It is about 4 shekels, or $1.08, for a 1.5 liter bottle of water (which is a BIG bottle). We usually buy these water bottles when we go on long hikes to stay hydrated under the warm Israeli sun. It is also normal and healthy to drink the tap water in Israel, so many of us have reusable water bottles that we fill up in the sink. We do this to help the environment!
This week my friends and I celebrated New Year's Day at our favorite hummus place. It is a cute outdoor restaurant which makes you feel like you are in a treehouse. Hummus is a typical Israeli food; while many people eat hummus in the United States as well, it tastes WAY better here! Hummus is a spread made from chickpeas and sesame seeds. It is typically eaten with pita bread. Israelis love sesame, and it is found in a ton of their foods and snacks! At the hummus place, we all got one large order of hummus to share and a few falafel, my favorite! Falafel is also made from chickpeas, but it comes in the form of round, fried balls.
Interestingly, the Israelis do not celebrate New Years the same way as we do in America. There is a Jewish calendar that differs from the calendar we use in America. According to this calendar, the New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, is celebrated around September or October in our calendar. Because of this prior celebration, everything here is open on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. I had to go into the major city of Tel Aviv to celebrate New Year’s Eve, as it was like any ordinary day in Rehovot.
