As with any city, it's hard to sum up the atmosphere in Tel Aviv via text. Instead, I'll just discuss some of my observations and hope that you each find something to take out of it.
To start with, the streets of Tel Aviv are covered in stores. Lining the streets you'll find small boutiques - often the designer, seamstress, store owner, and vendor are all the same person. Furthermore, there's a hairdresser every block or two, each only housing 2-5 chairs, corner stores everywhere you look, pharmacies (aside from the one large chain, cleverly named Super-Pharm, most pharmacies are independently run, and you can walk in, tell the pharmacist your symptoms, and he'll pull something out of some unmarked drawer behind the counter. He finds the curing medicine every time - it's amazing), hardware stores, and of course cafes everywhere you turn. Coffee-to-go hasn't quite caught on yet, as people prefer to sit and enjoy their caffeine. Every cafe has tables spilling out on the sidewalk - often with only a few, or even no, tables inside. In the winter, they simply put temporary walls around the outside area, and standing heaters (often gas fueled fire) keep the area warm.
The most difficult adjustment has been realizing that everything is a "specialty store." I don't say this to mean that everything is high quality, or imported, but rather stores are quite segregated by merchandise. Good luck finding a department store! The only exception is a home goods stores, where you can find electronics, shelving, tools, lighting, etc, in one place. Just the other day I went out looking for a new planner, so I went to the bookstore. But guess what they sell at the bookstore? Books! No planner to be found...
Passed all the stores and whatnot, Tel Aviv is actually a shockingly green city. Israel may be a country made 60% from desert, but it has one of the top irrigation systems in the world, and Tel Aviv itself sits on the beach. Trees line all the sidewalks, there are several parks, including a MASSIVE one just a block away from me, and the bush archway marking the entrance to my building is a pretty common sight.
and... Perfect segue. As an introduction to the city, I suppose I'll start with the virtual tour of my apartment. It's quite nice, seeing as we just renovated it a couple years ago. So without further ado, photos of my apartment:
The entrance - you'll notice no front door to the building. This is not uncommon. To get to my apartment, however, it's a lovely 62 stairs, and no option of an elevator. While normally I don't mind the 4 1/2 flights so much, it's a pain to bring up groceries, and rather annoying at the end of a long day or middle of the night. On the plus side, my ass has never looked better :-P
My bathroom (and the clothes line out the window. Here in Israel we like to conserve energy.) The astute of you will notice that the shower and toilet are in two different rooms. These days, most people have knocked down this wall, but we decided not to. I'm not sure what logic that my parents used to come to this decision, but it certainly is nice to be able to pee right away while someone showers, instead of waiting 10 minutes for them to get out.
The kitchen. Fully stocked with a stove and oven. This may seem like a small feat, but most student apartments in Tel Aviv don't have an oven, and many even lack stoves. Instead, you'll see countertops occupied by high power hot plates. Glad I can still cook and bake!
Living room/Dining room. A photo from each end.
Close up of the dining area, and the wonderfully large windows that slide open, leaving nearly no wall and and a gloreous breeze :)
And on the other side of the windows, my lovely garden (silly father not normally included). On the herb side I have: rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, louisa (verbena - delicious in tea!) and nana (mint. I believe spearmint, but I'm not totally sure). As for the flowers, in Hebrew they are called Amnon and Tamar (Viola in English?), I don't know what the purple ones are called, and at the end I have a little kumquat tree, per desires of my silly father. I'm looking into some fun kumquat recipes. If you have any suggestions, please send them my way!
As for the living quarters, there is one lovely, massive room, with the same huge windows and the most comfortable bed I've ever had. Shown from 2 angles.
Unfortunately, when my parents come, they reconquer the master bedroom, and I get relocated to the small room. While it's actually not so tiny, the windows are much smaller, the breeze isn't as nice, and it doubles as a storage room when unoccupied - meaning it also doubles as a storage room when it is occupied. I should probably fix this problem before Naama comes to live with me! Oh yeah, a friend is moving to Israel and staying with me, at least temporarily. I'm quite excited to have a roommate and someone to enjoy my meals with! While I don't mind eating alone, cooking a full meal for one gets kind of sad...
So that sums up Tel Aviv and my apartment, in hopefully not too many words. Coming soon to my blog:
A concert series - several concerts that I went to over the last few weeks
Art around Tel Aviv - there is a lot of street art and sculptures around the city. Some of them nice, others no so much. But the pictures will come soon!
Love you all. Miss you lots. And always happy to hear your stories!
:) for this post!
ReplyDeleteAmnon and Tamar = Viola
About "shower and toilet are in two different rooms. ... what logic that my parents used to come to this decision,..." it's the usual logic of your parents: why do something if not doing it is a possibility?
Double :) to this post.
ReplyDeleteLoved every word and every picture! It was such a fun read for me!
ReplyDelete