Getting used to the land

So, this is my(Yuval) first time blogging. We are still getting used to the culture, noise, lack of savlanoot and other things. But what makes us smile is even more interesting.

A few nights ago, we went to have dinner at a pargiyot restaurant, because we love the taste of baby chickens. Anyway, the owner was a Sephardic Jew who happily showed us to our table. After getting our various salads, two Asian guys sat at the table next to us. This was clearly their first time in Israel. The owner was trying to take their orders for salads, but the guys did not speak English very well, and frankly, neither did the owner. As he struggled to put together sentences in English for them, he inserted some choice phrases in Arabic as well. Anyway, he brought them out some salads and two big lafot. One guy took the lafa, which was about 12 inches in diameter folded it in half twice and stuck his fork through the middle. He then proceeded to eat it for the next few minutes. It was truly amazing. It made Sarah and I think about the commercial where Dywane Wade and Charles Barkley eat live sea creatures in China. Yao Ming tells them to bite off the head as they squirm in their plates.

We have walked around the city quite a few times. I would say we spent about 20 hours so far looking around the city. There are more nail places in Tel Aviv than in Caldwell. We have had falafel three times so far.

We also spend a significant amount of the day at the supermarket and ACE (hardware). Luckily each of those places are less than 1o minutes away from the house, so that trips are short and sweet.

We also learned how to clean the apartment. It is much harder than it sounds. There are no carpets. you have to use a cloth that you dip in water which has chemicals, but don't put it all the way at the bottom of the pail, because it will get the dirt that you just took of the floor on it, and then you can't put it back on the floor which has all the dust on it. But the cloth keeps falling off of the squeegie thing, and the squieegie works well if you put the water on the floor and clean. But it is hard to do the corners. Then you have to use another cloth to absorb the water from the floor and dispose some of water in the toilet and some outside. Then you have to squeeze dry the cloth, but be careful not to do it against the grain of the cloth, otherwise it rips. Then you ahve to hang it to dry, but everything outside is dusty so you hang it inside, but it is dirty so you want to keep it off everything. So you turn the squeegie upside down and hang it on that, but it has to be in the sun. Other than that, it is quite simple though.

Also, hot water heaters somehow get small stones in it. So, you have to let the hot water heater sit with vinegar in it once a month. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you have to clean the house with the squeegie once every few days. Lots of fun.

We went to see Tel Aviv University. It is much bigger and more beautiful than we imagined. The bus stop is about 5 minutes from our apartment, and it takes about 10-15 minutes to get from that stop to the University entrance. We hop on the 24 or 25 Dan bus, and within minutes we are at school. It is very strange, but the University prohibits students from taking their bags into the library. Not sure why. We thought it might be so that students don't steal books on their way out. Why don't they just invest in that sensor like they have in every US library and shopping store? Eyfo HaHigh Tech?!?

We opened our bank account, and one guy standing on the line actually let us pass him on the line. That is mucho Savlanoot que ask anachnu.

I also went to the supermarket today. I had to buy vanilla. That was quite a challenge considering I had no idea where to look. Also, I got on a line which was the longest line in the history of supermarkets in Israel. An old lady standing in back of me asked me if the lady immediately in back of me could go ahead of me because she was wearing her baby. I let her go in front of me. Afterall, she had only three things, and since I saw that candid camera thing on TV I am scared. Also, I didn't mind waiting another 3 minutes. Anyway, the point is that the old lady was now in back of me. She had two things of jam, and it looked like she had a hard time walking. As I was about to offer her to go ahead of me, she said "I am behind you". I said "OK". She left the two things of jam in the cart in back of me, and then went to find other things she was looking for. She got milk and bread and came back. Then she went and got rice, eggs and came back and then went to get tomatoes. In the meantime, another lady in her mid-30's got on line actually in back of me. She was on her phone. When the old lady got back to the line, now with 20 items, and said "I was in back of him" the younger lady just let her go. WOW. As they say in Israel, "Rak BeYisrael" only in Israel.

I would also like to report (because Sarah told me to) that our shower is doing much better. We are about to go tto take the bus to the train station to go to Haifa for the weekend.