White Jerusalem

Although one is inclined to believe that it is the religious fervor, or the politics of this land that make it surreal, upside down, a "through the looking glass" experience, there is higher proof - of the natural kind - that afirms this claim. As the rest of the world uses proof of a warm winter as evidence for man made global warming, in Israel the opposite is true. Outside of my office it is snowing. And not just a trickle of snow that wont stick: but a full on blilzzard (of sorts). While alpine resorts curse their confounded bad luck at the lack of freezing temperatures, here in israel - a country surrounded by deserts and the warm waters of the mediterreanean - the mercury has dropped to that crucial point allowing sleet and rain to mold itself into snow. Its not just the politcs, the religiosity, the cultural interaction that is strange here, but alas, mother nature has her own plan for this land.