Thursday, February 23, 1995
Getting There
Could not sleep well, and got up much earlier than I would have liked. Goliath had slept with us on the bed for the first time in a long time, I wonder if he knew I was going away for awhile. Finished packing, though I kept thinking that I had forgotten something.
I got to the airport early to make sure that everything was taken care of. Had just a bit of a problem with check in, the person checking me in kept taking my passport into the back room. I was actually worried that there was a problem. Turned out to be a computer glitch. Finally got my ticket and it turned out I had an hour to kill before boarding time.
Got a pretty good seat behind the bulkhead, turned out that it had an extra fold down tray that we...we as in the other two persons in the row with me, used to place alot of stuff. The plane is a 767, big, but not nearly as big as the DC 9 I was on once. Seats are pretty narrow for one my size.
The women next to me drank and drugged themselves to sleep. I am tired but not yet sleepy. I really would like to get to sleep, I want to do London and it will be 4 or 5 am my time when we arrive. and 2 or 3 in the afternoon when we leave.
Friday, February 24, 1995
We were lucky, the flight arrived 30 minutes early. That 30 minutes was to prove useful. Getting off the plane I began to walk and walk and walk, the only other people were passengers, no help desk, no nothing.
I walked some more, it was a good 5 to 7 minutes of walking before I found someone to ask questions of. He confirmed my plan to go from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1 and check my bag there, while I went out and saw London, since that is where my connecting flight would leave from. For those of you unfamiliar with Londons Heathrow airport it is laid out thusly, Terminal 4 in one location and the other 3 terminals elsewhere. So I walked some more and found the shuttle bus to Terminal 1. Those first few minutes riding in the bus were truly exciting, getting used to being on the wrong side of the road.
At Terminal 1 I followed some signs here and some signs there and finally got to the immigration desk where I was informed I was doing a no-no, you are supposed to go through in the terminal where you arrived and never go through at one of the others. I am beginning to think to myself 'oh shit', but he doesn't send me back and stamps me through.
Next comes finding the next location to go to. I find customs, and step in. I stop and wait for someone to tell me what to do next. All 3 tables are full with bags being inspected. One of the inspectors looks up and tells me to keep moving, I respond with a 'to where? ' . 'Keep going till someone tells you to stop.' Ok, I do and no one does and I and into the english world as it were.
I changed some money and checked my bag in 'Left Baggage.' And I was off to the Underground or 'the tube' as it is also known. It turns out this is not a good day for tube riding. The service has been experiencing many difficulties. I wait for about half an hour to catch a train. It is fascinating how as the train approached it pushed a wall of air ahead of it. You can tell up to a minute before it actually gets there that it is arriving. This cool air is nice since you have been packed on to a boarding platform with to many people and secondarily to help cool the car when the doors open.
People packed on like sardines. I mostly tried to not fall down and saw a little of the english landscape as we went. I finally arrived at Holden station, and got off, and followed the crowd out. Signage is not a strong point in London. In fact once I got to the street it was a real problem. It to me about 10 minutes to figure out how the signed their streets. Once I did I wandered around trying to find the British Museum. I got to see lots of interesting english things. I was amused to see english motorcycle technique. Motorcyclists in London apparently ascribe to the 'if it a space not already occupied, then it ok to drive there' philosophy. I saw one fellow who finding his right turn only lane blocked by a parked vehicle and the left lane full of cars, drive up onto the sidewalk and around. Others whipped between lanes of traffic and next to curbs. After being lost for about 15 minutes I finally asked at a travel agency about the whereabouts of the the british museum and discovered I was 2 blocks away.
The museum is big, very big and very hot and muggy. I was already exhausted from my flight so I did not pay it the attention it was due. I also learned that the punk look is not dead in London, variously hued hair and odd dress abounded.
I bought some postcards and stamps and found a place to have dinner (l5 30p) and work on postcards. I had Cod and chips, I got 1 piece of cod, of course it was 12 inches long and 3 and half inches wide at the end and really good. The trip back to the airport was even worse more problems had cut the trains to about 1/2 runs and this was during rush hour traffic. As I am sitting here exhausted by the day, I realize something. Once I get to Israel I have no way to contact anyone, no phone numbers, no names nothing. What fun.
I have finally realized that brits don't know the words 'excuse me'. If you are in the way they just push, or in my case try and push, you out of the way. On the other hand everyone I asked for help was very helpful and cheerful. It interesting the things you notice that tell you aren't in Kansas anymore, or even Seattle. Aside from the way they drove, there were the police patrolling the Airport... With flack jackets and machine guns. And I saw a Dr. Who slot machine.
Back to the airport and several more hours of waiting.
To get to tel Aviv you have an enormous amount of Security. I went through what I would consider a normal check point for airport security. Then had to wait 40 or so minutes till they announced the gate for our flight. Then more security at the gate, a check of a list to see if you were on the flight list checking against my passport, a thorough search of my carry on bag, A pat down search and another check of my passport. And more waiting. And finally we board.
Saturday, February 25, 1995
Arrival in Israel
Comming in at night over tel Aviv, I was reminded of my first time flying into Phoenix. From the air at 5:30 in the morining it was hard to tell the difference, except maybe Phoenix is a little better lit. Once down we were put on to shuttle busses to take us to the terminal, we were quickly and efficiently processed through immigration. Well mostly so, I seemed to have used my normal knack for picking the line with problem people in it . Thus it moved about half the pace of the other lines. I received a 3 month tourist visa without permission to work. I am not sure what that means in regards to my doing stuff at intel, but I figured it was better not to ask. I changed some money, it turns out the exchange rate is not as good as I had been led to believe. I had been told 3 to 1 by the boss, turns out it is closer to 2.8 to 1 not much but it does make it it hard to calculate in my head. Finally I collected my bag and found that customs was again go until you are stopped, I was not stopped so I went on out. I did my normal stop and look confused routine. This seems to work very well in attracting people willing to help you. I was quickly scooped up by a taxi/bus and on my way to Jerusalem. As we drove the sun came up and I got a nice look at the country side. I was impressed by how rocky the country side was and as far as vegetation goes it reminded me alot of the eastern washington part of the cascades. Of course in eastern washington there are not discarded tanks, trucks and armored cars along the road nor are the little plaques and monuments every where. I got something of a tour of the city as the driver dropped off each of the group. Parts of this city are very old. I got to see a kid riding a donkey down the middle of the street. I was the last one dropped off. As soon as we let off the last two before me, this driver who had not said much until now became extremely chatty. We talked about computers, him being a computer illiterate and what he likes and dislikes about them. I arrive at the hotel it is warm and sunny and still early in the morning.
I pay the driver, the fee is 15 US$ or 35 Sheqels, which is about $12.40. I pay in Sheqels. In I go ... and things turns sour. It turns out that the travel agency has screwed up and made my reservations for today. Why is that a screw up? Because it means they have no room for me and may not have one, I am told, until 6 or 7 pm. I am .... I am .... angry but to tired to do much more than curse. It is not the hotels fault, I quickly realize and railing at them is not going to help. They offer to arrange a tour to help kill some time, but I am to tired to care. I plant myself in the lobby and tell them I will wait. I am told they will try and get me a room by two, normal check in time, but they can't guarantee anything. I say fine. I am tired very tired. During the time I get to observe alot. Another person on the project, from San Jose, figures out I am me, how I do not know, he has never met me. He is not sure either but I just looked like I should be me. Not sure what that means but once again I am to tired to care. I explain what has happened. Steve tells me that he has been here since yesterday, but his luggage has not arrived yet. Fortunately he packed some extra stuff in his carry one bags. I think this is a good idea. He finally goes off and I sit. As I sit and watch I think on things. First it I wonder about the association between Jewish men and hats, I know the Yamika(SP) has significance and suppose the variety of hats is the same for the other sects. But what is the signifance of the style, like style hats tend to congregate with other like styles. Why do some wear the Yamika and others fur covered and yet others bowlers and yet others styles I don't know the name of. I have arrived on Saturday. Shabbat. or Sabbath. Many things in town are closed and there are many observance things at the hotel that I do not fully understand. Such as all monetary transactions are done behind a portable wall and curtain. There is a Shabbat elevator. I have no idea why. There is a Japanese tour group in the hotel and I am surrounded by little old Japanese women. Finally they leave and I wait.
Around 9:15 or so I hit my lowest. I am so tired I begin to cry, I can not help myself. I got up at 7 on thursday and I have now been up for 36 or so hours with maybe 5 or so hours of unrestful cat naps. The staff is concerned and offer food and coffee and such. I take some bottled water as I very dehydrated, but I am to tired want much else. Afterwards I feel better, but very drained. It is10 ish and I decide to check my bags and move out of the main lobby to some more comofortable chairs. I am going to try and sleep. It takes 25 minutes for the bell boy to come get my bags. I move and I am able to nap just a bit. It is 11:30 and they call my name. They have come up with a room for me. I am greatful. I head of and do some minor things I wash up a bit I smell bad enough that I can smell my self. I turn on the airconditioning and fall straight to sleep.
I wake up it is 4:00pm and I am dying, I am sweating and I have a headache. The air conditioning is pumping out heat. I get up and shut it off and open the window and get some pain killers. The fresh air and Advil help. I call Vicki to let her know I am alive. I try and hook up to compuserve and my modem won't make a connect. I will call them tomorrow and talk to them. It might actually be the modem it self. I might have to get one from somewhere, I will try again from intel tomorrow. I decide I am hungry, I find out only the lounge is open. I get there and it takes forever to get served. I get some bottled water and a melon with fresh fruit. Service here is not with a smile, in fact service overall seems to be in what I would term the lower end of the scale.
I finish and head back to the room. While I was gone a fruit basket has appeared. Of the interesting things in it are dates and a star fruit. I eat some of this as well as left overs from my travel supplies. I watch some TV, cnn international is good. A little later I find Married with children sub-titled with hebrew, an odd experience. I order room service for some bottled water and get a plate of candies as well. A little later I get bath robes and flowers. I don't know if this is normal or not. I am still a little hungry so I go down to the cafe, I also decide to put my extra money, my cheque book and plane ticket home in the safe deposit box. I notice the sign behind the counter, the exchange rate is better here than at the airport and there is no fee. Live and learn. The difference including the fee works out to about 3 dollars. In the restaurant I have to choose between dairy and meat, kosher rules you know. I am not sure what this means but with a quick perusal of the menus I choose meat. I will get a better description later. I Have some soup and salad. The Lamb soup is excellent. The oriental salad is ok, but oridinary. The wait staff is facinated by my laptop, because of its small size. And the price floors them, at least half of what they would have to pay here.
I decide to try the local water, I have anti dirreahals in the room and figure if I am going to be here 3 weeks it would be prudent to get used to it. It has a slightly swampy taste. Not as bad as Orlando, about the same as San Jose. My headache is coming back so back to the room. I get the bill and the waiter did not charge me for my salad, he says it is a gift to me, it is his holiday. I thank him. I leave what I hope is a good tip, they don't seem to total up bill around here and I have to do the conversions in my head.
Around 10 pm steve calls. He is glad to find I have a room. As we talk there is a knock on his door, his luggage has arrived, things are looking up for him to. He gives me info about intel and who to call, with phone numbers and names, he is getting a ride to the site at 7:15. I am going to try and go with him. If I miss it then there is supposedly a7:30 shuttle bus and finally a taxi though neither of us know the address. I thank him profusely for the info. It is good to know someone here.
Sunday, February 26, 1995
3:24 AM
I am having trouble sleeping, of course, the 10 hour time difference giving me trouble, it is only 5:30 pm back home.
6:00 AM
Never have gotten back to sleep, might as well start getting ready.
6:20 AM
Interesting I did not notice it yesterday, but the faucets are labeled 'backwards' the red dot means cold water and the blue dot hot.
6:45 AM
It turns out that there is a complimentary breakfast. Lots of good and odd stuff. The syrup is so thick that it strings from the pancake to the plate. There is a breaded items with peas in it. Tuna salad and all manner of fish, feta cheese salad, alot of fruit. Radishes, green onions and green, red, yellow bell peppers, all for breakfast.
11:14 PM
I had met up with a number of Intel folks, I was supposed to ride with one to the Intel site but apparently got ditched along with another fellow who was supposed to ride along. We end up trying for the 7:30 Intel shuttle, which does not arrive. So we get a taxi. Another tour of the city, more freeform driving... I am glad I did not get a car, it would be a challenge to not have an accident. It interests me that the fare is pre calculated. 20 Sheqels for all 4 of us, 6 or 7 dollars US for the ride.
We arrive and have to hunt up somebody to process me in as a contractor. Security here is pretty tight. The day is spent in a whirlwind of getting little done, running back and forth between building with people trying to impart all sorts of information way to fast. Very little is setup and ready to go. It does not help the guy I am working with/for is not on the ball. It takes explaining things to him 4 or 5 times before he understands it, he is chinese and has the chinese propensity for when you tell him something to say in response 'Why?'. I have taken to giving him smart aleck answers in response to the question. Additionally when he is dealing with the Israeli's it is truly spectacular, you get someone to whom english most definitely a second language talking to people for whom english is a second or third language. Leading to conversations about things like batteries. The Israeli opens up the unit and points in and asks if the battery is empty, Steve, the dude of chinese extraction, looks at the battery she is pointing at and says no. Of course she is asking if it charged, which I finally come over and explain.
I get meal tickets for free lunches at the cafeteria. The food is interesting, many of the other Americans don't like it, but I thought it was excellent.
I finally get out of the site around 7:00pm and yet another lesson in free form driving by the shuttle driver, who by the way speaks little if any english, fortunately he knows the hotel I am going to and gets me there, much more quickly than the ride there this morning. At the hotel I have dinner from the 'dairy menu', I believe I will stick with the 'Meat menu' for the most part. It is more interesting. If I have not mentioned it before, I should now the elevators are interesting in that they have a '0' floor button not a 'L' lobby button and floors before 0 are -1 and -2.
Back in the room I work on post cards till overwhelmed by tiredness and sleep for an hour or so.
Monday, February 27, 1995
6:04 AM
I got 6 or so hours sleep last night. Feel ok, but it is obviously going to take one or two more nights before I have this time difference thing down.
7:52 AM
Breakfast was again interesting, tried a little more of the items, lots of fish and veggies. The bagels are interesting and look almost home made, none of the near perfection you find in most american bagels.
On the way to work I was struck by the fact that the entire city is built out of stone, no wood, I am told it is against the law. Many building look like they have been hit by machine gun fire. Probably have... Along the roads in the morning are lines of people, presumably palestinians. They are looking for work. If you need someone to do a job just drive up and pick someone up.
1:38 PM
Things are not as hectic as yesterday. Fortunately. I am currently worrying that they might try and keep me an extra week. Several people have been told to expect 4 weeks not 3 already.
Lunch was not as good today. Had fake vegetarian prawns. I finished them but they were pretty bad.
10:57 PM
Started to crash at 5 pm today, still acclimatizing to the time difference. Got back to the hotel around 6:30pm and went straight to bed. Got about 3 hours of sleep, hopefully will get more sleep tonight. Tomorrow I hope to see if I can slip off early and maybe see a few sights. Will have to be sneaky abut it.
Tuesday, February 28, 1995
8:00 AM
Once again I did not sleep well, got 5.5 to 6 hours sleep total but broke up in 2 chunks. Breakfast for all its variety and such is going to get old real soon, the cold fish is not inspiring, while veggies and such are not spectacular morning food.
I am still having trouble getting my modem to connect to Israeli compuserve, so I am actually calling back to the states to use it, fortunately I am doing it on Intels phones. If they complain I will ask to borrow a modem.
Yesterday I got someone to explain the hats, not the religious significance, but the reason for the variety. It turns out that the style of hat indicates what part of the world you (or you family) was from prior to coming to Israel.
Another thing I have noticed is that Israelis seem to always be angry at each other shouting and cursing and such. They never seem to be able to communicate for more than 3 sentences without somebody yelling and gesturing and possibly swearing at the other.
2:03 PM
At lunch I tried the Meat section, had sesame seed coated chicken. Was ok, the mashed potatoes were bland and the the broccoli was cooked nearly to a slime.
It is not looking like I am going to sneak out of here very early today. Oh well, will try again tomorrow.
Yossi Klavan, one of the Israeli's I work with tells me interesting things about the country. He claims 40 % of the people live below the poverty level. (His definition of that being the minimum amount you need to live in this country, or for a family of 4 about 30,000 dollars a year, my suspicion is that the way we define the concept, it would be closer to 20 %). The way the side step this is that it is very hard to bounce a check in this country. He claims that the banks generally float your checks with the assumption you will eventually make good on them. He is 4000-5000 sheqels, he is not sure how much, overdrawn and the bank is ok with it (that is 1300-1600 dollars). Everybody in the country apparently lives with a constant overdraw.
His house was cheap cause he lives on the West Bank, sorta like building in the central district. So it only cost 125,000 dollars to build a 2600 square foot house complete with concrete reinforced walls, bomb shelter and gas proof rooms. Which reminds me, we saw an Israeli soldier hitchhiking today with his machine gun slung in front of him. We did not stop to pick him up.
4:43 PM
Well my grand plans for tomorrow are dashed. I have been appointed to go to Haifa to help with training, I am told it is a 2 hour drive. Also, the subject has been broached as to me staying for at least one additional week. I have made very loud noises about what a hardship this will be.
6:46 PM
The trip home was not as harrowing as previous. The catching of the shuttle is proving interesting. Intel provides shuttles, about 10 of them going all over Jerusalem. They leave on the hour and few, if any, of the drivers speak english. They come piling out of the little portable building that they are stationed in and you just look at them and saying 'La Romme' or what ever your hotel name is. One of them will guide you to your shuttle. It is quite amusing, the herds of people wandering about calling out their hotel name.
I noticed that Jerusalem has lots of cats running about and mentioned this out loud. I was told of an old 'myth'/'tradition' that says the souls of anyone who does not make it to heaven or hell comes back as a cat in Jerusalem and thus you should not mess with a cat since you don't know who it might have been.
Unfortunately I did not see the following for myself but had it related to me by some of the people I am working with. Last night they were arriving back at an apartment that Intel had rented for some of its people to find a building nearby on fire. They called the fire department. When the fire engine arrive it contained 3 fire fighters with no (0) Zero protection gear on. They pull up and look at the fire through a barbwire fence, smoking cigarettes all the time. Finally instead of driving the truck around the fence and getting closer they threw the hose over the fence, which had the predictable effect of putting multiple punctures in the hose. There were people in the building who were shouting for help but the fire fighters had no gear with which to enter the building, no masks, no helmets, no nothing. The people we 'saved' by others from the building and the fire was put out, but nothing was saved. It had little chance of spreading anyway since the entire city is made of stone.
I got called by Steve, my Haifa trip is off and he is going instead. This is good as I was not looking forward to a 2 hour car trip. The weather has been just about perfect here. Sunny 70 degrees, cool and refreshing in the evening. Most people are still wearing jackets and complaining about the cold.
Wednesday, March 1, 1995
8:14 AM
Got some better sleep last night. Went straight to bed once I got back from the office and slept nearly 5 hours straight, longest straight through sleep I have had in days. I then lay awake for 3 or so hours and then got 2 more hours. I feel pretty good now. So far this morning things are more of the same. Breakfast, the ride into work etc.
One thing that did notice is all the doorways around here have a little metal bar on the right hand side of the door frame. It is that way in the office and the hotel and all other doors I have seen, they have a little symbol on them that looks like it might be a castle wall or crown or something.
8:12 PM
I asked about the metal bar and found out that they are not bars but,scroll containers. Each one contains a sroll with a passage from the old testament about marking your door with blood to be spared, passed over, by death. More observation about driving in Jerusalem. It really turns out that the lane markers are just guidelines to be used only when you are not in a hurry. And every one is always in a hurry around here. Pedestrians take their safety into their own hands when they cross the street. While the drivers will make an effort to avoid them, it is really up to the pedestrian to remove themselves from harms way.
Thursday, March 2, 1995
12:43 PM
Lots of fun here, we had network and server problems during the demo to the big muckity mucks. Oh well. Tomorrow I am going on a tour of the Old city and maybe do some shopping. Will take along my bags to bring stuff back in.
3:50 PM
Have had email from Don Kretz, he has stated that I will not need to stay an extra week, this is good. Have I mentioned television yet? The La Romme is a big fancy hotel so it has a number of cable channels. A number of the stations are in Hebrew and some of the shows have the look of public access programs. American/british/etc program are generally subtitled in Hebrew but occasionally they are dubbed. Besides the Israeli channels, there is a selection of international channels. CNN international, a british channel, a german channel, french, MTV Europe, a 'Asian' music channel.
The Asian music channel is interesting as the 'VJs' all speak english and India is included as being part of Asia.
Friday, March 3, 1995
1:14 PM
Well the tour of the Old city fell through. Turns out that there is a big moslem holiday today and it will be crowded with religious zealots. We opted to avoid it for now. The rest of the group that I was going to go with decided to head to Tel Aviv to go to the beach and the Hard Rock cafe. Seems to be a waste of time to me.
I spent part of the morning worrying that I had made an immense social blunder the first day I was here. We are approaching the the Shabat and I was trying to think of what this would mean. Well, I realized that I had tipped the waiter at dinner the night I got in, and money is a big nono on shabat. It was about an hour before I remembered shabat ended at sundown on Saturday and that I had been ok (I hope... I don't remember if it was really sundown yet).
Alot of the no money stuff is silly since they just work around it. Like I pay for my meal today and thus no money changes hands tomorrow. Silly.
I decided to go downtown Jerusalem to see what it was like and then to eventually go out to the and plant some trees in memory of some people.
I decided to walk downtown. I basically got lost the minute I stepped out of the hotel. Fortunately, this was not a problem, since, in my experience, Israeli's are exceedingly helpful to foreigners. I stood looking at my map for just a minute or two before a older gentleman on bicycle rode up and asked if he could help. He gave very good directions and I was off. I manage to make one wrong turn on the way and immediately upon looking at my map, there was someone asking if they could help me.
I made it to Ben Yehuda street which is the main downtown shopping district. It was a minor disappointment in that while it definitely had a exotic flare, it reminded me of most any interesting metropolitan tourist area.
I had lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Lamb chops, fries, what I am learning is called a 'middle eastern salad' and a bowl of bean soup. It was all very good.
I then went adventuring a bit, I found a taxi station and after a bit of a problem conveying what I wanted, I got them to take me to the Hadassah Forest. The driver who spoke some english was not convinced it was a good idea, since it was unlikely that I would find a taxi back from the location. Upon arriving he tried to convince to go right back, but I asked the people at the planting station and they said they would take me to the Hadassah Hospital where I could catch a taxi. The taxi driver left still looking unconvinced.
The man at the station spoke better Arabic than Hebrew and better Hebrew than English but we got things straighten out. I planted six trees, got some pictures, and collected my certificates, then the station manager drove me to the hospital where I caught a taxi back to the La Romme hotel. I saw alot of back streets of Jerusalem on the way.
One of the nice things is that, or bad things I don't know which, is though the taxi's have meters they don't use them. They just tell you a price and you go. 30 Sheqels, about $10 for the ride there and another 30 back. Less than I would have paid for an equivalent ride in Seattle. Generally I finding it more advantageous to pay in Sheqels than to use Dollars. So far I find that I save about 10 to 15 percent on the stuff I buy. Now I am off in search of a small grocery or some such. I would like to buy some things at less than hotel prices.
2:32 PM
Mission a success, I found a little deli sorta place and bought some bottled water and coke. While I can now stand to drink the water here, it tastes alot like drinking straight from a swamp.
Actually the shops I saw on the way were somewhat more interesting than the ones downtown. There were antique shops selling various Egyptian, Israeli, Arabic and Roman antiquities. Nothing was priced so I figure it was beyond what I could afford, not to mention what I might have had to do to get it out of the country.
I passed the YMCA on my walk, wow. A huge stone building with a tall tower and dome. I had driven past it all last week and would never have guess that is what it was. I took some pictures though I am sure my camera will not do it justice.
I just have to comment on Israeli driving again. On my trip to Hadassah Forest and on my walk, I gleaned new subtleties that I had missed before, such as what might appear to the average person from Seattle (me in this case) to be a average, if maybe a bit narrow, 2 lane road apparently appears to an Israeli drive to be a 7 lane road, with 3 lanes for cars and 4 lanes for motorcycle/scooter/bicycle traffic. And those traffic islands you have, that are formed when you have a right hand turn only lane, they appear to be fair game for the scooterists. Parking with one set of wheels on the curb appears to be not only accepted but legal as well if I am to judge by the signs I saw down town.
I happened by a childrens play ground in which there was you typical jungle gym, typical that is if you are used to seeing shaped like a giant fly complete with wings that can be flapped by cable and pulley. I took a picture. This was also interesting since there were advertisements in the area for something called the ' Bug Store'. Since I could not read the Hebrew portions of the sign I can not guess if there might be some connection.
Saturday, March 4, 1995
7:01 AM
Last night I hooked up with some Intel folks and went out to dinner. People wonder why people in so many parts of the world dislike americans, these people are part of the problem. Oh well.... We went to the Spaghettim. A pasta house... NON KOSHER! It was great. Let me tell you food here is not bad, but you can get a lot more variety if you can mix meat and dairy products. The place had all sorts of good stuff, one that I did not try though I may go back for is the spaghetti with Ostrich meat.
2:14 PM
Got back from a 'tour' of the City. Hired a private tour guide. Cost a lot more than a normal tour, but I think I saw many things in a different way from most people. He was a Palestinian. We went to mount olive (hill olive really, I am not sure that it is even as high as say capital hill) by taxi. it was truly amazing, we crossed the street where the border between the Israeli held Jerusalem and the Jordanian held, it is a very distinct change, specially today, the Shabat. Up to the border, there was almost no body on the streets, cross the street and there were arabs everywhere. The guide and I went up and looked out at the city, it is a beautiful view from there. Then we walked around the top of the mount a bit. We went back to the old city and visited all the quarters of the city.
While it was fascinating to be there, my strongest impressing is that it was dingy, dirty, crowded and smelly. That being said it was still fascinating to be there. It is good experience for any fantasy gamer. you get a real sense of what one the cities in your game should be like. I got to see many of the back 'streets' of the city, not that there are many things that could be called streets from the current usage of there word. Most are small alley's and stair ways to other parts of the city. Most are enclosed to a greater degree, rarely running straight opening up on to a square with other exits. In some areas they have added small ramps from one stair to the next set apart to allow carts and maybe small cars to go up in the area. I saw the 14 stations of the cross, and noted that most every thing every where is falling apart. I visited the tomb of king david. I saw the bazaar, a place that I would lose vicki for days may be weeks. After that we went to Bethlehem, which if you do not know is in the west bank area. It is definitely a slum area. Very dirty and in disrepair. Much of our travel was in group taxi's that held 7 passengers or so. You flag them down showing how many you have and if they have room you stop.
Got to see many men with machine guns at the check point. The scrutinized the identification of the driver and my guide but as soon as they saw I had a US passport they were no longer interested in me. Was a lot of walking and sweating, but it was good for me. My guide seemed to know everybody, taxi drivers, shop keepers, policemen, priests, other guides, well you get the idea, he claimed to speak 7 languages, I know he spoke at least 3 possibly 4, those being English, Arabic, german and probably Hebrew.
Sunday, March 5, 1995
9:00 AM
We waited for the shuttle to Intel for nearly an hour today. When called they said they have 'forgotten' to send it. This is indicative of the Israeli way of doing things. They do things if they get around to it, and if they don't, oh well.
Monday, March 6, 1995
1:53 PM
Went back to Ben Yehuda street, the center of town. We had dinner at an out door cafe, where I had some of the best french onion soup I have ever tasted. One of the members of our party was a bit freaked when he saw two Soldiers, male, carrying machine guns, walking down the street holding hands.
I don't think I have described Ben Yehuda street much, most of it is more like sidewalk,cobble stones actually, from building to building, it is full of shops and restaurants and appears to be open late into the evening, we were there until 10 and it was going pretty strong. There were alot of street vendors, most selling Jewelry but there were vendors selling art and photos and clothing, etc..
There were a great number of soldiers with loaded Machine guns patrolling the streets. Not 'actively', since they sit and talk and eat and the like, but you KNOW they are there. Actually I found out the other day the receptionists/bag checkers at the front door of the building are armed with very large semi automatic pistols.
9:16 PM
Not much happened today, we went out to a Non Kosher restaurant tonight, it was great. I had pizza, meat and cheese in the same meal it was great. Pizza here is odd with the toppings they offer. One of the strangest being corn. Yes corn, don't ask me who thought of this....
I mean corn is from the americas and not native to this part of the world. We don't put corn on pizza... do we?
Tuesday, March 7, 1995
4:46 PM
Had to adventure out and get some money this morning and I discovered that banking hours in Israel are very strange. The bank I chose, the Bank of Lemui was open today from 8:30 to 12:30 and 13:30 to 15:30, other days it would be open from 8:30 to some time around noon and open again in the afternoon and stay open as late as about 7:00, the times were different each day.
As it turned out I did not end up getting the money from the bank, which would have come off my credit card. A fellow approached me and offered to change money for me. I told him I had to get it first from my credit card. He offered to take a personal check. I have to guess that he has some guarantee that my check is good, but he took a $300 check gave me 855 sheqels, the same exchange rate I could get at the hotel, with no fee for the transaction and better than I would get at the bank, which would charge me a fee for getting cash on my credit card and a fee for changing the money (or so I am told). I feel a little trepidation about this, I am sure I am a risk in someway in giving him a personal check, but what the heck you only live once. After buying the blackmarket money, I headed to work, I had to take a taxi. Many of the taxi's in Jerusalem are Mercede's and many are subaru's. The Mercedes are very nice, and comfortable. The drivers apparently buy their own cars and since they are buying for business, they don't pay taxes, apparently Mercedes has a good repair policy, a much better warrantee system in Israel than in the US.
The driver told me that Warren Christopher is staying at our hotel, the La Romme. This is interesting since there was a 'bomb scare' at the hotel before I got back yesterday evening. We now theorize that it was not a bomb scare but them moving Warren in. He also told me that John Majors is up the street at the King David hotel.
Wednesday, March 8, 1995
10:48 AM
The buzz at breakfast was about the US Diplomats who got ambushed somewhere near here (near being within 500 miles???) Don't think I have mentioned the toilets here yet. The actual Intel offices have the most 'normal' toilets I have encountered, normal being defined as to what I am used to in the US. Toilets in the US have, generally - I am not trying to be all encompassing here, have a bowl in which the water washes down from the rim in small streams and a lower jet that causes water to swirl near the bottom of the bowl. There is the tank for the storage of water for the flush and a handle, once again generally, on the left hand side of the tank.
The toilets you see here in Israel are easily identifiable, you know what they are upon seing them, yet on closer inspection you note differences. Most notably I have run into toilets with no handle for the flush, instead there is a button to push down or a knob to pull up on the top of the tank. These seem to be the standard here. Next the bowl is larger and collects a smaller quantity of water in it when it is done flushing. The hole at the bottom is larger. When flushed the water surges down from the rim in torents whooshing what is ever in there away. Nothing is ever left 'floating' about. The down side to this is that the sides of the bowl can 'collect' stuff and I have noted a number of places, businesses and private, leave a cleaning brush next to the toilet for the squeamish.
Enough about toilets. It looks as if I will not get a chance to got to Egypt, so I am going to join a group going to masada on saturday, friday I will try and hit the archaelogical gardens and the dig going on under the wall near the arab quarter of the old city.
2:03 PM
Saw my first wildlife besides birds to day, appeared to be a gecko lizard or what ever the Israeli equivalent is. Up to now the only animals I had seen were Horses and donkeys (on the city streets), cats and dogs, birds and some fish in tanks.
Thursday, March 9, 1995
8:41 AM
Last night we went out to a french restaurant. It was very good and very pricey. I had the cheap meal and it cost me $30. Across the street from the French Restaurant was a place called the New Orleans. We have decided to go there SOON it has PORK RIBS, yow and cajun food. Yes I know you can get that in the states but you eat several Kosher meals a day and you get bored really fast.
9:13 AM
Well turns out the at Warren Christopher does not arrive till sunday. But the hotel is already becoming a beehive of security activity. One of our Party is across the hall from the 'US information Service', she has people running around out side her window on the roof of the hotel. It's going to be a blast, or maybe that is what they are trying to prevent. It is sure to be a real annoyance for the time he is here.
8:58 PM
Well excitement at the La Romme tonight when I arrived back to the hotel most of the parking lot and the street were blocked off from the general public. There were soldiers everywhere carrying mighty big guns. Police were watching the doors and such. I went down to the bar to wait for some folks and it turned out I was one of the last people let through the Lobby of the hotel. There was a 'suspicous' bag in the lobby. They called the bomb squad. A fellow in body armour, helmet, flack jacket, etc. dragged the the blue bag away, from my vantage point in the bar, it appeared to be about 2.5 ft tall 1.5 feet wide and maybe inches deep. I suspect that I will never know if it was really a bomb.
Soon afterward, Warren Christopher arrived. They cordoned off the Lobby and he breezed in and through. I got a picture, sort of... I had a double gin and tonic as well as 2 singles in the space of about an hour. This woud not have been so bad except that it turns out that thte drinks here are really strong! About double the pour I am used to in Seattle. I suspect my picture will be un impressive.
Friday, March 10, 1995
5:48 PM
Just got back from another 'tour' of the old city, got to go in the Jewish quarter this time since it is friday. Went to the bazaar and had a good time, spent way to much money, but I kept getting into the bargaining.
Got some stuff for Vicki and a few things for gifts for other people. My technique is to go in and hear their outrageous offer, then I praise the stuff and tell them that I can not spend that much money. They ask for an offer and I tell them I can not make them a fair offer, they push and I offer usually 40 to 50 percent of what they offered, saying it was only cause they pushed me. They say that I am breaking their heart but they offer something less than they did before. One set of things I bought started at 130 sheqel for 2 of the items, or about $22.50 a piece, I left with 3 of them for 110 Sheqel or about $12.70 a piece. Most will tell you near the end of the dealing that their children will not eat that night.
While I was in the bazaar I ran across a fabric store, I looked in and was glad Vicki was not along, we would have been stuck there forever, the quantity and quality of the fabric made Jehlor look tacky.
Went to the OPHEL Archaeological Garden, it is truly fantastic with the open sites, you could see the way the cities were built one on top of another, with obvious water and drainage systems. The group I went with spent nearly 3 hours wandering the ruins.
I got sunburned a bit today, I suspect I am going to be fried by the end of the weekend, we are going to Massada tomorrow where temparatures promise to be 20 degrees hotter (farenheit, not this celcius stuff).
Saturday, March 11, 1995
6:26 PM
Got back from an expidition to Masada today. Masada is the ruins of a fortress build by Herod, both as a place of safety to retreat to and a place controlling a region of importance for trade and resources. Masada over looks the Dead Sea, you know that body of water 1200 feet below sea level and so full of salt that nothing lives in it and it is almost impossible to sink.
We got the story of Masada and why it is an important symbol of freedom and struggle to the Jewish people. The story of the Israeli revolt, their flight to Masada, the seige by the roman legions and the mass 'suicide' of 967 people (actually only 962 people since 2 women and 3 children survived to tell the tale).
Masada is only 150 feet about sea level and is very very dry. The ruins and the recontructions are magnificant. We spent 1.5 to 2 hours there. Then we went down to the dead sea, where several people floated in the water and convered themselves in black mud.
On heading back to Jerusalem we stopped and got a photo of cave number 4 where the dead sea scrolls were found and then we stopped at the Ahava cosmetics factory.
The tour guide we had was excellent. And we had a great time. Oh and we was a group of 7 intel employees and myself. It included high muckity mucks in the project chain of comand. ie I report to a guy, Steve Chi, who reports to Eitan Gal, who reports to Chris Shocowitz, who reports to Rich Slater, who reports to Diane (whose name I can not remember). Diane, Rich and Hamid, Rich's counter part on the Wisards part of the project were on this trip. Diane heads this whole project, and has about 100 people working for her. Fun person. Hamid who is Iranian by birth is great as well, Rich is ok, but a bit reserved.
9:16 PM
Got back from dinner a short time ago, the area was blanketed with security. I had dinner at a place around the corner called 'Little Italy' to my extreme displeasure, Warren decided to have dinner there. Caused my service to be extremely lousy. Got to listen to his Public Relations person talk at another table, she is a real bitch.
Sunday, March 12, 1995
8:49 AM
Warren is gone, left for syria or saudi arabia, I forget which. I caused a near bomb scare this morning. Every morning we get the newspaper hanging from our door, it is an a brown opaque plastic bag. This morning I was running late and did not get a chance to read it so I placed it in the side pocket of my tote bag and took off. When the shuttle (taxi not big enough for everyone) arrived, I went out with the rest of the crowd to check what the situation was was.
There was not enough room so I and some others went back in to wait for the next one, where I was treated to the spectacle of one of the black suited Israeli security guards slowly approaching the news paper I had dropped. He stood back and peered into the bag, then he slowly approched it, finally standing right in front of it, he squated down and peered into again. Then he stood and nudged it open just a bit with the toe of shoe, finally deciding it was a newspaper he picked it up and put it on an end table. That was about the time I made it across the lobby to reclaim it. He gave me such a dirty look.
Monday, March 13, 1995
9:55 AM
Found out this morning that Warren may be back, damn, I am really hoping the blow him up somewhere, maybe we can send him to Pakistan. Oh well.
One of the Intel employees from the states took a couple of days off and drove to elat. He got tagged by a cop for doing 145km/hr (or about 88 mph). He was very lucky, they could have taken his passport and tossed him in jail. They also announce the names of Speeders and drunk drivers tossed in jail on the radio along with who they work for. Hoping that I can wrap up what I need to do soon and take a day off during the week. Maybe get a little more sight seeing in before I go. It is a VERY good thing that I convinced them I am really leaving on the 17th. The whole project has been slid back a week, which means if I had agreed to stay one extra week, it would have turned into two weeks instead.
5:54 PM
Got back from work early tonight and I am watching a little channel V, the 'asian' music channel. By far the most interesting of the videos and music styles. Most of the songs on the Indian top 20 count down feature tradional music styles and dance moves and in many cases costuming. The vJ's switch from english to what ever the indian language is (Pun Jabi?) with no break in the dialoge.
8:34 PM
Watching television in a foreign country is amazing. I am watching a Jackie Chan movie which is dubbed in english and subtitled in Hebrew.
Tuesday, March 14, 1995
8:04 AM
It is the start of Purim here in Israel, many call it 'Halloween in Holy Land' Children dress up in costumes mostly the type that you might see sold during Halloween in the states.
I asked Yossi about it, he told me the story of Esther (readers digest condensed version of the whole story)
Basically the Jews were persecuted (so what is new) and they turned the tables on the persecutors, which is why they celebrate by dressing up and giving gifts of food and money to the poor, ie it is a day of turn about. They also read the story twice during the celebration once during the morning and once at night. When ever the name of the bad guy they hiss and wave noise makers, some people write his name on the bottom of their shoes and stomp up and down.
I found out today that you really need to confirm your flight out of here 72 hours in advance. I have also been getting reports of what to expect during the exit interview.
6:22 PM
Well I should be getting a letter that will help with the exit interview, reduce it to maybe 20 minutes instead of an hour. They don't usually give it to contractors but the people here pulled some strings to get me one.
I spoke with Yossi a bit more about his house, turns out the bomb shelter has a one inch thick steel door, the walls are reinforced concrete. The windows in the rest of the house are bullet proof glass.
I was surprised to find out that he is still an American citizen and holds a dual citizenship. He says there is no benefit to becoming a full Israeli citizen and it makes it easier for him to visit his family in the US and to work there if need be.
Wednesday, March 15, 1995
4:13 PM
Went and bought a couple maps this morning, and another trinket. When I got to work around 10:30 the guy in charge of my area was pissed off. We had different memories of the conversation about me taking the morning off, he was wrong of course but would not admit it. I let him tell me that I could not take anymore time off, not that I had planned to, and used uncommon restraint in not telling him to blow it out his ass, since he has absolutely no control over my time. As a contractor to Eaglesoft, I am only responsible to Eaglesoft and Don Kretz is the only one who can tell me what kind of time they 'expect' of me. Even then since I am an independent contractor to Eaglesoft, even Kretz can not tell me what hours to work. But I was not in the mood to argue the point since it was moot anyhow. Had I been staying an extra week or if this had happened earlier I would have let the dude have it both barrels.
I went into the clean room today. What I call the level 3 clean room, there being 4 levels. Level one you wear a very fine mesh hair net, and plastic covers on your shoes. Level 2 you add a beard net if needed and plastic gloves, and you enter the facility thru an airlock procedure. For level three you add a hood that leaves just your nose and eyes exposed, you have body suit and large booties that cover your feet and go up to your knee cap. Had I gone to the level 4 room, I would have had a heavier duty body suite and booties and an actual helmet that would be connected to an outside air supply so that I would not breath moisture into the air of the room.
Thursday, March 16, 1995
9:04 AM
The actual celebration of Purim has come along, at least here in Jerusalem. They celebrate it over two days depending on where you are in israel. If the city you are in existed 2300 years ago and it had a wall around it, then you celebrate today, if it did not you celebrate yesterday. The place is decorated with banners, balloons and streamers everywhere. The people are wearing costumes and at the front door they are giving you masks and costuming supplies to those who did not have any. There is also desserts and they are giving people boxes of candy. BIG boxes compared to what you might get in the US.
Something else I meant to mention awhile ago, while I was walking in the old city I smelled some one smoking Pot. It turns out it is very common, against the law but common, it is also common to find it openly smoked down in Eilat which is a resort town. This was especially interesting since the paper had an article about legalizing small quantities of pot for personal use. Obviously the law would have little real effect.
9:57 AM
Well we just had a parade though the office, people all dressed up in costume with someone carrying a boombox playing loud music, they were shouting and whistling and generally having a good time. We are being assured by the more serious people that this is an unusual amount of celebration. This, they tell us, is the first year people have gone to such extremes.
Friday, March 17, 1995
4:26 AM
Was to keyed up to sleep well, my taxi to the air port will be here in 45 minutes and I am ready to go now. Waiting for breakfast to arrive. I face an interrogation at the air port that could last as little as 15 minutes up to an hour or more. Just as long as I am on that plane I don't care...
8:49 AM
Well the horror stories of the exit interview from Israel were entirely true. It took me nearly 45 minutes to get out, the exit letter helped very little. It was not helped by the fact that the persons asking the questions did not have a clue as to what computers were like and what a database was so they asked what I did, I told them they asked me to explain, I did but they asked for and 'english' description and I told them they had just had it.
6:54 AM
Well I have now set my time to London time. The flight will take 5 hours, Yuck. The plane is absolutely full, a flight last night had plane trouble so they combined two flights.
8:32 AM
I have reset the clock to Seattle time, this is going to be one very long day.
My flight from Tel Aviv to London was pretty bumpy near the end. Some people were freaking pretty bad. The take off from London was not real smooth either. So far it has been a pretty unpleasant trip, both planes have been full to the gills and it is loud and crowded and stuffy. At this point I still have 8 and a half hours of this flight left and I am feeling cramped and claustrophobic. Service has been lousy on both flights and the meals barely edible. Based on these return legs of the trip I would not recommend British Airways.
Currently I am debating as to whether I should buys some duty free booze. I was thinking of getting some Glen livet for Jeanines father.
Final Entry
The Plane landed in Seattle around 5:15 or about 45 minutes late, a real change from the flight there where we arrived early both times. Got off the plane and stood in line to go through immigration. Then off to get my baggage, customs here is so much more efficient than say in the UK but not the breeze that it was in Israel. Waited for a long time for my bag, the conveyor had a malfunction. Talked to a custom agent, and got out, then I was amazed that I had to place my bag on another conveyor and reclaim it at in the 'normal' baggage area, everyone was pretty confused by this.
Trundled on out and met Vicki. While we were waiting to get the bag again, I gave her the trinkets that I got, she was not as impressed as I had hoped oh well... To home, the kitties were glad to see me, I think. Had to checked out the mail, made some calls and then to bed...