Aliyah Diary 24: Supermarkets & Highways

View all Diary Entries

Aliyah Diary

01. Aug 19, 2024: Preparation In America
02. Aug 25, 2024: First Few Days
03. Aug 29, 2024: Moving In
04. Sept 4, 2024: First Day of School
05. Sept 8, 2024: Two Weeks In . . .
06. Sept 16, 2024: Getting Comfortable
07. Sept 22, 2024: Ready for Yom Tov
08. Sept 25, 2024: Jerusalem Concert
09. Sept 30, 2024: Nasrallahed on the Floor
10. Oct 8, 2024: Driver’s License
11. Oct 13, 2024: Packages. (חבילות.)

12. Oct 25, 2024: October Sun and the Jew
13. Oct 30, 2024: Bureaucracies and Stories
14. Nov 2, 2024: The Kindness of Strangers
15. Nov 10, 2024: Safety Fourth
16. Nov 17, 2024: Where People Look Like Us
17. Nov 19, 2024: Jewish Identity and Outlook
18. Nov 24, 2024: Language – l’at, ‘lat
19. Nov 28, 2024: Taxation for Americans
20. Dec 5, 2024: Tel Aviv Art Museum
21. Dec 11, 2024: Let Freedom Ring
22. Dec 23, 2024: Doctors & “Choleh Chadash”
23. Dec 29, 2024: The West Bank. (Shomron)
24. Jan 5, 2024: Supermarkets & Highways

Type your email…

Subscribe

Fruit out of Season

Shlomo HaMelech (King Solomon) was so rich that he had available to him fruit out of season. I use this as an example so show how rich we are today. We eat apples, grapes, mangos, and watermelon all year. It might not taste nearly as good and might be a lot more expensive though you can also get peaches and plums any time of year.

Then I moved to Israel and – why can’t you buy any grapes? Where are the grapes in the winter? No mangos either? Dried fruit isn’t just because … it tastes good?

This kind of epitomizes the difference between the United States and Israel. In the United States we can get any food we want at any time, often delivered to our door that day or by 6am the next day. It might not be that good, though if it’s a mango you want, you shall trip over it on your way out in the morning. In Israel … if it’s a mango you want, it’s going to be a good mango and quality means you can’t get it whenever you want.

Migrating South and Temperatures

Meanwhile, on Chanukah the entire country seems to go to Eilat … migrates south for the winter … like the Florida of Israel. Personally, I’m still enjoying the newness of my locale here with weather in the 60s on most days, and hitting the lower 70s on the good days.

That being said, it has begun to rain hard on certain days and roads here aren’t built so much for rain as they are in America. Some very nice puddles and slicks formed on the highways around here during heavy rain. During these rains it was finally cold … low 60s as a high on some days … 40s at night. In Jerusalem, there’s sometimes snow.

Temperatures in houses aren’t as uniform as they are in the United States – rooms tend to have their own air conditioners and when there is an air conditioner / forced air unit on a floor, the ducts are far shorter and extent only to adjacent areas. They’re also much louder and the walls are less insulatory. In America we have standards – a standard way for everything … McMansions are a thing there. In Israel it’s more varied, whether it be the housing, air circulation, or temperature from room to room. We’re more connected to the outside over here. People seem to live more outside here.

Highways

Also, I finally took my first trip up to the North … to Haifa. The highways going up the narrow coastal region of Israel are often two or three lanes only with varying degrees of pavement quality, width, and traffic flow. On the way back I took Kvish 6 … the newest highway and only toll road in Israel. The American in me needed a wide open road which is designed like the New Jersey Turnpike compared to the Route 1/9 feel of the other highways. Still, it is two lanes in some places and speeds varied from about 50 MPH to 85 MPH. I reiterate again … I’m so spoiled living near Modiin. It’s a modern city with beauty, excellent roads and low traffic.

Supermarkets

Should you want to see the “gradients” of Israeli society, you can judge by their supermarkets. Within 5 miles you can find:
– Level 1: Arab village with … I don’t know … it’s not a place I go though they tend to look poor.
– Level 2: Haredi city with numerous supermarkets selling things at lowest prices and the cheaper quality of products – fruit not so fresh or colorful, lighting is bright and harsh. The parking lots are dense and difficult to maneuver in. Cartons and packing materials might not have been cleaned up from the aisles … have to use self-checkout which may work … though if there’s a problem other customers will rush to help you.
– Level 3: Shopping center … the eateries are kosher, though not ‘mehadrin’ (higher level) and looks nice … have to pay to use a shopping cart which doesn’t go straight, no one bags your groceries, might be long lines, clean though expect too many people in your way / unable to find products … an average supermarket around here is what we’d consider lower than average in America. Parking lot is usually packed and hard to find a spot. Though the same shopping complexes usually have health food stores with higher end products that you’d find at a normal American supermarket … dried fruits, coffee, frozen goods, high fiber goods, gluten free goods, etc.
– Level 4: Super Tov.

Super Tov – the supermarket in Modiin where you don’t have to put in 5 shekels to get a shopping cart. Strangely, the shopping carts all travel in the direction you push them. There is plenty of parking. The aisles are wide. The lighting is neither too dark or blaring. The products are neatly arranged on their shelves, aisles are wide, workers offer help and ‘tidy up’ as they walk by and see something out of place. The fruit is beautiful (though no grapes or mangoes, even here in the winter). There’s a large meat and cheese section – the cheeses being big wheels that they’ll slice off for you. American products abound – want the no-broth chicken broth common in America? They have it though you’ll pay more for it. … Super Tov feels like what we’re used to in America in a place like Stop N’Shop or the like. Super Tov even bags for you … like a Trader Joe’s. As strange as this is, rarely do supermarket cashiers help you bag your groceries.

Snacks in Israel aren’t nearly what they are in America … no multi-aisles of chips, pretzels, colorful doodle things, cookies, candies, and various shaped sugar with bright packaging. I’m learning to adjust my diet from “protein bar” to “rectangular prisms of peanuts” … from “Cascadian Farms” for healthy high-fiber cereals to “granola” and “Weetobix” … some Spanish cereal brand. Finding large tubs of yogurt without added sugar is easy here because that’s the norm and there’s not much else that is larger than a single serving. In America you had to find the no-added sugar tub in a single space along a wall of dozens of yogurts, six high and thirty wide.

On the food topic, a neighbor greeted me with a showing up cases and cases of Hellman’s ketchup under a tarp. He said the sale deadline was soon though good for up to a year after. Seemingly he couldn’t sell it all so I have two cases of free ketchup … and it turns out Hellman’s doesn’t just make mayonnaise.

A few other things – weights in supermarkets are measured in kilograms. Makes sense.
Weights in gyms are usually, though not always, in kilograms and I’ve noticed that on some machines the amounts go up unevenly. Seems the weight plates are calibrated in pounds though labeled in kilograms so the numbers shown aren’t always going up evenly.

Fixing Things Around the House

Toilets … toilets run. American toilets run. Israeli toilets run. In America it’s usually a leaky gasket. In Israel it’s a sticky press button thing. Here, I get a text message when the water is running to much – it says I should check it out. Israel is more careful with water. America has more than enough in the Northeast … Israel now has more than enough everywhere … 20% more than needed thanks to desalination.

Appliances … we wouldn’t put up with this in America. New washer and dryer and problems … doesn’t drain properly, doesn’t shut off … that sort of thing. Tape is over part of the controls so someone doesn’t select the setting where it gets stuck. This is Speed Queen … which is the top brand of washer/dryer … we bought them in America because we do so much laundry and so we bought the brand here. It’s not the same quality at all.

Bathroom sink was clogged … hey, there’s a screw on the drain … I can just open that up and clean out the drain with some stringed zip ties (it works). The whole drain pipe just fell. Rubber cemented in? Nope. Turns out that’s a load bearing screw and once you take it out, you need new pipes. The gasket won’t hold anymore. Instead, you’re supposed to unscrew something at the bottom of the pipe to remove the clog. Oh. $120 mistake or so.

I have a whole lot more to write about … activating a credit card, day trips to Masada, Haifa, Jerusalem, Lod Mosiac, … internet filtering … keep reading future articles.