Impromptu Volunteering

Israel is a wonderful place because of the history and the people.  It's the latter I want to speak about.  After the lesson with Nir today on the history of Israel (I think they should consider having Neil Lazarus come speak, I found him to be great for giving a good overview of the current and historical political situation in Israel and the middle east.  He is a very engaging speaker.) I headed to the post office.  On the whole, that was not very exciting - but necessary.  During one of the breaks during the lesson, I spoke with Judita, and gave her a list of books to check out on the three Jewish waves of migration to the states, and a general book on the history of the United States (Zinn, "A People's History").

Afterwards I headed over to Hapoalim.  I ended up speaking with the branch manager.  It's one of the two big banks in Israel, Leumi is the other one - but a friend said they weren't thrilled with Leumi, and had heard good things about Hapoalim.     אתי (Eti short for Ester) was very helpful.  We figured out a way to get me a free bank account so that I wouldn't continue to get killed by high ATM fees.  Having an Israeli account also makes refilling my phone much easier.  I left with a bank account, and a new friend.  I can't say I ever left the bank knowing my managers favorite vacation spot (Thailand) and birthday.  We talked about good places to spend Pesach, and compared notes on various other places to travel to.

We have a date for next tuesday (well, actually, I just have to stop in to pick up my bank card then from the bank).

I got lost at that point, but luck had it that I wandered into the library.  I inquired about getting a card, and was told that I would need to pay 90 Shekels.  After some negotiating, we agreed that the fee could be waived, and I headed down to speak with the manager, Daniella (spelling???).

Out of the office at the moment.  drat.

I started to head out planning to come back later.  It was about half past noon.  Two young muslim girls - Noor and Hadeel (I found their names out later), two absolutely adorable children kept smiling at me, and asked me to sit down.  I figured them to be about 9 or 10.  For the next two hours we communicated through broken english, hebrew and on their part arabic.  They were incredibly sweet, smiling and laughing with me and sometimes at me. 

I helped them with their math homework, and we talked about our families (drawing family trees).  They wanted to know what my name meant, eventually we found a hebrew - english dictionary.  Suddenly I was surrounded by eager young children - children who wanted to learn.  It hurts me that this desire doesn't exist in children back home.  Here are kids who speak arabic and hebrew fluently, and want to learn english, broaden their horizons.

It was a moving moment, and I can't say that I feel like I am capturing it in words.  I am off to Tel Aviv - I am hoping to get a cheaper number from the phone company (Cellcom), we shall see how that works out.