Phobservation #2: Do cats really get stuck in trees? Would you call the fire dept?
I heard someone knocking at the door, and when I opened it, my neighbor asked me if my cat was stuck in the tree in the back of the building. What?!
Luckily, Yosh(my cat) was right next to me, but I ran to the porch to see what was going on. And, what do you know, a cat stuck in the tree. I thought this was reserved for fake news shows or children’s books- but here I was, looking at the real live thing.
As we nervously looked on and rooted for the cat, we placed a call to the fire department – Number 102 in Israel. But, the menu was too complicated! After giving up on the fire department we took front row seats to this hold-on-to-your-chairs pay-per-view event and watched the cat carefully strategize his way down the tree. As soon as it landed, we clapped and cheered like idiots! And noticed that we got some weird looks from neighbors popping out to see what all the fuss was about.
In case you missed it, here’s a link to my Phobservation #1: Are Israeli mopeds made of Legos?
Kama Kesef helps the wedding-gift challenged in Israel
How much money should you give at a wedding? Um.. awkward. Probably a taboo subject, but not for Israelis! Kama Kesef is an online calculator that gives you an objective view of how much money to give at weddings or other occasions. It factors in how close of friends you are, time of year, where it’s being held, and other criteria. I don’t really see how the time of year plays a role. I guess halls are more expensive in different seasons, but I can’t imagine that it would affect how much someone gives as a present. But who am I to judge the almighty wedding present calculator?
I tried it out, making up the following info: a not so close friend, September wedding, held in a hall, and found out the appropriate amount to give would be 234 shekels. When I asked around, people told me the real going rate is 150-200 for young people. Who to trust…
The site is in Hebrew and only works in Internet Explorer (surprise surprise). I heard about it a few times, but thanks to a comment on a post in What War Zone, I finally got around to writing it up.
Here’s a screenshot from the Kama Kesef calculator:
A New Girl Crush on a New Soul
There is this new song that Galgalatz is already starting to overplay on the radio. It is called “New Soul”, and it is bubbly and fun. After listening to it twice, you’ll get the melody and the lyrics stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Best of all, as I discovered yesterday, the singer, Yael Naim, is Israeli. Not only that, but her album has Hebrew songs on it! Did I mention she sings her own version of Britney Spear’s, “Toxic” on the album too? And, she recently won best album of the year in France (she was born in France and moved to Israel as a child). Do I smell another inappropriate girl crush?
Her music is awesome and getting praise, not to mention air time, all over the world. And because I don’t want to be the only one with an inappropriate girl crush, I have attached links below so you can have one too (unless you’re a boy and then it is just a crush).
LINKS!
Listen to Yashanti at http://www.myspace.com/yaelnaim
Watch the video for New Soul at
Watch the video for her version of Britney Spear’s Toxic at
Check out Yael Naim’s website and make sure to read her bio at http://www.yaelweb.com/
Read about her Best New Album award at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3517130,00.html
Don’t you love when an Israeli is in the news and it is not about lies, the political situation or terrorism!
Shin Bet? No. Shin Blog!
The world of Israeli blogs just got a little weirder. Never mind that anyone who made aliyah has also made a blog (We just have so much to say about our journey that and our painful visits to bureaucratic offices). But, now Shin Bet- Israel’s version of the FBI- is blogging too. Shin Bet? No, Shin Blog!
When my co-blogger (and skinny friend) Becca, sent me a link to Prime Minister Olmert’s blog, I thought, that’s creepy. I mean it is not like he is sitting at Cafe Hillel, drinking the cheapest coffee he could find on the menu, and typing a post about his tough day on the job. In fact, it is more believable that the government probably hired a professional writer, who sits at Cafe Hillel, drinking the cheapest coffee on the menu, writing posts about Olmert’s tough day on the job.
But, forget Olmert and his lame attempt to be one of the cool kids (everyone cool has a blog– duh), now Shin Bet is trying to get in on the trend. While the organization says it is using the blog as a merger attempt to recruit techies, this blogger can’t help but wonder, “what the hell is going on?” Continue reading this entry »
Are Israeli mopeds made of legos? [photos]
I have started to take my camera with me everywhere so here is my first photo observation:
Israeli mopeds are made of legos
Netflix arrives Israeli style at DVD Yashir, plus 12 Movie mini-reviews
Slowly, but surely, Israel is catching up with the convenient services available in America like supermarket deliveries, second-hand marketplaces, and most recently, unlimited movie rentals through the mail with DVD Yashir.
In the notorious style of Hebrew websites, DVD Yashir sports the required scrolling text and flashing images, but at least it works in Firefox.
If you can get past the distractions and navigate your way through the site, you’ll learn that they sell and rent movies, and claim to be offering video rental in the “American style” with different fixed monthly rental plans. The cheapest plan costs 19 shekels for the first month and then 59 shekels for every month after that but doesn’t seem to include new releases. They let you keep a movie as long as you like and request new movies as often as you like, and like Netflix, it runs through the mail. But, let’s play this scenario out logistically in Israel. Just thinking about finding the nearest mailbox that would fit a dvd or attempting to go to the post office at a time when it’s open is starting to give me an anxiety attack.
While this service does seem to be promising, I’m a little skeptical of the reliability and convenience of the Israeli post office/mailbox thing and 59 shekels seems like quite a lot to shell out each month considering the dvd machine near my house is 16 shekels. So only if I rent more than 4 movies a month does it start to become worth it. I think I’ll stick to watching movies online for free.
Mini Movie Reviews
If you decide to try out the service, here are some mini movie reviews to give you some ideas of what to rent — or what not to rent. Continue reading this entry »
Sderot or Your City? The Click To Care Campaign
The barrage of rockets continues to hit Sderot, and have now made their way to Ashkelon. While I worry about where and when the next rocket will hit, I can’t help but wonder if I am the only one. It is clear that we can not leave it up to the government to effectively run this country or military operations-but I still have faith in the people.The below video is a part of a Click to Care Campaign that I hope all of your will participate in. By clicking on this video and passing it on to friends and family, I hope we can get the word out about Sderot. We must educate the world in order to be heard.
Watch the video- click to care- and pass it on. Below, you will also find a list of organizations dedicated to helping Sderot and victims of terror. There are many ways to support Sderot: volunteer, donate, speak out, and make your voice heard with the click of a video.
HELP!
Sderot in our Hearts: http://www.sderotinourhearts.com/
Being run by a number of organization including OU Israel and Nefesh B’Nefesh, Sderot in our Hearts is dedicated to bringing Purim joy to the traumatized children of Sderot.
Challot from Sderot by Standing Together: www.stogether.org/sderotchallot
Standing Together is dedicated to helping brighten the day of a soldier. This project allows Israelis to order challot and other baked goods directly from bakeries in Sderot for pick-up at different locations in Yerushalyim (and elsewhere) on Friday mornings.
One Family Fund:www.onefamilyfund.org
Raises money for victims of terror.
Connections Israel: www.connectionsisrael.com
This Purim, Connections Israel plans to deliver a holiday gift basket to every family in Sderot (10,000 families in total) with a letter of support from a Jewish family overseas. This project will connect families and communities in a major expression of Jewish unity.
Amit: http://www.amitchildren.org/sup2n.asp
Amit’s Campaign for Sderot has helped hundreds of children to advance in their studies, to continue their education, and to succeed in school despite tremendous obstacles.
Table to Table: www.tabletotable.org.il
Table to Table with the assistance of private donors is bolstering Sderot’s food industry through the purchase of food from local caterers, bakeries, butchers and grocers.
Chabad of Sderot: http://www.helpsderot.com/
Sderot Media Center: www.sderot-media.com
SMC aims to convey the Kassam rocket reality in Sderot and Western Negev to the Israeli and international community through media documentation and investigative journalism.
The Israel Project: http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.3831671/
The Israel Project is providing journalists with royalty free pictures of Sderot, in order to promote Sderot’s image in the media. They also have informative links about the current situation and history.
Children of Sderot Summer Relief Project – http://www.SderotKids.org
The directors of 11 large Jewish summer camps from Boston to Montreal to California have joined together to create this ambitious project to airlift 110 children out of missile-bombarded Sderot and bring them to North America to experience the summer of their lives at these camps.
Where’s the Mexican food?
About a month ago, Rebecca (my co-blogger and skinny friend), exposed the sushi take-over in Jerusalem. Like a lot of people, she was happy to see Jerusalem swimming in seaweed. But me-I am still waiting for the Mexicans to cross the border.
Did you know that there are no Mexican restaurants in Jerusalem? Some may want to argue that the restaurant Poyo Loco in Talpiot is Mexican, but they would be wrong. First of all, I don’t think a Mexican restaurant menu should offer salsa, spaghetti and hummus. And it doesn’t matter now anyways because the restaurant closed down.
And don’t even go there with, “La Boca is Mexican,” because what you want to say is, “La Boca is a strange and expensive restaurant. They claim to serve Spanish food, yet all I could find in my tiny portion was an Israeli salad wrapped in a tortilla.” So don’t go there.
Here’s the deal. I am originally from Los Angeles, so baby food came in a taco. Continue reading this entry »
Where to go dancing in Jerusalem: Salsa, Israeli, Clubs, Belly, and more
Thank goodness there are places in Jerusalem to let go of my pent-up energy after long days spent staring at a computer screen. Unfortunately, I felt like the information for different kinds of dancing in Jerusalem like salsa, Israeli/folk dancing, clubs, belly dancing, and others was all over the place. So, I sat myself down and gathered what I could into one central, organized place (I love lists, what can I say?). Make sure to call the person or venue to verify any information below. If you would like to add any dance venues, please leave a comment below.
In related Salsa news, while I was searching for everything Salsa and Israel, I came across the 7th Annual Mediterranean Salsa Congress’ , which is hoping to create peace in Israel through salsa. If you’re still skeptical, just watch this clip. How come no one thought of this before?!
Salsa
- Merkaz Hamagshimim
Tuesdays at 8pm
Includes: Salsa, Marengue, Roueda, Cha Cha and Kumbia and Bacheta.
Cost: 25 NIS
Location: The Merkaz, 7a Dor Dor VeDorshav St.
Phone: Dudu 050-856-3117 - Candela Club
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays:
21:00-22:30 – Learning Salsa LA style
22:30-02:00 – Salsa Party
Cost: 40 NIS
Location: Rav Chen Mall, 16 Haoman St. Talpiot
Phone: 050-565-3997 - Mirage Club (really nice teachers, and even if you’re just learning, lots of good people to watch)
Note: I heard this club moved to the Malha area (updated Mar 2009)
Thursdays: Continue reading this entry »
An Israeli Errand…Not Just a Stop at the Dry Cleaners!
The Israeli lifestyle often involves lots of errands. Unlike the errands most of us are used to: dry cleaning, grocery shopping, post office and the bank in Israel you can add bureaucratic government offices to your list.
A typical stop at your local health office, municipality or tax authority means you are stuck in lines without ropes, rude tellers and paper work you can’t understand. Sometimes you might even get stuck with a bill!
But for me, last Thursday at the Television Tax Authority was so much more than that! I can’t even put it into words luckily I had my video camera with me and taped the eventful errand!
The Big Felafel 