Jaywalking, or How I've Become a New Yorker

Here in Jerusalem, people wait for the green walking man before they cross the street. Even if there are absolutely no cars coming. And sometimes you have to wait for for 3 green walking mans- for example on Derech Hevron (a major road I live near) where the street is divided into 3 sections. This means crossing the street can take a long time. I have to cross stop lights at least 4 times on my way to school, this equals about 10 walking mans. Years ago I would never have thought that waiting for the walking light to appear before crossing the street would be strange. But after living 3.5 years in New York City, where no one EVER waits for the light to change, I find this Israeli custom severely annoying. Heck, in NYC no one even looks at the light- if there are no cars, you just cross, and sometimes even if there are cars you cross (at your own risk). It doesn't seem like jaywalking to me- it's just being logical. But New Yorkers move at a faster pace than most of the world I think. And I hear that people actually get tickets for jaywalking here. So I'm trying to be more careful... But standing there waiting when I'm late for class just seems ridiculous. This is how I've become a little bit of a New Yorker.