Yackety Yak Israel - Buzz from big white city

Let's take a train to Kuwait - like the good old days

Original design proposal for AL-Hamra Tower (Kuwait city)

I know I can take a train from Tel Aviv to Haifa but how about to Kuwait? In the days of the Ottoman empire and the British rule you could take a train from Ankara Turkey to Alexandria Egypt with connections to Baghdad, Amman, and Beirut. Sadly today you can't even take a plane from Tel Aviv to most Arab cities. But the reality of today's politics is not deterring Kuwait and other gulf country politicians. Kuwait plans to build a rail line connecting all it's neighbors including Israel. This is a part of a project ot improve Kuwait and bring technology and modern life to the small country.
      Dr. Sami al-Faraj president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Futuristic Studies and an adviser to the Gulf Cooperation Council is quoted as saying: "people in the gulf are smart enough to understand the impact of technology on their development and they know that the technology is in Israel". The Kuwaitis and other forward looking Arabs are essentially saying, it is time to bury the hatchet and learn to live and work together. Once the gulf countries ended their wars and the threat from Iraq ended they quickly realized that now is the time to change the life in their region. This is a welcome message to Israel and the rest of the world. (interview with Dr. al-Faraj)

Feeling change in Tel Aviv - not so easy

In a recent talk with Elinor, a TV producer, the topic of how people in Tel Aviv see themselves came up. Her friend wrote a book on how Tel Avivians turned complacent, comfortable, bordering on hedonistic. There is definitely a view that life in Tel Aviv is getting "too soft, too comfortable, too isolated from reality". What does this mean? People still struggle here, from finding a decent apartment to balancing work with life... from finding a little peace and quiet in a noisy city, to just avoiding dog poop on the sidewalk at night. Big issues to small ones, they have not gone away, just changed.
It is true that Tel Aviv has become a comfortable metropolis. It is true that Israel's central region is modern and runs well - maybe TOO WELL? (some say!) But Tel Aviv does have the same problems any large metropolis has. The city has a chronic housing shortage, but buildings are still small and personal and not crowded like European cities: Paris, Amsterdam, or Rome. Tel Aviv has a chronic parking shortage, but the city grew out of small street architecture just at the dawn of the automotive age. For over 80 years city planners were thinking about public transportation while residents prefer cars, bikes, and mopeds. Tel Aviv as a city simply changed "too quickly".

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Rabbis are worried about too many Jews
But Elinor's point reminded me of another rather extreme position we hear on the street. There is a renewed fierce verbal battle over the view of "who is a Jew". The more orthodox rabbis want to limit the official religious Jewish conversions (official state approved). This goes for both men and women's conversions. But the issue is also pushed in the other direction by more secular rabbis which want to welcome anyone who wants to live and settle in Israel.
These two issues seem to manifest the difficulty in changing view points and mind sets from the past. Thinking that life is too good for "US" is what our parents and grandparents have been hearing in Europe and in Arab countries - long before the state of Israel gained independence and was a Jewish state. The rabbis of today are still thinking and ACTING as if they were in small isolated villages (shtettles). Where bringing someone from the outside was not just strange, unacceptable, hard, but EVEN DANGEROUS! Stories of reprisals in the form of fines and even communal punishment for enticing Christians to become Jews were not strange to us two generations ago. These stories - or the isolated thinking that we hold seem to be still echoing in our minds. But we are not in rural Poland or Yemen any more. Actually we have not been there for two or three generations already.
These deja-vu thinkers are not just as nostalgic curiosities. They are actually disturbing and border on the dangerous. If we keep to our old ways of thinking we may actually hurt ourselves. If we keep to our old ways of thinking we will act accordingly and hurt ourselves. Our thinking will stop us from moving Tel Aviv and Israel as a Jewish state from forward progress. Our geographic, cultural, and historic advantages will be held back. This is what conservative, dictatorial, and religious countries are doing all around us. You don't have to look hard to find crippled countries. They come in every shape and color, they behave in every imaginable way - but basically they hurt people and the overall society.
The Tel Aviv view of change seem to come from just seeing it on the street, on people's faces, in how we live. Change just comes to us, we do not seem to plan or seek it. Some of our old politicians seem to have tried both: planning -or- stopping / ignoring. But neither one seem to work very well. It seems that people change as they see fit, when they don't, we clash.

Sex in the city - some relief for a friend

Discreet cards advertising "massage" - you can be sure if it's an "apartment" there is more than just oil...
I was having coffee with a friend last week (David from the north). We talked for a a long time about the complicated political situation and the local sport scene. Then our conversation turned to sex. David is not having any. That was a sad situation. David is not married, with a good job and a nice apartment in the north of Israel. He moaned on that he has no girlfriend and that the last six months no sex either. It was clear that this guy was one horny toad!
I finally looked at my friend and said: "you got to get laid!" David asked in half teary eyes: "how am I going to do that???" So I reminded him that he is in Tel Aviv. I took him for a walk down the street, a perfectly respectable residential street in the north of Tel Aviv. We looked for signs for "an apartment" which is a double-entendre for a small brothel. Here a bunch of girls get together and offer their services discreetly. For 200 to 300 shekels you can have your sexual needs satisfied and you can go home happy.
I walked David to the door, wished him good luck, and left. One hour later I get a call from David. He said that he has not felt this good in months (I was thinking years but didn't say anything). He reported that the girl was tender, warm, and sexy. He thanked me for pointing him to a good sex in the city. sam-D-man // in-the-city [Tel Aviv]

Editor's note: Strictly speaking prostitution is not illegal in Israel. Pimping is illegal and therefore most prostitutes work alone or in small groups. "Apartments" in Tel Aviv and other cities are usually very discreetly advertised with "business cards" (usually a revealing picture and a phone number).

Brunch - Dress Code - Shopping

1. What do Tel Avivians do on the first weekend morning?? Friday morning is go out to breakfast or brunch. The hundreds of beit cafes (coffee houses) and restaurants are packed with Tel Avivians enjoying the start of the weekend. Eggs, Bacon, Ham, Salad, up-over easy and omelets are the order of the day. Some places offer Eggs Benedict (sam-D's favorite!) We enjoy life in Tel Aviv.
   

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Morning scene at the port: waiting for brunch to begin? or is it a late arrival?


2. In Jerusalem the city's Haredi (ultra orthodox Jews) are imposing dress codes in public events. We don't have this strict control in Tel Aviv. Young girls are being forced to cover their heads and wear fundamental Islamic type dress. Next they will try to impose face cover-up Taliban style. Be careful what you wear...
   
3. The weekend is a good day to go grocery shopping in Tel Aviv. The stores are modersn, and tock bountiful supply of produce, canned goods, cheeses, snacks, frozen food, meats, and poultry. They also have many 1+1 sales (buy 1 get 1 free). These 50% discounts will save you money. Good grocery shopping in Tel Aviv -- Girls - you can wear what you like. Sexy is good.

Yekety Yak - Let Them Eaty Horse? or just Rock away...

  1)   The International Herald Tribune last Friday (June 20, '08) ran a story by Michel Johnson that started with the intro: "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse". We've all said it but now it's a reality. Johnson reports that horse meat is gaining popularity as the meat of choice in France, China, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. The yack-yack in Tel Aviv is horse meat. We don't eat horse in Tel Aviv. Beef, chicken, lamb, turkey, and some pork - but NO horse meat - I say let's keep it that way, build race tracks and enjoy watching these beautiful animals run - like the wind...

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Life's a beach! End of June in T"A beach, if your hot - get in the water

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  2)   Hot Rock Hits Tel Aviv: The veteran rock band, Blondie is set to make its first visit to Tel Aviv. They are set to play their hit album "parallel lines" from start to finish. Blondie has been very hot in the US and Israel and the show should be a bit hit here. Check with your local ticket agent for dates, venues, and tickets. The music world comes to Tel Aviv -- enjoy retro rock.

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  3)   Friday morning is "go out to breakfast day". You found the place, came early, and now the decision is where to sit. Some tables are round, some are square. Some chairs are big and comfy, some are normal. Better make a choice quick. The place is filling up fast. OK - square table, soft chairs, great view... BRING ON THE FOOD - Yakety yak!!

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  4)   Sugar or NOT - Yakety yak! Ever notice the sugar choices offered at a restaurant? Several packets are real sugar. Some appear in long sticks. Some are white, some are brown, some a bit of a surprise. The substitutes are even more fun. Some taste just like sugar, some are bitter, some are... what is this??? Good luck, yakety yak ;8-)'
sam-D-man and Frakie too - from T"A