A constant source of interest among bloggers is visitor statistics. We like to know who are readers are, where they’re from, and how they found us. In my case, many of my visitors find me while performing a Google search for one term or another. Sometimes the search terms are unusual (I had a hit for “underwear parade” earlier today), and many border on lewd...
Ever gone on a date with someone while your leg was in a cast? I have. As I’ve mentioned before, I managed to break my leg only several weeks after arriving in Israel at age 18. During the weeks prior to my little mishap, a few friends and I met a group of young men at a (long-defunct) pub in Jerusalem. One of my friends immediately hooked up with one of the young men...
Sorry for the silence lately. Life has been hectic, and I haven’t really had the time or energy to concentrate on blogging. I’ve also realized that the focus has changed around here, and I’m not packing quite the punch that I used to. I’ve been feeling rather frustrated and dissatisfied, and generally too annoyed with the state of the world to actually...
Living in Israel for sixteen years means that I don’t often pay attention to those “only in Israel” moments anymore, and events that may strike a new immigrant as unusual are no longer something out of the ordinary. The times when I’d wake up and go through my days being conscious of the fact that I was in a “foreign” country are long gone...
We took a lot of family vacations while my brother and I were growing up. Sometimes, these getaways were relatively close to home (such as the one at Golden Acres Farm and Ranch, where my parents received special permission for me to join the hotel day camp’s boys group instead of the girls group because the boys did fun stuff like dodge ball while the girls group took...
There’s something about the holiday season in Israel that makes me realize that there’s no place I’d rather be at this time of the year. In some respects, it reminds me of the Christmas season in the US. The excitement and anticipation in the air are palpable, and talk inevitably turns to holiday plans. Strangers smile at one another and exchange holiday...
As you’ve probably guessed by now, my sense of humor is often rather quirky and off-beat. I appreciate intelligent, wry commentary, and would be lying if I didn’t say that one of my favorite pastimes is exchanging clever, witty banter with friends online, either via email or using any one of my growing collection of chat applications. The writer in me enjoys using...
So yes, it’s true. We’ve survived another visit from the parents. We survived the inevitable, disgusting heat that summer in Israel brings, and for the most part, we did our best to stay away from the blistering sun. We played tourist and tour guide, and somehow, despite the fact that they’ve been to visit us nearly every year for the past 16 years (have I...
Growing up in the 1980s, I’d never heard the term “hip hop“, and “rap” was a fairly new phenomenon; at least it was for me. In my high school, we had students who did their best to emulate the “white-gloved one” by moonwalking, and we were all trying (and mostly failing, with few exceptions) to breakdance. Living in suburbia, our music...
After graduating from college, I travelled to Israel for what was supposed to be ten-months. Four months on, I met the Husband. Once my ten-month program was complete, I opted to stay for the summer, and we moved in together. Towards the end of the summer, when we were discussing my immediate plans, I remarked that if we could get a puppy, I’d stay. Fifteen years later...