Would you believe....

Thank you dear readers who have sent your sympathies! You've put smiles on my face -- no easy task these days!

Well, things just go from bad to worse.

For example, the local police had put a note in our mailbox while we were on vacation, stating (in Hebrew, of course) that they stopped by and we weren't home, but we could call them with any questions. My Hebrew teacher encouraged me to do so, and so that is what I did yesterday. Well, "Roni" of the local police said that if there was anything they could do, to let them know. And I wasn't quite sure what the police would be willing to do -- for example, would they increase patrols on my street? Or keep an eye out for my car? Or maybe add some lights to the alley behind our house? I didn't know, so I asked. And do you know what he said? He said that if I needed to BUY some INSURANCE, that he could help me.

Yeah.

Can you say "Corruption"?

Absolutely appalling.

Israelis out there -- you need to start speaking out about this if you care about the future of your country. Not only are the police horribly corrupt, but theft is incredibly rampant. Pretty soon, people are going to have to put up electrified and/or barbed wire fences.

AND, yesterday (just before calling the helpful policeman), I spotted a man standing on a dumpster in the alley behind our house. He had a camera pointed toward our basement patio doors. Hmmmm... When he saw that I spotted him (he was literally only 7 feet away from me even though I was in the middle of our kitchen and he was outside our yard wall), he brushed me off with a hand motion, but I raced out the back and confronted him. He claimed to be taking pics of "the roof next door." Ahyuh. And that's why he was standing on a dumpster with his camera pointed at our patio doors? I raced back into the house and got my camera, but he had split by the time I got outside.

Needless to say, I am now completely terrified that they are coming back for what they didn't get the first time.

Anyway friends, sorry for the dearth of pictures lately. I've taken my camera equipment to a "safehouse." Sad:-( But, I am feverishly applying for jobs in small, quiet towns back in the US, so wish me luck that I can move to a kinder, gentler place very soon!