I was taking Maya to the Kita the other morning. We were riding the bicycle, both upset after our daily fight–Maya hates wearing the helmet. Anyway, we were driving up Schoenhauseralee and past the Jewish cemetery when I noticed three people spraying the external wall of the cemetery with water. I told to myself that it was [...]
Archive for the ‘ignorance’ Category
Anti-Semitism around the corner
Posted in educated anti-semitism, ignorance on December 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
In the line of soda
Posted in Germans and food, ignorance on November 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Went today with Maya to the train station to buy tickets. I could have gone on my own, but I wanted it to be a moment that we both remember, that 20 years from now she would be able to tell her friends that she was a part of her father’s groundbreaking journalistic voyage. We [...]
postcard from Israel 4 (future payment for the past)
Posted in ignorance on October 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I referred my wife to the first page of an Israeli daily today. In the center of the page there was a picture of a Parliament member playing a video game on his cellphone during the Prime Minister speech. We laughed and then I told her that the feature on the bottom left side talks [...]
Public announcement #1
Posted in ignorance on September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dear Fellow public commuters: LET US OUT FIRST.
Jewish new year, Berlin, 2009
Posted in ignorance on September 23, 2009 | 1 Comment »
On Saturday I went strolling with the baby. No direction, just enjoying this unbelievable September. At some point we found ourselves in front of the big synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse. I crouched and started to explain to Maya about the building and about the significance of the date. Then a German woman, in her mid fifties, [...]
Das Boots
Posted in ignorance on September 14, 2009 | 7 Comments »
Winter is here, it seems, and among the other things it has to offer, it also means that we are back to the annual competition of who is going to manage to get the ugliest boots in Berlin. I am serious. All you have to do is concentrate one time and look. It’s brutal. But [...]
Hitler anyone?
Posted in ignorance on September 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The news agencies reported today about a new AIDS awareness ad showing an Adolf Hitler lookalike having sex. The ad was aimed at countering a fall in public awareness of the dangers of unprotected sex. The ad shows blurred clips of a couple having sex but it is only at the end that the man is [...]
The world’s worst best drivers
Posted in ignorance on August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I am willing to put my money on a bet that Germans are the best drivers in the world. I am sure about it just from learning of how many lessons you have to take in order to get a license here, what they teach you, how much it costs, and how the insurance go [...]
the race theory of the race
Posted in ignorance on August 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Olympic Stadium, site of the 2000 Athletic world championship, is a beautifully designed structure. During the reconstruction before the 2006 World Cup, the Germans decided to leave the western end of the stadium as is. This is where Hitler Used to stand, witnessing Jesse Owens shattering the Reich’s race theory in the 1936 Olympic [...]
When our mid-wife opens her mouth
Posted in educated anti-semitism, ignorance on August 10, 2009 | 2 Comments »
When you are pregnant in Germany, you get the chance to have a midwife. It usually is a she. Ours was a 40 something from the former East. She used to come a few weeks before Maya was born, sit with us for an hour, explain, calm us down, tell us what we should prepare, [...]
