Welcome to Weirdoland

"What is your name?" is always the first question I get when an official opens my passport in Israel, looking at me with this incredulous look on their face, eyebrows raised, waiting for my confirmation that my name is Surya which to them, pronounced the way my parents call me, sounds like the word for Syria in both Arabic and Hebrew. (What it really is, or the way my parents intended it anyway, is the sun ) Today I also learnt from someone that apparently, I look like what could be interpreted by many Israelis as a left-wing extremist student come to do activism in the country. And I certainly don't look like the typical intern that would walk into the office, which is a good thing. I do agree, I don't like looking like the norm, I like looking like what I want to look like. Anyway, I was in no way offended by this, I found it rather amusing and very insightful. I was told this, and it was later confirmed to me by someone else, as I said I was always detained at...

A three month internship in Jerusalem at the Times of Israel. Great, I'm overjoyed! Stressing out a little because it's far, I'm not used to writing in French but still really really happy. The last couple of days are extremely hard on me emotionally in Brussels as the moment when I am going to leave everyone I love far behind me. But it's only three months, it's not the end of the world, it's everything I had hoped for, a big adventure! At the airport I act blasé although deep down I want to let myself cry all the tears I have in me. I can't though, I'm with my mum, in public, I hold everything in. My eyes are already puffy from crying really hard the night before anyway. Time to say goodbye at the ID check, I give in, let a few tears out but quickly gain back control of myself and stop. I wait in the lounge, I'm okay, online chatting.  We board, I'm still good, I read, watch Hatufim, eat. Then my episode is over and I realise I forgot to downl...

All these years of pioneering, hiding earphones in my sleeves during taxiing, take-off and landing to be able to listen to my music, reading my kindle away from the flight attendants' gaze, illegally playing on my phone (while on flight mode), have finally paid off. I am probably the cause for this: European aviation regulators have approved the use of certain personal electronic devices during taxiing, take-off and landing. They saw me and finally saw it isn't dangerous! Joy to the world! It will probably be allowed before Christmas to play Angry Birds and read your latest cheesy novel while they tell you how you have to put on your own oxygen mask prior to helping your child. No more hiding! The US is embarrassing itself by  blocking the publication of Chilcot's inquiry . The report is on how Britain went to war with Iraq and includes the Blair-Bush correspondence. David Cameron will probably end up following the US decision. Yet another lie to the people. What about ...