Went for a long (16 mile – how many km is that?) run in Yarkon Park this afternoon. My boss is incommunicado for a few days while travelling, and work will be a little slower during this period.
Started thinking freak out thoughts while running. Firstly, since I’m working for a startup nonprofit and there’s no 401k, how am I gonna continue to save for my retirement? If not 401k’s or pensions, what is the main retirement savings vehicle in Israel? Olim, feel free to reply. I’m sure I could ask the NbN message board, or my boss when he comes back, or AACI – and, it isn’t I must have this answer now or I’ll die, but it kicked off some wacked thinking.
Also, over the weekend, YouTube videos of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus‘ 27/3/09 concert, “The Big Gay Sing” surfaced, and they were very bittersweet for me to watch. They did an amazing Madonna medley, including full drag reenactment of M’s legendary “Vogue” performance from the 1990 VMAs.
Then after speaking about Proposition Hate, they sang “Tomorrow” with Andrea McArdle !!!
And they ended the concert with Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”:
Plus, they did MJ’s Thriller and Toni Basil’s Mickey.
Now, there just isn’t anything like that here. I sang at Carnegie Hall five times with the NYCGMC. I loved Monday night rehearsals, our special yearly Retreat and infamous “No Talent Show,” and c’mon – look at those special moments they created together onstage! Girlfriend, you KNOW I would’ve given it my all to try and make the dance team for that Madonna medley.
And I REALLY need my own apartment. Right now, while my boss and our intern are away travelling, it’s just me in the office. And it’s a home office. And I’m also living here. So, basically I have no commute and can work in my jammies…WHICH GETS OLD. If I don’t go running, or to an AA meeting in the evening, I can stay by myself all day here, and that is just NOT GOOD. It’s not total isolation, b/c I am commenting on friends’ Facebook status updates, returning emails, and having the occasional Skype call. And my back is hurting, b/c I’m not in a proper, ergonomic office chair, and I’m humping over, leaning into da laptop. 
And like – this felt really right to make Aliyah. And it’s not like it feels wrong now…but I knew I just couldn’t do more of the same old, same old. But what if….asking my Dad to help with a downpayment on an apartment in Chelsea would’ve done the trick? What if being a first-time apartment owner in a cool neighborhood and decorating it with pride and care – what if that would’ve filled me up just fine? Did I really have to move to Israel to feel like I was doing something new?
Well, there is the matter or work. I was never in love with my PR career. Look, I fell into it b/c I was a nervous mess, addicted to drugs & alcohol. But as my career progressed, I was able to move into a firm where our clients were cool indie films and nonprofits and LGBT causes, and – meaningful stuff. When I got laid off, I really didn’t wanna look for just another PR job to pay the bills, where my clients would be crapola like hair care lines and pharmaceuticals. I just couldn’t be a hack for crap. And I am not talking about work on this blog, at the request of my boss, but I’ve told you: I’m part of a skeleton staff building an important nonprofit from the ground up, and it’s really meaningful, meaningful stuff; we’re already saving people’s lives and we’re going to save a lot more. It’s a pretty incredible opportunity, and also for the new professional experiences I’m adding to my work experience.
So, I dunno. It’s a few hours after my run, so the feelings are less intense than they were. I just wonder – I mean, I love being here…just walking down the street, breathing the air, listening to and seeing all the Hebrew – it feels very right. But the only places I’m going to are the office/my residence, Yarkon Park, AA, and Basel Square. I should see other parts of the city, as well as other parts of Israel.
One more thing – what about how I’m a colossal U2 fan, who still hasn’t heard the new album yet (b/c I don’t want to iTunes or my huge music library on my work laptop and my desktop hasn’t arrived from NY yet), and I just renewed my ICON (Madonna fan club) membership, b/c I’m a legacy member and can order concert tickets from the pre-sales before the general public. My good friend from NY Sheila has offered me first right of refusal on her extra U2 ticket for NJ’s Meadowlands on 24/9/09, and I do get 1 business trip to the states per year for work…but will the timing work out and I’ll be able to make the show? When Madonna tours again, will I have to sit it out (last time she came through NYC, I went to all four shows)? Will these things cease to matter to me after more time has passed? Right now what I’m giving up seems more clear than what I’m gaining by being here.
Hey, sorry for not serving up a pithy post and instead getting all confessional on you. But as my friend Marko might say, maybe I had to just “WORK. IT. OUT!” (Oh, that IS a quantifiable thing I’ve gained from this move: I’m blogging now, and really enjoying it. I saw no reason to do that while living in NYC. Cool, bonus.)
Filed under: Infrastructure
I saw my primary care physician again yesterday and got a prescription to resume physical therapy on my left elbow. I had surgery on it 2/5/09 (or, as dates are written in Israel 5/2/09) before I left the U.S. to reattach the tendon. I did a quick few sessions of P.T., but then I was audi.
The date-thing actually caused a bit of confusion. My Iraeli doc was looking at my surgery report a little bewilderdly…”But your surgery hasn’t happened yet?” he said. I’m about to press the silent alarm under the desk and have him taken away, when we both figured out the source of the confusion and had a laugh.
Anyway, my doc in the U.S. who did the surgery said it’ll be months before I can lift weights again, but of course I am dying to hit the gym, b/c:
1) beach season is coming up
2) great way to meet boys people
3) great new addition to my routine
But the last thing I need is to reinjure myself, so I want professional rehab care. I took the ‘script over to the Maccabi health clinic on Hashia Street and didn’t have to wait in a line to turn it in. The clerk entered me into a database and said they would call me when a P.T. was available in the area. Hmm, I hope that’s soon!
Filed under: Cultural Differences
It is truly the exception that proves the rule.
I have experienced many instances of Israelis cutting in front of me in line, owning the sidewalk, pushing me to get on the bus first; every cliche of the “pushy Israeli,” I have seen.
Except one.
Israelis will not jaywalk. (OK, very rarely will they. People who do are probably olim like me.) One theory is that cops used to ticket people for jaywalking. I don’t know the reason behind this phenomenon, but it can be 2:00 a.m., no cars on the road, the street could be so deserted that dogs’ll be screwing in it, but an Israeli will just be politely standing there, minding his/her own business, doing his/her best imitation of a Brit, waiting for the light to change.
I secretly love this, b/c it is the one area where I can play an old familiar role: the pushy, I’ve-got-somewhere-I-need-to-be, hipster, don’t-fuck-with-me, a-car-wouldn’t-DARE-hit-me New Yorker. You see, I have news for you: in many ways Tel Avivians out-New York NY’ers. It’s weird, but similar to how San Francisco is gayer than New York, well [*blasphemy alert!*] Tel Aviv is kinda tougher than NY.
[*all people are individuals and behave independently; in this post, I generalize, but it is meant light-heartedly and does not come from an ugly place]
Also went back to the bank today. Totally not as bad as I thought it might be. I was already authorized to have this dollar sub-account attached to my main account, same account number and all. It costs $20 minimum fee (or .19% of deposit) to wire dollars from an American account. It costs $6.70 minimum fee (or .19% of transfer) to move it from the dollar sub-account to the main shekel one. And, I can do that transfer online for a lower fee.
Yay, all around!
The only lame thing? The grant check I gave them will take one month (“I hope not longer,” says the rep when I ask her, “Maybe less?”) to clear. *cue Debbie Downer music*
Bright side: it went down exactly like I called it. What I was afraid of was not so bad after all. I even had a friendly (if fashion challenged), English-speaking bank rep.
🙂
I ran some important errands today. One of them was that I took the paper I got from the Ministry of Absorbsion a few weeks ago to the Goldstein-Goren Ulpan today and officially signed up for 0-level daytime class. 8:15 a.m. – 12:50 p.m., Sunday-Thursday. I can’t wait. I shouldn’t buy a book, b/c I get it free as a gift. (love! free! stuff!) My teacher is Dina. The administrator said she’s, “Very good.” 😀
Filed under: Pot Luck
Blog traffic.
There’s this feature on WordPress that lets you look at how many people are visiting your blog each day…what posts they’re clicking on…what outgoing links they check out….all in pretty graphs. I love it. Forget Facebook comments on a status update; screw the number of Atraf messages I get. Suddenly it’s all about the number of site visitors measured by WordPress’ “STATS” feature.
Damn you, STATS feature !!!
So, I posted ads on Nefesh b’Nefesh’s singles yahoo newsgroup and also Janglo and Taanglo. And watched traffic explode. I exaggerate. A few hundred visitors don’t make me Perez. But I’ve had a taste, and well, uh-oh…
Today some olim angels saved my life.
If you’re livin’ in Israel and you miss your American TV, listen up: this post is your one stop shop to mainlining all that juicy, high fructose corn syrup, Americana Hollywood ooze once again.
HERE IS HOW TO USE YOUR COMPUTER TO WATCH ALL THE FOREIGN TV SHOWS YOU ARE MISSING:
1) If streaming video is your thing, check out these sites: TV Shack, TV Dome and NinjaVideo (*cue heavenly music from God/heavens*; thanks, P & S!). Or, check out this post. Basically it says to download Hotspot Shield. Once you have, then go to your computer’s time/date settings and set them to Arizona. Then, open the Hotspot Shield program, and it’ll give you a fake I.P. address, so when you go to hulu, ABC.com, NBC.com, CBS.com or Fox.com, you won’t that soul-crushing, “Sorry, streaming videos are only ahttp://www.mininova.org/vailable to viewers in the United States” message. It worked for me on hulu, and with the network sites, I was able to circumvent the outside-the-U.S. issue…but the players just wouldn’t load, so that solution wasn’t so hot for me. I just caught up on LOST thanks to TV Dome, and I officially bow down and lick that site’s combat boots.
2) Now, if you’re more of a downloading kind of Oleh, you have another set of options. There are SurftheChannel, Great Stuff TV and e-mule, which give you links to download sites (thanks S again, R, and A/Y!). Then there’s Mininova (thanks M!) which requires you do download Torrents – which is like stealing music off Limewire, only you’re taking pieces of the media from hundreds of computers at once, so it’s good for bigger media like TV episodes and movies. Other torrent client sites include: Bittorrent (thanks, J!), Utorrent, (M!) and for Macs: VUZE (M again!; *Mac users, you are welcome. Please send iPhones in appreciation to…*).
So, click away, Olim and enjoy your favorite flavor crystal filled American mind candy!
I had a fantastic Shabbat. Brunch at a really cool place w/ friends. Blogging. Blew off a jog for nice long nap.
Then, woke up and went to town on the junk food. And started hitting the Atraf. Had to ask myself: was something up?
God bless being in touch w/ yourself. B/c I got an answer very quickly. During brunch I had three separate conversations about money; all were very helpful. In one of them, I learned that someone with a marketing job (I know I could do also very well) is making 3,000 more scheckels/month more than me ($731). He also offered the opinion that I could be making double the salary I am making now. Now, let’s be clear: to make that $$$, I’d have to be marketing an electronic gambling website; pretty vapid stuff when compared to the important nonprofit work I am doing. (As stated previously, I cannot discuss the particulars of my job, as much as I’d like to. But just know that it is in the nonprofit field, and it’s a very, very worthy cause.) When I think about what would make me happier: having enough money to eat, pay rent, do some some fun things AND do really meaningful work vs. have extra money to play with AND work that means nothing to me, I easily choose the former.
In the next conversation, I learned something great: I can open a sub-account at my bank, linked to my main account, for dollars only. This is great, b/c I plan on moving money over often from accounts in the U.S., and this way I’ll pay much less in fees and commissions.
And in the third conversation, I learned that even if I make all my income from an Israeli employer in Israel (paid in scheckels), I still have to file my taxes in the USA every year, even it’s just to be eligible for stimulus checks and social security. Plus, I am exempt for the first $70K of income I make outside the U.S.
But what I realized later was – as helpful as all that information is to me, it was upsetting me, too. The first conversation, I’ve already talked about and resolved. I’m happy making a little less money because of the nature of the work I get to do. As long as I have enough for what I need, and I do. The second conversation upset me b/c – I am afraid about having to go to the big bad Israeli Bank and ask the questions I need to ask now about this dollar sub-account (Is there a minimum balance required? Is there a fee to wire money from my U.S. checking account into it? What about a fee to transfer money from the dollar sub-account into my main Israeli account? Can I view the dollar sub-account online, the way I can the primary account? If I transfer money from the dollar sub-account into the primary one online, can I avoid paying fees?) Now, I know I can ask and get the anwers to these questions. I know I can do it. I can show up at the bank, find a representative who speaks good enough English, ask the questions and get the answers. Get the facts and make some decisions. But it’s just fears about doing it, normal and natural. Fear that I won’t get what I want.
As for the last conversation, it’s more fear, and it involves me projecting way into the future. I already told you I’m not making a fortune here, so it’s not like I’m going to have a complicated tax return and need to hire a staff of accountants to help me manage my money. The fear comes from not staying in the NOW…thinking lots of *yeah, but what if…?* type questions.
All of this will be fine. I believe I always have been and always will be taken care of by a Higher Power. But it was a lot of information to receive at once, and it was a little too much for me to handle comfortably. So, I slept, ate and surfed. Pretty harmless, if I think about it.
TMI?
That’s what they call us English-speakers here.
There are websites for us, like Janglo and The Merkaz; a daily newspaper in English, The Jerusalem Post; and lots of sites have limited English versions for us (Bank Hapoalim, YES, PopRing).
And Anglos does not mean just Americans. You hear every kind of English speaking accent possible – Aussies, Brits, Canadians, South Africans, Swedish, Dutch, South American). In fact the English speaking AA meeting I went to today had people there from: Israel, USA, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Columbia, Argentina, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, the U.K., South Africa and Belgium.
And it is very easy to get by in Israel on English alone. I’ve met many other Anglos who dropped out of Ulpan and speak only English – including one woman who’s lived here for 30 years! Learning English is cumpulsory for Israelis beginning in the 4th grade, with many schools starting in 3rd grade and some as early as first grade. While I am excited to begin Ulpan on April 19 and aggressively learn Hebrew, all my new Israel friends speak with me in English. (And thank God for it, let me tell you.)
But in many ways you can be treated poorly in Israel for speaking only English. People can try to take advantage of you, and I’ve seen an air of superiority among Hebrew speakers. Plus, you do run into some Israelis – high school dropouts, various dim bulbs), who can’t speak English, and sometimes you’re just effed. (When I’m in this situation, I invariably resort to breaking out the loud, slowly spoken Spanish. Not because I think it’ll be middle ground, and could bridge the gap in the situation. But more out of instinct and frustration – like just b/c I bust out the Spanish and am trying so hard to communicate with them, they will magically understand it, even though we are in Israel and they speak Hebrew. Dur, Scott.)
Anyway, that’s what we’re called.
Filed under: Cool Things
In Tel Aviv it just happens: you are walking down the street and all the sudden you are hit with the concentrated aroma of the sweetest, most pleasant mix of oranges (with, like, a root beer chaser?). Not an overly, sickly sweet smell like how some New Yorkers complained of that maple syrup smell periodically wafting across the Hudson. No, this is air-freshenery-yet-good, pure delightfulness. And very real. It’s not faint. There’s no – do you smell this? to your friend next to you. No, it’s unmistakeable, and it lasts for random bursts of 4-5 seconds, then you’re through it and it’s gone.
I’ve asked around. Turns out it’s orange blossoms, which are blooming now. I don’t actually see the trees. They are in groves located outside of the city. But their scent gets blown by the breeze and you encounter it randomly about 5-6 times a day. It rules.
This is something that never happens in New York City. The most I can say for New York is that sometimes there isn’t a localized, pungent stench coming from a dumpster. If you’re not passing one of those, then the city smells just fine; neutral. But there’s definitely no “bonus/pleasant” bursts of freshness like this abounding NYC. No, there isn’t.
Gefilte Fish Out of Water 