Exchanging Money and Buying Things in Palestine: Hebron, Palestine is a lively city, full of shops and markets. Therefore, in order to fully enjoy the possibilities, the city offers you will need to change money for covering your daily expenses and buy things.
Banks, ATMs, and exchange points are located in Hebron city center and around Palestine in general. Most ATMs dispense shekels. If you go to a Jordanian bank you will get Jordanian dinars, and will later have to change the currency to shekels. All banks are located in the way from Al-Manara to the Excellence Center, so it will be easy for you to have cash available.
Although the cost of living in Hebron, Palestine is moderate, you will need to take into account the following expenses:
Taxi from home to the city center:
Hebron is huge and there is a high likelihood that you will need a taxi for your daily journeys. For this kind of routinary displacements, you should make use of Service Taxis. Local service taxis can be easily found in the local roundabouts. Depending on the area you live in it will cost you between 3 and 5 shekels per trip. This means that your daily fixed expense on taxis will be of 6-10 shekels (1.50 – 2.50 Euros). Usually, taxis will stop in the Al-Manara roundabout, and you will have to walk 10 minutes straight to get to the Excellence Center.
Water
Tap water is clean. However, it is probable that it will make your stomach sick. Consequently, you will need to buy a 1.5litre bottle daily. Each bottle costs 3 shekels (0.75 Euros). If the day is hot, and you are trying to make your voice heard with students, you’ll maybe need an extra one, so let’s establish 6 shekels (1.50 Euros) for your daily expense on water.
Lunch
Every morning you will be lucky to have some breakfast at the Excellence Center (if you have to teach in the villages you will need to buy some biscuits on the way!). However, taking into account that some families do not provide dinner and that days are long, you will need to recharge your energy with lunch!
The quickest options are to buy falafel or shawarma in shops next to the Excellence Center. Both options are available for 5 skehels (1.25 Euros), tasty! Falafel and shawarma are not always a clean option, therefore eating bread and hummus can be a healthy option for some other days -both available for 8 shekels (2 Euros)- in nearby supermarkets.
You can add natural yogurt to the menu for 4 shekels (1 Euro). Another option for your lunch is to cook in the Excellence Center. You can cook scrambled eggs –each egg costs 2 shekels (0.5 Euros)-.
If you are feeling Italian and need some protein you can also cook pasta with cheese, natural tomato, and vegetables. All ingredients can be shared between 3 volunteers, or you can make it done for 3 days, as you wish! Each dish of delicious pasta will cost you 15 shekels (3.75 Euros). In sum, there is a huge variety of options for your lunch, just decide on your weekly budget to select your dishes!! More or less, you can have lunch on a budget for 80-100 shekels (20-25 Euros) weekly.
in conclusion, it is really easy to exchanging money and buy things in Palestine. You can access it easily during the day.
