Humbled

During my last few days in Israel I had several humbling experiences that only reaffirmed the importance of literacy. Because I can read and write I’ve always taken those skills for granted . . . until I took the train in Israel.

In every other country I have been to everything is posted in both English and the native language. Exceptions were sometimes business signs or during movies. However, everything important such as road signs, stops on a train, etc were either written in both languages or there was always an English announcement. Not true in Israel.

After buying my ticket to Tel Aviv so that I could get my visa to Thailand, I looked down at my ticket to see that the only thing I could read was the price of the ticket. I quickly ran down the steps to the platform and people were only boarding one train, so I got on, hoping it was the right one. As the train got going, I realized that there weren’t announcements for the stops and there wasn’t a single train staff person in sight. Beginning to panic, I noticed the woman sitting across from me had what I can only assume was Tel Aviv in Hebrew, written on her ticket. I decided that I would get off when she did. I had to exchange trains in one of the several Tel Aviv stations (I learned there were several later) in order to get on the train to Herzliya, a suburb of Tel Aviv where the Thai Embassy is located. The station I was at in Tel Aviv was significantly bigger than the one in Jerusalem and several trains were being boarded. Slightly embarrassed, I turned to the attendant at the counter and asked what platform I was supposed to get on. She looked at the ticket, looked at me and then told me.

This same scenario happened several times since I had to drop my passport off at the embassy and then return the next day to get it. After the first two rides, I noticed that if I bought my ticket from the automated machine, I could get the student price which saved me an entire shekel or 26 cents. The only downside was there was no attendant so I had to ask random people or wait until I got to the gate before the platforms, and ask the attendant there. Every time I had to ask I felt embarrassed. I’m an educated person! I practically have a bachelor’s degree and I’ve been traveling on my own more or less for 7 months yet I couldn’t read my train ticket. Talk about a slap in the face.

After my last train ride, I thought I was over this but then I decided to go to the movies. In Israel, you are assigned a seat. Your ticket has the section, row, and seat. Since I could only read the numbers, I had no idea what the numbers corresponded to and assumed they were the time and theater of the movie. I wasn’t aware of the assigned seats until a couple sat next to me and asked me which seat I had. They had to read where I was supposed to sit for me

I know I’m not expected to know the language of every place I visit but for the first time in my memory, I got a taste of what it feels likes to be illiterate. Sure my experience was in no way comparable to the people who are illiterate in their own languages but it was enough to not only make me an advocate for literacy for the rest of my life, but also give me a not so pleasant taste of humbleness.