7 bucks each for beer at the bars? Ugh. Was a fun experience, though.
The funny thing is, that's actually pretty much the average price in Israel!
You people may complain about the prices of food and drink in some of your places, but most of them are cheaper than my country, and since your wages are higher that's even more of a reason for me to be amused. In my country, taxation is INSANE. Most people give around half of their money to the state through direct and indirect taxation.
And alcohol? taxation on alcohol are like the highest. If 7$ for half a liter beer in a pub seems expensive to you, here the regular prices would move between 6$- 8$.
By the way, in England prices were not much better. 3.5-4 pounds for a pint. That's pretty much the same as in my country.