Israel - the country of opposites.

I've been talking a lot about what I've been doing here in Israel, but I think its time a write a post about the culture of Israel.

Israel is truly the country of opposites - a picture of a palm tree and snow describes it best. The landscape can go from looking like California, to Pennsylvania, to Colorado, then to Miami, within an hour of driving through it. Whether or not your Jewish or Arab completely defines you (and you are one of the other - no such thing as being 25% this and 50% that…). Israeli's joke about how they are always at war with someone, always on the defensive and the offensive.

I think people here are incapable of feeling awkwardness or shame. Israeli people do what they want, when they want. Which is why the first Hebrew word most people learn is "belligron", which means chaos. For instance, in the school I am teaching at, it is perfectly normal for a teacher to arrive ten minutes late to class, or for students to circle up and play a card game in the middle of the lesson. Its perfectly acceptable for a student to charge their phone during class, and pick a call up if it rings. The teacher's room says students can't enter, but they come in and out all day. Teachers don't have their own classroom, thus they are always just hanging around the teachers room, eating, chatting, not really doing anything. Students here lack any discipline - they are crazy. They talk throughout class without ever getting yelled at, get up and leave when they want, basically lack any respect for any teacher. So its quite a blessing when they pay attention. Teachers seem to lack any lesson plans - when we ask them what we should teach next week, the typical respond is "do what you want", they have nothing planned for us to disturb anyways. Today in one of my classes two girls had basically wrapped themselves up in toilet paper, and the teacher didn't even flinch.

There is also a clear distinction between Jews who are religious and those that are not. There is very little middle ground. They are either orthodox, and are wearing top hats, have long curly hair from their temples, ropes hanging from their clothes etc. Then their are the non-religious, who don't go to synagogue, who drink, smoke, do what they want, and don't really believe in anything.

Some other interesting facts about Israeli culture that I've noticed (not trying to generalize here, just giving you a picture of some of the differences with American culture):

-The students here are so NEAT - beds always made, kitchen always clean. I don't know if I've ever seen MIT dorms as clean.
-The entire campus goes home every Thursday night, and returns Sunday morning, mainly because Israel is so small that they can, and they like to be home for Shabbat, whether or not they are religious.
-Since the students are only here for half the week, they are here solely to study. So they are basically always working - there are very few clubs, no sports teams (or even a field to practice on), and not much student life in general.
-All Israeli shower floors I've seen are level with the bathroom floor, so every time you shower the entire bathroom floor floods. Thus every shower has a squeegee in it.
-Everyone in college is between 22-30 years old, so it almost feels like being on a graduate school campus. This is because all Israeli citizens serve 3-4 years in the military after they graduate high school. They usually then spend a year of traveling around the world before coming to college.
-iPhones cost almost a $1000 here, and yet EVERYONE has one.
-Many people here smoke - high schoolers, college kids…sometimes its hard to get a breath of fresh air.
-Pretty much every food item comes in a pita.
-Students at this college take 8 classes at once - thus its normal to have 6-12 hours of class a day!
-Since all citizens have to serve in the military, there are people in uniform walking around everywhere here. Every bus or train I've been on has had at least 5 military personnel on it. Everyone who is my age in this country is in the military right now. Its funny to see girls with long hair, makeup, and perfectly painted nails, in a military uniform.


I have definitely never lived in a place quite like Israel. Its closer to America than Kenya was, but still feels very different. Its weird that I may be the only Christian my roommates have ever known or lived with. Its funny to watch a chemistry lesson purely in Hebrew, except for the reactions and equations, which then use English letters. I'm not loving the lifestyle and culture as much as I fell in love with that of Kenya or the Dominican, but I am learning a lot about the culture and myself, seeing lots of cool things, and having a good time. I have never desired to know a country's language as much as I do here - I miss being able to read, something I've taken for granted in all of the other places I've been.