It was after my first day at work.
My head was overloaded with information and the sun was hot. It might also have been that the three layers of clothes I was wearing, from the morning in Jerusalem which had been very chilly, were a bit too much for one o’clock afternoon in Tel Aviv.
The loved one called and said that he was on his way to pick me up. I said I would get a sandwich and wait for him by the petrol station on the main road.
This I did.
Got a sandwich and sat down on a low wall under a small olive tree that grew next to the petrol station. They were rebuilding the road and the area. The olive tree belonged to a small group of olive trees forming a tiny little park next to the dusty big road.
I sat reading some papers minding my own business when a red car suddenly drives up on to the pavement and stops next to me.
The window unfurls itself and inside I see a dwarf or is the politically correct term “little person”? I know I shouldn’t use “midget”.
But anyway, this tiny man of about fifty was standing in front of his steering wheel and he looked out the window and asked me in Hebrew (I will put a translation in brackets):
- Kama? (How much?)
- Slihka? (Sorry?)
- Kama? (How much?)
- What?!
- Ahhh… ein Hevrit? (Ahhh...no Hebrew?)
- Lo. (No)
- Russit? (Russian?)
- Lo. (No)
- Anglit? (English?)
- Yes
- Ahh ok… So how much?
- How much for what?!?!
The minute man with the big head looked a bit confused for a bit and then he turned bright red. I on the other hand was laughing my head off.
- Eh, I am sorry? You not work…I mean live here?
- Here? In the park? Next to the road? No.
- Ah…oh…I am very very sorry. I think you work, I mean live here…
- Well, no I am sorry but I don’t.
- Ah, so what are you doing here?
- I am waiting for my boyfriend to pick me up.
- Oh, I am sorry. I will go now. I am very very sorry I think you are… I mean Sometimes I need… I am so sorry…
- Don’t worry about it! Better luck next time!
Then he laughed in a relieved sort of way and drove off.
The loved one was very sore with me afterwards for passing up on little person sex ;)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Working Girl part 1
So I got the job!
At the organisation which works for Equality in Education.
Here’s the deal: There is a Ministry of Education in this country. And there is a curriculum (sv. Läroplan). But the ministry is apparently a bunch of people waiting for their retirement and the curriculum is sort of followed - sometimes.
There are no inspectors who check the quality of education in schools or make sure that the budget allocated for education is actually used for education. There is no one who makes sure that the curriculum is followed.
Which leads to…
Kids from lower “socio-economic” areas (poor neighbourhoods) do not have schools to attend in their neighbourhood, so they are sent to boarding schools (sv. internat) far from home and families. Also they might not receive the necessary schooling to do further education in universities.
There are a lot more strange and terrible things happening to children whose parents don’t know what rights they have.
For instance, kids are recommended to go to vocational schools (sv. yrkesorienterade skolor), forced to use Retalin (to make them calm and more focused) to be allowed into classrooms, or are classified as mentally disabled and are put in special education. All of this because they might not have Hebrew as a first language or maybe can’t read or write because the teachers they’ve had before were not licensed to teach.
The groups who mostly benefit from the organisation I am working for now, are Arabs in Israel, Bedouins and Ethiopian Jewish new immigrants.
The organisation I am working for, is teaching parents about what rights their children have and getting parents organised in groups so that they can fight authorities and demand to be treated fairly.
My job will be fundraising. Writing to different foundations all over the world and asking them to fund our organisation or donate computers to schools or something like it.
Most of my work will be writing letters in English, meeting with officials from Embassies and presidents of foundations. There might be a possibility of travelling. But the organisation I work for is very small and I suppose it will be up to me if I manage to raise money so that I can travel.
So if anyone has any ideas on foundations or companies with a policy of donating money to different causes, tell me.
I am really nervous about the job by the way but I know it is all about being new and all. When I know the organisation inside out I will be very good at selling. Hey, if I could sell service to corporations, I am sure I can sell a good cause to foundations. Right?
At the organisation which works for Equality in Education.
Here’s the deal: There is a Ministry of Education in this country. And there is a curriculum (sv. Läroplan). But the ministry is apparently a bunch of people waiting for their retirement and the curriculum is sort of followed - sometimes.
There are no inspectors who check the quality of education in schools or make sure that the budget allocated for education is actually used for education. There is no one who makes sure that the curriculum is followed.
Which leads to…
Kids from lower “socio-economic” areas (poor neighbourhoods) do not have schools to attend in their neighbourhood, so they are sent to boarding schools (sv. internat) far from home and families. Also they might not receive the necessary schooling to do further education in universities.
There are a lot more strange and terrible things happening to children whose parents don’t know what rights they have.
For instance, kids are recommended to go to vocational schools (sv. yrkesorienterade skolor), forced to use Retalin (to make them calm and more focused) to be allowed into classrooms, or are classified as mentally disabled and are put in special education. All of this because they might not have Hebrew as a first language or maybe can’t read or write because the teachers they’ve had before were not licensed to teach.
The groups who mostly benefit from the organisation I am working for now, are Arabs in Israel, Bedouins and Ethiopian Jewish new immigrants.
The organisation I am working for, is teaching parents about what rights their children have and getting parents organised in groups so that they can fight authorities and demand to be treated fairly.
My job will be fundraising. Writing to different foundations all over the world and asking them to fund our organisation or donate computers to schools or something like it.
Most of my work will be writing letters in English, meeting with officials from Embassies and presidents of foundations. There might be a possibility of travelling. But the organisation I work for is very small and I suppose it will be up to me if I manage to raise money so that I can travel.
So if anyone has any ideas on foundations or companies with a policy of donating money to different causes, tell me.
I am really nervous about the job by the way but I know it is all about being new and all. When I know the organisation inside out I will be very good at selling. Hey, if I could sell service to corporations, I am sure I can sell a good cause to foundations. Right?
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