Things work 95% in Israel

     I will avoid any political discussion of Israel on the blog (feel free to talk with me about this), but as anyone can see, the Israeli government has many issues.  These issues aren´t new and stem from an election process that was created in haste as the newly independent country was attacked in 1948.  But, years of political turmult have led to a rather bureaucratic society that I believe leads to the feeling that things only work 95% well.  For example, there are clean bathrooms but often no toilet paper.  There is good food, but it is extremely slow.  McDonalds is Kosher but super expensive.  The ice machines make ice, but it doesn{t come out of the container.  There is a clothes washer in the apartment, but it doesn´t fit in the closet without removing a knob or two.  We won´t include the electric oven that actually worked perfectly despite my attempts to light the non-existent gas by throwing in matches... On the other hand, there are charity boxes all over the country and even in the last two years since I visited, there are many more stations for recycling.  And let´s face it, the Middle East and the desert are hard places to live...so being 95% of what I would expect in America is quite acceptable.