Ode to Weeds

It's official. I've missed three episodes of Showtime's Weeds and none of my American friends have even bothered to e-mail me with updates. Thanks guys. I've been forced to rewatch the Season I episodes I downloaded off of iTunes before I left, and have been waiting patiently for the folks over at E! to write about any new plot twists, episode summaries, etc. But what bothers me the most is the fact that Showtime won't let me access their website. There is a big sign that says the website is for US residents only. Now that's just plain mean. I've been a loyal viewer for years! I cried when Dead Like Me got reaped, I ponied up cash when The L Word debuted and I counted down with all other ganja loving viewers for the second season of Weeds to start. I paid good money all those years on Showtime, the least they could do is let me check out the website occassionally!

My rant is now over.



Today has been extremely interesting. I forced myself out of bed once again and raced to Bituach Liumi to find out what the story was with my health insurance. Guess what. I can't get health insurance. Doesn't matter that I am considered an Israeli citizen. Makes no difference that I have a Israeli ID card. Nada. Only way I can get health insurance is by making Aliyah. The woman there acted like making Aliyah was no big deal, she told me very nonchalantly that I should go and make Aliyah and then come back and sign up.

No thank you. If I wanted to make Aliyah, I would have done that months ago.

I said that there had to be another way. I told her in my Heblish that I had money and was willing to pay, and I couldn't understand why they wouldn't let me do that. It's a country with socialized medicine! She looked at me sideways and started to say something about other ways of taking care of it, but it would be illegal (she used a different word for illegal but I got the right gist) and then eyed my purse. I thanked her profusely and left the building.

Yeah, not interested in doing anything illegal when it comes to health insurance.

So, I was a little confused as to next steps, and decided to take a detour on the way home and check out a linen store on Dizengoff and Gordon. Jackpot! The store, called Darlain, had exactly what I was looking for and I bought 2 pillows (finally!!), and a sheet set, a decorative pillow and a top sheet. So apparently, in Israel, they don't believe in top sheets. The sets only include a duvet cover, fitted sheet and 2 pillow cases. I asked to buy a separate fitted sheet cause, well, I can't sleep without one and we were able to match the colors. My bedroom will now be in chocolate brown and green, with a velvety/satiny green pillow. Once I get settled in, I'm going to go back and pick up two more pillows.



What can I say? It's not my old bed (as evidenced above) but I've gotten used to sleeping with 7 pillows.

So, after Darlain, I grabbed a cab with my purchases and headed back to the apartment to figure out next steps regarding health insurance. My cab driver was not in a good mood, upset that all the people were either back in school or back at work, and seemingly no tourists were around to grab rides. We got to the corner of Ben Yehuda and Allenby when this stunning, leggy, red-headed Russian woman was clearly looking for a cab and gestured towards our. My driver asked me if I could get out at the corner. I refused, as my bags were really heavy and we were a bit away from my apartment. Then he started yelling at me. That was fun. I ignored him and wouldn't budge. He ended up taking me to where I needed to go, but he was pissed.

Too bad.

Back at my apartment, I called Maccabi and was on hold for what seemed like forever. Finally, I got an English speaker and she told me that there is a plan for people who are not residents of Israel. She said I had to get to the branch on Balfour street and then gave me the hours. Today, they are open from 8-1 and then 4-6. It was Noon. I wasn't going to wait until 4:00 so I busted ass and raced over to the branch. I made it with plenty of time to spare, I think I ended up doing the whole walk in 10 minutes (and it showed mind you, I was pretty sweaty when I got there). I spoke to Nina and she explained part of the plan, photocopied the appropriate documents (my ID card, school acceptance letter) and then told me that she would get in touch in 3 weeks once the application cleared the head of the department. I'm really hoping that they accept me, cause otherwise I'm going to be living in Israel without any health insurance and that won't be good. She promised she would call in a few weeks and that was that.

Now I have pretty much all afternoon to dedicate to writing and finding out where there's a Bezeq store in Tel Aviv. I have to take my landlord and pick up the Bezeq box so I can hook up the internet in my apartment. I refuse to move in unless that's all taken care of.

Less than 7 days until VOIP! Folks at home, be prepared, cause I'm going to be calling you all!