Unexpected Adventures

After my grand address was delivered to the community, we had lunch at about 1pm. Today's meal was a Yemenite offering of malawach, a pancake-type meal served with some sweet and spicy sauces, and included a number of assorted vegetables and salads - מעולה (me'uleh - awesome)!

I lead a few friends of mine by foot to a currency exchange place that was recommended to us, which ended up being a 2.5 hour walk across a good section of the city, not uncommon of my typical wanderings. The street on which the store was located provided a great parallel view to another hilltop upon which sits the Knesset (parliament), an angle I had not yet seen. After taking care of our business there, we started walking back to the main street and paused so one of the gang could get an ice cream bar at a small shop along the street. This is when the day transformed into an experience from a pleasant walk.

I noticed that the trash dumpsters next to us had flowers in them and acted without thinking further. The flowers were all fresh roses and other varieties of assorted colors, deposited somewhat recently and ever so gently by the adjacent flower shop. I reached in and grabbed the nearest bouquets - and my friends soon followed suit. Between the four of us, we had accumulated at least a dozen bouquets, sometimes requiring that we reach in a bit further than what otherwise might be thought of as permissible dumpster diving. Admittedly my first thought, having just graduated from business school, was to go to the main drag and sell them. Arlene, one of my friends along for the walk, suggested to give them away, which proved to be a much more noble and rewarding decision.

I gave my first bushel of flowers to Adi, a cute guard at a nearby museum. Her reaction was typical of other fortunate recipients: for what? is there a catch? are you serious? what's the occasion!? ... followed by a great appreciation and wide smile. I passed by a car and noticed an Arab woman sitting with her child. At first I just passed it by without thinking, like I'd normally do with anyone. This time, however, I doubled back and made sure to get her a bouquet - perhaps, I thought, doing one small thing like this might bridge a small gap here or there and help bring about a feeling of change that might temper the seemingly endless fighting in the Middle East battleground. After finishing most of the distribution in the city center, Arlene and I went back to get more flowers to take back to the ulpan with us. At one point, I was so set on getting a few nice looking bouquets that both of my feet were well in the air as I leaned over the dumpster to acquire my prize, laughing at myself the whole time. The last time I did something this ridiculous I was sixteen and running around a restaurant in Eilat with my friend Eli, eating ice cream off of peoples' abandoned plates.

We started back on the way home but made a meaningful stop before boarding the bus. The family of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was kidnapped over four years ago and is being held in captivity without access to Red Cross visits or other humanitarian care, set up a tent opposite the prime minister's residence to petition the government to work to ensure his freedom. Gilad's parents have been sleeping in the tent for the past few weeks and so I took a bouquet of pretty flowers (unscathed) over to them. They went to Be'er Sheva to raise awareness for their son and so they weren't present when I stopped by, but the volunteers stationed at the tent were so moved by the gesture that they asked that I write a quick note for Gilad's family so they could appreciate the flowers even more.
Back at the ulpan, I continued distributing the flowers to all of the ladies who were around the building, all of whom were quite appreciative.

This was certainly a nice way to mark two weeks in Israel.