Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is one of the most expensive cities in the world in ratio to what people earn here. The minimum wage is around 20 shekels an hour ($4.50) and that’s why the guy serving you your hot dog doesn’t say thank you. So you can imagine there are better places in the world to work.

You should tip in bars here as well as cafes and that makes bartending or waitressing pretty good work if you can get it. Almost all young Israelis speak English so you won’t need Hebrew to get by, you’ll just need an employer who isn’t scared of hiring someone without papers.

A work visa is virtually impossible to get but when you check in at a hostel in Tel Aviv you’ll likely be offered work straight away. of course that means dish washing, construction or fruit picking at 20 or 25 shekels an hour. Israelis bosses treat you like slaves but they also respect strength so tell him where to stick his shitty cash in hand job and he’ll be more reasonable.

You can live in Tel Aviv for about $600-1000 a month, depending whether you go out a lot or not. If you get really down on your luck you can always go and join the Thais, Chinese and other illegal immigrants in picking up the fallen vegetables on the floor in the Carmel Shook.

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