Checking In
I got a pleasant surprise when I went to the bank this week to deposit my paycheck.
For years, until just a few days ago, the procedure was simple but time-consuming: you had to fill out a bank envelope with the details of your bank account, the details of the check you were depositing, and so on.
On this particular morning, I went to the small table where the envelopes were kept and discovered that there were none. When I turned to look for help, a friendly bank employee greeted me with a smile. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes, please,” I said. “I need to deposit a check and there aren’t any envelopes left. Please, would you get some?”
“Oh, we aren’t using the envelopes anymore,” she said with a grin. “Now we’re using this.”
And she taught me how to use it, right then and there.
It’s surprisingly easy. You insert your bank card in the lower slot, wait for the machine to read it and spit it back out, and then you insert your endorsed check into the slot above. The machine shows you an image of the check you have just deposited, asking if you want to deposit it into your own account or another one. You press the screen for yes or no, verify that the check is going where you want it to go and you’re done.
Wow.
The only problem I can think of is that there may be lines on occasion. But since the procedure is so quick and easy, they should go fairly quickly … I hope.
(Cross-posted on Elms in the Yard)
What I Did for My Birthday
As my half-dozen readers may have gathered from a recent post, I just had a birthday — a rather significant one, in fact. I confess it: I flipped a digit. Yes, I know that’s a pretty serious thing do to, so I promise to wait ten years before doing it again.
So what did I do to celebrate? A few things.
There’s a wonderful all-you-can-eat meat restaurant downtown called Vaqueiro. It’s a combination South American/South African place. For a fixed price, the smiling, friendly waiters bring out samples of ten different kinds of meat (five if you’re there for lunch), and once you’re done sampling, they’ll bring you as much as you want of whichever kind you request. Once you’re on their database, they’ll send you an invitation for a free dinner on your birthday (and a free bottle of wine on your anniversary).
My friend and I went there a few days before Pessah and had a wonderful time. We were pretty full even before the end, though, and at one point we started laughing when the food just never seemed to end. “What — they’re bringing us more?” we asked each other in disbelief. We could hardly move by the time we left. Moderation? Not that evening!
Another friend took me to Mini-Israel. It was terrific — the models of various buildings throughout the country are exquisite and all the miniature plants are real. There’s even a plant nursery near the entrance where you can buy the same kinds of plants used in the park. (At the Mini-Israel website, click on the link in the upper left corner for the English-language version, and click on the icon of the speaker in the upper right corner to turn off the music.)
We continued my birthday romp with a trip to the new exhibit at David’s Citadel, “Train Tracks to Jerusalem.” It’s a history of the train to Jerusalem from Ottoman times to the present, and highly recommended. (Mind the gap!)
By the way, there are model trains all over Mini-Israel — quite literally — so the train-loving part of me was well nourished. I’m still planning a trip to the Railway Museum in Haifa, though.
(Cross-posted at Elms in the Yard)
Music, Music, Music
Israel has a thriving folk-music community with folk clubs that meet regularly in Karmiel, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Kibbutz Tzora (next door to Beit Shemesh) and, most recently, the south. If you like folk music, you’ll enjoy them all, and even if the folk genre is not your musical cup of tea, you’ll still enjoy the excellent musicianship and wonderful atmosphere.
The largest Israeli folk-music site is probably that of the Kibbutz Tzora Folk Club, which is lovingly maintained by Judy and Lynn Lewis. Their site includes a gallery of past and present performers from all over the world, including Israel. (Not all of us are expats, believe it or not!)
Although some of the various folk clubs have been in existence for close to twenty years, it has only been in the past five or so that members of the Israeli folk community have begun releasing their own CDs. (Names that come to mind right away include Ray Scudero, Sandy Cash and Jill Rogoff.) This is mainly due to two factors: the increased availability of recording technology together with the enormous distribution potential of the Internet. Most of us expat musicians sell our CDs at CD Baby, a wonderful on-line CD store located in Oregon.
And speaking of the Internet, this week several tracks from “Poor Working Slob,” an excellent CD of original music by my dear friends Joanna and Ray Scudero, are featured on Rich O’Brien’s Songwriters Internet Radio Show. Their segment is about two thirds in, but the entire show is worth hearing. Rich showcases three of my favorite songs by Ray: “Voyager,” a lyrical picture of the wooden gaff-rigged schooner on which his sister and brother-in-law live and travel the world; “Poor Working Slob,” a witty, affectionate look through a native New Yorker’s eyes at the people who live and work in New York City; and “Horizon Dawn,” a song about taking stock of one’s life.
So … like music? Pull up a chair, lean back, relax and enjoy.
(Cross-posted on Elms in the Yard)
Maiden Voyage (or, I Think I Can)
Tonight I took the inaugural train of the new/old line from Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem. Was it exciting? Absolutely! Here’s a pictorial account of my trip.
The train, which started its run in Haifa at 8:50 p.m., arrives at the Beit Shemesh station at 10:07 p.m. (From Haifa to Beit Shemesh in under an hour and twenty minutes — not bad at all.)
All aboard! I hug my friend goodbye and head toward the train.
The Beit Shemesh station from just inside the door of the train.
On a walk through the train, I discovered that the engineer’s compartment was open. Several media correspondents were there, and the security guard let all of us in. The engineer’s name was Moshe, and he said he was very happy to be driving the train on its maiden voyage. (I apologize for the darkness of the photograph. I also hope to get pictures of the train’s breathtakingly beautiful route in daylight.)
A view of the tracks from the engineer’s compartment as we approach the Malha station.
One of the Malha station signs.
The train is temporarily parked on the tracks. Moshe, the engineer, is up ahead, about to get back on the train to drive it to Lod, where it will spend the night.
The train leaves the station for the night.
According to the man from Israel Railways with whom I spoke briefly, the train we traveled on was originally Swedish, and Israel Railways bought it used. Some of the cars still contain the original seats. This man was so up on his train models that he was even able to tell me the train’s original Swedish serial number. For train buffs, here is information on the rolling stock that Israel Railways uses. Most of the information is in Hebrew, but there is enough English to figure out quite a bit.
We traveled in an IC-3, one of the few models that can handle the hills leading to Jerusalem. “We could use other models,” the man from Israel Railways told me, “but then we’d need to use two locomotives up in front, what’s called a double-head. Unfortunately, we can’t use the double-decker model at all. It’s too heavy.”
Our train had nine cars. The average number is twelve, and the maximum permitted number for our particular model is fifteen.
The sparkling new Malha station …
… and I’m almost home. Here’s the bus!
Gotta go — the driver’s waiting. Good night and shavua tov (have a good week)!
(Cross-posted at Elms in the Yard)
Juiced Up
Grape juice is not an ordinary drink among religious Jews. Because of the sacramental significance of wine, all grape products, including vinegar and grape juice, are subject to special religious restrictions in order to be considered kosher. As a further indication of its special status, grape juice is not placed together with the other fruit juices on Israeli supermarket shelves. Instead, it is sold in the wine section.
When it comes to making kiddush on Shabbat or festivals, grape juice (as opposed to wine) is popular among families with young children, though plenty of adults prefer it too. There is quite a large market for the organic variety produced by Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu. There is also a cultural divide. My English-speaking friends drink grape juice gladly on Shabbat, while some older Hebrew-speaking friends of mine with roots in Eastern Europe were a bit surprised and amused when I brought them a bottle for Shabbat lunch. Grape juice? they chuckled. What, do you think we’re little kids?
Oops.
For years, the Carmel Winery has produced and sold two kinds of grape juice: red and white. Now they’ve expanded their line to include grape juice made from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, giving a classier dimension to a classic drink.
Hey, who said grape juice has to be boring? I can’t wait to try ’em.
Le-hayyim!
(Cross-posted on Elms in the Yard)
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts