First day on the town.

I took a bus from Ramat Gan to Tel Aviv yesterday. This was a big win for me as I had no idea what I was doing. I had to speak Hebrew to someone on the street in order to figure out which one to take and from where. This probably wasn't necessary as odds are extremely high that she spoke English; but that just makes me more proud of myself. There's a constant temptation to just speak English with people here. Nearly everyone is fluent. Fortunately, I haven't noticed much of the Paris-effect where locals get frustrated by your attempts at their language and just tell you to speak English. So far it's been mostly the opposite. Most Israelis I've talked to have encouraged my Hebrew attempts and several pointed me in the direction of the local Ulpan, a school for Hebrew.

They're not all saints though. To many, broken Hebrew is the sign of an easy target. I ended up in a screaming match with a taxi driver at 2:30 am last night who figured he could get away with charging for the time he spent driving around lost in Ramat Gan, including the 5 minutes he was parked at a police station while inside asking for directions. Live and learn. Next time I'm bringing a map and locking down a price up front. Many Israelis, my dad included, are quick to point out that it's not the same country it used to be. Too many people are out to screw each other in a land that was built on a foundation of helping one another. So far, however, the good has still far outweighed the bad.

I got off the bus at Dizengoff Square, an iconic area of Tel Aviv and began my search for a cell phone. Travel tip: there are four major GSM frequencies, called bands. Two are used in America and Canada as well as some Latin American countries, two are used everywhere else. A quad band phone will work everywhere. A dual band phone will either work in the Americas or everywhere else. They don't really make single band phones anymore, but those work in a smaller area. I bought a dual band phone in Mexico last year so assumed it would work here, but found out right before leaving that Mexico uses the same dual bands as America. Long story short, you can't go wrong with quad band, otherwise have two dual bands. I bought a small Nokia at a shop on the street and loaded it with a 50 shekels worth of prepaid minutes. Incoming calls are free so hit me up at country code 972, 052-741-9627. I'm also on Skype a lot, which is considerably more free. My username is yaron.guez.

After getting the phone I tried Israeli sushi (good stuff!), spent some quality time with my brother Tomer, and looked at the apartment that my cousins Assaf and Rachel had found for a possible sublet. The apartment is right near the beach, the north end of Dizengoff Street. It's a studio with a great view of the ocean, tiny kitchen and bathroom, and is fully furnished, including a big couch (who wants to visit?), TV, satellite, and WiFi internet. The owner, an eccentric, sweet, multi lingual, Israeli woman charges per week. The rent is a good deal more expensive than I wanted to pay, but after calling around to a few other places we realized that it's the going rate for furnished short term apartments as there's a lot of tourist demand. So, later that night, I signed a makeshift lease for a month. I move in next Thursday. I'm really excited. It's right by a lot of bars, clubs, an Ulpan, a park, and a river that people go bike riding along. My brother, who lives down the street, said I can borrow his bike whenever I want. He also lent me his laptop with a cellular internet card. It's going to be a great month.

That night I got together with my friend Sara from MA. We're friends from USY since 9th grade and she's since made aliyah. She's currently studying at Tel Aviv University and has been here for the past 2 years, so she knows the city extremely well. She's taken up the task of being my tour guide, which is fantastic. We went to an English pub where she works at. What better way to get acclimated to a foreign city then to hit up a bar full of English speaking ex-pats? I met a great and interesting group of Jews who had made aliya from Chicago, London, Long Island, South Africa, Russia, Toronto, and Memphis (one of 12,000 Jews in Tennessee apparently). Everyone I talked to about it had an interesting reason for leaving their home country and moving to Israel. It was a great time. At the end of the night I got a call from El Al telling me they had found my second lost bag. Excellent!

So between learning a bus route, practicing Hebrew, getting a cell phone, spending time with my brother, meeting his girlfriend, getting an apartment, spending time with Sara and meeting her friends, getting my luggage back, and fighting with a taxi driver, I'd say it was a fairly productive day! Tonight I head to Tiberius with my cousins Assaf, Rachel, and Reut to visit their parents- my Uncle Shuki and Aunt Geula. I'll be there until Saturday.

Oh, did I mention that it's GORGEOUS here? Pictures to follow, but so far it's been constantly sunny and warm (60s and 70s). Coming from -5 degrees New England, it's in-cred-ible. A guy could get used to this....