Need help?

Getting to know a new country is an adventure. And everybody knows that few adventures are easy and without mishap… That’s what makes them adventures (=

It’s been a little more than two months since I arrived here in Israel. And yet I still cringed inwardly every time my friend, visiting from Norway, said that I lived here while we were out seeing the sights. Saying that I live here implies a sort of insider knowledge… And I’m not there yet (=

Though at times I feel silly and or frustrated, I enjoy exploring and learning! And I have met so many cool people in the process.

After staring for many minutes at a can in the grocery store I finally asked a lady if she knew what was in it. She couldn’t read hebrew either, but she got her husband who could and he translated the can for me. Both of them were extremely nice and we had a really nice conversation.

One day while trying to carry a big stack of cardboard boxes a builder offered to help me carry boxes to the trash. Although I didn’t accept, it was nice that he asked.

When my friends and I were unsure where to get off the bus, a man pushed the stop button and made sure we got off, without us even asking for help (=

And several sellers have given me money back when I gave them too much (my hebrew counting skills are not exactly top notch).

The list could go on… And there is an openness that I really like in people here. They like to strike up a conversation and are genuinely interested.

One day my friend and I got lost trying to find our hostel. People alternated between pointing, and saying I’m sorry I have no idea. Finally we got to a flower shop where some guys were loading flowers into a car. One of them said “Welcome to Israel!” (probably because we had so much luggage. At that point we had been walking around for a while we were pretty exhausted.  We asked him if he knew where our hostel was. Suddenly 5 men were standing discussing and trying to figure out where our hotel was. One of them lent us their phone and we looked up on the internet. Long story short the town we were in had the same name as the street we wanted to be on. But they were so kind that we almost felt like our expensive detour was worth it. After some free coke they showed us where to catch a sherut back to where we came from.

Lost…

The fifth is out of the picture (=

Being lost and feeling lost isn’t to bad when there are people out there willing to take the time to help, or even just listen and try to help. Although I hope to learn more, who knows what further bloopers and lack of knowhow will lead to!