Financial Troubles

One of the first things we attempted to do upon our arrival in Jerusalem was to withdraw shekels from the ATM. We've been told that the best ways to bank for our year here is to use credit cards and withdraw as much as possible from the ATM.

So, we went to an ATM near our flat and attempted to withdraw the maximum amount allowed - 2500 shekels. The ATM thought for a minute and then rejected our request. We tried several other ATMs in the vicinity and finally felt dejected enough that we gave up and just found a restaurant that accepted our Visa. Unfortunately, the restaurant we found most rapidly was an Italian restaurant - ugh, we would've loved to had a nice meat meal after several days in London of eating pasta and/or vegetarian.

So, I called the bank when we returned to our flat and found out that 2500 shekels (which is about $560) is above our daily withdrawal amount of $500 so that's why we were rejected. Tomorrow morning, we'll try again, maybe start with 2000 shekels and work down from there.