Hospitality

This is kind of a random post, but the topic of hospitality has been something that has been very apparent to me during the time I have been here. I have a few specific examples that come to my mind...the first was a random taxi experience that me and 3 other girls from my program had. We were in the center of Bethlehem and needed a ride back to our hotel. So we found a cab and started speaking to our driver in Arabic, as best as we could.(In general, I have found that attempting to speak Arabic has really opened some doors. People are so receptive and grateful that we at least try to communicate with them in their native tongue). Anyways, our driver pulled out a pack of postcards with different tourist sites in Bethlehem and was asking if we had seen any of them. We couldn't understand what he said next, and he couldn't speak English, so he pulled out his phone and called a friend who speaks English. His friend translated for us, and we found out that our driver wanted to show us 2 of the tourist sites. Then our driver told us, "no money." He went out of his way to show us beautiful sites, both of which were at least 10 minutes from the city, and wanted nothing in return. I have been in situations before where some kind of monetary compesation was wanted, even if it wasn't explicitly asked for, but he genuinely just wanted to show us around his country. I felt so grateful and am still amazed by the kindness he showed to us. I see him almost every time we walk into Bethlehem, and it is neat to have a friendship with him, even if it is just saying hi to eachother as we pass.
Another instance of hospitality is just the number of people who have already extended invitations into their homes. 3 of the teachers I work with have already told me they want me to come to their home sometime in the near future. This kind of hospitality is so wonderful and unexpected, but I am so grateful for it.