Day 52 - RSPCA

Working another double shift today at work..so not much exciting!

But saw this little praying mantis at the entrance of the shop and did my part to try and get it out of the shop without being squashed..

It included the trick to try and get it latched onto my shoe - which worked - and then the hopping journey to the outside of the shop, and then kicking it softly onto the bike outside so it wouldn't get squashed on the sidewalk! The people in the shop (as did my boss) got a good laugh out of this!

But I was happy in the end.. =)

Day 52 - Monday 5 July 2010

Another funny story..after the long day of work, went to a friend's place for some casual 1am drinks (had the nest 2 days off work for the first time in a while!)..which is always great to relax going out at 1am..

keep smiling =)

Day 51 - Old Friends

It is always nice to have old friends from Australia come to visit - even though I've only been here a short while I do miss all of you already!

Day 51 - Sunday 4 July 2010

I met up with Deon, a mate from Melbourne, and yet again tried to get classy with the camera phone..

Enjoy =)

Day 50 - Protection

Another Graffiti Art addition..

Day 50 - Shabbat 3 July 2010

The Hebrew reads:

'Yeled Lo Rotzeh Lishmor Al HaOlam'
'A child doesn't want to protect the world'

This is definitely a political statement against the Israeli Army and conscription - that teenagers and young adults from 18 and up don't want to be protecting the country and the world.

Again this is one persons opinion - and I'm sure is shared by a certain proportion of Israeli's - but I do like to view it as well on the opposite side of the spectrum; in the view of those that see the defense of the State of Israel as our responsibility. There are definitely certain proportions who see this as a natural right and serve with pride..

Just to keep thinking.. and smiling =)

Day 49 - Pondering

Day 49 - Friday 2 July 2010

This image is another addition to the Graffiti Art collection.

I call it pondering for two reasons; the first being that the person in the artwork is obviously in a thinking/pondering pose.
The second being that I myself cannot seem to work out who the artwork is representing. At first I thought it must definitely be Rabin or Peres, but after looking at it again and again (I pass it everyday on the way to work) I feel like it could be Olmert or another political figure.

Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted!

Keep smiling =)

Day 48 - Inshallah..

Got to work this afternoon to be told we had a group of 25 people coming in..Sounded OK.
At 11.00pm..Sounded BAD..

Needless to say, my boss was up for some fun times, and as the group started to make toasts for their staff, my boss pulled out the bottle of Bushmills Whiskey and started pouring Chasers (in Aussie terms 'a shot' but in Israeli Terms a half a shot) for his 5 staff..We started at about 12.30am and by the time we had finished packing up at 2am the bottle was long since finished..

He coined the new term - בבא עובד אינשאללה - so thank's g-d all was good and fun and it serves as one of the more comical late nights at work I've had..reminded me of all those fun nights at Red Scooter after the long functions!..

The following picture is an ode to the first L'Chaim of the night..

Day 48 - Thursday 1 July 2010

Day 47 - A Hard Days Work

Day 47 - Wednesday 30 June 2010

So after the fast yesterday and saying goodbye to friends this morning, I had my first double shift at work..and man was it crazy!..

Needless to say, a hard day's work needs a good cold beer, and in the light of no VB, the best cold beer in the house was Foster's..

So this is my trial at an artistic photo at 1.30am.. Keep smiling =)

Day 46 - Lateness

Day 46 - Tuesday 29 June 2010

So sleeping in and being late to morning prayers in Melbourne was often quite hard..It meant that if I wasn't awake by a set time, I would miss the set times to pray and would therefore be left frantically searching for a Minyan, or giving up and praying at home.

Thankfully, for living in the promised land, and in the holiest city, I have the joy of the 'Shteiblach' near my place (the 'minyan factory as mentioned in a previous post) and as you can see from the photo, when I woke up at 9.47am, I was still able to catch a service at 10.00am, on a fast day!

(This picture was taken at the end of the prayers)

The other joy of the day was that I had to work in the afternoon/evening/night. The chef's were really nice and at the end of the fast, when I had already told them all I needed to do was pray and drink water to keep going, they made me sit down in the middle of a full service to eat dinner and get back some energy..great place!

Made me smile the rest of the night! =)