King David

I was having a tough time in Israel. I decided to try something a little different. I decided to slow down, to not read or play with my iPhone in restaurants, to stand on street corners and ask directions without referring to maps. Just to act in ways that made me a little more open to meeting people, to having traveler interactions.

The night I decided to make this change, I was walking to a part of Jerusalem called the “German Colony” for dinner based on vague recommendations from the Harmony Hotel. I’d stop at big intersections and stand around for a few minutes. Maybe ask directions.

At one intersection, I was standing idly when an old man with a dog approached me. He asked me in English where I was going. I told him that I was looking for King David (that’s the name of a large road here.) He replied with a smile, “You’ll need an airplane and a time machine.” It took me a few seconds to understand the joke. He was referring to the actual King David, a joke made easy by the fact that I didn’t say “King David Road.” I laughed, and we struck up a conversation. At one point, we exchanged names (I forget his unpronounceable name), and he shook my right hand with his cupped left hand. This happened to me a couple of other times in Israel, but I could find no explanation of it. I know some cultures don’t like to use right hands for greetings or eating, but that doesn’t seem to be what is happening here…

Anyway.

Our conversation shifted and the gentleman began animatedly telling me how great Israel’s business and tech sector is doing. When he asked me why I came to Israel, I told him it was technology work, and that I was an engineer and scientist. In the mid-sentence, he quickly reached over and slapped me lightly on the forehead. “I knew you had a science brain!” he said, or close to it.

You could have knocked me over with a feather at that moment.