One Month, Baby!

Well. Here I am, one month into the new, exciting chapter of my life. Yesterday I got my official national ID card. Along with my Israeli passport I now have all the official documentation one could ever need. I've also had the opportunity to learn a few of the quirks of Israel:

Israelis don't drink. There is no drinking culture. People can go out any night of the week and simply have a glass of water or some coffee. In America, and elsewhere, it is natural to order a glass of wine with dinner or a beer when sitting with friends. Not here. There are many exceptions but they just prove the rule - Israelis don't like to drink, can't drink and won't drink. As a result, there is no concept of "buying a round" since the first round is usually also the last round. Everyone pays for themselves and you'd never hear "a round of shots on me!"

Israelis enjoy drinking out of plastic bags. Milk and chocolate milk, among other beverages, are regularly consumed out of what appear to be ziplock bags. I am very much against this practice.

Israelis love their vegetables and side dishes. No meal is complete without 10 different kinds of pickled products, vegetables, cheeses and fishes. I have taken upon myself a rule created by my good friend - no vegetables before noon.

Israelis have bars specifically categorized as "pick up bars." If you want to meet someone you don't know, go to one of these places. Anywhere else would be seen as a weird place to start talking to strangers. Pick up bars are reminiscent of typical fancy up-scale bars and lounges in New York where I would never go to meet new people.

Israelis have no sports bars.

Israelis work normally on Sundays. It is an absolutely normal work day, equivalent to any other. That means you can't go out Saturday night and must confine your reveling to Thursday and Friday nights (if the Sabbath isn't a concern). This takes a lot of getting used to since I usually wake up late, read the NY times and walk through Central Park on Sundays. It is also usually a great day to do errands, meet friends, etc. Not in Israel. Work! In fairness, Fridays are usually off days or at most half-days.

The Hebrew posters for the movie Honey call the movie by a title which, if translated back into English, would mean "You Go, Girl!" Usually titles are either translated (Lord of the Rings is called by its Hebrew equivalent) or simply phonetically spelled out (Blank Check is literally called and pronounced as Blank Check with an Israeli accent). Only rarely are titles completely changed, such as was done with Honey.

Israelis are very opinionated. I was expecting political discussions and fights at every turn. My concept was of a land where you introduce yourself by your name and political affiliation. Not so. I haven't been pulled into a single political or religious debate yet. But what they lack in that area, Israelis more than make up for with debates about everything else. You can very easily find Israelis to strongly agree and strongly disagree with every observation I've made so far. Some try to explain the lack of a drinking culture to me while other strongly try and show me how there is a stronger drinking culture here than America. Sometimes I am very much amused by how vastly different people's opinions are about what seems to be the simplest, clearest observation.

That's about all for now. Basically, there is a lot to laugh at here if you don't let things get to you or get annoyed easily.