I still have not received my missing items back from El-Al, the airline company. I made a few calls, but always got the same answer: file a complaint and wait. I demanded an answer about where my stuff are, and when will they be returned to me, but the only response I got is that IATA allows the airline three weeks to locate missing luggage. So now my case turned into a missing luggage case, even though the missing items were deliberately taken out of my luggage by the airline personal, and were not returned. I am tired of calling everyday, I am going to forget about this matter for now, and wait tell they get back to me.
I went to see a football match with some guys; the quarter final of the cup between Hapoel Sakhneen and Hapoel Tel-Aviv. The Sakhneed club is from Arabic city of Sakhneen, and is considered an 'Arabic' club, the only one in the first division in Israel. Actually the're not in the first division at them oment, since they were relegated last year, but they have already guaranteed their promotions this year, so they will play in the first division again next year. Sakhneed has an impressively large supporter base for such a small club, and they won the Israeli cup two years ago, and then played in the UEFA cup against Newcastle united. Hapoel Tel-Aviv on the other hand is a top club in the fist division, but is having a lot of problems of the field, and you could tell that in the match; though the game was played in their home court (Bloomfeld ,Tel-Aviv), the Sakhneed supporters outnumbers those of Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Although Sakhneen is an Arabic clubs, half of their players are Jewish, I even met a couple of Jewish fans in the Sakhneen supporter stands. Also the crowds favorite player, the striker Kadosi, is Jewish, and he featured heavily in their songs, more than anybody else. Hapoel Tel-Aviv is also the most 'Arabic' football club after sakhneed, two of its key players are Arabic: Walid Badir, and Salim Toa'my. Walid Badir even wore the captain band for Hapo'el Tel Aviv, and Salim Toa'my was the best player in the match. The first half of the match was even, and ended nil-nil, but at the start of the second half Toa'my scored and from that moment on there was only one team on the pitch; Hapoel Tel-Aviv dominated and scored two more goals, Toa'my setting up the last goal after an individual effort. Before and after the game we had interactions with the supporters of the local team, but they were always friendly, and even after the defeat Sakhneed supporters congratulated their counter parts on the win, and wished them success.
Now if this is not a great example of functioning coexistence between Arabs and Jewish, then I don't know what is. Although I young guy I met before the match thought otherwise; he believes that the Jews want Sakhneed to succeed, as to divert our attention from the more important issues. I believe this is a great example were cooperation brings benefit to both sides, and shows that when coexistence works it drowns any kind or racism.
Even though Sakhneen crowd was terrific, and encouraged their team the whole match, I could not help but feel disappointed by their behaviour towards Salim Toa'my; they cursed him during long spells, especially after he scored the goal, and even prevented him from taking a corner at some point. I was perplexed over the matter, since Walid Badir the other Arabic player of Hapoel Tel-Aviv, recieved cheers from the Sakhneen crowd. Someone explained to me that Toa'my is Christian; on the other hand Sakhneed is a Muslim city, and so are most of their supporters. I have to say though, that not all the crowd was in agreement over the abuse Toa'my received, and a lot of people expressed their disapproval of this, but you only need a small part of the crowd to behave badly in order to taint the image of the whole.
Yesterday I was returning from playing tennis with my cousin, at the entrance of Shefa-amr, their was a traffic jam, but all the cars were going straight, and I wanted to turn right, so I drove on the side of the road for about 100 meters, to pass the traffic jam. A police man who was in the traffic jam, polled out and stopped me. I must admit I saw the policeman, but I did not think I was doing something serious, and I thought he would just ignore me; probably all these month I spent in south America, especially the chaotic Bolivia, contributed to my illusion. Anyway the cup slapped me with a 750 Shekel fine (almost 200$ dollars); I did not commit anything dangerous, nor hinder any other cars progress; yet I was slapped with this preposterous fine, for what amounted to a technical violation. Apparently only last week they have introduced expensive new fines on all traffic violation, which I had no idea about. Of course the official explanation would be that they are trying to clamp down on traffic violation, but the real reason is that traffic fines, constitute an important income for the state, and the more they increase the fines and make more money, the better (for them, not us, the citizens)
Lately a lot of politicians have been involved in corruptions scandals; the prime minister, finance minister, justice minister among others. But I can't help to feel that we live in a country that rewards dishonesty and punishes honesty. After telling people about my fine, they all told me that once I spotted the cup, I should have stopped on the side, and acted as if a malfunction in the car prompted me to pull over, instead what I did, was to be honest and tell the cup that indeed I violated the law, I though that since what I did was not serious and since I was honest the cup would just let me go, and if not, well then I would get a small fine. How wrong was I! Believe me if I knew I was going to be slapped with such a draconian fine, I would not have hesitated for a second to act and lie.
It seems to me that the burden of maintaining this country is placed on the shoulders of honest people; middle class citizens who pay the bulk of the taxes, and army soldiers who don't dodge the draft, are two prime examples. On the other hands people who hide income become rich, and other who come up with fake excuses to dodge the draft, gain three years on their counter parts who do do the army service. When we live in a country that rewards dishonesty, so why should we be surprised that our politicians are corrupt; honest gets 750 Shekel fines in this country.
I went for a couple of interviews at Intel, and they both went well, although I feel better about my second interview; I went their with a good mode, expressed my self well, and answered the personal questions wisely, in addition to doing well on the technical part. I am expecting to get a job offer soon.
My brother in law, Sobhi, bought a small speedy sail boat, that requires two people to handle. We went for a couple of excursions, and it was fun. I had little experience in sailing, while he had learned sailing during his sport studies, and also went to a refreshment course lately, so he acts as the captain, and I generally just follow his instructions. I noticed he is not the most experienced sailer, but we generally go sailing in relatively calm seas, and don't take risks.
I went fishing a couple of times with my uncle, and we returned with very good catches. Generally we to fish 'Arras', a small fish which its name means 'stingy'; it got its name because it has a sharp poisonous fins, which cause excruciating pain when it pierces one's skin, pain similar to that of a Medusa bite. These fish inhabit the rocky beaches of Israel in great numbers; one can easily catch tens of fish in a few hours, the best anglers have been known to even reach 120 pieces in a few hours fishing session. The fish generally feeds on algae and sea weed, but dough can be a better bait sometimes. Anyway I decided to search for more information in the Internet about this fish, just out of curiosity, and what I found was amazing. The scientific name of the fish is Siganus Rivulatus, and it originally lived in the Indian ocean and the read sea, and migrated to the Mediterranean after the opening of the Swiss canal in 1869. The first confirmed sighting of the fish in Israel was in 1925, since then it has managed to become one of the most common fish on the beaches of Isreal and other Mediterranean countries. I think its secret to success is its poisonous fins, which would deter most if not all predators, and its indiscriminate attitude towards food; I have managed to catch Arras, with many different kinds of Algae and Sea Weed as bait, as well as dough and other bait intended for carnivorous fish (ground fish, shrimps).
