TRAGEDY

Today is a very sad day... My bike was stolen...

Usually during the day I park it outside my building on the side, and at night I park it in my stairwell, hauling it upstairs 4 flights and locking it to the metal banister. But two nights ago I came home very late and I was lazy and left it outside, only to find out in the morning that it was stolen. I am very sad.

I had gotten so used to biking in Tel Aviv, it is truly the best way to get around the city, and the bike, along with my cell phone, was becoming one of my staple possessions (see the photo below that Joy took when she was here last week). Just thinking about some stranger on my bike makes me want to cry. I barely had it for 3 weeks.I decided not to give up, and I am going to get a new bike. I'm going to go to the place in Yaffo that sells used (read: stolen) bikes for cheap, and I'm going to make sure that I do not get lazy about locking it upstairs at night.

Very sad day...

More Holiday Fun

The thing with Yom Kippur is that is that it means I have offically been in Israel for a year now. Yom Kippur 2006 was my first Jewish Holiday in Tel Aviv, and now I have officially done one full cycle. Like last year, I took to the streets cause nobody drives, but this time I upgraded. First, I have a new bike. I bought myself this bike on major sale from this bike shop on Pinsker. Total impulse buy, but I'm really happy I did it. Tel Aviv is a great city to bike in because it is small, compact, and flat. There are definitely some streets to avoid, and I ride strictly on the sidewalk or on designated biking lanes (there are quite a bit actually). Drivers and Pedestrians in this city are not bike friendly.
So I took my bike to areas that I would not get to otherwise so I could get some cool photos. This is what the highway looked like at 3pm. Nothing at all. This is right between two major exits on the Ayalon (the highway that cuts through the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. I got on at Arolozerof and rode south a kilometer to Hashalom exit. It was so eerie. This is the exact area that has the most intense rush hour traffic, and there was nobody there. I literally just got rode down the onramp and into this empty 5 lane highway.
When you get off Hashalom exit you hit what is probably one of the most convoluted intersections I have ever seen. The intersection of Namir/Begin and Hashalom/Kaplan right in front of the Azrieli towers is equivalent to the horrific intersection of the entrance to the Holland Tunnel from 7th Ave. in Manhattan. It is that intense. And yet at 3:30 on Saturday there was nobody.

Tomorrow I sit with my lab partner to start plowing through our Econometrics project, which I will definitely post about at a later date.

Yom Kipper

Today is Yom Kippur. I was invited to an early dinner with family friends, then went to Kol Nidre at the Reform Temple, then met up with my cousins in Rabin Square, which was filled with all of these kids and their bikes, it was great. Tomorrow I'm back at my cousins, then invited to a break the fast meal with friends.

Besides that, the last two weeks have been very nice. First, Joy and Jason arrived in Israel, and will be here for a month. They are in the last leg of their 10 month long around the world tour. I can't wait to take Jason to Jerusalem, he has never been, I can't wait to see his face. Joy and I also ate good food at Orna and Ella for lunch, a very well known Tel Aviv restaurant that is kind of a local legend (even the Economist has a review of it).

Benny is also in Israel for a week with a friend of his for a wedding.

I have also sorted out my class schedule for the coming week, and I finally got approval for my econometrics project from my Professor. My lab partner and I have been waiting ten days for it...

back in the Holy Land

My postings have been very sparse over the last month, my apologies.
I'm back in Israel as of three days ago.

Here is the brief recap of what happened in the last month of New York...
Katie was in town for work, we had a great time. My mother was also in town, which was a lot of fun. We ate wonderful food, even though I was not allowed to pick any of the restaurants. I also had my *gasp* 29th, birthday. My mother got me these great pair of jeans for my b-day present. I am very very happy with them.

I am still waiting to hear from NERA about a potential long term job offer... finger's crossed...

Now the coming 6 weeks will be focused on 5 things:
1. My econometrics project with Sharon
2. Figuring out my class schedule for the next year and applying to classes tomorrow
3. The Jewish holiday's with my family
4. Enjoying Tel Aviv.
5. Getting back in shape and playing ultimate, even though I played a lot on NYC.

I will post more frequently now, and hopefully I can find some photos from the summer in NYC as well.