Lizrael Update: babbling about the expat life since 2004
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Fifty-Two Frames: Rule of Thirds
Another year, another photography term learned. The rule of thirds seemed obvious to me but maybe that says something about how naturally it works? I don’t think too hard about the rules which is why it’s fitting we’re meant to break them for next week. This is a funky park bench I spotted around Tzur…
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Parents of kindergartners.
Remember when you were young, sweet-innocent-young, not boyfriend-naive young, no, really really young, sheltered-from-the-meaning-of-war young, and life was a big friend grab, and you managed to get yourself a pair of great friends, so you didn’t have to be left alone at play time, most of the time, and sure, they were already an inseparable…
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Fifty-Two Frames: Self-Portrait
First off, I started participating in Fifty-Two Frames exactly 52 weeks ago, January 2012, and this week I completed it, in time for a new round called 2013. Secondly, this week’s theme was a good one. It had the potential to be awkward, narcissistic, lame, or reflective. Sighofrelief it became the latter. This week I was…
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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:…
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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…
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Fifty-Two Frames: From My Window
Week 51: From My Window Grows a garden.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
Questions? Comments? Advice?