Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Jet lag: a ton of bricks


Rochelle was completely right about the jet lag, that it would hit me in the afternoon of the next day (she explained it to me last night). I felt totally fine this morning. I walked around Kfar Saba with Rochelle and Ed. They helped me to bargain for a cell phone, and we had lunch at an outdoor falafel place.

Then, at about 2pm, I started yawning. I lay down for a nap at 3pm, resolved to get up at 4pm, and I didn’t get up until 6pm! It’s actually not that surprising, considering I needed to catch up on sleep, but I remember dreaming and thinking, “It’s time for me to wake up now.” But my body felt weighed down like a ton of bricks – I simply couldn’t make myself wake up, and had to wait it out as you would a storm (incidentally, I started dreaming about a flood).

Kfar Saba is a cute town. It has numerous small parks and alleyways, with residential apartments clustered around them. Rochelle and Ed live within walking distance of the downtown area, which includes a shopping center with a wide, open plaza.

Rochelle explained to me that the country has undergone a cell phone revolution in the past year. The government used to not allow as much competition, but the public petitioned and the laws got changed. Subsequently, it became much cheaper to own a cell phone. It’s also common to bargain your cell phone plan.

Rochelle also explained that it’s very hard for a young person to live in Israel these days; rent is expensive, and you can only rent from the actual owner (as opposed to a co-op or other sort of building-wide arrangement). If the landlord wants you to move for whatever reason, you have to move, and if he doesn’t fix something, then oh well, your problem.

I’m so glad I’m staying with some locals so I can learn the ins and outs of this tiny country. 

Tomorrow, I’m planning to head into Tel Aviv to explore the board walk and the old city of Yafo.

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