The Tutoring that Was

Tonight was the first night of actual tutoring. However, nothing was accomplished. All of the high schools are on strike in Israel. From what I know, the government doesn't want to fork over the money to both the university and high school teachers. If you've been reading this site frequently you've probably seen the news reports from Ha'Aretz and the Jerusalem Post.

Anyways, I sat there with two Ethiopian girls tonight trying to communicate with them and help them practice their English. I ended up speaking more Hebrew than they spoke English. I feel like I may have wasted their time because I was pretty useless. However it was great practice for me. Hopefully the strike will be resolved and the kids will have homework to do next week.

I asked the girls if they liked to go to the beach. They said no. I asked why. One of them said "because I'm Black". That was a really surprising answer. I would have expected something like "I don't like the water" or something like that. Not "because I'm Black". I don't know how race relations are in Israel, but I hope that that really had nothing to do with the answer.

I wish I had more to write about this experience, but unfortunately I don't. Tonight was pretty uneventful. Although I got a better glimpse as to the conditions that the new immigrants live in. We walked through the playground in their complex and I noticed that the jungle gym was covered in graffiti and that there were used drug needles laying around. It's really depressing. I hope that some day Israel gets its priorities straight and cleans up the education and social messes that exist. Herzl must be rolling in his grave.