Taking a Taxi in Hebron

So there are specific rules for taking a taxi in Hebron. I guess you would say they are the "unwritten" rules. As I said in a recent post, Hebron doesn't really have addresses so you tell the taxi driver your location by street name or location or whatever. You would think that by now I would have the system figured out. Hello have you met me? In the beginning my host sister would take a taxi with me to work, but she has to be at work at 8 which is to hours earlier than I have to be at work, so we decided that I could do it on my own. Uh hello have you met the directionally challenged person? Anyways. The first time I took a taxi to work by myself I got in the wrong cab. Well actually I got in the right cab I just didn't use the right phrase. In order to make the ride cheaper you are to say service which means the cab will stop along the way and pick up other. ;The cab driver asked me where I told him, and he said "taxi?" I said "yes" and off we went.


Now I thought it was quite strange as we drove through Hebron that he wasn't picking up any others, but what ever. My host sister has written down in a piece of paper my destination in Arabic and here phone number just in case so I showed it to him. I guess he thought I wanted to go all the way to work because he drove me there. Well actually he drove me around the corner and up the hill.


I told him to let me out. I figured I could walk. Then he told me that it was 20 shekels. I started arguing with him that that was not right. He kept yelling at me in Arabic. (Yes is the guy I yelled at in Spanish.) WHo knows what I said. I think it was No Espanol English Por favor! And some other choice words that I learned from my students when I taught at West. I finally pulled out the piece of paper that had my host sisters name on it and her phone number. He said "Speak Arabic?" I shook my head. I have no idea what she said, but he turned the cab around and took me to right in front of my work. I offered the 5.5 shekels that I normally would have paid, he wouldn't take it, but I finally got him to take it.

On the way home to the square I practiced over and over on how to say the place that I needed to go to when I caught a taxi to take me home. I walked with another volunteer so that I didn't have to pay for a cab. He actually took me to the wrong section of the square, but I ran into the driver from that morning and he took me home after he made me wait for 20 minutes.Oh well at least I got home.

On another day, another volunteer and I decided to walk to the square instead of taking a taxi. That's when she realized she was going the wrong direction. So I got to walk there by myself. As I was walking down the street by myself these children started following me and yelling at me "Shalom, Shalom, Hey lady Shalom!" They thought I was Jewish I guess. I was a little nervous, but decided that it would be ok. However, I did get turned around and ended up a little lost. (Lack of sense of direction). But luck was on my side because I ran this 16 year old girl who took me by the hand and showed me where I was supposed to go, but that didn't help me when I got to the Taxi's cause I still couldn't pronounce where I was to go. I should them my trusty paper and they started arguing and finally said the name and I was like there there. That's were I am supposed to go. So the driver took me there.

On Thursday, I waited 20 minutes for a cab outside where I live when I finally got one stopped I was trying to tell him where I was going and that I wanted service. He wasn't understanding me, but my host brother, Mohammed, came to my rescue and told the driver where to take me and where I was going after that. The driver took me to Manara and dropped me off and told me which taxi place would take me to Ein Sarah. Getting home was a little different. The driver tried to drop me someplace I didn't recognize. I Telling him "La, La. This is not it." I handed him my Palestinian phone so Renia could tell him where to take me. He finally understood what I trying to say and took me to the dropoff.

Today I am proud to say that even though I waited for a taxi for like 10-15 minutes I made it to work all by myself. I'm not so worried about getting home today because Renia and I are going to go meet some of her friends after we get off work. However, I will keep you updated. I am sure that there will be more mishaps with Taxi drivers.

Salaam!