safety

Now I understand why everyone who'd been talked about how safe they felt here. Seriously, it's so safe, no one should worry about me being here (other than the general anything-could-happen anxiety that some of you have whenever I'm in a different place). There is very little crime here. The worst thing that happens even somewhat routinely is pickpocketing in major malls or tourist places--but where doesn't that happen? They prepare you alot for being hazed by men, but I have yet to see that actually happen. Also, actual assault of any kind is extremely rare. There are almost never rapes (reported?) because the penalties are so severe. Basically, a man might make comments as you pass, but if you tell him to go away he almost always will. If you get visibly upset or scream, every man in the vicinity will immediately beat the crap out of him, whether they know him or not, without waiting to ask what happened. We were actually warned not to make too big a scene, so we didn't have to frantically try and rescue whomever was giving us a hard time. Apparently there were problems with that in the past.

The bottom line is that unless you really make an ass of yourself, you're very safe. If you're not flamboyantly, obnoxiously American, no one will give you a hard time. If you don't walk around in revealing clothing, no one will harass you. And, to be blunt, as much as people talk about feeling safe in Israel, that's different. There's no system in place to murder random groups of civilians here. If I make smart choices, I'm safe.

I am, however, shocked whenever I survive crossing the street. Oh man.

Of course, I've only been here a little bit. So I'll probably have a somewhat different sense by the end of the program. But that's what I've learned so far.