Pele tlele

You know all those lists “you are in Poland/Oxford/psychiatric hospital if” plus list of weird features, small characteristics of the places that only people who actually have been there know? Well, time to make the same kind of thing about my present country of living, Israel. To much to say about it, I think I will be adding new aspects from time to time. It will depend on my power of observation... diminishing with the time of staying here, 5-year olds with peyot no longer amuse me, and civil dressed 20 year olds with grocery shopping, casually holding an M16 (or however this deathly tool is called) is an everyday view.

First thing to deal with, and a major topic in this society, are the phones. It seems that being in touch is a priority for Israelis, perhaps connected to the idea of Jewish unity developed in Diaspora times, and even before. Maybe they think that, since the country is so small, there is a high chance that they might know half of its population. Strength lies in your friends and family and, of course in the connections you have. As nothing works here according to the rules, it is vital to be friends with as many officials/shopkeepers/music producers/garbage men/... (Fill in with whoever you need to be your friend) as possible. Hence, a phone is people’s 2nd brain. The new right hand, centre of control and life navigation. Imagine walking back from the university, on of the first days of spring, sunrays warm your face, happy after leaving a boring class, with empty mind you relax while taking a slow walk back to the dorms. Almost... for you are surrounded by the sound of moving stock-exchange, Israeli Wall Street composed of students rushing with phones held by the arm next to their ears while taking out a bus ticket from the bag and in the third hand holding a cup of coffee. Others, probably the leaders of the new generation, already spared some money from their student budget and invested in a handless set, so that they may express their temper by waving them while talking. Well, talking is too little of a word to describe the sound actually. A mixture of scream, howling laughter, and screeching expressions of disbelief and/or contempt, for the emotional Israeli people take a strong stand even when it comes to commenting the type of coffee you bought. ‘Mooocha?! But it’s awful, only spoiled American high-school girls drink it, besides with your body I don’t think you should take it anyway’ last line said just before taking a gulp from your cup. So, like your grandmother who cannot belief that the sound she makes to the receiver is passed to the other person, they yell to their phones. Not only to be sure the other person hears, but for the simple reason, that this is the way they speak. The scope of sounds in this country is quite different – when bellowing is the regular volume, and a male conversation crosses the advisable, safe level of decibels, what is considered to be loud?

Anyway, on the way from school, and in the breaks, an improvised call centre emerges, to be continued at home to the late night hours. Consulting homework, cooking recipes, listening about what the dog did to the neighbour’s lemon tree today, contacting old friends from primary school, a boyfriend in the army who is currently purging some villages. Regular topics.

I think it all come from the need to be constantly up to date. A phenomenon that becomes prevalent in the whole of modern world, in which information is power, here is even more salient. So while listening about distant family members, Israelis read headlines from the Haaretz webpage comparing them to those from Jerusalem Post or ynet. In case they had different sources. And in a cafe the first thing to do, is put the phone on the table, has vehalila, that you would not hear someone calling you! Apart from the fact that that would mean you have to call back, i.e. then it would be your money.