Cats, Crocs, and Caca

I would like to take a moment to discuss the three most common things in Be'er Sheva. You might even say these are distinguishing characteristics of the city. Asides from the dust, and the students, and the trash, and the other typical Israeli things.

Item number one: Cats

I've probably mentioned this before, but Be'er Sheva has a lot of cats. I don't mean pampered housepets - I'm talking about roving strays. They're everywhere. You see them under bushes, in dumpsters, wandering the streets, everywhere. I was on the roof of a four-story apartment the other day, and there in the corner was a cat. Before you say "well Jeremy it obviously got there the same way you did" and then wonder how I got there in the first place, I came up the stairs (which are always locked) and the cat climbed a tree (which I watched).

When evening rolls around, cats come out in force. Every street corner and trashbin has at least a couple cats lolling about. Often they are mangy, underfed streetcats. Other times they're like the ones where I study Hebrew - still mangy and underfed, but also irritated by idiots who like to pretend they're taking care of them. In any case, cats are the unquestioned lords of Be'er Sheva.

Okay, that's not true, but it looks really impressive when I write it.

Item number two: Crocs

You may have seen some people wearing these in the 'States, but I'm pretty sure they're nowhere near as common as they are here. Crocs are closed-cell foam shoes which can't decide if they're galoshes or slippers. They're a nice enough idea, I suppose - waterproof, durable, and extremely comfortable. However, not only do they look like plastic clogs but they come in the most eye-wrenching colors possible. Sure there is black, dark blue, and forest green, but there's also neon yellow, magenta, sky blue, gamma-ray lime, etc - and it seems like the brighter the color, the more popular it is.

It's especially jarring to see here, because Israelis are normally so stylish - MTV chic, if you will. So, seeing a young man in a properly faded pair of properly tight dark jeans (since baggy jeans are out), with a properly tight gray shirt sporting an appropriate English slogan, makes the set of cherry red crocs look completely absurd.

It's not just limited to one group of people either - you see kids wearing them, teenagers wearing them, tons of college students wearing them, and even adults wearing them. And not once do they look appropriate.

Item number three: Caca

I'm going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and assume the reason they let their pets take craps on the sidewalk and in the street is because they're too busy fighting terrorism. I choose to believe that the effort required to walk a dog to a patch of grass, or sand, or something not where people walk, is so monumental that it would prevent these proud people from raising farmland from the desert they live in. Perhaps I'm missing some cultural clue, that the more poop you have in front of your house, the more your neighbors like you.

I'm assuming that after a while I'll just start taking these things for granted, and I won't notice them anymore. But you won't see me wearing crocs when I walk my cat on a leash to a bush to do its business.