Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Easily Amused category.
The Falafel Game
Apparently just because your blog is called the big felafel, doesn’t mean that you’ll be good at the Falafel King game. To play, click here. I am so impressed with this game – I have a newfound respect for the guys over at Melech Hafalafel.
A new format for peace talks
Condoleezza Rice, Abu Mazen and Ehud Olmert continue to talk about their three-way peace talks, but Arabs and Israelis are finding their own way to communicate- Internet porn. While Arab states claim Israel is their enemy they have no problem searching for Israeli women in the army or Mossad to heat things up. Talk about a peace process with action! Read more at Ynet
Today’s Balagan and Chaval Award
Today’s Balagan (mess) and Chaval (shame) Award goes to the Classics Book Store which closed its business today. Located downtown on the steepest alleyway between the municipality (ugh! Arnona) and the misrad hapnim (Ack! The face office), is a yellow gated, easy to miss, used English book store. Here’s how it looked inside. Imagine your bookshelf at home. Now imagine being really angry and shake the bookshelves until all the books fall out. Now attempt to smush them back in wherever there is room. Oh, and make sure that all the books are in front of other books and all over the floor. This is how it felt today, but worse. Nowhere to step. No friendly hi when I walked in to make up for the balagan. No respect for books, or people for that matter. I felt belittled. People went up to the attic of the store which was not lit, to look through boxes and boxes of books. I asked him where the books are going after the sale. He said recycling. Recycling! Chaval. He couldn’t give it to another bookstore?! A few of us at the sale suggested cynically that it would be easier to find the books we wanted at the recycling bin after the sale than at the sale itself. I asked what was going to be taking the place of the book store. He said, get ready for this, a book store!
You made aliyah! you crazy?!
When you make aliyah, it seems normal. You’ve prepared yourself – if that’s possible. You’ve lined up something in Israel that you’re looking forward to. So why is it that when other people I know make aliyah, I think it’s the craziest decision. How the hell did you do it? You just left everything like that? Go back before you get stuck! I have been in Israel for 3 years, and some friends just made aliyah. It seemed like they were taking crazy pills. Is everyone searching for something new and different? After 3 years of living in Israel I am tempted to go wild and move somewhere that I’ve never lived before. To start anew. Clean slate. At what point do we force ourselves to settle down because ‘the time has come’ and when do we travel the world because, hey, you only live once.
sabra cats
At some point during the course of living in Israel, you find yourself in a situation with a sabra (Israeli-born) cat – whether you want to or not. It might be your cat, it might be someone else’s cat, but nonetheless there is a cat situation that must to be handled. When I lived in my first apartment/dorm/absorption center, Merkaz Hamagshimim, there were cats that became part of the ‘chevre’ weaving in and out of the courtyard, the porch, and the backyard. The most recent and far more intense situation resulted in taking in a very cute kitten. 2 weeks ago, on the long journey back from Kiryat Menachem, we were walking by one of the millions of dumpsters-turned-cat-party and rescued a cute little kitten, a month old (Yosh) that clearly had a slim chance of survival. I won’t even go into all the problems he had. Other people’s stories include finding a litter of kittens, being bitten and going to the hospital, getting stuck with a friend’s cat because they left the country. The stories go on and on. But be prepared, a cat situation will come across your path soon enough and test your ability to land on your feet. Too cheesy?
The meaning behind the big falafel
This blog is dedicated to Jon Stewart of the daily show and his cousin Rebecca Leibowitz. It was on the set of the daily show that I was called a ‘uvula’ for the first time. (the thing in the back of your throat that dangles down). I was hoping to be recognized as a Ninja Turtle, but I learned the hard way that the costume had more versatility than I was aware of. And it was on the daily show that Israel was dubbed ‘the big falafel’ for the first time.
The Big Felafel 