Scientific English, Jewish Hebrew

I was sitting in class today and thinking about the fact that there is so much English in my science classes. One professor writes all her slides in English, but even the classes whose slides are in Hebrew nonetheless require a high level of English knowledge.

Indeed, it's safe to say that an Israeli who is either studying or working in the sciences can be assumed to have a decent understanding, though perhaps not a verbal mastery of, English.

I was struck by the similarity to the knowledge of and familiarity with Hebrew that comes with learning Judaic subjects. Technically, you can study Judaism (be it Torah, Jewish law, Jewish thought, or whatever) without a strict knowledge of Hebrew. An etrog could be a citron, an eiruv a communal partition, and mikva a reservoir. But for reasons, partially ideology and partially convenience, we use the terms and phrases already provided for us in Hebrew.

In the case of Hebrew and science, the reasons are mostly convenience and probably not ideological. After all, I doubt that speakers of French, German or Russian feel much ideological need to learn science in English (tuh!). But as someone who has a lot of experience observing the Hebrew of English speakers in a Torah setting, there is a certain reverse-familiarity when observing the English of Hebrew speakers in a science setting.

Banks!

The fundamental problem with blogging about things that happened weeks ago is that I don't remember the details. As such, the story of how we chose a bank will be brief, and lacking in the depth and detail of our shipping story, the irony being that the choice of bank will probably have a greater impact over the long run.

The three main banks we've seen around Haifa are Leumi, HaPoalim and Discount (or, as I pronounce it in my head when I just read the Hebrew - DiscoNet). There are plenty more out there too, it's not like health care where there are four big names and that's it. There's zillions.

There is a Leumi branch literally next to our house, and there's a HaPoalim branch in Ziv, the nearest commercial intersection. We first checked out HaPoalim, and then checked out Leumi. We were kind of hoping we'd like Leumi better, since it was so close.

However, we liked HaPoalim. People advised us to not get too bogged down trying to choose a bank based on who gives you the better deal, down to the shekel. Rather, they said, look for a bank that has good hours and service. Although the hours were more or less the same, the HaPoalim branch is a large building with many people working. There is an orderly number system, and you get to see someone quickly. Our lady was very nice, and answered all our questions. She had a very clear pamphlet that outlined all of the costs for various transactions at the bank.

Leumi, on the other hand, was a small branch. There were only two people working, and the guy we spoke to was kind of tired and impatient. There was no system for getting a number that we could see. So we went with HaPoalim.

The accounts themselves were pretty much the same at both places. Because I am a student, both Rachel and I were able to get student bank accounts. We were told in both places that the benefits for students are much better than the benefits for עולים חדשים.

As for the fees.... so far there haven't really been any. We heard stories about Israeli banks charging fees for every little transaction, but we haven't felt it. The student bank account lets you perform most normal transactions without any fees, and you can always do things like go online to check your account, and things like that for free. You have to pay for a checkbook, but so far the only time we ever write checks is paying the rent, so if we have to pay 8 shkalim for every 25 checks we write, we don't really care.

Supposedly the fees come out when you start doing things like transferring money from the US into your account here, or vice versa. We haven't done much of that, and there are ways around it.

As a nice bonus, we each got two gifts from Bank HaPoalim - a backpack and a spiral notebook whose front cover is a red leather-enclosed calculator. How cool!

...לא יקרא עוד שמך יונתן

As you may recall, the first time we tried to get our תעדות זהות, we forgot to bring our documents. We went back the following Sunday with all our documents. We showed up early again, waited in line again, and declared our purpose to the lady in the booth again, who said "weren't you guys here last week?"

Our turn came pretty quickly, and a nice lady began filling out the forms. There isn't much to the process, so it didn't take long. She did tell us one thing we'd never heard before: that we have some sort of three month grace period, during which we can "change our mind". I'm still not sure what that means exactly. Maybe it means if you leave Israel within the first three months, you've essentially aborted your aliyah, and maybe your kids aren't considered Israeli, or something. It was kind of a surprise.

Our main concern was Rachel's name. If a couple makes aliyah after they get married, but before the woman changes her name in America, she can do so pretty easily by just telling the מסרד הפנים what name she wants on her תעודת זהות. Rachel wanted her name to be Rachel Levinson, but she also wanted it to say "Horwitz" on the bottom part (there are two cards that make up a תעודת זהות, a top and bottom card). That way we will avoid confusion and/or suspicion at airports, mostly. Rachel has already been suspected once already!

We told this to the lady, and although there was some initial confusion, it seemed clear that she knew what she wanted. However, when we were finished, she told us to go pick them up at the card-printing-booth. Lo and behold, Horwitz was nowhere to be seen on Rachel's. By this time, our lady had already moved on to the next customer in the queue, and we didn't have time to wait for our next go around. Rachel had to make another trip later that week just to get it fixed; now it's as it should be.

However, there was one other name change - instead of יונתן, my תעודת זהות read יהונתן. I immediately realized why: when we were processed in the airport's little מסרד הפנים, the guy behind the desk spelled my name with a ה, even though I've never spelled it that way. Didn't have his coffee yet, I guess. But clearly the mistake was carried over to the very card that is supposed to identify me. Like Rachel, I too got my named legally changed, albeit unintentionally!

My first reaction was to go with her and have mine fixed, too, in case the extra letter ever caused confusion. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that would probably happen rarely if ever. After all, who would raise an eyebrow at יהונתן vs יונתן?

Plus, I thought to myself, when it comes to Jews in Israel having a ה added to their name, I'm in pretty good company.

East-West

On the way home from מסרד הפנים we walked along רחוב הנביאים, one of the main streets in the Hadar neighborhood of Haifa. Hadar is a neighborhood where mostly Russians and Chareidim live, and it hasn't enjoyed the best reputation. However, parts of it (along with other neighborhoods in Lower Haifa) have been recently gentrifying. רחוב הנביאים, while by no means posh, appeared pretty nice with fun stores to poke one's head into.

Looking for a drink, we poked ours into a store called מזרח-מערב (East-West). Although we didn't find any drinks, we did find a surprise - the store was filled with international food products. They were mostly Asian; hence the name. The products they sold included soy sauces, chili sauces and pastes, all sorts of rice, rice noodles, nori, other sushi components (mats, pickled ginger, etc), and TONS of sushi-serving paraphernalia. We've since heard that they also carry some of the Western hot sauces we are used to, such as Goya's chili sauces made in Mexico, but we didn't notice them at the time, and I find it hard to believe that they would have escaped our view.

Although we excitedly bought some sushi rice and soy sauce, our excitement was tempered by a) the fact that, as it turns out, you can get a lot of these Asian ingredients in your average neighborhood Shupersol and b) the soy sauce was super sugary.

On that last note, make sure to look at soy sauce when you buy it in Israel. The Israeli brands will probably have sugar in them, so if you want normal soy sauce, look for a foreign brand, or check the ingredients. I can only speculate why the Israeli sauces are sweet; my guess is that soy sauce is seen as a condiment, and therefore sweet soy sauce is a tastier thing to dip food into than regular soy sauce. Indeed, most soy based dipping sauces are mixed with honey or another sweetner, and teriyaki sauce is simply sweetened soy sauce. Still, I find the sugar level of the Israeli stuff much too high, and the product overall unacceptable.

We plan to return to the East-West store. Although you can get some of their stuff locally, their selection is much larger. And maybe one day we'll get sushi platters and fancy engraved chopsticks!

For our next stop, I want to check out a store I've heard about where you can whole bean coffee or even (gasp) still-green unroasted coffee...

"זה נראה כמו טיל"

On our first Thursday after landing, Rachel and I paid our first visit to קריית הממשלה, the government building complex that houses the Haifa branches of Office of the Interior, and the Office of Absorption, among many others (such as the Student Authority, but that's another story).

Our only knowledge of the complex's location came from its online street address. We used a combination of Egged's webstie and Google Maps to try and plan a route, and we brought a map, but when we set out we still weren't 100% sure where it was.

Fortunately, as is almost always the case in the umpteen times you don't really know where you're going in Israel, someone on the bus can tell you where to get off. Our someone told us to get off when he got off, and pointed in the general downhill direction.

When we passed a security guard, we asked him where the קריית הממשלה was, and he pointed. "Look for a big building," he said, in Hebrew. "זה נראה כמו טיל". I knew that word, but couldn't remember what it meant. So we kept walking until we saw this building:

Oh yeah, טיל means "missile".

Turns out, this unmissable sight in the Haifa skyline is where all the governmental offices are. This is good, because we've gone there at least three times so far, and as long as we're headed in the right direction we can always find it, even if we get a little lost.

Our plan was twofold: to visit the מסרד הפנים to get our תעודות זהות and the מסרד הקליטה to get started on our סל קליטה payments.

The מסרד הפנים opens at 8 AM and, like at the DMV, the line outside starts forming earlier than that. We got there around quarter-to, and there was already a line of 10 to 15 people. Israel's a pretty bureaucratic place, and there's always someone who needs to visit some kind of office for some reason, and a lot of them were in this one building. Once they opened the doors (at 8 and not a second earlier... even the DMV has more compassion than that!) it was pretty quick getting through, though.

Before entering the מסרד הפנים waiting room we had to state our purpose to a lady in a booth. We told her we were there to get our תעודות זהות. Ok, she said. You brought all your original documents, right?

Shoot. We didn't bring that stuff. If had occurred to us, we probably would have, but it didn't. Maybe becuase we thought we would need that stuff at the מסרד הקליטה in the airport, and we didn't need them in the end.

We told her we had them, of course, and got a number to wait. But when we got to the waiting room we'd have to wait at least an hour or so, and we didn't want to waste our time if it turned out the documents were really necessary. Instead, we went upstairs to the מסרד הקליטה to try our luck there.

Upstairs, there was no line, and we saw a nice man right away. He didn't take a lot of time, and got us set up with our סל קליטה right away. What he does is take your bank account information, and sets up a direct deposit for you to get your shekels. He gave us some information about ulpanim for Rachel, too.

And that was it. Not too painful! Although we didn't actually have to wait at מסרד הפנים, or deal with anyone there, we could see right away that it wasn't nearly as bad as some people describe. The lines were there, but the waits were manageable. Everyone was chilled out and polite. Maybe things are different in Haifa, but we were pleasantly surprised.

And on the way home, we took the Carmelit!

That was weird

[My mp3 player (I know, so 2000's of me) is called the iRiver SPINN]

The cord that connects my SPINN to my computer has two ends, one USB and one proprietary end that only fits into the SPINN. As if that wasn't bad enough, today I tried charging the thing and accidentally tried plugging the proprietary end into my USB port; they kind of look the same.

It didn't fit, but as soon as the metal touched, there was this faint crackling sound and the computer shut off.

Yet another reason not to but the SPINN. There are several others. Its uni-wheel navigation system is annoying, and its touch screen doesn't work well. And its black background is impossible to see in daylight. And, unlike the old iRivers, you can't add music to it by dragging and dropping via a normal Windows window. You have to use their clumsy, slow, software.

I have a ton of real posts to write (i.e. about Israel), as soon as I figure out how to compress photos on my netbook (another post, too).

Vowels

This is a transcript of an online chat I had with a customer service representative from HOT, a cable internet provider. The humor in this chat comes from the fact that she was using the word ספק, or sapak, which in Hebrew means ISP, but I thought she was saying safek.

שרי - נציגת מכירות: שלום

יונתן לוינסון: שלום

שרי - נציגת מכירות: וברכה

שרי - נציגת מכירות: במה אני יכולה לעניין אותך?

יונתן לוינסון: אני עברתי לדירה חדשה, ורוצה להתקשר באנטרנט

יונתן לוינסון: אני גם עולה חדש

שרי - נציגת מכירות: בשמחה

שרי - נציגת מכירות: לאיזו מהירות?

יונתן לוינסון: מהם האופציות?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: תשתית 2.5 59 שח התחייבות שנה התקנה חד פעמית 49שח

שרי - נציגת מכירות: תשתית 5 מגה 79 שח התחייבות שנה התקנה חד פעמית 49שח

שרי - נציגת מכירות: תשתית 7מגה 99 שח התחייבות שנה התקנה חד פעמית 49שח

שרי - נציגת מכירות: תשתית 12 מגה 119 שח התחייבות שנה התקנה חד פעמית 100שח

שרי - נציגת מכירות: מה דעתך?

יונתן לוינסון: אני חושב או 7 או 12

שרי - נציגת מכירות: זאת אותה עלות, גם אצל הספק

יונתן לוינסון: אני לא יודע איך להשוות למה שהיה לי בארה"ב

שרי - נציגת מכירות: בארה"ב המהירויות שונות, הם גם כוללות כבר את הספק

יונתן לוינסון: האים אני יכול לתאם תאריך שבו יבוא מישהו להתקין את המודם, ובינתיים להחליט איזה מהירות?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: אפשרי

שרי - נציגת מכירות: אתה מעוניין ש 012 יחזרו אליך בכדי לתאם ספק

שרי - נציגת מכירות: שנעשה הזמנה?

יונתן לוינסון: את שואלת אם אני רוצה שמישהו יתקשר איתי בטלפון?

יונתן לוינסון: או שנקבוע את הביקור עכשו

שרי - נציגת מכירות: אתה רוצה שנפתח לך הזמנה לאינטרנט 12 מגה עם ספק? העלות לשניהם יחד היא 160ש"ח לחודש, התחייבות לשנה

יונתן לוינסון: (אני מצטער על הקשיות בעברית)

שרי - נציגת מכירות: זה בסדר :)

יונתן לוינסון: למה 160? אמרת שתשתית 7 היא 99 ושתשתית 12 היא 119

שרי - נציגת מכירות: ללא ספק העלות היא 99ש"ח

יונתן לוינסון: אז זה יותר בדי להחליט לעזמי, ואז לתאם

יונתן לוינסון: *כדי

שרי - נציגת מכירות: אתה מעוניין בהזמנה?

יונתן לוינסון: הזמנה, כמובן לקבוע תאריך שבו מישהו יבא לדירתי?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: כן

יונתן לוינסון: רק אם אני יכול להחליט בינתיים בלי לשלם נוסף

יונתן לוינסון: מה המספר טלפון

יונתן לוינסון: אולי אתקשר ואעשה הזמנה כשמחרתי את התוכנית

יונתן לוינסון: *בחרתי

שרי - נציגת מכירות: 7 מגה או 12 מגה באותה עלות

יונתן לוינסון: את אומרת לי שאם אני אומר לך "אני בספק ולא יודע אם אני רוצה 7 או 12"

יונתן לוינסון: אז אני משלם 160 לחודש

יונתן לוינסון: כי אני משלם נוסף כי מי שבא לביתי לא יודע איזה להתקין - 7 או 12

יונתן לוינסון: או האים את אומרת שאני יכול לבל 12 צגה ב99 ש"ח לחודש?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: אני ממליצה לך להירשם ל 12 מגה, כי זאת אותה עלות

יונתן לוינסון: ומהיא העלות

יונתן לוינסון: 99?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: 49ש"ח חד פעמי

יונתן לוינסון: ואז לחודש?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: 160ש"ח כולל ספק

יונתן לוינסון: כשאת אומרת ספק

יונתן לוינסון: המובן doubt

יונתן לוינסון: או המובן distributor

יונתן לוינסון: ?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: Content Provider

שרי - נציגת מכירות: מה דעתך?

יונתן לוינסון: עכשו הבנתי

יונתן לוינסון: מה עלות 2.5 עם הספק

שרי - נציגת מכירות: 85.9ש"ח לחודש

שרי - נציגת מכירות: 85.9ש"ח לחודש

יונתן לוינסון: אם אני בוחר ב2.5 האים אני יכול להעלות ל5 או 7 במשך השנה?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: כן, אפשרי תמיד

יונתן לוינסון: וכמה זה עולה לשנות מ2.5 למשהו יותר גביה

שרי - נציגת מכירות: כ120ש"ח ל 5 מגה יחד עם ספק

יונתן לוינסון: אבל אין השלמות חד-פעמיות בעבור ההחלפה נכון?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: לא, אין

יונתן לוינסון: טוב

יונתן לוינסון: אז אני רוצה לעשות הזמנה

יונתן לוינסון: ל2.5

יונתן לוינסון: יש הנחה לעולים חדשים?

שרי - נציגת מכירות: על שם מי עושים את ההזמנה?

יונתן לוינסון: יונתן לוינסון

אינך משוחח כעת עם נציג האתר