Kitties Had a Bit of Adjusting to do After the Move

Slappy has lived in at least six different places over the last year. Diego has lived in five, and he also drove cross-country twice. They are becoming veterans at this moving thing.

It just takes them some time...

View From New Place (and Old)

Panoramic view from our balcony

To make a panoramic shot, things end up appearing much further away than they actually are. Still, it's pretty nice.

Here's the old place...I actually really liked looking out at the Opera House (especially when they had events in the courtyard) and looking at the Azrieli Complex (the tall, gray buildings in the video). This was taken on my third day here.

Exciting Developments on the Housing Front...

The 3-month housing saga might be over. I think there's a place for me at the Lev Ha'ir -- "Heart of the City" -- housing complex.

Stay tuned...for early February (when the new place will be ready) ...

:)

"Fixed"

Our internet has been pretty spotty and slow and we were advised to switch from ADSL to cable...so, the technicians were supposed to come over today. Kudos to the company for texting a reminder yesterday, for calling to let me know of their impending arrival, and for them actually arriving on time.

The guys came in and did an "85% installation." They got it done, and got most things done well...there were just those little parts that weren't quite right. For example, when the were ready to install the coaxial cable, the were going to run it straight from the outlet (about 3 feet off the ground) into the modem. The would have had the wire basically hanging in mid-air, cutting off part of the room. I asked them instead to tack it to the wall, which they agreed to. Another example of why this install was typically Israeli was when one of the techs went to his truck to get the additional wire they needed, he got 3 feet instead of the 6 that were needed, so they had to splice two short pieces together. Not sure why he couldn't just get one piece that was the right size. And, finally, when he finished and had checked the specs, I asked if it was all good. He said, "it's fixed." I asked, "it's working well, or it's fixed?" He repeated that it was fixed, and then said that in Israel this was like 100% perfect. His colleague interpreted for me by saying, "eh, it's pretty good." So, in short...he was admitting that it was just ok. Great.

I will say, though, that it did mark an improvement...I don't think it was a coincidence that once the internet was working (fast!), we saw this outside the window:

Doin' the (Bureaucratic) Shuffle

So, this is day 40-something and I'm still in my temporary quarters without any clarity on where I will end up (if not here).

It's funny when dealing with bureaucracies -- it's like there's a pattern. The first answer is no. You press a little bit and you get to step two, which is a complete unwillingness to act, but an extreme willingness to "look into it." If you're persistent enough, you get move on to stage three, where you face active opposition. If you haven't already lined up some allies by this point, you can pretty much call it a day; you're screwgied. If you have done your prep well, you get to stage four, when your allies step up on your behalf, the reflexive "no's" of the bureaucrats disappear, and an actual deliberative process begins. I believe I'm in stage four right now, hopeful that I'll get a positive answer next week. 
I'm still in the step-child office, but that's the next battle.

On a more positive note, my car is here in Israel and it had its own appointment at the local DMV today. I could have it as soon as Friday!

My household effects -- all my stuff, basically -- is also here in Israel. I might have that as early as next week. Not sure where we're gonna put it until the major issue of my housing is cleared up.

Screwgie

A bit of ridiculous passive aggressiveness at work today. I've been here in my temp housing for almost a month and I like it here. It's got a mix of good and bad, but I definitely want to stay. Getting approval to stay hasn't been very easy. There have been some hoops to jump through and a bureaucracy to prod, but I had no idea that, even when prodded, the bureaucracy has ways of fighting back. I witnessed the bureaucracy complying with my request but managing to completely undermine the end goal. I had asked for a waiver to stay in my apartment, but Washington needs to approve. Getting someone to send the cable seemed like a struggle, but I was glad when I found that it went out; that is, until I read it. The "good justification" they were going to give to convince Washington to approve the waiver was: "he likes the apartment very much." That's them trying to give me the kiss of death -- portray an officer as being a spoiled brat and their like-minded bureaucrat in DC will give the ix-nay on the waiver. It didn't help also that this particular section reminded Washington that Washington had decided to ditch this particular apartment anyway.

Really, organizations can be quite passive-aggressive, too.

Lost in Translation

English is pretty abundant here, on signs and menus and with the exception of grocery stores, it hasn't been difficult to find people who speak English really well. Product labeling in stores has been the source of some confusion, causing me to almost purchase fabric softener instead of laundry detergent and fooling me into buying water softener salt instead of dish detergent. Perhaps because of the large number of English speakers here there are fewer translation mishaps than you'd see in, say, Japan, but there is still plenty of material to bring a smile to a native English speaker's face.

Take the aforementioned laundry detergent....

Not sure who thought it was a good idea to name the stuff 'Colon 101'. I tried to squint my eyes to see if it were some fancy font of Hebrew meant to be read "backwards" but it really can't be. I can only hope that "colon" means "clean" to Israelis.

I kept wondering why the dishes weren't getting clean and why the "detergent" crystals were so large and difficult to put in the soap tray. Here is the box of stuff that turned out to be water softening salt "Recommended" by several leading dishwasher companies. I can read the word "chadash" in the yellow banner which means new and I can now read the word "melach" in the red banner beneath the 'finish' logo which means salt. In any case, this company has devised a great scheme to get you to buy detergent, rinse aid, and now water softener as well. Good times. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing if the dishwasher actually does work if you put actual soap in it.
There are a few restaurant names worth mentioning as well. Buzz Stop for one, which is a bar. I guess the proprietor wants to stop there if you want a buzz rather than that place stops/kills your buzz which is how it sounds to me. Never been there myself so I can't comment on the effect of the place. And "Alcohol on the Beach." Nothing wrong with this name, per se, but perhaps a little softening around the edges might help.

Buzz Stop, as you can see, is especially awesome because it clearly targets a certain nationality. As if the flag weren't enough, there is Lady Liberty in all her glory.
Incidentally, it says "Buzz Stop" transliterated into Hebrew lettering as well.

Living Quarters...

Housing is always a crapshoot. You can game it only so much because you are dealing with so many variables (commute to work, neighborhood, building amenities, size of apartment) that you can never get everything you want. Add to that the fact that there are limited housing opportunities because most housing is occupied already, and you really get slim pickings.I had thought about living near the embassy and beach, which would have been a great commute (2 minutes), but a friend pointed out how it would be better to live in a neighborhood separate from work. It would be easy to tire of local establishments if work/apartment were in the same 'hood. So, I requested to live near Rabin Square, which is about 20 minutes walking from the embassy, but is in a neat neighborhood with lots of cafes, restaurants, and other entertainment. I was given housing in the area, but I first have to be in temporary quarters.

When I arrived at my building, I was a little underwhelmed. It didn't seem very fancy and felt a little rundown. I did, however, note the huge pool on the way to the elevator. Anyhow, when I stepped into the actual apartment, my first thought was that it was drab, not updated, and had cruddy furniture. As the days have gone on, though, and as I have realized that the other apartment I'm slated for might be tiny, I'm beginning to like this place. It's a decent size--largish master bedroom with bath, a small second bedroom, and a third room that would serve as an office, but could house visitors, too. The apartment has a good-sized balcony, on which I am sitting right now while looking at a performance at the opera house just across the way. The neighborhood is nice; the opera is across the way, there's a park right next door, and stores and cafes are a 5 minute walk from here.

So, all in all, it's not bad here...some slip covers for the couches, replacing the fluorescents with regular lighting, and adding some color/art to the walls...and I'll feel at home. That is...if we can get the landlord here to be reasonable on rent, b/c that's all that stands in the way of me keeping this place. :(Let me know what you think of the pad... (see more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/twoyearsinisrael/2008OctMyFirstApartmentInIsrael)

So, where do I stand now?

Housing -- angling to stay in the current place, but unclear whether or not that will be possible; will have to talk to housing this week and hope that they can renegotiate with the landlord to get a reasonable lease rate. I've otherwise emptied my luggage and sorta set up shop.

Transportation -- I scored myself a temporary bicycle, thanks to a colleague and her boyfriend. It's broken and requries some trickery to ride, but it's better than nothing.

Communication -- I can no longer "borrow" a neighbor's wi-fi, though, so I'm a little out of the loop. I am trying to identify good cafes to work from. I still am awaiting my blackberry at work, which I probably will curse for desiring once I'm reachable 24/7. I am very happy with Rebtel's phone service, which has allowed me to talk for many minutes, while paying only pennies. Once I get it down to a science, it should be nearly free.

Catherine -- She heads out here this week. I have to work on some fun plans...and some job strategery.

Plus a whole long list of other, mostly work-related, stuff. :(

Long road to get here...

I arrived here in Tel Aviv on 15 October to begin my two year tour as a political officer at the embassy. It's amazing that I am here, as these last seven months or so were quite intense. I had a house that I needed to fix up to prep for rental, my father fell ill and passed away, and I dealt with the administrative, logistical and other crunches to prepare for my departure. I'm here now.

I had shipped off all of my belongings on 1 and 2 October and then sent my car off to the port on the day I left. It was an odd feeling, but my months of living out of a suitcase during the runup to my departure made it easier to digest. On the 14th, I said my goodbye to Catherine following a nice lunch (mmm, bison burger!) and then grabbed all my bags and toted Slappy down to the cab. She had no idea how much her life would be turned upside down.

The flight was rather smooth, though my feet really had nowhere to rest with Slappy taking up all the space below the seat in front of me. I got to watch the Chronicles of Narnia sequel and a bit of the latest Indiana Jones (were all of them that bad?). I also got to watch the Israelis on board mill about constantly; hard to keep them in their seats. The highlight of the whole trip, though, had to be the looks and comments Slappy got when I had to take her out of her carrier and walk her through the metal detector. Needless to say, people have not learned to never comment on a gal's weight (they loved her, though!).

On arrival in Tel Aviv, I was met by an expeditor from the embassy. It's one of the pleasures of flying as a diplomat...someone else scoots you very quickly through all the lines upon arrival. Things were going smoothly until we were waiting at the luggage carousel for far too long and learned that my luggage was...."delayed."  We filled out the paperwork while a lady with two dogs let them urinate on the tile floors. Great!

I headed back to the apartment that I will be staying in at least temporarily, and then my sponsor took me out to a grocery store so that I could get cat food and litter. After a little snack and unpacking my welcome kit of necessities the embassy provides, I went to sleep. What a long day and a half.