Lizrael Update

Tag: israeli

  • The first victim on 9/11.

    Ok, I think this will be the last time I cry over 9/11 this year. No promises, though. A hero’s tale: Daniel Levin was murdered by the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 just moments before they crashed it into the World Trade Center. A decade later, his family speaks for the very first time. …

  • Kindergarten report.

    Kindergarten report.

    Ultimately, I blame myself for my nearly two-year-old turning more and more Israeli every day. Isn’t that what I always wanted, immigrant-self?

  • Zumba!

    For a few years I kept seeing the word ‘zumba’ in my Facebook feed… Ahhh! Zumba! Just came back from zuuumbaaa!!! I <3 Zumba 4everz!!11!!1 And I’ve had no freakin clue what everyone has been saying. Last week, I got an email advertising Zumba on Sunday nights right here in cozy little Tzur Hadassah. So…

  • The Russian haircut problem.

    Question: Why is it that whenever an Israeli cuts my hair I end up with a Russian haircut? Note, I don’t mean the crazy short, hot-red kind. I mean the long layer in the back, thick shorter layer in the front. Also note, it seems to be a universal phenomenon, no matter if the hair cutter is a…

  • Isn't that an oxymoron?

    I didn’t know there was such a thing. Even a five-year veteran learns new things every day. As strange as ‘elite arak’ seems, in all it was a decent wine shop in Talpiot at 37 Pierre Koenig.

  • Writing, Etgar Keret, and where the &%*# is Peter Pan?

    Every year or two I get an itch to complete something on my bucket list. Last year, it was performing in the Vagina Monologues. For the past six months, it’s been getting back into my writing habit. I’ve been on a quest to discover the right outlet for skill-sharpening. It’s no shock that Israel would…

  • Once in a lifetime.

    It’s not every day – nay, every month – wait, every year?  – that you see something like this on an Israeli construction site: Amazing, isn’t it? סיימנו. It’s just a word, but it’s a whole lot more, too. ‘We completed it.’ What a feeling! What a way to be! On top of that, the…

  • Israeli Innovation.

    When I think of ‘Israeli Innovation’ here are some of the associations I make: micro chips water purification desert irrigation swallow-able pill-cameras Google, Intel, IBM R&D centers Uzis What I don’t think of is… hair conditioner. I did pretty well though for 10 shekel. Product of the year!

  • Old school Israeli phonage.

    Spotted in Ashkelon: Anyone remember these? A little younger than the Asimon-eating public pay phones, the Telecard-eating phones were a classic by the time I first started coming to Israel in 2000. No, I didn’t bother to see if it still worked. Remember the one-in-a-million magical Telecard that would never run out?

  • Israeli life on paper.

    I’m covered in dust as I write this from the depths of old documents, yellowed papers, stacks of ancient bills. Call it spring cleaning, call it nesting, call it what you will but I have managed to set aside three cartonim of dead trees to recycle.  What’s super fun about doing something like this –…

  • Beware the crabits in your cards…

    Is it passe to make fun of English spelling mistakes on Israeli marketing products? Eh, I still find it amusing and I’m sure one day my kids will make fun of me for the Hebrew mistakes I make in the little notes in their lunchboxes. Anyway, I am offering a public service announcement about what…

  • Welcome home, me.

    I’m back, I’m jetlagged, I’m trying to catch up with work. I get a phone call. Israeli marketing guy: Is this Mishpachat G—-? Me: Yes. Israeli marketing guy: Are you the wife? Me: Yes. Israeli marketing guy: I’m calling from Makor Rishon, a dati leumi newspaper and we’d like you to join our readership, bla…