criplomats

Harvest time

So John and I drove up to our favorite cabins at Vered Hagalil last Saturday morning to enjoy the three-day weekend, and enjoy it we did! We had a late lunch when we arrived with a nice bottle of wine, then watched the sunset over the Sea of Galilee and played a game of Scrabble.

Sunday we visited our two favorite wineries in that area and stocked up on some of our favorite white wines from Galil Mountain and Dalton. After a great lunch at Doris the Butcher in Rosh Pinna, we came back to Vered Hagalil and had massages, followed by another pretty sunset over the Sea of Galilee (known locally as the Kinneret, which translates to “harp” because of its shape).

Vered Hagalil is sort of a resort and sort of a ranch. Not fancy, but very relaxing. After breakfast Monday morning, I had my coffee while watching the horses being exercised in the ring, watched a horse getting shod, said hello to  my favorite “paint pony,” and petted the foal who has grown since the last time we were there, and watched a litter of six kittens play, jump, hide, attack and otherwise torment their mother. (The kittens were the funniest thing I have seen in a very long time!)

I bugged John until he drove me down the hill from our cabin to the Mount of the Beatitudes. We may have spent 10 minutes there. There is an Italian chapel on the site; we searched for the plaque that says it was built by Mussolini but couldn’t find it. Amid the swarms of Chinese tourists, we did find this:

Why is it that a four-day week at work feels like a six-day week?

Yes, back to work on Tuesday. It was a super-busy and interesting week. And emotionally exhausting. And fun. We have a fantastic group of local staff in our section and I really enjoy working with them.

It was nice to top off such a crazy week with a glass of wine upstairs on Petit and Howie’s balcony (until the phone rang and had to be on the phone the rest of the night with police and hospitals, anyway!).

Our new American Citizens Services chief arrived on Friday. John and I had breakfast with him and his partner at Benedict’s this morning. He’s a great guy, and I look forward to working with him.

We continued our visit with Petit and Howie on Saturday with lunch down at the renovated old Train Station. Petit recommended a wonderful Italian place and we sat outside and enjoyed the food and the fan blowing on us.

Howie and Petit

 

John at the Train Station

Inside a shop at Old Train Station

 

 

 

I’m posting a little early this week because John and I are going out of town for the long holiday weekend. Boy, do we need a break. This week was a roller coaster.

The week started off pretty slowly. John and I ran an errand up in Hertzliya (which involves getting the car out of the garage), then we stopped by the duty free store to pick up some things.

Tuesday night I went to a ladies’ book club at Jen’s apartment. We read an interesting book by an Arab Christian woman from Lebanon. It’s a good chance to visit with some of the girls.

Thursday night was book club at our house. It was our largest group yet, with a lot of new people. John was able to barely get it started, then he had to leave to do something for the Ambassador and didn’t get home until 11 PM. Meanwhile, I was on the phone with a severely disturbed young American woman (juggling talking to her and with her family back in the States), while people were coming in and enjoying book club. Luckily we have a good group of regulars of were able to make themselves at home without John and me!

It was an emotional week in ACS. The young woman I talked to at length on Thursday night came to see me Friday at the office so we could talk to her in person. I had another case of an American-Israeli who renounced his U.S. citizenship  – he was so eloquent talking about loving two countries and what a difficult decision it was for him.

And there was the guy who came to  complain because the Israelis confiscated his poker chips when he flew into the country.

You just never know who is going to walk up to your window!

Another busy, but fun, week.

Last Sunday, we met a group of friends for brunch in Neve Tzedek, including several people who work for other diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv. It was put together by our friend Lea, who somehow seems to know everyone in town and who decided her friends should meet each other.

Earlier that morning, I spent three hours sitting on the roof of the Embassy while several maintenance workers made repairs. Due to security, local staff has to have an American escort in certain areas of the building, so I drew the short straw to work Sunday morning – it actually wasn’t too bad because it was early and I had a good book to read and an ocean view!

John had an interesting trip with the Ambassador this week. On Tuesday, they went to visit people who had been injured in the weekend’s rocket attacks, and visited a yeshiva in Ashdod that had been hit.

Thursday evening after work, I met an Israeli friend, Merav, for a drink. She brought her puppy Teddy, who is in training to be a seeing-eye dog. Merav is fun and interesting, and Teddy is precious. Click to see Teddy playing with Merav’s cat.

Friday was an administrative day at work, so we didn’t take appointments from the public. It’s a welcome day when we can get caught up on paperwork. The week was extremely busy with odd cases.

Friday night we had a great dinner with Howie and Petit, who we haven’t seen since she returned from her trip home to Mexico. It was wonderful to catch up!

We took it easy yesterday and just stayed in to read and watch movies. We watched “Another Year” and “The Adjustment Bureau,” both good.

Mailbox, Neve Tzedek

Israel was in the news again this week when several attacks occurred in the southern part of the country on Thursday. Violence has continued with rockets continuing to pepper the area, and Israel forces have engaged some of the perpetrators. Our job in the American Citizen Services section is to be sure that U.S. citizens get the same message that we get within the Embassy – the “no double standard” rule that came about after the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. I worked late Thursday night drafting the message and maneuvering it up the chain of command through our Front Office and in DC. We remain on alert here as the situation continues to evolve.

Despite the troubles, we have had a fun week.

Last Sunday we were treated to an afternoon with Dave, our friend from the Consulate in Jerusalem. Later that evening, Jen and Rebecca and I enjoyed the sunset while floating in our pool – life doesn’t get much better!

Monday night, our  TDY’er came over to do laundry and we got a good chance to visit. She is very interesting, and told me lots of stories from her work in DC and her three years in northern Africa.

Tuesday night we went to the DCM’s residence to hear a speaker who runs political campaigns in Israel – he was young and interesting, and talked about how American campaigns have influenced how campaigns are run in Israel.

Friday night, we joined Chip, Anne, Robbie and Suzanne at a wonderful little restaurant in Neve Tzedek. It was a beautiful night to sit outside for dinner and enjoy a bottle of good wine.

One of most fun things I did this week was going with a professional photographer around the city for a photography class yesterday morning. Wendy, TDY’er Solange and I spent about two and a half hours Saturday morning walking through the neighborhoods around our apartment, learning some photography basics, followed by a well-deserved breakfast at a nice little cafe.

John and I watched a great movie, “Barney’s Version” last night with Paul Giamatti. Very good.

This week we welcomed two new folks to the Consular section: our new Consul General and a TDY’er who came to help us in ACS for a month. I’m especially grateful for the TDY help – as an added bonus, she normally works in American Citizen Services back in Washington, so I am learning a lot from her when it comes to child abduction, welfare and whereabouts calls, etc.

I’ve had several phone calls this week along these lines. It’s always, um, interesting what people think the US Embassy can do for them or their children. I spent a couple of hours last Sunday on phone calls with the duty officer and our consular agent, trying to help a young American citizen who got himself in a bit of hot water with local police.

John and I made it to Whitehall one night this week for a nice dinner; otherwise, he has been getting home fairly late.

Thursday I went with my boss to have lunch with two delightful women from the German Embassy. I was sort of dreading a “business lunch,” but I ended up really enjoying myself. It was a nice change from my typical eat-at-my-desk tuna salad!

Friday we had a happy hour at work with the officers and new CG – always a good way to end the week.

Saturday night, John and I went to a going away party for a friend from Post. It was fun, and we enjoyed the full moon and cooler temps walking there and back.

We watched a good movie this week, “Conviction,” with Hillary Swank.

John is loving his job. This week he went with the Ambassador to see a joint US-Israel military project south of Tel Aviv near the Gaza border – he had a blast (no pun intended). See the photo below! Click here for a video about the visit – the first couple of minutes are in Hebrew, then he switches to English.