Saying more than hi to my readers

Dear blog readers,

Books, movies, treks, work... There's a lot of exciting things going on these days so let's give a try at updating you.

Books

I'm a Martin Winckler fan these days. I started with La maladie de Sachs (The Case of Dr Sachs) which I mentioned on this blog in my post entitled Secrets, went on to read his first novel La vacation, and most strikingly Les trois médecins, which is both a sequel and a prequel to Dr Sachs's story, and an tribute to Alexandre Dumas. (Should I mention that I read as a kid three times the 800 pages of The Three Musketeers and some of my favorite passages many more times?)

Next: Plumes d'Ange, the biography of his father, Ange Abraham Zafran. Not as exciting so far.

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman: fascinating; I plan to review it here as soon as I'm finished reading it.

Movies

Nina's Tragedies (האסונות של נינה) by Savi Gavison, who also directed Shuroo. What a movie! Incredibly moving and touching, it is about a twelve year-old boy, Nadav, who is in love with his aunt, Nina. Nadav's parents split recently and Nina's husband was killed in a terrorist attack. She is going through a lot and Nadav is encouraged to move in with her. He is watching all along and learning while she meets another man with whom nothing is simple: he has a girlfriend but falls deeply in love with Nina; she spends a night with him but her bad conscience dictates that she break up... I cried my eyes out.

Mon Oncle, by and with Jacques Tati, for the thirtieth time - at least.

Trek

In the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. What an experience! The silence, the beauty of the landscapes...

Warning: Dead Sea disappearing fast, almost no rain this year and whatever rain there is is tapped by agriculture, flush toilets and showers instead of flowing through the Jordan river and into the Dead Sea... Pssst, do something!

Friday: Ein Feshkha (known in Hebrew as Einot Tsukim), an amazing nature reserve...



and Qedem, sources of warm sulphur water:





Night: in Mitspeh Efes, which is as it name suggests, at see level i.e. 400 m above the Dead Sea, probably the most beautiful place I've seen in my life.



Saturday: Wadi Arugot



Sunday: starting from Masada early in the morning (lunar landscape)...



and into Nakhal Tse'elim to Ein Namer for a dip in 13 Celsius water which didn't last more than a couple of seconds






Obama

I have supported Obama from the moment he won the primaries and am very excited about him. I have great hopes for both renewable energies, environment protection and foreign policy, including this region.

I hosted a party in honor of his inauguration which I took great delight watching on Fox News, my favorite channel.

A war

The political situation here is never brilliant, it is sometimes even catastrophic. We had another war. Three colleagues from work were mobilized. A good friend of mine took part in the ground offensive. Several of my friends who live or work in Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beer Sheva experienced the alerts and the anguish of expecting the impact near them. On the other side, the situation was dire and the toll incredibly high. At first I was tuned to the Israeli radio channels and to the wide consensus in favor of the war. The casualties among the Israeli soldiers were high in the first two days. With the toll mounting on the other side, I couldn't understand anymore. עדיף שלום ממלחמה goodwill people say here but no one could offer an alternative to war.

I hope Obama will force us to make peace. In the meantime, all I can do is vote.

Personal Life

Indeed you ask, "All that's nice, but what about you? The man in the picture?" Well I'm doing well. Running almost every day to help keep mood and fitness up. Making progress in various fields like knowing myself, communicating with others, getting my projects going, etc. And the feeling of improvement by itself fills my life. But many challenges remain and it won't be easy.