Things in Israel not in the US

In Israel many things are very similar to the US, but there are also many differences.  Some of the differences can be startling and some are just really hard to figure out.


Milk in bags.

Although you can purchase milk in a carton, you can also buy milk in bags.  Since I discussed that in another blog, I won't go in detail here.

Unisex bathrooms.

I know I have a bathroom thing.  But usually the only places in the US where men and women share a public toilet is in dirty, filthy gas stations, concerts with porta-potties and really small restaurants in old buildings.  Right?  Where else do women have to go where men go? In Israel, the malls, train and bus stations have sexes peeing separately, but everywhere else it's pretty much share and share alike.  That being the case, I've never seen a urinal here, David says he hasn't seen one either.

While we're on the subject: Children peeing openly in parks and on the sidewalk.

Here's what I've seen in the US, little kids who have to use the bathroom and the mother is saying, "hold it, hold it," and the child is literally dancing around holding it.  They teach their children to use toilets and children learn how to plan accordingly.  In Israel parents just let their kids pee on the sidewalk in public and no one seems to care.  I've even seen grown men opting to use a tree than to be an adult and find a toilet.  We're not in the woods here, we're in civilization.  I don't get it.


Post Office.

In the US you go to the post office to buy stamps and send packages.  Some may have a PO box where they collect mail.  In Israel the post office is so much more.  You go to the post office to buy stamps and send out packages -- sure -- but you also go to the post office to obtain your gas mask
and even pay your bills.  The post office even serves as a bank and you can purchase US dollar or Euro pre-paid cards...sometimes you can even get the mail.  Mail delivery is erratic and seems to come once or twice a week.

Sheets

The reason I know about sheets is because I have to keep buying them for the massage business.  Since we don't have a washing machine that works properly, we have to send out the laundry which takes about a week to get back.  They don't have laundromats here, they have people who do laundry for you and charge about 10 shekels a gram.  We average about 100 shekels a week in laundry.  The massage sheets are only a small portion of that.

The sheets in Israel are weird.  The lower fitted sheet is what you would find in the US except really poorly made and paying about the same price.  The cover sheet is a double thickness.  It's almost like a big pillow case, except without the opening at one end.  There is a small opening, but not big enough to crawl in between the sheets.  What's more, there's these small plastic buttons or snaps at one end of the sheet.  I can't figure out what those are for.  I thought maybe it was to attach to the fitted sheet, but that sheet has no snaps or button holes. 

Since Zach solved the mystery of the milk bags, maybe he will be able to explain about the sheets.