Long borders make for difficult times

In Israel the borders that are guarded are very long, very convoluted and do not make much sense. First off it is very expensive and hard to guard different parts of Gaza that are owned by Israelis. I use the word owned as this land that we are guarding was bought and paid for in the 1920's before the state of Israel was even formed.

Now people are talking about pulling out of Aza, and I can see the point from all three sides. The Palestinians want continuous territory, the Israeli government wants less borders to patrol, and the Jews on the land have clear legal title to the land that predates the state of Israel. It is their home, they are invested in it, and the money that they will get for it does not reflect its value.

The issue here is one thing. No one in the middle east really cares about the settlements in Gaza, for the PA it is a step to getting us to cede Ashdod, or some other part of our southern coast line, for the government it is a very expensive political statement, and for the people who's home it has been for 80 years very few people are listening.

I want peace, heck everyone I know here wants peace, but I do not see the point of pulling back from Aza. Backing down like we did in Lebanon will just result in more attacks on Israel proper. What is so amazing is that this war has completely devastated the economies of both sides, but as the situation has escalated neither side can afford to pull back.

Frankly, I can see only one solution. Free WIFI piped into AZA, Free old computers with WIFI to any house with children in it, and a Radio Free America piped into the region in English and Arabic. Information is the key to solving the regions problems. Both sides need to see that the other sides claims have basis and needs to move ahead on that basis.

I can say that what is completely depressing, but yet reality, is I can not see peace in my life time. For us to get peace every Jew would have to leave Israel, and frankly I and 6 million others do not feel that we are willing to give this place up. This is my home, however long I stay here, I think for the rest of my life I will think about Israel as my home. I am happier here then I have ever been before in my life. I love the land of Israel. Heck I am even learning how to speak Hebrew, and for me that is saying something.

The fight is not for Gush, but for Tel Aviv and Ra'anana, the fight is not for the green line, but for the whole of our country.

Benjamin

Jackhammers are not your friends

Okay, this is a pet peeve, but the people upstairs are redoing their apartment. Now they could be jack hammering in the morning when no one is here, but instead the have been starting around 2:00. Now I must say there is nothing like being directly below a jack hammer. It just gives a certain brain tingling vibration that just can not be missed. It is even better if it happens after a day of brain tingling Uplan that comes together for some really special splitting head aches.

I am not yenting, but if you want to see me get excited about moving, my landlord could not have picked a bettor way to get us out of the apartment. Now we just have to find another one, which strangely is quite hard in October, there just is not that much available here.

Time to get my kids from Gan, go to the park and then come back here to clean, I get to have a date tonight as we have hired a baby sitter :-).

Benjamin

Today was better

I started Ulpan, to put Ulpan in terms that other people can understand, for me it is a bunch of people talking to me in Hebrew and I do not understand it at all. The point is to learn via immersion. So I am doing Ulpan, and it is scary and hard, but I am learning and I really like it. I can not read Hebrew, I can figure out what the dots mean and how to put the little stuff together. I can not do it well, but I am learning and for me that is so amazing I just almost want to cry. It is hard to take risks and right now going back into the class room to learn Hebrew is the biggest risk I have taken in years. If I fail it will really hurt, but something tells me I will not lean completely, but I also will not fail.

Our phone service got cut off as the bill had not been paid. It would have been nice had the land lady given a copy of the bill, or switched the service over to us. We paid the bill online on the phone and the problem is solved, but it still is enough to drive me crazy.

We are looking for a new apartment and I might have found one, it will make the kids very happy, but for me it is a huge come down from where we were in the past. This apartment does not have a view, but it faces park blocks and it has a play ground just across the street. Sometimes we do stuff for our kids, as the view apartments are not kid friendly, you are trapped in them away from everyone. I would like to live next to a huge play ground, I would like to look at the park when I work frankly It would be better then what I have now. I am going to call on it and we will see.

We either are looking for low end or high end, but we first need to figure out who we are at this point in our lives and what we need space wise.

Benjamin

Tonight I took the kids for Ice cream

In some towns, going for ice cream means getting in the car. Where we live now going for ice cream is a completely different production. It starts with sandals, yes I know it is October, but the weather is still warm and we all have our sandals. It is hard some times to find all of them. Avi kicks them off where ever he can, and Sam takes extra time in taking them off, ideally in two different spots at opposite ends of the apartment. But if we are lucky we find them and quickly.

You see Avi knows all about ice cream and he is not opposed to the idea of opening the door to let Sam out into the hall just to make sure that I do not check email one more time or sit on the computer. For Avi a cone of Ice Cream is a sacred vow, and one that once made has to be acted on before the resolution to go has melted in the October sun.

Okay, maybe this is a bit corny, but to Avi Ice Cream always has capital letters and is key. Sam on the other hand will eat anything and for him Ice Cream is just more food, maybe if he had more then 5 words he could express his love of the stuff, but for now it is just another form of food.

When we final get the sandal's on, and get Avi and Sam on the single seat American oversized stroller, we are on our way for Ice Cream. Now tonight I had an alternative reason for going for Ice Cream, I wanted to talk to realtors. In reality I am a closet real estate junky and I managed to somehow talk ourselves out of an apartment by being nice, and now we had to find another one.

Ice cream is at the other end of Achuza street and there are lots of real estate offices in between. In China I learn how to deal with real estate signs, I learned what symbol meant what, and I was able to read them. In Israel I can check only a couple of things, number of rooms price, and amount of features. If an apartment has not so many word describing it, I know it does not have a balcony or a garden, or an AC or a stove, if the ad in the window runs 4-5 lines then I know it is for me.

I love old real estate, I like the older buildings better then the new ones, but I also like the ability to go outside and I want a view. Frankly in a country where the difference in rent between the best and the worse 4 bed room apartment in town is $200, we can be picky, or so I hope.

Back to the quest for the Ice Cream, I was a little depressed about talking myself out of an apartment and now I needed to get out and see the world.

The easiest place to be alone is in a city. People are always around you but you can easily hide in a city. It is so easy not to get to know people not to make friends, not to get out. In a less of a city people force themselves on you, people talk. What is scary is some of the best human contact I get here is with street musicians. There is one from Odessa that will always spend 5 minutes talking to you. Sometimes like tonight I will make it a point to cross the street to talk to him. Other times I wonder at the desire for the human contact.

All of this happens on the way to Ice Cream. Frankly for the kids Ice Cream is the end of the road, for me it is a way to keep the kids happy as I push them up and down the street looking watching, but not really joining in. For right now I feel like I am in Alice's Wonderland not quite here and also not there. There is opportunity here, people are blending in, but in some ways I still feel like I stick out.

The ability to go for ice cream and hear music on the way, competing with the busses and the horns of the cars, the ability to have my eldest son be able to count both now in Hebrew and English, that makes it all worth it, but some days I wonder if at some point the looking glass will crumble and I will drop over to the other side.

Till next time,

Benjamin

Hello

Welcome to my Iron Ore blog. It is a direct out shoot of my project www.RocheBay.com, but that is to be expected. I am going to be quickly linking the articles of the day as they come up. This will be a fun.

Benjamin