Yesterday (though in reality it seems like several days ago) I went to Tel Aviv just overnight before returning to Jerusalem for Shabbat. I took a sheirut over with some friends from Hebrew U and was picked up at the Central Bus Station upon my arrival in Tel Aviv to go over to Ofra’s house. The first exciting happening of the trip was my ride with Ofra. We actually spoke only in Hebrew (albeit very simple and slow Hebrew…) I think that living with Sandra (my French/Spanish roommate) and practicing Spanish and French with her and other Spanish and French students here has pushed my past my perceived comfort zone with speaking in foreign languages and made me realize that the most important thing is being understood. And the only way to improve is just to get over the embarrassment and open your mouth (as long as what comes out is not English.)
Also during that ride, we decided that I would go out with Shira that night to this big party in Tel Aviv called Laila Lavan or White Night. Basically, the bars stayed open and there were bands and such things on the beach. We left the house at about 11:30pm and experienced a taxi ride that was exactly as I would expect a high speed chase occurring through traffic. We cut around cars that were moving too slowly, wove in and out of streets, basically business as usual for Israeli drivers.
Though it was weird not understanding exactly what was being said, it was really exciting that I could understand any part of the conversation. After the concerts, we began walking around with the aim of finding a taxi back. Unfortunately, that seemed to be a common goal among the thousands of people who were also in attendance. We wandered to a nice ice cream shop, had some ice cream and then continued to wander for about an hour until a nice nahag had pity on us. Again we had an exciting taxi ride though this time it was more humorously exciting than action-movie exciting. After we completely failed at guessing our driver’s origin (I remain convinced that if I had understood the beginning of the conversation when he gave us his name, Mario, I totally would have guessed correctly) we found out that he was Spanish and I proceeded to speak with him in a language in which I actually have a reasonable level of ability.
After going to bed at around 4:30am, I spent the night waking up about once an hour until I got annoyed and just got up at 8:30am. I spent a leisurely morning with the Avizovs (during which I made my first joke in Hebrew!) and then Ofra, Eitan, and Ron drove me to the Central Bus Station where I met Sandra to take a sheirut back. As we were sitting quietly, waiting to drive off, to our utterly shocked amazement, our driver got into a 15 minute fistfight with some guys off the street over who knows what. Well it could have been longer, but by then we had decided we definitely did not want to be driven for an hour by this person. So we decided to figure out the bus station. Not only did this end up probably being safer, we realized that the great air-conditioning at a lower cost was really something to be grateful for. As we stepped off of the bus, we turned to the driver and with thanks dripping from our voices said “Todah raba.” The driver really did not know how thankful we really were.
Finally, after a two hour meander through the shuk (market) and a quick lunch on Ben Yehudah Street, we took a bus back to campus. And I sit here again, with nothing but thanks to Shira and the Avizovs for another great visit and to all of the drivers who really made my day interesting and, ultimately, end without disaster.
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