To the Party...or is it a Protest?

What to wear…what to wear.  The events email I got this week talked about all the bands that would be playing concerts tonight in support of the protest.  They are protesting the cost of living in Tel Aviv.  Actually, this is like ten small protests all coming together and the binding thread is the cost of living. 


It all started with a young orthodox guy who created a facebook page to protest cottage cheese (there is only 1 or 2 producers and it is really expensive!  Like $4 or $5 for a 10oz container).  Then a 26 year old girl who mad at her landlord did the same thing for rent prices.  
 
 This snowballed into a “tent city” on the most popular street in the city, then a 50,000 protest two weeks ago, 150,000 last week, and 300,000 this weekend.  Before you start to get a wave of anxious fear, the papers are saying the protests are more like street parties than protests.

So…the dangly earrings?  These seem a bit too party-ish for a protest.  Hmm…how about a casual dressed up look that looks effortless (but really takes me 45 minutes).  A casual cotton T-shirt with a touch of sparkle, hair pulled back, small earrings, and the obligatory across the shoulder crunchy protest purse (packed with an id, enough money for a cab home, a camera and two beers – there is no open container law here).

When we walk out of the house there are 6 tour buses parked on our corner.  There is a band playing from the second story balcony.  I’d stay to listen but it is in Hebrew and I want to see the main event.  The general crowd is moving towards the city center like a swarm of bees towards honey.  Most of them look like they are about to go grocery shopping, no signs, no hippy clothes…just normal people. 
 As we get close we can feel the excitement rising with the beating of drums.  We squeeze past the groups of young adults chatting with their friends (one of them brought a sign), past the strollers, the dad with his 6 year old daughter on his shoulder, past the families who just came to watch.  There are as many people marching as there are watching.

The march is the exciting part.  It is moving slowly – like an unorganized parade that got really scrunched up.  Each group has a banner or poster and some even have people in costumes, group T-shirts, or instruments.  We can’t really read the signs, most of them are in Hebrew.  The chants are in Hebrew as well, also very unorganized, but supposedly they are saying something like “the people demand social justice.”  We see one sign in Arabic and one in English.  We see a guy on stilts, some orthodox guys, guys with drums, a Che Guevara shirts…mostly just normal people aged 20-50. 

Looking around we can see that the walls lining the sidewalks have become benches for supporters with cameras and every other rooftop and window facing the street is packed.  “Jen, Paul.  How are you guys?”  Who would have thought, a crowd of 300,000 and we run into someone we know.  He is actually one of the two big wine experts in the country and – lucky for us! – he is carrying wine! J  The march is winding down so we head towards this great pizza place downtown and share a pizza that tasted like it had been dipped in truffle!  Of course, paired perfectly with a great bottle of wine.  We probably wouldn’t have gotten a table if we hadn’t been with the wine guy as the place was packed with hungry “protesters” (catch the irony here – the protest is on the cost of living in Tel Aviv, and they are going straight from the protest to the pizza place to enjoy $24 pizza).

It was fun.  And if the government doesn’t do something I am sure we’ll have the opportunity go again next weekend. 

My Pet Matty

If you're my brother Dusty, you know what this is about and you are probably laughing at me :)  Still - I think it is cool. 

I'll come right out and tell you.  Matty is a praying mantis. 

I was walking past one of the trees in our house (we have a lot of plants) and I noticed a bug on the wall.  I pulled my hand, prepared my swing, and half way through the execution - I stopped.  Oh...my...gosh.  I almost broke the law.  Wait...that doesn't make sense.  When I was little we though killing a praying mantis was against the law.  Now, as I almost accidentally (ehhhh) killed one, I am realizing that if I had killed it no one would have come in and done and investigation.  They wouldn't have given me a huge fine and I surely wouldn't have been carried off in handcuffs.  Still...I felt bad.

I did a bit of research and it turns out killing praying mantis isn't against the law.  So I did it.  Whhhap!  Just kidding!  The myth about killing a praying mantis probably came about because they are such valuable creatures in a garden.  They don't eat any of the good stuff, but eat the bugs that are attacking your plants - similar to lady bugs.  (And then I remembered the plague of lady bugs that tried to take over Ohio a few years back.)  I only have one praying mantis so it probably won't be a plague...and even if there were two, the female would eat the male so the population wouldn't grow too quickly.  I digress....

Matty is in the center of this picture.

So Matty is a great sign for our garden, except she isn't in the garden.  (My cousin Mitch told me Matty was actually a she.)  She is on the solitary pepper plant (next to the tree).  The plant itself came from the compost bin, quite by mistake.  The peppers are too hot for me to eat, but apparently Matty loves it. 

For the past 3 weeks we've been able to find Matty everyday, hanging out (usually upside down) on her pepper plant.  Sometime she climbs up to the top of tree.  Sometimes she hides.  Usually she hides.  She is pretty scared of us and didn't much care for the photo shoot (but if it didn't get the pictures you all wouldn't believe me).  She also really does not like Roomba (our robot vacuum cleaner). 
 
I don't know how long Matty will stay with us - but for the time being, I'm just going to be happy that our little plant is healthy and sturdy and up to the standards of this little guy....gal. (PS.  If you can see the up close photo...she looks a lot like an alien.)

The Bid List (Duh duh duuuuhhh)

The Bid List just came out!  We are very excited as we’ve been waiting for it to come out and now the office is a buzz.  “Did you see the one in India?” “There were 9 in Kabul!” “I think there are 3 more spots left in Baghdad.” “If this is posted this year, then it should be posted again in about 2 years.”  While we understand all of this, the most confusing part for you is probably why in the world we would say “We want to go to Kabul, Afghanistan.”  So…I’m going to translate this Foreign Service talk into English for you.

First – What is a bid?  A bid is basically a job application. Paul already has a job, but he applies (or bids) on different positions around the world every few years.  Some of the positions are for 1 year; his position now is for two years; some are three, and some are four.  It just depends on the country and the position.  “I’m going to bid on Afghanistan” = “I’m going to apply for a position in Afghanistan.”

Next – What is THE bid list?  THE bid list is the list of all of the open (or soon-to-be open) positions worldwide that Paul can bid on.  It just came out!  Up until know we have just been guessing and hoping, but now was can see what is actually possible.

So…What do you mean when you say “MY Bid List” – this is a prioritized list of positions that we would like. 

Now.  Let’s start this over again. The Big List just came out!!!  Paul and I are in the process of putting together his bid list now.  The order of operations here is that Paul bids, within about a month we find out if he got any of the positions we bid on.  If he did, we contact the Post (the Embassy community he’ll be working at) and start the process of finding me a job.  This process is slightly different for Afghanistan because I can’t go unless I have a job, but at the same time, they have a lot of jobs so it is pretty likely I’ll be able to get one.

“How does it look?” (This would be the question you’d ask in response to this news).  Basically there are a few positions in Afghanistan that we're looking into and given the large number of positions in Afghanistan, it seems pretty likely that if we want to go there, we’ll be going there.  We are doing this for the first time, so we’re learning what questions need to be asked (such as:  what may become available in 2 months that we don’t know about yet? And how far ahead can we plan?).

As you may have heard, we are hoping to go to Afghanistan.  It is not so much that we WANT to be there - but it is the least bad of the bad options that we have to choose sometime in the next few years (And we prefer to face it sooner rather than later).  Kabul, Afghanistan is also comparatively safe and that Post has the most positions for spouses (so the greatest likelihood that I can go).  Also, two of our friends just arrived last week and would still be there for first two months - so we could go through it with friends and have a nice introduction.  AND, it will be much easier for us to get a post that we really want (you basically get to be first in line the next time you bid and you’re given priority, similar to affirmative action).  Next, this will be a big career boost for Paul because of the huge amounts of work he’ll be doing and the people he’ll meet (there are like 5 Ambassadors there).  Not to mention I can probably get a really good job there - challenging and focusing on democracy or strategy - so good for my career prospects as well (there is so much good work to be done, they are happy to have people skilled enough to do it). 

So complicated.  There is also the long-shot bid which would be a dream come true, but I don’t want to jinx event the 1/1,000,000 (one in a million) chance we have of getting it so I won’t tell you about it.  We’ll keep you updated when we know anything more!