Spring Time in Israel Pictures

It is most certainly Spring here! And IsraeliDad prepared himself with a sharp and very short crew cut. Good thing Ron was around and up for the task!


He absolutely loved cutting his dad's hair, as you can see. And don't worry, we did, ummm, fix the results a bit later.


Our backyard is all green these days. Lots of sunny days to enjoy it too and it's definitely not too hot yet. You actually do need a long-sleeve sweater most days to enjoy the outdoors. The lawn bounced back from the frostbite and Dan is enjoying it right here -



And this is what it looks like beyond the lawn. All green, the oak trees blooming and spring is all around! Not a well groomed backyard, and that is an understatement, but for myself, I like the natural look.


All over Israel, everything is in bloom and looking absolutely fabulous. We try to make the most of each sunny day and get out with the kids. Here are some pics from yesterday, when we had a nice picnic and a walk in a small forest near Megido (the Biblical Armageddon).



Ron sure was enjoying himself!












Back home... tired and happy!

America, Here We Come!

Hey, what do you know, two posts in one week! Is IsraeliMom coming out of her winter hibernation period? Only time will tell ;)

All is well here, working away on projects and taking care of family matters. My father went through a heart procedure yesterday and had 3 arteries unblocked by the doctors. They said he was very close to a heart attack. We are so grateful for our wonderful public health system. He was treated by the best professor in the country, his appointment was scheduled withing days of the initial checkup, and it was all for free and covered by the national health insurance program!

The other latest exciting news is that we have ourselves a VISA to the US! We've been in touch with an American company for the past several weeks over some business matters. Since the option of us traveling was raised, we figured it was time to get a VISA. Getting a traveler's VISA to the US isn't that easy anymore. We started the process two months ago and paid a total of over $200 per person for it. Here's what our morning looked like yesterday -

We arrived in Tel Aviv early in the morning, since we had an appointment scheduled in the embassy for an interview at 10 am. We had to get ID picture ready first. That is not as simple as you may think, since the US embassy requires 5cm by 5cm pictures that are not the standard size here in Israel. There are other rules to the pictures too. The white background, I can see why. The fact that they want you to have your ears showing in the picture was a bit baffling, but the most surprising thing for me was that you're not allowed to smile for the picture... I guess they like serious people only in America?

With pictures in hand, receipts for the money we paid and pre-filled forms, we arrived at the embassy on time. The forms are fascinating in their own right. They actually ask you directly if you happen to be a terrorist and intend to carry our terror activities in the US. Well, fortunately, we're not terrorist and don't intend to blow up America, so that part was easy enough.

So, at the embassy we arrived, awaiting our interview with the consul, imagining some nice fancy office where we would be seated promptly, perhaps offered some refreshments even, and chat with the consul about our lives. As per the recommendations on the embassy's website, we brought papers and documents about our lives and our business. It sounded like the USA was taking a genuine interest in us, which I guess can be considered flattering.

Well, welcome to the real world. On the pavement, outside the embassy's walls, we meet the first representative, a nice Israeli security guy, telling us that you're not allowed to bring anything inside. Not even your cell phone or a pen. There's a service where you can deposit your belongings (yes, another small fee goes into the American treasury - I am pretty sure I paid any outstanding debts Israel has to America yesterday). Once ready, forms in hand, we were told to stand on a queue. Outside, in the sun, no shade, on the pavement. At least it wasn't raining! You stand there waiting, and when you finally reach the head of the line, you are asked to move forward, in groups of five, to the next queue, where something weird happens - a different security guy wants to see your palms and then touches them with some piece of paper. No explanations given, and it is a rather weird procedure. I can only guess they're checking for traces of explosives? Well, anything to make the waiting time more interesting!

Finally, it's time for us to enter the gates of the embassy! We walk inside and are asked to take off any metal objects, belts, jewelry, anything and go through the metal detector. From there, no line in the middle, we move on to another room where our belongings now go through their own routine of detectors and we receive them on the other end of the machine. Finally, we're all done and go into the next gate, hoping this is finally where we get to see the consul. Wrong. We're not even within the building yet and we just moved on into another queue! A longer queue this time, and finally we're in the shade.

20 minutes later, after being entertained by yet another embassy guy explaining more about the forms and checking to see that we all have the right ones, we finally walk into the building.... right into the mega-queue... A much longer one this one, and less ordered, since people stop on the way to fix things with their forms and attach their pictures to them, but at least we're indoors and it's air conditioned.

After another half an hour or so, it's finally our turn and we go to booth number 7, where a rather impatient and rude man takes our fingerprints. He wasn't very happy with mine, for some reason or other, and I had to follow his instructions carefully and have some substance sprayed on my hands to get the fingerprints right. Well, finally, that small torture is over and, yup, we're back on another queue! A shorter one now, which brings us to a nice American lady who is there to verify that the finger prints that had been taken minutes before are really ours. No idea why this extra step, but I guess those fingerprints are very important.

Finally, we're on the last queue, this one for the much awaited interview with the consul! So much for fancy chairs and refreshments lol. The interview is held with us standing in front of yet another booth. Apparently there are several consuls and they just chain-interview applicants. Our consul lady was very nice and friendly, and our application was approved within minutes and finally, after paying yet one more small fee, we were out of there!

If you haven't fallen asleep by now, reading my lengthy description, I admire you. It was long to go through and made us think of what the Palestinians have to go through daily in their dealings with the Israeli soldiers at various bureaucratic intersections, or just making their way from one roadblock to another. Obviously, what they go through is 100 times worse. No air condition and no kind American consuls at any point. Instead, they have to face some bored and often scared kid in uniform, who hates being there, and couldn't care less about showing any manners. Honestly, if I had to go through the same, I would start an Intifada myself quickly enough. Nothing is more annoying to me than standing in lines and being treated rudely by some jerk on the other side. I can't imagine what it's like being treated like the Palestinians are, in such rough conditions and on a daily basis too. Sigh. The word humiliating only begins to describe what it must feel like.

Ok, I am straying into politics again and this post is getting way way too long as it is. Time to wrap things up and get back to work!

Spring is Here!

We've planted Paulownia trees just before winter time. They shed their leaves petty quickly, and we've had to remind people that those sticks are actually trees, so please not to break them down. I wasn't even sure if they're still alive or not, but a couple of them are beginning to show the tips of new buds! And the oak trees, oh my - some of them are covered with fresh green buds - absolutely gorgeous! And yes, I will be taking some pictures ;)

I wish the people of this region will take a deep breath and take a few minutes to look around. For me, the eternal cycle of nature is a sign of our own transience as human beings, and as peoples as well. I was thinking the other day about what it means for me to be Jewish. I am not religious, even an atheist, but I belong to the Jewish people. Being Jewish is more than a religion, it's more than an ethnic group too. Above all, for me, it's a matter of belonging to a cultural group with a joint national awareness that has existed for literally thousands of years. And still, looking at nature around me, I am reminded how thousands of years aren't really that much in the overall earth timetable. Trees and insects around me have been around for much longer, and I suspect they will be for much longer after the human race is gone. Isn't it a shame that people get so busy with killing each other that they fail to see that?

A bit of a silly post today, I know. Just a flitting thought running through my mind, having just walked inside from a glorious sunny day. Wishing peace to the people of the region.

Is it March already?

Where did the time fly? Ok, quite a lot of if was literally eaten by bugs. Seems like there's a world epidemic, judging by my online friends and acquaintances and it has hit our household too! The kids started it early February, and the past couple of weeks it was parents time, ack.

Not too many family outings to report this time, alas. We were operating on survival mode pretty much... I think we're doing better though, so looking forward to the next few weeks. It's spring time here, pretty much, and everything is absolutely beautiful, green and dotted with flowers. I promise to take lots of pictures. Hey, even our backyard looks gorgeous in the wild garden part of it!

On the national level, things aren't as good. With the rockets from Gaza moving in some more, the town of Ashkelon is now within range, so we have a few more tens of thousands of people living in fear now. This time, we have family in the line of fire, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for you, Oren and Leslie!

And yes, I'm only too aware of Israel's activities against the Palestinians, and the casualties on the other side. Can I say that to this mom, the whole situation is beyond absurd by now? People shooting at each other like crazy, for no apparent reason, as far as I can tell. Well, sure, they have a long list of reasons, mainly stating that "they started it! we're just retaliating/defending ourselves/trying to make them stop etc etc". Meanwhile, so many children on both sides have been hurt, killed or maimed, or lost their dads in this stupid war. Sigh.

Anyway, I still try not to listen to the news too much. It's become way too frustrating. I try to focus on working on my online projects, you can join me for some of them at my new forums - www.sitenurery.com so check in when you can ;)

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post here - even more than that! I really do mean to post more often, but life just takes over and other things hog up my time. Now is a good example, as I have to be outta here in 5 minutes. It's being snowing in some parts of Israel and we're taking the kids up to the Golan Heights to see some snow.

Wanted to share a few pics from our excursion from last week. It was a lovely day, despite the forecast predicting a storm ahead, so we canceled kindergarten for the day, packed up the kids and headed out.

First stop was in the Museum of the Armor Corps. Very militaristic, I know, but hey, I got two boys aged 4 and 6 here and they're going through the super heros and soldiers phase. They were thrilled, especially since we had an older boy with us who has actually driven and fired tanks like that before (he's 37 years old btw and their dad, in case anyone was wondering).

After that we went to see a very special carstic cave with stalagmites and stalactites. A very special place, one of a kind in Israe. Gotta rush out of here within seconds, so just let me throw the pics up. Enjoy!

Freezing Over Here

Sorry, can't think of a better title for today, or for this entire week. My memory was never very good, I admit, but I find it hard to recall a much colder week. I believe it's some sort of a freak weather front from Russia? that's what I heard anyway. Just very very cold air hitting the country. No rain, clear sunny sky, just cold. Our lawn was covered in frost several times already this week, and it's making it turn yellow :(

Here's a picture of our frost covered lawn. Keep in mind we're talking dry days and nights, so it's not a lot of frost but it's cold frost.



Anyway, cold as it is, we do get out and about and I have a couple of movies to share today. Edited by IsraeliDad (quickly edited, I might add, with no proofreading done on the subtitles...), the first one is a bit embarrassing...



If you're done laughing at my bovine adventures, here's a nice short clip of our visit to the edge of Israel. The Western North tip, on the border between Israel, Lebanon and the Mediterranean -

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well, those who celebrate it anyway ;)

It's a regular Monday at our household, with IsraeliDad away on reserve duties :(

We will be celebrating tomorrow, with my sister-in-law (she's English turned Israeli and still celebrates Christmas). We've been celebrating every year, pretty much, over the past few years, since I have not one but two English SIL's! My kids are well familiar with Santa and the tree by now. They don't get any presents, but they still enjoy the decorations.

Not much else happening around these parts. I've been busy with work and life, as usual. Got a new project that I'm working on, where I need to be writing lots of texts and tutorials. You can actually join me there if you like, since the site is actually a board - www.sitenursery.com

My goal with Site Nursery is to provide a place for people who are interested in web publishing to come and learn the basics in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. It's about how you can make money from web publishing, which isn't that easy anymore but can still be immensely rewarding (and I don't mean that in the strictly financial sense either). This project is aimed at total beginners, so don't be shy and join in with any questions you may have, or just browse through the tutorials I already listed.

Belated Happy Hannuka

Haven't posted for a while. It's the last day of the Hannuka holiday here and we had a busy week with the kids at home, meeting friends and family. Not complaining, all is well, and we enjoyed our social activities, but I didn't have too much computer time.

The kids had a blast lighting candles every night. Here's a picture from the candle lighting of the fourth night. You can see only 4 candles in the Menorah, along with the Shamash (the candle which we use to light the other candles with - you don't count that one, but you leave it, higher up than the others, in the Menorah). We spent the evening with friends, and Ron and Dan has a special guest too! The sweet little girl next to Ron there is my niece Sheeran who stayed over with us that weekend. Note that bawl of Hannuka donuts - wasn't a single one left by the end of the evening (I didn't even have a bite, honestly!)


The next day we took the kids to the movies, all three of them. The car ride was a bit crowded but lots of fun, as we were singing Hanuka songs along the way.


We then went to visit my brother's family, to get little Sheeran back home. I absolutely loved this picture of Ron and Sheeran's little sister, Noah. Yes, Noah is a girl's name in Hebrew (spelled and pronounced differently than the biblical Noah).


A couple of days later, IsraeliDad, Dan and myself went on a day trip with some friends. Ron stayed at home because he wasn't feeling too well (he was fine later on, no worries). We visited an organic goat farm near Jerusalem where they produce local cheeses. They have their own website, it anyone's interested: http://harharuach.com/ There's a page in English there, but unfortunately it doesn't have a link to their nice picture gallery.

Here are Dan and ID right before our tour of the farm -


We absolutely loved the little baby goats -


The next destination was the caves of Beit Govrin
where we toured the special bell caves and spent a nice time crawling through the caves. Some of them are fairly large, actually, as you can see here, but they form an intricate network of caves with some nice passages where you squeeze from one cave to another.


These are all manmade caves, dug approximately three thousand years ago and include some neat features like the authentic oil presser within the caves -


Dan had a nice time being quite the tourist there, and there were a couple of times when we had to chase him through the caves to find out where he went to -


We did lots of other stuff during Hanuka too. I have a bunch of pics and movies to download from my camera and will post them soon, I hope.