日本人にとってRとLを区別するのが難しいと言います。

私はイスラエルに来て、ヘブライ語を勉強して始めたのです。私はヘブライ語でRとLの区別がつかないのですよ。私の先生はこれはとても不思議だと思っています。日本に長く住んで、長く勉強したせいのかな？

Third World?

This morning our housekeeper (part-time, mind you! Diplomatic life isn't THAT good) came in and informed me that there was a rather large, fresh, fragrant dog deposit on the sidewalk right in front of our house. Delightful. I said, "It's like living in the third world here! There's dog poo EVERYWHERE on the sidewalks." She agreed.

I am not joking. If you walk one block, you literally have to negotiate your way around 3-4 dog piles. Can you imagine? God forbid you will be walking around at night in the dark.

We live in the most elite area of Israel, as far as I know. It's like Beverly Hills here but with so much dog poo on the streets that you would think it's a cow pasture or something! It's absolutely disgusting. Some people actually have handwritten signs on their gates telling people that the area in front of their house is not a "toilet" for dogs.

You do see people carrying around little plastic bags, but my housekeeper said that she figures it just must be for show. I guess so!

Unfortunately, I never witness the acts themselves, otherwise I would definitely go outside and confront the person: "Excuse me, you forgot something!" and then toss it to them:-)

"Muslim Warriors"

Yesterday, I watched most of the second installment of "God's Warriors" on CNN. This one was about "Muslim Warriors." My impression after watching Part II was that it didn't really tell me anything I did not already know. I suppose I was hoping for a more analytical approach to the issues. Instead the episode seemed to focus on interviews that provided examples of the ideologies (for example, an American girl who chooses to wear a hijab), which, frankly, I've seen and read plenty about already.

The program seemed aimed toward an audience that does not already have a general knowledge of various extremist ideologies. But, if someone doesn't already have a basic knowledge of the topic, are they really going to be interested enough to sit in front of a TV for SIX hours total to educate themselves? I'm just not sure who the target audience is....

"God's Warriors"

I'm sure many of you have seen some of Christiane Amanpour's "God's Warriors" three-part series for CNN. Part II is airing today.

Last night Sweetie and I caught about 45-minutes of Part I one "Jewish Warriors." "Disturbing" was our opinion. Watching it really made us feel like things are truly hopeless in the realm of religion and peace.

I know the show focuses on extremes in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But it is precisely the concept of focusing on the extremists that engenders this hopeless feeling.

The fact is that people who take their religion to confrontational and sometimes violent extremes are in the minority. I think the key is to remember that the vast majority of people do not have these disturbing attitudes toward other peoples and other religions. Somehow, the world has to find a way to teach tolerance to more people.

This makes me think back to my experience at Neve Shalom here in Israel. If only everyone could be raised in such an environment.

時間

日本人とイスラエル人の時間のコンセプトはぜんぜん違いますね。お湯を沸かして釜をかけて待っているのにお客さんはまだ来ません。「タイミング」がもっとも大事な茶道ですよ。もし私は炭でやっていたら、もう焼けています。

こういった文化の違いのせいでイスラエルで茶道をするのはとても難しいと思います。

Yummy tea

I made some Roiboos tea the other tea. It's African Red Bush tea. Lovely stuff. I decided to ice it because it's summer and I'm in Israel and it is darn hot here. So, I put it in a kettle in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

Likewise, Sweetie and I mixed up some Pimms. For you Americans out there, Pimms is a British alcoholic mixer that is drunk in the summer. It's basically the alcoholic base for a sangria-like beverage. You chuck in all sorts of fruit, mint, etc. and add Sprite and 7-Up.

Cut to: my housekeeper. I told her I had some really nice herbal tea in the fridge that she could help herself to.

Later, she says to me, "Oh, that tea is really yummy!" Good -- I'm happy she likes it.

Then, I walk into the kitchen and see her glass. There are bits of apple and orange and mint in it.....

"Jocelyn...ummmm......that's not the tea!:

Oops. No wonder she really liked it:-)

Vegetarian Rant

I will need to be restrained if I hear another person say that they're a vegetarian, "but I eat fish" IF YOU EAT FISH, you are NOT A VEGETARIAN.

Wikipedia official definition of "vegetarianism": "Vegetarianism is the practice of not consuming the flesh of any animal (including sea animals)." Vegetarian posers: please note the "INCLUDING SEA ANIMALS" part.

It just really irks me when people say that they're a vegetarian when they are clearly not. I'm not a vegetarian activist and I don't care if people eat meat in front of me. But PUH-LEASE, if you eat sea creatures, don't call yourself a flipping vegetarian. You're a PESCETARIAN. And if you just sometimes eat meat or fish, you're neither a vegetarian nor a pescetarian. You're a FLEXITARIAN.

Say Cheese

I recently set things up so that Sweetie could talk to his daughter on Skype. I helped initiate his first call to her. As they started talking, I realize that Skype also has a "video" function, so I suggested we try that. I made sure that I was standing very safely outside the camera's frame of view because I was only half-dressed at that point (and I literally mean HALF dressed...imagine what you may). His daughter sayed, "Oh wow! Hi Dad!!! And I can see Cha-chan in the window." WHAT?!?!??! Ohmygawd! I looked back and sure enough, you could see me reflected in the window. Sweetie and I stared at eachother with huge eyes for a moment and then I promptly exited the room and closed the door!

Just hoping she only saw the dressed half of me......

An exciting Saturday night

Sweetie and I had such an exciting night last night. We had a little swim in the pool ("little" being the operative word because you can reach the opposite end of the pool with one good push and one stroke). Then, we watched an episode of Season 2 of 24 (we're slowly working our way through the first five seasons, most of which we've already seen, but nevertheless, we think we're really clever when we know what Jack is going to do next). Then, we played a game of Scrabble. Yes, that's a hot night for us.

I guess we have resigned ourselves to the fact that it is more irritating than anything to go out in this country and so we just stay in most of the time. Despite the fact that our 2-year-old house only half-functions, it is a rather pleasant place to be. It has lots of light and a nice interior and I quite enjoy being inside it.

Anyway, we really embarrassed ourselves with our Scrabble performance, as our scores totaled well under what is considered an acceptable total score for the game according to the instructions. Last few times we played, alcohol was involved, so maybe we need to go back to that....

"Partner" and all its implications, Part II

Okay, this post will be a wee bit embarrassing because it involves me admitting that I was watching a clip of Kathy Griffith's show "Life on the D List."

Now that my confession is out of the way, I was indeed watching a clip from that show. Kathy was speaking to Ricky Gervais (I don't know who he is exactly, but I've heard of him, and apparently he's a British comedian with his own TV show). Ricky referred to his significant other of the feminine persuasion as his "partner," and Kathy called him out saying that sounds "totally gay."

So, this just reconfirmed for me that Brits freely use that term to refer to opposite sex long-term, serious boyfriend/girlfriends, while Americans do, in fact, get thrown off by the use of this term in such a fashion.

Well, personally, having given up my 6-figure income, health benefits, promising (though woefully unfulfilling) career, apartment with ocean views, etc. for Sweetie, I would really like to be called something more than "girlfriend." So, maybe I'll just have to train Americans to understand that "partner" can be used in straight couples, too....

Why live in Israel?

This is a question I often ask when I see people who emigrate here from the US or the UK.



Yesterday, I talked to one such person. I didn't bring up the issue, though. He was a locksmith who came to fix a door lock in my house. (Incidentally, I had a very interesting conversation with another locksmith from the same company a month ago). Anyway, they sent a different guy this time. I said I didn't understand why someone would build a house as nice and fancy as ours and not be careful to install the doors and locks properly. He said, "There's a lot one can't understand about Israel. The key is don't even try." I see. That's it. No, things don't make sense here. And.....that's it. Period. Don't try to understand why or why not this or that.



The gentleman said that he was born here, but his parents moved to the US and he lived there for 15 years. But, he decided to return to live in Israel. He said it's his country, and there are lots of good things about Israel. For example, it's very safe here. The occasional war and intifada aside, it is very safe. Personal crime is very unusual. Generally speaking, women can walk around at night in the dark alone without a problem. In general, you're not likely to be robbed or mugged, etc. In fact, once we accidentally left our garage door open while away for several hours and when we returned, everything was still there (and there were some eye-catching, valuable objects inside that would have tempted a would-be robber).



The locksmith was quick to mention the downsides of life here. Like how expensive it is to live here. He said young people who want to buy a home either get help from the parents or buy a "dump" somewhere undesirable (I think this is the same in MANY countries these days). Likewise, salaries are extremely low here (I think some Israeli's working full-time at the embassy only take home $1,000 - $2,000 per month), but prices are high. For example, a box of Wheatabix costs the equivalent of $8. (Why anyone would want to pay ANYTHING for something that tastes like cardboard with milk on it is beyond me, but anyway).

On the upside, the locksmith said that Tel Aviv is always alive, straight into the morning. There are always restaurants and bars open and people milling about.

Personally, I think you have to be Jewish to connect with this country enough to want to settle down here. I'm sure there are non-Jews who are exceptions out there, but I think they must be very few and far between.

Comments and Manners

"Nobody Loves Me"



Please y'all, submit some comments! My dear friend Kuri has been the only person to do this so far, bless her heart, she has kept me from falling into a blog-induced depressive state. It's all very easy and you do not need a Blogspot account to do it.



Manners



These anecdotes fall under the category of Israeli Observations.



#1: Last night I was at a seaside bar with a group of about 15 people. We were spread out at a large table and a smaller table. Now, I did not actually see this happen, but I did witness the yelling that ensued as a result....



Apparently, a young Israeli female (in her 20s) walked over to the smaller table, at which a young man and woman (part of party) were sitting. She picked up a pack of Camel cigarettes that was on the table and asked for one (as she was removing it from the package). The young man said, "No, those aren't mine, so I can't let you take one." The owner of the Camels was in the ladies room. He offered one of his cigarettes, but the lady refused it and took one of the Camels anyway, even as the man told her again that she couldn't have one of those because they weren't his. She ignored him and walked off with the Camel cigarette.



That's when the man started saying loudly across the bar, "That's really rude...you could at least say 'Thank you.'" etc. When I heard what happened, I was appalled. As was the man's girlfriend, who is Israeli and was sitting right there. She said she's Israeli but she would never do something like that. The man was going on about how not all Israelis are like that, but 95% of them are. The girlfriend got quiet.... I don't know if she disagreed with that assertion, or agreed but didn't want to say it out loud about her own fellow countrymen.

#2: On Friday, Sweetie and I were lounging by the pool in the evening when suddenly loud disco music started thumping across the street. It was coming from the neighbor's pool area and continued until we headed up to bed. Now, Shabbat (the Jewish holy day of the week) starts on Friday night. We assume that things are supposed to be kept relatively quiet during that time and until Shabbat ends on Saturday night. But, apparently not.

I asked an Israeli about this once, and he told me that Shabbat only applies to religious Jews and so others don't really care.

Okay, fine. Shabbat aside, isn't it still really rude to subject the entire neighborhood to your music? This would never fly in the average residential area in the US. The neighbors would ask you to turn it down and even call the police if they had to.

Does is not bother people here? There are lots of retired people living on our block -- does loud music outside not bother them?

Home Movies

Do any of you have parents who were constantly taking home movies (or videos if you're of a younger generation...) when you were growing up? If so, I URGE you to get them transferred to DVD (or some other even more sophisticated media that I'm not even aware of). My brother rescued old reel movies from our home a few years ago and I was just watching one of the DVDs. It's sooooo precious:

My older brother and I flinging ourselves into snowbanks during the blizzard of '77-'78. ------ Me giving my baby brother a kiss as he pushes me out of the way. ------And the one that made me say, "Ohhhh myyyy godddd": Me during one of my tap dancing lessons when I was about 5. Leotard, tights, and all. ------ Seeing our living room carpeting before it got completely flattened by many years of wear and tear. --- Movies of us on playground equipment that would be considered hideously dangerous and downright illegal these days.

It's all great stuff and priceless, so make sure to get all your movies onto digital media before it's too late!

Hygiene standards

Where to get a pedicure?

Okay, so finding a good place for pedicures, waxing, etc. maybe isn't as big a deal as say, having an appropriate bomb shelter in your house, but it is a big deal. It's precisely things like pedicures that keep us sane when we're living in a stressful foreign environment.

A year after moving here, I still haven't found a decent salon. The first one I went to was in the nicest hotel in this area and it felt less than perfectly clean. The chair looked like it needed a serious wipe-down and the room was more like a decrepit hospital room than a relaxing salon/spa haven. Friends has similarly discouraging experiences at other salons and I eventually resorted to having a lady come to my house. At least then I knew things were clean.

A few days ago, I wanted to get some waxing done. My trusty lady didn't return my call, so I ventured out to a nearby salon. I had been there before and it was o-kay, but again, the place was not pristine and the lady didn't even close the door entirely.

I walked in, but no one was available, so I ventured to a salon across the street. They were able to accommodate me. I walked into the waxing room and the sheets on the bed clearly had not been changed very recently. I was hoping the lady was going to change them, but the best she did was brush them off. YUCK. But, I just told myself, "Okay, this is how it is in this country. This is how they do things. So, I'll just deal with it."

When she finished, she gave me copious amounts of aloe to soothe the waxed area. And you know what I did, I made sure I "accidentally" spread about 60% of it on the sheets so that they'd be obligated to change them for the next person. My little contribution to the common good that day.