Israeli Buildings Are Too Conformist

I’d always suspected it, but it wasn’t until I learned how to drive that it became official that I had zero sense of direction. North, south, east, west, maps, grids, visual layouts, I’m lost with all of them. I can only find my way around by recognizing landmarks such as parks, buildings and sometimes, a certain car if it’s always parked there. Before I go somewhere I need to head back home or somewhere familiar so I can figure out which way to go. I can’t visualize streets and their layouts to know shortcuts or which general direction to head in. 

So Israel is horrible for me. What’s with the rule that every building has to look the same? What might happen if they allowed you to live somewhere that’s not made of yellow stone? And it’s not just the colors, but the architecture, every building is designed exactly the same. I have absolutely nothing to go by to figure out where I am. I get the general idea behind the rule, I agree that putting a steel and glass highrise in the Old City might ruin the atmosphere a bit, but why even in places as far away as Ramat Beit Shemesh does everything have to look the same? I know it sounds like hyperbole, but I’m literally not ready to try and go anywhere on my own yet. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Speaking of Ramat Beit Shemesh, what’s with the graffitti in the little parks? As far as I can tell, the entire population consists of young black hat families and their hyper little kids. Who exactly is going into the park to spraypaint dollar signs on the walls? And why dollar signs? A sign of the recession? The only way to get close to a dollar in Israel these days is to paint it yourself? Also, the air in Ramat Beit Shemesh smells like marijuana. I’m serious, I asked someone else if they smelled anything. They sniffed the air and said “weed”.

More to come, basically whenever I get on the internet. Sorry for the lack of polish on these posts, I’m not used to being timed. 🙂