Early to Bed, Early to Rise

It's a confusing societal concept.
When I was growing up, it was considered unacceptable to call someone before 9:00 am, or 8:00, if they had young children.
It also was common to go to sleep later- bedtime for the young ones (not toddlers or very young) was around 10-10:30.

Yet, I find that here in Israel, the clocks have changed. Offices are commonly open only between the hours of 8-12. (How do people who work visit these offices anyway?) If they are open till 1, they then execute a break between 1-3 or 2-4.
Then, the country functions again till 6. Supper is at 7, 7:30, yet no one really heads to sleep till around 11.

Basically, they are getting around 8 hours of sleep, which is wonderful. But in order to get to work at 8, they have to wake up at least at 7. So, 7:00 becomes the new time to call.

I don't mind getting calls at 7:00 am. I am up, and busy. However, my mind isn't always functioning at optimum level. I would have loved a call at 8, yet 7 seems a tad early.

And the 9:00 pm scheduled shiurim seem a bit off as well. I know they are arranged for that time so that mothers can feed all their kids supper, the husbands are home, and then the wife can go to a shiur. But then the mothers get home at 11. Assuming they have nothing to do (yeah right- the dishes in the sink, the crazy kitchen, the kids needing help with homework- all of these never happen) they get to sleep at 11:30, and wake up at 6:30 for the new day. That's a small amount of sleep for a busy lady.

Why not make the shiurim at 6:00? Then one could be home by 8. Or, better yet, limit the shiur time to a half-hour, max. Not that we all couldn't use a 2 hour shiur, but sometimes, a shorter shiur during the week is needed.

It irks me that the country focuses on getting up as early as possible- which is good- but then going to sleep as late as possible- which is bad. I guess each home can try to institute earlier times for everything, but sometimes it's just not possible.
Ah well. Guess my dreams of sleeping late and going to sleep early will have to fade into oblivion for now.