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Rehovot Shopping: Is there a Discount?
by Erin Israel
"My friend K. and I discovered yet another bargain-basement store last night. Its giant two-shekel sign gleamed over an entrance decorated with blue paint and glass blocks. It looked as though Gaudí had tried to design a Paris metro stop but was plagued by cheap materials and a short attention span.
This place has the usual shrine to Tupperware knockoffs and other plastic abominations, as well as an odd assortment of housewares. Of the three stores we've found like this, K. and I agreed that this one was the one suffering most from the cheap-thus-ugly syndrome.
Nevertheless, we turned up some interesting finds: paper lanterns, socks and stickers with the American flag on them, and packs of kitchen items made in China--including one container of sponges with this written on the packaging: "Healthy life...Begin from the clean garbo."
How true.
# # #
If I weren't so paranoid, I would shop in the shuk. Fresh pita, fresh produce and herbs--and everything is incredibly cheap...unless you're a foreign construction worker.
A man in his forties from Southeast Asia, in clothes flecked white from plaster or paint, filled a plastic bag full of bok choy and green onions, at one vegetable stand in the market, last night. I watched as he held up a small bunch of green onions to the stand owner, who stood with his arms crossed.
This conversation went on in Hebrew for five minutes, repeating every ten seconds:
Construction worker: Half a shekel.
Stand owner: Shekel and a half.
Construction worker: No, only half a shekel. They're small.
Stand owner: Shekel and a half.
Finally, the owner threw up his hands and gave in. The worker smiled, parted with a big fifty-agorot coin, and walked off into the maze of the market with the makings for soup.
Many of the foreign construction workers pay an agent close to $8,000 simply to come here to work. Once here, they work for extremely low pay, and live in cramped conditions with other workers. Like the Filipino women who work as caregivers for the elderly, here, they seem to live in enclaves, out of view.
Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains."
Source: Erin Israel. Say It in Hebrew! #769. "Yesh ha-na-KHAH?" "Is there a discount?" Rehovot.Blogspot.com [FullText]
"My friend K. and I discovered yet another bargain-basement store last night. Its giant two-shekel sign gleamed over an entrance decorated with blue paint and glass blocks. It looked as though Gaudí had tried to design a Paris metro stop but was plagued by cheap materials and a short attention span.
This place has the usual shrine to Tupperware knockoffs and other plastic abominations, as well as an odd assortment of housewares. Of the three stores we've found like this, K. and I agreed that this one was the one suffering most from the cheap-thus-ugly syndrome.
Nevertheless, we turned up some interesting finds: paper lanterns, socks and stickers with the American flag on them, and packs of kitchen items made in China--including one container of sponges with this written on the packaging: "Healthy life...Begin from the clean garbo."
How true.
# # #
If I weren't so paranoid, I would shop in the shuk. Fresh pita, fresh produce and herbs--and everything is incredibly cheap...unless you're a foreign construction worker.
A man in his forties from Southeast Asia, in clothes flecked white from plaster or paint, filled a plastic bag full of bok choy and green onions, at one vegetable stand in the market, last night. I watched as he held up a small bunch of green onions to the stand owner, who stood with his arms crossed.
This conversation went on in Hebrew for five minutes, repeating every ten seconds:
Construction worker: Half a shekel.
Stand owner: Shekel and a half.
Construction worker: No, only half a shekel. They're small.
Stand owner: Shekel and a half.
Finally, the owner threw up his hands and gave in. The worker smiled, parted with a big fifty-agorot coin, and walked off into the maze of the market with the makings for soup.
Many of the foreign construction workers pay an agent close to $8,000 simply to come here to work. Once here, they work for extremely low pay, and live in cramped conditions with other workers. Like the Filipino women who work as caregivers for the elderly, here, they seem to live in enclaves, out of view.
Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains."
Source: Erin Israel. Say It in Hebrew! #769. "Yesh ha-na-KHAH?" "Is there a discount?" Rehovot.Blogspot.com [FullText]
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