Month: December 2012

  • Israeli elections memes: some real ‘winners’ here

    Israeli election season started pretty much right as the U.S. election season ended. Fear not – it’s no less depressing, frustrating and exhausting. I wonder if I can write in a candidate this time, too? Eretz Nehederet (Israeli sketch comedy) collected Israeli election memes and some of them are real… ‘winners’ (ehhhhh). A few of my favs:…

  • That awkward moment when… (#tmi)

    …your 3.5-year-old son pulls a wrapped pantyliner out of your purse in public and continues to ask, ‘what’s this, Ima?’ …your 1.5-year-old daughter’s been playing around on you and then you look down and realize she’s made inconveniently-located saliva-sucking marks on your t-shirt. …your son is reviewing with you the fact that private parts are…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: From My Window

    Week 51: From My Window Grows a garden.

  • How to send condolence letters to the people of Newtown

    This time, it’s not even about being an expat. It’s about being a parent, a resident of a small, sleepy town, and a fellow human. After noticing there was a destination address for sending messages of condolence for residents and victims of the Newtown, Connecticut rampage shooting,  I suggested to Koala we draw pictures for some…

  • Does he realize my face is wet from tears as I kiss him good night?

    Sitting just outside the kids’ room, on the cold tiled floor in the hallway, scrolling through articles on my phone. Silently scanning Newtown coverage, reading Newtown stories, seeing Newtown pictures as my son restlessly attempts sleep, deep within his bottom bunk. “Ima, can you tuck me in?” I don’t even bother wiping the tears from…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: Opposite

    I cherish that moment just before a small flame dies… If you catch it just at the right moment, you watch its last breath… and then it becomes a memory. I cannot say the same for people. Maybe that’s what makes the concept of an eternal flame so comforting. Week 50: Opposite One minute you’re…

  • Gun violence, mental illness, school shootings: Is my paranoia justified, then?

    So I guess I’m not as paranoid as I thought… Or the world has become a more realistic place for people with morbid imaginations like myself… Set your mind back eight years. Remember the Beslan school hostage crisis? The massacre in September 2004, erupting from a local school hostage crisis that lasted a whole three days, including…

  • Boys and their mothers and their future girlfriends.

    I guess we now know what types of girls Koala won’t be bringing home… Koala: What is that? me: What? Koala touches and scratches my nose me: What are you doing? Koala: You have something here… me: Oh, my nose ring? Koala: What?? me: That’s supposed to be there. Koala: Why? me: It’s nice. It’s…

  • 8 things I’ve already learned this Chanukah

    It’s only the fourth night and I can point to eight things I’ve learned this Chanukah: Chanukah is really really really hard with comprehending kids and not much/no family around. Watching your other immigrant friends run around to local family parties with parents, in-laws, siblings, etc. is tough. Giving out-of-the-blue presents to a small child…

  • H&M will exchange old clothes for store vouchers – even in Israel!

    Yay, retail! Looks like H&M has its new years resolutions in order and is starting a new program called iCollect, launching February 2013, to take your old clothes for recycling/reprocessing in exchange for store vouchers. So hand over a bag of used clothes -> get some H&M rewards. Seems the program will be worldwide, including all…

  • Fifty-Two Frames: Waste

    This week I learned I don’t like the word ‘waste.’ Week 49: Waste Where Nature’s throwaway meets the man-made Underworld.

  • Protest: Ramat Bet Shemesh expands, the environment pays the price.

    Apparently, this is the next big developmental overstepping/environmental boundary  issue in our corner of Matte Yehuda… This time featuring the ever-glamorous Ramat Bet Shemesh expansion. If you haven’t heard, Ramat Bet Shemesh Gimmel is a controversial funhouse and construction is already well underway. The projects are promising to expand even further (D and E!) and…