As of today, I've been in Israel for 10 years. When I tell people that the first 7 were the toughest, they laugh. But I am so not kidding. This is a hard place to get used to. Especially when you arrive with no linguistic, historical or cultural knowledge, and get pregnant within 4 minutes. Then you find yourself alone in an Arab-Jewish neighborhood (I wanted to be open minded) with a screaming newborn (maternal instinct triumphs over sleep deprivation, right?) I was wrong on

I used to know this blind auto mechanic who gave me the best advice of my life. I was about 10 years old, and at that age, if any adult uses the word "bullshit" with you, you listen and listen good. Any sanctioned use of swear words in my Midwestern world was delectable. We knew Scott because my parents insisted on having a family hobby. In retrospect, it was an incredible parenting tool, requiring me, my sister and my folks to spend hours upon hours together engaged in a low