For months and months I had nothing to do. Then everything came at once. We started to plan for the tattoo studio. They wanted me as a Swedish teacher online. One guy asked if I could sell horse-back vacations on the telephone. I am not a sales person and the teaching job was too much effort for very little money. What finally made me trash both of the latter opportunities was that all of a sudden the perfect job landed in front of my nose.
My new boss is a friend of Yoram, from his running group. He has a software company that develops applications for many different purposes and clients, but also applications for iPhone and iPad. He needed a designer and there I was. I have now spent my first two days as an employee developing interface graphics for his iPhone and iPad applications. I am making lots of cool stuff and I can go completely crazy in Illustrator, which I love so much. I work full time, but get paid by the hour, which I kind of like, since it gives me a better overview of how I earn my money.
Here comes the best part. My office is in Ramat Yishay, merely 5 minutes from here with a car. Besides that, I have the freedom to work from home when I need to, which is completely amazing. This means that I can go to the office in the morning, handling all the meetings and discussions with my colleagues, and then go home to the dogs (and the kids some days) and keep on working at home in the afternoon and evening. It is a bit sad that I cannot ride horses almost every day anymore, but with my flexible hours I am sure that I will be able to squeeze in a few rides here and there. And the tattoo studio, well, that will definitely happen, but it will be someone else that helps Assi by answering the phone when someone calls.
We are going to open a tattoo and piercing studio together with our good friend (and fellow aikidoka) Assi Goldstein, who is a brilliant tattoo artist (for you who have Facebook, look here for some of his work). He lost his job in Haifa and we decided to invest in a studio together with him. The place is in Yokneam, close to Kiryat Tivon, and we plan to open on the 1st of January, under the name of Skin City. We will renovate together, and then I will spend a lot of time there in the beginning, as a somewhat assistant to Assi.
On Tuesday, we spent the hole day wrestling with Israeli bureaucracy. We were not sure how to register the company, to make it as smooth and economical as possible, Assi alone, or with me also on the paper. Yoram was already excluded since he is employed and that would affect the taxation of the tattoo studio. We went to the Israeli Tax Authorities in Haifa, where we were juggled around between different people for hours. We wanted to know whether I at all can open a file on my present visa, and in that case how my husbands salary will affect my taxations. Why would it do that, you might ask? Well, in this country women are not considered capable of having their own business, so when a woman opens a business, it will automatically be written also on her husband. Don't ask me what unmarried women do. Her father maybe..?
Of course did not two persons give the same answer. One of the offices we were directed to, turned out to be manned by a previous neighbour of Yoram's. From that moment and on, things ran a lot smoother. This is something that happens to my husband all the time. I am not sure whether it is pure luck, or that he simply has friends everywhere. He is also THE negotiator. I would never do business without him. He is a walking bargaining machine and he has a way of getting a smile out of the grumpiest clerk.
Anyway, we found out that it is possible for me to open a file and we even found a grey zone that separates me from Yoram, which means no taxation calculated on his income. The afternoon we spent in our accountant's office, going over other options. How we in the end decided to register, we will keep to ourselves. Contract for the place is signed, file is opened, bank account is opened, equipment is ordered, and we also went to the DIY store and bought stuff for fixing up the place, such as paint for the walls. Things are moving forward!
I started riding horses when I was six years old and that has very much influenced who I am. Not only did it shape my personality, but it has also helped developing my motor skills and balance. I was born with a less than average sense of balance and I did not walk before the age of one and a half. Besides that, I have a visual defect that prevents me from seeing our world in three dimensions, which makes my ability to evaluate distance somewhat impaired. Both these skills improved remarkably due to all my time spent in the saddle as a young child. My balance sharpened, and I learned to judge distances in my own peculiar way, good enough for the things that I wanted to do, but not until this day can I catch a ball flying towards me in the air. Luckily, I am not the least interested in ball sports.
About ten years ago I stepped into an aikido dojo for the first time. During my most intense aikido years, I was pretty much gone from riding horses, for practical reasons. I was living in the city, studying full time, with no time to go riding somewhere. Aikido, however, had in many ways the same beneficial effects on me like the horse riding. My balance improved, and my sense of depth was constantly challenged through every attack that came flying in the air, hand or weapon. Not until I was back in the saddle again, did I fully comprehend how the two practices go hand in hand, but also complement each other.
Previously, I could feel a bit "rusty" after not riding for a while, but now when I started riding again with the aikido in my system, it was like I had never been away. The aikido also turned out to bring more quietness to my riding, and a better posture. Now, as I regularly exercise both activities, they constitute a continuous positive spiral of influence on each other.
Both aikido and horse riding is a cooperation between two individuals, where you create something beautiful and/or demanding together. In aikido this includes two humans, while in horse riding a human and a horse is interacting. What constitutes the major difference is that during horse riding it is the responsibility of the human to make sure that the horse understands what we are doing. In aikido, the responsibility is equally divided between the two partners. What unifies the two art forms is the marvellous sensation of melting together as one, minimising the signals and cues to the point where there is nothing more than pure ki flowing through the two beings, allowing them to perform their dance effortlessly. Both riding and aikido can look very powerful, but correctly performed there are no hard encounters between the two bodies.
Just as it takes patience and love to teach a horse to understand cues and to perform the exercises you want him to do, the same goes for aikido. I am convinced that a warm and caring environment, characterised by trust and joy, will make the aikidokas grow more efficiently. That is probably a provocative idea for some, since we after all are talking about a martial art, with the fundamental element of serious combat. Nevertheless, I think that an early introduction of confidence and trust, is a great way to start. There is no way around the battles with your ego anyway during the different difficult steps on the path of the aiki. This journey through crisis - revelation - transformation also happens for a horse rider. There are no short cuts, only hours and hours of practice, humbleness and an open (and empty) mind. That is the only way you can truly tune in with your partner (human or equine). When you start reaching those splits of a second moments when you feel that not only your bodies, but also your minds, unite as one, then you know that you are on the right path. In a way, also riding is nothing more than AI KI DO - the path to harmony through the energy of life.
Occasionally you meet a horse with a remarkable honesty and willingness to work and learn. Noor is such a horse. She is not pure-bred (Trakhener x Israeli Local Horse), and her conformation is far from perfect. She lacks some muscle mass on a somewhat long back, but with the right work that can be improved. Nevertheless, her attitude is worth more than any paper or perfect looks.
She amazes me in some way every time I work with her. Some horses have a lot of attitude and might have other ideas than what you are asking of them, although they know perfectly well what that is. That might call for some reinforcement to make them understand who is in charge. Noor, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to please, which means that if she gets winded up, or protests in some way, you can be pretty sure that you are doing something wrong, or that she simply does not understand what you are asking of her.
I had some problems with her left lead departure, but that turned out to be just a matter of riding her supple in her left side. Every horse (and human) has a strong and a weak side, but through some proper suppling exercises this can be evened out. It can be compared to learning to write also with the left hand if you are right-handed. Noor simply needed to get stronger in her left side and she is already much better, taking the left lead almost every time, with little support. Except for fixing the lead departures, she has started on the spin and she stops amazingly, only for the knees and a deep seat and without any rein pressure. One day I was told that she actually stops a little too good with the kids. When they wanted her to go down from a lope to a trot, she stopped in her tracks and the kid almost fell over her head! It took me one more session to clear out the difference between those two things. Now, of course, it demands that the kids squeeze her with their legs a bit to keep her in the trot. She will be the best teacher when I am ready with her. ;)
Up until now I have ridden her on a "cowboy snaffle" bit, which is like a jointed snaffle bit, but with shanks and a curb strap, which makes it into a leverage bit. I am not so fond of this kind of bit, but that is what all the horses are carrying and nothing else was available. I have used it with care and asked the horse to give to pressure mentally and not physically.
Noor is very broke in this bit nowadays and gives her head to the lightest pressure both laterally and vertically, so I wanted to give her a new challenge. I use a plain rope halter on her and I tend to keep it under the bridle when I ride, with the lead rope tied like reins. When we have been riding out on the trail I often give her release from the bit reins and only hold the halter reins. Today I decided to ride her with the halter reins in the arena, and with some minimal guidance to show her that the halter means the same as the bit, she was broke for the halter in no time. I was stunned that the transition went so fast. She gave her face and moved shoulders and hips, and she stopped on a dime from the lope, and backed up nicely. Pure joy!
Noor in the bridle with the rope halter underneath, moving in two-track towards the camera (I know that my hand position sucks, but I was not really riding and suddenly it was time for a Kodak moment and I just casually moved her towards the camera ;)
Noor in the rope halter, having a conversation with Pesach, a yearling Friesian/Quarter colt.
What I want now is a bosal, which is a more refined kind of bit-less bridle. The halter is all-right, but still not properly balanced on her face and not really aimed for riding. We don't have any bosal, but maybe I can get one myself in time. You can judge a rider on the level of severity of the tools that he or she uses. The better the connection between horse and rider, the less tools you need. Then in the end you might end up riding like this (Sorry for not being able to fit the whole video in the column):
We went to the beach today and it was a sad story. First of all, the fishing park Dag-Bakfar opened a channel through which they poured out contaminated water from their fish ponds, straight out into the sea. It probably did not contain poison, but left-over fish food, dead fish and algae was enough to make it all but attractive to step into the water. The dogs, however, did not mind, and they happily bounced around in the green soup, and when it was time to leave they stank of fish. It was not that nice and they got a nice shampoo when we got home.
Except for the soiled water, I was again gasping in disgust over how much garbage was left on the beach. What the f**k is wrong with these people? What makes a human being so disconnected to our environment that he without blinking leaves piles of garbage on this beautiful place? I simply cannot understand this. I suppose that these trashy people will not read this anyway, since their education level probably don't enable them to comprehend my language. I am so angry!
Karin in Rehovot inspired me (Swedish blog post) to make Moroccan fish, but in true Jojo tradition, I can never keep to a recipe. I just merely used it for inspiration. I planned a mild couscous that I thought would fit well balancing the spicy fish dish.
Fish: Fry sweet pepper, fresh garlic, crushed tomatoes, paprika powder, harissa and some salt in a nice olive oil, until soft. We used Tilapia fillets (St Peter's fish) for this dish. Lay the fillets (skin up) on top of the sauce and let it simmer under a lid until the fish is cooked. Add the coriander during the last few minutes. We used canned crushed tomatoes, for the simple reason that the large tomatoes in the supermarket were pale and unattractive. If not, I think that I would have scolded and peeled fresh tomatoes. You can also use fresh chili, but we bought harissa, which also brings some sourness (it contains vinegar) into the composition. It worked out very well.
Couscous: Wet the couscous with some hot bullion, after taste. We actually used chicken/vegetable bullion! Fry the onion in (real!) butter and add the spinach. Add some salt if the butter is without salt. Mix the couscous with the spinach/onion. Add pine nuts that have been slightly roasted in a dry pan.
A musty red wine is appropriate to a spicy dish like this!
One lunch last week I boldly prepared a sauce to serve with the spaghetti for the kids. During my 37 years I don't think that I ever met a kid who did not appreciate a nice tomato sauce on their spaghetti. That was until I met my two bonus boys. They loudly refuse anything that might make the food on the plate the least "wet", except for occasional uses of some sugar-saturated ketchup!
I prepared Cornelius' tomato sauce, which is as famous and delicious, as it is simple. To make it more approachable for the kids, I passed it in the blender into an orange-red creamy and smooth sauce. I poured it over the spaghetti and mixed before I put up on the plates. On the side they got sliced chicken fillet, which I had fried in fresh za'atar herb, sesame seeds, some sesame oil and soy sauce.
The kids ate, and I was amazed. However, my biggest victory came a few days later, during the weekend, when Yoram tried to make a tomato sauce to serve with the pasta. He makes a more complex sauce, with more different veggies inside, but although he also passed it, the kids noticed the difference. To my surprise, the kids said that they liked my sauce better, which is probably the first time they ever gave credits to my food like that. The biological parents food is always the best, of course, and in particular Mum's food. Yoram looked a bit stunned, but I just sucked it in.
The life of a Swedish blueberry who in May 2009 broke up from the cool and modest North, to throw herself into the boiling pan among the vibrant sabras in Israel, right in the heart of the Middle East. Adventures and curiosities are blended with serious reflections of our society and life in general.
