Customer Service

Today for the first time I walked into a charedi community center in my neighborhood, which offers different classes going from Feldenkrais, Pilates to nutrition workshops. Complete segregation between men and women naturally.

First of all, my search for the office of this center was fruitless. There was no sign, nowhere. I walked the 3 floors up and down three times and figured that was enough exercise for the day. On my way out I met a young lady and asked for the office. She was the secretary (doubling with the marketing person) of the place. In order to reach the office we had to walk by a Pilates class, obviously distracting the concentration of the students. In my mind i started to picture classes interrupted incessantly by mothers, teenagers and retired ladies making their way to the office. It didn't make sense.

Once seated in the office, I had just started to go through the schedules and classes' content with the young lady when she started to get phone calls. Minutes passed by and she was talking to people, some of them sounded like potential customers, over the phone. At some point I said " are you aware of the fact you are still taking care of me?" She said she thought I had to think things over, didn't apologize, and when she completed her last phone call, simply said " I am with you".

During the all process she remained unattractively sad. Yes, baby, did they ever tell you looking sad does not make you look pretty? I know ... it's a tough reality out there ... Or maybe she was anemic, or underpaid or all of the above, I am not sure. She gave me the worst customer service one could think of. She didn't care, I felt I was bothering her.

I actually registered on a waiting list for a very nice program called "90 days program" where one exercises twice a week and sees a dietician twice a month. I checked and re-rechecked that the class was at 7.30 PM after office hours. On my way back I again walked by the Pilates class. They were doing a relaxation exercise on the floor.

I am not sure I will take the class. This all experience depresses me in a way I cannot exactly articulate.

Nathalie

Bouncing Back

Today for the first time I realized there was not such a thing as bouncing back. Who ever designed the idea that people have to bounce back should have limited himself to sports journalism, preferably gymnastics.

But it's there: some unsaid consensus expects you to bounce back after whatever major annoyance has come your way. If you don't return to normal you are like a grain of sand halting an entire well oiled mechanism. Or so you think.

Radiotherapy every day for 5 weeks has a way of getting to your soul, delivering encrypted messages, which require time to be unraveled and deciphered.

I am not sure I am ready to bounce back yet.

Nathalie

Messaging Mess Up

Today for the first time I received an SMS by mistake, meaning it was meant for someone else. It was pretty confusing. I desperately tried to understand the content of the message in connection with myself. After 3o seconds ridiculously spent on that task, I sent the messenger this concise note: "what?". He wrote back: "what what?".

All ended well. It was a truly honest mistake.

It prompted me to think however about the endless possibilities of messaging mess ups.


Nathalie

Nothing Bizarre at the Bazaar

Today for the first time I was busy selling designer jewelry at Tair Rape Crisis Center yearly bazaar, which took place in Rehovot.

Last year I sold ceramic dishes, pots and decorative artifacts. The year before I think I was into baked goods and home made jams.

Every year it's too hot outside and it always catches me, somehow, in the middle of a fibromyalgia outburst maybe because its' still close to Pessach and the change of season. This year I was 10 days after surgery.

There is nothing better for the spirit than remembering who you are and celebrating what you believe in.

For more information on Tair Rape Crisis Center, click here.

Nathalie

Hello Goodbye

Today for the first time I had a real conversation over the phone with my granddaughter.

She called me and proceeded immediately to tell me about her birthday party at the gan. She gave me a complete description. I congratulated her and then she added more details. She said "goodbye savta" (I could hear her mother in the background "now say goodbye to savta") and she hung up.

This was such an exciting first time.


Nathalie

Do you Know where you Were?

Today for the first time I heard about this incredible tale in a documentary film on the Klimt paintings,looted by the Nazis.

Maria Altmann whose aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, was painted twice by Klimt, tells the story of her brother Poldie Bentley; as a Jew, he was desperate to find a way out of Austria after the Kristallnacht and quite by chance bumped into a man who asked:

- Do you remember where you were on New Year's eve 4 years ago?
- Yes, I do, said Bentley.
- Do you remember what happened on that day?
- Yes, a person was in danger in the mountain and I was able to rescue him.
- I am he, said the man. Do you know what my name is?
- No, sir.
- My name is Hitler. I am Adolf Hitler's nephew. Now flee Vienna. You have three days. I will make sure nobody interferes in anyway and you will be safe.

Later, at the beginning of the 3rd millenium, the paintings that belonged to the Bloch-Bauer in Vienna were restituted to the family and Adele's painting sold for a reported $135 million.

Bentley, who was the nephew of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, an industrialist who commissioned Klimt to paint his young wife, was one of the heirs.


Nathalie

Missed the Mark

Today for the first time I realized that I had skipped altogether the date of my last taxes' payment (the advanced payment once every two months). Where had I been and what was I thinking, one may wonder. This has never happened to me before ...

So today, when I pulled myself together and procedeed to fill the booklet and write the check, I realized I was missing a moderately large payment from a client. This too came as a surprise because I had already written a reminder and was sure the money had come in.

I guess this is a picture of myself frowning upon petty worries and pretending to be back on tracks. Nice try ...


Nathalie

Screen Power

Today for the first time I leaned back, really leaned back, determined to do "nothing" while supposedly recuperating from surgery. I cannot remember myself being so relaxed and comfy, since the 70's (do not get confused, I was never a flower child and I skipped the drug culture altogether).

Not being comfortable seating in bed, I moved to the living-room and spent the entire day on the Facebook platform, on Google, Gmail and Blogspot. I also watched plenty of French programs on the French channel 2, watched the second episode of "The Prime Minister's Children" on Hot V.O.D as well as the movie "Once I was ...", which was offered for free also on Hot V.O.D. Add to this half of Woody Allen "Vicky Christina Barcelona", a third of "Argameddon", and an episode of "The Closer" on the French channel dubbed in French, and you get a feeling of my day, well spent in front of screens.

By the way, I have already seen all 43 episodes of "In Treatment" first season on Hot HBO, looking forward to the second season some time in June.

My husband cooked for me and my friends and family called throughout the day. I do consider myself a blessed woman, being surrounded by so many loving people.

The Upside of Anger

Today for the first time I saw the movie "The Upside of Anger" directed by Mike Binder.

This movie surprises me so much, that I find myself completely out of words and I am copying below one of the reviews posted on IMDb:

"Classic melodrama" was the old-fashioned term used to characterize family dramas where women struggled with their situation or gave voice to once- repressed desires. More often than not, these films focused on the bourgeoisie, where stifling urges and desires for fulfillment is endemic. Galvanized by a great and witty script, and powered by truly remarkable performances by Joan Allen and Kevin Costner, Upside of Anger is a welcome and inspired revision of the classic genre. Writer/director Mike Binder deserves all the kudos he will likely receive for this superbly rendered comedic drama, which is at once traditional and iconoclastic and as absorbing and entertaining as it is appealingly human.

The story is set in motion when the alcoholic matriarch of the well-to-do midwestern Wolfmeyer family discovers her husband has disappeared and left her to raise four headstrong daughters (all in various stages of young adulthood) on her own, without any clear means of support. Her drunken rants fuel her already combative parenting style, and the situation really erupts when a middle-aged neighbor makes a play for her attention. The stellar cast, including Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, and Alicia Witt, makes this portrayal of a family's emotional transformation one of the most pleasurable and surprisingly unpredictable romantic dramas you'll see this year."


Nathalie

прывітанне!

Today for the first time I started to study Belarusian.
Belarusian is linguistically placed between Russian and Ukrainian. It belongs to the group of the East Slavonic languages , and shares many grammatical and lexical features with other members of the group.


David

Kafka Meets Ionesco

Today for the first time I walked into a tall building in Jerusalem, heading for the third floor. The elevator was going down and a woman told me "I don't think the elevator goes up". Now, that sounded a bit strange...

I nevertheless waited for the next elevator. When I got in I pushed the button 3 and waited. The elevator started to make its way down and not up. I figured someone had called it downstairs.

Downstairs, nobody was waiting for the elevator. I pushed the button 3. The doors closed. Nothing happened for a few seconds and then the doors reopened. I tried the same three times. Three times the doors closed, stayed closed for a few seconds, then reopened. That's when I decided to use the stairs.

Situated two floors below the entrance of the building I started to climb the stairs towards my target: the third floor. Imagine my astonishment when one floor up I read this sign: 4. I was on the fourth floor. Let me repeat this just in case you lost your concentration: I had started walking up the stairs two floors below the entrance and after climbing only one floor I was on the fourth floor.

So I went down one floor hoping to read the sign 3 when I would get there. And I did. I also found the office I was looking for. The conclusion of all this is of course that, for reasons to be examined some other time, the ground floor is on the fifth floor.

And I ask, would it be too much of an inconvenience to place at least one sign next to the elevator signaling that the ground floor , which innocently appears to be the ground floor is in fact the fifth floor ?????????????



Nathalie

Key Note

Today for the first time I had to retrieve a key that didn't belong to me from some strangers' mailbox. In other words I had to buzz the intercom and tell people I had never met or heard of before that a key was sitting in their mailbox and it was mine, well not exactly mine but I needed it.

While all this was happening, my 3 year old grandson took the opportunity to play with all the mailboxes at reach, not precisely understanding the words " Don't touch, it's not ours". Is it the product of my imagination or he answered " But Savta you just did, you just looked at the content of a mailbox that wasn't yours".

Someone came down and gracefully gave me the key while I offered sincere apologies. Who knows maybe in the US what I did is considered a felony.


Nathalie

Beet Boredom in the Kitchen

Today for the first time I was introduced to roasted beets. This way of preparing beets gave me the opportunity to recycle the hapless aluminium foil chewing metaphore I had used on my previous blog entry. Try it and enjoy!


Nathalie

No Big Deal Mom, I Have Cancer

Today for the first time I decided to return to this blog, whose original purpose was to record events that happen in our life for the first time ever. This blog was interrupted at the end of January for the only reason that February delivered news that sure could have qualified for a "Today for the first time" entry but none of us had the heart nor the motivation to share.

So let's try this again. About three months ago, for the very first time, I was told I had breast cancer. Not much needs to be said. It was caught very early on and I am confident I will be OK. What bothers me the most is not that I have cancer. What really bothers me is that my sister died from breast cancer just a few years ago and it seems it was just a few weeks ago.

I thought it was possible to put a sister's death somewhere in a parallel universe where it would not interfere with my life. I thought I would mourn my sister like I mourned both my parents. I was wrong. Losing a sibling is not like losing a parent. You simply don't come to terms with it.

So who was I talking about? It took me a while to come to terms with my predicament mainly because when you learn you have cancer at the same time you learn your grandchild is in very acute danger, the word "cancer" registers as "nosebleed". So when I felt he was not in immediate danger any longer, a few weeks later, I remembered I had breast "nosebleed" and that my sister died from it. It felt like chewing on aluminum foil.

So here I am on my way to surgery and radiation in a world that still stutters to spell "cancer" out, that expects the patient to be brave (but falling apart when you have a heart attack or kidney failure is OK), and where some cancer patients still keep their disease a secret in order not to cause discomfort or scare others.

On French TV I saw this advertisement for cancer research: a mother talks to her adult son on the phone.

- I won't be able to make it on Sunday mom, I am sick.
- Oh what happened darling?
- Oh no big deal mom, I have cancer.
- All right, sweetie, I understand. Feel better. See you next week OK?

A voice says: this is the way it will be in the future. Thanks to cancer research, having cancer will be just the same as having a cold .....


I hope G-d watches French TV programs once every so often.



Nathalie

Neve Shalom on a Cloudy Day

Today for the first time I visited Neve Shalom with my dear friend Chava. We walked on a narrow path surrounded by foliage and herbs. In the "House of Silence", a spherical shape building, facing the Ayalon valley and isolated from all sounds, my friend and I meditated for a little while. Later we sat on a bench in the small cemetery where Jews and Muslims villagers are buried side by side. From a distance I could see The Latrun monastery and Kibbutz Shaalvim, my third home after Châteauroux and Paris. 

We sat there for what seemed an eternity while chatting and gazing upon the scenery. I was thinking of my children's childhood in the kibbutz,  of my own childhood, all left behind, all gone, and of the people I loved, who have died one by one, my father when I was 24, my mother when I was in my late 30's and my sister only 4 years ago. 

I know my sister would have liked Neve Shalom because she believed in peace and co-existence. She never ceased opposing bigotry and injustice. She could have been there sitting next to me on a cold and misty day, but she was not, and my friend who was smiling, laughing and mainly keeping quiet, maybe pondering over her own losses and battles, my friend was there, making this day perfect and magical.

My sister and I

Today for the first time my sister and I met at Center One in Jerusalem. This was a meeting we had not planned at all; it simply worked out at the last minute. I said " I got you something" and took out a little wrapped gift from my purse. She said " so did I!" and she handed me a little package.

This was one of those many magical moments my sister and I have known along the years. And it was so much like "us": on a day we didn't even plan on seeing each other we both bought a gift for each other.


Nathalie

Bundles of Joy

Today for the first time I was trusted by superior instances to care for all my three Zelmanovicz grandchildren, aged 3 and a half, 2 years old and 3 months old.

Three months old cried for the entire time apparently very accustomed to her mother's continual presence at her side. She may not approve of my perfume, I am not sure. She would stop briefly for a couple of minutes, than start screaming again. Poor Surele.

This is a picture of Mirl aka Mirale who is just as mischievous as she looks.

It's Them

Today for the first time I called the Rehovot municipality hotline to report the frequent and long interruptions of our Internet and phone service, due to the work on our street (according to the cable technician).

After consulting the head of the project on our street the clerk said: it's not us , it's them, the HOT cable company. We are not authorized to disconnect service and even if we wanted to, we don't know how because we don't have access to ... bla ... bla ... bla. There is nothing we can do, she said. Call a technician from HOT and solve the problem with them.

Will all due respect, I said, it seems to me someone is trying to cover his ass. How happens the cable line goes out as soon as the work starts on the street and miraculously returns around 5 o'clock in the afternoon and this now every single day.

And how do I explain to my clients I have no Internet, no phone and no fax? Am I doomed to spend the rest of the street reconstruction (weeks apparently) strapped on a chair in a coffee shop with Wifi as my only friend?


Nathalie

It's not Us

Today for the first time the technician from the HOT cable company whom we summoned foll0wing a few days of long disconnections of our Internet and telephone line said: it's not us , it's them, the Rehovot municipality , which almost daily disconnects the HOT line in order to pursue its work on your street (they have reaped off the street, replaced infrastructure like pipes, they will eventually pave it). There is nothing I can do, he said.

In the meantime, I work from home and not having the usage of the Internet and the phone (also the fax) is clearly hazardous for my business.


Nathalie

Wireless

Today for the first time I installed a wireless router in the house.


David



Thanks for your good services (it was about time ... naw naw naw ... ).


Nathalie

Ipod

Today for the first time I played with an Apple Ipod to explore the wireless capabilities in conjunction with online programming.

David

Broken Ribs Recipe

Today for the first time I coughed so hard I thought I broke a couple of ribs.

David

Tough Realization

Today for the first time I went to Netiv Meir Yeshiva high school in Jerusalem and met the head of the Yeshiva and the school administrator. I was shocked at the realization these guys were at least 15 years younger than me. Someone explains to me slowly and loudly enough why is it everybody has become so young lately ...


Nathalie

Reactivated

Today for the first time I got sick for the 4th time since the beginning of November. Is it my imagination or am I less sick this time than the previous times?

Let's keep our sense of optimism. Mono reactivation actually seems to match the description; just when you thought it was going to leave you alone, it takes you back into the spirit of reactivation.


Nathalie

Larry David

Today for the first time I watched 5 episodes in a row of "Curb your Enthusiasm". I am pretty much under the spell of the constant laughter that made its way to my stomach and hit my brain like a bomb. I like the wrenching self-criticism of the main character while he keeps an inborn egoistical front.

If this show's CD was going to be the only remnant of our civilization hundreds of years from now, it would serve as a testimony of Jews' incredibly twisted selfish idiotic minds and how they manage to make you come back for more. Watch Larry David in action and you'll see what I mean.

Nathalie

Too Far Out

Today for the first time I tried to get a glimpse of the solar eclipse but the skies were filled with clouds and all I got was a backache from leaning on my balcony ledge a bit too far out.

Nathalie

Life Lessons

Today for the first time I taught my grandson how to use a fishing rod and reel.


David