Monday, March 2, 2020

Voting is straightforward, once I figure out which of the labyrinthine cluster of classrooms is my polling place. There are about a dozen different ones here, identified by apparently random numbers. Once I find the room, I present my government ID. They hand me a blue envelope. I go behind a partition, put the slip of paper representing my party in the envelope, then step out and drop it through a slot into a cardboard box. Outside, two boys are playing a hybrid sport on a ping-pong table, knocking a soccer ball back and forth with their heads. At lunch, I sit with six other English speakers, meeting most for the first time. Many of them have been in the country for years. Some have never learned much Hebrew. “I still can’t remember if my name begins with the 6 or with the hat.” It’s a good group. I’m the only man. One jokes that the restaurant staff will think they’re my harem. I shrug and smile.