If you’re at an Israeli wedding, don’t look for a gift table… look for one of these. In the US, gift-giving is something to agonize over. Read More »

First, a promise: I won’t talk about mucus plugs, dilation, or enemas in this post.Ok, maybe a little bit about dilation. But I’ll really try to spare you what my husband calls the “gory details.” (Though, for the record, the enema was AWESOME.)I actually want to tell parts of my birth story on this blog to make a bigger point… Read More »

Meet the newest Israeli in our household:   Inbal Osnot Hadas Nitsah, born on October 22nd. I look at her and think:   She will speak Hebrew without an accent. (Will she speak English without an accent?) She will brave the Israeli school system, something I haven’t had the guts to do. (I teach English online instead!) She will serve in the army. Read More »

 I had one of these moments today. The inimitable (and hilarious) Benji Lovitt of What War Zone??? posted a picture of Jerusalem’s weather report (rain!!) on his Facebook feed, and for a second I was really confused by it. Read More »

  Our menorahs last year… this year I remembered to put down foil first!  Sorry I didn’t post last week– I hope I didn’t make too many people worry that I was somehow injured in the Carmel fire. Read More »

(From http: //simplyrecipes.com/photos/pumpkin-pie.jpg) Ok, so if you really want to host Thanksgiving like an Israeli, don’t host it at all. (Yeah, that whole “It’s an American holiday” thing. Read More »

Don’t try these techniques when you are a Hyundai Getz going up against a semi-trailer. “What??” you’re saying, as you read the post title. Read More »

Well, not really. But I just wanted an excuse to use the Hebrew word “shiputzim” (rennovations) as an English verb. Isn’t that a great word? Shiputz. Sheepootz. Shipootz. Today I did two things I’ve been meaning to do for a little while.1. Read More »

This is the home of some other rich Jews (ya know, the one  designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), not my home, but I visited  it when I was back in the US. Because I get to be a tourist now! And that’s my beautiful niece, Sarah. This past August I went back to the US for the first time since I made aliyah in the spring of 2008. Read More »

As part of Mission Convince Google my Blog Isn’t Spam, I deleted my blog roll. Now I want to get it back! I have a few blogs in mind already, but I want to know which blogs you think I should add. In the comments, please tell me about your favorite Israeli blogs. Read More »

Maybe I’ve just been thinking about phone numbers lately after, er, my own cell phone spent a night in the toilet (I have a new one now) but this is also one of those little things that struck me a lot after I moved to Israel.In the US, telephone numbers have a very, very set format: (XXX) XXX-XXXX. Read More »

Here’s a list of things I’ve noticed Americans doing that they (ok, we) tend to think makes us look Israeli… but that actually make us look like fresh-off-the-Nefesh-b-Nefesh-flight olim, or worse: here-for-a-year-on-a-gap-year-program Americans.Disclaimer: these are great things to do if you want to seem Israeli when you’re in America. Read More »

I bet this has something to do with the Mosad.If you watch Israeli TV for long enough, everyone starts to look familiar. We seem to have only about 15 actors, who get cast in every series, game show, or what have you. The same politicians trade minister slots in the government… over and over and over again. Read More »

Google no longer sees my site as an attack page… we’re up and running again!MayaP.S. Tip for anyone who faces a similar problem: I ended up finding the bad link by downloading my site and doing a search in the code for the lines that Google had flagged. It turned out to be surprisingly easy. Read More »

The domain indicated in the warning message was the source of one image in my post about foods difficult to find in Israel. I removed it and resubmitted my post for review. Read More »

Hi everyone! I really do want to get back into blogging. In fact, I’ve been tossing around a lot of fun ideas. Read More »

Hi everyone! I just wanted to post quickly to let you know that I’m still alive, still Israeli, and still sweating even though Israel went onto “winter time” almost two weeks ago. Something about Israeli summers tends to sap all the post-writing energy out of me. Read More »

Hi everyone!Tomorrow night marks the first performance of an evening of one-act plays from the Haifa English Theatre. I’ll be performing in the second play, a comedy called “The Bear” by Chekhov. It would mean so much to me if any blog readers show up… Read More »