My Couchsurfing Experience
Trip Start
Nov 13, 2006
1
67
80
Trip End
Oct 21, 2008
Herziliya,
Israel
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
If you want to see a country from the locals point of view and without spending too much money then couchsurfing.com is the way to go! I heard about it a while back but only recently started to use the site.
I looked up couchsurfers in the Tel Aviv region, and a whole list came up. How should I decide? Perhaps the person with the biggest couch? The best location? The nicest apartment? I picked the one with the nicest picture (not of the couch).
Yael is a student who works part time as a waitress and dreams of traveling to Europe. She lives in a large studio flat with a crazy suicide dog called Sumsum (called a suicide by her brother Haanan because he'll pick fights with dogs twice his size).
The incredible hospitality I have received from Yael has made this experience so much more than simply a place to stay (no not that!). Its been an introduction to Israeli society. I have come back several times to stay when I've been in the area and Yael will give me her keys when she goes out (see PS). She has cooked for me, done my laundry - in fact she knows all my clothes off by heart. In many ways she'd make the perfect wife - alas she has told me we're not suited!
I now know all of Yael's family; I've been to her sister's house for their Independence Day barbeque and a birthday, her brother took me out to a party, and I went to her Grandma's house for Friday night meal. She is from a tight-knit family who see each other frequently and will do anything for each other. Family in Israel is important, and as they see each other so often, family get-togethers are very relaxed.
I thought that I might have landed the most hospitable couchsurfer in the world until I did my second couchsurf last week.
PS. In England we are taught from a young age to fear strangers and if you look at the media you might think that every other guy in the park is a child molestor. If you are ever in the UK I recommend trying to talk with strangers and watching the different strategies people use to politely end the conversation. In Israel people are trusting. It is easy to talk with strangers, to hitch-hike, and even be given house keys! (Though I'm not sure the same trust applies in business). I wonder if its genuinely safer here or if the media back home has sent us all down highway paranoia??
