Israeli Traffic Laws 101

If you ever wanted to drive in Israel (it is a beautiful country to explore), then there are a few driving tips you will need to know first:

1. Anything goes.

2.  Drivers are aggressive.  Aggressive is sometimes an understatement.

3.  Traffic around Tel Aviv can be likened to that of Washington DC, San Fran or NYC.

4. There are no personal safety rules.  You will sometimes see children in car seats, other times on the laps of drivers or passengers.

5. Motorcycles, mopeds, and electric scooters/bikes have no legal restrictions whatsoever.  Therefore, you will see and experience scantily clad motorists sans helmet whipping around you on all sides all the time.  This can be very unnerving.

6.  Fender benders happen routinely without any penalty.  Bumper car driving, as we like to call it, is the norm.  Have a hard time getting in and out of that tight parking space?  Just bump the car to your right or left until you're clear.  Tired of waiting in traffic?  give the car in front of you a little tap to display your impatience.  I have now witnessed 3 "accidents" first hand where absolutely NOTHING was done.  Motorcyclist flipped off his motorcycle - was able to stand up, pull his motorcycle off the road, and then hopped back on.  Man dented the car to his left pulling out of a parking space - drove off.  Car in front of me rear ends the car in front of him.  Both drivers hop out, survey the noticeable dent, decide it's not a problem, and both hop back in their cars - whole thing happens and is over by the time the light changes.

7.  Parking: NEVER park where the curb is painted with white and red stripes.  SOMETIMES park when there are blue and white stripes (i.e. never park when there are blue and white stripes) ANYTIME park where the curb is unpainted grey or you invent or discover any other type of unidentified parking area, such as the sidewalk.

8. Traffic light etiquette:  In Israel there is also a yellow light between red and green in addition to the yellow light between green and red.  So, once the light turns yellow from red, your foot must be off the brake and on the gas by the time it turns green.  Otherwise, NYC honking ensues.

9.  Lanes shmanes.

10. Pray without ceasing.

More on Israeli parking:

First Day of Kindergarten

September 1st was Lydia's first day of Kindergarten.

This was huge.  This was EPIC.
Not only was our baby girl, our first born, going off to school,
but she was doing it in ISRAEL....
at a local public school....
where everyone speaks Hebrew....
except her.

And I must say, she did it with dignity, bravery, and poise that I did not know was possible for my child.
This was the baby that never made it an entire Sunday morning in the nursery. ( I was the mom called out of every service and Bible study on account of my unhappy baby/ toddler.)
This was the toddler who went kicking, crying, and screaming her first week of preschool, and the child who thought any activity where she was "dropped off "or watched by someone other than her mommy was not a good idea.  Slow to warm up is a good descriptor for our sweet Lydia.

Where did my baby go? And who was this child in front of me on Thursday morning saying, "mommy, I know the way to school.  I can walk by myself." (which of course, we did NOT let her do)



Did I mention that I missed it? I missed my daughter's first day of kindergarten.  I came down with a nasty stomach virus and fever, and didn't even make it out of bed to walk my daughter to school or give her kisses and well wishes for her first day.  I was totally bummed, but she didn't miss a beat.  She came back with a full report: "I had fun." "It was good." "I asked all the other kids if they could speak any English; they couldn't, so I decided to just keep it to myself."

Lydia's first day of school was actually her second day.  On the day before, Lydia went for one hour in the morning for an orientation of sorts, and then the whole family went that evening for the opening ceremony for the kindergartners and first graders.  This was before the full onset of my virus, so I was in attendance, and I must say there is just a new cultural experience waiting around every corner it seems.  The assembly was charming and chaotic. Parents and kids were constantly up and down out of their seats, walking around, talking, taking pictures.  It was almost as if the assembly itself were background music at a party.

So, schools in general here are the same as the states in many ways.  Similar classrooms, toys, educational type materials, etc., and then Oh so different in so many ways.

Different like chaotic different.
Different like heavily armed guards and large gates different.
Different like mobs of parents fighting and pushing to pick up their kids at the end of the day different.  It takes us anywhere from 10-15 minutes to get Lydia from her classroom and out the door of the building 20 feet away.  Insanity.

Here's another funny sidenote: besides being completely ill-equipped and lacking in the school supplies department (yeah.....we didn't get the memo..... on what kids were supposed to have for kindergarten), it took us four, yes four, days to realize that there is a school uniform for her school.  The teacher mentioned something about white shirts for Friday, but we thought it was a one time deal.  Turns out they wear different colored t-shirts with the school logo printed on them every day.  So, as if  our English speaking, blonde, straight-haired, sweet Lydia didn't stand out enough as it was, we complicated the matter by sending her to school in cute dresses and coordinating American clothes.  All is well now.  We bought the t-shirts. We even know what color she is supposed to wear tomorrow: Carolina blue.  Things are finally taking shape a little.

And so as not to leave Will out entirely, he also started at a private Israeli preschool where they only speak Hebrew.  The school is great, and he seems to be enjoying himself so far.  We'll let you know when he figures out that no one speaks his language.  We're not sure he has noticed yet. We're going to take this as a sign of extreme intelligence and nothing to the contrary.

Shalom y'all!
Elizabeth

Jerusalem

Trivia question: You're standing just outside the green line, inside the blue line, & looking at the red line...where are you?

a) METRO Center subway station in DC

b) Your child's latest hand-drawing of Candy-Land

c) East Jerusalem

If you answered C, you are correct! More on these colored lines below...

Recently I did 2 separate tours of Jerusalem. One was a spiral of historical sights that wound it's way around and then into the Old City. The other was a survey of locations around East Jerusalem where settlements, walls, and Arab & Jewish neighborhoods all struggle for not-too-much space on some very hallowed ground. This second tour was organized by Ir Amim, a non-profit organization dedicated to the idea that a peaceful solution in Jerusalem will lead to a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. [I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested--& it is free] Here are a few pics:

The Temple Mount & Dome of the Rock

Walking the outer wall of the old city

As you can see, the Old City is brimming with history, archaeology, and countless sacred sights for Jews, Muslims, and Christians. But more surprisingly, it is also brimming with normal, everyday life I did not expect to see.

Above, the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall)
Below, alley-markets in the Muslim quarter are still buzzing late into the afternoon

Below is our armed guard, Ori. He served 3 years in the IDF, & like many 20-somethings with military experience, pays his way through college while working security job on the side. He got to practice his English while he helped me out with my Hebrew (Note: I try not to offer grammatical advice to people with loaded automatic weapons).

There is only one word to accurately describe the overall political situation in Jerusalem: 'complicated'. In fact, that may be a bit too generous. For example, below is a map of Jerusalem. The Blue line is the Municipal boundary of the city. Everyone who lives in the line is a resident of Jerusalem and legally entitled to services and rights that goes along with that. The green line is the border between Israel and Palestine (the Occupied Territories). Yellow blotches are Palestinian neighborhoods, and light blue are Israeli settlements. Confused yet? Wait, there's more. So what's that big Red Line? 

 The Red Line in the above picture is the Fence. This is a 'Security Fence' (yes, it's called a fence). After seeing it in person I think this thing makes the Berlin Wall look like child's play. It weaves through neighborhoods, along ridge-lines, and will ultimately surround the Palestinian Territories altogether, separating Israel from their occupied neighboring land. I had definite mixed feelings when we saw this up-close & personal. On the one hand, it is effective at reducing terrorist violence. This a demonstrable fact. But after seeing neighborhoods divided, slums created, and a myriad of other issues arise, I'm forced to ask myself, "at what cost?" This wall actually separates certain Palestinian neighborhoods who are part of Jerusalem proper (within the Blue Line) from the rest of the city, creating a slum where unemployment is rampant, city services cease to exist, and pressure is mounting. People there feel like exiles in their own homes. The Ir Amim tours once toured some of these neighborhoods until their busses began being pelted by rocks thrown by 9 & 10 year olds several months ago.

Above: the fence winds it's way North of the Old City. Below is depicted an unfinished portion that will follow the road down the hill, separating the olive field (vs. cutting right through it) from it's Bethlehem owners. They can apply for a permit to cross over daily to tend their trees once the fence is complete.

Above-Thousands of Palestinian Muslims enter through a checkpoint to board buses to pray at the Al -Aqsa Mosque & visit the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount (in the Old City) during Ramadan. Below, the view looking East from the Mt of Olives. Jerusalem is a crowded, bustling city, but just past the borders the land is desert. There are many plans to continue development of Jewish settlements in the territories, in addition to those who are already living in settlements throughout the occupied territories. A major Israeli settlement is just out of sight in this picture.

Silwan Neighborhood (Just South of the Old City)-Not uncommon to see youngsters riding donkeys or streets w/out sidewalks here.  According to some experts, this place is so tense that is likely to be the starting point of the Third Intifada. Lets hope and pray that does not happen.

Busted up tank from the War of Independence (1948)

Here I am with my finger on the heart of 3 major world religions (don't worry folks, I put it back). At the end of the tour(s), I was tired physically, but approaching 'exhausted' mentally. I honestly don't see how so many people of such differing beliefs and histories can continue to occupy such a small space, and I don't know how long the current situation will remain as it stands today. But I was happy to learn a little bit more about this beautiful & complex city, and it really got me thinking about the magnitude of the different problems and challenges that people face here on a daily basis.

& many thanks too to my friend & fellow Olmsted Scholar Sean Carano (OSC-10) for joining me. Shalom yall...