Lisa, who hails from Canada, sounds like she's having the time of her life in Tel Aviv, Israel. The weather, the social life, her job--all these and more are the pros of living in that city. The uncertainty that comes daily is just part of life there, something that people have come to live with. Here she tells us a bit about things like the cost of living in Israel and what she thinks about the Israelis.

Lisa N. Goldman

February 17 2007

-Where were you born?
Vancouver, Canada

-In which country and city are you living now?
Tel Aviv, Israel

-Are you living alone or with your family?
I live alone.

-How long have you been living in Israel?
I moved to Tel Aviv in September 2000, three weeks before the second Intifada began and the Oslo Spring ended.

-What is your age?
I’m 39.

-When did you come up with the idea of living in Israel?
I first came to Israel in 1984, a couple of months after graduating high school, to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s program for foreign students. I stayed in Jerusalem for three years, basically feeling like a Canadian living in Israel. Most of my friends were foreign students, and my Hebrew didn’t improve much beyond a very basic level. Then I moved to New York, and all of a sudden I was an Israeli living in Manhattan. Most of my friends in New York were Israeli, I studied Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at Columbia University and I spoke more Hebrew in New York than I did in Jerusalem. Around 1998-9, my Israeli friends – many of whom had lived in the States for a decade or more - suddenly began to shift back to the homeland. They called me and wrote me, telling me that life in Israel was so much better than in New York – peace was around the corner, Tel Aviv was just as sophisticated as Manhattan, the weather was much, much better, the beach was walking distance from home, the people were warmer and more open and what was I waiting for? Come home, Lisa!, they joked. So I decided to sublet my apartment, spend a few months in India, and check out Tel Aviv on my way back to New York. If things were as good as my friends claimed, I’d stick around. If not, I still had my rent-controlled Manhattan apartment. Long story short – I landed in Tel Aviv, discovered that the city was really all that (and more), found a ready-made social life and a job that paid pretty well, and voila! New York – with its long, cold winters, insane materialism and neurotic people didn’t seem very attractive anymore.

-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?
No. I’m Jewish, which means that I am entitled to citizenship under the Law of Return; so I just applied for citizenship and everything was sorted within a few months. I have quite a few non-Jewish friends in Israel and they have managed to obtain work permits without much difficulty. Most of them have Israeli “significant others,” though. It’s not necessary to be married or heterosexual to be considered a partner: Living together is enough for the Ministry of the Interior, and same-sex partners get the same rights as heterosexual couples.

-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?
No, I was covered by the National Health Insurance program pretty much from the beginning. There are also several very good, inexpensive private health insurers. A couple of my friends have used them and were very impressed with the level of service.

-How do you make your living in Israel?
Today I work as a journalist, but when I first arrived I did marketing communications for a high-tech start-up. Then the high-tech bubble burst, taking my start-up with it, and I was unemployed for quite a while. I actually ended up accepting a job with an investment bank in Tokyo for a few months, just to earn some cash to cover the overdraft I incurred while unemployed. After I returned to Tel Aviv from Tokyo, I got a job with the English edition of Haaretz newspaper, Israel’s main daily broadsheet. That led to a job with Corriere Della Sera, a major Italian newspaper, and several freelance writing jobs.

-Do you speak the local language and do you think it's important to speak the local language?
I came to Israel knowing basic Hebrew, and since then have become pretty much fluent. I say “pretty much” because I still find legal documents confusing, and my vocabulary is weak when it comes to academic subjects. But for newspapers, television, novels and peer-to-peer conversations, my Hebrew is fluent. Most Israelis speak basic English and it’s quite easy to manage without Hebrew. I even know ex-pats who have lived here for years without learning Hebrew, and they manage quite well. But they’re reliant on Hebrew-speaking friends when it comes to dealing with bill payment and service providers, and their cultural experience is limited. They cannot understand the evening news broadcasts (okay, sometimes that can be a good thing), they can’t enjoy the jokes, the satire shows, the entertainment magazines – like Time Out Tel Aviv, for example, which is excellent. Also, a group of Israelis will rarely stick to English in a social situation if it’s only for the sake of one person who doesn’t know the language. So that one person inevitably feels left out, which is not a comfortable feeling. Israelis are warm, open and casual, but they are not really sticklers for old-fashioned courtesy. Their attitude tends to be that it’s up to you to get along.

-Do you miss home and family sometimes?
I miss my family sometimes, but I was never particularly attached to Canada. I don’t even miss New York, although I lived there for a decade. Tel Aviv is really a great city: it’s got a very dynamic cultural life, a nightlife that just doesn’t stop, and a wonderful café culture. When I’m not working I go to exhibition openings at art galleries, hang out with friends at lounge bars and spend hours using free Wifi at one of the many cafes within walking distance of my apartment (you can hardly walk 100 metres without encountering a café in Tel Aviv). I also go to vinyasa yoga classes, dance performances and underground theatre performances – or just walking along the beach is lovely, especially at sunset.

-Do you have other plans for the future?
I never plan my life. If I know what I’m doing one month from now, it’s unusual. But I do like to travel, and I’m sure I will continue to do plenty of that.

-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?
I rent a two-room (one bedroom) apartment in central Tel Aviv. It’s in an old Bauhaus building (1938) and my living room opens straight onto a spacious rooftop balcony. The rent is $750, which is unfortunately the standard price for a one-bedroom apartment in Tel Aviv these days. Rents are sky-high, and incomes are not keeping up. I am considering buying, but am very ambivalent about locking myself into a mortgage with high monthly payments. A renovated or new two-bedroom apartment in central Tel Aviv costs around $350,000.

-What is the cost of living in Israel?
For someone earning euros, sterling or US dollars, Israel is not expensive. You can live quite well on US $2,500 per month. A meal in a nice restaurant costs about $30 (although the very best places – the ones that are reviewed in European newspapers and travel magazines – are about four times that amount). Rent, as I mentioned, is high in Tel Aviv, but food, clothes and transportation are reasonable. The average taxi ride costs around $4, and a week’s worth of groceries is about $25 per person.

-What do you think about the Israelis?
Israelis are very warm, casual and hospitable. It’s almost impossible to be lonely here: you will inevitably receive three invitations for every holiday meal, and it’s easy to strike up conversations with strangers in cafes. Israelis can also be blunt to a fault, and tend to ignore common western courtesies – like standing aside to let passengers descend from a bus, opening doors for one another or even saying “please” and “thank you.” The term “customer service” is often an oxymoron. Israelis can be loud, too. All this can be off-putting for new arrivals, but you get used to the noise and bluntness pretty quickly. It can be quite refreshing, actually, to know exactly what someone thinks: You never have to guess if you’ve offended someone in Israel, ‘cause they’ll waste no time in informing you. ;)

-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in Israel?
I guess I’ve pretty much covered the positive aspects in my answers to the previous questions. One of the big negatives is of course the security situation, which can make life a bit stressful sometimes. But again, that is something one becomes accustomed to.

-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in Israel?
Be relaxed and accepting. Don’t get offended by bluntness, and realize that what seems like rudeness is not usually meant to be. And most importantly, do not come to Israel in order to realize some idealistic dream. If you do, you will probably be disappointed upon discovering that Israelis are just regular old people with tons of flaws, just like everyone else.

-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about Israel?
Well, there’s my blog, On the Face – of course!
The rest of the Israeli blogs in English are aggregated here: English-writing Israeli bloggers.
There’s a nice website about Tel Aviv here: Tel Aviv Guide.
And a site about Jerusalem here: Jerusalem Vibe.
For news about Israel, I prefer Haaretz newspaper’s website: HAARETZ.com.