Alcohol

From going out to bars and clubs a few times since I've gotten here, I have noticed this difference between alcoholic drinks in San Diego and in Tel Aviv:

1. Tel Aviv drinks are not as strong. Of course, when you've set the bar at Urban Mo's, I'm not sure ANYWHERE in the world makes strong drinks. It seems they take care to REALLY measure the shot and are not as generous with it.
2. They don;t like to use a lot of ice. Really. You get maybe two or three ice cubes. And on a hot night on the beach thats not really enough. So I asked for more ice. I got another two ice cubes. I know there's a water shortage in Israel but this is rediculous.
3. It SEEMS like drinks are more expensive here but I think that's just because of the conversion to shekels. Two Gin and Tonics last night cost about 75 shekels, which at 3.5 shekels to the dollar come out to about $11 a drink. It's certainly not Nunu's, but hell, it ain;t Stingaree either.

Anyway, being the investigative reporter that I am (Brenda Starr has nothing on me), I will continue to look for that perfect combination of cold, strong and cheap drinks, and will report back!

Update: It has been brought to my attention that prepared ice is kind of expensive in Israel. That might have something to do with the stinginess...

Cultural musings #1 or How to enter an Elevator

Being Americanized for so long, I obviously notice differences between Israeli and American culture, and I will report these differences here.
One such difference is the way people enter elevators. In the US it is customary to wait until everyone has gotten off an elevator before stepping into it.

Not so in the Middle East, apparently.

Here it seems customary to try and enter the elevator before anyone has gotten off.
Now, granted, this system seems to have a few flaws: First of all, if the elevator was full coming down, you will not have room to get on board. Second, you're getting in the way of people trying to get out.
All this seems to not matter. But I have to say that I don;t think only Israeli's are guilty of this. The hotel I am staying in is full of French tourists and they seem to be just as guilty of it too, if not more so (Sorry, Lionel!). Did they learn quickly from the Israelis? Or did they bring this custom from the land of the Croissant??
Either way, it may strike you as very rude, as it did me. On second thought, though, I don;t think people are doing it out of rudeness. I think they are just perpetually in a hurry.
As for me? Turns out you adapt to elevator etiquette pretty quickly. So if next time you meet me in an elevator I run you over trying to get in, it's not because I'm rude.
I'm just in a hurry.

Offer Nissim

This past Friday I finally had a taste of the Tel Aviv nightlife, and it was the perfect introduction. Offer Nissim, a world-famous Israeli DJ, was spinning at the TLV nightclub.
I am not a big DJ fanatic and I can;t tell them apart, but Offer is very unique and I can identify his music. I think he's fantastic. Everyone in Southern Cal knows him too :)
This is my favorite song of his:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXMhchvbHtE

Anyway, My friend Asaf (one S!!) and I got there around 2:00 am (kudos to Asaf for getting us in for free). The place was PACKED SOLID! Apparently Offer is also very popular in Israel as well. Ten minutes after we got there he came on.
This being my first time ever seeing him, I was in awe. There was such energy in the crowd. His platform was right above the dance floor so he had great contact with the people. The spotlight was on him, and he seemed to be orchestrating the music as it was playing. People were responding to him, to the music, to each other. It was pretty amazing. There were dancers around him as well, but interestingly the spotlights were on him only, they were dancing in the dark.
Asaf cashed it in around 4:30, but I kept dancing until around 6:00 am. When I walked out of the club it was dawn and I decided to walk to the hotel, since it was pretty close. My leg was not cooperating very well (after a night of dancing, I wanted it to walk as well???) but I made it and fell into a fitfull slumber.
Until I woke up to go to the beach :)

The Hunt!

Picture it......
We are on a hunt in the urban jungle that is Tel Aviv....
The predator: You!
The prey: The oft-heard-of but rarely seen species known as Apartmentus Decentus, or the common Descent Apartment. Now, the species Apartmentus is very common, but the Decentus subspecies is a very rare sighting. Its cousin, Apartmentus Crapus, is waaaay more common.
Telling them apart can be a challenge too, since their mating calls can be confusing. The Apartmentus Crapus will advertise itself as an Apartmentus Decentus and only when you actually venture into the jungle and lay your eyes upon it, do you realize that you have been had.
It is then you realize that Apartmentus Crapus was nothing more than a trap set for you by the predator above you on the urban food chain, the shady-ious Slum Lordius. If you are not careful, this bottom-feeding scum-sucker of a predator will trick you into signing a lease and living in a drug-den of an apartment that's 3 feet wide and has no windows. Oh yeah, the demand for apartments in Tel Aviv is so high that owners have taken up the practice of dividing their apartments into two OR THREE smaller apartments and renting them out as Studios or 1-bedrooms!

So in my attempt to find an apartment in Tel Aviv I have come to the conclusion that you have 3 choices before you:

1. Overpay for a crappy drug-den of a rat-infested apartment
2. Overpay more for a semi-decent place
3. Overpay even more for a decent apartment

I am trying to avoid option #1 and am willing to consider #2 if all else fails, but I would REALLY like to find option #3. Since supply of this apartment archtype is low and demand is high, the search becomes almost surreal. You have to check listings in real-time and call and be the first person to see it and stake a claim to it. Hell, sometimes you have to see it BEFORE the first person who sees it. Yeah, makes sense, huh?

And if you've seen it and expressed interest in it, is it yours? Well, not necessarily. You may find yourself in a bidding war with other people who are interested and then the advertised rent is just a launching pad for the auction.

This adventure is not for the faint of heart. But I will persevere and persist in the hunt. I had a really cute one within my grasp only to have it fall through because I suspect someone else offered more for it. Oh well.
But once I find it, poodles, you are all invited to visit :)

Night-Beach!

Is this Las Vegas? Nope, it's a beach in Tel Aviv.

This was taken during a little walk I took to ward off the jetlag.

Oh yeah, and did you know Tel Aviv has palm trees? and they're electric too! Eat your heart out Southern Cal!!!

Matkot (Paddles)

So what do Israelis do at the beach? Well, naturally they play "Matkot" or "Paddles". This game consists of two paddles and a ball which gets, well, paddled between them. The object is very simple - keep the ball off the ground.

People of all skill levels play this game, so the ball remains in the air anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of seconds (like ifI were to play, hey - it's been 11 years!)

I got a few random shots of people playing just to prove my point. By inductive reasoning, you can assume that if these people play, everyone else does too :)

Tel Aviv Beach, or I found the Pretty!!!!

Whenever I used to tell people I was from Israel, they would sometimes immediately reply "oh Israeli men are so hot" or "Israeli women are so hot", which I certainly do not argue with.

so I don't mind telling you that in the few days that I have been here, I was kind of wondering where all these hotties were hiding, why was I not seeing any of the pretty???

Keep in mind, however, that I was busy doing one of the following things (in descending order of time consumed):

1. working
2. apartment hunting (which consists of 90% being stuck in traffic in Tel Aviv or lost and 10% actually looking at apartments)
3. trying to sleep
4. catching up with family

Anyway yesterday after work I decided I was going to make use of the fact that the hotel has a beach adjacent to it and took a walk on the beach. and good news! I found the pretty! Now I'm not one to take pics of random pretty people on the beach (that would be pervy), so you'll have to use your imagination, but here is what the beach looked likeon a Wednesday afternoon:

People are playing volleyball, hanging out, etc... which leads one to ponder... doesn't the pretty need to work? I know it's summer vacation and all, but still....

This is the Tel Aviv Beach boardwalk.

So imagine my excitement when I saw the pretty people out and about. Most of the people with their shirts off had every right to be that way. And if that's how it is on a Wednesday afternoon, imagine Saturday morning, when it's national going-to-the-beach-day!

Next time... the national pasttime at the beach, and how it looks at night.

Around Tel Aviv

I was driving down Ibn Gvirol Street yesterday and noticed this from my window.

I'm not sure if it a who from whoville or a baby chicken, but it found its way to the roof of the Tel Aviv Municipal building in Rabin Square...

First night and morning in Tel Aviv

Picture it...

Monday at 12:30 am (ok so basically it's already Tuesday), just your typical night in the (almost) middle fo the week (work week is Sunday-Thursday in the Holy Land. We love our Fridays off, apparently. You know, to go to Synagogue and stuff...)
And the bars and cafes in the city are... PACKED! It's amazing.

I met my friend Asaf for a beer in the Florentin neighborhood and it was bustling! Looking at this picture it doesn;t do it justice, the place was busier than it looks here. EVERY place was busier that it looks here. Can you imagine that, San Diego???
I just might like it here......


Last night was the first night I spent in Tel Aviv, in a hotel. This morning I awoke to these views...
The view from my hotel balcony was this...

Miami Beach? Marina Del Ray? No Bitches, it's the T.A.!!!!!


And then facing the city, the skyline looked like this in the sunrise...

I'll try to take a picture of it at Sunset.

Btw - How do I know I am not here on vacation like I used to always be?

I've been in Israel 4 whole days now and have not gone shopping ONCE!

First days at work

Well its been a long weekend!

I drove to Haifa for my first day of work. Here I am in front of my little rental Fiat Punto that I used to drive an hour and a half to Haifa, to the HP LAbs offices. The offices are located in the grounds of the Technion, which is like the Israeli MIT.

The view from the offices is astounding. It is of the Haifa Bay. Yes that is the oceanin the background.

I have also gone to the offices in Yehud, which are about 20 minutes east of Tel Aviv, they are much bigger! Mercury has built a new building which is very impressive.

I've been looking for an apartment feverishly. It is very difficult in this city - Supply is low and demand is high. You don;t need to be Adam Smith to figure out what that does to rental rates... yeah. Not pretty.

You'd think this was Manhattan.

Oh, and I have a new cell phone number. I will send it out to people but if you didn;t get it and want it, lemme know (not publishing it here MWAHAHAHAHA)

well I made it!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog.

The purpose of this blog is to document my adventures in Israel, after 11 years in the USA. It's like a journey rediscovering a new land, and I'm taking you with me (whoever you may be).

I feel like Rhoda..... Tel Aviv, this is your last chance!!



Flights went ok. I had a moment at the San Diego gate where I considered abandoning everything and hightailing it to Laguna Beach, and a moment in Newark where I almost did the same to New York or Allentown (go figure!), but I ended up staying the course.

I did call my good friend Naomi and asked her to reassure me that I was doing the right thing while I was sitting at the McDonalds chomping on some chicken McNuggets, and she did. Naomi - I have faith! It was nourishment for the body as well as the soul.

Upon arriving I had a fantastic home-cooked meal (thanks, Dad!), slept like a maniac (thanks, jetlag!), went swimming at the Country Club where I worked when I was 17 and went to my favorite coffee shop in Ra'anana.

First day at work is tomorrow. Cross your fingers!

Oh and before I go ---- one gratuitous shot from my Goodbye Dinner at Mo's. Just me and my ho's......

Hello World

First blogging test :)