Israeli Game Shows

In Israel we don't have many choices for TV.  We have a standard cable package which includes some truly terrible movie channels, National Geographic and History (all in English with Hebrew subtitles).  History combines all of its commercials between shows which is very nice, but National Geographic likes to interrupt their own English shows with commercials in Hebrew for upcoming shows--that's one of the reasons I learned the words for days of the week ("rishon be tesha" is Sunday night at 9:00). We also have a bunch of Israeli channels but they are in Hebrew as would be expected.  The English channels usually have semi-decent offerings but occasionally, like last night, the options were dreadful.  That's when I turn to Israeli game shows.  News and stand-up comedy are too hard to follow in a foreign language, but game shows with their standard formats and emotional excitement can be followed without too much trouble.  I can plot the highs and lows in tones of voice and it's clear when someone is winning vs. losing.  Losers usually disappear from the set very quickly.  They don't mince words.  The popular shows are high risk, very public, and unforgiving--but they make for great TV.

Wipeout לחסל
Israeli Wipeout was similar to the US version except that the winner was one of the most athletic men I've seen on t.v. and was able to complete the final course in a blistering 1:23!  No one else came close!  This definitely wasn't the "everyman" vibe that you get from the show in the states.  There was no "I could do that" moment.  It was just fierce and brutal competition.

A Star is Born כוכב נולד
The Israel version of American Idol, called "A Star is Born" was similar in its brutality.  One show featured dueling contestants where one of the two singers got to stay with the show and one was escorted off in front of live t.v.  They sang, the voting lines opened, the judges provided their criticism, and the loser was escorted out (all within 10 minutes!)  Not a show ended without 1 or more contestants permanently eliminated.  For their part, the contestants did not show any hurt feelings or have nervous breakdowns on stage.  They were much less emotional about the competition than their US counterparts.

Who's Still Standing/ Fly Million לטוס מיליון
This spirit of intense but fun competition was definitely on display in the game show I watched last night called "Still Standing."  The game is a new twist on trivia as a person stood in the center of a circle of other people all of which were standing on a trap door.  Each people in the circle has a monetary value which no one knew--there are 2 of each of the following possibilities (50,000; 25,000; 10,000; 500; 1).  The person in the middle selects a person in the circle to play against and then they start a round of trivia.  Each person has 20 seconds to answer the question.  If they answered correctly, their opponent gets a question and another 20 seconds, and they go back and forth like this until someone gets it wrong.  Then, if the person in the circle is wrong, the door beneath their feet opens and they fall through.  The money that their position guarded is revealed and banked by the person in the middle.  This can be anything from 1 NIS to 50,000 NIS.  If the person in the middle wants to continue the game, they call out another person and play for another pot of money.
If, however, the person in the middle fails to answer their question, they go into one more round with the person in the circle.  If the person in the center wins the duel, the trapdoor opens up under the person in the circle and the center person can play on.  If the person in the circle beats the one in the center, the one in the center falls through the floor, forfeits their winnings, and the person left standing gets one more question.  If they answer correctly, they get to find out how much money their number held and then get to keep that amount.  In the game I saw last night, the lucky victor got to keep 50,000 NIS!
It was a very exciting game because it was a battle of wits rather than a multiple choice test.  Both competitors could win any amount of money or end up with a dramatic exit, straight down.  I'm not sure if the lawyers in the states would approve of such an exit in that style, but if they did, it would make a wonderful import.
And apparently I'm not alone in my assessment.  NBC is coming out with a version of it in August: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4080763,00.html

Don't Drop the Millionאל תפיל את המיליון
Apparently dropping through the floor is very popular in Israel, since they use the same principle in a show called "Drop the Money."  In it, two contestants in a team are presented with a trivia question, four possible answers, and a stack of 1,000,000 NIS in cash.  The people have 60 seconds to physically place the piles of money on platforms in front of the correct answer.  Any money placed on the wrong answers falls through the floor when the correct one is revealed.  Also, any money that has not been placed disappears in the same way.  Apparently watching all of this money disappear through the floor is somewhat traumatic which only increases the suspense of the game.  The contestants can gamble and distribute the money across the answers, but they risk losing their hedge if it's wrong.  The next round is played with the remaining money and so on until the final round is just 2 possible answers and the money must be placed all or nothing.  It sounds like a really great show (even if you can't read the questions) as it is easy to identify with the gamble and the emotional highs and lows.  Obviously, they can't opt to stop playing and bank the money.  They have to play through until the end or until they have no money.  The human drama is fantastic in any language.
If you're interested, a full episode is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJzSKkBLa4&feature=related

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Last week, on June 15th, Israel was treated to the longest total lunar eclipse until 2018.  We were extremely fortunate to have a front-row seat.  The moon rose just far south enough to be visible from our apartment window.  The next night it was too far over the building!  The eclipse started around 9:00 p.m. and was at totality by 11:30 when we decided to call it a night.  Here are some photos from the event.  We took these with a 70-300mm IS lens on a Canon 7D.

A cloud passes in front of the moon as it rises

Eclipse is starting!

The moon is disappearing

Further into the eclipse

As we approached totality, the moon went red and very dark

Total eclipse, very dark

Turning Point 5

As you may have heard, Israel is conducting military preparedness drills called "Turning Point 5" today--5 because it is in the fifth year, having started in 2007.  It is a nation-wide defense drill involving everyone with drills in the morning during the work day and in the evening at home.  We were warned repeatedly about the impending drill (they will sound the air raid siren in all Israeli cities at 11:00 and 7:00 p.m. today) so I was a little worried about how the day would go.  If I had been alone, it wouldn't have been so scary--when the sirens sounded we went to the shelter/copy room on our floor and waited for 10 minutes--but my co-workers did their best to make me wish I was back home and safe in California where all we have to worry about is natural disasters.

While we were in the shelter, staring out the window at the traffic below, my co-worker turned to me:
"Do you know how it was? Back in 2006?  They sounded the siren and you didn't know if you were going to be hit or not.  They sounded it whenever a projectile was detected and they didn't know what type or how fast it was going.  You didn't know if it was a 5km range missle that was going to hit the far north or if it was powerful enough to travel all the way to Haifa.  They would sound the siren everywhere at all times and you just didn't know where it would land.  Now they are able to tell the missle type and the trajectory, they think, but back then, sirens were just part of life."
"Some times you were caught outside [when the sirens sounded] and then what could you do?   You could continue driving or you could stop but you weren't safe.  You had to make calls like that every day.  And it didn't really bother people.  The adults, well, they/we are all soldiers so you didn't worry.  Everyone has faced down worse.  But the kids, that's what you had to deal with, the kids didn't know what was happening.  You had to keep them safe."
"How long of a warning did you have?"
"About 10 minutes, you didn't know."

The intercom announced the end of the drill.  They thanked us for our participation.  Apparently last year, many employees didn't even play along with the drill.  "We follow the news; there are no rocket attacks today."

Outside the window I saw firemen setting a large pile of wooden crates on fire in an empty lot.  Others were tending to a "victim" on a stretcher or as my co-worker called it "a tanning bed."  Occasionally a fireman picked up a crate on the edge of the fire and heaved it into the flames.  "That's interesting," I said.  "In the US we don't usually set fires for our fire drills."  "The wood has to go somewhere," he replied.  "They don't want to haul it back home, that's for sure."

What a strange country!  I can't understand the threat of rocket attacks that lasts for months or a nation where everyone is a brave soldier in the home and in the workplace.  I couldn't live here knowing that some one hates me, my city, my home enough to inflict that kind of torture.  Thank goodness that Operation Iron Dome has had some success shooting down the missles.  My co-worker tells me "it's amazing what you can get used to."  I hope I never have to try.

Numbering the Days

One of my goals while living in Israel was to learn a little Hebrew.  Well, my Hebrew is pretty miniscule, but I have learned enough to successfully order a large orange juice from the beach bar ("Mitz Tapuzim, geduld, bevakasha").  So yay for small triumphs.  My cube mate recently decided to take me under his tutelage and teach me my numbers so after I order the OJ I can figure out that the nice man is asking for 12 "shteym-esre sheqalim" (I think Shekel is feminine?). 

As I was learning to count to ten, I realized that the days of the week are also numbered 1-6.  Sunday, the day after Shabbat, is literally "the first day," or "yom rishon."  Monday is the second day "yom sheni" and so on until you get to the seventh day which breaks the pattern because it is Shabbat and therefore behaves according to different rules.  But how wonderful is that to consider that the biblical "On the second day God created..." is being repeated every single week.  We slog through our work week of creative toil until we get to rest on the Shabbat.  It makes a lot more sense than giving the days away to Norse gods and godesses, although Frigga will always hold a dear place in my heart (TGIF!)

In the table below I have an illustration of how Hebrew counts the days.  "First" has a different root word than "one," but after that I have highlighted the Hebrew root in both the number and the day. 

Hebrew roots are more useful than Latin roots in English due to the general lack of vocabulary in the Hebrew language.  Where English might swap to a from German to French to Latin while meaning nearly the same thing, Hebrew has one word that serves many purposes.  I am repeatedly amazed by my co-workers mastery of both Hebrew and English.  I only wish that I were better able to reciprocate the favor.  All I can say is "Ani lo hevanti" (I don't understand) and smile.

Shavuot, Our Last Israeli Holiday

First, apologies for not writing more reguarly, but life has been busy.  Two weeks ago we experienced the last national holiday occurring during our brief six month stay.  It's been quite a fun time: Purim (had to work), Passover I and II, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Lag Ba Omer (had to work), and finally Shavuot.  Six holidays (5 days free) in four months!  During this same time the US has had Presidents Day and Memorial Day off.  I think we got the better deal. 

Israel has so many holidays in the spring because spring is much nicer here than summer.  Spring is an accelerated season (relative to California) and due to its abundance of heat and water, most crops are coming to harvest 2 months before they would in the Central Valley.  For example, fresh corn and watermelons started showing up in roadside stands in May!

Passover traditionally marked the start of the barley harvest, and fifty days later (give or take) Shavuot celebrates the wheat harvest and the bringing of the first fruits to the Temple.  Traditionally, the holiday is associated with the giving of the Torah to the Israelites camped out at the base of Mt. Sinai.  Synagogues stay open into the wee hours as devoted Jews pull a collective all-night study session.  The Book of Ruth is also somehow involved.  But for the secular Jew, there is still fun to be had.  The bringing of the first fruits to the temple became associated with milk and bread, and consequently cheese and specialty pastries.  So, to the observer, Shavuot is a holiday for eating cheesecake, cheese blintzes, and cheese spread on exotic breads.  They even decorated the halls of my company with large milk jugs, hay bales and shafts of wheat.  It's like a more dairy-focused feast of Thanksgiving, crossed with May Day pastoralism, crossed with a harvest festival.

Harvest festival for Shavuot

We enjoyed the time off and the excuse to eat cheesecake. We saw lots of hay bales and possibly the set up for a tractor pull and had a good time.  My parents visited, taking advantage of the holiday to travel with us, but their experience of Shavuot paled in comparison with being in Jerusalem, at the Western Wall, for Jerusalem Day.  Jerusalem Day was the day that Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan during the Six Day War.  One look at the celebrations here is enough to convince you that the UN won't be partitioning Jerusalem any time soon.

Now the holidays are over and it's back to work for another month.  Kids are starting their summer vacations this week and the beach is heating up.  It will be hard to walk past the summer vacationers on our way into work, but we will savor the beautiful sea while we can.  We'll be home again before we know it.

A Walk Down the Beach, part 2: Photo Essay

When I first posted my A Walk Down the Beach, I had not yet had the opportunity to take appropriate pictures.  I took my camera out during Shabbat and had fun shooting the happy beach-going crowds.  As it heats up, our little beaches are starting to look like Miami on spring break.


First, the Israelis are ultra-competitive when it comes to parking spaces.  You thought mall parking in the US was bad--beach parking in Israel is on an entirely different level.  Watching cars maneuver for the top spots from our window has become a spectator sport.  You guess where you think each car is going and are always amazed when they do crazy things like leveraging a crosswalk speed bump to park the front of their car on the sidewalk.  And it's not like their only option is to park semi-legally either.  While we watched cars box each other in with atrociously selfish parking directly across from the beach, there were plenty of open legal spaces one block away!  Maybe I'm too laid back and Californian to appreciate the Israeli car parking mentality, but it seems to be absolutely ludicrous to spend more time fighting over a small advantage than to save time by seeking viable nearly as nice alternatives.


Case in point (note the open spaces in the upper left corner):

And here's all the people:

Crowds at Hof  Ha Carmel

Surfers at Zamir

Lifeguard station; swimmers allowed between the flags

Kids' pool with dolphin

My favorite beach restaurant, Kadarim

Men relax on the new grass by playing backgammon

Party time at Seasons Beach, sponsored by Tuborg, an Israeli beer company

Camel, looks just like the cigarettes

Playground/fitness center for adults

walking the beach

walking was too hot

South Dado Beach, or South Beach--very crowded

On South Beach, women flock to the ice cream truck ...

...while men play matkot

Life doesn't get better than this!

Americans in Haifa: Exploring

During our brief time in Israel we have been blessed by visits from both sets of parents and by Kenny's brother and wife.  They have been our excuse for getting out and seeing all (or nearly-all) of this beautiful country and they have loved every minute of it.  Upon his return to a rainy day in Chicago, my father in law composed the following poem which captures the sights, smells, and flavors of this exotic land.

Exploring

I smell the fresh cut grass that had to be mowed;

I’d rather smell the shawarma cooking and the sweet smells of the souk.

I see the wet highway and splash of rain on the windshield as I drive to the office;

I’d rather see places where He walked, rutted Roman roads, and orangepinkandgreen sunsets.

I hear the sound of planes overhead and ring of the telephone;

I’d rather be listening to crashing waves, the chirp of the European Bee Eater, and the laugh of children riding a donkey.

I feel the cold breeze, the keyboard under my fingers, and the desk chair at just the right height;

I’d rather feel the spray of light rain in the bird sanctuary, and the low overhead stones in the secret Templer escape tunnel.

I taste the cold coffee and cold-cut sandwich – the tastes of work;

I’d rather taste hummus, and kabob with ten sides, and hot Turkish coffee with thick dregs from a brass pot, and orange juice squeezed justnow.

I do my chores so someday I can be with you again in another corner of the world - exploring. 

With only six weeks left before we head home, I am squirreling away these memories and sensations.  I will miss them too.

Haifa

Haifa, a set on Flickr.

My beautiful adopted city--definitely the best place to live in Israel, especially when you can be right on the beach!

World Clock






Sunset in Haifa



Sunrise in California

Israel is in time zone GMT+2.  That means that it is two hours ahead of London, one hour ahead of Germany, and in line with Kaliningrad, Russia. I know this because every time I book a conference through the tool at work, I have to select "Kaliningrad" from a host of other, better-known cities.  We are also considered "Eastern Europe" which according to Windows can be Amman, Athens, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, Minsk, Helsinki or Istanbul.  Baghdad is plus one hour.  Fortunately, the people at Microsoft are enlightened enough to include Jerusalem in their list of choices.  One would think with all the politics surrounding that city, they would offer Tel Aviv instead.  But aside from what you call our time zone, the important thing is that it's nearly halfway around the world from the US.

The other time that matters in our lives is Pacific Standard Time, for California.  It wreaks havoc with our evenings and I suppose the evenings of anyone in Israel who has business with Silicon Valley.  My coworkers talk about how much they enjoy the flexible hours-- no one expects to see you 9-5 in the office--but it can easily devolve into working around the clock.  Here's how a busy day goes:

7:00 a.m. Israel /9:00 p.m. PST: The sun touches the top of Mt. Carmel and starts to warm the sand.  It's the beginning of another wonderful day in paradise.  West Coast workers have just put the kids to bed.  This is a good time for meetings.

8:00/10:00: You've had your cup of coffee and a little yogurt.  Time to fire up the laptop and check on the old inbox.  Emails from the states have come in overnight.  At 8:30 you get on a call with a very tired-sounding US coworker taking the call from home.  They will be asleep if you don't make it interesting.

10:00/12:00: Midnight in the states so cross-site meetings are totally out of the question.  Grab a second cup of coffee and start the face-to-face meetings with the co-workers in the office. 

11:45/1:45:  Hit the cafeteria early in time to get a seat.  No rush on replying to the emails from the states--they are in dreamland.

1:00/3:00: More face-to-face meetings, or, if you’re lucky, time for some productive work.

4:00/6:00: Rush home and do the shopping, pick up the kids, have family time.  The US stirs--the East Coast starts their business day.

5:00/7:00: The only chance you have to intercept your over-worked colleague in the states.  Their calendar has been booked solid, so you can only chat over their coffee.  Your dinner is going to be late.

7:00/9:00:  Prime time to hop back on the horn.  The West Coast is up and humming, just starting the day.  You watch the sun set outside your window as the next foil deck pops up on screen.

9:00/11:00: US is going strong and you’re starting to fade… 

11:00/1:00:  Here's your big break--time for bed.  Tomorrow's another big day.

Of course, this type of day is only possible three days/and four nights a week (Monday-Thursday nights; Monday morning in Israel is Sunday night in CA and is usually out of the question).  On Sunday night in Israel, you have blissful free time since the US is waking up to go to church or not waking up as they please.  On Friday night you are allowed not to attend meetings because the whole country is shut down for Shabbat (see my other post for more on this).  Saturday is the one day of harmonic convergence when both sites are not working and not bothering each other.  Thank goodness for that!

Israel is a nice country, but the time zone disconnect to the US West Coast is just wicked.  Computers have done everything to make life better, faster, more productive but they haven't changed the earth's rotation.  I could communicate with someone anywhere in the world at any time but that assumes they are awake to be communicated with.  People make it work somehow but it is very hard living in one time zone and working effectively with another.