House hunt in the "off-white" city of Tel-Aviv

Flowers in the garbage can in Tel Aviv

Dear Citizens of the World!

Today marks the end of my first week here in Tel Aviv. The focus of my days has been on looking for an apartment to call home the next two or three years.

The search has not been easy. It is hard to look for an apartment when you don't know the city and it is double hard when the prices a very high.

Tel Aviv is a relatively new city where most buildings came about over the past 50 years, but the first impression is mixed. Most of the buildings are four-story, off-white and very dusty buildings.

Old apartment being remodelled...are they paying for those colours?

However, many of these older buildings are being renovated inside. Therefore, you never know what you will find on the inside -- much like the flowers in the garbage can in the picture at the top.

Reflection of our hotel in a shiny office building

There are also lots of nice shiny, new buildings mixed in with the rest. Maybe - if we are lucky -we will end up in one of those shiny buildings that are beautiful on both the outside and inside.

The United Statesian