Most of you will remember my story about trekking home from Tel-Aviv a couple weeks ago, taxi being pulled over and all, and think, how could it get worse than that? Well, rest assured, I have the answer.
It was a simple Thursday, a day that I have nothing to do. Around 1 o'clock I went to meet up with the group as they got out of Ulpan. My bag was packed, and I was ready to embark on what I thought would be a great journey!
See, Erica was running low on money, and needed to cash her travelers checks. But after searching around Ramla, she was told that we would have to go to Rehovot, the town over, to do this.
Having nothing to do, and always loving an adventure, I quickly said I'd join.
As we waited an hour on the side of the road for a bus, and as two taxis drove by us completely full, we finally were on our way. What should have been a 10 minute drive turned into another 45 minutes and we were stuck in horrible traffic.
RULE #1: never go to Rehovot in the afternoon. Avoid traffic by traveling in the morning.
A little bit before 4 we finally arrived on the main street and started heading to a bank.
The first bank we went to was not open.
The second bank we would not accept travelers checks.
The third bank also would not accept travelers checks.
Finally. The fourth bank, a western union( thank you America) said yes...
And then we realized Erica did not have her passport.
RULE #2: you need a passport to cash travelers checks. But more importantly, don't ever get travelers checks because many places do not know what they are!
So, at least we knew where to cash them, and could come back again.
Wanting to make the best of our day, we headed to an ATM where I took out money for Erica to borrow and began shopping.
An hour later, having bought nothing, we walked into a Pizza store. But, no, it was not that easy. I could not eat my pizza, but I did realize that my wallet was missing.
Great. Thankfully at this point Erica had money so we would be able to make it home. I called my mother, canceled my credit cards, and called Nir.
As we waited for a bus, which never came, I began getting phone calls from a blocked number. Being upset, I didn't bother to pick up, but they kept on calling.
Finally, I said Shalom, and a man started speaking. Not caring to know what he said, I hung up about 3 times before I finally calmed down and listened.
He was talking about money. But What?!
I stopped a soldier on the street and had him translate. A MAN HAD FOUND MY WALLET? how had he got my number? who was this?
The soldier, not knowing we lived in Ramla, hung up and told us the man was heading to Ramla and would be back later to meet up with us.
Having no idea how he had my number, Erica and I panicked. We called Nir right away to have him come save us, fearing we were about to be lead down a dark alley.
Taylor and Jackie were back in Ramla searching for how this man would have found my number. They googled my name, read my blog, and we even called IsraelPhones (the company I am renting through) to see how this could have happened.
No luck. We were scared, shocked, and completely freaked out.
Still not having this mans number, he called again. Nir was still not with us, and we stopped another soldier to help. She barely spoke english, and I was in to much shock to speak hebrew. It was certainly not an easy conversation.
She told us to follow her, and literally began walking down a side street. Erica and I, holding hands, can't stop wondering!
This man wants us to go to his office. The soldier assures us he sounds nice, but no, we were scared.
Nir finally came, and I'm pretty sure I cried as I saw him.
Finally, he got on the phone with the man and asked "How did you get her number?"
Silly me, I had completely forgot I had put my number in my wallet.
RULE #3: always keep your phone number in your wallet.
As we waited on the side of the road for the man to come, Nir told us he was an Arabic man.
I can't believe I got it back, nothing missing. And though I had already cancelled my cards, at least I had my wallet back and the realization that people in this world can be nice, and aren't exactly what we thought.
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