April 16, 2007 in Tel Aviv

April 14, 2007

Shabbat shalom, y’all. It is 6:00 AM on Saturday and I am still jetlagged. I wanted you to know that I have arrived in Tel Aviv safely, moved into an apartment, got a cell phone, and am in the process of settling in. I arrived on Wednesday night. I have a beautiful view of the city, the town of Jaffa, and the sea from my 23rd floor window. My temporary apartment is in a luxury hi-rise above the city’s best and largest mall. I can walk out of the building and right into the mall, if I want. I don’t have internet access so I spend some time emailing, talking on Skype, and using the internet from the wi-fi that is available throughout the mall. On Sunday, I will look at an apartment that I think will be my home for the next two months. It’s nearby. I am told it is a 15 minute walk to the ulpan (Hebrew school) for me.

Tel Aviv is a small and walkable city. On Thursday AM, when I woke up at 2:30 AM, I ran about 6 miles through Jaffa, along the beach and back. I am a little sore. People here are also thin. I have yet to see an obese person. There are so many women here and they are all so pretty. It’s one after another. I’d put this town up against Barcelona for beautiful women, any day. They are so natural looking. This is such an immigrant country. It feels developed but there are so many people from the undeveloped world. It feels great to be one of the many from an outside culture trying to fit in. It could be a challenge to learn Hebrew as most everyone speaks English and so many are eager to do so. I’ve been told by my only friend from Atlanta who is here that there is no image of the ugly American.

The city is not cheap. I’d put costs at about the same as Atlanta. The dollar is very weak right now so lunch is around US$10 and dinner US$20. My apartment will be over $1000/month. The mall has a huge Iraqi/Bulgarian food festival every Thursday. There are tons of booths selling all kinds of exotic foods. Vegetables, however, are cheap and have so much more flavor than US veggies. I went to the wet market called the “shook” yesterday as everyone was bustling and clamoring to get their foods before Shabbat. Everything closes down on Friday afternoon until Sunday AM. Sunday is a regular business day. Most people have Friday and Saturday off.

I will have internet access at my new furnished apartment. I urge you to go to www.skype.com and sign up for Skype for free. You can then call me any time for free and you can see my big keppe (noggin) as I’m talking to you. It’s free and you can talk to anyone on the planet (Mars and Venus are extra) via computer for free. You’ll just have to buy a $5 headset from Radio Shack or elsewhere. Just tell them you want a Skype-compatible headset. You won’t have a “number” as it just calls you by looking up your name. It’s pretty cool. You’ll see. However, you can also call my home number of 404-848-1424 and it will be forwarded to me in Skype. I’ve already answered calls that way. I have paid extra to get voicemail. If you really need to reach me, quickly, you can call my Israeli cell number by dialing 011-972-50-769-0184. If that does not work, put another “0” before the 5.

I’ve already met my first date that I found on Jdate. Not a match so I’ll meet another one today. I think I’m starting out pretty well. It’s a head-turning city. I’m not into the Miami/New York made-up fashion look thing. These people are very natural. I don’t have a huge take on the culture, yet. People are very approachable and helpful. There are, of course, the gruff ones and the aggressive selling vendors. Some of these are from other Middle Eastern cultures so it clashes with those from the West. It’s part of the charm.

The sun has risen since I started this. So, I’m going to run north today. The streets should be empty as it is Shabbat and all businesses are closed. Even the buses do not run today. I am told that tomorrow or Monday is Yom Ha Shoah or Holocaust Memorial Day and much will be closed. Together with Yom Ha Zikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Ha Atzma-ut (Independence Day), all within the next week, it’s going to be hard to get much done. I have yet to go by the ulpan to get tested for Hebrew and placed in a class. I think I was told they are not opened until the week after Passover. I’ll see.

I have done nothing from here yet about getting to Africa. Yet, it will happen. I get email and can easily be reached by phone. Feel free to call/write, etc.

Shabbat Shalom ve l’hitraot,

Randy


April 16.

I could not send the above entry as I have had poor and erratic internet access. I’ve been apartment hunting and they are expensive and small when you want them furnished and monthly. Do I want to be in the noisy center, close to everthing or on the quieter more peaceful fringe near parks? Hmm…

I went running and exploring this AM with while listening to some tunes. I was careful crossing busy streets when I looked to my left at oncoming traffic to see that it was full of cars but all drivers had stopped in the middle of their lanes, gotten out, and were standing silently by their cars. I then noticed that cars in all directions were doing the same at this busy intersection. All of the pedestrians had stopped and were frozen in motion. I crossed the street, and took off my earphones. Only then did I hear the sirens commemorating Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Memorial Day. It was a 2 or 3 minute siren when the whole country ceased activities and stood upright in remembrance of the 6 million. All TV shows and movies were Holocaust themed. That was the first time I saw Life is Beautiful in Italian only (OK, Hebrew subtitles but what does that do for me?).

Jdate is still strong and I’m getting lots of emails. Of course, most are older than I but it’s still nice. I have spoken to a couple. That’s moving along. Tomorrow I get tested in Hebrew to see what level I should be placed in the ulpan.


I hope to learn to post a site where you can check for entries whenever you wish. I’ll let you know when I do.


Randito