Tag: israel
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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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Israel medical aid in Japan. Also, please let go.
Here’s a feel-good video from the IDF blog featuring the IDF medical team in Japan right now, helping in the damage zones. Apparently Israel’s medical team was the first foreign aid to set up a mobile hospital in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. It’s really nice to see IDF footage shared in a positive…
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You know you’re a veteran when…
You know you’ve been in Israel a while when you can remember when chumus prices ranged from 8-10 NIS for that giant kilo tub. Nowadays, you feel completely lost (and old) when you see it for 15 shekel at the cheap supermarket. When I was your age…
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Living’s not easy.
Sigh. Bombing in Jerusalem, rock-throwing in Gush, missiles in Beer Sheva… Welcome to summer time in Israel.
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The consequence of being ‘that asshole.’
After six years of aliyah and three years with a car, I got my very first parking ticket in Israel… Not too bad.
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Hints of spring.
Life is moving forward and this spring is meant to bring with it some new developments… apartment ownership and new baby to name, really, the big ones. Hints of what’s to come…
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Contracted to real estate limbo (or, Tzur Hadassah homeowner!)
As of a two-hour meeting in the Bursa district of Tel Aviv today, we are now contracted to become the owners of our Tzur Hadassah apartment! That’s a convoluted way of saying something even more convoluted: We’ve signed and are waiting for the banks to finish their end of the deal before I can comfortably…
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Paging JFK.
Maybe this isn’t very nice because once upon a time, I was just starting out, making aliyah, making ends meet, figuring it all out. But at the same time, I don’t think I was ever a brat. I’m just tired of hearing about/from people who are debating whether to make aliyah, but the angle they…
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On living outside Israel.
It happens every time I visit the States: I spend about 35% of the time thinking about the reasons I could and couldn’t live there. By now, the couldn’ts far outweigh the coulds. So it stands to reason that I’m going through the same process here in Melbourne. It’s different, of course, because it’s not…
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Fire preparedness.
No winter, an idiot burning trash, a dry forest – Haifa has way too much light this Chanukah. The news has become international that for the last 24 hours 5,000 acres of Haifa (Carmel) is drowning in the worst fire in Israel’s history. Israel is great at being prepared for terrorist threat, thorough in airport…