There were no buses back to my neighborhood from Jerusalem yesterday and the bus stop was packed full of people. I decided to share a cab with three other women also waiting. The cab driver was crazy.

“That’ll be 80 shekel” he told us the fare would be.

“That’s ridiculous. I never pay more than 50″

I wanted to get out of the cab but the other women didn’t care - they were just going to pay him 15 shekels each, take it or leave it. I pointed to a taxi stand where I always take cabs from. He glared at me.

“You go with all those Muhammads?” letting me know that everyone at that stand were East Jerusalem Arabs, which I already knew but do I care?

“Yeah. They’re good drivers and they don’t rip me off like you are doing”

Meanwhile, he’s going on and on the rest of the ride about a French homosexual passenger, mimicking his accent, telling us we’re all fat because his cab can’t get up the hill (this is where I asked him for my money back), and thought I was the filthy rich one because I was from North America. What a dick. Next time, I’m stuck at a bus stop, I’ll be sure to use the taxi drivers from East Jerusalem who stand by Kikar Zion in downtown Jerusalem.