Sderot

This week I went to Sderot, and it was, well, boring. The most interesting part of my trip was actually in Ashkelon, where I was asked (in Hebrew) if I spoke Russian by this nice older woman. I don't speak Russian, and she didn't speak English or Hebrew, but I still managed to convey to her when her bus was going to arrive, and walked her to the right platform. I felt very proud that I could actually do that, as when I first got the Israel finding the right platform and bus was a very hard ordeal for me.

There really wasn't much to do in Sderot, and what was going to be a half day trip turned into a two-hour trip. I looked at the bomb shelters. I looked at more bomb shelters. I looked at numerous plaques declaring that such and such "was a gift from the people of Italy", "generously supported by the Jewish National Fund", "made possible with the help of American donors", or "built in partnership with with Jewish community of Pheonix". Besides the obvious financial support from outside sources, Sderot looked like any other small town in Israel. There was a huge shopping mall, some falafel shops, a bunch of parks, a library; it actually reminded me a little bit of Ramla. There were also a bike lanes in some parts of Sderot, which took me by surprise, as I have yet to see bike lanes anywhere else in Israel. I was kind of hoping that I'd be able to see Gaza from Sderot, but I wasn't able to. After walking back up to the highway, I caught a sherut back to Ashkelon and walked home.