Settling In

            There was a point last year during my IQP (junior project in Melbourne, Australia) where I gradually made the shift from tourist to feeling like I lived there, where my evenings and weekends shifted from exploring like a tourist to getting to know locals, hit the gym and the squash courts and just chilling out, catching movies and eating good food.     

            I don’t know if I’m there yet (especially considering the whole Hebrew thing or lack thereof), but despite that, considering that the things to do for tourists and locals alike, in Tel Aviv really just revolve around checking out good restaurants and maybe the nightlife if you’re into that scene, I don’t know that I’m too far off either.  People tell me where they live, and I actually can recognize the cities and towns they mention if only because they’re stops or destinations on the train line I take to work or because Israel is actually remarkably small. 

            Getting to know people changes the experience for sure.  I’m really good at going off on my own and seeing the world (or okay, the country), but there’s something to be said for good food when someone else is out with you. 

            Last week, I checked out the Brasserie in Tel Aviv with someone I had met on my tour that weekend, and had some pretty delicious gnocci and some sort of really thin beef.  If you like French fare, definitely head over there.  It was completely worth getting soaked in the rain (if that gives you any gage of the level of enjoyment I found in it)

            If I thought that was good, then the Quicheria in Givatayim (a suburb of Tel Aviv) brought things to a whole new level.  I can’t remember what type of quiche and salads we ordered.  All I know is that we cleaned our plates, and it was incredibly delicious.  Afterwards, we headed to Cofix where I tried the famous Israeli iced coffee.  I don’t even like coffee and it was awesome (kind of a flashback to my childhood days of drinking ice caps from Tim Horton’s except even tastierà bonus points to anyone who knows what I’m talking about).  Then I hopped my train back home. 

            There’s something to be said for knowing where you are too, being capable of directing the taxi driver to where you live without adding 10 shekels to the bill, knowing where to buy what you’re looking for (no wild goose/laptop charger chases around Tel Aviv late on a Saturday night) and just feeling at ease with your geographic plan for the day.  It’s shameful to admit how many times in my first few weeks here I would get lost and just hail a taxi.  One day, I actually had a couple dozen taxis pass me by, as I wandered around Tel Aviv in the rain struggling to hail one.  That’s actually the only time in over a month that I’ve experienced such a phenomena, but after 20-30 minutes, I conceded the battle.  It didn’t help that half of them had fares and the other half were going the wrong way.  Apparently I wasn’t in the right part of town to grab a taxi.  But, if the central train station isn’t the right place to grab one, I’m not sure how I generally get them so easily.   While that evening I came to the conclusion that my life would go on if I simply walked a couple of kilometers, I quickly discovered that apps like Gettaxi, which deliver a taxi to your door at any time of day, are your friend.  For us 90s kids who recall the days when our parents used to call taxis (gasp) or read maps (what?) because GoogleMaps or apps to order a taxi weren’t a thing or we simply only had flip phones, it’s kind of living the dream.  The world is constantly changing.  What better place to see and experience that happening firsthand than in the start up nation?