6 Random Things About Me: Israel Version

I've been tagged by Earth to Danie with my first meme! She was tagged by a friend in the Netherlands, and did hers as an Indian version. I'll continue by doing mine Israeli style.

1. My favorite place for a weekend getaway in Israel is Vered Hagalil in the northern Galilee. It's a quaint, rustic horse farm, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

2. I really enjoy purchasing art and jewelry from local artisans. We've managed to secure a few wall hangings from Yoram Gal, and I'm leaving here with way too many pieces of jewelry from the amazing Ayala Bar.

3. Yom Kippur is my favorite holiday celebrated here. While I don't enjoy fasting per se, I do appreciate the serenity of the day. The entire country completely shuts down; nobody drives and everyone gets out and either walks or rides their bikes on the streets and freeways (because they can).

4. One of the best family fast food restaurants is Zozobra. This pan-Asian beauty is a model of efficiency. From our take-away order to delivery is 15 minutes... tops. If you eat at the restaurant, they take your order on a hand-held system that sends your requests directly to the chef and the bar. By the time the last person puts in their order, the first person is already receiving theirs. It's lightening fast and delicious.

5. The delivery options here are fantastic. You name it, you can have it delivered straight to your door. My grocery store, Stopmarket, will either deliver the groceries you choose for yourself, or you can call in your order and have them deliver it within a certain time frame. The coffee shop around the corner from the girls preschool will deliver coffee to my car. I can double park my car, go in and order, and they'll walk out when it's ready, or I can call it in and they'll bring it out when I arrive. I have yet to find a restaurant or store that doesn't deliver or doesn't contract with a delivery service. I've hired a manicurists to come in and do a mani/pedi, ordered dog food from a local store, and I have even sent Libby to/from the Kfar Hess boarding kennel in a cab all by herself.

6. Due to my under active thyroid (and having two kids), I've spent a decent amount of time at the Herzliyya Medical Center, right around the corner from our house. This medical center is a one-stop shop for all International families. They direct bill our Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, I can go in and get a blood test at any time without a referral, and even better, I can pick up my results a few hours later. If we need a doctor's appointment, I can call and usually see someone that day.

The end.

Here are the rules: Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Write six random things about yourself. Tag six people at the end of your post, linking to their blog. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

I'm not going to tag anyone as I'm still new at this, but I am going to tell you to check out 6 of the 50+ blogs that I enjoy reading... Emily in France, Joeprah, Diplopundit, mackin ink,
Life After Jerusalem, 4everMom. These are a variety of different kinds of bloggers; expats, stay-at-home dad, Foreign Service, editor, stay-at-home mom. If you enjoy these, take a look at my still-not-completely-updated list of other blogs I read on the right column of The Perlman Update.