Rain.... yeah.... so what?

"We will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain showers delay the launching of a space rocket." - George Carlin


So, we went to the Kotel and around Nachlaot for the first night of Chanukah. Usually other people would be out too to see the lighting of the enormous Chanukiah at the Wall and all the small Chanukiot spread all over the old neighborhoods of Jerusalem. But not this time. Not this Chanukah because it had rained about an hour before candle lighting. So I guess the miracle of Chanukah can only be a miracle when it's perfect weather outside or on your couch in front of the TV.

Usually the holiest site in Judaism is packed with people either praying, taking pictures or at least begging. But not the first night of Chanukah. On the first night of Chanukah there were maybe twenty people outside, and that's if you include the Bar Mitzvah trip that was there.

Looking left:
And right.....

Nope. They weren't hiding in the women's section either.
Hopefully as the week dries up and gets a little warmer then people will start coming back again.

Until then, have a Chanukah Sameach indoors!

Sufganiot

After an exhausting few days, Liat and I decided to go downtown and get some good sufganiot since she won't be here for Chanukah. When I say good, I don't mean the ones that are 30 for a shekel at the super market. I mean the ones that have flavor.... are soft.... and still warm...

Approaching the sufganiot, mouths watering...



Choices are: caramel filling or jelly filling.




And.... Liat stuffing her face (take note of the hickey I gave her on her forehead).

Intel/Inappropriate

For my business class we went on a field trip to the Intel on Har Hotzvim (in Jerusalem). Beforehand, my professor explained to us some of the reasons why it is difficult to have companies spread out all over the world, specifically in Israel.

The primary reason was that the American employees can't relate to Israeli employees, especially when it comes to the area of business etiquette. My professor explained to us that Israeli employees tend to make uncouth remarks, and Americans just simply don't approve.

At Intel we were on a tour led by the head of public relations at Intel. Within an hour tour he made two references to Pamela Anderson and silicon in the same sentence.

He also explained to us that people in Israel just can't accept that Intel was trying to help the community by installing wireless internet all over Jerusalem. He said he gets many complaints from concerned and/or disappointed users. His response was a very blunt and amused "who cares." Frankly, I agreed with him, but you would never find the head of public relations of Intel in the US saying "who cares" about the public in front of people he doesn't know.

Anyway, just pointing out one of the many charming informalities of Israel.

here's a picture I took of Intel:

So maybe God does exist?

Today I got back from Raanana. I spend every other weekend there and usually get back early Saturday evening following Shabbat.
Usually I just come back, eat dinner and go to sleep. However, tonight we went downtown to hang out. After walking around for a while we became a little stressed about finding a place to use the bathroom so we decided to walk down Hillel street. Eventually we found a good spot. A place down an alley, in between some bushes and a wall.

Well anyway, while we were using the outdoor restroom we noticed a Haredi couple walk by. Normally this would be an embarrassing thing because Haredi people are so strict about modesty and most likely about public urination.
Well, not these Haredim.
These were an exception.
No, they didn't join us in public urination..... but they did start making out! Up against the wall, not even hidden!
I guess they thought this was the secret hedonistic public urination/making-out alley in Jerusalem.
It was pretty intense making-out too, not just kissing.

And here's a picture of what the guy most likely resembled, except the guy we saw was much fatter.

Soccer

Unusual reason for punishment.



Well, at least you can say they are consistent.

Roof

So, it was a cool 79 degrees today in Jerusalem. The perfect temperature for getting on the roof and soaking in some sun.

Rabin Rally

I know it's been awhile, but I just got around to getting my pictures on my computer.

The rally was everything you would imagine it to be and more.There were about 200,000 people there. All the really important politicians and famous Israeli singers were there. Of them including: Shimon Peres, the Clintons, and some other less famous ones. In addition, there was everything I didn't want at the rally. For one, there was Amir Peretz, but also there were so many annoying, obsolete, and irrelevant slogans out there. Amir Peretz hilighted this by trying to compare the Palestinian Arabs to the blacks in the US and pretending that going back to Oslo would be a good idea.
Thanks, Amir, but you are totally uninteresting.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

Just some random people

10 years since Rabin's murder.

Some enormous signs

Jon and I holding up irrelevant sings, trying to blend in.

Israeli highschool girls preparing something for the rally.

There were about 200,000 people behind us (we were in the front row).

Shimon Peres

Bill Clinton