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Hybrid Thoughts

7/25/2006

To Take the Oath or Not...

Today I will be asked the toughest question of my life in a face to face interview. A question I had already responded to in my application with a resounding "NO." I'm scared. I'm worried. I'm stressed. I'm terrified.

In four hours I will be undergoing my citizenship interview and exam. 100 questions known ahead, but I will only be asked 14 out of these. Then I'll be asked to write something down in English, read something in English, and answer in English (gasp). But that's the easy part.

The difficult part is taking the oath:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God. In acknowledgement whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.


I have two problems with this oath and after reading on this extensively I understand I'm not alone with this problem. So sure, it's a consolation, but they're still requiring me to bring proof of why I can't take this oath.

So here's problem # 1:

I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen

Alright, I'd rather die than renounce my allegiance to Israel, of which I will remain a citizen even after getting the US Citizenship.

Problem # 2:

that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law;


Well now I have a personal problem - I'm against guns. (Sorry to all NRA members for disappointing you with my views). My best friend was killed by a gun when he was 13. The tears I shed then were mixed with a vow to hate guns forever. While I realise this is hypothetical and not realistic, it is still an oath - one which I'm unable to commit. I honestly don't care if others hold guns and kill our enemies, but I just cannot bear arms myself! I'll gladly perform any other non-combative role in a war for the United States (provided it is not against my other country of citizenship). And I believe I've proven that by volunteering seven years of my life at the USO in Israel, including during the Persian Gulf war.

I'm really worried about the two things above because I'm requested to bring proof that I refuse to bear arms for religious reasons, and mine isn't a religious reason by any means. The other thing I learned is that dual citizenship is not seen favourably by the United States but the State Department apparently turns a blind eye on it. Ok, so what does that mean for my oath? Do I tell them I plan on holding dual citizenship and that is why I cannot renounce my other country?

You're all wondering why I'm worried, well you would be too if you read the "How to become a US Citizen" book. For example, one of the stories there: A person entered the interview and sat down without being asked to sit down by the immigration officer. He threw her out because he assessed that she must not understand English if he never told her to have a seat. Ok, if I didn't read this in the book, you can betcha your life that I'd sit down without waiting for an officer to tell me "have a seat" if there's clearly a seat across the table that's meant for me. It's my nature. I don't do things standing up. Sorry, men.

Another story: a woman who's doing her PhD in the history of American civil rights, is asked at the interview "who was Martin Luther King." She launches into "I have a dream" and proceeds to quote key excerpts from it and talk about him extensively. WRONG! She failed the question!!! She should have answered simply "Civil Rights Leader" and move on!

I am so tempted to find out the exact names of the red, white and blue on the American flag so I can show off...

Wish me luck everyone!

You Passed the US Citizenship Test
Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

7/23/2006

Haifa - My City Under Attack

Some of you are wondering what does the city look like when it's not getting bombed. So here are some photos from past couple of years.














My parents live behind the tall building at the top left of this photo:



The view from the top of Mt. Carmel:

This is the view I grew up with. I miss it SO MUCH!

More photos of Haifa uploaded on flicker. Click on the right. Sorry about the quality. Bad camera. Really.

7/22/2006

More about the war

Recommended article by a former serviceman in the U.S. Navy who now lives in Israel with his family.

http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/2006/07/thanks_i_needed.html

7/21/2006

This president makes me laugh

I just read something on the news that made me bust out laughing. So the Iranian president (my "favourite" president in the world) is into letter writing. After he wrote a letter to Bush several months ago, he decided to approach things from another point. So he sat and wrote another letter. This time he addressed it to Germany!

Yup, the Iranian President has lost his bonkers. He actually had the gal to ask Germany to help him solve the Palestinian problem and eradicate Israel off the face of the earth. And seeing Germany's history he figured this would be the appropriate country to approach. He figured that he has something in common with Germany. He must be reading 60 year old history books instead of current publications into German politics.

If this doesn't make you laugh out loud, you're probably not as astute in European and Israeli relationships. The Iranian President could not have made a worse tactical mistake than figuring that Germany would side with him against Israel.

Does anyone recall the American Revolutionary war? Who was your enemy then? Wasn't it England? What was the result of that war 200+ years later? Isn't England the biggest and closest ally to the United States?!!!

Similarly, Israel's closest ally in Europe is... Germany! Germany helps us build our military force. Germany helps us financially. Germany doesn't dare vote against us unless pushed by the EU. Germany has been guilt ridden since the Holocaust and has been trying to make it up to Israel since then. It wouldn't DARE go against Israel when asked for support of a war against it.

If this Iranian President is THAT out of touch with reality, then I no longer worry. The person is absolutely insane and belongs in an asylum more than anything. Hopefully, someone will take care of it sooner rather than later.

Now...if the Iranian President approached the FRENCH government for support, THEN I'd be scared as hell that he does indeed know how to play the global political map. There's no love lost between Israel and France.

So that's your brief view into European politics and a crazy president.

Would someone please volunteer to take away the pen from this crazy man?

Toda la'el hayom yom shishi!

7/20/2006

A forwarded email

To: The Lord G-d Almighty a.k.a. Ha'shem, Shadai, Elohim, etc.
From: The Jews: a.k.a. The Chosen People
Subject: Termination of Contract/Special Status (Chosen People)

As you are aware, the contract made between you and Abraham is up for renewal, and this memorandum is to advise you that after, yea, those many millennia of consideration, we, the Jews (The Chosen People) have decided that we really do not wish to renew.

We should point out immediately that there is nothing in writing, and, contrary to popular beliefs, we (The Jews) have not really benefited too much from this arrangement. If you go back to the early years of our arrangement, it definitely started off on the wrong footing. Not only was Israel and Judea invaded almost every year, but we also went to enormous expense to erect not one but two Temples, and they were both destroyed.

All we have left is a pile of old stones called the Western Wall (of course you know all this, but we feel it's a good thing to account for all the reasons we wish to terminate the contract). After the Hittites, Assyrians, Goliaths, etc, not only were we beaten up almost daily, but then we were sold off as slaves to Egypt of all countries, and really lost a few hundred years of development.

Now we realize that you went to a great deal of trouble to send Moses to lead us out of Egypt, and those poor Egyptian buggers were smitten (smote?) with all those plagues. But, reflecting on those years, we are at a loss to understand why it took almost forty years to make a trip that El Al now does in 75 minutes. Also, while not appearing to be ungrateful, for years a lot of people have asked why Moses led us left instead of right at Sinai? If we had gone right, we would have had the oil!

OK, so the oil was not part of the deal, but then the Romans came and we really were up to our necks in dreck. While it's true that the Romans did give us water fit to drink, aqueducts, and baths, it was very disconcerting to walk down one of the vias, look up, and see one of your friends or family nailed to a three-by-four looking for all the world like a sign post. Even one of our princes, Judah Ben Hur got caught up with Roman stuff and drove like a crazy man around the Coliseum. It's a funny thing but many people swore that Ben Hur had an uncanny resemblance to Moses...go figure.

Then, of all things, one of our rabbis (teachers) declared himself "Son of You" (there was nothing said about this with Abe) and before we knew what was what, a whole new religion sprang up. To add insult to injury, we were dispersed all over the world two or three times while this new religion really caught on! We were truly sorry to hear that the Romans executed him like so many others, but, ...alas, (and this will make you laugh,) once again WE were blamed. Now here's something we really don't understand. That our rabbi really came into his own. Millions of people revered and worshipped his name and scriptures. ..... and still killed us by the millions.

They claimed we drank the blood of new born infants, and controlled the world banks (Oy! if only that were so.) We could have bought them all off, and operated the worlds' media and so on and so on. Are we beginning to make our point here?

OK so let's fast-forward a few hundred years to the Crusades. Hoo boy! Again we were caught in the middle! They, the Lords and Knights, came from all over Europe to smack the Arabs and open up the holy places, but before

we knew what hit us, they were killing us right, left, and center along with everyone else. Every time a king or a pope was down in the opinion polls, they called a crusade or holy war, and went on a killing rampage in our land.

Today it's called Jihad. OK, so you tested us a little there, but then some bright cleric in Spain came up with the Inquisition. We all thought it was a new game show, but once again we and, we must admit, quite a few others were used as firewood for a whole new street lighting arrangement in major Spanish cities.

All right, so that ended after about a hundred years or so... in the scheme of things not a long time. But every time we settled down in one country or another, they kicked us out! So we wandered around a few hundred years or so, but it never changed. Finally we settled in a few countries but they insisted we all live in ghettoes...no Westchester's of Moscow for us. There we are in the ghettoes, when what do you know?

The Russians come up with the Pogroms. We all thought they made a spelling mistake and misspelled programs, but we were dead wrong (no pun intended). Apparently, when there was nothing else for them to do, killing the Jews (a.k.a. The Chosen People, are you getting our drift?) was the in thing.

Now comes some really tough noogies. We were doing quite well, thank you, in a small European country called Germany, when some house painter wrote a book, said a few things that caught on and became their leader....whoo boy what a bad day that was for us...you know... your Chosen People.

We don't really know where you were in the earth years 1940 to 1945. We know everyone needs a break now and then.....even Lord G-d Almighty needs some time off. But really...when we needed you most, you were never around.
You are probably aware of this, but if you have forgotten, over six million of your Chosen People, along with quite a few unchosen others were murdered. They even made lampshades out of our skins. Look, we don't want to dwell on the past, but it gets worse!

Here we are, it's 1948, and millions of us are displaced yet again, when you really pull a fast one. We finally get our own land back! Yes!!!

After all these years, you arrange for us to go back... then all the Arab countries immediately declare war on us. We have to tell you that sometimes your sense of humor really eludes us. Ok, so we win all the wars, but it's now 2006 and nothing's changed. We keep getting blown up, hijacked, and kidnapped. We have no peace whatsoever. Enough is enough.

So, we hope that you understand that nothing's forever (except you of course) and we respectfully would like to pull out of our verbal agreement vis-à-vis being your chosen people.

Look, sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't. Let's be friends over the next few eons and see what happens. How about this? We're sure you recall that Abraham had a whole other family from Ishmael (the ones who got the oil). How about making them your chosen people for a few thousand years?

Respectfully,
The Commitee To Be UN-Chosen

7/19/2006

Hizbullah's common sense

For those who are criticizing Israel for killing Lebanese citizens, I have two questions:

1. How come you don't criticize Hizbullah for not allowing the Lebanese to leave the villages where they are bombing from?
2. How come you don't criticize Hizbullah for shooting rockets and killing innocent Palestinians living in Nazereth?

Actually the more important question:
1. How come you don't criticize Hizbullah for kidnapping our soldiers and killing eight Israeli soldiers out of the blue with no provocation from Israel whatsoever??? (For those ignorant of the geographical map - Hizbullah is in Lebanon, Israel has left Lebanon in 2000).

For those who believe that Israel is trying to start a war with Lebanon - you couldn't be further from the truth. We are trying to defend our citizens from more bombardments from the Hizbullah. The only way to defend is by bombing the infrastructure that allows planes and trucks with weapons to arrive from Syria and Iran to Southern Lebanon.

Israel has no interest in getting into a war with Lebanon. Lebanon is NOT synonymous with Hizbullah! The Lebanese government would have gladly gotten rid of them if they were strong enough to do so. But this government is very weak after decades of being controlled by Syria. Lebanon is a victim of the entire league of Arab nations who never cared for the small country and largely Christian and secular Arab nation. Lebanon is a victim of Syrian and Iranian politics. If it weren't for the western world supporting Lebanon, Syria would have annexed it to its own borders years ago!

Middle East politics is not as simple as black and white. Obviously the Arabic media is fed via propoganda of years and years of blaming Israel for all the ills of the Middle East. It's in their interest to do so. But you can bet your lives that if it were ANY OTHER nation living in the Middle East they'd be suffering just as much. It isn't just Israel suffering from Islamic invasions in an attempt to expand their borders, it's Lebanon and several others. Or do I need to remind everyone of the invasion of Kuwait - unprovoked and unprecendented. The only difference - the western world didn't like it and got involved.

It happens all over the world. And every nation has a right to defend itself. Before you criticize Israel, think what you would have done if it were your own country where you grew up.

7/18/2006

Today's update (from my brother)

From: Big Bro
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 7:15 AM
To: Mybrid
Cc:
Subject: Live report of incoming rocket


5 min ago I was witness to my first sighting (and hearing :) of a live rocket falling.
during our coffee break we saw a rocket hit an open field next to the big Electric Co. tower.
I don't think any person was around but a fire erupted immediately in the field.

cheers
big Bro.

==========================================

From: Big Bro
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 8:26 AM
To: Mybrid
Subject: incoming rocket near my work

a photo taken seconds after the hit in the open field near the Electric Co. tower.
(behind the building, on top of the hill is the Carmel hospital)

as seen from our building





[Click on photo to enlarge. It SHOULD work, but I'm not positive about it.]

When asking him if he's still watching rockets fall or has gone home, he responds with:

From: Big Bro
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 8:52 AM
To: Mybrid
Subject: RE: incoming rocket near my work

Nahhh
it's only interesting for 10 minutes
and I only got to see this because it was during my coffee break, I'm long since then back at my office.

I would never get such a good view from home, besides the road back home (Froyd ) is close to the place it fell, that's SCARYYYYYY

LOL :)

So this is what I sent him:

From: Mybrid
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 7:59 AM
To: Big Bro
Subject: RE: incoming rocket near my work

This is the image I have of you getting back home…


Now he wants me to buy him these balloons so he and the kids can drive around Haifa and have some fun. Anyone know where I could get these???

In a separate email my brother laments the serious situation and attaches a memo received from their company's management today. He wrote: As you will read in the memo, the situation is very serious. There are no services of laundry, photography or cookies.

7/16/2006

A very personal view on war

For obvious reasons my weekend has been spent across the internet and television, on the phone with family and friends back home, and in between text messages on cellphones.

When the first bomb fell on my hometown of Haifa (where my entire family and 90% of my friends live), my 13-year-old niece sent me a text message that said "A rocket fell on my head, and now I have high fever." (טיל נפל לי על הראש, עכשיו יש לי חום)

Last time I was caught outside of my homecountry when my hometown was bombarded, I was visiting my brother in South Africa. My nephew was a year and a half old (this is my favourite nephew and the eldest among all my nieces and nephews). We watched on CNN the scud missiles falling on my city. We finally found a flight back (this wasn't easy because all flights to Israel were cancelled during the war). I received special instructions from my father when we land at the airport: "When you receive your gas mask at the airport request them to give you one with a drinking straw, because the one they gave me doesn't have it!" My passport was stamped with "Received gas mask." They even placed it in the last page of the passport where there'll be no doubt about it. Felt kind of wierd to walk around with a passport stamped with sure proof that yes, I indeed arrived in Israel in the middle of a war.

My 1.5 year old nephew didn't receive a gas mask. He received this very strange tent which was supposed to keep the gas away from him. My nephew's first encounter with his country was through a plastic tent. I was very sad for him and kept hoping this war will be the last one and he won't remember this war nor experience bombs falling near him.

My nephew is almost 17 now! Next year he will join the army. He's learning how to drive this summer. When he's home he's taking care of his brother and sister and making sure they stay in the shelter and don't leave until after the sirens stop.

It's so tough for me not to cry when I think of him joining the army in less than a year. I'd do anything for this kid! ANYTHING!

During that war, my best friend came over to visit me at my house. We played on my computer when the sirens went off. We calmly took our gas masks and went to the hallway in my house. Put it on. But I stupidly forgot to undo the cap on the nosepiece and had difficulty taking a deep breath. It took me a couple of breathes before I realised my stupidity. I felt like an idiot! Wars make you feel that way when you get caught unprepared.

Back in the war of '67 and '73 every house had a shelter at the bottom. A typical house in Israel is an apartment building. All neighbours sat together inside the shelter which was made with extra thick walls of concrete (houses in Israel are made of concrete). In the Persian Gulf war, the fear was of gas - the safest place in the house was at the top floor, because gas glides low. So we stayed at the top. New houses in Israel are built with a special requirement for one room called a "safe room." It's a room that is constructed with extra reinforcement bars in the concrete. You no longer share a traumatic event with all your neighbours.

I'm listening to the Israeli radio on the internet all day. They have a new dilemma. They're not allowed to mention where the latest rockets fell, since that would give better directions to the Hizbullah about the success of their bombings. This is an old dilemma that existed in the Desert Storm war. How do you report from the field without clearly identifying where the rocket fell? During one of the bombings, the newsreporter said, "A rocket just fell on an undisclosed place in the middle of the country. With us is Ramat Gan's mayor to comment on it...." As the mayor proceeded to explain that it fell ten minutes from his house.

The Patriot missiles have been placed back in my city. The sound of a Patriot missile being fired is deafening! Frightening to anyone living within two kilometers from the launch pad.

When you hear the sirens and reach the shelter or the safe room in your building you sit and pray that you won't hear anything! When you hear the loud bang it means the Patriot failed to intercept the missile and it fell on the ground. When you don't hear anything - interception happened in the air.

My sister-in-law was vacationing in Europe when these recent events began. She returned to Israel today. She was on the train from the airport to Haifa when the rockets began falling. The train stopped south of Haifa and everyone had to get off and seek shelter. My sister-in-law with her suitcases had to find shelter and since all communication lines were cut off she could not get a hold of anyone to pick her up. Somehow with the help of other Israelis she reached a shopping mall downtown and waited for the phone lines to get back in order. She's back home now. The kids feeling relieved to have her back since they experienced the last few sirens on their own inside the bomb shelter in their home. When I spoke to my youngest nephew (11) he sounded older. Five years older. As if he grew up overnight. I think that's what shocked me the most. Not hearing his usual happy voice on the phone. Not hearing that childish and playful voice. It hurt me.

When he was 5 years old a terrorist attack he heard on the news angered him so much that he built a toy tank and placed it on the middle of the floor in the room. He told everyone that it will keep terrorists away from him and will kill them all. How do you unlearn such anger from a 5 year old? How do you channel it somewhere else?

I pay for his Tennis lessons. He takes the anger out on tennis balls. But now he's closed at home. Can't leave. Sleeping in a shelter tonight. All that anger just building up. Next year his older brother, his best friend and hero will join the army.

What the ^*$& am I doing here? I should be with the people I love!!!

The Last War

This is the song played on Israeli radio stations all day. It was written in 1973. Makes me cry every time I hear it because I was that little girl in the 1973 war of Yom Kippur. I was the girl who was promised it would be the last war, yet I've been through four wars since.

THE LAST WAR
Written by: Chaim Chefer
Sung by: Yehoram Gaon

For all the tank corps soldiers with their dusty faces
Who survived all the enemy fire and gruelling fighting,
For all the sailors who attacked the ports,
Their eyes caked heavy with salt from the seas.

I promise you - my little girl,
That this will be the last war.

For the pilots who broke through the deadly battle
And were hit by rocket fire and ac-ac guns,
For the paratroopers who, amid lead and smoke,
Saw you overhead, like an angel.

I promise you - my little girl,
That this will be the last war.

For the artillerymen who, in the hailstorm of mortars
Stood like a pillar of fire along the frontline,
For the medics and doctors who, with all their soul and strength
Restored breath and life itself, returning blood.

I promise you - my little girl,
That this will be the last war.

For the signalmen whose voice cut through the nights,
For all the forces and women soldiers,
For all the fathers who went into battle
And want to return home to you...

I promise you - my little girl,
That this will be the last war.

The Last War - המלחמה האחרונה

המלחמה האחרונה

ביצוע: יהורם גאון
מילים: חיים חפר
לחן: דובי זלצר


בשם כל הטנקיסטים ופניהם המאובקות,
אשר עברו את כל האש והשחיקות,
בשם הימאים אשר פשטו על הנמלים
ועינהם כבדות ממלח וגלים.

בשם הטייסים אשר פרצו אל קרב זועם
ונצרבו באש טילים ואש נון מם.
בשם הצנחנים שבין עופרת ועשן
ראו אותך, כמו מלאך, מעל ראשם.

אני מבטיח לך, ילדה שלי קטנה
שזאת תהיה המלחמה האחרונה.
(אני מבטיח לך, ילדה שלי קטנה
שזאת תהיה המלחמה האחרונה)

בשם התותחנים אשר ברסק הפגזים
היו עמוד האש לאורך החזית,
בשם חובשים רופאים שבנפשם ומאודם
החזירו רוח וחיים, השיבו דם.

בשם הקשרים אשר קולם קרע לילות,
בשם כל הגייסות והחילות,
בשם כל האבות אשר הלכו לקרב נורא
ושרוצים לשוב אלייך חזרה -

אני מבטיח לך ילדה
...

7/13/2006

I'm sad and very upset

Due to recent events in my home country I will be taking a break from blogging. I'm too upset to be able to write anything. And my family lives up north which really worries me.

But before I leave I want to clarify something you'll be hearing and reading on the top of the news for the next few days. Syria and Iran are the ones to be blamed in the recent escalation. Don't make any mistakes of believing Palestinian propoganda. It is Syria and Iran who are financially and materially supporting Hizboolah and other terrorists. Hamas and Fatah are just puppets in Syrian and Iranian hands. Syria and Iran are after obliterating Israel, and they're using their local extension - the Palestinians. They're promising the Palestinians the "world" if they do what they're told, yet do they ever give any money to the people themselves so they can live in dignity??? Do they ever send humane support to help the Palestinians? Of course not!!! They don't CARE about the Palestinians, the Palestinians are just pawns in this political game, and that's what many people outside of the middle east fail to understand. The Palestinians have always been pawns!
Believe me, the Palestinians are nice people! They only want to live their lives in peace and quiet. But they're being played by larger political powers that are taking control of them. Just like Lebanon has been played by Syria for decades!

The recent events were NOT initiated by Israel! We withdrew from Gaza several months ago. Then a couple of weeks ago some terrorists kidnapped our soldier by coming across the border and attacking a military post. Israel refuses to negotiate the release of terrorists from our jails for this soldier's life, and instead Israel launched an attack on terrorists posts in the Gaza strip. The terrorists that kidnapped the soldier are negotiating through a spokesperson in Damascus, Syria. Both Hamas AND Fatah have no clue who this faction is, and how to control it. Their hands are tied. But the pressure of families of terrorists is hanging over their head and forcing them to support the kidnappers in their demands to release prisoners.

When Syria realised that one soldier is not going to convince Israel to negotiate the release of prisoners, they decided to use a different front - the northern front where they are still in control via the Hizboolah faction. Hizboolah attacked Israel for the past couple of days from our northern border (unprovoked!!! Since we have withdrawn from Lebanon in 2000 and have not done anything in Southern Lebanon recently). They kidnapped two soldiers and killed eight yesterday. Today two more were killed in the attacks. Katyoosha rockets are fired at cities as far south as Nahariya which is only 20 minutes from my hometown.

Israel had no choice but to launch a full scale attack on Lebanon and pass the message that we withdrew with the intention of allowing the Lebanese to govern their own country, but they really need to take control over the southern border where Hizboolah is causing havoc. Lebanon needs to force Syria and Hizboolah out of its country. That's all there is to it.

Confused yet? Yes, that's the Middle East for you. So when you read the papers, make sure you scrutinize the wording of the sentences before believing everything, because it's all about the view of the author. As is this post itself.

Someone asked me recently when I'm going to start swearing on this blog. I can't. I just can't. Nothing can convey my anger now. Not even swearing. Just tears. A whole lot of them.

7/11/2006

Misc thoughts

Finished reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Interesting story that takes place in India back in the 70's (or around that era). Not sure if I would have picked it up at the store, but someone recommended and I got hooked on it. I'm not a fan of sadness, but this book grabbed me for the injustice of the caste system.

4th of July fireworks were postponed for the 8th. Photos were uploaded to flicker. Click on the right side to view the slide show. I love my new camera!

Wimbeldon - FINALLY an Israeli wins Wimbeldon! I'm SO proud of him. I've been following him for some time now, struggling to make a name and now overnight he earns the title for mixed doubles.

World Cup - I rooted for France. I wanted to see Zidane raise the trophy. I cried in the end. I hate the French, but if anyone looked at the French soccer team you'd notice most of them weren't French for any longer than one generation.

I have family in France. My relative married a woman from Senegal. Unfortunately she commited suicide and left behind a son and a husband. He married again. Another woman from Senegal.
His brother has AIDS (he got it from injecting drugs). We hosted his brother in our house in Israel in 1982 when AIDS and its reasons were still unknown. My mom freaked out when she found out after we hosted him that the family hid this piece of information from us. I have no idea what happened to him. I know he lived at least ten years after diagnosis. I have no idea if he's still alive. I don't ask. I'm too scared to find out, I guess. Every family has a black sheep. This one's ours.

I just finished watching Pirates of the Caribbean (the first one). Never seen it before. If I get a kiss from my husband tonight - it was all worth watching and worth the nightmares I'm about to have.

7/10/2006

CONGRATULATIONS ITALY !

Congratulations to Italy for winning the 2006 World Cup Soccer championship!


Create your own video at One True Media

And for some World Cup trivia, can anyone answer the following without looking it up on the internet:

How many countries have won the World Cup?

a) 5

b) 7

c) 10

d) 12

Which countries? And how many did they each win?

More about the video below in a later post.

7/08/2006

Hey...

More on this video:

You've been watching one of the top 5 viewed videos on You Tube (a popular site for uploading videos and sharing with others).

This video has been viewed by almost SEVEN MILLION viewers online. The song is called "Hey" by the Pixies.

The girls in the video are 21 year old. The video was made as a birthday gift for the boyfriend of one of them. The other girl who studied film editing decided to post it on You Tube just for fun. She had no idea it would balloon to almost 7 million viewers in such a short time. They were invited to several TV talk shows to be interviewed about their sudden and unintentional success.

One of their fans loved their video so much that he decided to imitate it in their honor. The fan is no other than Kevin Smith, the editor/director/producer of movies such as Dogma and Clerks. He decided to imitate these girls' video as a trailer for his new movie Clerks II.

Here it is:

Some of you are still wondering why did I spend so much time about this video and these two girls, so here goes...

Their names are Lital Meizel and Adi Freemerman. And yes, they're Israelis!

For those of you who understand Hebrew, here are the links to the TV talk shows interviewing them:

Late Night with Tal Berman

Hot

Every Morning (Kol Boker)

Behind the Scenes

7/06/2006

World Cup

I read this article online and I'm just shocked. What type of people kill others because they were watching a SOCCER GAME and then proclaim that it's because their religious beliefs prohibit it? I just cannot understand how some fanatics grow up to twist what religion means and justify murder in the name of religion. No God on earth or in the heavens above had ever said that man should kill man. I only recall that it was God's decision to take the lives of humans, not ours. So do these men honestly believe they were put on earth as Gods?

Some believe that the answer to all this, is to kill all radicals. But from experience - new radicals are born and raised every day.

The only answer is spread education around the world. Teach every child the same moral values for all humans - injuring or killing another human is wrong! That's the only moral value I believe should be taught globally. Everything else will fall into place once this is understood.

I know I'm fighting windmills, but I'm just outraged that when people seek peaceful ways to understand other cultures and to find what's common between us all (and World Cup Soccer definitely qualifies!), then they ought to be commended for it and not killed.


On a different note but related to the World Cup, I've been having amusing communications with my family back home about it. Soccer is our national game, so everyone is glued to the TV for any game. My Polish mom has a different twist on it though. Here's a couple of text messages she sent me before recent games:
Have a good time watching "yeke" fighting "spaghetti"
(Yeke is what we call Germans in Israel).

Her next message after the game:
Germany out, Macaroni in.

I responded this morning with:
Pizza vs. Escargot on Sunday. Will u watch with Polish Sausage?

7/04/2006

Fireworks

Fireworks were cancelled in one place, so we did a drive by shooting, and these are the results.
















This weekend we'll do a repeat of tonight. Hopefully, it won't rain again.


HAPPY 4th OF JULY !!!

I bought a new camera yesterday and been having fun playing with it. Tonight I get to test the fireworks feature on it, that's if it doesn't rain and cause it to be cancelled.

7/03/2006

This is so corny

There's a popular Israeli newspaper that has a very interesting section online for Adults Only. I try to read it regularly. I figured it couldn't hurt to widen my horizons (which are fairly narrow to begin with). And this is what I found.














A seemingly innocent corn, with a slight twist to it.


If you're frigid, it'll come out as frozen corn, and if you're hot, it'll come out as pop corn.

Unfortunately, I don't have photos to demonstrate either. But I'll be happy to post them if anyone finds them online.