I told you so....

This entry will serve not only as an education for singles travelling to Israel, but also as an apology for doubting the word of our friend and colleague, B.

B said to us, weeks before we were to embark on our adventure, "Expect to be hit on left, right and centre. It will not stop. They will be persistant. That's the way of Israeli men."

Men? Looking at us? We scoffed at her. As. If!

Man number 1:

Day one in Jerusalem, we were walking down Jaffa Road, minding our own business, looking for water (we always carry at least three litres each -- you never know when there will be a drought!)

A man in a yellow t-shirt stopped us.

Yellow t-shirt man to Alicia: Where you from?
Alicia: Melbourne... Australia.
Yellow t-shirt man: You come, we have coffee.
Alicia: Um.... we have to be somewhere
Yellow t-shirt man: You give me your phone number. We go later, have coffee.
Nur: We don't have a phone!
Yellow t-shirt man to Nur: YOU NO TALK!!!

Okay... we managed to escape the coffee invitation with a few seconds later, by basically running to cross Jaffa Road to get away from him, after he followed us for about 10 metres.

Man number 2:

We were looking for the Via Dolorosa, and found ourselves being dragged into a shop selling beautiful jewellery.

This happened because a man ran out, rather urgently, asking us how to sell phenomenon.

Shop man: "Is it a P? Or a B? Is there H in there?"

So we went in, wrote it down for him, and he made a free pair of earrings in return.

He then went on to fleece Nur of all the money she had allocated for the day, before the conversation turned.

Shop man to Alicia: You? I would give 1000 camels.
Alicia: Um... okay. This is a nice pair of earrings....
Shop man to Nur: You? 2000 camels!
Nur (thinking on her feet): We have boyfriends!
Shop man: If they were here, I would kill them!

Man number 3:

Kibbutz man...

On night one at the kibbutz, we were completely dead. All we wanted to do was sleep.

But no, nothing ever goes to plan.

Kibbutz man to Alicia: Where are you going? You come to the bar, I was looking for you, I have wine!
Alicia: I actually have to go to my room (followed by a very fast move in the direction of the hotel rooms)

Night two, we were sitting at the table, eating dinner, when suddenly two wine glasses arrived in front of us and were promptly filled with red wine.

Nur: We didn't order this.
Waiter: It's from the manager.
Nur: We don't know the manager
Waiter: He's the one in the white shirt.

Okay... we figured he was wine man from last night. All good.

Later that night:

Manager to Nur: You like dancing?
Nur: I'm not very good at it.
Manager: It's okay. We go somewhere with people your age. Nightclub.
Nur: I have to pack my bags, we leave early tomorrow.
Manager: You in (insert driver's name here!) group? It's okay. We go out, I drive you to Tel Aviv tomorrow after work.
Nur: Um... no, that's okay.
Manager: We just go dancing. You like soldiers?
Nur: I'm not that kind of girl!
Manager: You like girls??
Nur: No! I'm not wild.
Manager: It's okay. We do nothing. We just talk. Make fun.

At this point, Nur high-tailed it back to the safety of the table with the Ms and a few others from our group. Before making a rather dramatic exit back to the room.

"Alicia, don't follow me for five minutes. He'll see us both leaving and follow you".

Five minutes later? Banging on the door to the hotel room....

Nur: "Who is it?"

Alicia: "I give you 5000 camels... if you had a boyfriend and he was here, I would kill him!"

The door promptly opened, before slamming shut again and being firmly locked!

Man number 4

During the day, we stopped at a shop to look at their wonderful wares. As you occcasionally do on a tour. Actually, it seemed to be more of a 'bathroom break', and "if you have to buy something, buy it".

Nur was talking to one of the staff, doing a deal.

The conversation went a bit like this:

Shop man: You young. You're 20?
Nur: 24.
Shop man: You married?
Nur: No.
Shop man: It's okay. I find you a nice husband.
Nur: No, I'm 24. I'm too young to get married.
Shop man: That's okay. You come back next year...
.
Man number 5

An alternative title? "The internet is for...."

After a night of chaos, trying to organise our border crossing (the less said about that at this stage the better! Organised chaos would be a polite way of putting it!) and exchanging tales of Israeli experiences with a nice Belgian family from our tour, we decided to hit the internet to update our blog.

It was not to be.

Why, you ask?

Internet man to Nur: Where are you from?
Nur: Australia
Internet man: Add me on Facebook.
Nur: What??
Internet man: I like to connect with people. Add me on Facebook.

This was followed by a conversation about how he was addicted to Facebook, and when he couldn't find Nur, he made her add him.

Internet man to Nur: When do you leave?
Nur: Tomorrow
Internet man: What are your plans for tonight?
Nur: Sleep.
Internet man: That's boring!

We came back later, and when he was still there, Nur took off at high speed back to the room and left me on my own.

Internet man to me: Hello again...
Me: Hi. I'm just checking the temperature for tomorrow....

Followed by me also high-tailing it back to the hotel room.

So, sorry B! You were right, we were wrong! We will never doubt you again!