Attempts at Harry Potter in the Holy Land

Recently I have been experimenting with transportation in Israel. My favorite form of transportation is the sheirut - not a bus, not a cab, but a strange mix of the two that frankly, reminds me of the night bus.

To get on a sheirut, one walks down a major street, sticks out their hand (perhaps their wand hand?) and waits until a yellow and red van pulls up beside them. One then asks the driver if the sheirut is headed in the direction one wants to go, the driver seems to ponder, and then chooses to either let you on, or shuts the door in your face.

When one wants to get off the sheirut, one yells until the driver hears and then pulls over to the side of the road, opens the door, waits until one, not two, but one of your feet has hit the ground, and then drives away, shutting the door as, in my case, I leap from the van, pulling my purse close to me so as not to get it caught in the door.

My most frequent sheirut trip is from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and back again. To do this, I walk myself to the central bus station, look for a sheirut that has "Yerushalayim" in the window. Then I get on the bus, ask three people to confirm that is, in fact, going to Jerusalem, and then pass my shekels (galleons?) to the driver. Then I ask over and over again, "Excuse me, can I have a receipt please?" If I'm lucky, the driver hears me after the fifth yell, and passes me a receipt. Normally, though, the driver chooses to ignore me and only when we arrive at our destination and I ask very nicely and refuse to get off the sheirut until I have a receipt.

The journey from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Jerusalem to Tel Aviv involves a lot of prayer. A few of my friends have asked me if I feel safe in Israel, and the answer is simple. "Yes, except when I am on any form of public transportation." The seat belts on the sheiruts never seem to work despite the sign that clearly says in Hebrew, English, and Arabic "Seat belts must be on for the duration of your journey". The drivers also appear to have special permission to ignore all traffic signals, and, perhaps in longing to be like the night bus, they imagine they can squeeze between cars and jump over traffic jams, which leads to huge amounts of lurching, swaying, slamming on brakes, and cursing in Hebrew - by the passengers and the driver. Because I can't yet curse in Hebrew, when I ride the sheirut, I close my eyes, say a prayer, and hope that if we don't end up in Jerusalem, we at least make it to Hogwarts.