| It
was in this park, that Olivia made her farewell speech,
and then showed us the way to a restaurant
with reasonable prices.
On our way there I asked her about her tour-guide job,
and was shocked by what she told me about her company.
She feared that she would not even get from us tourists,
what she had to pay to the company for each of us.
That's why we were photographed and c o u n
t e d,
when the group was divided.
Though probably some of the tourists stayed behind
and left the group.
I took the money, which I had intended
to pay for a meal,
and gave it to her...
On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 8:25 PM, Olivia .... wrote:
Hi Rachel,
This is just a quick e-mail to thank you for your kindness
and to let you know that the answers to your questions will
follow shortly.
I feel terrible that I guilted you - that was not my intention!
I was just feeling a bit demoralised (unjustifyably so as
it turned out!) and discouraged and I am not very good at
disguising my moods, so I guess it just poured out... Sorry!
Thankfully, I DID break even, and more! But I suppose I
feel it's important to say that I signed up to this job
fully aware of the risks. It's not a bad or evil company
by any stretch of the imagine, and I would hate to think
that I may have marred your perception of what New Europe
does. I know it's not an ideal set up, but they have given
me the opportunity to develop a skill that I may not otherwise
have. Every other tour company require their tourguides
to be experienced, so New Europe is a great training ground
for young people like me.
Anyway, I just felt it was important for me to say that.
I may be young, but I am not as naive as you may think.
I can see it for what it is - perhaps they are to a degree
exploiting young, naive disposable tourguides, but most
of the tourguides do very well out of it. Some of the guides
are fantastic sales people, and they earn a lot in tips.
Others, like me, place more value on what one may gain on
a developmental level. And if I'm not a good salesman yet,
I'm sure that too will come with time!
Anyway, hope you enjoy your stay in Ireland, and that you
meet good people wherever you go.
All the best,
Safe and happy travelling, |
July 13 -Christa Rachel Bat-Adam
to Olivia
Shalom, Olivia,
I came back on Sunday night,
but before I go home to Arad in the South,
I'm staying with my family at Shoham (near the air-port),
as usual, when my eldest son, a pilot of El-Al, is on long
flights,
in this case to Johannesburg, to bring back the fans of
the Mondial.
Yesterday evening a strange thing connected
me to you:
Among many other little things I had picked up in Ireland,
there were 3 small , painted, shards,
which I found on 3 different shores.
"We should invent a story to each of these shards,
who made the vessels, of which they were a part,
where, when, and why did they end up on these shores?"
After my daughter-in-love, Efrat, told
the first story,
she was interrupted by her daughter Mika (4 and a half):
"now it's me who is telling
the story about the second shard"
The main figure in her story was a little girl called Olivia,
which is a rare name and not existent in Hebrew.
When she had finished half of her cute story,
I couldn't help interrupting her and telling her about my
meeting with you,
and that I had already discovered - not yet read - an e-mail
from you.
She became impatient and said:
"Olivia is in a TV program
- a (female) pig which can move on to other worlds."
etc.
As to your worry about my interpretation
of what you shared with me:
I accept every word you say, but please hear the real reason
for my anger,
and anger is even too soft a word!
It IS (present time!) not about the deal between that company
and you!
You are right - you knew, what you let yourself into,
and as I said to you and as you now say it yourself:
it's kind of a training course more than a job!
You are acquiring many and valuable skills!
What d e p r e s s e s me, is the
condition,
which they put and to which you, Olivia,
SHOULD NOT HAVE AGREED!!!!!
that you will hide the deal from those,
who are swallowed into "free guiding-tours".
What would happen, if you started your
intro like this:
"I'm happy to be trained and engaged by an International
company
created out of "the perception of a New Europe",
etc. etc.,
in a way that allows everyone to take part in learning about
other countries.
The way the company finances itself is like that...."
Olivia! Please be on the leading edge of
evolution
and understand that the world is going towards transparency!
Once I found in the guest-book of my "Succah
in the Desert"
one sentence: "What is wondrous about you, is your
transparency!"
Of course, since I came "before my time",
it was exactly this transparency, or "lack of discretion",
which turned many friends into enemies,
and it took a long time until I stopped judging myself for
this terrible "flaw" in my nature.
But already in the eighties I realized, that architecture
was moving towards transparency:
more and more glass.......
[Olivia told us, that she was studying architecture...]
And now, however people and authorities fight the Internet
and its transparency,
you know, that their battles are lost from the start.
So I do put this quest to you:
- for the world's sake! stop collaborating with lack of
transparency,
even if it wouldn't be - as it is in this case - simply
fraud!
And it's good, that you do not disguise
your moods!
And that you pour out your feelings,
because that's what feelings need in order to 1) heal and
2) show you your direction:
they have to vibrate, they have to move ("emotion"
comes from "motion"), move physically.
Of course, if you don't have an understanding person with
you,
it's better you go somewhere, where you can sigh and cry
and scream alone,
but in this case you attracted the "right" person,
me....
I definitely do not think, that you are
naive!
On the contrary, you are quite mature!
Which gives me another idea for your intro:
tell also, that this deal gives young people a chance to
train, etc. etc.
I can assure you,
that any participant in your, Olivia's, tours,
who can afford it financially,
will be delighted to contribute more money than they would
have given for a bought ticket,
And they would do so in order to further this double cause:
- let anyone, even the poorest traveler, see countries and
people into some depth,
[and be led by a student, who is not - like paid employees-
worn out by too much talking],
- let young people (or old people) acquire self-confidence
and these and these skills!
Be blessed and may the world be blessed
through you! Christa-Rachel |
