Four Short Stories for the Weekend

Unexpected Trail Angel
Tom has left with a couple of friend for a weeks' hike on the Israel National Trail. They started Thursday at the Dan trail head, and if all goes well, will end in Tiberias. After the first day's hike with their overweight backpacks, they spotted a small hummus joint. When the owner realized they are trail hikers, he gave them a free, air-conditioned room with bathroom and a bottle of cold coke. They could take a shower, dry their boots and socks and charge their cellphones. What a wonderful start!

Book Week Thoughts
The book market in the land of the people of the book is basically a duopoly. I still remember when a new novel's price was above NIS 80. Now you can buy 4 for 100. The masses can afford to go to bed with quality novels. Novelists go to bed hungry, unless they have a day-job.

Clothes Shopping
Today I acted as shopping adviser for Dan (25). We drove all the way to the Polgat outlet in Kiryat Gat and were the first to arrive. At unbelievable sale prices of dress shirts (2 for 40 - less than $5/shirt) and other items, the shop quickly filled with customers. In about an hour (that's all we had), Dan managed to buy 2 pants, 6 shirts and 4 pairs of socks at a price more than 3 times cheaper than during a previous such shopping 'expedition' a few years ago. Israeli consumers can afford wearing quality clothes, while textile workers in Kiryat Gat (a fraction of Israeli consumers) are unemployed, and Chinese textile workers feed their families from a monthly wage not enough to live a single week in Kiryat Gat. But who can think about the effects of globalization when Dan said he was happy with my services?

Wrong Address
This weekend I am exempted from kitchen work and so we had lunch at our neighborhood cafe. Got there at 12 and realized they serve breakfast only till 1 PM. The freshly squeezed orange juice was exquisite, the bread warm, the salad fresh and tasty and so were the spreads. My spinach shakshouka was average, all in all a good and filling experience. When we returned, we found grocery bags delivered to our door. Feels good that while we were enjoying our meal, the neighborhood grocery delivered the items we ordered. Well, almost. The only 'problem' is that we didn't order anything from them, so the items were not ours. A quick glance at the bags to realize the food in there needs to be refrigerated or it will get spoiled in this heat. Quickly picked up the phone and notified the grocery about the mistake. They came, collected the bags and thanked us. Shabbat shalom.

From Non-Existent to Must-Have

A few month ago I started having serious wrist pain while using the mouse at work. Since hubby went through this a while ago, I decided to copy his 2-stage "battle-proven" solution: ergonomic mouse and local, alternative treatment to the wrist. The first stage went well. I ordered the mouse, started using it and it worked miracles. Apart from the minor nuisance of people walking into my office and talking about my "joystick", I was really impressed with the results.

The second stage was way more challenging as it involved contacting my doctor's office, the insurance company, dealing with paperwork, choosing a service provider, scheduling an appointment - much hated tasks. I'd really prefer someone else doing all this for me, but as my [fictional] personal assistant is on vacation in Hawaii, I procrastinated. The long, bureaucratic process was not without tragicomic turns. Communicating with insurance professionals is always a challenge for me as I don't understand what the hell are they talking about. I understand each word separately but cannot figure out, for the life of me, their combined "insurancese" meaning. Pour a useless website into the mix and the nightmare is compete.

To issue a letter of undertaking, the insurance rep wanted to know what type of alternative treatment I need. "Listen lady, all I know is that my wrist hurts, I don't know what treatments are available, what's the difference between them and which one is helpful for my problem. My common sense tells me a professional should examine my wrist and determine the treatment". Following her "we don't provide assessment" laconic answer, asked hubby what worked for him, called the rep back and told her: deep tissue massage. "It's true that the deep tissue massage is listed in the alternative treatments dropdown on our website, but in fact it belongs to a different category and you have to pay NIS 100 for that. How many sessions do you need?" I really had no idea, told her I expect to find that out during the first appointment.

At the alternative medicine center I chose from their website (according to closeness to my office), they made me fill in a lengthy form, 2 people examined me, asked lots of questions about additional problems I have and then came the verdict: the health level of my body is 60%. My spine is bent, my hormones are messed up, the fluids are not flowing in my body, and I'm going to die in 2 days, unless treated by them (OK, I made that last one up, but you got the picture). To solve all my [real and fictional] problems would take at least the 16 sessions covered by the insurance, but they'll be more than happy if I want more. "What about my wrist?", I inquired. "We don't sell treatments, but rather a holistic health approach".

Pushiness (of problems I didn't know I have) and aggressive salesmanship have the opposite effect on me. I never take decisions under pressure. Even more so if I'm told I'll miss the chance of my life. Told him I need to think about it. He was disappointed. I asked what kind of treatment I need ("chiropractic for the insurance, but I'll assess your situation at the beginning of each session and decide accordingly"), paid the NIS 100 and left. The thought that I might actually be sicker than I thought and the speed of getting from non-existent to must-have took a toll on my mood.

It's not that I don't believe in alternative medicine. For a person brought up on one medical approach (Western), one type of yogurt, and no idea that ice cream can be bought in a supermarket (as opposed to a confectionery), I really came a long way. I got acupuncture treatment and herbal medicine in the past and found them helpful to an extent. I am open to what alternative medicine has to offer (except homeopathy in which I don't believe at all), but skeptical at the same time. They say it helps the skeptics as well.

Truth is that I'm really feeling kind of lousy for the last few weeks. This happens from time to time until the coin drops that I need to take blood tests for my hypothyroidism. It's all part of a ritual: feeling bad, realizing the probable reason, taking the tests, getting out of range results, my doctor telling me everything is fine, no need to change anything, but my doctor friend telling me to increase the medicine dosage, me increasing the dosage and starting to feel better shortly after. This guy might be an aggressive salesman but a good chiropractor. I don't trust pushy people, but what if he can really help me break the ritual?

Chain or Neighborhood?

International chains give you a feeling of consistency, of global citizenship. You can have the same coffee or hamburger whether you are in New York, London or New Delhi. But why? If you took the trouble to visit a remote place, why not enrich your experience and taste some local specialties?

Personally, I prefer neighborhood establishments to chains. They are usually smaller, more intimate, the staff knows the returning customers and they sometimes serve interesting house dishes. To my pleasant surprise, a new coffee shop opened in my neighborhood, which is really a big deal considering we don't have any shops at all, not even a simple grocery shop. We walked over to the cafe one evening and had a pleasant experience. The place is spacious, the service attentive, the dishes average.

A few days before, I met my Gvahim mentee (a nice French system analyst whom I'm trying to help finding a job) in a chain coffee shop. She arrived earlier and had coffee and cake. When I joined her at the table, no waiter asked me whether I want to order anything, although waiters were walking by our table back and forth. After a long while, I simply caught the attention of a waiter and ordered a decaf cappuccino. To my complaint about not being asked to order, he gave me the lousiest excuse I ever heard: "we didn't make eye contact".

Independence 2012

1. Good News
Tom got an excellence award for outstanding IDF service, a good enough reason to take a day off and go all the way to Zfat for attending the ceremony. With just a short coffee break at Alonim, we managed to get there on time for the modest but meaningful moment. After the ceremony we had lunch at nearby Bat Yaar ranch, visited Baram National Park, took a short walk in the Baram Forest and ended the day with coffee and cake at best friends in Karmiel.

2. Memorial Day
My Zionist activity for Memorial Day 2012 was watching two Israeli movies: Beaufort and Late Marriage. There is something good going on in the Israeli movie industry during the last ~12 years.

3. Independence Feelings
Looked at my balcony decorated with flags, watched the fireworks and felt grateful for living in Israel. I will never take this for granted.

Fraudulent Coupon Yields Food for Soul

I get a daily Groupon mail. Mostly uninteresting stuff with incredible discounts. One offer caught my attention: a beginners' mosaic course: three 2-hour sessions in a studio, not too far from our house. Immediately thought of my husband, with his endless patience for meticulous jobs, inclination for art and golden hands. It has been a while since he did something for the soul, so I decided to surprise him.

Did some research on similar courses on offer, locations and prices, and concluded that the one offered is OK, although the coupon does not give real discount. The regular beginner's course offered by the same studio with no coupon is much longer (five 3-hour sessions) and not limited in materials. Talked with the artist on the phone, reserved a place for hubby, gave him a cheque in a sealed envelope and told him to be at a certain address on a certain date and time. Told him it's a present for no particular occasion and he should just 'go with the flow'. He didn't try to figure out what it was and ruin the surprise, just did as told.

As predicted, he enjoyed it. He really needed such calm, creative, anti-stress activity. In this photo, taken at the second session, you can see how absorbed he is by fitting together the small pieces he cuts out according to the design.

I'm so happy for him!

Trains, Contract Workers and Unions

Israel Railways operate only a few lines, most stations are far from city centers and have no parking. The trains seldom run on schedule, there are either maintenance or development works going on, or strikes. There were numerous train accidents, including collision and fire. Their Maffia-style union has repeatedly disobeyed Labor Court rulings and has acted arrogantly, thinking it can turn the train service off and on at will. The Transport minister is threatening to close the railways down and open them up anew.


Now the union is striking against outsourcing. Although Israelis love to hate the railway union, this time the union is fighting for a just cause. The maintenance work should be done by Israeli workers and not by the Canadian manufacturer. So Minister, if you don't like the existing workers, fire them all and hire new ones but leave the work here!


Many years ago during a job search, I was interviewed at a large state-owned company. They liked me and offered me the job. When we finished negotiating my compensation package, they surprised me with "Now you find yourself an agency to work through, they are basically all the same, here is the list of agencies we work with." Me together with a third of their workforce did the same type of job as their direct employees, worked harder, but made much less. We were not entitled to lunch coupons, to participating in fun days and other direct-employee-only activities and were subject to other humiliating conditions. No matter how good my work was, my status did not allow for any promotion or bonus. There was no future. 

Last week there was a 4-day general strike against employing contract workers. The employers of contract workers are agencies that do nothing for their workers, except exploiting them. The physical workplace tells them what to do and how to do it. Contract workers often work alongside direct employees doing the same job for a fraction of the direct workers' salary. For years and years. Many of these 'transparent' workers are janitors and security guards, but not only. There are IT workers, social workers, and even teachers. And the biggest such workplace is the government. Why do they do this? They claim they want to increase the state income by cutting expenses. What the over-zealous government bureaucrats forgot is that the state is not a for-profit organization. Please take pol-sci-101 again.


In many cases, the state would be better off paying direct employees and not agencies, so why isn't it doing just that? Because of Israel's best kept non-secret: it is almost impossible to fire a unionized worker. According to this twisted logic, the state pays a premium (while the workers earn less) for the option of firing the workers when they are not needed. Dear Union, you brought this unto yourselves, actually onto us! 

Ichilov Sale: Two for the Price of One

Imagine you are young and generally healthy. You have abdominal pain, are diagnosed with appendicitis and are awaiting surgery. You know it's a minor procedure and you expect to be dismissed  from hospital within a day. Waking up after surgery, you realize you can't breath. That's what happened to Dan a couple of weeks ago.

With Dan in recovery after appendectomy followed by pulmonary edema, Tom got permission from the Army to visit him. He skipped breakfast, took the first bus-train-bus and arrived to the hospital in the morning, a bit before myself. When he saw poor Dan attached to all those needles,wires, tubes and monitors he fainted.

Now if you are about to faint, the best place to do so is in Ichilov's recovery. Seeing him collapsing by his brother's bedside, the nurses asked him whether he suffers from any diseases. Halfway down, he answered 'yes' to the imaginary question "do you feel bad?". The nurses panicked and called a doctor to come and save him. They put him into a bed on the other side of the wall, hooked him to IV and gave him a cup of tea.

Since I was the last one to see Dan the previous night and knowing that visits are extremely restricted in recovery, I offered Peter to be the first one that morning. His "you're stronger', you go" surprised me somewhat, but didn't have time to philosophize too much over it. I headed towards the receptionist and was surprised she had been almost expecting me. The story of the two brothers spread like wildfire in the entire ward. Went in, put on that ridiculous robe and shoe-thing and jumped back and forth between the boys, until Dan was transferred to intensive care and Tom recovered.

After almost a week in hospital (most of it in intensive care) and a small pharmacy in his veins, Dan could breath by himself and was finally dismissed. Tomorrow they take out the stitches.