Jameel the Israeli? Who are we kidding?

Allow me to preface this posting with a rather scary thought; I am traveling in a car on my way to Heathrow airport having spent the day in the UK on business.

In an effort to show that Israelies are fearless, my coworker rented a car and is currently driving on the wrong side of the road, with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car, and this is only the second time he has ever driven in England.

To add to the excitement, the car is also a stick shift, and the engine is constantly racing -- the driver keeps slightly missing the correct gear to be in.

To keep my mind off this incredibly scary ride, I'm sitting in the back seat, blogging myself into oblivion.

As dedicated Muqata readers are well aware, my former self, Bernie, grew up in the United States of America. Moving to Israel in my twenties, it will be impossible to fully lose my American accent when I speak Hebrew.

I'm still culturally attached to the US in many ways; family, friends, I fly to the US for work, I even have a current US (one of the 50) state-issued driver's license. I may not fly the American flag on July 4rth, but I would love a July 4rth barbecue and Turkey for Thanksgiving is always welcome.

What I find so interesting is that when I go on business to the UK, my British colleagues consider me Israeli. Not even an expat American living in Israel -- I'm ISRAELI. We had a meeting today about cultural differences between Israelis and British, and it was so weird hearing them define ME as the Israeli.

I usually talk reservedly, don't shout during meetings, don't interrupt people and don't get overly passionate in an argument over which looping mechanism should be used or if the project plan makes sense. Yet -- everyone pointed at ME, Jameel the Israeli, as the typical Israeli of all Israeli behavior.

How did I turn from American to Israeli in the eyes of the world?

A few years back, I was in Albuquerque on business as well. Some big SouthWesterner stopped me on the street and said;

NewMexican: "You're from Israel, aintchya?"

Jameel: "Wow, yes I am. How did you know that?"

NewMexican: "I could tell from that thing on your head" (as he pointed to my kippa).

Jameel: "Well sir, you happen to be correct, I am in fact, from Israel."

NewMexican: "You ISRAH-AY-LEES must have one hell of an ED-JU-CAY-TIONAL system!"

Jameel: "Actually, we have some great Universities and schools in Israel --The Technion, Hebrew University, Bar Ilan -- how are you so familiar with our schooling that you can say with such determination that we have a great educational system?"

NewMexican: "'Cause you speak better English than I do!"

Not wanting to ruin our reputation, I left it at that and went on my way.

I guess my klita, my absorbtion into Israel is now complete.

PS: Made it back home safely. Remind me next week to tell you about my trip to Manila...

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael