Real Life

Since the holidays ended in late October life has reverted to normal (such as it is) and we are now absorbed in day-to-day activities, although we still find time for special excursions to places of interest.

Weather

Through late October we could still go to the beach and swim, although the temperature had moderated from the brutally hot August. The photo below is from a camping trip we took during the week of Succot, in mid-October.

Then one morning it rained, a short, intense downpour, literally the first raindrops we had seen since leaving New York almost three months earlier. After that, it was as if someone threw a switch -- suddenly we went from shorts and flip flops to jeans and sneakers.

Still, the weather is very pleasant. Over the last month about 80% of the days have been sunny and warm (T-shirts or polo shirts are fine during the day), with cooler nights and early mornings (sweatshirts). The other 20% have periods of overcast, or less commonly, rain. But even then it usually doesn't last the whole day. People still go to the beach to enjoy the sun and play in the sand. Only the most adventurous go in the water, but I imagine that even now the water temperature is similar to what you'd find at Martha's Vineyard in August.

Basketball

Ben's basketball team is very intense, both in terms of time commitment and approach to the game. There are two required practices per week and one optional fitness practice. Games are every Tuesday evening. The team travels together by bus to away games to build "chevra" (team spirit) and discuss strategy.



There are professional coaches in this league. Ben's coach, Eran, is soft spoken but very serious about basketball, running intense and creative practices that teach skills. Ben doesn't know much Hebrew so he learns mostly by watching, but Eran explains the important stuff in English.

However Ben is gradually learning basketball Hebrew. For example, the Hebrew word for jumpshot is "jumpshot." The Hebrew word for pick and roll is "pick and roll." When the other team has the ball, we chant "Defense! Haganah!". ("Haganah" means defense in Hebrew).

The practices and games have been surprisingly sportsmanlike and decorous -- surprising because in many other spheres this country is rough-and-tumble (see "Driving" below). I have not seen any inappropriate behavior whatsoever by players, coaches or parents.

Driving

The anarchy on the roads that I remember from 1979-80 has been only partially tamed. Back then, it was acceptable to pass slower moving vehicles on two-lane roads even when there was oncoming traffic. You just flashed your headlights and forced the other guy onto the shoulder to avoid a head-on collision.

Today, you can enjoy long stretches of normal driving that lull you into a false sense of security. But driving in Israel still is not for the faint of heart.

There are two problems -- the drivers and the roads. While the silent majority of drivers are decent, the crazies are much more prevalent than at home. On the highways, one sees plenty of dangerous speeding, passing and tailgaiting.

In towns, these tendencies become even more problematic because of the narrow roads and shorter distances between cars. Small rotaries are very common at intersections in the towns, and since the car in the rotary has the right of way, everyone tries to get there first. The result is often four cars hurtling toward each other in a multi-lateral game of chicken.

Also, anything goes when it comes to parking -- cars are parked anywhere and everywhere, backwards, forwards, sideways, on sidewalks, in front of driveways, without any regard to whether other cars can get past. It's as if people are so fed up with the driving that once they arrive in the general vicinity of their destination they just stop their cars and get out. This makes it hard for other cars to get by, leading to a vicious circle of frustration, impatience and more aggressive driving.

We have already been hit twice in minor fender benders.

It is taken for granted that Israel has an unusually high number of fatal accidents. However, based on some research I did today, maybe the situation is not so bad. According to today's Ha'aretz, in the first 10 months of this year there were 371 deaths from traffic accidents, an annualized rate of 445. This sounds like a lot, until I checked and found that last year Massachusetts (with a population about equal to Israel's) had 462. Then again, considering my father-in-law's driving, maybe Massachusetts has more in common with Israel than I realized.

Lice

The Hebrew word for lice is "kinim." Readers familiar with the Passover seder may recognize this word as the third of the ten plagues.

In mid-October our Israeli friend Nomi noticed Erin itching her head insistently, and we found that she had lice. We felt awful -- not being attuned to the symptoms, we wondered how long Erin had been suffering without our noticing. Also, we made this discovery on the first day of a three-day camping trip, and the whole family would be sharing a tent for the next two nights. (Fortunately no one else caught it.)

We have since learned that lice outbreaks are common in Israeli elementary schools -- the result of the warm climate, large class sizes, and a more casual attitude to the issue. Here it's just considered one of life's occasional inconveniences. If you have a girl with thick, blondish hair like Erin's, you just have to stay vigilant.

Now, it's a month later and the problem is gone. It took two special shampoos, twice a day grooming sessions with a fine-tooth comb, and two haircuts -- one a do-it-yourself butcher job by Ellen, and later a proper cut at a hair stylist. In the interim Ellen and I have become experts on the biology of the louse. Did you know that the animal itself can only survive for a day away from a host, but the eggs can last for up to 7 days? We can tell the difference between nymphal lice and adults, and have become very adept at detecting and removing them. In the process, our initial revulsion has turned into resignation and even admiration for the little buggers' survival skills. I just think of them as mosquitos that live in your hair. We'll be glad to provide free consultations to friends and neighbors upon our return to New York.

The photo shows Erin after the first haircut. Now her hair is shorter still.

Adventures in Hebrew, Continued

We have discovered Erin's secret to making friends without a common language. Whenever her classmates speak to her in Hebrew, she just smiles at them and says "ken" (yes in Hebrew). They're only five years old, what do they know -- they think she understands them. And on some level she does. She has a gift for non-verbal communication that enables her to make friends and have successful play dates.

Thomas is much more focused on actually understanding, and he knows more words than Erin. But he doesn't have Erin's social skills and is more frustrated living with Hebrew. A couple of weeks ago we asked Thomas if he wanted visitors from America to bring anything from home. He said he wanted them to bring a "regular TV that has shows in English." Erin, by contrast, can sit in front of a cartoon in Hebrew without any problem.

Erin always signs her kindergarten artwork with her name spelled in Hebrew, which she learned how to write on the first day at the "gan." Thomas always signs it in English, although on a few occasions he has written the letters of his name from right to left -- "SAMOHT." Ugh. This is going to take a while to sort out.

We're still wondering if the Hebrew switch will turn on for them at some point as it usually does for children their age, or whether the twin phenomenon will get in the way of their learning.

I'm still taking Hebrew class two mornings per week and studying outside class. I have learned a lot since we arrived, but I doubt I will reach the level I was hoping for by the end of the year. The problem is that I am not forced to use Hebrew enough in conversation. Conversing in Hebrew takes so much energy and patience that bailing out into English is too attractive an option if it is available.

Ellen is also taking a class two-mornings per week. She has made huge strides. For one thing she rarely if ever speaks Spanish anymore when trying to speak Hebrew. Also her pronunciation and vocabulary have improved significantly. However, Ben still forbids Ellen to utter a single word in Hebrew when they are together in public for fear of what might come out.

Ben lives in the bubble world of the International School, and therefore has less interaction with Hebrew than the rest of us. Nevertheless, he hears Hebrew at basketball and studies it as a second language in school. From this, he has picked up many words and phrases and is surprisingly willing to play with it.

Tali Fahima

Our closest brush with Palestinian nationalism comes via our (Jewish) cleaning woman, Sarah Fahima, whose daughter Tali is currently in jail, accused of aiding and abetting a senior member of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin. Tali's case is well-known throughout Israel and many believe that the Shin Bet security service is holding her on trumped-up charges because she publicly stated she would serve as a "human shield" for this guy if Israel tried to assassinate him.

Sarah was born in Algeria and came to Israel with her family as a young girl to esape persecution after the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. Until two years ago she was an anonymous, hard-working cleaning woman. Now she is politically active. Recently Sarah spent a week in Europe, on a trip arranged by a European human rights organization, to raise funds for Tali's defense. She spoke at the French and European parliaments.

I have very interesting conversations with Sarah when we sit down together during her coffee breaks.

Here is Tali's web site: http://www.freetalifahima.org/eng.php?lang=en

Visitor Update

Our babysitter from New York, Ericka Anguiano, spent the first week of November visiting with us. It was wonderful to see her, and it also gave me and Ellen the opportunity to do some Christian sightseeing. We spent part of a day in Nazareth with Ericka and visited the Church of the Annunciation. The photo below is at an archeological site called Tel Dor on the Mediterranean coast, about 45 minutes north of Herzliya.