Since the new year.....

So I am shamefully behind on blogging. For those of you who’ve been checking and haven’t found a peep since January, I very much apologize!! These are my excuses:

- first I was busy packing for the Netherlands and calling home checking on how my dad was doing in hospital… and also started volunteering at the zoo….

- then January 7-18^th we were in the Netherlands, where we were spending time visiting Gerrit’s relatives followed by 6 days in Amsterdam sorting out our Israeli visas; in Amsterdam, I played tourist, took care of Gerrit and, you guessed it, called home to check on how my dad was doing in hospital… getting increasingly worried….

- Then we were back in Jerusalem, and dad was still not getting better, and I had a few agony filled days as his condition seemed to improve then worsen on an almost daily basis… I tried desperately to get in touch with his doctor, to get the scoop and ask questions (the bastard NEVER bothered to call me back, despite lots of messages and half the nurses on my dad’s ward reminding him for me)… I decided I would return home for a visit… and started trying to figure out when to go…. and so I really wasn’t up to blogging… though I did attempt it once….

- Then the last week of January, things finally took a turn for the better with dad after the doctors found and drained a large fluid filled pocket next to his pancreas… With dad improving, Gerrit and I settled the dates for my visit home to coincide with Gerrit’s business trip back to the Sandvine mother ship at the end of Feb/beginning of March…. and in my relief, I tried to launch myself back into life here… spending more time at the Spay/Neuter clinic, zoo and gym…

- The first week of February, a completely unexpected and delightful event entered and transformed our lives (well mostly mine): after years of secret longing and wishful thinking, it seems I may just finally have my own dog!! She is a small, 5 month old black mutt, who stole my heart during a spay neuter marathon for SPCA dogs!

- And finally, as I try to write this blog for the 5^th time, I find myself back in Canada, making the aforementioned visit to my dad’s… lying in my old bed as I type this, unable to sleep due to jet lag.

There is so much I could/should tell you about… like skating on a frozen canal in Holland, the baby tiger at the zoo, life in Jerusalem (politics, war, food, people, the weather and our daily life), the ups and downs of being a vet volunteer in Israel… but in an effort to get something new posted, perhaps I hold off elaborating too much on these topics and just give you some highlights through photos.

These first three photos are from our Holland trip. In the first one, we are out to dinner with Gerrit’s aunt Leida, uncle Albert and his cousin. We are enjoying a delectable feast at Gerrit’s favourite Chinese restaurant in Elburg, his home town… this photo basically illustrates two things we did a lot of in Holland: first, we spent time with his family, making the rounds to most of the aunts and uncles, and spending time with Oma; and second, we ate out at very yummy restaurants (I’m pretty sure we both put on a couple pounds in the 11 days!)… we, of course, had all of Gerrit’s favourite Dutch foods, and also the Dutch Indonesian and Chinese food that’s different there from anywhere else. In the second photo, Gerrit is skating out of the canal/lake in Elburg… we were very lucky to arrive in Holland just as the canals froze for one weekend, for the first time in 10 years! It was such fun to try out the long Dutch skates, and enjoy some hot chocolate on the ice… The final photo is in Amsterdam (where the canals were evidently not frozen)… it’s a typical shot of an Amsterdam street, canal and canal boat…. And it’s meant to make reference to the fact that I spent 6 days sight seeing there, finally doing the place justice: while poor Gerrit mostly worked remotely from our rented apartment and got his work visa after intense interrogation at the Israeli embassy, I saw the major historic sites, the museums and art galleries (the Van Gogh and Rembrant Huis were my 2 favourites) and quirky city neighbourhoods (red light, flower district, the Jordan etc)… I did drag Gerrit out to the Rijksmuseum, and Amsterdam’s really cool city museum… Overall, a very fun trip (though not terribly relaxing)!

The next two photos are me and two important new animals in my life… first, there’s Sylvester, the Sumatran tiger, born at the zoo Dec31st, the day before I started volunteering there. He is the most interesting animal that I get to help take care of at the zoo as a volunteer (he was rejected by his mother, as often happens in zoos, and is now being hand raised). Other fun creatures that I help care for include 3 silly lemurs, a number of tortoises and parrots, some birds of prey that scare the heck out of me when I need to clean their cages, various small mammals and reptiles like skinks, spiny mice and rabbits, just to name a few… and of course there’s watching whatever vet stuff the 3 zoo vets are up to (snake autopsies, fecals on just about everyone in the zoo, parrot xrays, sedating monkeys to give them birth control implants and so on) and wandering the greater zoo, enjoying the animals on display (tapirs are one of my favs, they are just such weird creatures).

The other photo shows me giving Olive, our new puppy, a bath the day we brought her home… She is a 5 months old mutt from the SPCA… she is black with white muzzle and neck, and brown highlights… she looks like she could have some border collie in her, and she certainly is very smart. We are getting along really well, she is discovering how to be a pet (at first everything was new, couches, mopeds, people on the street, toys, etc) after her shelter-dog humble beginnings and I am learning what it means to have a puppy (haven’t had one since I was 12 years old)… aka housetraining (which is going well, except she needs to go out in the middle of the night), obedience training, other people’s attitudes to a dog etc..

The next set of photos is from a day trip Gerrit and I took…. While we are here, we are supposed to be spending our weekends sight seeing and exploring… sometimes we are just too tired, or busy with regular life stuff to do much of that, but a couple weekends ago, we did go for a very nice afternoon on the Mediterranean. Together with Olive, who we discovered loves running around the beach, but dislikes water, we visited a place called Cesaria, an ancient Roman city (and later also a Crusader fortress)… We explored the ruins, had a wonderful seafood lunch including all the non Kosher stuff like shrimp and calamari that’s harder to get in Jerusalem, and walked along the ancient aqueduct on the beach as the sun set, playing with the dog… it was wonderful!

The last 3 photos are from the last few days, from my visit to Canada. I am of course focusing on catching up with friends and family… First, a picture of my friend Melanie with her 2 month old daughter Hannah who I visited on my way up to Ottawa… aren’t they beautiful? Next, a family group shot at my brother’s…. we were just sitting down to a dinner of Chinese fondue (where you dip thinly sliced meat into boiling broth to cook it). Front left is a much thinner version of my dad… he has now been home from the hospital for 2 weeks and is continuing to recover. He lost a lot of weight, and muscle mass unfortunately… and he continues to have to take it slowly, as he gets tired quickly. But at least he’s on the mend! And finally, a photo of a fun appetizer we made with my dad the other night, a baked crocodile! It is yeast dough (a first and successful attempt at yeast dough for us) stuffed with an omelet of eggs, onions, sausage, peppers and cheese… it was yummy!

So there you go, another glimpse into our adventures…. Gerrit arrives here on Friday, we will spend the weekend with my dad, then head to Waterloo for the week where Gerrit has meetings at Sandvine, and I will be taking care of other business (dentist, shopping for some essentials that are either not available or more expensive in Israel, and catching up with more friends and contacts).. then a visit with Gerrit’s family over the weekend and before you know it we’ll be back in Israel to be reunited with Olive (who’s on “doggie vacation” at a very nice kennel right now)… where perhaps I will finally find time to write more (but this was an ok start I think). I hope you are all well, please feel free to comment on the blog or send emails, I love hearing from everyone, and it’s especially nice to know someone has actually read the blog =)

Cheers,

Tereza (& Gerrit & Olive)