I wrote a post about the 10 things I hate in the US but it’s not all bad. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here for two years! And even though I do not like to admit in front of Israelis who are dying to live here and disrespect Israel, there is a lot of reasons to love America.
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Clothing
One of the things I’m telling both to my mom and to my mother in law – do not buy clothes in Israel- wait to come here. Because the textile and clothing in particular are much cheaper.
Brands like Columbia, Nike, North face, Michael Kors and many more are cheap here.
When we got here we actually where greedy. We bought in bulk. Every shop we came in was literally plundered.
Now I want to say to my israeli friends – you have to know where to buy, because if you enter to the malls you will pay much more than in Israel. But there are outlets everywhere and you just need to know them and shop there.
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Nature And Hiking
It is not that I claim that there is no nature in Israel. After all, we have a miracle like the Dead Sea (although it is about to die because all kind of “Dead Sea Products”), but the United States is so big and varied in terms of climate, It is a great place to travel and see nature.
I am a member of several Facebook Israeli groups of trips to the US and it really make me sad when most of the people plan trips only to New York, LA, San Francisco and Miami. There is so much see here besides that. Breathtaking landscapes which are really worth flying for them to the other side of the world.
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Fuel
Fuel is significantly cheaper here than in Israel. Of course, California with its high taxes is already approaching the price of Israel regarding fuel price, but it is still cheaper.
And why is it nice that the fuel is cheap here? To travel.
In Israel when you travel somewhere you put into your account the fuel price in your expense (it can reach to $100 for a full tank!) In the United States, this is not a factor at all.
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Kind People
To us as Israelis it seems very strange at first. Americans are super polite, super friendly, super kind – to absolute strangers.
In Israel, you will not have 15 minutes small talk with a cashier or a person standing in front of you on the line (unless you both complain about having only one register open).
And lines! – In America there is respect for one’s personal space. No one will stick to you in line, won’t try to ask “just a question”, won’t try to get ahead of you. It seems like standing in line for Americans is not at all a problem at all.
We were at the festival with friends and Dima stood in line. The line of course was pretty long
Emily, a friend who has lived in Israel for three years and therefore knows our mentality as Israelis (and by the why, she is the one who is correcting my lousy grammar in the last few posts of “my pearls of wisdom”) wanted something from the same booth Dima stood in line for. While we came closer. Dima was the first in line.
Emily, as a disciplined American, stood at the end of the line. I grabbed her arm and took her to the head of the line- because its Dima spot. Emily was little bit unconfutable- But hi, we are with him 🙂
Kindness is expressed in the road, in shops, in restaurants – almost everywhere, and the truth is that I wish we could treat each other the same in Israel.
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Grocery Shops
I don’t like how big they are and I wrote about it in my previous post – but of course there are also good sides to their huge size.
After you know your way around it, and you know how to find anything you need – It’s very convenient. Target / Walmart and many others have almost everything.
So let’s say that aside from your regular grocery list, you also wanted to buy a new towel, a new plates, a new pan, or new tiers for your car- you can.
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Homemade
Because everything is accessible here and relatively cheap – not a lot of people do everything from scratch. In America you can buy everything ready to go! Just put in the microwave\ oven and its ready. You can buy crust of a pie, and the pie filling. You can buy boiled eggs. And more stuff that I never saw in Israel.
But, because of that handmade is very appreciated here. After all, Dima and I like to make everything by ourselves (the fact that I neglected the DIY on the blog does not I neglected it in real life), so everything we do is appreciated.
Challah, chicken, hummus, rice and lots of recipes that are really simple get very positive feedback, and it’s fun. Who does not like to get compliments?
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Second Hand Stores
One of my very first posts I wrote about second-hand stores. My enthusiasm for old things existed in Israel. I would drive everywhere following fairs of clothes, housewares, and old furniture.
In America, everything is very accessible.
There are countless shops, cheap and expensive devoted to old things, and this one of my favorite things here.
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Basic Appliances
We lived here already in six houses\ apartments (we managed a lot in two years), and in every home we stayed there were an oven and a stove, an air conditioner, a washing machine and a dryer, a refrigerator, a garbage disposable, a dishwasher and a microwave.
It does not matter if you are renting or buying, most of the apartments and houses will contain these basic appliances. In Israel you are lucky you get a refrigerator and a washing machine.
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Parking
In Israel when you plan to go to a mall or a supermarket you will usually consider the hour of the day and wonder if you will find parking. I often gave up driving in Israel and chose public transportation because I knew there would be no parking. In fact, every Friday, Dima and I were eating breakfast in downtown Jerusalem, walking to the Machneh Yehuda market until noon, and we always took public transportation because we knew we had no chance to find somewhere to park.
When you plan to go to the supermarket, the time and the day matters. You need to go in a day and an hour which will not be too crowded – so that you will find parking.
In the United States parking is obvious. Although I was not in New York, but for example in Chicago there is always parking, you may have to pay – but it’s there. And groceries stores ? It is obvious, you would find plenty of parking spaces, just choose.
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