Sabbati-blog

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not much has happened since my last post. We had our turkey and all the trimmings yesterday. As you can imagine, Thanksgiving is only mentioned here by the American expatriates. I have to say it has been quite nice not to be inundated with all the Christmas advertising, music, etc. that is so ubiquitous this time of year.

My research at Haddassah is just about complete. However, my folk music research is pretty much stalled. I haven't been able to get anybody to return my calls or emails. But, I did find out that one of the aids in Isaac's gan (preschool) is a music major so I will be talking to him either Monday or Wednesday to see if he can help me out.

I think Isaac is getting tired of being in Israel and misses his friends in American. He's told us a few times now that he's ready to go home. I'm hoping we can take him to a few touristy places over the next couple of weeks so his time here will be a little more bearable.

Hope you all had a festive Thanksgiving.

Spent some more time at Hadassah today and completed making notes on the Chagall Windows. Also got to record two tours that came through while I was in the synagogue. After I packed up my things I paid a visit to the Tourism office and was able to secure permission to record myself playing in the synagogue. I hope to do that one afternoon next week. That will be a definite high point to this portion of my sabbatical.

I'm also going to try to contact someone at the Jerusalem Music Academy to see if I can get permission to troll around their Israeli music archive to find some folk music.

It seems as if the rainy season is upon us. We've have one dry day since Thursday and there's more rain coming. The temps have also dropped a bit and the winds have picked up. Our highs are now only in the 50's. Probably sounds warm to everybody in New England but it feels chilly here because all the buildings are made out of concrete and the floors are all tile.

Hope everyone back home is staying warm. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Not much has happened since my last entry. My in-laws took us out to breakfast on Wednesday to a very nice café not too far from their apartment. We all had a very nice Israeli-style breakfast.

After a few dozen phone calls to my mother-in-law's former internet service provider, her current ISP, and her cable company, we finally are able to get my laptop online. After dealing with all these companies I can certainly appreciate the much higher level of customer service we have in the U.S. I know some companies have pretty poor service departments, but they pale in comparison to the frustration of dealing with companies over here.

It's Shabbat here now and everything pretty much shuts down until tomorrow evening. I hope to get back to the Chagall Windows on Sunday. We shall see. . .

Well, I successfully traveled from the Hadassah Hospital to my in-law's by bus -- including a transfer. That might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but in a city that's more difficult to navigate than Boston, I thought it was some to feel good about.

I was able to take notes on a few more of the Chagall windows, so I should be able to finish the remaining windows after two or three more visits. I'll ask the Tourism Office if it might be possible to record myself playing in synagogue to use as material for the electro-acoustic portion of my compositions and that will wrap up one of my goals for this visit.

I'm still not used to seeing military folks walking around everywhere carrying rifles, but it's commonplace here to see them anywhere and everywhere.

I've been able to get a little practicing in over the past few days, which has been a welcome development. I hope to make my second trip to the Chagall Windows tomorrow. I will get a ride there but might have to take the bus home. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a daunting task, but when you don't speak the language and the possibility of taking the wrong bus and winding up in Palestinian territory is real, the process becomes a little different.

We took Isaac to Liberty Bell park on Saturday after having lunch over friends of my In-Laws. It was a nice diversion and Isaac was able to work off a little energy. I recording some singing at the synagogue across the street when they had their Havdallah service Saturday night. We had been to one the week before and in additional to a large group of soldiers there was a large group of children this week. What an uplifing way to end the Sabbath.

I took a trip to Jerusalem's version of Ace Hardware today. It was fascinating just browsing the aisles. Some things were less expensive than the States but others were much more (toilet seats cost over $40 here!). We were also able to switch internet providers today - after four days on the phone. Customer service here is not quite the same as in States. Hopefully now I'll be able to get my laptop online.

Two firsts for me yesterday. My first session taking notes on the Chagall Windows and my first time driving in Jerusalem. Fortunately both went very well. Negotiating the Israeli drivers isn't the bad part, it's the fact that none of the signs are in English. So, even though I can pronounce the Hebrew, I have not idea what the words mean. If all goes as planned I'll be back at the Hadassah Hospital tomorrow for another session in the synagogue.

We took Isaac to the Bloomfield Science Museum this morning and we all had a good time. Lots of musical exhibits to play with along with many others. This evening we took a trip to the Jerusalem Mall (believe it or not they even have malls here!), and ate at that bastion of Israeli cuisine -- Pizza Hut.

The trip to Jerusalem was uneventful and we arrived on time Tuesday evening. The new terminal building at Ben Gurion airport had just opened that day so we were some of the inagural passengers.

Yesterday I contacted Ron Krumer at the Haddassah hospital and set up a meeting. We also took Isaac to the gan (preschool) across the street from where we're staying to see if he and Robin and I would like it. The gan is in a synagogue and the Rabbi is a musician. He said he has some musician contacts and will give me their numbers.

Today we dropped Isaac off at the gan and he had a great time. Tomorrow they're going on a field trip to the Israel Museum to go olive picking. I met with Ron Krumer at the Haddassah Hospital and he introduced me to the a Tilda Efrati of the Tourism Office who will be my contact when I visit the Chagall windows. They all seemed very enthusiastic about my project. I hope the experience continues to be as positive.

Some homemade signs that welcomed us to Israel:

We're all packed and ready to go. Our flight takes off from Boston this evening and we hope to be in Israel Tuesday evening. I will be calling my contact at the Haddasah Hospital on Wednesday to set up a meeting to arrange my schedule for viewing the Chagall Windows.

Next message from Israel (we hope).