Lost luggage, imaginary hotel, and miscommunications.
Today things began to get a little more interesting.
As our immense Boeing 747 touched down in Tel Aviv, we coasted past old scorched remains of another jetliner along the side of the runway who had not been as fortunate. A set of stairs rolled up to our plane and the passengers walked out onto the tarmac and onto a couple of buses, which shuttled us to the terminal building.
I located the appropriate baggage carousel for my flight, and watched for my large black duffel. It was approximately 1.5 hours before the luggage for flight 884 started appearing on the carousel. There must have been 25 black duffelbags that looked similar to mine. I watched as all the other passengers found their bags over the next hour or so, and left. The large black duffelbag with almost all of my clothes never showed.
Luckily, I had packed one day's change of clothes in the Jansport backpack that I carried with me, so I had a little time to figure something out.
I began to out a form for my lost luggage at the TWA information counter, but it asked for the address and phone number where I would be staying in Israel, and all I knew was the name of the hotel -- the "King Jerusalem". I wrote "King Jerusalem" on the form, and also squeezed the Superstudio name and main phone number into the blank. The woman at the counter said most luggage is found the next day, and gave me a number to call.
I proceeded to look for a payphone. If found several, but there was no phone book by any of them. I approached another information counter, and asked for the number of the "King Jerusalem" hotel. It turns out there are several "King" hotels in Jerusalem -- the King David, King Solomon, King's Hotel... just no King Jerusalem. The information lady gave me two numbers to try, and I returned to the payphone.
The instructions for the payphone were mostly written in Hebrew, which doesn't even use the same alphabet as English. I attempted to use my calling card, but couldn't seem to find the write combination to get it started. Time for the money changer.
I found a little money changer booth and presented the man at the counter with $60. The exchange rate was 2.91 somethings to the dollar. I don't know what the money is called here, but I got about 160 of them. Now I had several bills and some coins. Looking at the change, I had two kinds of coins that had "5" marked on them, but one seemed a little bigger and more important, so I figured it was worth more. I started away from the counter, and then decided to return and break one of my coins with a "5" on it into coins with "1" on them, since I didn't know exactly how much the phone cost, and it probably didn't give change.
I returned to the payphone and dialed the numbers the information lady had given me. First number -- the King David hotel... ...no reservations for Malone. Second number -- the King Solomon hotel... ... success! They had my reservations. I asked for directions, and the lady told me to drive toward the city center, and then ask how to get to King David street. I would find out later why it is hard to describe how to get around in Jerusalem.
Next I went to a row of several rental car booths. I asked several places for quotes on a small car for 4 weeks. I don't know if I'll actually need a car the entire time, but I figure I can bring it back earlier if I need to. I found that prices varied from $359 to $223 per week, for the same type of car. At $223, Thrifty was the best deal, so I took that one. I rode a shuttle van out to the Thrifty parking lot, and signed the papers to get a small white Volkswagen Polo Fox. I asked if there were any differences in traffic rules between Israel and the United States, and I was told that "right on red" was not allowed, but otherwise, it's the same.
The traffic signs are a little different, but fortunately the "do not enter" sign is the same as in Germany, and I had an opportunity to use that little bit of knowledge on my way out of the parking lot.
Following the signs to Jerusalem, I eventually arrived at the onramp to a highway. There were several hitchhikers there looking for rides to Jerusalem, but I declined. As I accelerated up the on ramp and onto the highway, I was slighty started by a man walking on the side of the freeway. I saw more than one, and deduced that it is not illegal to do so, as it is in the States.
I turned on the radio, and listened to a fast-paced disco/techno beat as I sped down the highway. It seemed I was going a reasonable speed. I passed a speed limit sign that said "100", and looked down at my dash where the needle only pointed to "30". "Man! these people drive fast", I thought, until I realized I was looking at the tachometer instead of the speedometer.
The only other thing I noticed about the cars was that most of them have a couple of pieces of red and white striped reflective tape on the back, apparently to help other people see them.
Upon entering Jerusalem, I drove straight for a while, aiming for what I viewed as the center of the city. I had a map, but I found that the street signs are written in a small font, and besides that, I can't pronounce most of them. It's extremely hard to remember things that you can't pronounce. I got lost for a while, but eventually found the King Solomon hotel.
I checked in, dropped off my bags in the room, and placed my return ticket and some CDROMs with archived source code in a hotel safe deposit box.
I walked down the street to look for some food. It was getting late by now -- almost midnight, so the first restaurant I came to was already closed. The next place I saw was just a greasy little pizza joint, but if I was going to eat tonight, I decided this my be my last chance. I entered and picked two pieces of pizza with black olives from a pan that was already set out on the counter. That's when I learned that the unit of currency here is the "shekel". I also ordered a bottle of water, and ate my dinner quickly as the pizza woman cleaned the other tables and closed up the place.
Afterwards, I walked next door where there was a grocery store that was still open. Inside I saw most of the usual things you see in a grocery store, plus more figs, almonds, walnuts, and dates. I picked up some bread, yogurt, bottled water, and an apple. As I passed the meat counter in the rear of the store, I couldn't help but notice a man shopping with a loaf a bread, three beers, and a semi-automatic rifle in his shopping cart. An Israeli soldier doing some shopping.
I returned to the hotel. There I typed up some notes from the previous day, and connected to the Internet through the phone.
Four days ago, I had contacted some of the people working on the project team at Superstudio. Ephraim appears to be in charge of the project I'm interested in, but he was away in New York, so I talked to Kenny, who is in charge during Ephraim's absence. Kenny sounded very positive about my joining the team, and forwarded me on to Hod, who was working on a specific area that I would be able to help on. After talking to Hod, I learned that he needed the source code and resources from one of my previous projects right away, because he is working against a deadline that ends next month. That's when I scheduled my trip. I had attempted to contact Kenny once more, to give him flight information, but was unable to reach him personally, so I left a message. However, upon checking my email this night, I found a note from Kenny that said he had been unable to contact the appropriate person about my trip, and asked that I send whatever I could through Federal Express.
Well, that made me feel bad, because I grew up in the South, and it goes against my "Southern hospitality" upbringing to go anywhere without being invited. Nonetheless, I had to reply to Kenny that I am in Jerusalem at this very minute, with all materials that he requested, and that I hope I can help in some way on the project. Now I know why we have ambassadors -- sometimes it just isn't the same over the phone.
If it was that easy to miscommunicate over the phone, it's probably good that I'm here to answer Hod's questions about the source code and resources in person.
It was beginning to get light outside as I went to bed.