We've been sorting out our banking situation. First, we found a Credit Union in Michigan that doesn't charge ATM withdrawl fees internationally for the first 6 withdrawls monthly. Then we got a credit card in the US that doesn't charge the standard 3% conversion fee. Now we're considering opening a local bank account. But here's the catch. They charge you a monthly fee to have the account, and they don't pay any interest. There are no promos for opening it, or for maintaining a certain balance. Basically, they make money while using our money to make more money. Huh? Whatever happened to the basic idea that whomever loans the money earns interest, and whomever takes the loan, pays it? Credit Unions don't appear to exist here. Surprising, as this is a more socialized country than the US. If I were in the banking industry, I'd open an Israeli Credit Union (assuming the local banks wouldn't have me thrown in the East River (or the Sea)) for doing so.
I've also noticed that despite the huge number of expats and general population's knowledge of the English language, it has been a real struggle to find online resources. We had a favorite in NYC, called http://www.menupages.com/, which listed all the restaurants in the city, by location, by cuisine, and with reviews, pricing, contact info, hours, etc. Israeli culture is much more human networked than online networked.
But I would imagine there would be value in expat specific sites (given the large # of us) with restaurants, hair salons, grocery stores, and other useful listings/reviews in English. Your ad revenue would be efficient and on the higher end of the pricing scale, as the target audience would be quite clear.
And one other thing. It IS possible to put A/C in elevators. Couldn't it be done at least in the ones that take forever?!?
Friday, July 16, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Living in a Hotel
That's it. We're in the Sheraton for the next 45 days. Thanks to Dan's Platinum Starwood status, we at least have a suite, which amounts to two sides of one long room. It's not noise proof, but it will separate the work space from the sleeping space a bit, which is significant. It's a good thing I'll be starting Ulpan on July 25th, as that will get me out of here Sun-Thu 8am-1:30pm until a week or so after we move back into our apartment. Hope those Frenchie's take good care of it (and the couple plants I inherited from the last Ford Rep.)
We schweated our tails off with the final packing up and moving of stuff from the apartment to the storage room in the basement, and the car. Michal, our landlady, was telling us how unusually chilly it has been in the evenings these past couple weeks, and how they have been eating on their deck every night. Well, we've been eating outdoors after sunset at various restaurants in town as well, but I wouldn't exactly call it "chilly." Maybe next summer I will think so?
We don't have our Vonage phone here, so if you want to chat over the next few weeks, it's all Skype all the time. I'll try to remember to leave it turned on.
Happy Birthday Dita!!!
We schweated our tails off with the final packing up and moving of stuff from the apartment to the storage room in the basement, and the car. Michal, our landlady, was telling us how unusually chilly it has been in the evenings these past couple weeks, and how they have been eating on their deck every night. Well, we've been eating outdoors after sunset at various restaurants in town as well, but I wouldn't exactly call it "chilly." Maybe next summer I will think so?
We don't have our Vonage phone here, so if you want to chat over the next few weeks, it's all Skype all the time. I'll try to remember to leave it turned on.
Happy Birthday Dita!!!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Meathead on a skateboard scooter
Last night we walked a good half hour south to the cute and trendy neighborhood of Neve Tzedek. We planned to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner that was highly recommended, in a quaint courtyard. However, Dan tried to make reservations (this is another odd thing - nearly all restaurants require reservations. If you show up without one, half the tables are empty, but they won't seat you except in the back corner, because in theory everyone will be arriving in 15 minutes. Right.)
Anyway, the phone line was busy, so after a few tries, we figured we'd just head down there. Of course, upon arrival, while more than half the tables were empty, they were only willing to seat us inside, as it was 8:45pm, and all the outdoor tables were reserved for 9pm. Nahon?
So we walked over to a great little place we ate at with Mazi on our pre-trip, just a minute away, called Suzanna. They were packed, but seated us outside at the last 2 top I could see. This place has a fairly large patio, and is under an enormous tree that shades it all. They have lights in the tree, so it's has a wonderful atmosphere. And the food was excellent, again. We had a delicious beet/carrot/calarabe salad with grapefruit and nuts, and a mixed stuffed platter. They stuffed peppers, grape leaves and a few pastry-like items, as well as apricots, fresh fig, and dates. Delicious! Suzanna has made our short list for visitors, so if you plan to visit us, plan to join us here for an evening.
On the walk home, we saw the funniest site - a 20 something muscle beach guy riding one of those motorized skateboards with handlebars, all tucked up tight in the middle of it to maintain his balance. Wished I'd had a camera, but a good laugh will have to suffice.
Anyway, the phone line was busy, so after a few tries, we figured we'd just head down there. Of course, upon arrival, while more than half the tables were empty, they were only willing to seat us inside, as it was 8:45pm, and all the outdoor tables were reserved for 9pm. Nahon?
So we walked over to a great little place we ate at with Mazi on our pre-trip, just a minute away, called Suzanna. They were packed, but seated us outside at the last 2 top I could see. This place has a fairly large patio, and is under an enormous tree that shades it all. They have lights in the tree, so it's has a wonderful atmosphere. And the food was excellent, again. We had a delicious beet/carrot/calarabe salad with grapefruit and nuts, and a mixed stuffed platter. They stuffed peppers, grape leaves and a few pastry-like items, as well as apricots, fresh fig, and dates. Delicious! Suzanna has made our short list for visitors, so if you plan to visit us, plan to join us here for an evening.
On the walk home, we saw the funniest site - a 20 something muscle beach guy riding one of those motorized skateboards with handlebars, all tucked up tight in the middle of it to maintain his balance. Wished I'd had a camera, but a good laugh will have to suffice.
Power Outage
Experienced my first power outage here today. It happened just after 4pm. Since I was home alone, and everything went out, including phone and internet, I went out into the hall to see what my neighbors were doing. The unit south of ours had workers in it, and they had all the doors open. The lady was very nice. Not only was she there with a guy working on some kind of structural thing, she is the nanny for the couple's 3 kids ages 11, 5 and 2. She tried calling a couple places for me, possibly the building Super. It wasn't very clear, as her English wasn't stellar, and my Hebrew, well, you know the story with that.
Then we knocked on the door of the unit to the east of ours, as I could hear drilling in there. It doesn't appear to be occupied yet. There were two guys and an older woman (possibly the owner?) there, also not using power (I guess the locals really are used to 90 degree days!) She called as well, and said the whole block was out of power. That reminded me that last Friday, on the north side of Bograshov, that block was out of power (Dan couldn't get is coffee from our friendly neighborhood coffee counter that day. Only the juice lady was working, running off a generator). While they (locals/friends/family) have been telling me that power outages are rare (once or twice a year), I am beginning to wonder....
Then we knocked on the door of the unit to the east of ours, as I could hear drilling in there. It doesn't appear to be occupied yet. There were two guys and an older woman (possibly the owner?) there, also not using power (I guess the locals really are used to 90 degree days!) She called as well, and said the whole block was out of power. That reminded me that last Friday, on the north side of Bograshov, that block was out of power (Dan couldn't get is coffee from our friendly neighborhood coffee counter that day. Only the juice lady was working, running off a generator). While they (locals/friends/family) have been telling me that power outages are rare (once or twice a year), I am beginning to wonder....
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday (I mean Friday) night out in Tel Aviv
Friday afternoon (after a painful trip to Ikea) we took a little nap (ok, not so little, I layed down around 6pm, Dan crashed at 7:30pm, and we didn't get up until 10:30pm!) We showered, and went out around 11pm. Went to the first restaurant/bar that was supposed to be known for it's carpaccio, among other things. There was a line outside, and when Dan asked the girl at the door (surrounded by Russian meat-head bouncers) what the story was, she said it was "young night." Ok, ouch. I mean, I know there's no drinking age, and the others in line looked about 10 years younger than us, and there is a language barrier, but come on!
So we walked down King George Street to a place called King George, where they keep a lemonade dispenser outside for free for those in line. No line when we walked in around 11pm. Got seats at the bar, and ordered a salad, empanadas, and lamb kebobs - a real international bar menu. Dan ordered a mojito, and I a glass of Gewurz. The bartender was quite friendly, and the Arab American 20-something girls down the bar from us were quite entertaining. A second mojito arrived compliments of the bartender, so I ordered a second glass as well. When we decided to head out and the check came, neither of our second drinks were on it, so we tipped him so well, he thought we were asking for change, and then was so gracious, we decided to put this place on our short list for re-visits.
We walked further down the road, then started to loop back, stopping in several bars along the way to see what they were like for future visits. One was cheezy, complete with a bartender on the bar stopping those who entered to enforce purchase of a drink (in lieu of a cover charge, we guessed). Another was a pool hall / bar which we mainly used as a pit stop. On the way home, up a tiny side street, cops were sitting pulling over anyone with a motor vehicle (including a guy and girl on a scooter) doing breathalizers. Sure glad we live in the city and can walk! I have learned here that police do not need probable cause to stop you. They can stop anyone, anytime, for any reason.
We popped into one last wine bar back on Bograshov near our place, before calling it a night at about 3am. We weren't the last ones to go to bed around here, by any means. Instead of having a standard closing time like in the States, they all post their hours as "until last customer." Well, we weren't going to be the last customer anywhere. That will be a hard one to pull off I think.
So we walked down King George Street to a place called King George, where they keep a lemonade dispenser outside for free for those in line. No line when we walked in around 11pm. Got seats at the bar, and ordered a salad, empanadas, and lamb kebobs - a real international bar menu. Dan ordered a mojito, and I a glass of Gewurz. The bartender was quite friendly, and the Arab American 20-something girls down the bar from us were quite entertaining. A second mojito arrived compliments of the bartender, so I ordered a second glass as well. When we decided to head out and the check came, neither of our second drinks were on it, so we tipped him so well, he thought we were asking for change, and then was so gracious, we decided to put this place on our short list for re-visits.
We walked further down the road, then started to loop back, stopping in several bars along the way to see what they were like for future visits. One was cheezy, complete with a bartender on the bar stopping those who entered to enforce purchase of a drink (in lieu of a cover charge, we guessed). Another was a pool hall / bar which we mainly used as a pit stop. On the way home, up a tiny side street, cops were sitting pulling over anyone with a motor vehicle (including a guy and girl on a scooter) doing breathalizers. Sure glad we live in the city and can walk! I have learned here that police do not need probable cause to stop you. They can stop anyone, anytime, for any reason.
We popped into one last wine bar back on Bograshov near our place, before calling it a night at about 3am. We weren't the last ones to go to bed around here, by any means. Instead of having a standard closing time like in the States, they all post their hours as "until last customer." Well, we weren't going to be the last customer anywhere. That will be a hard one to pull off I think.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Balagan
My new favorite word.
It's what happens when driving down the road in Israel.
Or when boarding a plane with Israelis.
It means "chaos."
However, when crossing the street, they act like they're in the Northwest, quietly waiting until the sign turns green. Weird huh?
It's what happens when driving down the road in Israel.
Or when boarding a plane with Israelis.
It means "chaos."
However, when crossing the street, they act like they're in the Northwest, quietly waiting until the sign turns green. Weird huh?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Cloudy with a chance of kosher meatballs
Something strange is happening here. It's nearly 8am, and it's still cloudy. I just don't know what to make of this phenomenon. Still 81 degrees though.
I visited Delek Motors yesterday. What a nice facility! I went out to drive Dan home, after returning one of the previous Rep's vehicles. We drove home a lime green Fiesta for the night, to see whether it's the car I want for the next 3 years. While I like how small it is (you can't appreciate this until the entrance to your garage is so narrow you can nearly reach across to both walls), it doesn't have much power. I floored it multiple times on the highway and got nothing exciting. The Focus on the other hand is nice and sporty, but bigger. Yes, a Focus is actually BIG here, and that makes it difficult to turn corners (sometimes I can't pull right into the garage, I have to do a 3 point turn to make the 90 degree angle around the cars parked on either side of the street, and right up to the entrance.) But I do love the lime green. Oh, such difficult decisions!
On the way home we stopped at a "real" grocery store. The name of it translates to "Half 1/2" for half price I suppose. The prices here were more in line with US prices, at least on the items I could compare (in Tel Aviv everything is more expensive). I think I'm going to buy an English-Hebrew dictionary so I can look up ingredients i english, then compare the hebrew print to the signs in the store to see if I've guessed correctly. Shopping by pictures on the containers is an interesting experience. So we walk in (the guard checked my hand bag), and the place was larger than any store either of has ever seen! Past long aisles of shampoo and lotion, we found the dairy, gigantic freezer section of various partially prepared meals, section of prepared salads (eggplant salads, hummus, tahina, etc) that was longer than many grocery stores entire cooler section, a large meat, cheese and fresh salad deli counter with delicious looking cabbage salads, pesto, and more. At this point we realized it was a kosher store (no deli hams) and were terribly disappointed. We'll have to find the Russian stores for that. Then on past a separate fresh meat counter, through a bakery (again, each of these sections was bigger than an entire side of an American grocery store!) and they had packaged tortillas!, and into the fresh olive and spice counters where you can buy by weight. The middle of the store was filled with shelves of packaged goods, where I discovered that they do sell peanut and other nut butters, they have quinoa, and an organic/natural foods section. I found granola here to go with our yogurts. Oh, and they have shelves full of various chocolate spreads! At this point, are you wondering where all the fresh produce is? We were too. We asked, and found out that you go through the registers at this point and pay, then the doors shoot you out through a small food court, and into a whole separate store with produce! The variety of options was pretty impressive (I found cherries and even corn on the cob!) although they didn't have everything (no strawberries or apricots for instance, which may be seasonal). The pomegranates should start showing up in stores in a month or so, I've heard. Yummy!
Discovered an excellent place for dinner in a new area of town last night, east of our place about a 20 minute walk. It's a spanish Tapas restaurant - Tapeo. We had roasted garlic, a sea bream ceviche with mango and pineapple, a roast lamb on an almond sauce, and beef carpaccio with manchego cheese. Oh, and sangria of course. Delicious!
I visited Delek Motors yesterday. What a nice facility! I went out to drive Dan home, after returning one of the previous Rep's vehicles. We drove home a lime green Fiesta for the night, to see whether it's the car I want for the next 3 years. While I like how small it is (you can't appreciate this until the entrance to your garage is so narrow you can nearly reach across to both walls), it doesn't have much power. I floored it multiple times on the highway and got nothing exciting. The Focus on the other hand is nice and sporty, but bigger. Yes, a Focus is actually BIG here, and that makes it difficult to turn corners (sometimes I can't pull right into the garage, I have to do a 3 point turn to make the 90 degree angle around the cars parked on either side of the street, and right up to the entrance.) But I do love the lime green. Oh, such difficult decisions!
On the way home we stopped at a "real" grocery store. The name of it translates to "Half 1/2" for half price I suppose. The prices here were more in line with US prices, at least on the items I could compare (in Tel Aviv everything is more expensive). I think I'm going to buy an English-Hebrew dictionary so I can look up ingredients i english, then compare the hebrew print to the signs in the store to see if I've guessed correctly. Shopping by pictures on the containers is an interesting experience. So we walk in (the guard checked my hand bag), and the place was larger than any store either of has ever seen! Past long aisles of shampoo and lotion, we found the dairy, gigantic freezer section of various partially prepared meals, section of prepared salads (eggplant salads, hummus, tahina, etc) that was longer than many grocery stores entire cooler section, a large meat, cheese and fresh salad deli counter with delicious looking cabbage salads, pesto, and more. At this point we realized it was a kosher store (no deli hams) and were terribly disappointed. We'll have to find the Russian stores for that. Then on past a separate fresh meat counter, through a bakery (again, each of these sections was bigger than an entire side of an American grocery store!) and they had packaged tortillas!, and into the fresh olive and spice counters where you can buy by weight. The middle of the store was filled with shelves of packaged goods, where I discovered that they do sell peanut and other nut butters, they have quinoa, and an organic/natural foods section. I found granola here to go with our yogurts. Oh, and they have shelves full of various chocolate spreads! At this point, are you wondering where all the fresh produce is? We were too. We asked, and found out that you go through the registers at this point and pay, then the doors shoot you out through a small food court, and into a whole separate store with produce! The variety of options was pretty impressive (I found cherries and even corn on the cob!) although they didn't have everything (no strawberries or apricots for instance, which may be seasonal). The pomegranates should start showing up in stores in a month or so, I've heard. Yummy!
Discovered an excellent place for dinner in a new area of town last night, east of our place about a 20 minute walk. It's a spanish Tapas restaurant - Tapeo. We had roasted garlic, a sea bream ceviche with mango and pineapple, a roast lamb on an almond sauce, and beef carpaccio with manchego cheese. Oh, and sangria of course. Delicious!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
