Category: what a country
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The history of Israeli pretzels.
A short history of flat, flavoured pretzels (bagele) in Israel… true story! If you don’t understand Hebrew subtitles or (exaggerated?) Yiddish, here’s a quick and dirty transcript: The Bagel-Bagel Factory in Poland, 1880 Son: “Father, mother – I have an idea! Thin pretzels – in flavours!” Everyone: “What?!” Son: “Yes, with pepper, chedder, spices!” Father:…
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Todah, dentist.
Just came back from Koala’s first time at the dentist. I’m pretty sure I managed not to project any of my own dentist dislike onto him, and maybe got him a lil too excited for it, because when we walked into the office reception he was SO EXCITED DENTIST IMA YAY! Then we got called…
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Welcome home, Gilad Shalit, our brother soldier.
There’s no doubt: this is bittersweet. Today we’re proud. We’re relieved. We’re emotional. We’re exhausted. Tomorrow we’re going to continue mourning. We’re going to be extra cautious. We’re going to be angry. We’re going to feel even more pain. Today we can be mothers of lost soldiers. Mothers waking up from a nightmare. Tomorrow we’ll…
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You know you’re a successful immigrant parent in Israel when…
Are you an Israeli who grew up on the classics in Hebrew kids’ books? Did Ora Eyal draw your story time and color your imagination? Alternatively, are you an immigrant parent in Israel, reading your bilingual kid the classics? Loved this Eretz Nehederet clip from last season, where they reunite the now f-d up adult…
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The Bezeq Parrot does Ke$ha. Of course.
He’s done it again… Warning: May cause urge to get the F out of the country. Bezeq Parrot does Ke$ha to sell you cheap international phone rates Don’t shoot me, I’m just the deliverer. Actually, it’s a pretty good deal – 10 shekel for unlimited international land line calling. As long as the Parrot doesn’t…
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Things I love: Telling it like it is to the NYTimes.
Like this quote, from this recent New York Times article: Israel Debates Two-Day Weekends, and Its Lifestyle “People really look forward to Election Day because you get the day off and it’s not a religious holiday,” said Gil Hoffman, political correspondent for The Jerusalem Post. “The problem is that this government is so stable we…
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Israeli flag protekzia.
Someone is watching over us. Taking care that we do right by our adopted citizenhood. And that someone… is our mortgage bank representative. She happens to live in Tzur Hadassah, and her home happens to be located at the bottom of the hill our apartment overlooks. And now that she knows exactly where we live…
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Do Israeli kids ever learn the fire safety lesson?
The answer, sadly, is no. There is an unhealthy Israeli-Jewish obsession with fire in the springtime. It starts today – with Biyur Chametz, the burning of chametz, which is done on erev Pessach. Soon will be Yom Haatzmaut – the national barbecue bonanza, and after that, Lag B’omer, which pretty much celebrates bonfires the way it’s done here.…
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What it’s like to get a mortgage in Israel.
…or anything at all from an Israeli government branch, bank, organization, supermarket, public toilet… I could go on. Doesn’t it feel good to know that this level of bureaucracy exists all over the world, and not just here? I do plan to post advice and checklist for navigating the home-buying and mortgage-obtaining process here in Israeli banks and…
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Israel’s National Cleanup Day – one little bottle.
This just gave me all kinds of happiness. A video in honor of National Cleanup Day in Israel, which was held March 29th, organized by the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection. Not that we ever knew such a ministry existed. Not that most of us probably knew about the occasion at all… Maybe the video…
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My street is bad-ass.
Walking down my street, coming home after a supermarket run, and you know, whatever, a donkey is eating grass outside my shul. Just taking a stroll down my block. Whatevs.