You gotta roll with it

I spent some of this afternoon rolling down a grassy hill in a Jerusalem park, my little boy wrapped in my arms giggling his heart away. Don't call me a pussy, but I need more afternoons like this...

Hatfani!

Right, this is starting to drive me nuts! That bloody Dora the Explorer, she's infiltrating everywhere...it's getting to the point where you'll be sitting next to a parent and she'll be warning her little sprog that if she doesn't eat up all her brussel sprouts (let's just pretend...) then that little foxy fella will come and swipe 'em. Swiper, or Hatfani (his name in Hebrew). Hat-feckin-fani. And yes, junior and juniorette are addicted to Dora. Juniorette even gets all jiggy with it when they start singing...

Now, I have one question connected with this bleedin' Hatfani. In Hebrew, whenever Swiper gets close Dora pipes up with: Hatfani, asur leha Lekhtof! This has been bugging me for ages - but what does she say to Swiper in the English version? Please, someone, put me out of my misery...I have a Dora bedtime story for junior in Hebrew and I translate it to, well, I'm not going to tell you...

NewB

The new Corridor Land is OK. The writing is a lot more technical, that's for sure, and there is a helluva lot more work, but the place does have some decent pluses, when compared to the ol'place. People that actually say Hello to you in corridors, global reps sending warm welcomes via email, a boss that swears his arse off more than me...one thing that I'm not so sure about is blogging on company time, what with the area of security they are involved in...so, limited blogging updates from work in the meantime. Look, there's a few things that don't strike me as particularly great (shite computer to start with - I have the office zonna, the PC that has been with everybody), but all places have their shit, right?

What is harder (make that: impossible) is getting back into the serious Tech Writer mindset, but at least I'm trying my best to fit in, I'm actually quite a joy, I think...

Cough up to catch it

I'm getting more and more pissed with this - the amount of money I have to pay to watch a game of decent English footie. I don't see it being mentioned by any of the English language media over here (too many Yanks innit), though I'm sure it's mentioned endlessly in the Hebrew press...

Year by year, the TV guys have steadily erroded the number of freebie games. From once watching Arsenal almost every week, to paying for the odd live game last season, it's now got to the point where I have to pay for a whole new channel, ending up costing me two or three times as much. And with the Champions League kicking off this week, it's now got even better, with Arsenal v Sevilla (surely one of the most attractive games of the week?) featuring on yet another new channel...

Not sure what it's like in Blighty, but I'm pissed...

The city of the future

A couple of nights ago you'd have found me propping up the bar at Murphy's, in Modiin, accompanied by GBH. My first real visit to the town, but from all those shiny lights (er, it was nighttime) and from what I could gather from an enthusiastic GBH, the city of the future as it's known over here is a great place to live. And seems to be getting better by the month, including a new rail service that has just started. I even caught my first Israeli train for some 10 years or so from Modiin (last train back to Tel Aviv), was a nice experience up until the looney Maccabee Tel Aviv supporters boarded. Not too sure it's the kind of place I'd want to live, but it sure is expanding. Maybe room for a future branch of the anglosaxy English school?

September time

I like September.
Hell yeh, maybe even this September (after a few beers of course)...

Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - golden dreams were shiny days

I'm not sure if it's down to the fact that every year I take a nostalgic look back and think If only I hadn't got on that boat...yeh, 17 years ago today I stepped onto Holy Land soil for the first time. Mazal Tov to me, eh?

But something about September just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Just like the moment when Tom Cruise gets his girl on the train in Risky Business, accompanied by the swirling chimes of Tangerine Dream.

You know what I'm talking about right? Those slightly cooler days and nights, breezes picking up, emptier beaches, sunsets getting earlier and earlier, specks of rain blotting the windscreen...that smell of autumn...I love it.

Fearless

The new Corridor Land gig starts real soon, and to tell you the truth, I've hardly even thought about it. Not sure if it's a good thing, but I'm just concentrating on the salary, the car...however, and didn't you just know there's a however, one sentence uttered to me by my boss about the car leasing deal has been zipping around inside my head the last couple of days:
"One guy here is paying more than anybody else, but, sssshhhh, we don't want him to find out about that..."
Oh dear.

Happy New Year!

For all my Jewish readers, have a good one! For all you heathens, that be apple and honey in the pic, to ensure a sweet start to the year, innit. Don't know about sweet, sure is going to be a lot of alcohol in my blood by the end of the night...and what are the chances I can slip out at 10pm to catch the England game...?

Wish you were here...?

With what looks like a failed strike on Syria, and people "who know" (I know someone who knows something...) hinting that something is about to kick off, it's all good round here, innit. I say nuke each other to bits and then we won't have to go through all those nervy sirens again. A bright flash and then Good Night!

And with neo-Nazis (neo-feckin'-Nazis?!?) running around splashing their swastikas on all and sundry (but mainly on the sundry), and a dispirited Israeli football team (oooh, this must be hard to read if you're an Israeli fan, hee hee) having to sit out a month before having a chance to redeem themselves...well, it's all a bundle of laughs, as you can tell.

At least on Wednesday night it's the Jewish New Year, shindig at the mum-in-laws place as usual. Complete with 60 guests and 20 odd kids screaming and shouting all night...oooh luverly...might just be saved by the England game, if it's on anywhere...?

Ingerluuuund!

Yep, England v Israel again, tomorrow night, this time in the luverly new Wemberlee. With the cream of England's finest on the sidelines, Israel smells blood. Personally, I've never felt so disinterested about an England team, might just be down to all those chavtastic players and a coach who seems, yet again, to have his head up his arse. Of course, I want England to crush Israel, but if Israel manage a feisty draw, I won't be disappointed, or shocked.

So what say you? I'm going for a 3-0 win for the Kilkenny...

Sizzle sizzle

Ooooh, mind where you put yer hands - I'm sizzling, baby...sizzling!

After the last few weeks bumming it, and after the bank called to point out that the old overdraft was creaking under the strain, I decided (via a push and a prod from the missus) to look for a way back into technical writing. Minimum hours, of course, so the English school can still blossom.

So there I was, in a conference room in a standard modern office block, in smallsville of all places. My first job interview, and not really anticipating a result. But after greeting the Tech Writer I'll be working with, and my future boss, I had a good feeling, almost tingly. And was it me, or did they seem desperate to snap me up? WTF - who gets an offer at the end of an hour long interview these days? They're a young crowd, very small local branch of a US company, opportunities to go to China and other countries to visit the R&D departments located there, more money than the old Corridor Land...what the fuck more can I ask for? OK, so they're giving me less vacation days but...I signed the contract, starting in a few days.

Not entirely sure this'll help the school, but I'll be free in the afternoons/evenings, so should be OK. If it doesn't work out, I can just quit, right? No more pissing about over layoff payoffs etc etc

Viva La New Corridor Land!

Don't shoot the Messenger

I've got a new student who likes to study at home. He likes his home comforts, his mug of coffee next to him, feet perched on the coffee table. So how do I manage to teach him? Of course, using Live Messenger (Microsoft Messenger)! A PC to PC call, via a headset, and we're blabbing on like nobody's business...you've gotta love the technology! I even get to teach him in my leather underhosen, feet perched on the table, with my steaming mug of beer beside me. Of course, I always make sure the webcam is switched off...

Phewwwwwwww

Thank feck for that!

The start of September (already?!) means we can finally hand junior back to the kindergarden! Don't get me wrong, lurve the little fella to bits, but the last two weeks have been feckin' crazy! And doesn't half of the country come to a standstill in those two weeks, all kindergardens in Israel seem to close for those final two weeks of August, bloody amazing! I hadn't noticed before, but this year we've moved into another dimension...wowweeee...

What with juniorette in tow (her nanny has been on holiday the last two weeks and looks like she won't be returning), 6 or 7 hours alone with the both of them is hard work. We did it in shifts - I'd go and teach or the missus would go to work - so me and the missus hardly got to saw each other. Maybe that was a good thing, I can hear her muttering...

Arsenalski?

Looks like the Russians are starting to take a serious interest in my boys. Not sure I like it...never mind the French revolution, "dirty" money just seems, well, un-Arsenal (but very Chelski...just how will I ever be able to joke about Chelski again?!). And wasn't the new stadium supposed to generate all the extra income they'd ever need? So why all this talk about takeovers needed to raise more money - would Arsene ever spend it anyway? Not exactly breeding stability at the moment is it? Hmmpphh.