The camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof; it is unclean to you (Leviticus 11:4)

Okay, okay, back to stuff about Israel. Before I even got an apartment, I bought a car. It just happened that way, but now that I think about it, it was pretty wise to at least make sure that I had somewhere to sleep, even if it was on wheels. I bought a Hyundai Getz from the woman whose teaching position I am taking. Since the car isn't sold this side of the pond, here's a picture:

I specifically picked this picture because of the sailboats. It represents how this car is viewed in Israel. Although it costs only four figures and it's probably only two steps up from the Ford Focus (hey, it has a sun roof), the Getz is considered a pretty frou-frou car in the Middle East. As you might imagine, SUVs are a little impractical, what with the narrow streets and high price of gasoline (6.17 shekels per liter ~ $6 per gallon), not to mention the American exorbitance they represent; nary a Hummer in sight, I'm sure.

So yes, I am moving up in the world -- in terms of gasoline. Israel is one of the countries with the highest gas prices in the world, along with the Netherlands, Norway, and Italy, which are also in the $6 a gallon range. A day trip away from Israel are a few countries with the lowest prices: Kuwait, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, all of which are less than $1 a gallon. I hope you find this shocking. I know I do. Every time I fill up in Israel, I will remind myself that my everything-revolves-around-oil conspiracy theory might not be so surreptitious.

And that's just oil companies alone. I haven't even mentioned the automakers, which just recently whined that there's no way they could make a light truck reach a fuel efficiency of 35 miles per gallon. Now I'm not saying it's an easy task, but it's possible, especially by 2020 for goodness sake. Certainly hybrid cars are already hitting that mark; the Prius is topping 50 mpg. And if you can't get trucks and SUVs to those standards, then screw trucks and SUVs, at least for personal operation. The truth is (yes, that means I'm about to spew another conspiracy of mine), automakers get kickbacks from oil; it's been happening ever since GM bought up and tore down the railroads a long time ago (sorry to my dad for bringing that up). But just as likely is that if fuel efficiency truly becomes free-market competitive, American companies will lose (once again, sorry dad), and nobody feels like giving up any part of what contributes to superpower status.

Okay, I said this was going to be about Israel, right? Here's my contribution to the solution to the gas crunch in the Middle East: I plan on riding my bicycle to work as much as possible; it's a five-mile shot straight north. Besides, I never heard of a bicycle bombing. I plan to use my car only to travel within and without the country, especially my monthly jaunt to Egypt to fill up on the cheap.