Job wanted

I am looking for a job. Writing is fun, but doesn’t buy you any meal. Teaching Italian is also fun, but it doesn’t buy you much either. So I am checking the ads everyday, hoping to come across the job of my dreams. Which probably, by definition, only exists in my own imagination. That’s how [...]

Read Full Post »

Excuse my baldness

In a recent post about this beautiful Hebrew language, I was discussing how fast street idioms evolve and age. Do you remember the expression tered li mi ha karakha (lit. “get off my baldness” as in “leave me alone”)? Well, I might have found out why it is not so popular anymore. I had an [...]

Read Full Post »

Christmas in Israel

I suspect there might be a little confusion around the subject of Christmas in Israel. If names like Bethlehem and Nazareth are highly evocative for the many Christians around the world, a tourist coming to Israel hoping to find an enhanced version of Christmas celebrations will be inevitably disappointed. Christmas day is just another working [...]

Read Full Post »

Nu, die: how to sound Israeli

Image via Wikipedia Part of the struggle of an immigrant to fit in any society is mastering the language. You might be good in grammar and have a decent accent, but until you integrate some of the street slang, you are doomed to get singled out as a foreigner. Ulpan schooling is not always fit [...]

Read Full Post »

Oh Christmas tree

I have just come to know that next week the Jerusalem Municipality will distribute free Christmas trees to the Christian residents of Jerusalem. I missed my chance! I already bought a Christmas tree (plastic) and matching decoration  in Bethlehem, on my visit last week. It was a bit silly to drag around the tree all [...]

Read Full Post »

10 things I hate about Israel

I must admit after my last post (10 things I love about Israel) made the blog stats jump from an average of two readers a day to eighteen (18!), I almost fell off the chair. Someone out there loves Israel, or loves to read something positive about Israel. Since after love comes hate, I wonder [...]

Read Full Post »

10 things I love about Israel

Following a quite serious post about the many achievements which crowned the short history of the state of Israel, I feel like writing something more personal about my connection to this country. So here is my  own “10 things I love about Israel“  list. Short and straightforward. It started off as a “5 things I [...]

Read Full Post »

Made in Israel

After being quite critical about my newly adopted little country (see the last post about how badly Israelis drive), I feel time has come to bring out some positive facts about Israel. The Israeli state is a young, somehow naive and exuberant little fellow. Incredible progress has been made in the scientific and cultural field [...]

Read Full Post »