Galilee Thoughts

Friday, November 10, 2023

Nahariya Then and Now

Copilot in Windows says about Nahariya:

Nahariya: A Charming Coastal City in Northern Israel

If you are looking for a relaxing and scenic destination in Israel, you might want to consider Nahariya, the northernmost coastal city in the country. Nahariya has a lot to offer to visitors, from its beautiful beaches and boulevards, to its rich history and culture, to its vibrant nightlife and cuisine.

I say about Nahariya:

At the beginning of this past summer we lived in Kfar Vradim, and we knew that we were going to move to Ma'alot, which is pretty close. What we didn't know was that we would have to change our movers, and that the seller would not give us our house on time, and thus we would spend three weeks in limbo. It was my idea that four nights of these three weeks we would spend in Nahariya.

It's not an obvious thought, because Nahariya is less than half an hour away, so if one is already going to spend money on hotels, why this close. But I'm not sorry about it. Not even a little bit. We had a great time. The beaches were lovely. The food was great. The weather was terrible. Hot and humid, but that's just the way it is in Israel in August.

Copilot in Windows says about food in Nahariya:

Nahariya is a great place to sample some of the best food in Israel, especially if you love seafood. The city is famous for its fresh fish and seafood dishes, such as grilled sea bass, fried calamari, or shrimp in garlic sauce. You can also try some of the local specialties, such as Nahariya sausage, which is made from beef and lamb and spiced with paprika and garlic, or Strauss dairy products, which have been produced in Nahariya since 1936. For dessert, you can indulge in some ice cream or pastries from one of the many bakeries and cafes in town.

I say about food in Nahariya:

We didn't have any of the things mentioned above. The bit about the seafood is mostly bogus. If you want seafood, you should go to Acco (Acre) , which is about 10 kilometers south of Nahariya. We had great Kosher humus. They open at 8 AM. If you are like me, and you can't sleep past 4:30 AM in the summer, because it's too hot, you can walk to the train station, and they offer really cheap fresh sandwiches. Nothing like an omelet with hot sauce this early in the morning.

Of course, the trains do not work on Saturday in this country, and neither does this sandwich stand.

Up until a year ago, Nahariya featured the oldest restaurant in Israel, it was a great Austro Hungarian cafe that existed for 82 years, but they closed just a year ago.

Instead we usually go for lunch or early dinner to Alexander local diner. They serve great beef sandwiches, pasta with ragu sauce, tofu stir fry, pizza, and fish and chips. So the menu is a little eclectic, but there is something for everyone in our little family. Normally it is open on all the days of the week.

Copilot in Windows says about Nahariya in August and now:

???

I say about Nahariya in August and now:

Nahariya in August was hot and lively.

Nahariya now is cool and depressed.

Almost all of the stores are closed.

Almost no people on the main street.

Alexander was closed.

I hope they are only closed on Saturday now, and not on all the days of the week.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Jewish Alzheimer's

A photo of the Ontario Science Center and Totonto, from Google Maps

“First Thoughts are the everyday thoughts. Everyone has those. Second Thoughts are the thoughts you think about the way you think. People who enjoy thinking have those. Third Thoughts are thoughts that watch the world and think all by themselves. They’re rare, and often troublesome. Listening to them is part of witchcraft.”
Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

As I was sitting down to write this story, if it should even be called a story. I opened a new file, I named it, and then I went to Google 'Jewish Alzheimer'. I couldn't find anything, neither in Hebrew, nor in English. I mean I did find quite a few things, but not what I was looking for.
What I was looking for, is that I remembered that there was something called 'Jewish Altheimer's', where you can't remeber your friends, only your enemies. In my mind, this could be because your friends might be relatively new, after all we only moved here slightly more than two months ago, whereas your enemies, maybe enemies is not a good word, certainly not at a time of war, so maybe your rivals, the ones you like to argue with, usually have been following you for quite a while.
And one should also ask how this whole story with the Jewish Alzheimer's relates to the first, second and third thoughts. If you are trying to remember something, then the fact that you are trying to remember it means that you had a first fleeting thought, or rather the forgetfulness is the first thought, and the remembering is the second thought?
Be that as it may, these days I find myself recalling my high school days in Canada. The high school itself was in Montreal, but I'm thinking also, maybe even mostly, about Toronto. Somehow, Montreal has a lot more style, but Toronto, though my French is fairly decent, is a lot more practical.
I remember we went one weekend, maybe as early as 1985, to my mom's friend ZH (I'm not sure that the correct description is 'my mom's friend', maybe I should say that ZH's mom was a friend of my grandmother's) in Toronto. I remember her young kids were very much afraid of flies, and how I, I think I was at the beginning of the 10th grade at the time, a fairly big and bungling adolescent, had to chase for a whole hour after one fly, because her younger son was afraid of it. I think I never managed to catch it, but eventually it ran away.
I also remember how ZH was going on and on about how clean Toronto was, She said she was walking in the Haifa central bus station (at the time it used to be the one in Bat Galim, now it's just a deserted concrete giant, and there are two other central stations), and she stepped in a huge pile of sunflower seed peels, whereas here, in Toronto, everything is so clean and tidy. My mom was really annoyed by this story, but I think she managed to hide it, which is not typical.
Then in the school in Montreal I was very straightforward. To this very day I like to recount how during my first lesson at the school, a Canadian Geography lesson, and really Canada has a lot of geography, and a little history, as I used to joke with my sister, the teacher was talking about density of population. At the time the density of population in Canada was one person, or maybe two people per square mile. The teacher, an aging hippie, who was made fun of by the students because he smoked like a chimney, and thought all the students were Capitalist Pigs, asked me what was the density of population in Israel. I told him that I thought it was about 150 people per square kilometer, and it should be more per square mile. He yelled at me that it should be less, and then I told him that it should be more. After some time I gave it up, which is not typical, but at the end of the lesson I went to the board, and I drew a square kilometer on it, and I told him that this had 150 people, and then I drew a square mile around it and I said that there are the more people.
I used to like math classes. I was pretty good, and I liked to argue with everyone during the lessons. I would simply say to people: 'you're wrong.' I was not alway right, sometimes I was wrong, but that's what I used to do.
I would also tell everyone that they should make Aliyah to Israel. That Israel was the only place for the Jewish people. I don't think I convinced anyone, but I certainly made them laugh!
In our yearbook in Canada, which is not how it is done here, each one of us could write our own personal message. We got a quarter of a stencil paper, with 160 marked blank character spaces, and we were supposed to fill it in. I remember the message that my friend J wrote to me: 'eh hello, eh you're wrong, eh goodbye' the 'eh' was his way of making fun of my Israeli accent, or rather of my Israeli prosody.
At the end of grade 10, I made it to the finals of the Bible Contest in Canada. The finals were in Toronto, and on the way to Toronto, with the bus, we stopped at the Ontario Science Center, which in a typical Torontonian way is not really in Toronto, but its address still says Toronto. It's a wonderful place. To this day I want to go back there. To this day I think my life could be a lot simpler if I were a Toronto Hebrew teacher, and I can also teach how to read the Torah, than to be an English teacher here in Ma'alot Tarshicha. But these are just my first thoughts.
My second thoughts are that I'm not willing to give up yet.

View from my balcony, my photo

Monday, October 16, 2023

Thoughts While Playing Tennis With My Son Who Prefers to be Called Yeti

I took this picture next to the gate of the Tennis center

THEY SAY THAT the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully; unfortunately, what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that, in the morning, it will be in a body that is going to be hanged.

Pratchett, Terry. Going Postal: A Novel of Discworld (p. 13). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Last Wednesday, October 11th, was my 53rd birthday. Around 2:30 PM I took my son who prefers to be called Yeti, and we went to play Tennis in the Ma'alot Tennis center, which is a five minute car ride from where we live.

Here are a few thoughts I had while playing:

I wonder if the bank will approve my loan. My wife said they probably will, but it's alread 2:30, and for one time only, because of The Situation they are open until 3, but they didn't call until now. it could be funny if they called now, while I'm playing here with Yeti, and I won't be able to hear them.

Last time we played for 25 minutes, so this time we should play for at least 30 minutes. I'll leave the phone on this bench, and I hope I will guess right.

I wonder if there will be a siren because of rockets, So far there was no siren. If there is going to be one, how long do we have anyway? We are only about ten miles from the Lebanese border, how long does it take a rocket to traverse 10 miles? Where should we run to? I think it makes sense to run to the 'Patissier Cafe' that is really close, but they are closed, and I don't know where we should hide. Oh, probably next to the southern wall.

The kids from the Tennis school will probably not come by today. This is a good thing, because Yeti does not like to practice next to other children, he is shy that way.

He really improved, we already got to a streak of three strokes.

Oh, I didn't teach him anything about the Backhand stroke. Now is probably not the right time for that, it will only stress him out more.

I can't believe no one fron the Tennis school showed up. This is such a nice Tennis court, not at all like the one we used to play on during COVID times in Be'er Sheva in the South. There we had to go through the fence, and I once completely ripped my shirt.

Well, enough strokes on the court, we need to go practice at the wall.

I can't believe he hit it so high. Now he needs to go all the way around.

Luckily there was no alarm while he went to bring it from all the way around.

We must have played enough. Oh, it was exactly 30 minutes.

The bank never called. My loan must not have been approved.