Second World Country

The first day I came here, we were given a tour of the Kibbutz. It was nice, we saw the crops, where to go, who to talk to, etc., but the most important thing that I remember was what Steve, our tour guide, told us as a small add lib. "Remember," he says in English (he's American), "you are now living in a second world country." I thought he was joking, but there is a great deal of seriousness. I mean, it isn't all second world, there are three metropolises here that look like regular metropolises back home, but the smaller cities, they look like, well they look like the smaller cities back home. There's running water, of course, I say as an understatement, but there are differences from what I was used to.

Take water. You never realize just how much you like the taste of water in America. But there's another part with drinking in general here. People don't even go through the motions of "wiping off the germs" from the neck of a shared bottle. It's little things like that. The only cheap food item is liquor. Also, I'm more used to this than others, but there's very little to do here. The nearest "city" is Beit Sean. There's reason you've never heard of it. "See you later, I'm going to Beit Sean."

"Why?!?" And then when they come back, asking what they did in Beit Sean is always a joke. Like all Israel, the prices are nauseating, but there's less items to nauseate you in this city.