Israel impressions...
A random list of impressions of Israel...
-Flying in, my first impression as I flew over the coastline of Tel Aviv was that it looked like Ft. Lauderdale, FL. As we got closer and more inland, passing the city, it looked a little like europe, with the green fields and old-looking buildings.
-Israel has heavy security. Our bags were checked going into a museum, and the car-trunk was checked before going into a mall parking lot.
-Food here is very good...I've been eating hummus, chick peas, schnitzel, various salads, israeli meatballs, kugel, etc etc...The stuff I don't like or haven't eaten much of I'm enjoying in small doses as I adjust to new tastes.
-Tel Aviv is an interesting city, because of the people and the language and a few famous sites, but it's also a little ordinary and boring in my opinion. It's really not too different from cities in the US, especially LA and Miami.
-Israel has McDonalds, Burger King, Coca-Cola, etc, and all trademarks and some related words are spelled out phonetically in hebrew letters (big mac, pizza, etc)
-In the US, restaurants overfill glases with ice. In Europe, they don't put ice in your glass unless you ask (they'll serve it warm if you don't ask for ice). In Israel, it seems they will simply serve you a drink free of ice, but it will be cold.
-I'd say Tel Aviv has a similar number of hasidic Jews per capita as NYC (at least from the amount I've seen.
-Tonight I saw two hasidic jews dancing on the roof of a van to klesmer music (and several others on the ground around them). I would've gotten a picture, but it was too dark and I was moving too fast in the car.
-Something I noticed about traffic...during a red light, the yellow light will come on for two seconds simultaneously with the red light just before the light turns green. I think this happens in Europe too, but not sure.
-I saw where Yitzhak Rabin was shot. Interesting, sad site.
Some pictures can be found here. Respond with a picture # and I'll tell you what it is (if you're curious):
http://gallery.mac.com/jason.schwab#100057
Stay tuned for Haifa, Jerusalem, a Kibbutz, etc...
-Flying in, my first impression as I flew over the coastline of Tel Aviv was that it looked like Ft. Lauderdale, FL. As we got closer and more inland, passing the city, it looked a little like europe, with the green fields and old-looking buildings.
-Israel has heavy security. Our bags were checked going into a museum, and the car-trunk was checked before going into a mall parking lot.
-Food here is very good...I've been eating hummus, chick peas, schnitzel, various salads, israeli meatballs, kugel, etc etc...The stuff I don't like or haven't eaten much of I'm enjoying in small doses as I adjust to new tastes.
-Tel Aviv is an interesting city, because of the people and the language and a few famous sites, but it's also a little ordinary and boring in my opinion. It's really not too different from cities in the US, especially LA and Miami.
-Israel has McDonalds, Burger King, Coca-Cola, etc, and all trademarks and some related words are spelled out phonetically in hebrew letters (big mac, pizza, etc)
-In the US, restaurants overfill glases with ice. In Europe, they don't put ice in your glass unless you ask (they'll serve it warm if you don't ask for ice). In Israel, it seems they will simply serve you a drink free of ice, but it will be cold.
-I'd say Tel Aviv has a similar number of hasidic Jews per capita as NYC (at least from the amount I've seen.
-Tonight I saw two hasidic jews dancing on the roof of a van to klesmer music (and several others on the ground around them). I would've gotten a picture, but it was too dark and I was moving too fast in the car.
-Something I noticed about traffic...during a red light, the yellow light will come on for two seconds simultaneously with the red light just before the light turns green. I think this happens in Europe too, but not sure.
-I saw where Yitzhak Rabin was shot. Interesting, sad site.
Some pictures can be found here. Respond with a picture # and I'll tell you what it is (if you're curious):
http://gallery.mac.com/jason.schwab#100057
Stay tuned for Haifa, Jerusalem, a Kibbutz, etc...