Israeli general consul at UC

The Israeli general consul in the US for the Mid-Atlantic states was at UC on Thursday. He gave a nice speech in which he explained the Israeli stand on many issues, mostly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No doubt, he did a good job at that, and was able to answer many questions from the audience, even two provocative questions from a pro-Palestinian student.
However, I was disappointed by the scope of the address. I feel, and expressed these feelings to whomever cared to listen, that a formal Israeli representative should represent Israel - as a whole - not just a poor side of it, namely the conflict. Israel is so much more than a conflict, even though this is what attracts most of the media attention. Israeli representatives should show that Israel is a westernized, relatively liberal, democratic society with many success stories, especially in arts, sciences and technology. This is even more important when the meeting takes place in the College of Arts and Sciences!
There are many reasons why the focus of such meetings should be changed. Firstly, many Americans (and I guess many citizens of other nations as well) don't know Israel other than what the media shows, which is the conflict. That limits their views to only views regarding the conflict, and usually forces them to take sides based on this narrow aspect.
Furthermore, when all you do is talk about the conflict you shed light on both sides of the conflict. Some of this light, perhaps most of it, is spent on your side, naturally, but there is also some light that goes to the other side. Why waste so much energy? Why not show just your country? Just your side?
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, when you depict Israel as what it is - and not what the conflict prism causes it to seem - you enable broader perspectives. I think it would be easier for a Westerner to identify with Israeli success stories than it would be for him to identify with Israel's stand on a bloody conflict. People are more bent towards things they can identify in themselves and their culture (modernism, democracy, liberalism) than towards conflicts and wars. Why not provide them with the opportunity to do that?

There are enough success stories to tell. Lately, I have just finished reading on how Americans are coming to realize Israeli success in the Clean-Tech field, which is the new buzz-word now. Why don't you tell us a bit about that, Israeli general consul?

Mediterranean Food

We've been wanting to eat some Hummus and Pita for a while now. Today we decided that it's time! We Googled for Mediterranean restaurants in Cincinnati and found The Mirage. It's a mix of Mediterranean food and Russian ancestry, which makes it perfect for us: we both miss the sound of Russian and the taste of Hummus. We had a plate of hummus, which was tasty but a bit too watery, with real pita breads! The rest of the food was even better: I had lentils soup, which a very Mediterranean taste, D had Falafels plate, with real vegetarian salad, and I had beef shish-kebab. Everything was great. We will definitely go back for more great food and feeling of home.

Update: Work Load

It appears that I am the only one that started teaching right on the first term. According to the associate department head responsible for teaching, usually they give new faculty a quarter to get settled, and only then, on the second term, they start teaching, and even then only one course at that quarter. I started right away with two and continued with that rate. I’m also the only one with 7 courses a year. Usually the faculty teach up to 6 courses a year, and they have one quarter off after three consecutive quarters of teaching. It sucks to be at the bottom of the totem pole.
So, now I try to use the time off that I have every now and then to prepare my classes for the summer. It's not easy: I work full time with the two classes I teach now, I try to get some research done (even wrote a paper), and most of the time I am just exhausted from starting to each at 8AM every other day.

We have better prospects for D's quarter, on the other hand. She has finished two courses already, and now her time will be divided between only three classes and her work. It's still not easy, but at least she will have Mondays off now, and will be able to free some time over the weekends. Or so I hope.

We even find some time to follow several TV shows: Lost, Heroes, Lie To Me, Hisardut, and D sometimes catches episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

40 Hours a week?

I recently received my paycheck and there they took off the hours we spent in Israel over the winter. It seems that for the 10 days off I paid with 80 hours, 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week.
I think that at the rate I have been working since we got here I already finished my working hours this year.