January 2010

A Day in Jerusalem

moocowinthecity 2010-01-04 No Comments

First, An Important Announcement

Happy Birthday

munchkinqueen54!!! Thank you for giving birth to me!!! I think that was super awesome!!! I love you!!!

Well then…

So today I had a Yom Siddurim which I used to go take care of some things in Jerusalem (which is where I have all of my accounts, my Tik Aliyah (my immigration file), etc. I also really happen to enjoy getting to go to Jerusalem so I’ve never found cause enough to move my things elsewhere (…I also know that the moment I ask for anything to be moved, all paperwork will immediately be lost and I will pop out of existence…so it serves as a survival strategy, in a way).

I took the 08:10 bus out of Ashkelon which meant I was up and out the door only an hour later than I usually am. I met up with Shirah (

stoicdaydreamer) and a friend of hers who just finished Taglit-Birthright Israel (I don’t recall his name at the moment…he was very quiet because he just finished a whirlwind trip in Israel and was shell-shocked).

After a quick bite to eat we made our way to our first stop…

Bank Leumi

The banking system in Israel was actually designed by…actually, that’s a lie…there is very little architecture to the banking system in Israel…it’s more like a three year old was given paint and a piece of paper, told to do as he see fits…someone walked by a few hours later, took three shots of whiskey, tilted his head left and said “hey, this can work.” This ‘system’ was later improved upon by the Knesset (who are the only group of people on Earth who can possibly do something worse than anything the Republicans and Democrats can come up with when they choose to work together).

This eventually was worked on once again by sadists who attempted to pick up where the Knesset left off. However, after seeing the bang up job that the Knesset did they decided to just add a little bit more paperwork and call it a day.

Speculation still exists as to whether or not the sadists were actually sadists, or if they were really our grandmothers masquerading as sadists creating more paperwork in an attempt to create a situation that would further prolong our conversations at the bank – and by which – increase the opportunity for them to show complete strangers pictures of their grandchildren.

Suffice it to say after completing what I needed to complete there in five minutes – and only having to sign two forms – I should have known something was up. I came home to find that none of the codes or passwords they gave me worked (since in Israel you don’t get to create your own pin code…the bank goes to great lengths to protect you from yourself).

This means that I am still (or maybe once again) locked out of my account.

I did contact Bank Leumi to see if they’d like to comment on the issue and the only spokesperson I could reach was quoted as saying “your call is very important to us…please continue to hold…” over, and over, and over again – I like to think that it means he’s from Shas.

I get to go back next month and try again (this time, however, I’ll be bringing my laptop and wireless internet connection with me to check on the spot what the story is).

The Kotel

After I ‘finished’ at the bank, Shirah, her friend (who’s name I can’t quite recall) and I started the trek down to the Kotel…stopping for a slice of Pizza on the way. I love the Old City of Jerusalem. I love the markets, the stone, the smells of spices and even the crisp air in the winter.

At the Kotel I went to wash my hands (there’s a special way to ritually wash them before prayer) and started to make my way down to the Kotel itself. I put on my beret, since I was in uniform and didn’t have my kippa on me (it’s currently in my hiking bag).

On my way down one person working at the Chabad booth called me over to wrap tefillin. As he was wrapping it on my arm I asked him the same question I ask any Chabadnik which is “Do you know Rabbi Gurary” to which they go “Rabbi Avraham Gurary from Buffalo!?” and I go “Yes!” and they go “OF COURSE I KNOW RABBI AVRAHAM GURARY FROM BUFFALO!” so after we finished the .0002 seconds of playing Jewish Geography I prayed and then finished and handed back the tefillin. He then asked me (in an incredibly thick, Brooklyn-Chabad accent) “SO WHEN ARE YOU COMING OVER FOR SHABBAT DINNER!?!” to which I said “the next time I can…” my Shabbats are filling up man…I still owe Heritage House one but it’s been a busy couple of months and I end the week sleep deprived and exhausted.

Anyway, I have his name and number…and a pamphlet on wrapping tefillin. From there I finally approached the wall to pray. For those who haven’t been, it’s an incredibly solitary experience (for me, anyway). You’re surrounded by droves of people but it’s just you and the big guy. After I prayed I placed a few notes in the wall (some people asked me to place notes for them, some people I place notes in for every time I go, some notes were for me).

After we all finished we made our way out of the Old City and headed to Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus to have coffee and lunch with Shirah’s Mother who was kind enough to feed us.

Teaching in Israel

Shirah’s Mom is a teacher. This is incredibly important because I’m currently in the research phase of operation “GET MY TEACHING LICENSE.” As it turns out it’s going to take at least seven courses (held in the evenings) over the period of a year (if all things go as they should…I know…I started laughing too). In theory, I won’t have to pay for these courses (I know…I started laughing too).

However, before operation “GET MY TEACHING LICENSE” is operation “GET OUT OF DEBT INCURRED BY SERVING IN THE ARMY.”

ariehzimmerman mentioned the possibility of working/renting on Kibbutz Zikim (which is something I’ve had in my backup plan for awhile). Other hopes are getting employed immediately in my field somewhere in Israel the day after I finish my army service. This is not totally impossible, just highly improbable, which means it is likely to occur almost immediately after I leave the army.

The Shuk

After we got off the bus at the top of Ben-Yehuda Street we made our way to the shuk. I was happy to see that the produce was ridiculously good looking:

(Taken by

nomadmatan on 2010-01-04 at Shuk Mahne Yehuda in Jerusalem)

I picked up two kilos (well, a little over two kilos) of popcorn seeds and two kilos of oatmeal (it’s cheaper to buy in the shuk, and it’s much cheaper to buy in bulk). Next month I’m doing my bean and spice shopping.

I also picked up some halva for Shula and

ariehzimmerman.

Graduate School

Since teaching is combined with my entrance to graduate school both become intertwined with my finances.

Fortunately, I’m happy with the decisions I’ve made. I’m happy with how things are going. I’m happy with where I am (if I wasn’t happy, I wouldn’t be here). However, I refuse to do another eight to ten years of higher education (masters and doctoral degrees) while I’m poor. Right now my primary concern after the army is working to pay rent at the lowest possible rate, feed myself with the most nutritionally healthy items for the lowest possible rate, and save the most amount of money that I can.

I’m completely okay with entering a Ph.D. program at the age of 35 (which is when I promised my mentor, Scott Paauw, that I would start graduate school at the latest…he knows me too well). Working at Kibbutz Zikim (providing the pay rate is at or higher than minimum wage and the rent is cheap enough that it lets me pay my rent, pay off my debt, and then start to accumulate savings) is certainly a viable option. It will certainly also let me work while continuing to study both Hebrew and Arabic (not to mention other areas of Linguistics that I’ve wanted to do self study in for awhile before entering graduate school).

I also think that parlaying my sewing skills into some kind of legitimate side business will have life-long, long term benefits (asides from de-stressing myself it has a large ratio between how much it costs me to get supplies and how much I can sell a finished product for…and that’s with my prices at reasonable rates).

To that end I’m in the process of making my little black book of fabric stores, bead stores, ribbon and lace stores, etc. throughout Israel so I can start networking (which reminds me, I need to send an email to

pats_animation about business cards) and getting this thing (whatever it’s going to morph into) off the ground.

While we were in Jerusalem today, Shirah pointed out some of the craft stores she knows (and I made mental notes throughout the day of all the fabric stores I saw). I’m excited. If Scott Paauw could open and run a Deli/Internet Café while he was doing his language work in Indonesia I can do my language studies and be a tailor in Israel.

Etsy

moocowinthecity 2010-01-03 No Comments

This post is friends only as I begin my journey into the world of selling on Etsy (I setup my Etsy store today). I’m so excited, the entire idea of Etsy is just wonderful.

I’ll be making an Etsy friends group on LJ as I begin to explore how Etsy works, advertising, etc. So please comment and let me know if you’d like to be in it. Right now I’m in the process of making stock for the store. I think I’ll start with at least five to ten items of the smaller things (hats, scarves, pillows, mitzvah pockets, duct tape messenger bags) and two or three of the larger things (quilts, alphabet books, etc.) before I take my store public.

It’s my hope to have the store up and running with merchandise by May.

If anyone’s a seller on Etsy, I’m totally open to hearing advice, I’m very new at this (though certainly not to selling things on the internet…I remember when eBay first opened). Also, if anyone’s willing to barter their graphic skills for a scarf and hat combo or a duct tape messenger bag, please let me know!

I need a store banner 760 pixels wide, 100 pixels high. I’d like it to say “nomadmatan: handmade crafts for nomads, wanderers and their friends” in brown or beige. Ideally, I’d like the background to look as if it were part of mail-box view of an embroidered world map (focusing on the Middle East of course). First one to call it gets a free, hand made scarf and hat with the colors of their choosing (you just have to let me know how big around your head is) or a duct tape messenger bag.

Anyway, time to shave and then pack my bag for tomorrow…it’s looking like it’s going to be a busy day at the office.

Peace :o)

Etsy

moocowinthecity 2010-01-03 No Comments

This post is friends only as I begin my journey into the world of selling on Etsy (I setup my Etsy store today). I’m so excited, the entire idea of Etsy is just wonderful.

I’ll be making an Etsy friends group on LJ as I begin to explore how Etsy works, advertising, etc. So please comment and let me know if you’d like to be in it. Right now I’m in the process of making stock for the store. I think I’ll start with at least five to ten items of the smaller things (hats, scarves, pillows, mitzvah pockets, duct tape messenger bags) and two or three of the larger things (quilts, alphabet books, etc.) before I take my store public.

It’s my hope to have the store up and running with merchandise by May.

If anyone’s a seller on Etsy, I’m totally open to hearing advice, I’m very new at this (though certainly not to selling things on the internet…I remember when eBay first opened). Also, if anyone’s willing to barter their graphic skills for a scarf and hat combo or a duct tape messenger bag, please let me know!

I need a store banner 760 pixels wide, 100 pixels high. I’d like it to say “nomadmatan: handmade crafts for nomads, wanderers and their friends” in brown or beige. Ideally, I’d like the background to look as if it were part of mail-box view of an embroidered world map (focusing on the Middle East of course). First one to call it gets a free, hand made scarf and hat with the colors of their choosing (you just have to let me know how big around your head is) or a duct tape messenger bag.

Anyway, time to shave and then pack my bag for tomorrow…it’s looking like it’s going to be a busy day at the office.

Peace :o)

A Typical Israeli Interaction at the Supermarket

moocowinthecity 2010-01-02 No Comments

So last week I went to the store to purchase some popcorn seeds to last me until I could go to the shook this week on my day off (chayalim bodedim get one day off a month to take care of their paperwork, home, etc.).

I went to the supermarket (which is about 9,000,000 times more expensive than the shook) and grabbed a thing of popcorn, two small snack bags of chips and went to wait in line. In front of me was a woman clutching a cabbage and five shekels (she clearly purchased a cabbage, for five shekels, the same day of every week for the past hundred years or so) and a gentleman in front of her who was attempting to purchase slippers…incredibly plain, incredibly overpriced slippers from the supermarket. This is what lead to the forty-five minute delay.

First, the slippers had no tag on it. The cashier couldn’t recall the code or the price, the other cashiers couldn’t. A cacophony of “oh no!!!! I can’t remember the code!!!” was sung throughout the store. Cashiers shouted and tried to confer with each other as checking customers out came to a complete halt. What on earth were any of us to do…codes were shouted out, seemingly at random…maybe THIS code is the right code…NOOOOOO the code isn’t working…OH NO!!!! This gentleman needs to buy slippers and he needs them NOW and you better believe we’re all in it together soldier!

Finally, fifteen minutes later one of the codes works — SLIPPERS - 30 SHEKELS. The man is excited, the cashiers are dancing in their seats (our cashiers sit down while they work); the peasants standing on-line rejoice and the man pays and is walking towards the door. Everyone is happy…everyone is happy that is until one of the cashiers who went on a mission to Mordor comes back with the slipper version of the ring, UPC code attached.

The cashier handles the slippers gingerly…and brings them up to the computer and hits “price check” people wait on baited breathe, a pin could be dropped and it would ring out like the Liberty Bell:

SLIPPERS - 50 SHEKELS

A deafening silence could be heard spreading throughout the land…we were about to enter into dark days my friends…very…very dark days. The customer (who has been called back just seconds before he crossed through the store’s threshold) says “fine, here’s twenty shekels” as he begins to hand it towards the cashier, the look in his eyes screaming out that all he wants to do is run.

The cashier immediately realized based on this customer’s accent, that – much like herself – this gentleman is from the former USSR and is now living in a country with an even more defined, even more slow and even more arduous bureaucracy…and therefore he should know better…and he should respect the system dammit…paperwork is sacrosanct.

“I’m sorry sir…I can’t do that” the cashier replies as they begin their switch into a Hebrew-Russian mix of rule-book citing and chest pounding…a mating dance finely developed over years in the desert of the Middle East…only capable of being performed by the most seasoned que standing warriors. “What do you mean you can’t do that” the customer asks…his voice squeaking, ever so slightly, indicating that he really knows the answer and he’s trying to challenge her. The hunt is on…the smell of blood, imminent.

“First, I require your receipt and the slippers. Then I need to scan the receipt back into the computer. Then I need to refund your change. After I refund your change I need to void the sale. After I void the sale I need to ring you up again” she says with the authority of a clerk at the DMV who knows that she has your balls squeezed directly in the palm of her hand. The gentleman acquiesces…he knows he’s been beaten by an expert as she begins the long process of entering all of this back into the computer…nothing is ever as simple as just scanning something…minutes go by, a quarter of an hour.

The peasants begin to make noises…a slow rumble could be heard…the cashier and the gentleman look up at the crowd – sweat dripping off their brows – if they could they’d stand back to back, swords drawn.

This too they also know…the look of a people about to have a violent revolution…the cashier thinks quickly, switching back to Hebrew entirely “you’ll have to go to customer service and then come back and stand on-line after you’re done sir…I’m afraid there’s no other way…” as the treadmills began to whir and people slowly began to have their groceries rung up the fog of tension began to slowly, slowly work itself away…and a revolution was avoided…for now.

A Typical Israeli Interaction at the Supermarket

moocowinthecity 2010-01-02 No Comments

So last week I went to the store to purchase some popcorn seeds to last me until I could go to the shook this week on my day off (chayalim bodedim get one day off a month to take care of their paperwork, home, etc.).

I went to the supermarket (which is about 9,000,000 times more expensive than the shook) and grabbed a thing of popcorn, two small snack bags of chips and went to wait in line. In front of me was a woman clutching a cabbage and five shekels (she clearly purchased a cabbage, for five shekels, the same day of every week for the past hundred years or so) and a gentleman in front of her who was attempting to purchase slippers…incredibly plain, incredibly overpriced slippers from the supermarket. This is what lead to the forty-five minute delay.

First, the slippers had no tag on it. The cashier couldn’t recall the code or the price, the other cashiers couldn’t. A cacophony of “oh no!!!! I can’t remember the code!!!” was sung throughout the store. Cashiers shouted and tried to confer with each other as checking customers out came to a complete halt. What on earth were any of us to do…codes were shouted out, seemingly at random…maybe THIS code is the right code…NOOOOOO the code isn’t working…OH NO!!!! This gentleman needs to buy slippers and he needs them NOW and you better believe we’re all in it together soldier!

Finally, fifteen minutes later one of the codes works — SLIPPERS – 30 SHEKELS. The man is excited, the cashiers are dancing in their seats (our cashiers sit down while they work); the peasants standing on-line rejoice and the man pays and is walking towards the door. Everyone is happy…everyone is happy that is until one of the cashiers who went on a mission to Mordor comes back with the slipper version of the ring, UPC code attached.

The cashier handles the slippers gingerly…and brings them up to the computer and hits “price check” people wait on baited breathe, a pin could be dropped and it would ring out like the Liberty Bell:

SLIPPERS – 50 SHEKELS

A deafening silence could be heard spreading throughout the land…we were about to enter into dark days my friends…very…very dark days. The customer (who has been called back just seconds before he crossed through the store’s threshold) says “fine, here’s twenty shekels” as he begins to hand it towards the cashier, the look in his eyes screaming out that all he wants to do is run.

The cashier immediately realized based on this customer’s accent, that – much like herself – this gentleman is from the former USSR and is now living in a country with an even more defined, even more slow and even more arduous bureaucracy…and therefore he should know better…and he should respect the system dammit…paperwork is sacrosanct.

“I’m sorry sir…I can’t do that” the cashier replies as they begin their switch into a Hebrew-Russian mix of rule-book citing and chest pounding…a mating dance finely developed over years in the desert of the Middle East…only capable of being performed by the most seasoned que standing warriors. “What do you mean you can’t do that” the customer asks…his voice squeaking, ever so slightly, indicating that he really knows the answer and he’s trying to challenge her. The hunt is on…the smell of blood, imminent.

“First, I require your receipt and the slippers. Then I need to scan the receipt back into the computer. Then I need to refund your change. After I refund your change I need to void the sale. After I void the sale I need to ring you up again” she says with the authority of a clerk at the DMV who knows that she has your balls squeezed directly in the palm of her hand. The gentleman acquiesces…he knows he’s been beaten by an expert as she begins the long process of entering all of this back into the computer…nothing is ever as simple as just scanning something…minutes go by, a quarter of an hour.

The peasants begin to make noises…a slow rumble could be heard…the cashier and the gentleman look up at the crowd – sweat dripping off their brows – if they could they’d stand back to back, swords drawn.

This too they also know…the look of a people about to have a violent revolution…the cashier thinks quickly, switching back to Hebrew entirely “you’ll have to go to customer service and then come back and stand on-line after you’re done sir…I’m afraid there’s no other way…” as the treadmills began to whir and people slowly began to have their groceries rung up the fog of tension began to slowly, slowly work itself away…and a revolution was avoided…for now.

Looking back at 2009 and Forward to 2010

moocowinthecity 2010-01-02 No Comments

Looking Back at 2009:

2009 was a rough year for me and for most of my friends. In all honesty, I’m glad it’s over.

It’s not that rough years are bad. Rough years can teach you (or remind you) how self sufficient you really are. They honestly build character. They teach you how to get through things, calmly, quietly, and efficiently. They’re important. However, being important doesn’t mean they’re pleasant.

This year I was robbed twice in a row; I lost everything of value except for my Hiking gear. They left some other things that they wouldn’t consider of value (like my crochet hook and yarn) and other things they didn’t see (my clarinet). Thankfully my iPod was in my messenger bag which was with me at the time.

It’s charming to be paying off a bank loan for a laptop I no longer own, but it is what it is. The financial loss was – and remains – significant. However, I’m making due, I have a roof over my head, and a job with job security until the end of my tour of duty.

Rather than reflect on the bad, I’d rather reflect on the good as I move on – joyfully, calmly, and expectantly – into 2010.

This past year I further defined my position in the IDF Ground Forces Foreign Relations Branch. I got to stand on a tank while doing field work after an all-nighter with an incredibly appreciative battalion commander. It was my job to prepare him and his staff for their presentation at a live-fire demonstration in front of a foreign army the next day. I succeeded. For my work in the Foreign Relations Branch I was awarded a Certificate of Excellence by the Ground Forces Chief of Staff (a Brigadier General) which was pretty neat.

My Hebrew has improved by leaps and bounds (though admittedly not as fast or as much as I would like it to have improved). I, in an incredibly strange turn of events, have found a love for learning Hebrew Grammar (my area in Linguistics is Applied Linguistics and Sociolinguistics…I’ve always left Grammar as an area of study to people who wore jackets with pads on the elbows and I never enjoyed studying English Grammar in depth…it’s the one thing I hate teaching most…but life is funny that way).

I went camping quite a few times (though I didn’t go hiking as much as I wanted to, compromise is a part of life and that’s the way it goes sometimes). I had the pleasure of visiting my first Kibbutz (Ma’agan Michael) many times to say hello to both my cows and to my friends who still call Ma’agan Michael home and spent many a night falling asleep on the beach.

December 27, 2009 I celebrated my second anniversary in Israel. It’s hard to imagine that it’s been two years already, the time has just flown by (I remember getting picked up by nir1 after I landed and heading for coffee as if it were just yesterday; though I miss having nir1 around as if he’s been gone for decades).

I spent thirty wonderful days in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, Buffalo, and West Palm Beach visiting my family and friends who I have missed beyond words.

I realized this year that most (if not all) of the friends that I’ve made in Israel didn’t know I had hobbies. I discovered the reason for this was because I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants since landing (Ulpan on Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, Moving to Tel-Aviv, Basic Training, Moving to Kibbutz Zikim, Serving in the IDF) that I haven’t had the time, or the place, to do any of them (it’s been two years of wonderful exhaustion).

I’ve taken the words of Rabbi Hillel to heart recently and have stopped saying “when I have time” (since I may never have it) and have just started to do them again…and it’s been more stress-relieving than anything you can find in any pill.

Forward to 2010 and Beyond:

2010 will be another incredibly active year. My priorities for this year, however, are my family, my friends, and myself. I look forward to a healthier year, I look forward to a year filled with more laughter, with more days spent at the beach, and with just a little bit more hiking and camping in between. I look forward to a year of writing, emailing, blogging and staying in touch with my pen-pals who have been beyond patient with me.

This year I want a year of just enough: just enough food, just enough money, just enough opportunities, just enough luck. I look forward to creating and studying and learning every day throughout the year.

I’ll be finishing the army in 533 days since some very speshul bureaucratic snowflakes who manage the budget for the IDF Ground Forces Foreign Relations Branch couldn’t possibly understand why they would need to create a line item in the budget to retain a linguist and ESL teacher on the FRB staff (I’m their only linguist…since mostly, like all other areas of the army, they’re staffed by 18-21 year old conscripts). However, of the 533 days only 337 are days that are actually spent on base. It’s actually even less than 337 days since while that number does take into account my two, 30 day trips to the United States over the next two years it doesn’t take into account my 30 free-floating vacation days over the next two years, nor does it take into account ‘fun days,’ trips with the army, etc.

By the time I finish my service in the IDF I’ll have served somewhere around six times the required amount of service for someone who immigrated at my age. I’ll be leaving the army (providing everything goes the way it should) as a Staff Sergeant which is something I can also be okay with. This isn’t how I wanted to end this position, not on the terms that I wanted to end this position, but it’s not always up to me.

The opportunity for my commander to make me an Academic Officer (the requirements of which I surpass by miles) sadly fell through (due to the aforementioned bureaucratic snowflakes). I don’t take the decision personally. The ever growing pile of recommendation forms and letters that I receive from my students after each course also lets me know that the decision wasn’t based on any professional shortcomings on my end.

In all fairness, I was offered the opportunity to go to the Officers School for Human Resources but the offer wasn’t tempting enough to make me want to give up my position in the Foreign Relations Branch. I love what I do at the FRB, I love who I work with and to ask me to give up meeting armies from around the world and teaching Brigadier Generals, Colonels and on down the rank to Private, to ask me to give up doing fieldwork, to ask me to give up all this to then go and do nothing more than count vacation days wasn’t worth it.

I complete my tour of duty on June 19, 2011 happy for having had the opportunity to serve my country, thankful that I was able to fight myself into a position where I was able to make a difference instead of being handed the keys to a truck and being shoved aside as all too many immigrants are in the IDF. I know I will leave a much better person for serving. I have given (and will continue) to give a lot to the IDF and I have learned (and will continue to learn) a lot throughout the remainder of my service.

After I finish I’ll be accepting a teaching position somewhere to pay off any residual debt incurred from serving in the army (I make about $196.00US a month and even with living a very, very mellow lifestyle it falls far short of meeting my requirements). After a few years of teaching and living like a pauper I look forward to getting back on course and traveling, taking a slew of language courses in both Hebrew and Arabic before entering Graduate School and working on my MA in Israel so I can afford to work on my Ph.D. in the United States.

Still incredibly important to me is to travel and write; it still doesn’t matter to me if I have to finance that by working in a kitchen, washing dishes, doing construction, washing floors. There are too many countries to see, too many people to meet. I just have to work it in with my career track and balance it with my (oddly growing) desire to create some kind of family.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

I love to sew. I mean, I really really love to sew. After seeing a meme posted by angeltorcida in handmade_gifts I now have a wonderful group of people to make things for.

I love what I do…sure…you could be the President of the United States…an Astronaut…Doctor…Spelunker…but it can never quite compare to how amazing it is to work with languages. It’s not that I’m biased, but I quite clearly have the best job in the known universe.

That said, as creative as I get to be on a daily basis…I realized that I also need to do something tactile, and creative in a different way to de-stress and work a different kind of creativity in my mind. While I don’t see myself ever ‘sewing professionally’ so to speak, you can certainly expect to see an Etsy store in short order…along with a table at craft fairs, and maybe an Artist Alley or two in the future.

Free gifts will continue to flow. I’ll be doing the five free gifts meme at least once every two months (to make sure I have projects to work on at work on slow days or while traveling). I’ll do it more or less depending on how quickly I get projects done.

Daily (or near daily) blogging should now once again be taken for granted which means that ladymaidmarian should start working out and stretching her page-down finger…I’d hate for her to pull something…I haven’t been posting as much as I used to and her page down finger may be out of practice… 😉

Okay, time for bed.

Looking back at 2009 and Forward to 2010

moocowinthecity 2010-01-02 No Comments

Looking Back at 2009:

2009 was a rough year for me and for most of my friends. In all honesty, I’m glad it’s over.

It’s not that rough years are bad. Rough years can teach you (or remind you) how self sufficient you really are. They honestly build character. They teach you how to get through things, calmly, quietly, and efficiently. They’re important. However, being important doesn’t mean they’re pleasant.

This year I was robbed twice in a row; I lost everything of value except for my Hiking gear. They left some other things that they wouldn’t consider of value (like my crochet hook and yarn) and other things they didn’t see (my clarinet). Thankfully my iPod was in my messenger bag which was with me at the time.

It’s charming to be paying off a bank loan for a laptop I no longer own, but it is what it is. The financial loss was – and remains – significant. However, I’m making due, I have a roof over my head, and a job with job security until the end of my tour of duty.

Rather than reflect on the bad, I’d rather reflect on the good as I move on – joyfully, calmly, and expectantly – into 2010.

This past year I further defined my position in the IDF Ground Forces Foreign Relations Branch. I got to stand on a tank while doing field work after an all-nighter with an incredibly appreciative battalion commander. It was my job to prepare him and his staff for their presentation at a live-fire demonstration in front of a foreign army the next day. I succeeded. For my work in the Foreign Relations Branch I was awarded a Certificate of Excellence by the Ground Forces Chief of Staff (a Brigadier General) which was pretty neat.

My Hebrew has improved by leaps and bounds (though admittedly not as fast or as much as I would like it to have improved). I, in an incredibly strange turn of events, have found a love for learning Hebrew Grammar (my area in Linguistics is Applied Linguistics and Sociolinguistics…I’ve always left Grammar as an area of study to people who wore jackets with pads on the elbows and I never enjoyed studying English Grammar in depth…it’s the one thing I hate teaching most…but life is funny that way).

I went camping quite a few times (though I didn’t go hiking as much as I wanted to, compromise is a part of life and that’s the way it goes sometimes). I had the pleasure of visiting my first Kibbutz (Ma’agan Michael) many times to say hello to both my cows and to my friends who still call Ma’agan Michael home and spent many a night falling asleep on the beach.

December 27, 2009 I celebrated my second anniversary in Israel. It’s hard to imagine that it’s been two years already, the time has just flown by (I remember getting picked up by

nir1 after I landed and heading for coffee as if it were just yesterday; though I miss having nir1 around as if he’s been gone for decades).

I spent thirty wonderful days in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, Buffalo, and West Palm Beach visiting my family and friends who I have missed beyond words.

I realized this year that most (if not all) of the friends that I’ve made in Israel didn’t know I had hobbies. I discovered the reason for this was because I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants since landing (Ulpan on Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, Moving to Tel-Aviv, Basic Training, Moving to Kibbutz Zikim, Serving in the IDF) that I haven’t had the time, or the place, to do any of them (it’s been two years of wonderful exhaustion).

I’ve taken the words of Rabbi Hillel to heart recently and have stopped saying “when I have time” (since I may never have it) and have just started to do them again…and it’s been more stress-relieving than anything you can find in any pill.

Forward to 2010 and Beyond:

2010 will be another incredibly active year. My priorities for this year, however, are my family, my friends, and myself. I look forward to a healthier year, I look forward to a year filled with more laughter, with more days spent at the beach, and with just a little bit more hiking and camping in between. I look forward to a year of writing, emailing, blogging and staying in touch with my pen-pals who have been beyond patient with me.

This year I want a year of just enough: just enough food, just enough money, just enough opportunities, just enough luck. I look forward to creating and studying and learning every day throughout the year.

I’ll be finishing the army in 533 days since some very speshul bureaucratic snowflakes who manage the budget for the IDF Ground Forces Foreign Relations Branch couldn’t possibly understand why they would need to create a line item in the budget to retain a linguist and ESL teacher on the FRB staff (I’m their only linguist…since mostly, like all other areas of the army, they’re staffed by 18-21 year old conscripts). However, of the 533 days only 337 are days that are actually spent on base. It’s actually even less than 337 days since while that number does take into account my two, 30 day trips to the United States over the next two years it doesn’t take into account my 30 free-floating vacation days over the next two years, nor does it take into account ‘fun days,’ trips with the army, etc.

By the time I finish my service in the IDF I’ll have served somewhere around six times the required amount of service for someone who immigrated at my age. I’ll be leaving the army (providing everything goes the way it should) as a Staff Sergeant which is something I can also be okay with. This isn’t how I wanted to end this position, not on the terms that I wanted to end this position, but it’s not always up to me.

The opportunity for my commander to make me an Academic Officer (the requirements of which I surpass by miles) sadly fell through (due to the aforementioned bureaucratic snowflakes). I don’t take the decision personally. The ever growing pile of recommendation forms and letters that I receive from my students after each course also lets me know that the decision wasn’t based on any professional shortcomings on my end.

In all fairness, I was offered the opportunity to go to the Officers School for Human Resources but the offer wasn’t tempting enough to make me want to give up my position in the Foreign Relations Branch. I love what I do at the FRB, I love who I work with and to ask me to give up meeting armies from around the world and teaching Brigadier Generals, Colonels and on down the rank to Private, to ask me to give up doing fieldwork, to ask me to give up all this to then go and do nothing more than count vacation days wasn’t worth it.

I complete my tour of duty on June 19, 2011 happy for having had the opportunity to serve my country, thankful that I was able to fight myself into a position where I was able to make a difference instead of being handed the keys to a truck and being shoved aside as all too many immigrants are in the IDF. I know I will leave a much better person for serving. I have given (and will continue) to give a lot to the IDF and I have learned (and will continue to learn) a lot throughout the remainder of my service.

After I finish I’ll be accepting a teaching position somewhere to pay off any residual debt incurred from serving in the army (I make about $196.00US a month and even with living a very, very mellow lifestyle it falls far short of meeting my requirements). After a few years of teaching and living like a pauper I look forward to getting back on course and traveling, taking a slew of language courses in both Hebrew and Arabic before entering Graduate School and working on my MA in Israel so I can afford to work on my Ph.D. in the United States.

Still incredibly important to me is to travel and write; it still doesn’t matter to me if I have to finance that by working in a kitchen, washing dishes, doing construction, washing floors. There are too many countries to see, too many people to meet. I just have to work it in with my career track and balance it with my (oddly growing) desire to create some kind of family.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

I love to sew. I mean, I really really love to sew. After seeing a meme posted by

angeltorcida in handmade_gifts I now have a wonderful group of people to make things for.

I love what I do…sure…you could be the President of the United States…an Astronaut…Doctor…Spelunker…but it can never quite compare to how amazing it is to work with languages. It’s not that I’m biased, but I quite clearly have the best job in the known universe.

That said, as creative as I get to be on a daily basis…I realized that I also need to do something tactile, and creative in a different way to de-stress and work a different kind of creativity in my mind. While I don’t see myself ever ‘sewing professionally’ so to speak, you can certainly expect to see an Etsy store in short order…along with a table at craft fairs, and maybe an Artist Alley or two in the future.

Free gifts will continue to flow. I’ll be doing the five free gifts meme at least once every two months (to make sure I have projects to work on at work on slow days or while traveling). I’ll do it more or less depending on how quickly I get projects done.

Daily (or near daily) blogging should now once again be taken for granted which means that

ladymaidmarian should start working out and stretching her page-down finger…I’d hate for her to pull something…I haven’t been posting as much as I used to and her page down finger may be out of practice… 😉

Okay, time for bed.