Tel Aviv: Six Months Later

When we first moved to Tel Aviv, I wrote a blog about my first impressions of the city. Six months later, I’ve had time to explore the city, interact with locals, and notice trends both interesting and bizarre. In this post, I’d like to mention a few things people traveling to Tel Aviv should know in addition to other random observations I’ve made.

I’ll start with the light hearted:

-Gas is extremely expensive. Right now, gas is just under 24 shekels a gallon, which is equivalent to nearly $7.
-Stray cats are everywhere (a recent study estimated 39,000 of them), but they’re also fairly well taken care of. You can tell the locals are fond of them because many of the cats love to get pet. It’s also common to see residents out in the evenings feeding cats, and you’ll notice little piles of cat food strewn about sidewalks or in parking lots.
-When people say it doesn’t rain in the summer, they mean it. It rained a couple times after we got here in February. Since then, it hasn’t rained a drop, though it might have been cloudy once.
-For some reason, Tif Tam, a local grocery chain, is fond of Christmas music. I don’t shop there all the time, but I’ve heard Christmas music playing at least three times. It’s a very bizarre feeling to hear Jingle Bells in July while grocery shopping in a predominantly Jewish country.
-Driving here reminds me a lot of driving in Boston, except with crazier motorcyclists and a lot more scooters. Israelis, like Massholes, are quick on the horn and have little patience for pausing at green lights. Driving can be confusing at times because Waze is in Hebrew, but at least Waze works.
-Tel Avivians are not the best at minding traffic directions. The dividing line between lanes is seen as merely a casual suggestion than a rule of the road. Cars are almost always parked on sidewalks, especially by the beach, and people have no problem walking in bike lines and staring down bikers and scooters as if they are the crazy ones.
-Israelis remain incredibly active and fit in the face of COVID restrictions. As mentioned in the previous blog, it is hard not to feel a bit inadequate while walking along the beach.

Due to dining restrictions from COVID and our desire to stay away from crowds, we haven’t eaten in restaurants more than a couple of times. However, there is still plenty of good food available to-go. We’ve eaten plenty of shawarma and falafel around our apartment, but it seems like every local has their favorite place. However, all locals agree that there is one place is particular with the best sabich, lovingly referred to as “The Sabich Place.”

Sabich is the perfect on-the-go food. Fried eggplant, a boiled egg, hummus, tahini and a bunch of veggies are all stuffed into a pita to make for one delicious meal. Wash it down with a Coke, and my day is complete.

When not eating takeout, our diet is not so different from when we were in the States. The biggest difference is my seemingly never-ending hunger for pita and hummus. I’m basically the Joey Chestnut of the combo. Labneh, a thick yogurt that has been strained to remove most of the whey, is another of our favorite new food toppings. I like it in a pita stuffed with eggs and veggies, but it’s also delicious mixed with za’atar (a local herb) and olive oil.

Red Alert is an app we were told to download when we moved here. It serves as a weekly reminder that we do indeed live in a bubble here in Tel Aviv, and we are lucky to be in what is probably the safest city in the country. We’ve received 12 notifications in August alone for rocket attacks on the Israel side of the border with Gaza. It’s humbling to see these messages and know how privileged of a life we lead.