LA Story

Once I went to a Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces party here in LA with my friend Doron Bergman, himself an ex-member of the Israeli army - tzahal. The party wasn't anything special and they gave me a t-shirt with the picture of a serpent with wings, the standard of Hativat HaTzanhanim the paratrooper brigade.
The t-shirt was visually interesting and I kept it. While in the States I never thought much of the meaning of the t-shirt but when I was in Portugal last year I thought someone could recognize it and get me in trouble for what could be perceived as a very "reactionary", "zionist" t-shirt. But no one recognized it.
Today I took it to work because it's been really hot in LA. When I was coming back from work walking down La Brea a bicycler coming in the opposite direction pointed at my t-shirt and I thought "Shit, I was found!" but he said with a thick Israeli accent "That's my brigade! That's my brigade!" Then he started speaking Hebrew, I said "Yes, yes paratroopers!" He was really excited, I shook his hand and because I had nothing else to say I just said "Baruch haba!" (welcome), imagine me a foreigner welcoming him to a country that's not mine! Only in LA!
I got home and saw two episodes of Prisoners of War on Hulu... I'm under the sign of Israel today.