- I travel between New York City and Israel every six weeks.
- Four years since I've been going back and forth between the two countries, there are still many things about Israeli culture that take me by surprise.
- Here are some of the most shocking cultural and lifestyle differences between Israel and the United States.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
I travel back and forth between New York City and Tel Aviv every six weeks.
The arrangement started four years ago, when I decided to escape a frigid New York winter and continue freelance writing from somewhere a little sunnier. I ended up meeting my husband in Israel, and four years later, I make frequent trips between the two countries.
Despite the time I've spent in Israel, there are still some cultural and lifestyle differences that shock me when I compare it to my home country, from my inability to negotiate a good deal to many industries' reliance on fax machines as a main method of communication.
Here’s a look at some of the things that are drastically different between the US and Israel, for better or worse.
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Everything is negotiable in Israel — even your phone bill
Because I don’t speak Hebrew, I’m a particularly bad negotiator in Israel.
In fact, not only do I most often not get a deal, I almost always get ripped off. This holds true everywhere from the local produce market to the phone company. Not speaking the language is essentially a guarantee you will be overcharged.
Go anywhere with an Israeli, however, and they will negotiate down everything from the price of dried apricots to their haircut, with unabashed chutzpah.
No topic of conversation is off limits
The other day I called a cab and the driver almost immediately asked if I was OK because he was picking me up near a hospital.
I’ve had a trainer ask me what I’m eating because I work too hard at the gym to not have less fat (literally those words).
Every time an Israeli comes to my apartment they want a tour — not because my apartment is big or anything special; they just want to see and give their unsolicited opinion.
And everyone asks how much your rent is or for how much you bought your home. The list goes on and on.
Israeli adults spend way more time with their families
My apartment in New York is across the street from my parents', which most people in New York find odd. Many American adults see their families only once or twice a year.
In Israel, if you don’t see your family once a week on Shabbat, at the minimum, you’re outside of the norm. In the same vein, Israelis will invite someone they barely know for Shabbat dinner (either at their own home or at their parents' house) because they don’t want anyone to be alone, especially on a holiday.
When you’re dating, it’s also very common to meet the person’s family within a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, it takes my single American friends months to even confirm whether or not they’re in an exclusive relationship, and it could be a good year before they meet the parents.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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