Good News, Bad News

Good News: I can access mlb.tv from Israel! I didn't think I'd be able to, but it turns out that the only people who are blocked are those who are too close to the games, not too far away. With my daughter's high speed Internet, I actually get better live video streaming on her computer than on my own at home. Go figure.

Bad News 1: The games, of course, are generally in the middle of the night. A typical 7:05 PM start time in Houston is 3:05 AM here. Afternoon games are prime-time, but there aren't many of those. I might get up early and watch the last couple of innings live - and of course, I can watch the whole game on the archive if I want.

Bad News 2: The Astros have lost every game since I left. I know that I should not take this personally. But remember how they started winning at Spring Training when I got to Kissimmee? Well... 

I'm not going to attempt to write up all the games while I'm away. But I will post when I can just to stay in touch. 

Here's a few fun things from Israel. I'll post some pictures later... My daughter lives near Shuk ha Carmel (Carmel's open market) in a not-yet-yupped-up neighborhood in Tel Aviv. The produce in the shuk is AMAZING and very cheap. E.g., to-die-for gorgeous sweet fresh-picked tomatoes are 3 shekels a kilo - that's about 37 cents a pound. The olive guy has about 100 types of olives - he filled up a big bag of mixed ones and charged Miry (who is young and pretty) 10 shekels - about $2.50. The beach is a five minute walk from my daughter's apartment. Haven't been swimming yet, but took a long walk on the boardwalk. 

There's no professional baseball league in Israel this summer. It fizzled after one season in 2007, and while there's talk of trying it again, there are no local ball games. Someday when baseball is back, I hope to be asked to lead Take Me Out to the Ballgame - in Hebrew of course. There is a Hebrew translation, which was done by my-husband-the-Hebrew-poet (the only Hebrew poet from Lubbock, Texas). I sing TMOTTBG loudly in Hebrew at every game I attend (Spring Training, Nationals Stadium), but of course no one can hear me over the crowd. Once in a while I get a funny look when I sing, "Im lo nenatzeach OY VEY!" (if they don't win, oy vey!"). If you want a copy of the lyrics, just ask.

Off to the art museum... we're going to galleries and concerts and soaking in the cultural scene here in TA. Then I can come back home and return to my normal summer - sitting around watching ball games on the Internet, tweeting at my imaginary electronic friends. :-)