Cultural Differences

Tim Boyum asked me to talk about some of the big cultural differences between NC and Israel that I am noticing so I will do my best, but first a quick update.

This is our last week of Ulpan (Hebrew class) before starting our jobs full time on Sunday.  I have somewhat started a little early though.  I went last Tuesday and today to get acquainted with what is going on before work starts for real.  That pretty much consisted of reading a bunch of journal articles, but they were interesting and raised some important questions.

The articles focused on some legal terms, especially “proportionality” vs “balancing” and the question about how rights should be treated by the courts and by parliaments.  One example is “Freedom of Speech.”  In the US we view this freedom as almost holy and most believe it should be protected regardless of any cost in every situation.  That system works well for us and I doubt few Americans would change it, but does it work for everyone?  If you are like me you want to say yes, but what about Germany in the 1940s-60s? Coming out of World War Two Germany wanted complete freedom of speech but recognized that there were views that had caused Hitler’s reign and views caused by his regime that were terrible and didn’t deserve respect and protection.  Because of this (and some other societal factors) the understanding in Germany is that rights lie with the individual but that there are also societal interests and values that sometimes trump those rights.

Of course the question is where does Israel believe those lines fall and where SHOULD those lines fall in this country?  I’ve just started scratching the surface, but this organization is the type of place where these questions aren’t just asked but where they are taken to legislatures and justices in an effort to find the best possible answer and actually implement reforms to protect rights and Democracy.  It is going to be an exciting trip and a great internship.

This is the Jerusalem Theater.  We have a floor of the office space that houses some other groups and the Theater employees.

Now then, culture.  Let me start by saying I really enjoy it here.  The following has a lot of complaints but I am really enjoying my time here so know that the good outweighs the bad.  Having said that, Jerusalem is a very urban, modern city and some differences between here and NC are probably not particular to Israel, but they are new to me so here you go:

Big negative: No one cleans up after their dogs in my neighborhood.  When you aren’t dodging feral cats there are squishy mines all over the streets.  My “favorite” reaction that some give is “I don’t have to clean up, my family built this neighborhood.”

Aggressive Driving: I don’t mean they speed. I mean they rev their engines as you cross between cars stuck in traffic. They honk ALL THE TIME.  It is like an entire city of people with constant road rage.  One day I saw someone pull over and pick someone else up from a bus stop.  Another driver pulled to the side and yelled at the driver for slowing things down.

Lines: Israel doesn’t believe in lines, or as the British say “queues”.  Getting on or off the light rail is just a mass of people pushing against each other.  And you have to be aggressive to buy things if a store is busy because people just jump right up to the cash register when they are ready.

Cost of living: Some things are incredibly inexpensive and wonderful.  For instance the other day I got my apartment-mate some veggies for his dinner. 3 small tomatoes and 3 medium cucumbers fresh from the market cost me 2.40 shekels.  That is about 65 cents.  On the other hand, apartments are insanely expensive across the country.  I saw a sign in the neighborhood where I work for a studio apartment for sale, just $355,000… and water and electricity are incredibly expensive. Not looking forward to that bill.

Friendly people: One on one people are incredibly friendly.  They will answer any question they can and those that speak English are usually happy to help you stumble through Hebrew.  Of course that is only true for one on one conversations.  In crowds, watch out, they will run you over if you are in the way and get mad at you for not walking fast enough.

Trash: I don’t know about other cities but in Jerusalem they don’t have garbage trucks on every street. Instead there are trash cans or giant trash compactor style dumpsters.  You might think this would be a hassle but given the tiny streets and amount of alleys it makes perfect sense.  I imagine the city saves lots of money this way and there are more than enough dumpsters and recycling cage things so that you never really have to walk that far.

Hot Water:  Just like in the US every house has a water heater. But here they are on the roofs and they use solar panels for power usually.  If you definitely want hot water you can flip the “dude” switch (no idea) and you get incredibly hot water in 20-45 minutes depending on the temperature and time of day.  This isn’t that big of a deal, and it probably saves water and energy but it does require a little extra planning and time to take a shower. 

I am sure there a thousand other things but this is already too long.  If people are interested in specific things please ask.  It get easy to just get into a routine and not blog so suggest topics and I will do my best.