Wednesdays and Sundays I work at the main office. It is located in Talpiot, a different area from the school. When I met with Inas last week, I came to the office so I thought I knew where it was. This morning, I asked Areej to drop me off at the school (since she was already driving there) and I would take the bus to the office. I remembered bus number 12 passed by the school and the office, so I didn't think it would be too difficult.
Let me preface this story by saying, I'm pretty proud of how I've managed to get around thus far. I've taken the bus, taxis and walked a bunch as well. I think I have a pretty good idea of my surroundings, and although I cannot read maps, I have a general idea of where things are, or so I thought.
Areej dropped me off at 8:15am. I went to the stop, and the bus took about 10minutes to come. I hopped on, and didn't ask for a return ticket (Side note: in the buses here, when you buy a ticket, you get to use it twice if you use it within an hour of the first trip). I actually thought to ask for a return ticket, but I was pretty sure I was going in the right direction, so I decided not to. I took the bus on the same side of the street as I usually take other buses going toward the Old City, because that's going away from home. Yes, in my head there's only two places you can go: the Old City or Beit Safafa- everything is in-between those places, so you either go toward home or away from home...my world was about to change.
I was looking out the window all throughout my journey, looking for signs or places that I recognized, so I knew I was going in the right direction. Mind you, I've never gone from the school to the office, so I don't really know what I'm looking for, but I'm hoping to recognize something. After a few minutes, things start to not look familiar at all. I thought it might have to do with the fact that buses sometimes detour a bit so there are more stops in-between. It's funny how the mind works to rationalize certain situations...about 20minutes later, I decided I was definitely going in the wrong direction. Suddenly, Rachel- the intense girl I met on the bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem- came to mind. She said you should always pay attention to the direction the bus is going or you'll get lost. When she said that, I immediately thought to myself "that would NEVER happen to me". And there I was; lost because I took the bus in the wrong direction!
I got off the bus, but I carefully selected my stop. It looked like we were in somewhat of a residential area and there was nothing around except for houses. I waited till I could at least see a store because I hadn't had breakfast...I waited about 5-10 more minutes until I found the right stop, making the whole trip about a 25minute bus ride. I got off, bought a power bar and some cookies and waited on the other side of the street for the bus in the direction I wanted it to go.
The bus, of course, took extra long. I waited 25minutes in the cold, but at least I had some cookies!
I finally got on the bus going the right direction. It took so long, I thought I might have the same bus driver- how mortifying would that have been! I arrived at my destination two bus tickets later and I was about two hours late. Oh, and did I mention I forgot my phone at home? Yes, so I couldn't call my boss to tell her I was alive! I still needed to walk to work from the bus stop. Easy enough, I thought.
It's super cold out and I'm very late, so I'm walking as fast as I can. I then stop because there is a red light for pedestrians, but I notice that there are no cars around. I wait and look in every direction and I see no cars, so I decide to cross. Guess who was waiting for me on the other side of the crosswalk? Yes, a police woman. She asked me to show her my ID or passport. I only carry my CA driver's license, so I don't loose my passport, and she asked me to see another form of identification. Well, I didn't have another form of id. She asked to see my wallet. I told her I don't carry my wallet around, just my id and atm card (it's true, I mean, why would I carry all that stuff here anyways?!). She didn't believe me, so she asked me to open my bag. I did, and showed her everything she pointed to. Frustrated with me, the policewoman asked me, "why did you cross if the light was red?". I said "well, I'm late to work, actually. I got lost because I took"- "wait, you work here?"- she interrupted me- "where do you work?". I told her I work at Hand in Hand, and showed her my planner (it's super cute). She said, "oh, ok. Well, I was going to give you a ticket, because you can't cross at a red light, but take this as a warning. While you are in this country, you need to respect the laws here". "Yes, ma'am". I thanked her and apologized again before leaving and then, off to work.
Way to start off the day!
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