Highlights: Week 1 & 2

• Chumus - oh my god!!! the chumus, it's truly to die for!
• Persimmons - a lovely orange coloured sweet fruit, mmm, very yummy
• Avocados - big and delicious avocados - green skin when they are ripe

















• Bisli & Bamba - Israeli version of chips and snacks
• Pita and Falafel - fresh and thick pitas with falafel in every intersection
• Israeli sunflower seeds
• Monin liquor with vodka - this is a caramel flavoured syrup that makes vodka taste like heaven.
• My new office

















• Nobody calls me Jilly or Jillian after I tell them my name is Gili :-)
• You can find amazing coffee and lattes even in gas stations
• The smell of fresh burekas in convenient stores (filo pastry usually filled with cheese, spinach or mashed potato)
• Sunday is the new Monday
• Djembe jam at the beach... yes, my drummer friends, they were terrible, but entertaining nontheless :-)

Moments: Week 1 & 2

1) An old man was crossing the street with his bike and ran into a car that was slowly making a right turn. The man fell off his bike and within seconds he was surrounded by 4 other men who first helped him up (he wasn't hurt), they picked up his bike and all the items that fell out of his basket, moved them to the sidewalk, and then proceeded into what became a huge screaming match between the driver, biker, 4 random helpers, 1 bystander and a waitress from the nearby restaurant (where I was sitting). Everyone, in the middle of a very busy intersection, screaming at each other, taking sides, arguing about who's at fault, what each should have done, cars honking and so on. This continued for about 10 minutes and then they all went on their way, with no resolve. A bit nuts, but at least they are expressing some emotions. This is one of the most striking things about this country which I noticed instantly. People are not afraid to talk to each other, from an old lady who asks for help to check her mailbox (because she was too short - so cute), to random people yelling "I like your hat", to people complaining about a line up in the post office, to people haggling for a lower price in the market, to a couple having a heated debate about religion. I've had people start talking to me at random almost every day... and they're not all trying to get into my pants! It's refreshing.

2) I walked into a bike store on Friday around 6pm. The door was open but there was no one at the counter. I peaked into the back where it said "do not enter" and there was a man standing with his back to me talking to someone. I said excuse me a couple of times, and when he finally turned around, he was holding a bong that he was sharing with someone. He seemed very happy and said "sorry we're closed". I asked quickly in hebrew, "I just wanted to know if you carry used bikes" and another man (out of my sight) replied in a thick russian accent "no just new bikes". So I replied in russian, "ok, thank you". And the hidden man (probably also stoned) shouted back in a loud happy tone: "YOU ARE VERY VERY WELCOME! SHABAT SHALOM TO YOU AND EVERYBODY". I had a good chuckle and went on my way.

Week 2: Laurachka

Week 2 was a lot more relaxing. I took my mom to the airport on Sunday Nov 23 and returned the car to the rental office. It was the weirdest feeling leaving the airport by myself in Israel. At that moment I realized that I was staying here for a while, and that I wasn't going back to Toronto yet, as I'm so used to doing. This was my home for the next 4 months, yikes! I felt excited but also unsettled and nervous.
I walked to Laura's house from the train station, this is one of the coolest things about this city, you can walk absolutely anywhere and it won't take you more than 40 minutes. I love it, it's convenient and fun. The streets are really interesting - they wind, turn and slope in all directions, they have old, beautiful and awful buildings as well as brand new buildings and stylish homes.
















I am constantly smelling fresh bakeries and middle-eastern spices in the air. There are always tons of people out - sometimes I wonder if anyone works in this country.
What I'm trying to say is that walking in Tel Aviv is a real treat!

I stayed with Laura for 8 days and that was really nice. I made sure to be a non-disruptive guest and tried to be as helpful as possible since she really helped me out. It was pretty painless, we shared a room for a few days and then her roommate went away, so I had my own room, which was great. We hung out a lot, I cleaned her house and cooked which gave me a chance to settle down a bit. I think that I was still dealing with jet lag because I was waking up very late every day and still feeling exhausted. For about 4 mornings I was also feeling an emptiness for the first 10 minutes when I woke up, and then it would go away. It was weird, but I think it's because I'm in a new place, new people, new life, it's kinda scary.

I started work this week, it's a pretty sweet deal working online in Tel Aviv. This city is so well connected, I can log on to an unsecured wireless connection from just about anywhere in the city. On Friday Nov 28th, I was on the Tayelet (boardwalk), found myself a nice cafe on the beach and worked on my laptop with the view of the sea, sun on my face and sand in between my toes... yup! it's pretty.... pretty.... pretty... pretty good! For those of you who don't know, this saying comes from Larry David's show Curb Your Enthusiasm, I've become a very big fan, I've spent the last 2 weeks watching seasons 1-5. I'm kinda hooked and Larry is rubbing off on me :-)
Yeah so, the beach is one of my favourite office locations.

































I also decided that 2-3 times a week, I will close my eyes and randomly choose a spot on the map and spend the day working in that area of Tel Aviv. This will give me a chance to hang out in different areas and be productive at the same time. I'd also like to make an effort to spend one day a week at the beach, whether it be working or relaxing. Those are my goals, we'll see what happens.

Week 1: In & out of Tel Aviv

This is my first opportunity to sit and reflect on what's been going on in the last 2 weeks. It's Monday evening Dec 1, 2008 and I got to Israel on Nov 16, 2008. I'm sitting in my new apartment where I will stay for the next 4 months and I can finally take a deep breath and reflect.

My first week was mainly occupied with getting over jet lag, visiting with family, and driving in and out of Tel Aviv looking for an apartment. I rented a car for the first week (Hyundai, Getz), so I visited my good friend Rachel in Gat Rimon a moshav (for more info on what a moshav is and the difference between a kibbutz & moshav click here). Rachel and her husband, Nir, live just outside of Tel Aviv and their neighbours have chickens and roosters running around in their yard. Very cool!

This is Rachel and I out celebrating American Thanksgiving with her friends. We ate cornished hen and couscous in place of a stuffed turkey.


In the first couple of days, Rachel and I walked around Tel Aviv looking for apartments, I got a parking ticket, damn it! We saw several places - one looked too much like a hotel room, another was too big, the other too small - it had one room with a single bed, a TV and a tiny kitchen - no stove - come on!! But at least I got to know a few areas in Tel Aviv, thanks to Rachel who showed me around different neighbourhoods and helped me gain perspective on the Israeli rental market. They have a few weird things here when if comes to renting apartments. Firstly, in addition to the monthly rent, a renter must add property taxes, building maintenance, water and electricity to the monthly total. With the exception of electricity, I really don't understand why owners don't just bury the rest of the costs in the monthly rent. It's just complicating things, for no reason... anyway..
The other Israeli rental market phenomenon is real estate agents who pretend to be landlords on renter's websites and when you go to meet them and see the apartment, they show you around and then tell you that they have a few more in the area, and only later will they tell you that they are agents and if you want one of the places that they showed you, you must pay them a full month's rent for their service. When I finally caught on to this, I started asking everyone if they were agents first. Anyway, I got hooked by an agent nonetheless but she agreed to take only 1000 shekels for her service (1 sheqel (ILS) = 3.1 CDN, which is really low right now, so this ends up being around $330). This was better than her original asking price of 3500 sheqels (approx $1,200). I guess she earned her money since she got me into an amazing apartment which was almost taken by someone else. Good apartments go quickly here and they're not so easy to find, I was really lucky. The only downside is that I had to wait 10 days to move in, but luckily my friend Laura offered for me to stay at her place until my apartment was ready. So by the end of week 1, I had an apartment, I visited with family (gained 4 pounds from all the family dinners),
here's how ....
I got an interim place in central Tel Aviv, and went partying for the first time ever in Israel - which wasn't much different than going out in Toronto, except that my friends tell me that it feels like a Toronto Saturday night every day of the week here... but the single malt scotch is soooooo expensive. Nonetheless, for a first week, I'd say that's pretty... pretty... pretty... pretty good!!!

Israel 2008-2009

I decided to start a little blog documenting the adventures of Gili Gurvitz... that's me. My blog begins with my journey back to where I came from (after my mom gave birth to me, that is), and my experiences in Israel with my now grown-up eyes who have lived as a Canadian for 22 years. This is actually more of a journal for me (is that what a blog is anyway? hmmm), so I'm not planning to write with any particular audience in mind, thus reader's discretion is strongly advised! I've never done anything like this before and since I'm not a creative writer by any means, I will ask for your patience as I'm known for rambling on at times... hee, hee. Furthermore, this may be much more information than you ever wanted to know about me and my adventures, but hey you can stop reading at any time, I won't be offended :-)
Ok, getting on with it, here we go...