Ma Ha'meespahr telefone?

Monday, December 22, 2008 – Straddling my luggage on the left side of an airport shuttle bus that would take me from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, my cell phone rings obnoxiously.“Who is calling me at this ungodly hour?” I exclaim.

“It’s 9-something. It’s not so early.” Talya reassures.

It was about 9:30. Early for me to be receiving a call on vacation.

I picked up the phone and didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

A female voice said something in Hebrew.“What?” I said.

She said something else in Hebrew. I sort of understood but smirked and realized she had the wrong number.

I lied, “Ani lo m’daberet ivrit.” (I don’t speak Hebrew)

“Ma ha’meespar telefone?” (What is the phone number?) the caller asked.

Was she kidding? She called me! Shouldn’t she know the number?

I responded, “Ani lo yoda’at ha’meespar.” (I don’t know the number)

It wasn’t a lie. I hadn’t memorized the number, but SHE called me and SHE had the wrong number. Why should I scramble to find where I had written the number down. After all, I was standing on a moving bus with luggage at my feet. More blabbering in Hebrew ensued. I told her she had the wrong number, at which point, she yelled at me. Uh, OK. I ended the call.

December 23, 2008 - Making my rounds at the breakfast bar at the Americana Hotel in Eilat, I hear the obnoxious sound of my rental cell. I rush to the table where Talya is holding my ringing cell phone.

Thinking again, who is calling me at this ungodly hour?

I see the number and chuckle. I think it’s the woman who called me yesterday morning at the exact same time.

“Hello?” I sarcastically ask.

“I think there has been a mistake.” This time she is speaking in English.

She continues, “what is the number of this phone?”

“I don’t know the number,” I respond, playing dumb.

The back and forth continues similar to the day before. She asked me a lot of questions until I finally told her I couldn’t help her and hung up.

Why is it her business that I have a rental cell phone? It’s not my fault that the person who had the number before me didn’t tell her not to call this number. The best part is that she made it seem like it was my fault that SHE had the wrong number.