am now at the airport its 3:59 (already checked in ) and getting this update from the delta.

Apparently JFK has road work, and they have only one landing strip, so the NY-CLE flight is delayed and this flight will leave an hour and plus late… great, did I mention how much  I like waiting?

So I go to the counter, and verify, and get this, they knew JFK has problems, they had the same thing yesterday. My flight yesterday left 1 hour and 42 minutes late!!!!!!!. Which means they had plenty of time to get me and my luggage on the plain and have a ton of time to spare.

This is so frustrating.

 

So I left for Akron yesterday with air Alla. The travel agents says this was a special price so they cannot switch, refund, reroute, return and other recrap so I am basically rescrewed; this took an hour on the line with them. Delta was not much better. I cannot reroute, to Atlanta, even if I have a flight there and can make it.

What the hell is not re-routable. I guess its in the fine print, but when you book flight , you never notice this crap (refundable yes, re routable, hek no).

We make it to Akron and find the delta flight from there is oversold (just by 1 from here), but I cannot switch the flight…. Oooooooooooooooofff. We check other ways of getting to Israel, nothing cheap, in the end I have to reissue my ticket (there is a reissue fee of course) and change my ticket (a change fee , what else) and this is a higher rate on this flight (this is becoming too much bullshit for me fee). All ends with 520$ extra… by this time my nerves are shut, I realized I am beat by the system and move the flight up.

Ohh- in the reissue – they move the flight from Akron, back to Cleveland, somehow my origin changed to Akron (so they managed to reroute and unreRoutable system). While all this happened. The flight was sitting here at Cleveland and waiting.

 

So we drove away from Akron and had a nice dinner a P.F. chang’s with yummy banana + ice cream desert and went home where something shiny was waiting for me.

This is a pissed off blog, I hope I don’t have to many of those

I have many more update to make, will do them in another blog---keep the frustration with this one…btw its 4:21 and at this time, I am still expected to make the NY connection…. But I have no luck with Delta the “never leave the airport” airline.

p.s sorry Cindy, have a pleasant flight back home