shabbat shalom 14.06.07

Hi everyone,

Although all hell seems to be breaking loose in Gaza, which really is only perhaps 100 km from here, all seems quiet and peaceful in the Judean Mountains. Funny to think a few hills and valleys in between can make such a difference. No Israeli military activity there; it seems we are just sitting around the edge and watching the pot boil over. It was not unexpected. No doubt one of the reasons we got the settlements out of Gaza was that this kind of civil war was forseeable even a couple years ago, and we didn't want to get roped into it. With no Israelis living in Gaza, there is no need to do more than keep a careful watch from outside.

So much for the war and politics side. Oh, and Peres just got elected President. A good choice this time, to make up for the shmuck who last occupied that seat, who is now facing rape and sexual molestation charges. Takes a lot to embarrass Israelis, but Katsav succeeded in that, and now it is time for a person of stature to restore some dignity to the position.....At least at 83, Peres is not likely to commit rape while in office.....

Speaking of sex, there will be a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem next week which promises to resemble Gaza when the ultra-orthodox Jews go after the guys in high heels. Looks like I have my choice of venues for participating in a donnybrook these days; I have my pick of venues, issues and sides. Early summer is a nice time of year in Israel, isn't it?

Last shabbat I did get to a more peaceful event, a Peace Festival at Tantur Ecumenical Institute, timed for the anniversary of the Six Day War. It was great, reminded me of a hippie festival from my teen years. Mixed Arab/Jewish bands playing Middle Eastern music (the oud and drums, stuff like that). I really like the sound of modern Oriental music so I was happy to grab a coffee and a cushion, and sprawl on the ground for an hour to listen. There was a debka dance troop. Lots of craft booths where I got my supply of gifts for my upcoming trip to Europe. Came back with a rainbow-colored keffiyah and an "End the Occupation" baseball cap, feeling very liberal and revolutionary and pleased with myself. (Of course this was before Gaza imploded, making "occupation" seem benevolent in comparison....)

By Sunday, I had recovered from my virus, and was hoping for a calm and quiet week. That wasn't going to happen. When I got to the office, I heard a sound from under the hood of my car which sounded like water running in pipes. Turned out to be my radiator boiling....Uh oh. When it cooled off, I took it to the local Daihatsu garage, which first diagnosed a bad radiator and changed that. But I took it home and it boiled again. So they hotwired the ventilator fan to run constantly, no help. Final diagnoses was correct, a bad temperature sensor, but by that time the head gasket was damaged (or maybe the head gasket went first....)

Anybody who has a car knows this is the bad one to fix. So my car went off to the speciality garage to take the engine apart for a whopping big bill. I'm not in a situation to get another car at the moment, but can (barely) afford this repair so I decided to go ahead with it. I've been taking the bus the last few days and realized how handicapped I am not to have the full mobility of my wheels.....The poor little Charade has served me faithfully for 13 years with few problems, but it is a 1994 model and is wearing out.

Well, that means I need to start sniffing around for another car. In this country, that is a major investment. For example, I am thinking of a Honda Jazz, which lists in the USA (where it is called the Honda Fit) for about 15,000 USD. Here the list price for the same model is the equivalent of 26,000 USD, almost double the cost in the USA. The same is true for all cars. My salary, which is good by Israeli standards, is about 2,000 usd per month. So without a windfall, I would be paying about 20% of my salary for the next five years to pay for a new car, even a relatively cheap one.

I will need to start looking at second-hand cars for a realistic price, like most Israelis. The most popular are from rental agencies, who turn over stock after a couple years. I still would prefer a Honda, which has a reputation for being sturdy, which is my main requirement. (Forget American cars, which are fuel hogs; I need a car which gets about 35-38 miles per gallon, in American terms. Our high fuel costs exclude anything else.) I'd rather this be the last car I buy before retirement, and keep it for the next ten years. That being the case, I start sniffing around now for something to buy in the next 1-2 years, and then take a vow of poverty for the next five years.

On top of everything else, one of my dogs got sick, and it was not realistic to take her to the vet on the bus, so I had to diagnose her, and then wheedle the right medicines out of my vet with the dog sight unseen. She grudgingly complied after I promised to bring the dog in by taxi if she took a turn for the worse. Fortunately my diagnosis was right, and the dog is much better.

With all this, I was pretty stressed out this week. The only good, or sort of good, thing that happened was that my neighbor Nancy went off to America for three months without saying a peep or a goodbye. It takes some of the tension off, after our quarrel. To be honest, at the moment I'm glad to see the back of her and hope things are better in the autumn.

I look forward to just spending the next two days around the house, very quietly restoring my energy. Lots to do here, the weather is nice, and I need the down time.

shabbat shalom,
Linda