28 February 2013

I woke up a bit late this morning and so did not go out for a walk.

After breakfast, I ran several short errands since I didn't have to teach until 11:00. First, I gathered the large number of flattened soda boxes that we have collected (over MONTHS!) and took them to the cardboard recycling place 4 blocks from here. I put them all in a cardboard big box where they fit perfectly and then carried it efficiently on top of my head. After that, I took the empty plastic soda bottles to their recycling collection area less than 2 blocks from here.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz today: 11:00-12:30, 2:30-4:45, 6:30-8:00, and 8:00-8:45.

David's leg was still hurting pretty badly today, so we ordered a pizza delivered for lunch (between 12:30 and 2:30).

Between 4:45 and 6:30, we took a short drive up the Arava (up to Samar) and back, just to get out of the house for a while. It was really nice out today!

27 February 2013

I slept well, got up early, and walked all the way to the gym and back this morning. I only went briefly on the cross-trainer while I was there, though.

I went to the Maccabi pharmacy early this morning so that I was there well before they opened at 8:00 a.m.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today (although one was a late cancellation about which I was informed first thing in the morning): 11:00-12:30, 1:15-2:00(the late cancellation), 3:00-5:15, and 6:30-8:00.

We ate lunch at Il Pentolino. We had thought of going to Greg at Ice Park, but David has been having a strange problem with his left leg recently. It hurts really bad, but only when he's walking, so he walks very slowly, is a bit unstable, and can't walk very far. We have no idea what it is or what's causing it. At Il Pentolino, we can park right in front of the restaurant so that he hardly has to walk at all, whereas, at Ice Park, Greg is on the opposite side of the circle from where we enter out of the parking area.

26 February 2013

I slept well last night and got up early enough to take a short walk. I didn't feel like going too far, though.

This morning we had an appointment for David with our family doctor in order to get several prescriptions updated.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today (the last 2 units are about to begin as I write this): 11:00-12:30, 2:00-3:30, 4:00-5:30, and 6:30-8:00.

We went down to the local bakery again for lunch today between 12:30 and 2:00.

We had a good conversation with David's sister today. In fact, he and she (and her husband) are still talking as I write this.

25 February 2013

I slept well but didn't get up early this morning.

I taught 9 units of Berlitz today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:00-3:30, 6:30-8:00, and 8:00-8:45. We ate a lunch of leftovers at home between 1:30 and 2:00.

David had an appointment with his diabetes doctor at 4:00. The doctor is actually is Tel Aviv, but we see him (and he sees us) via video conference. He's an American, and he's a really nice doctor, as well, so we are very glad to have him. He wrote a prescription for David to get a talking blood sugar meter so that he'll be able to test even when I'm not around to help him (although I almost always AM around, of course!).

Special update on David

It's time to give a special update on David. As most of you know, he went totally blind last August 1. For months after that, he was unable to see even light and dark.

Then, a month or 2 ago, he did begin to see a little light and dark. He didn't want to tell anyone at the time, though, because it was so little and because it was unclear whether it would ever get any better or not. Also, he was trying very hard not to get his OWN hopes up too much.

About 2 or 3 weeks ago, he began to notice some steady and slow, but noticeable, improvement. He even got to the point that he could see very large print if he used a magnifying glass.

Unfortunately, about a week to 10 days ago, the trend reversed itself. Within only 3 or 4 days he went all the way back to total darkness. As you can imagine, this was very depressing for him! He seems to be feeling a little better today.

Of course, no one can tell what the future may hold. This whole blindness has been a mystery from the very beginning. All the eye doctors have been unable to find anything wrong with his eyes, although they also have clearly determined that he cannot, in fact, see. Neither the CAT scan nor the MRI were able to detect any problems in the brain. Nevertheless, it's quite clear that there IS some problem there, just nothing that shows up in those scans. The bottom line is that no one knows exactly why David is blind or what the prognosis, either long- or short-term, might be. That, in itself, is unsettling and means that we can't even plan with much certainty.

24 February 2013

I slept well last night but woke up early. I got out of bed at about 5:10. I still didn't go out for a walk, though.

This morning, I ran several errands, all in one trip. David came along for the ride. First, we went to the gas company to pay that bill. Then we went to the pet store to buy more food for the cats. After that, we continued to Breishit, the health food store, to get several kinds of nuts. Finally, we went to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping. On the way home, we filled up the car with gas.

We were planning to eat lunch at Greg at Ice Park, but the parking lot was so full when we got there that we decided to eat at Il Pentolino in town instead. When we finished eating, we went back over to the gas station to get our car washed (it's free with a fill-up, but I paid 10 more shekels to get it waxed, too).

This evening, we went back over to Ice Park, and there was parking available, although there were still many people there. We got frozen yogurt and then sat down to eat it. There's a store there called Gamers, and they have set up 3 Xbox Kinnect systems near the ice rink. We sat there and watched kids and their dads playing various track and field events. One of our favorite things about Israel is the number of kids that are EVERYWHERE and the wonderful way that nearly all their parents interact with them. Interestingly, despite the fact that many people here have 3 or 4 or even more kids, they hardly ever seem very stressed by them (as compared to American parents who so often seem VERY stressed by having to deal with only one or two of them!).

23 February 2013

I slept quite well last night, but I was very tired, and I didn't get up until nearly 8:00 this morning, which is VERY late for me!

We mostly rested at home this morning. I took the time to learn a little (actually, a VERY little!) about playing chords on the mandolin so that I could show David what I had learned. It's seems rather more difficult now that I have a real mandolin and am trying it than it did when I was merely listening to (and not really even watching!) the YouTube video. Besides, the strings are really brutal on fingers that aren't used to them!

We went to Ice Park and had lunch at Greg. We were both a bit adventurous. David had their omelet sandwich (which he hadn't tried before, I think, although it's one of my favorites there), and I had the multi-color (and multi-shaped) pasta with tomato sauce (including fresh and dried tomatoes). It's a new dish that they added when they updated their menu a few weeks back, and I hadn't yet tried it. It's was very good!

We had a nice long conversation with David's sister this afternoon, and after that we took a drive around the short loop, starting just as it was beginning to get dark.

22 February 2013

I woke up fairly early this morning and pretty well rested, but I didn't go out for a walk anyway.

I was originally scheduled to teach only 3 units today, but I was called in to substitute for 2 more: 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30(the added 2 units), and 1:15-2:00.

We decided to eat vegeburgers at Barbis today since we hadn't been there in some time.

We made Shabbat this evening and, other than that, just relaxed.

21 February 2013

I slept well last night and didn't get up early at all. I felt very rested.

Today was a LONG Berlitz day, 11 units (8.25 hours of teaching!): 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 1:30-3:00, 3:00-4:30, 6:30-8:00, and 8:00-8:45.

We ate various leftovers for lunch at home between 12:30 and 1:30.

Between 4:30 and 6:30, we drove over to Ice Park, watched a short ice dance show, and ate frozen yogurt. On our way back, we took a short detour up highway 12. It was very clear today, so there was a good view of Hakl, Saudi Arabia, just after dark.

20 February 2013

I got to sleep easily last night, but I was awakened suddenly about 2 hours later by David falling in the bathroom. Apparently, he slipped because of some urine that had gotten on the floor. He wasn't seriously hurt, but he did have a couple of small cuts on his arm and hand, and, of course, he has some aches and pains from the twisting and maybe even from hitting the floor (although he went down pretty gently). With some difficulty, I managed to get him to crawl over to the bathtub so that he could get up off the floor. Then we both got back to bed. He went right to sleep immediately, although he didn't sleep really well. I, however, wasn't able to get back to sleep for more than 2 hours. I didn't have any classes before 11:00, so I was able to sleep in. I woke up, though, with a headache that I think was mostly due to dehydration. I drank plenty of fluids and took a couple of ibuprofen, and so I felt better quite soon after getting up.

I taught 8 units again today: 11:00-12:30, 2:00-2:45, 3:00-5:15, and 6:30-8:00. We ordered pizza and ate it between 12:30 and 2:00.

Between 5:15 and 6:30, we went over to the music store and picked up the mandolin that we had ordered for David. He plans to learn how to play it.

19 February 2013

I got up early this morning and walked over to feed Moshe and Bob's cats again.

Today was a less busy than yesterday. I only taught 8 units: 11:00-12:30, 2:00-3:30, 4:00-5:30, and 6:30-8:00.

We walked down to the local bakery and ate lunch there beween 12:30 and 2:00. David had their shakshuka (which was a little too חריף kharif "spicy hot") for him, but he ate most of it. I had their burekas plate, which includes plenty of sliced bread, some olives, a sliced hard-boiled egg, a sliced tomato, cucumber slices, and 4 burekas (I had 1 with Bulgarian cheese, 1 with mushrooms, and 2 with cheese). It's always delicious!

We talked briefly with David sister in Ohio, whose still in the hospital, and then took a very short drive up highway 12 and back, all between 5:30 and 6:15.

18 February 2013

I got up early this morning and walked over to feed Moshe and Bob's cats.

Today was a VERY busy Berlitz day, 11 units (= 8.25 hours!): 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:00-3:30, 4:00-5:30, 6:30-8:00, and 8:00-8:45.

We ate leftovers (from Greg café) for lunch, between 1:30 and 2:00. Other than that, we, of course, did little else today.

17 February 2013

I slept well and long last night. I think my body is making up for the nights a week or 2 ago when I didn't sleep well at all.

This morning, we went shopping at the old mall (Mul HaYam). David got several shirts, and I got a pair of short pants. Then we took a short drive down the coast, to the crossing to Egypt at the southernmost tip of Israel.

We ate lunch at Il Pentolino, and we both tried new dishes. David had their minestrone soup and stuffed artichoke hearts (both very good), and I had their breakfast, which was also delicious. I had my eggs sunny-side up (instead of in an omelet). A highlight of the breakfast was 3 big, really American-style bagels, which were great!

In the early evening, we went over and did a little shopping at Ice Park. We didn't buy anything except a couple of frozen yogurts. David's had oreo cookies and kiwi fruit, and mine had white chocolate and mango. On the way back on the road between the airport and the old mall, the police were apparently randomly stopping cars, and we were chosen. The officer asked me where we were coming from, and I told him "from Ice Park". He asked if I had drunk any alcohol, and, of course, I hadn't. Then he asked if I would take a breath test, and of course I readily agreed. That was rather interesting, since I have NEVER taken one before! I was glad to see them out checking for drunk drivers like that, although it seemed like a bit of an early hour for it. I suppose they may continue, though, well into the night.

After we got back, I walked over to feed Moshe and Bob's cats (they're on a trip up North).

16 February 2013

I slept well last night and didn't get up too early this morning.

We drove the short loop today (up 90 to 40 and then across and down 12).

I tried out the "UFO" flying machine I bought last week. We walked over to the green strip and picked a nice open area. There was a bit of a breeze, which made it difficult to control the flight accurately, but it was still fun. Once, the UFO got stuck in a tree. The branch was too high for me to reach, but I managed to shake a slightly lower branch that was near it enough to get it to fall to the ground. The UFO is a very light framework with 4 separate propellers arranged in a rectangle, so it's a little easier to control that a traditional helicopter.

We ate lunch at Greg today. David had cheese ravioli, and I had their fatoush salad.

We talked to David's sister today who, we found out, is hospitalized for a blood infection. It's lucky they got her to the hospital, because this could be serious. With the proper treatment, though, she'll be fine soon. And thank goodness for WiFi in the hospital!

15 February 2013

Last night we didn't get to bed until after 11:00 because we went to Bob and Moshe's great party. But I still woke up early this morning and wasn't even tired. Go figure!

I taught 5 units today: 9:00-10:30 and 11:00-1:15. After that, we had lunch at Greg.

I worked some more on my orchestration today. One of the main things I did was to arrange the orchestra on the stage in a fairly typical way (instead of whatever default position the instruments had had before), and it made a surprising difference in the sound (all for the better, I think!).

This evening I was browsing in the iTunes music store, which has only been available here in Israel for a few months. I was amazed how many recordings were out there of Hindemith organ sonatas. I would consider these to be relatively obscure works, but perhaps not! Of course, my recording of his 3rd organ sonata is one of them (hint, hint!).  :-)

14 February 2013

I slept well last night but got up quite late this morning. At least I felt good and had not even a trace of a headache.

I worked some more on my music today. There's a lot of tweaking and fine-tuning that I can do and still need to do, but it keeps sounding better and better and more realistic (i.e. like a real orchestra).

I taught 8 units today, but the last one was a late cancellation: 11:00-12:30, 12:45-1:30, 1:30-3:00, 3:00-4:30, and 8:00-8:45. I had to grab a very quit bite between 12:30 and 12:45.

After the class that ended and 4:30, David and I went over to Greg. He had only ice-café, but I had ice-café and a small nut pie.

This evening, we are going to a party at Bob and Moshe's.

13 February 2013

Last night I slept well, but I woke up with a sinus/dehydration headache (at least I think that's the source of it). I drank plenty of fluids and took ibuprofen at breakfast time, and I felt better for the rest of the day.

I worked more on my music today, mostly on my orchestration of Esa Einai. It's gradually improving.

I talk only 5 units of Berlitz today: 11:00-12:30 and 3:00-5:15.

We ate lunch again at Greg today.

12 February 2013

I slept fairly well last night but woke up very early. I didn't actually get out of bed until 5:30, though. Then I walked to the gym, worked out a bit there, and walked back home. It felt very good to be exercising again!

I worked a little more on my music today. My orchestration of my arrangement of Esa Einai is coming along quite nicely, but it's certainly not finished yet.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz today: 11:00-12:30, 4:00-5:30, and 7:15-8:45.

We ate lunch at Greg today, and afterwards we stopped and refueled the car and had it washed.

11 February 2013

We both once again slept very well last night and got up quite early. Soon, I need to get back to my morning walks and exercise.

I had only 5 units of Berlitz today: 10:00-11:30, 2:00-3:30, and 8:00-8:45 (later this evening).

We ate lunch at a new restaurant today, one which only opened a view days ago. It's called 9 Bar, and it's located right next to Greg at the Ice Park & Mall. We've been watching them prepare it for months now. The decor is really quite amazing! The walls are covered with fancy carved wood (of course, it may be fake, but it looks nice anyway!). There are HUGE golden bas relief figures of angels, winged fairies, winged lions, etc. and quotations (in English) from various pop/rock music groups (I presume they come from the lyrics of songs, but I don't know them, of course!). The ceiling is high, there are floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the lagoon and towards Aqaba and the Jordanian mountains to the east, and there are nice chandeliers above. The only thing marring the elegance is that the wooden floors look rather unfinished.

It's basically a meat restaurant, so there are relatively few vegetarian dishes on the menu. I ordered shakshuka, and David ordered noodles. Both were okay, but certainly nothing special. We both had "ice-café", but it turned out actually to be iced coffee (i.e. coffee with ice in it). The sweetener was sugar water served separately in tiny pitchers. But, even with double sweetener, it still wasn't very good. David only drank a little of his.

The service, though, was just about the best I've seen in Israel. Of course, there weren't busy at all in the middle of the day, but the waitress was very prompt and attentive. She did bring only ONE drink at first, but when I told her we had ordered two, she apologized and quickly brought a second one. She was also very attentive.

So, the place gets an A- for decor and atmosphere, A for service, and C for food. We'll probably seldom go there, but that could be quite different for people who eat meat. Instead, we'll continue to go to Greg quite a bit (B for decor and atmosphere, mostly due to the mall; B+ for service; and A for food!).

I did some editing of pics I've taken recently, and I posted a couple of new entries in my old blog. So, to see pictures of nice flowers along highway 12, click here. For more about our visit last Shabbat to Ein Avdat (including some really nice pics), click here.

10 February 2013

Again I slept well and felt rested. David slept well, too. I think we're finally really recovered from our colds.

This morning David went in to have the x-ray the doctor ordered after the end of the course of antibiotics. Then, in the middle of the day, we went to the doctor to get the results: no more inflammation showing up in his lung! While we were there, though, we got another prescription for cough syrup to keep David's lungs clearing, and we also got all our regular prescriptions for both of us for the next 3 months. After lunch, I stopped by the Maccabi pharmacy and got them all filled (for one month).

We ate lunch at Greg today. David tried their protein sandwich (good, but messy!), and I had their omelet sandwich.

We took a drive around the short loop in the reverse direction (up highway 12 and back on highway 90). There are so many beautiful flowers all along highway 12. I'll try to do a post sometime this week in my old blog featuring some pics of them that I took last week. I edited them today, along with the pics I took yesterday at Ein Avdat. I also plan a blog entry about that trip sometime later this week.

This evening I did the regular weekly grocery shopping. I went in a bit later than I had planned, and, as a result, there were a lot of people there. I had to wait a bit in line, but I still got out reasonably quickly.

9 February 2013

Last night I slept very well and woke up rested and refreshed this morning.

Today we took another trip to Ein Avdat. This time, while David stayed in the car and listened to a new book that I downloaded for him this morning, I walked up the steps carved in the side of the canyon to the upper pond. I took a lot of pictures, and many of them came out very nice, too. I'll try to pick and edit some of the best and post them in my old blog soon.

When we came back, we had another long conversation with David's sister and her husband in Ohio.

8 February 2013

Last night, I KNOW what my mind was doing: I was trying to do an Israeli tax return (which, in reality, we do NOT have to do, thank heavens!). So, once again, I was exhausted in the morning. But this morning, I also had a headache. Nevertheless, I made it through the day pretty well, although I felt quite tired this afternoon.

I taught only 4 units of Berlitz today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00. After that, I walked down to the bakery to buy challah, and then we ate lunch at Il Pentolino, eating our usual dishes.

This afternoon and evening, we just relaxed. We made Shabbat, of course, and then we took a short drive down the coast to just before the border crossing to Egypt and then back and around the city.

7 February 2013

Last night I slept pretty well, but somehow when I woke up in the morning, I felt as though I had been somewhere else working all night. However, I only felt stiff and tired for a while and then was okay the rest of the day today.

I taught 10 units today: 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 1:30-3:00, 3:00-4:30, and 6:30-8:00. We ate lunch at home, of course.

In the evening, we talked with David's sister in Ohio.

6 February 2013

I had trouble getting to sleep last night but slept well once I did. I did NOT get up very early, though.

I taught 9 units today: 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 3:00-5:15, and 6:30-8:00.

We had planned to go out to lunch today, but this morning it rained quite heavily, starting before 9:00 and not really ending until around 12:30 or 1:00. Because of this, I was quite sure that flooding would prevent us from getting to any of our usual eating places. So we just had beans (Heinz) and weenies (vegetarian, of course!) at home.

We also took a walk after lunch but before my 3:00 class. We went down to the local candy store and got candy bars that are similar to Snickers for David and some candied pecans coated with white chocolate for me.

5 February 2013

I slept well last night but woke up late this morning feeling really tired. However, after I got up, I felt much less tired and had a good day. David did NOT sleep so well last night, but he still had a pretty good day.

I had an exceptionally BUSY Berlitz day, 11 units (although 1 was a late cancellation): 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 1:00-1:45(the late cancellation), 2:00-3:30, 4:00-5:30, 5:30-7:00.

We ate lunch at home very quickly between 12:30 and 1:00, since I wasn't notified of the late cancellation until just as it was time to begin the class. We did take advantage of the extra time, though, to take a short walk, just over to the green strip and back, with a rest on the bench there.

4 February 2013

We both again slept well last night and woke up at a good time this morning.

Today was a very busy Berlitz day, 9 units: 10:00-11:30, 2:00-3:30, 4:00-5:30, 6:30-8:00, and 8:00-8:45.

We went to lunch at Greg, but the service was a little slow at first, and so we barely made it back for my 2:00 class. David tried their new spinach cannelloni and found it to be very good. I had fatoush salad.

3 January 2013

We both slept pretty well last night and got up reasonably early. After breakfast, though, David slept some more.

I had scheduled an appointment with our doctor for David. He had told us to do this when the course of antibiotics was finished (which is actually tomorrow morning). Also, David still has quite a cough and is somewhat weak, though not nearly as much as before. The doctor listened to David's chest and still heard some congestion in there, so he ordered 5 more days of antibiotics.

For lunch today, we split the "Health Sandwich" that David had ordered at Greg yesterday but had been unable to eat due to nausea. We both agreed that it was quite delicious! Afterwards, we did go over to Greg again, but just to drink ice-café.

I did the weekly grocery shopping in the late afternoon, which seems to be a good time, when not too many other people are there.

I got quite a bit of work done on my music today. I'm in the process of orchestrating the setting of "Esa Einai" that I did for organ some years ago. I'm very pleased with how it's going so far. This is my first time using instruments of the Synful Orchestra other than the strings. In fact, I start with the oboe playing the melody and have also already used the English horn, the flute, the bassoon, and the trumpet. I expect to use pretty much the full orchestra for the last section, which I haven't yet done.

This will be a busy Berlitz week. I am currently scheduled to teach 41 units (30.75 hours). Last week, I taught only 37 units.

2 February 2013

We both slept pretty well last night and didn't get up early even though we had gone to bed quite early.

This morning we took a drive up the Arava to 101 KM, where there is a small store and "zoo". Unfortunately, though, it was not open when we got there, so we just continued around the "big loop" (highway 90 to highway 13 to highway 40 to highway 12) past Makhaneh Shizafon.

When we got back to Eilat, we went right over to Ice Park and ordered lunch at Greg. By the time the food came, though, David was not feeling well, and so he didn't eat anything and only drank the ice-café. We did have them package the food (plus the bread that came with my meal) so we could bring it home with us.

This afternoon, we had another good conversation with David's sister.

1 February 2013

I had some trouble sleeping in the middle of the night last night, and so I got up for a while. Then, I slept in quite late in the morning, and even when I got up at about 7:15 I still felt a bit tired.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz this morning: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00. Then I walked to the pharmacy, the local grocery store, and the bakery to get several things we needed.

We ate lunch at Il Pentolino today, and my spaghetti tasted particularly good.

This afternoon we had quite a long conversation with David's sister and her husband in Ohio. After that, we made Shabbat.