We went to the other side of Israel, and still we saw lots of stray cats!  We decided it wasn’t a coincidence anymore, but part of life.  Everybody we asked just took it as part of daily life.  It was in Jerusalem where the culture shock started to kick in.  Jerusalem is a very modern city, lots of stores, signs, hotels, and a light rail system.  However, most of the buildings are older than the United States of America.  It was a strange juxtaposition and took some getting used to it.  Israeli culture appeared to be more prominent in Jerusalem than Tel Aviv.  Tel Aviv felt just like any other city, Jerusalem was close but did not.  Luckily, having already spent a couple days in Israel, it was easier to come to terms with the culture shock, and we were mostly over our jet lag.