Black Friday sales. Which make absolutely no sense. They have a consuming-laden event (despite not being a consumer-driven culture...yet) that falls the day after a national holiday they don't have (Thanksgiving) and which kicks off the shopping season for a religious holiday they don't celebrate (Christmas). I wish I had a camera phone, because the advert was actually written "BLACK FRIDAY SALE" in English in giant letters, which just makes it all the more odd.
I asked a few people about it and they had no idea what it was, aside from a sale. No idea why it was called that, where it came from, nothing; just adopted directly from American culture with no context. Kind of like I had to explain to people that those red felt hats with the white fur and puff-ball on the end are in fact Santa hats, and no where but Israel do people wear them for Sylvester (aka New Year's Eve).
It's just odd to see things here which are so blatantly out of place, yet trying to be shoehorned in with such fervour.
26 November, 2011
25 November, 2011
Introduction
I’ve been meaning to start a blog for a while but, to be
honest, I’m really bloody tired. All the time. It’s part of the
immigration process, I guess…that and working two jobs plus studying.
And I don’t really have anything to say, honestly.
So why this blog? Well, the process of immigrating to another country is very difficult and it’s not always easy to find support. This is especially true for non-Jews coming to Israel, where the plethora of government and community programs aimed at new arrivals is off-limits to us. Add to that the layer of being a bi-national couple, and a gay bi-national couple at that, and available resources are few and far between.
So what I hope to do here is have some internet presence where I can write a bit and post things, compile practical information, and people can ask questions and we can share information. Whether this is a proper “blog”, as such, with regular postings and whatnot, I don’t know. And I’ll probably throw in a smattering of other random stuff, too, just for shits and giggles.
We’ll just see how it goes, eh?
So why this blog? Well, the process of immigrating to another country is very difficult and it’s not always easy to find support. This is especially true for non-Jews coming to Israel, where the plethora of government and community programs aimed at new arrivals is off-limits to us. Add to that the layer of being a bi-national couple, and a gay bi-national couple at that, and available resources are few and far between.
So what I hope to do here is have some internet presence where I can write a bit and post things, compile practical information, and people can ask questions and we can share information. Whether this is a proper “blog”, as such, with regular postings and whatnot, I don’t know. And I’ll probably throw in a smattering of other random stuff, too, just for shits and giggles.
We’ll just see how it goes, eh?
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