It was nice having a partner in crime. In the morning, Beth motivated me to go for a run with her. I don't EVER run, so this was good for me. And I hated every minute of it. But, we ran along the boardwalk in Tel Aviv and it was absolutely gorgeous, so I didn't mind the run too much. Even more pretty than Miami, and the best part of it was that it wasn't super crowded, rather; it wasn't crowded at all, I had all the space I could possibly want. The beaches were not crowded either, despite being in the middle of the city. It was lovely.
Another advantage of a partner in crime was our hotel hopping. We had to get prices for restaurants, dry cleaning, etc. etc. from numerous high-class hotels so during one evening we were FORCED to get a glass of wine or coffee at each. Well, we could have been sketchy and just copied the prices, but it just wouldn't be hotel hopping without getting something fun out of it. It was nice to have someone to conspire with, and of course, enjoy the company over a glass of wine. It was very motivating.
I didn't think the customer service at the hotel was good at all. But then again, maybe again it had to do with the overall culture surrounding the personality of what is Israel. The people at the front desk didn't smile. They didn't ask how can they help you. I actually had one girl say "what" to me. You couldn't get too much more blunt than that. Due to a language barrier I tried to get one of them to make a couple phone calls for prices. After the first one, he said "I don't know if I want to do that again. For all I know you are trying to do something bad against my country." Seriously buddy? To this day I am offended by that statement. It's one thing to say you don't want to make a phone call, but don't try to make me look like a heinous person because you need an excuse not to make the call. Yes, maybe Israel has some serious phobias which stem from a long history of violence, (airport security is NO joke, and I had to convince them to hold something of mine at the front desk - normally they are not allowed to do that for safety reasons - so that I didn't have to make an extra trip up to my room. After all, it was so very likely that it contained a bomb), BUT no, I am not trying to harm your country by asking how much is the price of electricity per KwH.
On the upside, sometimes they were actually helpful. I never got anyone to fix my phone line one of the times, but my request to move my room was fulfilled and I got a much nicer one with an amazing view from my bed (and for Lauren, there is nothing better than an amazing view from bed!) Even another time when we checked back in to the hotel, the guy at the desk upgraded both of us to suites. Not too shabby. So overall, it was nearly impossible to read people. And I had to try my best not to take the bluntness too personally. It was challenging. But, that is what this job is most of the time, which is why I like it so much. Speaking of challenging, I'll have to figure out a way to convince the managers at the grocery store tomorrow why I need to copy prices in their stores for 7 hours.... UGH!!!! Goodnight.
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