I'm back!

Here's hoping it goes better than this:

Hello, hello! It's been too long, I know :) How are you all doing, my fine readers?

I've wanted to post for so long, and life has just been getting the better of me - but a few people recently sent me all sorts of funny things, and I decided that that's that. That that's that? Yes! And so, I've decided to jump back into my old blogger self. Here goes!

First up, from my friend Rach and her boss Nathan: the very latest in ice cold summer treats. But wait a second - I should preface by mentioning that here in Israel, we have an issue with crêpes. By that I mean that generally, printed Hebrew has no vowels, and so the word crêpe often looks blatantly to be, well, crap. (A great example of this can be seen at the end of this post.) This technically is no one's fault, it's not deliberate, and not terribly avoidable, but still quite funny to most English speakers. Anyway, with that in mind: Rach was driving to work one morning, and found that evidently, the new summer special at cafe Ilan is none other than - get ready for it - Crappaccino!

Feel free to click on this, if you'd like a closer view! Nathan pointed out that since the little circle says "only natural ingredients, we should be relieved... or should we?

Thanks, guys!

Next up, this one is from our friend Yonina, who got it from her friend Naava. Here's a great example of our classic Israeli blooper:

This is a flyer that was printed by Israelis, for Israelis. They didn't need to write the word stamps, there's a perfectly good word for stamps, chotamot, and it's right there on the flyer, next to this atrocity. So why did they decide to translate this one word? I think it's because the running theory has always been that if it's got some English on it, it looks cool and professional, worldly even. And why didn't they think to check their spelling with a dictionary, or an English speaking friend, or just plain old Google? This flyer is from Beit Shemesh, Lord knows there are one or two English speakers there... but why? Because there's just no need, everyone here knows perfect English already, it's so easy...

Fantastic find - thanks so much, Yonina and Naava!

Next up, from my friend Yair, at work. This is actually a sign that I had heard about from a few people in my neighborhood - it appeared very briefly not far from my house during some road work, over a year ago. By the time I got to the scene, it had already been taken down. But apparently Yair got there in time! Check this out - but again, this blooper is in the Hebrew:

For those of you who can't read Hebrew, the "bumpy" here has been transliterated, instead of translated. This is really absurd, and I was a bit perplexed as to how it had happened, until Yair enlightened me - he said that the Arabic here is perfect, and so it's obvious (to him, at least) that the guy making the sign spoke Arabic and English, but not Hebrew... and so he wrote HaKvish Bahmpy, figuring that it would work out. Interesting, right? Like I said, it was only up for a couple of days before it was taken down...

Thanks, Yair!

And lastly, here's something that I happened across today while waiting in line in the pharmacy. Now it's true, I don't much care for bananas, so maybe that's why this seems so unappealing to me. What do you all think? Is it just me?

Yuck!

That's all for now, folks! I hereby promise to try and post more than once every five months. And thanks to all of you who have been sending me photos this whole time! I really do appreciate it, and hope to post them, speedily in our days!

Have a great day all,

Toby