Israel, Simply Mesmerizing

By Joel Tye

Although he is young, Uncle Dan is already serving in the army. Much like in Singapore, in Israel, every young person is required to serve the army as part of national service.

My friends and I had the opportunity to interview this 21-year-old young Israeli who, in my opinion, is an interesting young man with so much to share about his country.

Uncle Dan told us about the fascinating Iron Dome that protects Israel from rockets fired from neighbouring countries. The Iron Dome is basically designed to eliminate missiles fired into Israel.

The lasers are invisible but they guide the missiles used by the military to shoot down rockets in midair before they do damage to the cities. If seen at night, they look like fireworks.

Uncle Dan also introduced to us two of his favourite dishes – the Shakshouka and the Pita. He even shared with us the recipe to make the Shakshouka. It sounds easy, but I hope my family will try to cook it. I cannot wait to taste it!

“Firstly, you need to make the tomato sauce then you saute chopped onions, bell peppers, and garlic with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil in a large, heavy skillet or pan,” he said. “You can also add meat and vegetables to the Shakshuka, too!”

He had us guessing for a while when he asked, “Do you know what is the name of our national bird?”

There was a brief silence, as no one had the answer.

Then, Uncle Dan showed a picture of a unique bird called the Hoopoe. I was amazed by the spiky crown on its head. I have never seen a bird that looked like this. It has a long beak and some white and black stripes on its wings.

We watched a video showing us how the Hoopoe creates its unique sound that probably gives us its name. It sounds like ‘oop’.

“Well, this is the national bird of Israel,” Uncle Dan continued.

Uncle Dan also shared a little bit about the national schools in Israel. The children there do not wear school uniforms. He also told us that food in Israel is expensive, but their salaries are high, which makes a meal costing about US$10 for a Shakshouka affordable. In Malaysia, for that amount, we can have a few bowls of noodles for the whole family.

After listening to Uncle Dan, whenever I look into the world map, now at least I know where Israel is located. The country is small, and they have a population of only 8 million people but the country is well-known for its many innovations such as Zoom and Intel chip which benefits the whole world.

This Zoom meeting we had with Uncle Dan was a wonderful experience we had of a different culture. At least, I get to see how they live, comparing their lifestyle to ours here in Malaysia.