Chay’eem Yafay’fee’eem

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WOAH!! Seriously what a week this has been. It has absolutely flown by and I have had an absolutely AMAZING time. Honestly, I can’t say it more than now that I LOVE MY LIFE. I was sitting on the beach the other day and had a brief few minutes by myself and started a flashbook of pictures in my head of all the places I’ve been and what I’ve seen and put on one of my stupid little smirks. I tried to do the beach thing every day. But it’s not the typical beach weather…it is still winter in Tel Aviv, so its long sleeves and pants on crisp sunny days just soaking up the warmth. Like autumn which is my favorite season. The beaches however are packed! Everyone hangs out on chairs and at the restaurants alongside and enjoy breakfasts and gossips and catching up.

I know or have been put in touch with a ton of people that live in Tel Aviv so I pretty much decided to stay here and chill out for the whole week. It’s been a great transition for me from all the traveling to a somewhat familiar environment but not full-force like it will be in a mere few days. Yea, and about that…the anxiety is creeping in…again I think its just the anticipation about it and once I arrive it will pass. Although of course there will be some reverse culture shock to deal with. It’s a bit surreal and the past few days I have actually switched and become quite giddy. I guess it will be somewhat of a rollercoaster ride…

So the Israelis love to party and its hard not to get sucked in. I have met up with a bunch of Jon’s friends cuz he does know the world…seriously, he must know people in every country. Honestly, thanks ellman cuz you have put me in touch with some extremely quality people … Even more, everyone has been so inviting. I was invited to Yuval’s Shabbat dinner on Friday night and I kind of like the idea of it. It’s basically a pot luck and you get together with your friends once a week and then, of course, go out after! I stayed with my friend Jodie for a few days here which was wonderful. She was my “counselor” on my birthright trip a few years ago and it was fantastic catching up with her and she still keeps in touch with one of the Israeli soldiers from our trip, Nir. She actually hadn’t spoken to him in a while so when he called and was in the neighborhood it was a fantastic surprise to get to see him! David, who is the nephew of my parents’ closest friends, was also very welcoming and didn’t mind chatting with him as he is a photojournalist… Avital, my camp friend who I hadn’t seen in like over a decade! I also got to see some fellow Wash-Uers - Adam, Michael and Brian. I will be missing Jon by like 3 days, so disappointed about that! Had dinner with his friend Daniel and his friends the other night for his birthday…so as you can see its really been just hanging out and I think what the doctor ordered!

Well what stories can I share? How about the one where Adam asked for mitz gever…thinking he was really asking for mitz gezer. The difference, instead of carrot juice he was asking for man juice…the owner of the shop had a great time laughing about that as did I. Or the time I was out for Daniel’s bday dinner and this poor girl who was walking out of the restaurant walked into the sliding glass doors …oh that was hysterical. Or that I have absolutely no recollection of the names of bars or restaurants that I went to. I’m sure there is more but it has been quite the whirlwind of a trip.

Well I published this entry too quickly…I have yet two more stories in the last bit of my time in Israel. The first is after I published this the first thing my mother did was ask where was the jumping picture! I hadn’t even taken one yet…so on my way to return my rented phone (I figured with this many people here trying to make plans it would make sense) I found a place to do a quick jumping photo…in front of a beautifully colored painted door. Unfortunately, you can get hurt when jumping so proceed with caution…somehow I managed to scrape all of my knuckles to bleed…this was no fun and it really hurts!! Oy.

And THEN I go to return my phone at the store recommended by Cell-Com…it’s in the Dizengoff Center on the top floor across from McDonald’s. The reason for the specificity is because this guy is a schmuck and avoid it at all costs! Even worse, cuz I guess schmuck means he is just stupid…he was downright mean. I had had a lovely conversation with Moshe when I rented the phone…we agreed on price and I left 400 Shekels (over $100 USD) as a deposit (in cash) for the phone itself. I asked what time he was open until and he said 9PM. So I figured I would go right before dinner and heading to the airport. WELL…Moshe caused me so much grief. He said he didn’t have 400 Shekels on him and that I had to go back at 9PM so he could get me the money and I explained to him that I had a flight. He said there was nothing he could do but that I could keep the phone. I’m not stupid…that phone is worth shit and I just wanted my deposit back…but the (explicit) said he spent the money buying a new phone. WHAT?!?!

Anyway, things got really heated after I said give me my effing money - maybe I shouldn’t have cursed but this set him off on a tirade about how he’s lived in my country for 20 years and knows how we are!! I still don’t understand the relevance of this but he said there was nothing for him to do…Adam was there with me as well so Moshe told him to come back at 9PM for me to get the money…but it’s not right and Adam shouldn’t have to be responsible for this. Anyway, we are now ALL screaming and people in front of McDonald’s are looking in and its ridiculous. He just wouldn’t give me the money and we just didn’t even trust him to give it to Adam if I did decide to leave. Moshe was getting all up in Adam’s face pointed and telling him to get the ef out of the store…telling me I was disturbing his customers…I mean the whole time I am standing there losing it cuz he is not making ANY sense. He told me to leave and I said no and then he asked if I wanted him to call security and I said yes, please do!! Thinking that they will be able to help me at least. He says for me to go get them and I told him I thought you want to call…go ahead and call them! He wouldn’t cuz he knew he was cheating me.

Anyway, it goes on and on maybe 20 or 30 minutes. I definitely wasted too much time and energy… oh and he said I should have called to remind HIM that I was coming! I was like if you told me this when I left I would have….OYYYYYYYYYYYY soooo AGGRAVATING. So he does have someone in his store who sees that I am just not sure what to do with myself and tells Moshe he will go down to the ATM and get me my money back and then Moshe can pay him later. I mean, there was NOOO reason for any of this to happen. I have never experienced this “Israeli Businessman” before but let me tell it’s no fun. It was not a nice way to end my stay in Israel or my entire trip…I swear, I think Adam and I were about to smack him right upside his head! Anyway, we go downstairs with his young friend who was really nice and apologetic. But still…and then as we were crossing the street a couple had seen us in the store and said that the guy is crazy and you have to really fight hard with him cuz he doesn’t do business appropriately. Comforting to know that we weren’t the only ones who had issues with him.

After that and much discussion and rediscussion of what happened…we ended up at a ¬nice restaurant with delicious food and a glass of wine to calm down. I still heart Israel but had to share the story!

PS…The transliterated title was provided to me by Daniel and means…Life is Beautiful.

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Comments

[Erika Palmer]

Hi, or Chai, or Hai, or whatever
Bethie- what an amazing end to your trip- you sound so full of life. I am so proud of you...so cheesy but true. You have explored the world and taken each new experience with humor and wonder, and you never stopping jumping and taking pictures! I love you and can't wait to spend basically April 25- May 4th w/ you...don't know if I'll be able to leave your side!!

[Jonathan]

welcome to Israel
everyone has a story like that...part of my reason for moving to Israel is to try and change this "style" of doing business...politeness, morality, good faith, respect are too often not how Israeli's do business - which makes them excellent negotiators - the problem in my eyes is that if you do this too much, you won't have anyone to negotiate with (as your cellcom story highlights). You have to fight as most of the time they bank on you not fighting...sucks but it is life - come back in 50 years, maybe I will have made a difference :)