We drove into Sderot on Wednesday a little before noon. Just after the first barrage of Qassam rockets had fallen on the Israeli town.

The streets were quiet. Occasionally we saw an ambulance or the uniformed girls from the civil defense force inspecting bomb shelters.

Our first stop was the Mayor’s office, a small and shabby municipal building in the center of town. When we entered his office, the Mayor had his feet propped up on the desk, leaning back and smoking a cigarette. He seemed very relaxed for a man whose town is under attack.

Of course, Sderot is used to it. It’s come under daily rocket attack for years now. But in that last three days there has been a dramatic increase, more than 80 have fallen in the area.

“It’s not about protecting Sderot,” the mayor told us in typically blunt fashion. “It’s about killing the terrorists.” He wants the government to take harsh action to root out Hamas in Gaza. But he doesn’t seem convinced that will happen any time soon. “They haven’t done anything,” he said.

There’s a poster on his office wall of the Mayor as James Bond. “Winner of the Golden Qassam” it says in big gold letters with a quote: “When you can’t trust the government, you can only rely on yourself.”

Our next stop was a home that had taken a direct hit from a Qassam rocket. When we got there, government inspectors were estimating the damage. The rocket had blown a big hole in the roof and slammed straight into the main bedroom, seriously injuring a woman and her two children.

When we got there, the family was still at the hospital. Only a guard was there with a cat that had somehow found a nest of rocket debris and blown-apart shoes to sleep in.

As we interviewed the Aflalo family next door, a group of Jewish students came by to give us some unsolicited opinions about the rocket attacks.

“They want us to run away, but we won’t,” said a religious man accompanying the students, maybe a teacher. He pointed to about five teenage boys with kippots on their heads skipping and dancing in a circle, holding hands and singing. “See? We will be happy and strong. We will make this a dynamic, vibrant place!”

He seemed very pleased with his declaration, but the Aflalos just gave him a tight-lipped smile and turned away. They had already decided to take their two daughters and spend the next few nights outside of Sderot, far away from the Qassam rockets.

As we drove around town, we saw other Qassam hits. In a residential courtyard. In a community center and local movie theater. Schools were closed which was good because the next day a rocket slammed straight into one.

We returned to the center of town where families boarded buses to leave. Medical workers distributed candy to the kids. A nearby salon was still open for business, despite the attacks. Customers in curlers and freshly washed hair watched the ongoing departure and debated the pros and cons of leaving town. Was it giving in to the terrorists? Or was it just common sense to leave?

But it also seems that Sderot residents are strangely proud to be the home of the Qassam rocket attack. In the front of the salon was a large picture of an elegant model with her hair done up in the shape of an incoming Qassam rocket.

Just then, people began yelling and I could hear my sound technician Oki shouting: “Atika! Atika!” I had no idea what was going on. I looked around and everyone was ducking into buildings or diving to the ground. “The warning! The warning! It’s another attack!”

But I didn’t move. I didn’t know where to go. Across the street, Oki waved to me frantically to take cover in the supermarket. Finally, I ran … straight into the vegetable stand. And just as I got there I could her first one boom and then a much larger BOOM!

But we were fine. The rocket landed a neighborhood away. We all looked in the direction of the blast and within seconds the sirens were blaring. The ambulances raced off.

But the people of Sderot? They just dusted themselves off and continued with their day. The families boarded back on the bus without much fuss. The salon ladies went back to their nails and their hair and a young couple came out of the supermarket licking scoops of chocolate ice cream.

Clearly, there’s something I could learn from this little town.

-- From CNN International Correspondent Atika Shubert