Junior Sam Buchbinder, a double major in political communications and Judaic studies, is spending the spring semester studying at Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, Israel. A few times this semester he, along with other students spread out across the globe, will share his experiences and observations abroad as one of The Hatchet's "GW expats."
"You should buy these pair pants now, because when you get home you will feel that your soul is complete since you know you just bought a good pair of pants," an older man with a muffled voice and scraggly beard shouts at me.
I told him in Hebrew that my soul will be just fine, and that a few minutes ago I saw the same exact pair for 20 shekels (Israeli currency), not the 25 shekels that he is charging. He challenges my claim, and reiterates that these specific pants with make my soul feel complete - those other pants just aren't the same.
In an attempt to make him lower his price, because the other pants that I said exist actually don't, I began to walk away into the sea of clothes, home appliances, hookahs, falafel, fresh fruit and jewelry that is the Bedouin marketplace. He doesn't call me back to lower his price. I'll come back next week I guess and see if I can bargain better.
Throughout history, Bedouins have traditionally been semi-nomadic herders and farmers of the deserts in the Middle East. In Israel, some Bedouin communities have begun to be settled into more permanent "recognized" villages by the government in an attempt to integrate them more easily into Israeli society, and to help provide them with many of the basic social services and city infrastructure allotted to all Israeli citizens. Today there are close to 100,000 Bedouins living in the Negev desert - 30 percent of which work in permanent, non-nomadic jobs in Israel.
The rule of thumb in the Bedouin marketplace is that you should pay half of the asking price. The trouble is that the initial price immediately is doubled when the first inkling of an American accent trickles slowly off your tongue. Usually they can smell a group of Americans 30 feet away. It's actually quite amazing.
"You should buy these pair pants now, because when you get home you will feel that your soul is complete since you know you just bought a good pair of pants," an older man with a muffled voice and scraggly beard shouts at me.
I told him in Hebrew that my soul will be just fine, and that a few minutes ago I saw the same exact pair for 20 shekels (Israeli currency), not the 25 shekels that he is charging. He challenges my claim, and reiterates that these specific pants with make my soul feel complete - those other pants just aren't the same.
In an attempt to make him lower his price, because the other pants that I said exist actually don't, I began to walk away into the sea of clothes, home appliances, hookahs, falafel, fresh fruit and jewelry that is the Bedouin marketplace. He doesn't call me back to lower his price. I'll come back next week I guess and see if I can bargain better.
Throughout history, Bedouins have traditionally been semi-nomadic herders and farmers of the deserts in the Middle East. In Israel, some Bedouin communities have begun to be settled into more permanent "recognized" villages by the government in an attempt to integrate them more easily into Israeli society, and to help provide them with many of the basic social services and city infrastructure allotted to all Israeli citizens. Today there are close to 100,000 Bedouins living in the Negev desert - 30 percent of which work in permanent, non-nomadic jobs in Israel.
The rule of thumb in the Bedouin marketplace is that you should pay half of the asking price. The trouble is that the initial price immediately is doubled when the first inkling of an American accent trickles slowly off your tongue. Usually they can smell a group of Americans 30 feet away. It's actually quite amazing.
