criplomats

John and Natalia, with balloon monkey

This week was filled with more holidays – Monday we were off work for Columbus Day, and Thursday we were off for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Friday was also a quiet day at work because of a bike race that made getting to work difficult, so many stayed home and our appointments with the public were re-scheduled. Don’t know what we are going to do when we have to work a five-day work week again!

Last Sunday, we took Flavie to the vet. She is losing hair – it’s very odd. I’ll take her back in three weeks for another check up and for skin scrapings. Her blood work was fine, which is good.

On Monday, our holiday, John and I went to the dentist for a check-up (all good). In the afternoon, we walked down to Jaffo just to look around. We stopped at the famous Dr. Shakshuka for a snack and cold drink. I think I’ve talked about shakshuka before – it’s eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce – really good. It was too hot for shakshuka, though.

Friday afternoon, John and I volunteered to work at the Ambassador’s Sukkot open house at the residence. John was a big hit at the Kiddie Korner, where he made balloon animals! He really enjoyed himself.

Saturday night, John took me to an excellent restaurant in Neve Tzedek, A Place for Meat. We had great steaks and delicious side dishes. Yummy!

Quiet streets of Tel Aviv

From sundown on Friday until sundown yesterday, it was Yom Kippur, a day of atonement. Cars and public transportation were forbidden on the streets and everything was closed – boats were forbidden on the water and all flights suspended. It was great – the streets were instead sprinkled with families out walking, kids playing and folks riding their bikes (John and I included). We could actually hear the ocean waves and birds outside – so peaceful!

Monday night, we had dinner at Whitehall with our friend and co-worker Alon. We had a good meal and it was fun to get to know him better.

Thursday night was book club at our house. It was a big book, which translated into a small crowd, but a good discussion all the same.

One thing that embassies around the world do is to attend trials for Americans who are on trial, or trials for American victims. Tuesday, I attended a session in Jerusalem for Kristine Luken, an American woman who was brutally murdered in Israel while she and her friend/tour guide were out hiking. It was a very moving experience to meet her brother and her friend who survived the attack. It was a small courtroom, and one of the accused was in the courtroom about 10 feet from me (his two co-defendants have already pleaded guilty). Shiver.

After the trial, we attended a memorial service for Kristine and three other people who had died last year, either by a terrorist attack or serving Israel in the army. It was a beautiful venue, high on a hill in the countryside. Our Ambassador, among others, spoke.

Hear the waves

Cat sleeping on wooden camel in Nazareth

So it’s been exactly a year this week that we arrived in Tel Aviv – it’s gone by so quickly. It’s been a good, busy year.

Yesterday we went on a day trip to Nazareth with Tom, Eden and Emily. It’s a bustling Arab town, where the shop mannequins are dressed in long flowing robes with matching head scarves, with tourist shops surrounding the main sites. There’s also a market, mostly full of things you would buy at a dollar store in the U.S., plus religious items, clothes and fruits and vegetables.

We visited several churches there, including the Basilica of the Annunciation, where Gabriel is said to have visited Mary, and St. Joseph’s Church. In both places, the modern churches were built over old sites and there are places within the churches where you can see excavations of the old, with mosaics, paintings, stairs leading to the crypt (shiver), etc.

We had lunch at a great restaurant, Al-Rida where we ordered lots of different dishes and ate family style while through the open window by our table, we listened to the calls to prayer and church bells ringing. The food was excellent – they used a lot of sauces and spices to kick the typical Arab food up a notch. Eggplant stuffed with cheese and smothered in creamy pesto; fried cheese with onions and peppers; lamb kabobs; tabbouleh; mushrooms stuffed with cheese, almonds and sweet potato and covered in a sauce that tasted like Marsala wine; local sausages; salad with pistachios and oranges; meat-stuffed kubbehs. Add a bottle of wine and we had a feast!

Click for more photos from Nazareth.

We were also celebrating yesterday, because John and I both found out that we got promoted! The promotions come out in one big list, and you don’t know exactly when it will be published. It’s one of those things you try not to think about but then can’t get it out of your head. It doesn’t change our present jobs, it’s just another step up the ladder.

When we got back to Tel Aviv in early evening, we went upstairs to Howie and Petit’s for a small party – it was a nice night to sit out on their balcony and talk. Howard and his two co-workers also got promoted, so it was celebrating all around!

Last Monday night, we attended a reception at the DCM’s house to welcome our new Consul General. It was a fun night, and I met a lot of our wardens from across the country.

John had a big day on Monday – he got to escort the wife of a VIP from the military as she visited various USAID projects. We watch the Armed Forces Network at home, and the military big-wigs and their wives do a lot of public service announcements. This woman and her VIP husband are always on TV, cooking healthy foods, exercising, etc. in their PSAs and we always get a kick out of them. So when they needed a volunteer to escort the ladies, John’s hand shot up!

It was a short week for us since it is the Jewish New Year. The local staff left early on Wednesday, and we were all off on Thursday and Friday. We just relaxed and read. We also watched “Inside Job” about the financial crisis, and caught a couple of older movies on TV.

Sculpture in the garden, Nazareth

One green eye, one blue eye, Nazareth

John and Mrs. VIP

Another good busy week. The highlight of our week was having our friends Billy and Debbie come to visit this weekend. They arrived late Saturday and head out tomorrow morning. We visited with them on Saturday night, and had a great breakfast at Benedict’s this morning.

While they walked around town in the late afternoon, John and I went to the Newcomer’s Fair at the Rec Center. We were there to get the word out about John’s book club and had a good time visiting with folks.

Afterwards we came back and had dinner with Debbie and Billy at Mitzada across from the beach – good food and a good atmosphere.

On Saturday, John and I finished watching “Wall Street” and its sequel – it was fun to see the dated “Wall Street” from the 90s. Afterwards, I spent the next 10 hours, until 2 AM, working on getting an emergency message out to U.S. citizens. Bye bye Saturday!

Last Tuesday we were invited to the Ambassador’s residence for an outdoor world music concert – beautiful night and interesting music. The guest star was Peter from Peter, Paul and Mary.

Friday night we had a good dinner with Ben and Jen at Cafe Nana in Neve Tzedek – pretty place.

We also watched “The King’s Speech” this week – excellent movie!

We attended another official event on Thursday night – the Ambassador’s official welcome reception, held on the lawn of his residence. It is such a beautiful venue, watching the sunset over the ocean. There were several hundred people there, and John and I enjoyed mingling.

We’ve had several other fun events this week. Last Sunday, we went down the hall to Bill and Diane’s, where they had a big cookout on the balcony.

Tuesday night, we went to the DCM’s house to hear a reporter from the Financial Times speak and answer questions. His main point was that, given the current birth rates of Israeli Arabs and ultra Orthodox Jews, by 2040, those two groups will make up 78% of Israel’s population. Interesting, with lots of political and economic implications.

Friday we had a happy hour at work to say goodbye to Solange, our TDYer from DC. She, Juan and I went to Hotel Montefiore afterwards for drinks. She has really been a big help and I’ll miss her!

Last night, we went upstairs to Rob’s apartment for an open house. We met a lot of people from USAID and had a good time.

We watched a great movie this week, Temple Grandin. I really enjoyed the story (based on a true story) – Temple grew up in the 50s, is autistic, got advanced degrees, and went on to design humane cattle feed lots and slaughter houses. Fascinating. Here’s a link to a great TED talk of hers.

We had to say goodbye to our great TDYer Solange – she is a great person and was a huge help in ACS for the past six weeks.

Saying bye to TDYer Solange