Finding a Job and the bus stop!

Having had more “jobs” in the last 18 months than I have had in the past 16 years has been a major adjustment. So far my experience of the Israeli job market has not been very positive. While I have been able to find some work it invariably is part time low paid and not at the same professional level I was used to in the UK (With one exception). I always wondered why people seemed to have two or three jobs in Israel. I now appreciate more from recent experience this seems to be the norm for many who need to make ends meet.


Today my journey to an interview in Jerusalem proved more of a challenge. Now I am very experienced at taking the ‘SuperBus’ from the Modiin Illit area to Jerusalem. I am also now familiar with taking buses from near the central bus station. Last night I checked the route and bus times and was confident getting to the interview should not be a problem. When I arrived in Jerusalem I made my way towards the bus stop I needed. However things did not look the same as the other day.

At the junction of Jaffa road near the central bus station I nearly tripped over the traffic lights. They had been dug up from the road and left lying on the nearby pavement. The chaos at this important junction was amazing. Cars and buses and people all seemed to be competing to get across the road while police officers attempted to reassert order. Some cars had mounted the pavement to squeeze through, a bendy bus was stuck half way across the junction and everybody was screaming something. To the policemen and women’s credit they slowly brought things to some sort of order. Risking life and limb I bravely joined the pedestrians to cross the road hoping not to be crushed by a car or bus from four different directions. This was a rather stressful experience and I was very relieved to finally reach the other side of the road but realised it would be a long wait for the bus to get through as well.

Now I started to walk to the bus stop but slowly realised it was gone! It had been cemented into the ground just the other day. I asked somebody where the bus stop was. They shrugged their shoulders and gave me a bemused look. The missing bus stop had been near some major works for the new Jerusalem Light Railway. As I looked further up the street I realised that my bus stop had been dug up and moved up the road. The only way to reach it was to walk between tractors and diggers and a few large holes in the ground. Dodging and diving my way carefully up the road I finally made it to the new bus stop. But the buses when they eventually came did not seem to stop. The drivers did not recognise the new bus stop as an official stop. Now this is where people power comes in handy. We all moved into the road to stop the next bus and force it to let us on. So much for arriving at an interview all calm and collected!