Finally - A Productive Day!

So today was the big day. I finally got my sweet, blue-gray te'udat zehut - my very own Israeli identity card.

Now I can finally take care of the other errands and chores that I need to take care of, though I'm still not sure which cell phone company, bank or health insurance to choose. They all seem to offer the 'best' deal in their respective markets and none of those deals seem to be anything to speak of. But we'll see where my research and conversations take me tomorrow..

After receiving my Israeli ID, I took a taxi with my new friend Yael (whom I met on the aliya flight) to an event at the King David Hotel. Along the way, the cab driver repeatedly took a rag and used it to rid his head and armpits of all the sweat that he had accumulated in the preceding few moments. Yes, it was over-air conditioned in the car, but it didn't seem to matter to his pores..or manners. But then again, those are harder to find the further from Chicago you venture.

The event was a discussion between Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister, and Abu Ala (Ahmed Qurei), the former Palestinian Authority prime minister. I was pretty excited, since with just a few days in Israel I was able to attend such a high profile discussion. Qurei began the conversation by offering a Palestinian perspective. At first I thought it was pretty interesting to hear his point of view about the frustrations that peppered his government's attempts to negotiate with the Israelis. Then it really just amounted to a slather of complaints. Livni, by contrast, offered her vision and hopes for both peoples and posited this thought: it is necessary to ask what the price of an agreement is versus the price of not having an agreement, arguing that the latter is more costly and detrimental to the future of the State of Israel and that (stating this as she seemingly became emotional) now is the time to make decisions.

On the way to a cafe near the prime minister's residence, we walked past a tent that has been erected to petition the prime minister to push for the release of Sgt Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier kidnapped by Hamas over four years ago. Hopefully there will be a happy ending to this story..

Since all of the outside tables were occupied, we kindly invited ourselves to sit with a gentleman who was sitting alone and reading. We had a good time joking around with him and, after sitting in the cafe for a couple of hours drinking teh nana, mint tea (really just simply mint leaves in hot water - excellent choice!), I caught the number 74 bus South to head back and watch the soccer match with some hummus. A nice, productive day. Tomorrow comes all of the decisions! Wish me luck..