Jeans cost $80 dollars?!?!? (Palestine is pricey)

It should be said that the real title of this blog post should have been, Ramallah is pricey. But the alliteration didn't work and I'm a sucker for alliteration.

So yeah, Palestine is wayyyy more expensive than I thought it was going to be. Coming from New York, which may be the playground of the rich but sure also is the rumpus room of the poor (I could write a guide on living cheap and great in NY and it would start and end with the 7 train, but that's another blog entirely). Here's some price points (with comparative context) that will hopefully shock you as they did me:

Drip coffee from the coffee shop: $4 ($1.25 in NY)

Bedsheets for a queen size bed: $80 ($20 at Filene's Basement)

Nothing-special cheeseburger and fries: $12 ($8, max, anywhere reasonable)

Lunch at the place downstairs: $12 ($5, place downstairs from NY office)

Falafal sandwich: $1.75 (this would be like, 50 cents in Amman)

Shwarma: $4 (same as NY!!! in Amman, $1 max)

Manicure: $30 (I almost cried when I found this out)

Blow dry: $20 (in Amman, $5. I was well-coiffed there)

Hair straightener: $50 (are you kidding me Palestine?)

So, even the usual cheap stuff (beauty care, shwarma, falafal) is still comparatively pricey, in any context. So what's cheap here? Taxis, fruit and veg and Turkish coffee. It seems like I'll thus be thin and chauffeured.