By Tye Jayrel
My interview with 21-year-old Uncle Dan, a citizen of Israel, was a great exposure to me.
An amazing guy, Uncle Dan told my friends and I facts about his homeland that I didn't even know about. I find it so fascinating that I have to write this to share it with you.
The first thing he showed us was the world map.
“Where do you think Israel is?” he asked.
I blinked twice. “Sorry, I don't really know,” I replied.
After a few minutes of waiting, someone found it. It is a small country located at the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea.
I responded, “Oh, I didn't know that!”
He then introduced the Hoopoe, the national bird of Israel. It has a spiky crown on its head.
Surprisingly, it is a small creature! With a long beak and some white and black stripes on its wings, the bird is simply beautiful. The Hoopoe is named after its call which sounds like ”oop.”
“It looks so cute!” I said to Uncle Dan.
From the geography to the national bird of Israel, Uncle Dan then introduced to us the Shakshouka and the Pita, two well-known dishes in Israel.
He told us how to make the Shakshouka. First, you 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.
Just like that, and your Shakshuka is ready for a feast! Pita by itself is tasteless but if you add ingredients such as veggie, meat….. hmm, it will be a flavourful piece of bread.
The most fascinating thing he told us was the Iron Dome. The Iron Dome is like an invisible dome that covers all over Israel, and protects the country from being attacked by the enemies. Sounds like science fiction?
No, Uncle Dan explains, it is a machine that shoots out lasers that direct missiles at the enemies’ rockets fired at Israel. I think they are similar to the lasers that we see in movies where the thief who tries to steal a diamond finds that there are red lasers that he needs to avoid! The only difference is that these lasersare part of Israel's national defence.
I have never been to Israel but I think Israel is an amazing place to live in or to even visit.
(Jayrel is 10 years old this year)
How interesting! I didn't know all that. Great work, Jayrel !