I've been noticing things that happen here with a compare/contrast eye. There are activities that happen in various cultures that are not unique to them and just different than America. Then there are behaviours which I really think only happen in Israel. I say this with very little experience outside the States. Some examples:
When riding a bus, a person from the back will send up a 200 shekel note (worth ~$50) up to the front for the bus driver. On the way back will be a bus pass and the correct change. No one blinks an eye; no one thinks of 'borrowing' from the change. And if you don't know what to do (because frankly when someone taps you on the shoulder and hands you a large bill and speaks in a foreign language, knowing what to do is somewhat of a mystery the first couple of times), there is an idea that you are breaking a social norm.
Also, this society is very much child oriented (at least in the more religious cities). This too is evident on the bus. Women get on with their strollers and groceries and the bus driver takes off before she has a chance to sit. People reach out and hold the stroller. As the woman gets off, people jump up to help her exit with all the stairs and the driver waits while this happens. This same driver won't wait for someone who is running to the bus if they don't make it there on time. Fascinating.
Policemen drive up and down the pedestrian mall, both in cars and on horseback.
Guards sit outside restaurants with guns. And they sit outside of the supermarket and all the banks and it's accepted, in some cases, required. Even pizza joints.
I find the terminology used to describe native Israelis, sabre, is becoming more and more clear and accurate. Harsh on the outside and just the sweetest people on the inside.
This place, and for now I'll limit it to Jerusalem because that is really where my exposure lie, is truly a dichotomy. And extreme too, most things are black and white, very little, if any grey. You are religious or you're not. You're native or you're olim. You keep kosher or you don't. Keep shabbat or not. Middle ground is not a concept or attitude many choose to adopt. This can be very difficult to handle. For someone like me, my world is grey (or colorful as I choose to see it). Do I keep Shabbat? yes in the way that works for me. I dress in skirts because I like it, not because I think it is more modest (whole other discussion there). It is quite frustrating really if I allow myself to get wrapped up in it. And that is the key, not getting inundated with the issues and allowing myself to be manipulated in one direction or another.
Okay, fun note. So the room I am subletting is actually going to be up with its lease much sooner than initially thought. As in this Friday (rather than Aug 10). Leaves me homeless. Fine. Whatever. Well, my roommate has had sufficient run-ins with the nasty landlord and has decided to take a passive-aggressive approach to the whole situation. Let me also say that the landlord has no idea I'm there. Nor was there a security deposit or any forwarding information, etc. My roommate likes to paint and has taken to doing so on the walls. The art work is rather beautiful and I would love to move into a place like that if I were the next tenant. Then things got devious and roommate decided to move to a new medium: wax crayons. I was in an interesting dilemma: I could participate or not. I seized the opportunity to draw on walls. In the kitchen above the cabinets I left a keyboard in black and red. Then I had the idea that words are super powerful and what a wonder to put those on a wall. So last night, roommate and Dekel and I took those crayons and wrote all over the wall various emotions. We had over 300 words in the end and it is amazing. I took pictures because this is something that won't happen in the states. Fascinating.
Yeshiva is going great. Like I said last time, I really cannot fully grasp everything that is happening. We are two weeks in, though because it is really structured as two three week sessions, there is a sense that the end is approaching. And people I've met will be departing and new people will be arriving. It's very tumultuous. Ulpan is getting more challenging and yet also very enjoyable.
My typical complaint is still very present and prominent. Last night the mosquitoes were out in force and my face is terribly swollen. I will not miss that at all; at all.
Miss you all and think about you often. Hope all is well and would love to hear what's going on.
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Where are you planning on staying in the next few days? How come you or your roomie didn't know that the lease was over weeks before expected?
Noah is growing like weeds! He has discovered that he has a voice, a loud voice! He is so cute! He has a large vocabulary, and he is so special to watch when he is signing. I have to keep practicing signing so I don't forget and can't talk with my grandson! He loves to read and be read to; his favorite book is Hand, Hand, Thumb, fingers. He can have it read to him repeatedly. He loves to play with the cats; they're still alive, I think! He is walking all over the place; he is so funny to watch when he tries to run! We play chase, and every time I catch him I tickle him. He loves to be tickled, esp his lats, neck and belly, howling with a laughter only a child can do. He's left infancy and has never returned.
He loves his artwork, both painting and crayons. He colors on paper from an easel. His favorite part of artwork is eating the medium!
Your mother is recovering from her foot damage, and is almost over her rehab... she's up to running about 5 miles at at time, as well as maintaining about a 100 miles cycling a week. I work the next 21 of the following 25 days, most of them 12 hour days.
God knows when we'll meet again, so we'll leave it in his hands.
Love, Dad.
PS: lame puns back with a vengence.
1) The frustrated cannibal threw up his hands.
2) An illiterate fisherman was lost at c.
3) (a slight change in form)
A man is waiting for wife to give birth. The doctor comes in and informs the dad that his son was born without torso, arms or legs. The son is just a head! But the dad loves his son and raises him as well as he can, with love and compassion. After 21 years, the son is old enough for his first drink. Dad takes him to the bar and tearfully tells the son he is proud of him.
Dad orders up the biggest, strongest drink for his boy. With all the bar patrons looking on curiously and the bartender shaking his head in disbelief, the boy takes his first sip of alcohol. Swoooop! A torso pops out!
The bar is dead silent; then bursts into a whoop of joy. The father, shocked, begs his son to drink again. The patrons chant "Take another drink"! The bartender still shakes his head in dismay.
Swoooop! Two arms pops out. The bar goes wild. The father, crying and wailing, begs his son to drink again. The patrons chant, "Take another drink"! The bartender ignores the whole affair. By now the boy is getting tipsy, and with his new hands he reaches down, grabs his drink and guzzles the last of it. Swoooop! Two legs pop out.
The bar is in chaos. The father falls to his knees and tearfully thanks God. The boy stands up on his new legs and stumbles to the left.... then to the right.... right through the front door, into the street, where a truck runs over him and kills him instantly.
The bar falls silent. The father moans in grief. The bartender sighs and says, "That boy should have quit while he was a head."
hahahahahahahahaha!
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