No Clue

I have a problem -- I don't know what kind of work I'm going to do when I have to start working again. Sweetie nearly threw me over the precipice last week at dinner when he we were talking about his post-retirement and he basically said, "How can you not know what you want to do?"

UG.

I don't know. I know there are various things I would love to do, but either I'm completely unqualified or they don't pay enough to bring me above the poverty level.

Yes, I have all this great time to ponder my future career now that I'm not working, but it hasn't really brought me any closer to figuring it all out.

Very frustrating.

Any nuggets of wisdom out there? Magic bullets? Dream jobs? Feel free to send them my way!

お月見茶会

10月25日に我が家でお月見茶会をやりました。20名のお客さんを呼んで、お庭で御園棚の点前をしました。とても素晴らしい一夜になりました。私は忙しくて、写真を撮れなかったので、残念です。

25日、お客さんのためにまずお庭で冷たい飲み物をセットしました。皆さんは来てから他のお客さんと会話しながら飲んでいました。そして、スタートの時間になったら、みんなに椅子にかけてもらって、ちょっとお月見のことやお茶会の流れなどを説明しました。日本人の友達が点前をしながら私が点前の説明をしていました。皆さんはとても真剣に、興味を持ってみていました。お月様がちゃんと見え、お庭のライトアップもぴったりでとても素敵でした。

準備と片付けは本当に大変でしたけど、多分このお茶会は皆にとって忘れられない一時だったと思います。こういう機会を与えることができ、とてもありがたいです。

A beautiful evening

Last Thursday, we held an "Otsukimi Chakai" (Moon-Viewing Tea Gathering) at our home.  It is a tradition in Japan to honor and appreciate the full moon in the fall.  Sometimes this is celebrated in September, sometimes in October.  People set up a tray with dango (dumplings) and susuki (Japanese silver pampas grass)  as an offering to the moon.

It was a really wonderful and amazing night.  There were 19 guests seated on our deck facing the Misonodana -- a special lacquer table for Chado (the Way of Tea, or "tea ceremony").   Sweetie sat in the garden so that he could keep an eye on the gate in case of interlopers.

We set up a table in the garden with a small Otsukimi display -- of dango and a local grass that is remeniscent of susuki.  There was a pitcher of cold water and also one of cold dokudami-cha (a traditional herbal Okinawan tea).  When the guests arrived, we invited them to help themselves to a cold beverage, which they did.  They really enjoyed the Okinawan tea!

Then, as the time approached to begin, we invited all the guests to sit and I provided a brief intro.  I explained the tradition of Otsukimi and what we would be doing that evening -- serving sweets, watching the tea being prepared, drinking tea, and then a Q&A opportunity.

A Japanese  friend of mine N-san, who has been training under me on the Misonodana for about one month, performed the "ceremony," while I provided commentary and explanation.  Meanwhile, another friend who has been training under me, C-san, took care of everything else -- ensuring the guests were served cool drinks, serving sweets, and whipping and serving the tea.  Likewise, Y-san, who was a guest, pitched in and whipped many bowls of tea for us so that we could serve the guests quickly.

The lighting was perfect, the weather was just cool enough to be comfortable, and the moon was definitely visible from the garden.  Everyone was riveted on the ceremony.  It was completely new to many of them and everyone was fascinated.  Some guests told me they were "in heaven."  It was a really special time.  We were all able to enjoy the time together, appreciating eachothers' company and the beauty of nature.  

It was a tremendous amount of work, but I hope to do it again in the spring, for another occasion.  There were many interested people that we were not able to invite due to lack of space, and lack of sufficient help to whip the many bowls of tea.

Dogs Part II

Yesterday on our walk home from the gym, Sweetie and I passed a guy walking his dog.  The rather large dog was positioned in the street leaving a "present."  And of course, the guy just walked away as almost all Israelis do.  So, Sweetie and I started saying in voices loud enough for the man to hear, "Disgusting!!"  "Third World!"  "Filty Wanker" and other assorted derogatory terms.  I felt completely justified because someone has to teach these people and perhaps shame them into realizing that this is just not acceptable.  Maybe I should start carrying around a spare plastic bag in my backback and handing it out as a hint...:-)

Confession

Sweetie and I have put on a few extra pounds lately.  Sweetie is really bothered by his weight gain and practially panicked about it.  I'm a little more relaxed because all I need is one good week of going to the gym and I'll be back in shape.  Or at least, that's how it's worked so far.  I recently turned the dreaded age where women say their metabolism suddenly drops off into oblivion and all they have to do is look at an ice cream cone and they gain five pounds.....

Anyway, I keep reassuring Sweetie that the main reason for our weight gain is that we, the two of us, ate virtually his ENTIRE birthday cake by ourselves.  We did.   At first, I suggested he take it in to work, but he was wholly opposed to that idea.  And it was a very special cake, with instructions that it should NOT be stored in the refrigerator.  So, to keeps the ants at bay, we decided to store it in the oven.  It worked quite well.

I think eating the entire cake was totally worth the extra two inches I now have around my waist and hips.  It was heavenly.  I actually still fantasize about the cake.  If I could, I would go out and buy another.  But it was custom-made, very fancy, and cost a fortune (it had a 4-inch figure of a cricket player on it, entirely made of icing.  It was really, truly spectacular.)  
Just as well that I can't buy another!

Lessons Learned

Lesson #1: If ants are devouring a gross insect on your patio, leave them to it.

Today, I discovered a huge hoard of ants devouring what appeared to be a worm on our patio.  I thought I should clean it all up, then thought maybe I should just let the ants eat the dead thing.  That turned out to be the correct choice.  A few hours later, I looked outside and there was nary a sign of the whole spectacle.

Lesson #2: If there is a stream of ants just outside your front door, take no action.

One day, Sweetie was leaving for work and noticed a massive stream of ants running all along the front of our house.  He thought I should do something about it.  So, I sprayed them.  Bad idea.  Very soon, there was a stream of ants IN the house.  I was struggling to find their entry point, and then after much detective work realized that they were coming in from the burglar alarm noise-maker unit which is approximately 6 feet off the floor.  Go figure.  Anyway, I am now strictly against spraying or attempting to redirect ants that are outside the house.

I'll Call Before I Come Over

People here  such as friends, repairmen, clients, etc. who need to come to my house always tell me, "I'll call before I come by."  

But you know what, they always just show up.  

For example, last week, I was busy in the shower and my cell phone rang.  The person didn't leave a message, so I didn't make much of it and thought it must not have been important.  Well, a few days later I found out it was someone I did an editing job for and he called from my FRONT GATE with flowers as a thank you.  Result, I suppose his wife got the flowers instead.  No harm done, I suppose.  But, the point is, does "call before you come" mean to you "call as you walk up to the door"?  Generally, I think not.

Then again today I talked to a repairman and he took down my number and said he'd call before he came by.  Well, low and behold but at 5PM there's someone ringing my bell and it's one of the repairman's workers.  No call.  

It's all very interesting to me.  To me, these people are just inconveniencing themselves by apparently assuming that I am home literally all the time (ok, I really am home nearly all the time since I have no job, but that's beside the point).  I don't get it....

The West Bank

Over the weekend, Sweetie and I went up to the Galilee.  We went out for lunch at a lovely cafe on a mountainside.  The other side of the mountain is the West Bank - Palestinian territory.  After lunch, we drove further up the mountain and stopped at a lookout point.  We could see a West Bank town about one mile away.  It was so eerie.  It looked like a dark, heavy cloud of stagnation and depression was right on top of the town.  I've never seen anything like it.

It really makes me count my blessings.

The things that drive me crazy

Today when Sweetie tried to back out of the garage on his way to work, it was completely blocked by a workman's little pickup truck.  Sweetie had to find the workman (at a neighbor's house) and get it moved.  He told the guy not to park his truck there again.

Well, low and behold, I go out and it is RIGHT in front of our garage.  Completely blocking it.  And there were plenty of other places he could have parked.   Like in front of the garage of the person whose house he was working on, for one.  Anyway, I was sooooooo fed up.  I wrote a very "firm" note in both English and Hebrew stating that he should not park there.  Now, thankfully, the truck is completely gone.

"Peace"
Last Thursday, the next door neighbor's house alarm was going off literally for THREE HOURS in the morning.  It would be going off for 3 minutes, stop for 30 seconds, and then start going off again.  I was soooooooo irritated.  I started screaming, "There will NEVER be peace in this country because people here have absolutely no respect for it!!"

I believe this.

And add the whole parking thing, and you see that some people (many here, according to my observations) have no respect for and show no consideration for other people.  This is another truly necessary component to making peace with your neighbors, whether they are neighbors on your street, or neighbors in the next country or "territory."

Did you say "Fire"?

Yesterday when I arrived at the gym, it was plastered with signs in Hebrew.  They were on the revolving entrance door, at the front desk, everywhere.  So, I decided it might be wise to see what they said (they were in Hebrew).  I asked at the front desk.  And the reply:

"Oh, we had an electrical outage.  There was a little fire this morning.  So you can't use the pool, the showers, or one of the aerobics studios."

Excuse, but did she say "little FIRE"?!?!  Not exactly confidence-inspiring.  But, I decided to take advantage of the fact that the gym was virtually empty after the "little fire" and ignored the acrid smell of burnt wires and pressed on with my workout!

Oops

I have complained about the quality of construction of our house before. It's all-the-more infuriating because everyone who walks into our house comments on how nice it is. They assume we live in this wonderful fantastic fantasy house, when in fact, it's a piece of....

Today, the pool guy commented on how nice the house is. I said, "Yeah, but.........." And then I commented that the new pool pump is quite loud. He said that's because when they built the house, they did the house and pool "all in one." I think he meant that they dug one hole, and laid one slab of concrete for both. So, all the pool pump noise transmits directly into our basement (and my tea room -- not exactly one of the "sounds" of tea that you expect to hear in the tea room). He said, "Yeah, they made a mistake." Uh, yeah, guess so!

And Wednesday, the gardener spent THREE hours here trying to mitigate the effects of another "mistake" they made when building the house. I lost two of my precious camelia bushes because of it. They didn't install the proper pipe to feed water to one of the flower beds in the garden. The gardener said he told them what to do when they built the house, but they didn't do it. So, there he was, trying to feed 30ft long rubber hoses from one end of the patio, underground, to the other end. We'll see if it worked.

That's all just indicative of the general quality of workmanship around here.

Sweet things

It's the time of the year for fruit trees here in Israel. The mandarins in our yard are almost orange, and the oranges are starting to turn from green. The lemons still have a way to go, but we managed to pull one that ripened early and it was delicious! It's so nice to have your own fruit and know that it's not coated in pesticides.

Walking through the neighborhood, I've seen pomagrante trees and a starfruit tree! These are fruits you rarely even see at the grocery store in the US, let alone in your yard.

It's just nice to have such a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. This morning I had a persimmon, for example. Yummy.

Cooking Adventures
Yesterday, a Japanese friend of mine came over and taught me how to make nama-Yatsuhashi (a Japanese sweet famous in Kyoto) and dango (another Japanese sweet) in the microwave! It was much easier than I ever expected.

Then, today I made an (Japanese sweet bean paste). I had tried to make it once about 10 years ago, and I failed miserably. Today's attempt went much better, and I think it's actually pretty close to the way it should be. Woohoo. That's a good thing because it took 4 HOURS to make.

Japanese cuisine is not known for being quick and easy. My goodness. I just made a pot of beans and sugar, but it took FOUR hours. That stuff should be worth its weight in gold!

英語が難しい方のため、私は先日日本人の友達に八橋と団子の皮、電子レンジでの簡単な作り方を教えていただきました。20分でできとても楽でした。昨日彼女が作っておいた餡を使ったんですが、今日私は一人で粒餡を作ってみました。10年前に一度作ろうとして失敗した経験があったのですが、今日頑張って、何とか結構いい餡が作れました。嬉しいけど、相当時間かかりますね！餡は金と同じくらいの値段を取ればいいと思います！

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

When Sweetie and I were forced to downsize in March (when the rent on his house virtually doubled), we looked at quite a few houses. There was the "Italian House," which was absolutely gorgeous, but entirely too small for us. It had no laundry room, no storage, no basement, etc. There was a large open area on the first floor, a small-ish kitchen, and a yard with a heated lap pool. Upstairs, it simply had 4 rooms (two with walk-in closets), each with a toilet and shower, but two of the rooms were QUITE small. That was it. There was no place to put a washer and dryer, etc. It was a shame because the house was absolutely beautiful. Brand new, great attention to detail. Imported everything from Italy. But, we declined because it was too small.

The house remained vacant for MONTHS. But finally, about a month ago, we saw that some diplomats had moved in. Then, a week ago, I noticed that a flag had been erected and a sign put up declaring it the residence of an ambassador. So, we turned down an ambassador's house.

Another house we looked at was a semi-detached (aka duplex) on a somewhat dilapidated street that seems on the upswing. The house was big enough and though it wasn't perfect, it was the only acceptable one we'd seen so far (it too was brand new, and actually not even finished yet). We put a bid in on it, only to find out later that someone had already signed a contract on it (such the Israeli way to keep showing a house after someone else has sealed a deal on it). Anyway, we found out later that the people who had been living in the house we eventually took (and live in now) moved into THAT house! Interesting.

Well, we took a walk by it the other day and low and behold, but a HUGE house is being built right next to it! Vindication!!! We were so pleased. Yes, there's a house being built behind us, but it's only two stories (no basement). And it's sort of diagonally behind us, not directly behind us. On the other hand, the house being constructed by the duplex is ginormous and has a basement (ie: more construction, more noise). Because the house is a duplex, this new construction will effective block out many of the nice views in the house and lots of natural light.

So, even though the construction we've been dealing with has been a nightmare, we've learned that it could always be worse....:-)

Sightseeing in Ohio

While we were in Ohio, I took Sweetie to see some of the local "attractions." One day, we went to Amish country (Ohio has the largest Amish population in the US, I believe). It was a beautiful day (as were virtually all days we were in Ohio -- something I keep trying to convince Sweetie is NOT at all normal). We drove down to Berlin, Ohio, parked the car and wandered in and out of some shops and stopped for some tea (while choking on fumes from the countless semi-trucks that passed on the rather narrow main street) -- all the while trying to escape from attacking yellow jackets.



We finally surrendered and got back into the car in search of the Amish-Mennonite Heritage Center. We resisted the temptation to pay to see the highly touted "cyclorama." Instead, we tried to catch some free peeks into the barn and schoolhouse while a tour was being conducted.



On the way home, we took a different route and discovered glorious local route 77 (not the highway 77 that runs up to Cleveland, as we learned). It was just beautiful. I knew Sweetie really enjoyed it. Me less so since I was constantly trying to avoid hitting the numerous horses and buggies we encountered on the road.



Pro Football Hall of Fame

No visit to the Canton-Massillon area is compete without a stop at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The last time I was there, I was FIVE years old. A very very long time ago. Longer than even I can believe. Anyway, the parking lot was full of cars with HOF theme license plates. We were in HOF territory for sure.



By this point during the trip, I had managed to contract some plague and was not feeling well at all. Nevertheless, I pressed on, taking frequent breaks at the benches scattered throughout the facility. The historical displays were rather interesting and I'll be happy to take any future Ohio visitors there.



Wine Festival

Sweetie and I are big fans of wine, so we couldn't resist checking out Canton's Wine Tasting event that coincided with our visit home. It was actually much better than we expected, with a fairly large variety of wines from virtually all major wine-producing countries. The live music was good, there were various restaurants offering food for a nominal cost (and sometimes free!), and there were tables available to stand at and sip your wine (I migrated to a picnic table on the fringe of the festival because I needed to sit!).



Incidentally, this is where we did make an appearance in the newspaper. While Sweetie was getting wine for us, a reporter for the local paper zeroed in on me and by the time Sweetie came back, I was in full-swing trying to give the reporter some good quotes. Sweetie, however, was much better at this, and he certainly attracted the attention of my relatives with his infamous, "Rather than [just] sitting at home and visiting relatives, we decided to do something."



Unfortunately, my illness (and the fact that I was driving) put a slight damper on my energy level, but again, I pressed on and hung in there the best I could. Neither of us were able to finish our EIGHT wine tasting tickets (the samples were practically half-glasses!), which sort of made us feel old, but anyway, we enjoyed it.

Happy, 嬉しい

けっこう私のブログを見てくれている友達が多いみたいで、とても嬉しいです。皆さん、ありがとう！

I continue to hear from friends and family that they are reading my blog, so I'm very happy. Thanks!

Cornhole

While visiting family in Ohio, Sweetie and I were introduced to Cornhole -- an outdoor game sweeping Ohio (and perhaps other parts of the US?). I just checked Wikipedia and it was actually invented back in the 1960s in the west side of Cincinnati. Anyway, it is very much the rage now in Ohio, with everyone from college students to families playing it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Cornhole involves two boards set at an incline and placed 30 feet apart. Each board has a hole in it. Teams stand at opposite boards and try to throw beanbags into the hole of the board 30 feet away from them. [Photo from Wikipedia]

My aunt and uncle initiated Sweetie and me into Cornhole and all its glory. They told me beforehand that one of my aunts, who will remain nameless, managed to throw her beanbag behind her and ONTO THE ROOF. Well, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be doing that.

Well....I shouldn't have been so confident. None of my beanbags landed on the roof, but they came pretty darn close, and in addition, I nearly hit my cousin, and she wasn't even playing the game!

Anyway, I had another aunt to commisserate with over my serious lack of hand-eye coordination. Another aunt of mine said her bags go straight up in the air like mine did. Much to my uncle's complete disbelief. He just could not understand how it could be so difficult to toss a stupid beanbag. Indeed. I don't understand either!

I tried to convince Sweetie that we should make a Cornhole set to play here, but he pointed out that our yard isn't long enough and that we'd be sending the bags into the street or the swimming pool (or worse, if I am playing).

日本語を頂戴

もっと日本語で分ログをお願いしますということですので、今日日本語でちょっと頑張ります。

アメリカの旅行はとても楽しくて(短かったけど）イスラエルに帰ってくるのはちょっと。。。難しい。もちろん時分の家にいて、自分のベッドで寝るのは気持ちいいけどね。だけど、いらいらすることが多いですね。そして私たちの家はとてもハイテックで問題が次から次出てくるの。例えば、ベッドルームの電気(ライト）が昨日消えてしまった。これは前も消えてしまったものです。直すのはとても難しい。専門の人を呼ばなきゃいけません。普通のライトをつけたらよかったのに、この家はとても｢おしゃれ」なものばっかりで、問題だらけです。

つかれた！

From Southern CA to Ohio

Sweetie and I really enjoyed our beachside days in CA, even if we only actually walked along the beach once (Brrrr....that Pacific water is COLD!).

After four days in California, we flew to Ohio to visit the bulk of my relatives, including my 91-year-old grandmother.

We decided to visit Grandma early on in the trip and I called her to schedule our visit. Since I was last home, my grandpa died and my grandma had to be moved into an assisted living facility.

When I called her, she asked me Sweetie's name and when I told her his first name, she said, "And is that how I should address him?" Hmmm...ummmm....yeah... I was trying to figure out what else she might want to call him...?!

Anyway, I should have taken that as a sign that something was amiss. Very long and painful story short, Grandma thought Sweetie was an AMBASSADOR. She called to reconfirm his title the night before our scheduled visit to the assisted living center. She said something about a "camera crew" and the "newspaper." I completely panicked. I called the local newspaper and sounding like a complete lunatic, explained my apparent predicament. I was told that they would inform the lady who would be working on the story, if there was in fact such a story in the works.

Then, my aunt calls and mentions something about the "nursing home newsletter." NewsLETTER? Newsletter?? Not newsPAPER? So, apparently I really really sounded like a complete lunatic calling up the newsPAPER. "Welcome home, Cha-chan," is all my aunt had to say.

Well, in the end, Sweetie did okay without my mom and her friend showing up dressed in black with my iPod headphones in their ears looking like bodyguards. There was no red carpet, no formal diplomatic welcome reception, no cameras....no newspaper or even newsletter. Just a nice quiet chat with Grandma on such gentle issues as global warming (she brought it up!).

As it turns out, we did end up in the newspaper later during our trip. We were at a wine festival and while Sweetie was getting us more wine, a reporter made a beeline for me. My aunt called the next morning to report that we were on the "front page" of the "local section," right below "Daddy stabbed Mommy."

That's Ohio excitement for you. And Sweetie really took a liking to the place.