Tag: American

  • The new American consulate in Jerusalem (now with room to breathe!)

    Let’s hear it for American consulate 2.0! Had to go back to ze Fatherland territory to register new baby’s citizenship, get her passport (1/3) and apply for her Social Security number. For a while now, Jerusalem and Jerusalem-area American-Israeli residents have been going to the shiny new consulate in ‘west’ Jerusalem (is Arnona not a…

  • Thankful.

    Yes. I celebrate Thanksgiving. Every year. There are some modifications, of course. I serve the big holiday dinner on Friday night, since this Thursday is a weekday in Israel, like any other. I don’t have every exact ingredient; fresh cranberries are near impossible to come by out here. But I do manage to order a whole…

  • On coming and going, via route self marking.

    I attended a fascinating discussion last night called “Piercing, Tattooing, and Cutting: Traditional Sources Meet a Modern-Day Trend.” It was held in Merkaz Edna and led by Sarah Halevi, a psychotherapist from Efrat. It was basically a review of the connections and implications of self-marking from sociological, psychological and halachic vantages. While I didn’t necessary…

  • Typical Israeli supermarket conversation.

    Russian man with silver teeth: grumbles something in heavy accented Hebrew (or maybe it was Russian?) and points to a package of frozen dough Me: “Slicha?” Russian man with silver teeth: grumbles something else in Hebrew, pointing to the price Me: looking confused Russian man with silver teeth: smiles big, “Aaah…. Priveyet, russian russian russian…

  • Happy Australia Day!

    Nah, I’m not Australian just because I’m married to one… But the Aussie I’m married to was given Lamingtons today by an Aussie coworker in hono’u’r of Australia Day this Saturday, and he brought one home for lil ole American me. Another benefit to “mixed” marriages. The Lamington is an Australian pastry consisting of sponge…

  • Register to vote by absentee ballot.

    Recently, the Australian residents of Israel had the opportunity to vote by embassy or by mail in their federal elections. It got me thinking – since I live with an Australian citizen – about the 2008 American presidential elections coming up (come on, everyone else is talking about it this early). Then tonight I found…

  • People-watching in a mirror.

    Waiting for my mom at the airport this morning, I got to engage in the curious ritual that is people-watching. Airport arrival halls are the best places to people-watch. This pre-holiday Friday morning was even more interesting. One family particularly stood out to me. I watched a middle-aged couple – probably around my mother’s age…