This past week was a very busy one for me. So I though I'd give you a little flavor of it. Here are some statistics:
Monday: 12 units (9 hours) in 8 different lessons (group or individual)
Tuesday: 10 units (7.5 hours) in 7 lessons
Wednesday: 12 units (9 hours) in 6 lessons
Thursday: 9 units (6.75 hours) in 6 lessons
Friday: 6 units (4.25 hours) in 4 lessons
Students' countries (just this week!): Spain (but originally from Mexico), China, Germany, Spain (2 classes that meet every day, each with 7 students who are air traffic controllers for the Spanish air force), Norway, and France
Some other facts:
Earliest start time: 9:00 a.m. (every day but Wednesday, when I started at 9:30 a.m.)
Latest finish time: 9:45 p.m. (only on Wednesday)
Other errands done: paid the arnona (city tax) and water bill, went to the supermarket, picked up prescriptions at the pharmacy, went to the shuk (on Wednesday), ran several errands in town (on Thursday morning), and picked up a package from abroad at the post office.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Picture of Peachy
Here's a picture of Peachy, our newest adoptee. She's sitting on a large curved plate (or shallow bowl) on the wicker lower shelf of the coffee table (whose top is glass). Isn't she cute!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Rosh HaShana 5770
As most of you know, yesterday and today (Sunday, 20 September) have been Rosh HaShana, the first days of the Jewish year 5770. We attended services at our Reform congregation in Nahariya, Emet V'Shalom, only Friday night and this morning (skipping Shabbat morning). Both services were very enjoyable. This morning, David and I got the honors of lifting one of the Torah scrolls and wrapping it up, respectively, after it was read from.
After the service today, our dear friend, Cynthia, invited us over to her apartment for coffee. We spent quite a bit of time there on her balcony (3rd floor) enjoying the conversation, the lovely view of the blue-green Mediterranean Sea just a short block away, and a very pleasant breeze on a lovely warm (but not hot) day.
After returning home, we had an absolutely delicious meal that our neighbors, Patricia and Shimon, had prepared. Following the meal, Shimon and I played a great game of Scrabble!
After the service today, our dear friend, Cynthia, invited us over to her apartment for coffee. We spent quite a bit of time there on her balcony (3rd floor) enjoying the conversation, the lovely view of the blue-green Mediterranean Sea just a short block away, and a very pleasant breeze on a lovely warm (but not hot) day.
After returning home, we had an absolutely delicious meal that our neighbors, Patricia and Shimon, had prepared. Following the meal, Shimon and I played a great game of Scrabble!
Adopting Peachy
Yesterday (Shabbat and the 1st day of Rosh HaShana, the beginning of the new Jewish year), we made the decision to adopt another of the kittens, Peachy. She has been being so affectionate for several weeks, and she's also a very pretty cat, a calico, with slightly longer hair than any of the others. Her hair is also very soft, and she has more spots of orange on her than the other girls (the boys, have NO orange.) Besides all this, she has an incredibly sweet personality. So, we've adopted a 3rd cat -- we brought her in yesterday, just before the first rain of the season, which fell during the night.
Of course, our first cat, Katom, wasn't very pleased, but all he did was a little of his low growling, and she kept a good distance away from him. More surprising was the behavior of Pascal, our 2nd cat who is also, of course, her brother and litter-mate. He kept smelling her rear and chasing her all over the place (and they're only five and a half months old!). He also attacks her and tries to climb on her. Eventually, she fights back, and she's much tougher about it than Katom, even though she weighs only about half as much as Pascal! Katom has been observing this, and I think he's been deriving a bit of satisfaction from seeing Pascal get his come-uppance. Katom generally defends himself from Pascal only with rather feeble attacks and hissing and growling. He may learn from little Peachy, though, so Pascal had better watch out!
I haven't taken any photos of Peachy, but I'll try to do so later and post them.
Of course, our first cat, Katom, wasn't very pleased, but all he did was a little of his low growling, and she kept a good distance away from him. More surprising was the behavior of Pascal, our 2nd cat who is also, of course, her brother and litter-mate. He kept smelling her rear and chasing her all over the place (and they're only five and a half months old!). He also attacks her and tries to climb on her. Eventually, she fights back, and she's much tougher about it than Katom, even though she weighs only about half as much as Pascal! Katom has been observing this, and I think he's been deriving a bit of satisfaction from seeing Pascal get his come-uppance. Katom generally defends himself from Pascal only with rather feeble attacks and hissing and growling. He may learn from little Peachy, though, so Pascal had better watch out!
I haven't taken any photos of Peachy, but I'll try to do so later and post them.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Mostly Mozart in Tsfat
Last Thursday evening, we attended an utterly delightful concert at the Yigal Alon auditorium, right here in downtown Tsfat. The concert was part of a short festival entitled "Mostly Mozart", organized by Ada Peleg, a native of Haifa, who also conducted the orchestra. According to the blurb that she wrote (in Hebrew) in the program, this is intended to be the beginning of a year-round classical music program here whose highlight will be festivals like this that will draw top classical musicians from around the world.
I had bought us tickets in advance, and we had prime seats, in the 2nd row just left of the center.
The program consisted of three works. The small string orchestra (without any other instruments) started it off with Benjamin Britten's "Simple Symphony", a work I had not previously been familiar with. It's a delightful and varied piece for string orchestra, including one movement that is entirely pizzicato (meaning that the players pluck the strings rather than bowing them).
The rest of the concert was music by Mozart. For this, they added a few woodwinds and a couple of horns. The 2nd piece was a concerto for harp and flute, another work that I had not known of before. The solo harpist, יוליה סברדלוב, is Israeli, having immigrated here in 1991. She is the principal harpist of the Israeli Philharmonia. The flautist was גואוליאנג האן, principal flautist of the Symphony Orchestra of China, professor of music at the Academy for Music in Beijing, and a leading flautist in the world today. They were both superb, and of course Mozart's music was absolutely unbeatable, as well!
An intermission separated the two works by Mozart. The evening concluded with Mozart's well-known and incredibly fabulous 40th symphony, whose themes continued to bounce around in my mind all night and most of the next day. This is a work that I am very familiar with and have always loved, and the performance was dazzling! Ms. Peleg is an expert conductor, conveying her passion for the music to the orchestra and bringing the best out of them without excessive theatrics.
This concert served to remind me why I love Mozart's music so much. Mozart lived right in the middle of the era known in music history as the Classical period (the late 18th century). This was the Age of Enlightenment, and composers all strove for balance in their music. Many composers did this quite well, but most did it primarily through simplicity and symmetry, rather like designing a building whose left and right sides are mirror images of each other. No one can deny that it's balanced, but it's not terribly creative. Mozart "balance", on the other hand, is more like an acrobat ... doing a handstand .... on a unicycle ..... on a high wire ....... stretched between two skyscrapers! In other words, it's nothing short of amazing!
I had bought us tickets in advance, and we had prime seats, in the 2nd row just left of the center.
The program consisted of three works. The small string orchestra (without any other instruments) started it off with Benjamin Britten's "Simple Symphony", a work I had not previously been familiar with. It's a delightful and varied piece for string orchestra, including one movement that is entirely pizzicato (meaning that the players pluck the strings rather than bowing them).
The rest of the concert was music by Mozart. For this, they added a few woodwinds and a couple of horns. The 2nd piece was a concerto for harp and flute, another work that I had not known of before. The solo harpist, יוליה סברדלוב, is Israeli, having immigrated here in 1991. She is the principal harpist of the Israeli Philharmonia. The flautist was גואוליאנג האן, principal flautist of the Symphony Orchestra of China, professor of music at the Academy for Music in Beijing, and a leading flautist in the world today. They were both superb, and of course Mozart's music was absolutely unbeatable, as well!
An intermission separated the two works by Mozart. The evening concluded with Mozart's well-known and incredibly fabulous 40th symphony, whose themes continued to bounce around in my mind all night and most of the next day. This is a work that I am very familiar with and have always loved, and the performance was dazzling! Ms. Peleg is an expert conductor, conveying her passion for the music to the orchestra and bringing the best out of them without excessive theatrics.
This concert served to remind me why I love Mozart's music so much. Mozart lived right in the middle of the era known in music history as the Classical period (the late 18th century). This was the Age of Enlightenment, and composers all strove for balance in their music. Many composers did this quite well, but most did it primarily through simplicity and symmetry, rather like designing a building whose left and right sides are mirror images of each other. No one can deny that it's balanced, but it's not terribly creative. Mozart "balance", on the other hand, is more like an acrobat ... doing a handstand .... on a unicycle ..... on a high wire ....... stretched between two skyscrapers! In other words, it's nothing short of amazing!
Keeping the weeds cleared
The weeds had begun to get going in our yard again, and we knew that we had to do something about it. So, on the last Sunday of August, we got into the car and drove over to the area of the K'naan absorption center. Every weekday, there are olim (immigrants) from Ethiopia there, waiting to do work as day laborers. Sure enough, when we pulled up, several of them came running over to our car. Their Hebrew is not any better than mine (in fact, it's probably not as good in many cases!). Nevertheless, we managed to negotiate an hourly rate (5 shekels higher than I had initially proposed. Two guys tried to get in the car, even though I had said that we only needed one man. Luckily, the automatic door-lock failed to unlock on one side, so only the guy on the other side was able to get in, and he got the job.
It turns out that his name is Moshe, and he did a great job for us, completing it in well under the 2 hours that I had estimated. Of course, I had agreed to pay for a minimum of 2 hours of work, and I was happy to do that. In fact, I gave him 70 shekels (yet another 5 above the agreed-upon rate) and made sure that I got his number so that I can call him for work in the future.
From time to time, we will no doubt call him again, as the weeds begin to grow. We have vowed NEVER to let it get as bad as it did this past Spring, when we paid a gardener a whopping 1800 shekels! We clearly should have shop around more that time because, although it had gotten MUCH worse, it only took a couple of guy 4 hours to clear it all out! They did need power tools for that, though.
It turns out that his name is Moshe, and he did a great job for us, completing it in well under the 2 hours that I had estimated. Of course, I had agreed to pay for a minimum of 2 hours of work, and I was happy to do that. In fact, I gave him 70 shekels (yet another 5 above the agreed-upon rate) and made sure that I got his number so that I can call him for work in the future.
From time to time, we will no doubt call him again, as the weeds begin to grow. We have vowed NEVER to let it get as bad as it did this past Spring, when we paid a gardener a whopping 1800 shekels! We clearly should have shop around more that time because, although it had gotten MUCH worse, it only took a couple of guy 4 hours to clear it all out! They did need power tools for that, though.
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