Another Wedding!

Last night we got to go to another wedding!  (Yes, Monday night.) And this wedding was nothing like the last one!  I guess no two weddings in the States are the same either, but this was very different.  The wedding party in 4 words:  dancing, lights, singer, dancing.

The actual wedding ceremony was a while ago, this was the "Wedding Party."  The invitation said 8pm, and we were told to be there at 9pm (the bride and groom would show up at about 930pm).  Driving and parking is always a hassle, but we made it just before they walked in.

I have never seen a grander entrance!  "Lets go welcome the bride!"  The bride and groom came up the stairs, following the drums and tambourines.  The guests were crowded all around clapping (and I think singing, but I didn't understand a word of it).  So they come into the main entrance and go straight to the dance floor.  The lights in the ceiling and flashing (something something Disney Laser Light Show), the live band and singer are on stage, one video camera is in their faces and the other swoops over the crowd (a la NFL football camera).  In case you can't push past the other 499 guests to get a glimpse of the couple, just look up at the big screen where the live video is playing (MTV would happily show this quality film).

Dance, dance, dance...some food is served.  More flashing lights and singing.  More food.  (I put my fork down to take a drink of water and rest a minute and the waiter snatched my plate!  He was ready to bring me the next plate.)  Then the bride and groom walk around and greet everyone (while dancing and we're all clapping..my hands are pretty sore by this point).  The band takes a break and things calm down for a few minutes. More dancing, more dancing, dessert....we have to leave. (This is like an Arab music video!  The singer, the clothes, the lights, the cameras.)  We stayed until about 1230 - which was early.  But we had to get to work.  So much fun!  The ceilings were about 15 feet, white pillars and architectural details, marble floors, and scenic views of a beautiful garden (it was a picture, but wrapped around where the windows would be...to make you think you're in a garden?)

Final note:  The picture is us and our friend at the wedding.  There was a wide range of clothes worn.  A very few had on really casual clothes.  Another handful had on formal gowns and a few wore all out glittery beauty pageant outfits.  Another group had on sparkly Muslim dresses and hejabs.  Then there was the small group from our work that was in American style dresses.  It was such a mix.  But I guess that is to be expected when you have 500 guests!  Yes, 500!  And that was a small wedding!!  Wow! 

A Morsel of St. Patty's Day

First off, Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Or...as Paul says..Happy St. Paddy's Day.  I tried to tell him it is Patty like Patrick - but he assured me it is Paddy as is Pádraig.  Touché!

I don't remember if we wrote about it on here or not, but last year we tried to go authentic Irish with soda bread and brisket.  The soda bread (recipe compliments of Mary Vaca!) was great.  The brisket was pretty good - but probably still the most expensive piece of meat we've ever bought.

So this year we are taking a slightly different angle.  We're saving the soda bread for the weekend when we'll be home.  And we're skipping the brisket, hoping that the Irish pub we're going to tonight has good Irish food.  If not, we'll go to a different butcher and have brisket with our soda bread this weekend.

Instead - I made a few Irish-esque treats for work.  First, to be culturally sensitive to our Muslim colleagues who don't drink, I made shamrock sugar cookies with green frosting.  They were delicious!  Although, like other attempts to be culturally sensitive, I found that many (not all) of the Muslim colleagues preferred the second treat:  mini-chocolate Guinness (stout) cupcakes with Bailey's Irish cream frosting.  Delicious little bite-size treats! 

Finally - the best of all...a Chocolate Guinness Stout Cupcake (full-sized) with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting and....drum roll.....a Chocolate Whiskey Ganache filling!  Hmm!  I think there are enough calories in this to count for a weekend's worth of treats!  The top picture was sent from my phone to let my friend know to come grab one.  And then I forgot to take a picture until I was half-way done with mine.  Oops.

I used to wonder why my roommate made treats to give away at work and now I know....first, if you keep them at home (which we've done with 2 cakes now) you start to notice that your stomach doesn't feel so flat in the morning.  :(  But more importantly - you should see the looks on people's faces when they try them!  The big surprise in these treats (to me) was the reaction to the cookies.  Three or four colleagues said they were only going to break off a small piece...and then came back for the rest of their cookie.  Another three colleagues asked for the recipe!  Another said I should be selling these cookies!  Another said it was the best cookie they'd had..."when is the next holiday!?!" 

Maybe 25% of what they said is just them trying to make me feel good...but I can tell when you are just trying to make me feel good and when you really do like my food. 

If I may pat myself on the back for a moment - I made the cookie cutter from scratch!  And I didn't even slice open any fingers in the process.  Also - the cookies really did taste like those ones you buy at the store that have the powder on the bottom and are super super soft and thick.  And...do you see the swirls in the frosting on the cupcakes?  Finally got that right!  But...so you know that I don't think I'm all that and a box chocolates...it took me three tries to get the right shape for the cookie cutter...and one batch of frosting just slithered its way off the cupcake...and the cookies probably should have been thicker.  (Ha!  No one even touched the box of thin mints on my desk - do you think that means I can have them all!?)

The answer to when the next holiday is?  Tomorrow!  It's Purim!

Dead Sea Fashion Week

Okay, so it wasn't part of a Fashion Week, it was a fashion show...and I was a model!  Wearing a dress worth worth around $3000 - with accessories of equal scale.  I modeled a 150 year-old traditional Palestinian dress...from Gaza! 

Yes, it was awesome! Yes my head was covered! No, Paul did not recognize me! No, I didn't know they had women that tall but the dress went to the ground. Yes, the sleeves were too short (or maybe that was the style).  Yes, picture here.

As a part of a work retreat one of our colleagues worked with a museum in Jerusalem to organize a fashion show for the staff, using the staff as models.  They brought 8 Palestinian dresses from the area including Bethlehem, Jaffa (Jonah and the whale), and Gaza.  All of us had our heads covered by scarves, my face was also covered very creatively! and another girl had a head cover made coins - kind of resembling a helmet (worth $3000 for the head piece alone).  But they all did the job of covering your head.

The dresses were very intricate and heavy, leading us all to wonder when we could take them off and how the Palestinian women 150+ years ago wore these dresses in the heat.  The other interesting revelation was that they chose (among the 8 models) three of the tallest women at the mission.  Models are usually tall, but the average Palestinian woman 150 years ago...I didn't picture her as tall.  We thought for sure the dresses would be too short on us, but they weren't! They were just the right length. 

I was sworn to secrecy so Paul had no clue I was participating (or that he was attending a fashion show!), so he didn't know it was me until after I was off stage.  In fact, only one colleague recognized me.

Palestinian dresses.  I'm on the far right.

Beyond the pictures and the dresses, the interesting part of the fashion show is that the other models included my boss and a few women from work that I didn't know too well.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with them backstage, try on the dresses together and talk about how we should walk and where we should stand.  Half of the women were Palestinian, but for me - an American who doesn't fully understand the history or culture of Palestine - it was really interesting to think of myself presenting (or representing) Gaza.

How would a Gazan woman walk?  Would she be shy or bashful with her face covered? Or would she be like my colleague who presented the bridal dress (which was black with red embroidery too) who was dancing around and lively?  Would she strut her stuff, twirl around the dress, make large sweeping motions with her arms to show off the dress...where did the line between presenting the dress/culture and modeling? Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, my "walk" was less then two minutes and I was instructed to sit on the ground and mortar coffee with the prop I was given. (Huh..throw in another trick of how to sit on the ground and stand back up in a 150 year old floor length dress...without stepping on it or ripping it!) 

Soliel - the Perfect Orange Cake

Today is a great morning because I got to bring this cake to work that I've been research, buying things for and making for the past 4 days.  Paul says it has consumed me.  This may be slightly true.  But enough about that...on to THE CAKE! (I feel that it needs a name...not a name like Jen's Perfect Masterpiece but something more like Soliel (a French name for "sun" - fitting as most of the recipes are from Julia Child!). But I'm not that obsessed, so we'll skip the name and stick with "the cake.")

The cake has two layers of orange sponge cake, one layer of yellow butter cake, two layers of orange curd filling, and Cointreau butter cream frosting - garnished with fresh orange slices (and curled orange rind).  So you see - "the cake" is just not a sufficient name.  And since you can't see it in person or taste it, I'll tell you all about it.  After all, I have to record my 4 days of research/planning/baking somewhere!

Like I said, the cake has three layers, two are orange sponge cake which i think is fabulous because it is light (in weight, in flavor, in consistency) and delicious!  The orange kind of makes it taste healthy and the cake part makes it like a sweet indulgence!  It is more substantial than angel-food cake, but much lighter than and fluffier than normal cake. (The technical explanation is that I beat and whisked lots of air into the batter and then delicately folded it all together and quickly popped it in the oven.)

The third layer is a yellow butter cake - it is only there because I wanted to try the recipe.  I watched the Cake Love video on making that cake like 3 times. Before you think eh, butter cake? let me tell you that it only has that name because of its appearance (not its ingredients) and it is only yellow because of the egg yolks.  It tastes good but it is much heavier (weight and density, slightly like a pound cake.) and it has a shiny buttery look.  (But it doesn't taste like butter...it has a hint of vanilla and the bourbon I put in it! Haha).

The filling between the three layers of cake is an orange curd. (You are so from Wisconsin, putting curds in your cake!) This sounds gross, but it is a lot like lemon curd - which isn't really curd at all.  It is somewhere between a jelly and a frosting - like the jelly filling in a great doughnut.  Then the cake is topped with an orange butter cream frosting, flavored with some Cointreau.  The last few times I made the frosting (which involves boiling sugar, stirring over simmering water, over ice, and then quickly mixing...in short: it is a very complex frosting.) So the last few times I made it I cooked the sugar too long and ended up with a darker more caramelized frosting (which is delicious but more difficult to make).  This time I aced the recipe - but the frosting is very yellow from the butter and tasted pretty buttery...until I threw in an extra tablespoon of Cointreau :)  The butter color and flavor are not bad - I buy my butter fresh from a particular guy in the market and I've done my share of reading up on butter (inspired by a 2008 New York Times article).  I'm going to say it was the good butter and the fresh Orange that gave it the color.

As you can see, I have put a lot into this cake and have learned a ton.  The payout of all of this is a delicious cake that I am so proud of.  (As a sophomore in college I would have been very offended if you told me I would one day be proud of a cake that I made.)  Technically there are 20 servings but I think you would be hard pressed to get 20 pieces (they will be small) - which brings me to today:  I brought the cake to work and hid it in a small refrigerator on a floor where only 4 people work (one of them being my best friend here).  People are already asking how the cake turned out, telling me they saw me come in with it this morning, and asking what time the cake is coming out.  Do you see where this is going?  There are more than 20 people who literally want a share in the cake.  An honor - but it also means that I may only get 2 bites (half of Paul's small piece...he takes big bites). But do you really think I've been researching and planning for 4 days to only have two bites?  No!  That is why I shaved off a little from the middle and tasted it last night!  In addition to giving my friend a cake for his birthday it was lots of fun, a learning opportunity, friends will like me more, lots positive attention, and by the time you split the cake into all those pieces:  only 40 calories.  :)

*Three side-notes which I couldn't fit in:  1.  The butter article also inspired my orange Christmas cookies which are prominently featured...not my cookies, but the original recipe; 2.  This is a much improved version of the cake from the last posting which was only 2 layers, back in the day before I aced the recipe; 3. Greg saw the cake on Skype last night and said it looked like it belongs in a magazine!  He is my favorite for being the first to inflate my fluffy butter cream ego :)  I really hope no one sets their lunch on top of the cake before we bring it out!

Epilogue:  Of course everyone loved the cake!  Our friend cut really thin pieces (which was okay because it was so tall) and about 20 people had some (including the big boss!).  The biggest compliments were a.) asking for the recipes, b.) a few people sneaking in a second piece, c.) 3 people wiping up the frosting and filling from the tray (with their fingers!) and d.) two colleagues saying I should sell my cakes!  :)  Maybe I'll practice a few more times before I do that.

Celebration of Oil

What I knew about Hanukkah before today: "Hanukkah is...the festival of lights;" it is around Christmas; there is a game with a dreidel; they only had enough oil for one day but the candle stayed lit for 8 days.
Today is the second day of Hanukkah and I am in Jerusalem for work. What this means is: I know now infinitely more about Hanukkah than I did three days ago. You see, I am here for work (sans Paul). My two Canadian/Israeli co-workers are here with me and spending all day with them...eating every meal with them for 4 days...you learn a lot!
Tonight we happened to be sitting at an outdoor cafe between the Old City and Zion Square (in a young, popular, Jewish part of town). Just before sunset a couple hundred people can down the street with music and lights on a stick. Apparently they had walked around the Old City and were on their way to the Square to light the manora at sunset. About half of this group was new soldiers (in uniform, with guns). There was a stage and lots of happy Hebrew music which I didn't understand, but my co-worker sang along and said it was all traditional holiday music.

As the sun set a soldier said two prayers (I understood only the word Adoni, Lord) and they lit their second candle. More interesting than this was the 2nd floor balcony of someone's apartment in a very old beautiful building where a young man came out a sunset and lit a two small candles. He went back inside and sat at the dinner table. The dark night made his lit up dining room look like a stage. He sat down to dinner with his family and in the background fireworks began to go off. "One of the rules of Hanukkah is that you have to show your lights." This made infinitely more sense as we walked back to the hotel and saw manora lightings and singing on the sidewalks and balconies.
Apparently, Hanukkah also has a slightly political undertone to it. You see, the rest of the story of the candle that stayed lit for 8 days is this. Jerusalem was occupied by the Greeks and was a secular (like Tel Aviv today). The Macabees (either a rebel group that wanted to restore the right to practice Judaism or a conservative sect that wanted to restore strict Jewish law, depending on your interpretation of it) after a series of battles retook Jerusalem and went about cleaning out all of the pagan symbols and altars - some of which were in the Second Temple. They wanted to work through the night to restore the purity of the temple but only had.....(enter the story you know)...enough oil for one day of work. The oil lasted 8 days.
This is interesting to me because it happened here in Jerusalem. I am here. Though I didn't bring my camera, I hope to go to the Western Wall tomorrow, ie. to the only remaining part of the Second Temple. While I'd love to see them light the third candle - I think work will get in the way of that.
More than the festival of lights, I'm told it is a festival of oil. Most of the foods associated with Hanukkah include lots of oil. And I saw several altar-like manoras on the streets where the candles were actually oil! It was pretty cool.

God, King, and Man in Thailand

Even from the air, there was something very different about Bangkok.  Green seas of forest and grass, and rice paddies in every direction met my eager gaze.  Life in the desert has left within me a deep huger for verdant mountains and swollen streams that this two-week training course in Thailand would surely satisfy.

 

And satisfy it did.  Seafood and rice noodles in a red curry and coconut milk soup...for a buck?  Yes, life was good.  I took full advantage of the project design and management course, but also eagerly abandoned the luxury hotel for visits to beautiful temples, enormous outdoor markets, or even the aforementioned soup. One evening after visiting a Buddhist shrine in the Ancient capital city dating back to 1357, colleagues and I had the most phenomenal Thai food on a boat docked along the surging river (this was during the worst flooding in 55 years). 

 

Aside from the memories of good shopping and excellent food, I left most impressed by three things about Thailand and the Thai people.  First, they are exceptionally devout.  There are Buddhist temples upon temples, especially outside the city.  On our drive to tour the Ancient Capital, Ayutthaya, we passed one beautiful temple complex after another.  Each included a rectangular stone wall enclosing a stone patio.  At the center would be a large stupa or temple containg a principal statue of Buddha and many smaller representations throughout.  Even in the rain folks would pour into the temple to make offerings of incense, freshly-cut garlands, lotus flowers, and charity.  Sadly, the temples outside the city were mostly under water due to the historic flooding, but the many temples and shrines within Bangkok were quire busy.

 

Another observation is that the Thai people deeply rever their king.  I did not encounter a single city block that lacked a poster, a shrine, or a photo of the King or Queen.  Even before "The King and I" play and movie popularized the Thai monarchy, foreign visitors to Thialnd have been impressed by the stong and positive feeling that the Thai people have for the royal family.  The present king, unfortunately, is frail and ill, and as a result the Thai people are quite pained.

 

But as with many top tourist destinations, what strikes one most in Bangkok is the people.  Everywhere one goes one is greeted with a smile, a slight bow with palms toughing (as in prayer), and a greeting of "sawadeecup!"  Their warmth was infectious, and their hospitality was greatly disarming.  Two weeks among these people is hardly enough time to make such sweeping generalizations about a kingdom and a people.  But it was long enough to remind me how dry is my desert.

Something in the water....

The most important line of this post:  This is not about me, nor is it a hint at anything.

There is something in the water here.  We've noticed this pandemic throughout the country - and now it is hitting our office...hard.  Two weeks ago it took out one girl - she'll be back in 6 months.  Another girl can't be more than a month or two away...and a third will be out in December. 

In Israel - by law - women get 3 months of paid maternity leave and an additional 3 months unpaid, after which they can return to their jobs. That is 6 moths out of the office.

Now, clearly the women I've already mentioned have had a bun in the oven for quite some time.  But in the past two weeks 2 more have told me privately that they too, are pregnant.  I am super excited for them! (Leheim!!) But, needless to say - the pregnant/on-maternity-leave girls are everywhere!

For the record, of the 100 people I know in Isreal (through work or as friends): 1 just had her baby, 3 are due by the end of the year, and another 2 are due in Spring.  If you boil that down to only those who are female, married and of the age to have a child - I would say 60% of the eligible population is preggers.  I'm kind of glad they don't have baby showers - I'd be broke!!!

Working Hard - Getting Noticed

Raises, promotions and bonuses - oh my!

In May Paul completed one year at his job! Yeah!! The year went really fast as the first part was waiting to hear where he was going, planning the wedding, waiting to leave and the finally coming here. Anyway, his yearly evaluation went well and Paul got a raise! Yeah!!!!

Both of us have been working really hard (and sometimes long hours) and because of that we've gotten to see and do some really cool things like go to the big 4th of July Parties and to dinner in Ramallah.

Then in June a colleague - with a great job, tons of responsibility and more respect than anyone else in the Mission - found out that he and his wife were moving to Saudi Arabia (that's the foreign service for ya!). So..Paul was asked to step into his position! This is a HUGE promotion as now Paul has 4 people under him and tons of responsibility! And because the guy was so great the team he will be working with is really tight and supportive. What is best is that the guy who is leaving and the guy just below Paul really want him to do great!

Then in July....with our Mission Director leaving and planning for a new director to come, Jen has been working a lot of extra hours. (They think it is because she really cares about the Mission Director, but really - she is trying to get extra vacation time so she can go home at Christmas!). Anyway, the extra effort paid off this week when Jen received an award! Yeah!!! So, here in Tel Aviv, we've been workin' hard and gettin' noticed!

"Holiday Celebrations"

One of the best things about being posted in Israel is that we get to celebrate all of the American holidays (for us), the Israeli/Jewish holidays (for the host country) and the Palestinian/Islamic holidays (for our colleagues). While this usually works to our benefit - like for example in September when the clash of Labor Day, Ramadan, Yom Kippur and Rosh HaShanah collide giving us a grand total of 7 1/2 work days off. That is almost half the month!!!

But the down side of this is the "Holiday Celebrations." Part of my job is to make sure the office follows protocol. Now I am no expert, but I'm reading about the actual protocol and trying to take into account my coursework on culture and religion, etc. I LOVE to plan parties and social events so I was very excited to plan the welcome picnic for the new director and collect money for champagne for a toast for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year). And then....

Rosh Hashanah is Sept 9th - so we have half a day of work on the 8th. The plan was a toast on the 8th...but some people get really offended at the idea of ANY alcohol at work, even a toast. Fine - sparkling grape juice in desserts. No...that is during Ramadan so the Muslims celebrating Ramadan (one month of fasting - no eating or drinking ANYTHING from sunrise to sunset) would be offended. Okay, so Ramadan ends the 11th of Sept, we'll do it the following Monday - nope, they take off the 3 days after Ramadan ends - so we're looking at the 15th. But the director will be out of the office that day and the next - so the 17th. Ooh, that is Yom Kippur. 

So maybe instead of a toast for Rosh Hashanah on the 8th we'll have a holiday celebration at the end of the month....

Similar complications arise with planning the picnic as some of the staff lives in Ramallah (almost 3 hours away with traffic), some in Jerusalem (1.5 hours away) and some live in Jaffa (15 minutes). Where do you have a picnic? And since they have to get home after work, when do you have it? During work? Okay - then you are back to Ramadan and days off...and the end of the fiscal year.

So it looks as if our new mission director will arrive in mid-August, and we'll have a very neutral inclusive welcome picnic on October. :(  Is it better to be neutral and not offend ANYONE - or have many small celebrations and make the director feel welcomed and the staff more relaxed?  Hmm...

Full Work Week

Most things in our life right now revolve around Paul's work. This is not bad at all since the people he works with are great. I mean - revolving around work has meant a really fun welcome dinner at the boss's house last weekend, meeting the Biden's on Wednesday, and last night was a "Wheels Up" happy hour celebrating that the VPs airplane's wheels were up and nothing went wrong! Kind of a big sigh of relief for everyone who worked to make his delegation a success (as it is seen by them). The happy hour was a great chance to meet a few more people (like the #1 in Paul's office, the Ambassador and the #2 at the Embassy!) and a great chance to celebrate Jen's new job!!!! I interviewed last week and found out just before the happy hour that I got the job! They have to do a security clearance (this will be #3 in the process - sorry to all of you who will be contacted possibly 3 or 4 times with the same questions about me!). This clearance is small though and they will rush it - so it should only take about 2-3 weeks. Yeah!!

In other life news - my bike is here! I bought a great road bike before we left which has the thinnest tires you've ever seen and the handlebars lean very far forward (one biker here told me she would be scared to ride my bike!). Long story short - I have to buy another bike. :( Unlike DC where there are a hundred bikers more daring than me, I seem to be the daring one here. Most bikers ride on the sidewalks and don't wear helmets (I'm not that stupid.. I may look like a dork, but I'm safe!). Unfortunately for me and my thin tires the cracks in the sidewalks are the same size as my tires so they easily slip into the holes, and the transition from sidewalk to street to sidewalk is not smooth. Think of driving your car through a maze of potholes the size of your tires, and going over massive speed bumps (humps) every block. It will be much easier to do which a mountain bike, so I'll have to save my road bike for longer rides outside of the city. In fact! - I just met someone last night who does a 50k ride on the weekends! And! I think she is going to split a triathlon with Paul and I in the Spring! I'll bike, Paul will swim and she will run! Yeah!!!! :)