Israel

Thanks to my friend I. I had a rare opportunity to celebrate Passover in a settlement called Efrata (or Efrat), which is in the Gush Etzion territory (Judean mountains, West Bank). Of course, it was a challenge. Like probably most of you, I am used to thinking about the inhabitants of Jewish settlements in the West Bank as some kinds of statistical units that are rhetorically used to justify one or another statement. Not despite, but because of that I highly valued the opportunity to meet the locals and learn about their lifestyle.

Here's another Israeli tourism commercial that I copied from here. It seems to be a part of some funny semi-official 'cum' to Israel campaign, which tries to exploit certain imagery and link it to Israel, see other examples here. Arguably, the campaign is done in bad taste, but it captures and ironically presents exactly what sits in many tourist minds. And it's done with a dose of humour. I find it much funnier than, for example, the Lithuanian tourism leaflets with the most popular female names and space to write a telephone number to, or the famous erotic Riga airport ad (it was long ago, so I couldn't find it on google). And, of course, certainly funnier and in better taste than the Danish sex tourism ad.

But hello, Israel as a sex tourism site? This is already a joke. Israeli women are legendary for their post-army toughness and are known to be 'hard to get', while women of the world, who are certainly lesser consumers of sex tourism, might think twice about Israeli men after hearing "Hi, what's your name, are you Jewish?" type of introduction for the first 10 times.

Personally, I prefer Shalom and especially this commercial, which, I think, represents Israel quite well. Here they try to make it cute.

Dozens of drummers showing what they can without any coordination, sharing the joy of music and togetherness until the sun sets and Shabbat descends - this is what the Drum Beach in Tel Aviv is about. The beach is on the southern part of the city's coastline, and it's proud to be the capital of musical, dance and acrobatic improvisation every Friday, as long as it's warm.

Tel Aviv is a very colourful city with various spaces. Some of these spaces feel more bourgeois, others feel cosy and simple. Therefore the city is a good playground for people who like to make some kind of contribution to the way the city looks like. South Tel Aviv, where I live, is especially rich in street art.

Due to relative peace between Israel and Palestine, hordes of pilgrims hurried to Bethlehem, West Bank, in search of spiritual excitement of being close to the places where, according to the Bible, Jesus was born. For the locals it is a great opportunity to sell whatever tradable there is.

My 100th entry on Wonderland! היום היום הולדת, היום היום הולדת

I went to Be'er Sheva, which is a city right in the Negev desert. It reminds of the fact that Israel was created this way - carved on a desert step by step. I realised two things. First, I understand now why Israelis say that Tel Aviv is 'European'. Second, I understood that unless you see something like Be'er Sheva, you can't say you've visited the Middle East if your experience in the region is limited to Israel.

After meeting the unfriendly staff at the secretariat, I set of to take the test. It was an interesting event with a colourful multi-national group of people.