Emotional Rollercoaster

I hate this emotional rollercoaster that I'm riding, and quite frankly, I'm ready to just get off. So, I had class today and got some interesting feedback from my Professor. He told me that I need to have "more balls" in one of my pieces. I find that statement hysterical, as I thought I've been pushing the envelope, but apparently that's not the case. I thought class today was very productive and I enjoyed a lot of the exercises, so I was pretty happy when I took the long bus ride home. Aside from the Russian woman who was screaming into her cell phone in front of me, to the great enjoyment of the platoon of Chayalim on the bus, the ride was pleasant.

And then the shit hit the fan.

I got a call from Avi, the bed guy, who told me that the bed won't be ready before Tuesday and the mattress won't be delivered before Sunday. Umm, okay, looks like I have nothing to sleep on this weekend but at least I'll be in the apartment so I can suck it up.

Hahaha, who was I kidding?

The apartment is not ready. There is no kitchen and the carpenter said maybe Sunday, but who really knows. Now, I could exist for a few days without a kitchen, although it would be costly to eat out, but I can manage it. What I can't live without is a bathroom sink. There are no sinks in the apartment and well, I just can't see washing my hands everytime I finish using the toilet, washing my face twice a day, or brushing my teeth in the shower. My landlord told me to act like I'm in the army and just "rough it" for a few days. Given the tone of my last couple of posting, regarding just how well I would have done in the army, I don't think I can "rough it" without a bathroom sink. Sorry, hygiene is just really important to me.

Moving on. I should have listened to Ari when he told me that Bezeq was AWFUL. I listened instead to my landlord and now I'm paying the price. So remember that cheery blog a few days ago when I mention how great it was when Bezeq told me they would deliver my modem in 2 days. Well, I called them this afternoon to find out where the modem is, and dealt with a woman who didn't speak English. But she didn't want to transfer me to someone who spoke English, so I had to try to communicate my issue. Where is my modem and when will it arrive, I thought, was not the most difficult of questions. But wait, I need my landlord's ID number or the Bezeq phone number.

Here is how Bezeq is so freaking stupid. They won't give you your phone number over the phone. The only way you can get your phone number is by plugging in your phone and dialing some three digit number and then pound. Then you get an automatic message with your phone number. Now, I am not in the apartment and don't have a phone to plug in to get the number, so I don't have my number. Now, since the phone line is in my landlords name, they wouldn't give me any information without his Israel ID number. At this point, I am trying to explain to this woman on the phone that I just want to know where the box is and she is not understanding me.

Jot down this date. September 7, 2006. First time I cried when dealing with the BS beauracracy of this country. I begged her to conference call my landlord and then listened silently for 15 minutes as he ripped this woman a new asshole for the whole situation. So now, here is the NEW story with my modem. They did go ahead and send it to me via messenger. ONLY, it is a 14 day messenger.

WHY THE HELL WOULD I SPEND 30 SHEKELS TO HAVE A 14 DAY MESSENGER?? The point of the messenger was to get the box sooner, not later!!! It was ridiculous. These people don't know what they're talking about. One person tells you one thing, another person tells you something else, no one is on the same page.

GET ON THE SAME PAGE PEOPLE!!!!!!

So, then she claimed that if my landlord goes down to the store he can get another box and all we have to do is reject the messenger and it will be no problem.

I don't believe anything this woman says. My landlord is going to go down to the store tomorrow and they're going to tell him that she was full of crap and I'm going to have to wait 14 days until this is all set up. The only chance that something might happen is that my landlord is 6'5 (no kidding) and literally larger than life, when he yells the walls shake. I hope he will yell and yell until they pee in their pants and are forced to give him a box.

So back to my issue with moving into the apartment. I explained that it's not so much the fact that the place I'm staying at now is expensive, or that I was woken up at 6:00 this morning by the club music outside of my window, or the fact that I am still not unpacked and have been wearing the same 5 skirts and 1 pair of jeans because the rest of my clothing are in suitcases, or that I don't have a routine, or that I'm a 30 minute walk from my gym, etc. but that each day I don't have my VOIP hooked up, I am losing money.

I have CLIENTS folks. Yup, fortunately, I have some great American clients who are waiting for me to get back to work. I am supposed to have conference calls next week, am supposed to issue not one but 2 press releases, and I was supposed to have a new business call with a potential NEW client. All this, AND I have all my school issues to deal with too (do not even ask about the school issues, they are about as bad as the apartment problems).

The nail in the coffin is that the language barrier is a big issue. I have a message on my cell phone that I just don't understand, no matter how many times I listen to it. I forgot to ask someone at school today to listen and tell me what it means, so it's my own fault, but still I don't know what the message says and it's from the Kupat Cholim I want to join.

The dude was really great though. He got me laughing through the tears, which was hard to do given the situation. But, he still managed to do it AND listen to his Professor at law school. So, I laughed through the tears, and collected myself best I could. I then called and left Jeff a message not to bother coming tomorrow to help me move my stuff and to enjoy the day instead. I called Oren and told him that, amidst my nervous breakdown, he didn't need to help me either. I don't know if he thought I was kidding or not, but he was nice and said I could call and ask him to help me again. At least, that's what I think he said.

And then I called Ari, who was getting ready to start his shift at the restaurant. With him, I did not beat around the bush. I explained the severity of my mood and he got the point. We're going to grab a drink after his shift is over, and that should relax me a little.

Then I'm going to take a valium and get to bed.

Tomorrow is going to be another challenging day and I've got a ridiculous amount of work to do for school.

Song of the day is A Change Would Do You Good by Sheryl Crowe cause what the hell did she know when she wrote that song. And for all the idiots who actually listened to the her singing and decided to make a life's change, who feels like the dumbass now.

Now do you understand why I haven't made Aliyah?

PS. In the past 5 minutes my American landlord called. I think my Israeli landlord called him because he was concerned that I was crying. Jeff is coming to Israel on Monday (not because I was crying but because he was planning on the trip anyway) and we're going to "reassess the situation". Whatever that means, I don't know, I've got to go deal with my current landlord and tell him I'm staying for at least another week.