Here, there seems to be a growing trend (hopefully a FAST-growing one!) toward “green” housing, fuel, etc. Have you been able to get a feel for Israel’s environmental attitude? Do you see recycling options, fuel-efficient things, etc? I’d be curious to know what the trend there seems to be.

My Reply
I haven’t seen any evidence of particularly strong environmentalism here, but I don’t know if I would see any of it in New York City either. I’ll have to ask around to find out, and then I’ll try to report back here.

Thanks for a great idea / question!

My Reply
Many times, the types of food people eat has a lot to do with the geography of their area. For example, because we have a good area to grow apples and corn, people in New York make a lot of foods with those two ingredients. Here in Israel, though, olives grow better, so many of the foods that they make here have olives. For example, I had a piece of pizza the other day with olives on it! In Japan, the geography is best for growing rice, so the Japanese have a lot of foods that include rice.

The other part, I think, just comes from the creativity of the cook. My wife, for example, is pretty creative and tries out her creations on me.

My Reply
Sure Flat Kat and I miss you guys. We will be flying back to the U.S. on Tuesday, April 1st and we can’t wait to see you at the next presentation, which will probably be after April break.
Thanks for the nice message. See you soon.
Flat Kat and Mr. Roberg

Flat Kat’s Reply
Ever since India, I realized that Mr. Roberg doesn’t take up too much room when I let him have the foot of the bed, and he complains a lot less too! As for the shed, we only had a chance to sleep there one night, which was a shame because it was pretty fun to sleep on the roof.

It has been a bit harder to find a cheap place to stay here in Israel compared to India. The cheapest room we’ve been able to find has been about $40, but we’ve had to pay over $70 for a room more often than not! Compare that with $10 per room in India, and it’s a lot of money over 3 weeks. In fact, we’ve decided to sleep in a dorm room with 10 other people for $10 per night over the past two nights to save some money (Ms. Roberg will be proud of us for that one!).

Well, thanks for checking in. I’ll see you soon, Devin.

FYI-In the US, Jews eat latkes-(potato pancakes) during Chanukah, but in Israel they eat Sufganiot-(powdered doughnuts), so I thought they might eat something different in Israel for Purim

P.S. Heather M. just came by and says hi and that she thinks you should come back soon!

My Reply
As promised, I did some research when I was asked a question I didn’t know the answer to! I went to a local coffee shop chain, kind of like Starbucks, and asked about the special Purim treats. Here they were called Ozney Haman (literally translated as Haman’s ears because of their shape), and they were filled with either dates, dates and banana, or nuts and orange. Overall, they sound the same except for the fillings. I put a picture of the treats I tried above so everyone else can see what they look like.

Thanks for such an interesting comment and question Mrs. Brook. I learned something trying to answer it!!

My Reply
I’ve read the same news report, but it doesn’t seem to have changed anything here. I’ll have to ask some Israelis, but my guess is that there are so many threats against Israel (just last summer the President of Iran said he wanted to “wipe Israel off of the map”) that most people are aware but take it in stride.

As for political discussions, I have not met any Israelis long enough to bring up the topic of politics, which is a real failure on my part. I know that Israelis in general are very aware of U.S. policies and generally favor aggressive tactics with anything perceived as a terror threat or a threat to security. I’ll try to broach the topic a bit more often in my last week here.

My Reply
The most interesting thing has been seeing the diversity of the world. Every once in a while, I’ll just stop and look at something because I’ve never seen something like it. It’s really neat.

For example, I saw a coloring book yesterday with Barbie in a headscarf. It was really strange at first, but it totally made sense once I thought about it.

As I said a thousand times in class, Jessica, the only way to truly appreciate another culture is to visit it. I LOVE to travel and meet people from all over the world. People are fascinating everywhere. Make sure you travel overseas as soon as you get a chance!!

KS : Hey bring us back different Israeli recipes for us to try

AC: Have you faced any discrimination because your American? Are you able to communicate well? Have you had any trouble with miscommunication? Where are you staying and have you picked up any cool looking souvenirs?

My Reply
I’ll do my best on the recipes, but I can’t promise anything. I’ll try to bring back some sweets for you to try.

The discrimination question is a GREAT one! The answer: no, I haven’t felt any discrimination. For the most part, I blend in here. At least once a day I’ll have someone speak to me in Hebrew and I’ll have to apologize for not understanding. Sometimes they switch to English, and sometimes they just move on because I probably won’t know the answer anyway. I haven’t had any major problems with miscommunication, regardless of whether I’ve interacted with Arab or Jew.

I do have a couple souvenirs. You’ll have to come to my presentation to see them!