The Pervert of Jerusalem

I have less than 30 minutes to finish packing, close up shop and make my way to the airport for my flight back to the Big Apple! So, I'm going to try to use brevity in this post but man, the past 24 hours has been rife with so much fun stuff to write about.

Since I haven't seen the fiance since Motzei Shabbos, yesterday afternoon was reserved as Buggy's day. I spent Tuesday night, after my last day of school, hanging at the laundromat with Lana. She kept me company as I wanted to do all my laundry before leaving for the States. Then, after a quick dinner, I got back to the apartment and started packing. Yesterday morning, I had a massive tuition bill for Bar Ilan that needed to be paid ASAP. So, I woke up bright and early and hit the bank to take care of the tuition. Now, Bar Ilan can go into the Chag with a few thousands more shekels from me.

I got back to my apartment, showered, blow dried and ironed my hair (that's a 2 hour process folks) and then raced to the bus station on Arlozorov for a bus to Jerusalem. Now, my bus driver was either really reckless or really marvelous, because it took less than 30 minutes to get to Jerusalem! Of course, Buggy wasn't ready to pick me up because the trip should have taken much longer. When I called to let him know I was waiting on our corner for him to come get me, he had to first leave the office and get into the car.

And then, some dignitary decided to helicopter into Jerusalem and Buggy got stuck. For more than 30 minutes! I was so frustrated, just standing on the corner, that I asked him where he was and started walking. I figured by the time the police let him go, I would have gotten to his car. Finally, when I was midway to Buggy's destination, the cop let them go and he picked me up right near Binanei Haumah. We had to go back towards the Central bus station to turn around anyway, and I was just so happy to see him that I wasn't really paying attention. I glanced out the window, as Buggy made a U-turn right on the corner of Jaffa and Shai something (can't remember the name now, but it's up the block from the bus station) and look right at this man who is baring his big stomach. I can't get his face out of my head either, he had this great big smile and was wearing a beat-up grey hat. At first, I was wondering why this guy was lifting up his shirt to show everyone his stomach, and then my eyes went lower and I realized what he was really showing us!

I think I screamed. Buggy can't be sure cause he was driving but it was nasty! Folks, beware, there is a pervert on the loose in Jerusalem and he's flashing the world! I turned around to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, and the pervert was crossing the street with Jim and the Giant Peaches hanging out. People were getting out his way fairly quickly, which didn't surprised me.

Think the Lord is sending me a message not to go to the States for Pesach?

Nah.

So, after I tried to erase this nasty image from my mind, Buggy and I went to Caffit on Emek Refaim to work on his wedding list and the wording for the invitation. Unfortunately, we ended up going to a Levaya yesterday at the cemetary at the entrace to Jerusalem. It was very sad, and Buggy said something about how life is too short and we shouldn't wait until August to get married.

His Mom agreed with that statement, that life was precious and every minute counts.

And so, I called my Rabbi from Michlalah and asked if I could bring my fiance and 2 witnesses to his house, would he be able to marry us. Fortunately, he had a Ketubah hanging around and so Buggy and I were off to get married...

OK, just kidding about the whole Rabbi part. Dad, don't print this out cause I think Mom would be pretty upset since we are spending a lot of time on this wedding.

But it was something to think about, life being short and making every minute count.

Buggy and I spent some time alone between the Levaya and going to his Grandparents to say goodbye before the Chag. After a quick stop to say farewell to Buggy's parents, we went to dinner at Selina's or Serena's (not sure the name) which is right next door to Joy on Emek Refaim. We had a very, very romantic dinner and the food was great! Now, this is a restaurant I could get behind. They serve very, very reasonable portions people! It was perfect as both Buggy and I are on some serious Wedding lent.

Before Buggy dropped me off at the Tachanah to take the bus back to Tel Aviv, I went to the restroom and spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to turn on the tap. I felt like the biggest moron. I looked under the sink, next to the sink, on top of the faucet - nothing. Now, I always carry Purrell with me but it's gross not to wash your hands. But, I had been in there for so long I didn't want Buggy to think anything was wrong, so I made my way back to the table. Once at the table, I told him about the faucet and, since he is going to be building and designing bathrooms one day, told him never to make such an intricately designed bathroom that the patrons can't figure out how to turn on the water.

Well, this piqued his interest, and so he made his way back to check out the bathroom. He came back 5 minutes later with a big smile on his face. Thinking that he figured out how to turn on the water, I got even more embarressed. And then he told me that not only was I right, that there was no level to turn on the water, but when he told the waitress she was shocked.

Get this: someone STOLE the handle that opens up the faucet in the bathroom!

That must have been one really cool handle.

First thing I did when I got to the Tachanah, after saying a sad goodbye to Buggy, was hit the bathroom for a hand scrubbing.

And that was the past 24 hours in a nutshell!

Wish me a Nesiah Tovah folks, I HATE flying alone! Turbulance absolutely freaks me out! May G-d have mercy on me and grant me a safe, smooth ride.

Next post, B"H, will be from New York!

The Alderman

My classmate Lisa has been going on and on about this one particular book, entitled Disobedience by British novelist, Naomi Alderman. The novel has been met with tremendous critical acclaim from the publishing community, and has been regarding with disdain by the Orthodox community. I just put in my pre-Pesach book order at Barnes and Noble and decided that Disobedience was my must read for the Yom Tov. I also picked up two books for Buggy, one for class about kindergarten architecture while the other is a Jeffrey Deaver novel. I just hope I have enough room to bring everything back with me in a few weeks!

Today was another gorgeous day. Itai called early in the morning to tell me that I owe him money to cover the electric and Arnona bills. I am fine paying the Arnona fee, but when he told me that the electric cost was 620 shekel for the past two months, I told him I wasn't going to pay that ridiculous amount. Considering the fact that I was abroad for 26 out of the 28 days in February, it makes no sense for me to split the bill in half. Well, he hemmed and he hawed about breaking the bill down based on usage especially since we had agreed initially to just split it in half. But, I prevailed and managed to convince him to knock the price down for 100 shekel.

I think he gets off on putting the screws to me early in the morning, which can only explain why he felt it necessary to call me at 9:15 a.m. Good thing I was already up and working on my school assignments.

Today was a simply beautiful day in Tel Aviv! If the weather was perpetually like this, I would be a very happy woman. I tried to spread out my errands to take maximum advantage of being outdoors. I walked to the farther post office down Dizengof to mail a couple of Thank You notes for some engagement presents Buggy and I received, and then I walked to the SuperSolt that's farther away from my apartment to get some chicken for dinner. After that, I took out some money to cover the bills Itai paid and then headed back to the apartment to do some cleaning. I love my Swiffer, it was the smartest thing I brought back with me from the States. I'm going to have to remember to pick up some more swiffer dry's before I start running out.

I put together my packing list this afternoon and all I have to do tomorrow night is to follow the list and pack. I know, I'm anal, but what can I do? If I don't write things down then I'm not going to remember and then I forget important things like picking up a present from Buggy's Grandmother to bring with me back to the States.

Anyway, I'm off to pick up another box of eye drops so that I have plenty for Yom Tov. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow being my last day of classes for 3 weeks!

Sunday Mornings with Lana

Ah, what an adventure I already had this morning! Before I tell y'all about it, let me backtrack about 48 hours to Shabbos. First, el Jeffe gave me a ride to Jerusalem and we got in with 5 minutes to spare! Impressive, considering there was a huge accident right outside the city. An Egged bus had a tire blown out and the engine was smoking when we finally past all the rubberneckers who were holding up the show. Shabbos itself was really great, it was nice to see Buggy after not seeing him the entire week! His Mom broke out the family photos and we spent a long time on Friday night looking at pics of Buggy when he was little, at the family ski vacation, with his grandparents as his brother's wedding, and loads of army pics. Shabbos day was really relaxing too, it was just Buggy's family over for lunch and the meals were extremely entertaining. After a long Shabbos nap, it was time for me to go back to Tel Aviv and leave Buggy to study for his big exam this morning.

So, last night, as Buggy sat in his Uncle's office and studied for his exam, I decided to be a good fiance and watch the Israel vs. England soccer match. I promised to call him with any interesting action or goals, as he was too busy to watch or listen to the game. Fortunately for him, he didn't miss anything. That was probably the most boring sporting event I've ever watched, and people, I've sat through some pretty boring sporting events! The game ended 90 excrutiating minutes later in a 0-0 tie.

In the meantime, I'm a woman so I can multitask, I created a wedding website. I had a free one on the weddingchannel website but it was very limiting and no too nice. So, I went to Wedding Tracker and created our site. I spent the evening putting up photos, updating the wedding party, writing up some witting information about how we met, and loading the registries. By the time I was finished, I was just in time to wish Buggy good night and good luck, before he turned in for the evening.

This morning started off with a bang, well actually, a ring. The Mei Eden guys were here, yet again, trying to deliver some more water. Now, I appreciate that they are very vigilant with my water delivery, but they delivered 2 bottles 2 weeks ago and I haven't even started those. So, Itai called because they were outside the apartment door and ringing his bell and asked if I wanted to open up for the guys. I said I would because I wanted to return the empty bottles, and get them out of my apartment before Pesach.

After the Mei Eden guys left, I hopped into the shower, got dressed and called Lana about going to the Herzliya mall. We went to the 7 Stars Mall in Herzliya because I wanted to check out the Domo store and Lana's hard drive crashed. She went back to the Bug store to see if a technician could read what was on her harddrive and try to recovery some of that data (sadly, they weren't able to).

So, we get into a cab and the driver is listening to some Mordecai Ben David tunes and he's totally rockin the kippa. We asked for the moneh (meter) and he insisted on charging us a flat fee of 80 shekel. Since we have never been to this mall before, we didn't want to just go with what he said, and told him we'd prefer the meter. He said his meter wasn't working, so we got out of the cab and got into another one. This guy spoke English and had no problem with the meter.

Guess what - the entire ride was 43 shekel! Good thing we took the metered cab, what a ripoff!

The mall was a bit smaller than I expected, but they had some decent shops and everyone was selling stuff for Pesach! Domo was absolutely incredible! It was vast, had plenty of selection, and they had a ton of grills and appliances! After Pesach, I think Buggy and I are going to have to go back there to register for some wedding stuff.

Lana and I were done by 11:15 (we left at 9:45) and it took us three different tries to get a cab that would use a meter. He dropped us off on the corner of Arlozorov and Dizengof and Lana went home to study for an exam and I went to the AM PM to pick up some food for lunch. After getting back and doing some more wedding errands, I changed and went to change some money, hit the fruit and vegetable stand and put in my tablecloth to the cleaners.

The rest of my night is going to be pretty quiet, which is going to be good. I've saved all of my homework for tomorrow, and that means reading 3 short stories with commentary and also catching up on some Dubliner's stories.

4 days until I'm back in New York! I can't wait to see the family!

The British Invasion

Well, no, the Beatles aren't coming to Israel but more than 5,000 UK citizens are coming! In fact, some of the newspapers in this country are estimating that thousands of soccer fans will be flying into the country today and tomorrow morning to watch the Israel vs. England match tomorrow night. And, of course, they will ALL be here in Tel Aviv! I wish Jules were here, she would have a field day with all the Brits. Good thing I'm getting outta town for Shabbos. Jerusalem, here I come!

I had such a productive day yesterday. First, I had a call with an absorportion person at Nefesh B'Nefesh who told me that, surprise, but when I went to get that Teudat Zehut the banks all forced me to get, I offiicially made Aliyah! OK, so how come I've been spending 450 shekel a month on health insurance? I have to make an appointment now with the Misrad HaKlitah to make everything official and then I should start getting rights as an Olah. It's a pretty big mess and once I get back to the States in a few days, I'm going to have to cobble together proof that I spent the past 10 years living in the States. I got in touch with my former employers from 1997-2000 and asked them to write me a letter. They told me to just e-mail me the letter and they will put it on official letterhead and send it to me. So, at least I have 4 out of the 10 years accounted for. Now I have to get in touch with ANOTHER employer and then I should be able to supplement the rest with my back tax returns.

It's such a pain to do all of this! But, oh well, it has to be done and if I want to be able to buy a new car without paying taxes on it, this is the way it has to go.

So, this conversation got me a bit hyped up, especially since I want to make aliyah officially with Nefesh B'Nefesh because I was hoping for the financial assistance next year. Now they tell me that, since I accidentally made Aliyah in August, I'm probably not eligible for financial assistance (they don't do retroactive assistance). I'm not pleased about this, not pleased about this at all.

Which lead me to the gym at 2:00 p.m. yesterday. I stayed there for an hour and a half, doing 30 minutes on the treadmill, hitting the weight area, and then finishing off with 15 minutes on the bike. I walked home and went to visit Boris and Miriam to buy some fruit and vegetables for dinner.

Check out what they sell in this country! I've never seen these before in my entire life:



These are squat little zucchini's! Since I'm in full-on Pesach mode, I've been trying to use up what I already have in my house. I had some left over vegetables from Shabbos, so I made a red onion, portobello mushroom, yellow pepper, garlic and zucchini stir fry as a side dish for dinner last night. Sprinkled with some kosher salt and a bit of pepper, it was really, really yummy!

But, that left about 8 hours before I went to sleep and I had no idea what to do with myself! I'm pretty ahead of the game in terms of wedding plans and, quite frankly, I really needed a night off from wedding planning. I had already caught up on all of my TV shows for the week and began another short story for my thesis collection. People, I was really, really good and bored. Buggy was back in Jerusalem studying and doing some more homework. I haven't seen him since I left Jerusalem on Sunday night, and this weekends visit is going to be super short (tonight until tomorrow night, I return to Tel Aviv right after Shabbat so he can study for his big exam on Sunday morning).

And then, Jeff called and asked if I wanted to meet for coffee. Now, I was still in my stinking gym gear and I don't drink coffee, so I said no. Since he's giving me a ride into Jerusalem though, he somehow managed to twist my arm to go to the movies with him. Now, I'm not going to reveal the name of the movie that Jeff is dying to see, but I was super bored and really needed to get out of the house, so I agreed to see it. Since I was at home and he was walking back from the gym, I went to the Seret website to check out where and when the movie was playing. We managed to find a showtime at the end of Dizingoff street (near the Namal) playing at 10:00. We met on the corner of Arlozorof and Ben Yehuda and got onto the #4 bus, which left us a few blocks from the theatre. And, when we got to the theatre, we discovered that the movie wasn't playing at all that night!

Now, I know that I can sometimes be off when reading Hebrew, but I'm telling you that it said Alef-Heh and no Alef-Daled on the website! Once we got to the theatre though, we saw the sign that said Alef-Daled. I think Jeff was a bit annoyed with me, especially since he showered and got dressed and was excited about the movie, only to be disappointed. Well, since we were both out at that point, we just decided to walk back together and that was nice. We walked straight down Dizengof street, past the famous Chumus restaurant and the Kosher Blintzies place, until I got back to my apartment.

At which point, I realized how absolutely exhausted I was. I called my sister and then somehow fell asleep within the 15 minutes it took her to get back to me. Sorry!

I woke up this morning to gray skies and a wonderful message from my friend Shulamit and her husband Paul. They welcomed a baby girl late last night, and she weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds! WOW!

MAZAL TOV! I can't wait to find out her name :)

Since I'm on wedding lent, and have given up quick a few foods such as french fries (haven't had one french fry since I left New York in February!) and popcorn (recent addition to my wedding lent), I need to hit the supermarket and pick up some breakfast for myself.

Song of the day is Baby Fratelli by The Fratellis. Hey, maybe they're in town for the game too!

Shabbat Shalom!

Peeps in my Neighborhood

On Purim here in Tel Aviv, while Buggy and I were tucked away in Jerusalem not celebrating and watching a movie, some of the people in my neighborhood decided to have a big ol' party. Here's what it looked like:



Michael the Gabbai is a little Indian!



Awww, Oren and Rachel snuggle for the camera



Jeff, or el Jeffe, looks a little bit scared and scary! Be afraid, be very afraid cause he went all Brokeback Cowboy for Purim!



Aussie Gayle with an unidentified friend.



Avner looks a little wasted, or no, just kidding, he always looks like this.

Strike!

At 9:00 a.m. this morning, the Histadrut here in Israel went on strike and that means that everyone who works in one of the following organizations/companies/divisions is at home getting high or wasted right now.

Ben Gurion Airport
Israel Railways
Israel Ports
Israel Postal Service
Government offices (excluding the Defense Ministry)
Refinement Industry
Local municipalities
National Insurance
Kindergartens
Employment services
Israel Electric Company (IEC) (No customer service)
Bank of Israel (No cash distribution)
Religious councils
Courts (sanctions)
City unions
Life guards
Israel Lands Administration (ILA)
Vehicle Licensing Bureau (no customer service)
Laboratory workers
State Attorney's Office
Border control
Mekorot (National Water Company)
Librarians
Israel Fire and Rescue Services - will be operating in a limited capacity

Yeah, those kindergarten teachers could sure use a big ol' martini, and the lifeguards (who haven't been working since October) could certainly go for a day off! It's hard work doing absolutely nothing! I looked for the big rat this morning when I made my way towards the bus stop but was assualted by the unusual peace and quite on my block. I'm assuming that since border control peeps didn't make it to work today, no workers were allowed into Tel Aviv to finish the construction on my block. They couldn't have gone on strike tomorrow when I DON'T have to be up at 7:00 a.m. for a 10:00 a.m. class?

I got to school bright and early this morning and had plenty of time to catch up on my philosophy reading. Class with Professor Kramer was interesting but I misread a key element in the play by Clifford Odets and so I was pretty confused until about mid-way through the class. I think my new policy is going to have to be no more reading past Midnight. My brain just doesn't function well at that hour!

Professor Harvey's class was GREAT! We're in the middle of Maimonides proof for Creation and I had loads of questions and comments (especially since I did the reading about 2 hours before the class). When I went up to him after the class to tell him that I will be missing our first class after the Pesach break he told me that he doesn't think I'll be able to get to the States because of this strike.

I'm scheduled to fly outta here next Thursday and if that means I have to start swimming NOW, I'm gonna get there in time for Pesach!

Tobye drove me to the bus stop and I did my 30 minute walk back to my apartment. It's an absolutely gorgeous Spring day here in Tel Aviv and, quite frankly, I'm a bit hot in my jeans! I could have gone to school today in a skirt without any tights and would have been extremely comfortable. I'm hoping we'll have springlike weather when I'm in New York next week. That would be really, really nice.

So yesterday, there was a country wide emergency drill. It was kinda like those post-9/11 drills Bloomberg runs in Manhattan, where you see about 100 cop cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring roar down Broadway and then park in a row up on the sidewalk - except much, much scarier. At 2:00 p.m., on the dot, the sirens went off and this siren was heard throughout the entire Country. Most people jumped up to call home to let their babysitters and kids know that it was just a drill and we weren't under attack. It was really good for me to experience the drill because now I know the noise that will prompt me to soil myself before I race towards the nearest bomb shelter. Of course, just knowing that Anderson Cooper won't be far away if Israel is under attack, will help keep me calm if the bombs start to fall.

Please god, may this not happen.

And, since I'm selfish, please god may this not happen anywhere near the wedding this summer.

Speaking of the wedding, my Mom got a gown yesterday! And, it's in one of the four colors I picked out, so that really makes me even happier! I have to sit down now and put together the list for what needs to happen when I'm in New York, and I also really have to figure out what to do about my hair. I need a haircut before Pesach but I don't know if that's a good idea since I think I want my hair long for the wedding.

Ah well, kinda boring to really write about it and since I don't really have too much more to write about, I'm going to sign off and try to figure out how to get to the Seven Stars Mall in Hertzliya. I really, really want to go there at some point tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Israeli Plumbers Crack & The Bat of Tel Aviv

The saga of the apartment that's falling apart (or was never built correctly, whatever you want to call it) continues. It's getting to the point where I feel like I'm cracking up (just kidding, was trying to use the pun...). And this morning, I woke up at 7:45 a.m. to let in the plumber so that I can look at his crack for an hour as he fixed yet one more problem in the apartment.

A fitting end to the past 62 hours.

It all started as soon as I lit Shabbos candles on Friday night. Buggy and I had a really, really nice afternoon together on Friday. As soon as he got here, we called his Aunt Nomi who lives in Tel Aviv, and we took a cab over to her side of the neighborhood to meet for coffee. It was nice getting to know his Aunt, who I've only met once at the family Chanukah party back in December. She is really a nice woman, and extremely interesting to talk to, and we both really enjoyed ourselves. As the rain started to fall, we hopped into a cab and got back to the apartment so Buggy could make his famous onion soup. I helped of course! I prepared all of the ingredients in an assembly line next to the pot so that we could put them in when it was time.



This is what the soup looks like this morning straight from the freezer. A little fatty on top from the oil but once you heat it up it's really, really yummy! I told Buggy that since soup ain't my forte, it will B"H be his responsibility once we're married. He was so proud that the soup tasted so good that I think he's going to rise to the occasion in the future.

So, after the soup was up, we had literally 30 minutes to both get ready for Shabbos. I lit Shabbos candles with one minute to spare and then, as Buggy was getting ready to go to shul for Mincha/Maariv, I went into the bathroom to pull out the box of tissues I bought for Shabbos. I opened the cabinet under the sink and picked up the box, and felt something wet. I crouched down and saw this absolute pool of water all over the cabint. I think I muttered something that I can't repeat here (actually, I'm lying, I know that I screamed an obscenity because Buggy came running to the bathroom to see what happened) and then I had a little fit as I pulled out the entire contents of the cabinet.

So, here's the long and short of it: there was a leak in the pipe so that clean water was dripping underneath the sink. I have no idea how long this leak has been here because of the following photo:



This folks is a bag that contains 8 boxes of cardboard applicator tampons and sanitary napkins.

They are ALL fully absorbed at this point.

Obviously, I will not be able to use them in the future. But, had they not been there, I probably would have discovered the leak a few days ago instead of RIGHT AFTER SHABBOS STARTED.

Buggy brought me some bags and I loaded the contents of my bathroom into them. I then tucked these bags into the corner of my living room and hoped that my Shabbos company wouldn't notice that they were there.



The big concern for me is that my blow dryer and hot iron were resting on top of the soaked boxes of tampons and I have no idea if they were really wet. I'm letting them dry out in the meantime before I attempt to plug them in and test them out. Which means that yes, I'm going curly for the next few days.

Anyway, I'm a bit passive aggressive and I decided to leave the soaking wet tampon/pad bag in the hall between mine and Itai's apartment. It didn't do anything but at least it made me feel a bit better that it was stinking up the hall. In fact, when Shabbos ended and I called the landlord to let her know of yet ANOTHER snafu, he came in to check it out and told me that something I cooked had a rank smell.

Buggy had to excuse himself and went into the bedroom to laugh. He told me that my cooking smells amazing and the stanky scent were the wet tampons in the hallway.

Maybe my passive aggressiveness worked!

Anyway, I did not have a pleasant conversation with my landlord. I told her I wanted to be reimbursed for the damages that were caused in this latest "flood" and that includes a $150 hot iron that I brought from the States. She got all pissy with me and said we first needed to coordinate on the plumber and then we could discuss damages.

Fine. That's defnitely the right way to placate me.

Unfortunately, I couldn't spend my Sunday sitting in the apartment waiting for the plumber. I had an eye Dr.'s appointment in Modiin in the morning and then Buggy and I had to go to Jerusalem to do some more wedding errands like picking out our wedding bands (rings, not orchestra), picking up benchers, getting Buggy a birthday present (April 11th!!) and meeting with parents to review the content of the invitation. So, my landlord said that I would have to call the plumber directly and work out my schedule with him. I asked her, since this was yet ANOTHER apartment inconvenience, if she could come to the apartment and stay with the plumber.

She said: What, me sit all day in your flat and wait for the plumber? No, never.

OK, fine. I had nothing else in the bathroom that could be ruined and I couldn't rearrange my schedule for Sunday so I took the phone number and made the call on Sunday afternoon to coordinate with the plumber.

Meanwhile, Itai came into the apartment to check out the leak and told his Aunt (my landlord in case you haven't been following) that it wasn't such a big deal. That the rhythm wasn't that intense and it could wait a few days. This is what my landlord claimed he told her. I was not there when he said this to her because he took my phone into the bathroom to have a chat.

So, yesterday, when I went to call the plumber to have him come to the apartment he told me that he was told it wasn't an emergency and he would try to work something out with me. I asked if he could come on Sunday night and he told me that he was unavailable. I asked him if he could come then on Monday morning and he said he was busy all day Monday. So I asked him if he could come on Monday night and he said we'll see and that he'll call me.

Now, I have experience with the workers who call you. They call you when they're 5 minutes away from your place and ask if they can come over. Now, I didn't want to be held hostage in my apartment all day long so I asked him to give me a 3 hour window so I could make myself available. He didn't want to do that. So, we hung up without setting a time and I called Lea back.

She said to me that she told him it wasn't a big deal or anything because Itai told her that it wasn't so much water.

Really? Hmm, okay. That's news to me. I've been waking up every 4 hours in the middle of the night to empty a full pan of water into my shower so that I won't have a huge flood! The water dripped with or without the tap being on too so not using the sink doesn't help matters at all.

But fine, if that's how my landlord wants to play it, what can I do? Right? I'm at her mercy and she knows it.

But she said she would call the plumber and try to set a time and would get back to me.

At which point, I called Itai and asked him why he told her that it wasn't such a big deal. Did he not see the damage in the hall? Would he like that to happen in his apartment? So, he started in on this long, drawn out lecture about how they are working really hard to accommodate me but things happen in a new apartment. He talked on, and on, and on and now I know why he's a lawyer. He can just talk the other side to freaking death! I stopped talking and just let him drone on and on because I know that it doesn't pay to talk, he won't listen, and it's just a waste of my time.

But this was the real clincher here, the reason why I've never been so pissed in my entire life. He told me that he overheard me telling Buggy that I want Lea to be responsible for the damages. He told me, that if I read my contract carefully, his Aunt is NOT responsible for any of the damages. He gave me some ridiculous example of if I left my diamond ring in the bathroom and there was a flood and the ring was damaged, his Aunt wouldn't be responsible. And, the only reason why he offered to reimburse me for the shit storm from two weeks ago is because it's out of the goodness of his heart and he felt bad about that. He also didn't even take the 91 shekel from his Aunt for the cost of cleaning up my apartment by the cleaning lady because he knows just how hard she is trying to work with me to make this apartment better.

What a guy huh?

He cited an example of his own living situation a few months ago where, if something was broken, his landlord took his sweet time getting around to fixing it. So let me get this straight. If it was someone else's apartment, I would still have a river of waste flowing through my place AND my sink would be leaking? Is this really how it works in this country? Cause, if that's really true, that's a tremendous crime.

When he made yet another comment about how, aside from the incident a few weeks ago, this apartment has been wonderful I ended the conversation. Let him be a revisionist if he wants to, I've been blogging every single incident and have a written account of all of the problems in this place. I hope to just move out and be done with them but I'm armed with plenty of ammunition if they want things to get ugly.

I was on such an anti-Israel low yesterday it was really depressing. Buggy worked very hard to make me feel better as he, a Sabra, feels responsible for how shabbily his people are treating me. I told him that he can't feel that way because I don't make comparisons or generalities. Its just been very hard since I moved here and it's really depressing to hate Israeli people. I would have prefered to be that naive woman living in the States who dreamt of moving to a wonderful Israel where the people are amazing and the land feels like my true home.

Never in a million years did I think I would be wishing for my old landlords, a sweet non-Jewish Polish man and his son, who were menches the entire four and a half years of my previous rental experience.

I think, at the end of my year here, I'm going to blog about how I really feel told Israel and her people. I don't want to start it up because today is a new day, and I'd prefer having a fresh start in the morning.

I took the 8:30 p.m. bus back to Tel Aviv last night and, as I waited for the 61 to bring me closer to the apartment, I saw the bat of Tel Aviv. He flies around the Arlozorov bus station and, if you don't look closely, you'd think it was just a bird. But, in the light from the streetlamp, I was able to make out his wings.

It was scary and exhilirating at the same time. I haven't seen a bat in years, not since my days at sleep away camp. It was kinda cool.

Since I'm awake, I've decided to spend my morning working on the draft of my thesis proposal and catching up on the reading for class tomorrow. I have to re-read a few stories in James Joyce's Dubliners and apparently there is a 32 page short story waiting in my inbox from one of my colleagues.

I hope it's a quick years cause otherwise, it's going to be a long afternoon.

PS. George and Izzie on Grey's Anatomy? Seriously? Seriously!

Pesach at HolyLandHipster's House

My blogger isn't letting me upload this great photo of a giant horseradish root. That's sad, beause I really wanted the world to see what a complete moron I can be sometimes. So, today has been one of those days. Now, I woke up on the right side of the bed, and then had a really productive morning. I spent 5 hours this a.m. working on my thesis proposal, and am almost done with a first draft. This includes a pretty comprehensive bibliography, although, I still have no idea how to write a bibliography for biblical texts. For example, how to you reference the Book of Esther in a bibliography?

About Noon, as the rain was thundering down all around me, I somehow got into a bad mood. I can't really pinpoint why, but maybe it's just all the stress of school, wedding and Aliyah that finally got to me. But, just cause I was in a bad mood doesn't mean I have to shirk my responsibilities! I was having Shabbos guests and that meant I needed to do some cooking, cleaning and food shopping.

I chatted with Marns for a bit on her way into work and then ran out to do my laundry. I didn't realize how cold it is outside and I was freezing in my sweatshirt and sweatpants. The laundromat was really crowded but I was able to get my machine and work on my thesis proposal as my clothing swirled around in the dryer. After the laundry was done and I had all the clean sheets back on my bed, I met Lana for a quick catch up. We hadn't spoken or hung up in a few weeks now so it was nice to see her and catch up.

We ended up heading over to the Supermarket and now I know why I prefer to shop alone. I wanted to make this carmalized carrot and parsnip soup and needed three parsnips. I saw these huge, white, knobbing looking things in shrink wrap and they looked a bit like parsnip but not really. But there was something really familiar about them and when I asked Lana what she thought, she agreed that it was parsnip. So, I piled two big one into my basket and kept on shopping. I somehow made it back to my apartment will all of the food I purchased and then I was out again to visit my favorite people. Miriam was no where to be found but Boris helped me pick out two melons that will be good for lunch on Shabbos. I also decided to invite Lana and Gayle for Shabbos lunch. Eventhough I haven't seen Buggy since Sunday, I've decided not to be so selfish and share the wealth. With Lana being a vegetarian though, I have to come up with another sidedish so that she won't starve at my meal!

With everything purchased, I got to work on pulling everything together. Normally, I cook the soup first but I decided tonight to take care of it after I cook everything else. I put in the red rice, cooked up the pasta for the macaroni and meat, browned the meat and sauteed the onions for the macaroni and meat, cleaned the chicken and seasoned them, put them in the oven to cook for an hour and a half, cleaned and set the pargiot to marinate in the sweet chili sauce, steamed the carrots and sugar snap peas, put the macaroni and meat into the oven to cook, steamed the edemame and then SHELLED two bags, cooked up the 7 small potatoes I had left in my vegetable bin, dressed the carrots and sugar snap peas, and then it was time to get ready to make the soup. I took out an onion and cut it into julienne strips. I went into the fridge and took out the carrots and the two packages of parsnip. I was on the phone with Buggy as I went about my business and I noticed that the parsnip just didn't look like my unsual white carrot. I started peeling the "parsnip" and my eyes immediately started to water!

Now, in my parents house, my job erev Pesach is to make the Charoset and grate the Maror. Eventhough we only use the romaine lettuce these days for maror, my parents are very traditional and like to have the white horseradish in bowls at the table. So, every year, I cry over the maror and grate enough for two big bowlfulls. This year, B"H, will be no different but tonight, I didn't feel the need to continue the tormet. I told Buggy how upset I was with the mess up and, since it was way too late, I wouldn't be able to go out until the morning to find the right ingredients. That's when Buggy offered to make us onion soup for Shabbos! All he needed were 5 onions cuts into julienne strips, some white wine, chicken soup powder, 1 tablespoon of flour, some oil and hot water.

DONE! I've got all of those ingredients in my house and was more than happy to cut the onions. And so, there is a big bag of julienned onions sitting in my vegetable crisper waiting for Buggy to come along and make us soup for Shabbos. I'm really looking forward to him getting in the kitchen and have already told him that since soup really isn't my forte, his job when we're married is to make soup for Shabbos! And maybe occassionally grill too.

Well, I have to be up in a few hours and I want to have some time tomorrow to review my thesis proposal and finish cooking and cleaning for Shabbos. Song of the day is Whistle for the Choir by The Fratellis. Man, these guys are good!

O Canada!

Check out the pervert who drives the jaws of life. In this country, when it rains, everything stops and that includes the workers fixing and building the roads. When I got home from school today, I caught this guy flipping through a porno magazine and lounging in the Catepillar outside of my apartment. I was soaked through and through, but he was nice and comfortable with his porn sheltered from the rain. I took the pic when as he was going across the street to dump the magazine in the trash.

Perv.



These power vehicles have become permanent fixtures on my block and lord knows when they are going to finally finish fixing the roads. It's getting to be a little annoying leaving my apartment in the morning and playing a game of chess with them. I move one step to the right and one of the cranes comes backwards with a load of gravel, so I move two steps to the right to avoid getting run over. This morning, the foreman of the job told me that I had to cross the street because it wasn't safe.

Ummm, that's what I was trying to do, but they didn't leave me any room to get out of the apartment building.

I'm looking forward to coming to the States for Pesach. It will be really nice to wake up one more without the sound of drilling and gravel being dumped into large piles on the corner.



So, remember how much I complained about the boots and the rain in this country. My feet were soaked a few months ago through my boots and I spent the day sitting in class absolutely freezing. Well, when I was in the States in February, I went to Lord and Taylor and asked the shoe salesman for the best pair of boots that are water resistent. He told me that these were a great pair from Canada that have already been pretreated. I trusted him and plunked down the extra cash for these boots.

Today I gave them a bit of a testdrive as the rain came down in sheets when Philosophy class was over. Fortunately, Tobye offered to give me a ride all the way to my block so I only had to walk with her across campus and through the parking lot to her car. Yeah, my clothing and knapsac were completely soaked and the bottoms of my jeans are full of water, mud and sand. But the most important part people is that my feet stayed DRY!

God BLESS Canadian shoes! I am a very, very happy gal.

Of course, as soon as I got home I stripped and got into a nice, warm sweatsuit because the only thing worse than wet jeans is wet underpants. With a steaming hot mug of tea, I thought about class today and just warmed up to the rest of the items on my to-do list.

The broccoli for the broccoli kugel is cooking on the stove and I'm getting ready to put the kugel into the oven. After I make the kugel I'm going to make a batch of Shulamit's blondies for Buggy to eat for kiddish this shabbos morning. I don't have any dark chocolate chips but I do have white ones so those will have to do. Since Pesach is literally around the corner, I want to use up what I have before buying new. The menu for Shabbos is actually an opportunity for me to clean house.

Friday night is going to be a new soup recipe I'm trying from the Kosher By Design: Short on Time cookbook, sweet chili sauce pargiot, wildrice with slivered almonds and craisins, Terra Chip Salad, broccoli kugel, and fruit for dessert. Shabbos day is going to be leftover broccoli kugel, macaroni and meat, leftover pargiot, a TBD salad and fruit for dessert. I'm hoping to not have to spend a ton of time in the kitchen today and tomorrow, especially since I want to hit the gym and do my laundry tomorrow too.

I have to remember to ask Buggy to bring Challah from Jerusalem and I have plenty of wine so we should be all set for Shabbos. I'm really, really looking forward to just the two of us, especially since next week I'll be back at his folks for the weekend.

Oh well, we'll figure it all out.

OK - I'm off to finish the kugel and start the blondies. Literature of the day is The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud.

Hitting the Bar with Leo

The press has invaded Tel Aviv today, as everyone has a tip on where Leonardo Dicaprio and his Israeli-model girlfriend Bar Rafaeli are going to be hanging out. It's raining outside people, where do you think they're going? Fortunately, I avoided the crush of paparazzi by actually making it to school today. Unfortunately, I miscalculated on time and ended up getting to class 5 minutes late. We hadn't started yet, so I didn't miss anything.

I don't know what is going on with the buses recently but I just haven't been having much luck! I took the 61 instead of my usual 64 because it comes much more frequently but today it took 25 minutes before a bus showed up. The 61 also goes on the most annoying route to Bar Ilan, weaving in and out of Ramat Gan as opposed to the straight Jabotinsky ride of the 64. Since I have to be in class at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, I'm not chancing it and am hoping to leave the apartment at 8:30! I told Professor Kramer tonight that I was going to get in early. I hope I don't make a liar out of myself tomorrow cause that will just be really embarassing.

It was nice to get back into school mode today after last week's long absence. I'm really looking forward to the writer's conference in Jerusalem from April 17-19. The topic is: What Does it Mean to Be a Jewish Writer? and the conference is free! I hope that people take advantage of that and come hear the amazing lineup of writers. As we get closer to the conference, I'm going to post the workshop, writers and session lists for the folks who are interested in coming out.

Wedding plans are coming along really, really nicely and the great news is that my friend Aura finished our monogram! We both absolutely love it, and our Mom's really like it too, so we're set. I'm sending it over to the invitation folks to make sure it's in the correct file, and am going to burn it to a CD that we can bring to Meah Shearim on Sunday when we go looking for benchers.

Buggy is B"H coming to me for Shabbos and I'm really looking forward to it just being the two of us. When I left him in Jerusalem on Sunday night, it was really hard. I hate having to leave him during the week, but with my school schedule and his school and work schedules, we just can't see each other from Monday thru Thursday night. Typically, Buggy comes out to Tel Aviv on Thursday night for dinner but this week he has to stay in Jerusalem and work on a project for school. He is building a chair out of tins and while I don't necessarily understand the concept, I'm sure the finished product will be brilliant. His models are absolutely incredible!

My trip to the States for Pesach is starting to really book up already and I'm getting a little overwhelmed with everything I have to do in such a condensed time. It's also going to be weird for me to only celebrate 7 days of the Chag as opposed to the 8 days my family will be celebrating. Since I won't be able to do actual melacha during those days, I am hoping to spend the time writing, watching TV, playing with the kids and relaxing. What I'm really looking forward to is not having to drink another 4 glasses of wine and stuff myself full of Matzah!

Well, it's late and I have to do my dishes and read some homework before class tomorrow morning. Song of the day is Vivaldi:Spring, Allegaro, I've been listening to a lot of classical music so I can prepare a list for the band to play as people walk down the aisle!

Constantly Running

I've been having variations of a similar dream for quite some time now, and last night's was really interesting. I keep having dreams that I'm running. And, the best part of the dream is that I really, really enjoy running. Last night's dream had me running on the boardwalk here in Tel Aviv, and it was at night with a comfortable cool breeze coming off of the water. In the dream, I run like I'm weightless and it feels incredible. The motion of running fast is very comforting, extremely soothing, and I just look around as the scenery passes me by.

I'm definitely hitting the gym today. In fact, I'm probably going to be hitting the gym very, very soon.

Buggy and I had an engagement party at Paula on Saturday night and it was so much fun! Now, I called the party for 8:30 because I assuming that since Saturday in this country is like Sunday night in the States, people weren't going to want to hang out very late. I thought that an earlier time would be a good thing. Well, either everyone in this country likes to be fashionably late or I just called it for an unrealistic time, but no one showed up before 9:45 p.m.! Now, Buggy and I made a pack and while I ususally have my 5 minutes rule (you know, the 5 minutes to give a blind date to be late and a minute after the 5 minute rule you're heading back to your apartment to wallow in self pity and gorge yourself on some Chunky Monkey), he convinced me to give everyone an hour. So, we had our own little Lechaim and then our friends and Buggy's family members showed up.

It was a lot of fun! First, Julia came and told us that she's engaged to her boyfriend! That was such a nice, shocking, pleasant surprise. So, Buggy and I toasted another engaged couple. I ended up calling Jeff, who mind you lives down the block from this bar, to find out where he was. Fortunately, he showed up shortly thereafter. Oren and Rachel came, which was nice considering that Oren's sister got married yesterday, Lana and both Gayles were there too, Merav and Josh from my class, and a handful of other Tel Aviv friends. Buggy's siblings were there, except for his younger brother who is in Miluim, and a couple of friends from Jerusalem drove out as well. By the end of the night, I had a few Mojito's and shots under my belt and Buggy made sure I got home ok.

Yesterday, the weather in Tel Aviv was out of control! It was pushing 85 degrees here and people were heading to the beach in droves. We left the summer swelter and headed to the cooler mountains of Jerusalem to do some more wedding errands. We checked out a couple of stores to register at, and also got together with him folks.

And that's when the call came in about my plumbing issue here in Tel Aviv. Folks, this apartment is for the birds! It is all cosmetic and no substance! Apparently, Itai's toilet was stopping up yet again while my toilet was functioning just fine. So, his mother called while Buggy and I were on our way back to Jerusalem to tell me that the plumber was coming to look at Itai's toilet and can he look at mine too, will I be home. I told her I would not be home and she cannot come into the apartment. The next thing I know, Itai is calling me from work to beg me to let them into my apartment. He said that they hired a different plumber and he promised that there would be no mess.

Of course, he lied. My landlord called me a few hours later to say that they had to remove the toilet again and snake the drain. She said that apparently the workers had thrown rocks and such into the pipes and that was the cause of the problem. Also, Itai's apartment had absolutely no problems whatsoever. All the problems were in my apartment. My landlord promised that they had cleaned up behind themselves and everything was now fine. So I asked here, was there any waste at all on the floor of that apartment. She said aboslutely not.

Liar.

When I got home, my apartment smelled once again like doody and my kitchen window was wide open to let out the smell. Now, I was not happy that the window was open when I was not home. I am very careful to close all of my windows whenever I'm not home. But, I understand that otherwise the smell would have just been overwhelming. I'm upset because they also told me that I can't use the toilet for 24 hours and then they did not give me the option to go to a hotel for the evening. So, I came back to the apartment and used the toilet eventhough it was well within the 24 hours. Too bad for them!

Now that I've written all about yesterday's ordeal, I'm a bit worked up so I'm going to head off to the gym.

Greedy

The people in this country never cease to amaze me! This morning, my landlord stopped by to pick up the rent money for the next three months. I had the envelope all ready for her as I pay my rent in cash. First of all, she showed up 30 minutes later than our appointment. She didn't even have the decency to call me to let me know she was running late. I opened the door for her and she wished me this big Mazal Tov and kissed me on both cheeks. Now, I'm not a physically affectionate person to begin with but I CERTAINLY didn't want this woman to kiss me like she is my long lost best buddy. I'd rather she was the one on her hands and knees cleaning up the crap off of my bathroom floor then kissing me like she's my relative. So, she walks into the apartment and I hand her the envelope and a list of items that were destroyed during the plumbing incident last week. She looked at the list and then asked if she should leave me 200 shekels.

Now that was insulting! My bathroom rug alone cost more than 150 shekels! I know that she went all cheap on the apartment, but that doesn't mean that I'm just like her. I told her that I will look through my receipts and let her know exactly how much everything cost so she can pay me the correct amount. She told me that I should just go out and pick up replacement items and she would reimburse me. I don't want to work it that way, I want exactly the amount she really owes me.

Anyway, this was the best part of the whole morning, she actually sat down at my table and counted out the money. I've never, ever seen that happen in my life. But hey, if she wants to sit here and count out the 9,900 shekels (in 100 shekel bills) then be my guest. As she sitting there counting out her money, she has the nerve to remark what an amazing apartment this is. I laughed and told her that it's an apartment full of problems and that there hasn't been one week since I've moved in that didn't have an issue. She laughed and kept on counting her money.

Then she told me how difficult it is for her to deal with the cash, because now she has to go and deposit it into the bank and wouldn't it be easier for her if I would go to the bank and deposit it into her bank account for her.

Who is this woman??!!! What Chutzpah? I was just so shocked at her, I think my mouth physically dropped open when she made that comment.

So I said, and I'm apologizing to my Dad right now because I'm about to use offensive language, that it would have been easier for ME if she would have been the person to clean up the shit in my bathroom. I don't think that translated or she just acted dumb, but she asked why when I'm at the bank withdrawing money that I couldn't just deposit it there to her account. I explained that I deal in dollars and don't withdraw my rent money from my bank.

And with that, she handed me back 5 shekel and shook my hand. I walked her out of the apartment, she wished me a good Pesach, and that was it. I don't have to deal with her for another three months and when Itai begs me to find an American friend to move into this place I'm going to tell him no way in hell. Instead, I'm going to try to find the rudest, most abnoxious, pain in the butt Israeli to move into this place and give my landlord a run for her money!

The adrenaline is pumping folks, really, really, pumping. I haven't felt this jacked up in quite some time so I got my sneakers on and I'm going to work off this frustration on the treadmill at the gym.

Song of the day is I'm Not Ready to Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks.

Buggy Luvs Me

Buggy loves me. He sent me 15 red roses after yesterday's ordeal. It's too much to rehash online, I personally would like to forget the experience completely, but I am grateful to the Dr. who gave me good news in the end. That is really all that matters.

So, I didn't make it to school today. I spent the day recoupperating from yesterday and that meant sleeping in until 11:30 a.m. Then, it was up and back to wedding plans! Mom and I had our early morning conference call to discuss some agenda items and then it was back to the internet for me. Looking for some florists, a headpiece, hotels for our out of town guests, etc. I'm going to be very relieved once all of the wedding plans our set.

The exciting news is that Buggy and I are having an impromptu engagement party in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. I would have hosted it here in my apartment but I still have no place for people to sit. So, we decided to host the party at a bar a few blocks from my apartment. They have a great upstairs area and I reserved it for majority of the evening. We're looking forward to Buggy's Jerusalem friends mingling with my Tel Aviv friends. It should be a good time!

Have you caught the pilot episode of The Black Donnellys? If not, I highly suggest you go ahead and check it out. It was absolutely superb! Buggy and I both really, really enjoyed it. But, here's the curious thing. There are apparently two different episodes floating around the internet. I downloaded one off iTunes for free after I watched the episode on YourTVLinks was shocked at the musical selection on the one I downloaded. The episode was no longer as exciting with the new score and so, when Buggy and I sat down to watch it, I used the one from the website as opposed to the one I already downloaded. Aside from the music in the beginning, the ending just wasn't the same with the Snow Patrol song as opposed to the Arcade Fire song.

Song of the day is Rebellion (Lies) by Arcade Fire. This is off of their Funeral album and is a must listen for all!

I spoke to Cousin Neil this morning, who called to complain about the fact that he's still sick. He's been running 102 fever for the past four days and is now getting a little concerned. Cousin Larry told him that it's just a virus and he'll be fine in a few, but Cousin Neil is getting pretty frustrated. I could relate, it's awful being sick on vacation! I think he found some cake bakery on Emek though, so chances are at least the sugar high should help him feel better (at least temporarily).

I hear it's snowing again in New York. Marns was annoying that she had to clean off her car again this morning and I felt bad. It's absolutely beautiful in Tel Aviv today. Bright blue skies, plenty of sunshine, a nice breeze coming off the ocean. All you need is a light sweatshirt in this weather. After I finish updating the blog, I'm going to check in with folks from class to see how the day went and then it's off to run some errands. I have nothing in my fridge and I need to make dinner tonight. I'm also going to try to head over to the beach for some exercise.

LIterature of the day is Crash Diet by Jill McCorkle. This short story is beautifully done using very clean and effective language. I highly recommend the short story for anyone in the mood for a fun read!

Tel Aviv Earthquake

The bed was shaking me awake this morning. I held on to dear life, clutching the edges of my matress, as wave after wave of shaking lulled me out of a deep sleep. I thought it was an earthquake. But I was wrong - it was just this:



Lord knows what they are doing to my street today but I don't really like being this close to a powertool. My block is extremely narrow and each time the big crane swings to put up more and more dirt, I feel it will come crashing through my living room windows and knock me off of my kitchen chair. I never even knew this was a fear of mine. That being said, I'm happy that at least it wasn't really an earthquake.

I was supposed to head to school today but I can't make it. No, it has nothing to do with the fact that whatever Buggy and I ate at seudah last night really, really did not sit well with us (good thing he was in Jerusalem and I was in Tel Aviv cause I only have one toilet). But I have to go into the Dr. this afternoon for another ultrasound and they could only fit me in this afternoon. It's such a joy working with the health care community of this country. That topic can be the subject of another blog some other time.

I'm not looking forward to this ultrasound. Not at all. But, I'm home today and drinking the requisite gallon of water so at least they can get the pictures they need.

And, since I'm home instead of in class, I decided to take advantage of the time and make some headway on two very important fronts: wedding and writing.

Let's start with the writing first. So, last I spoke to Bret, he suggested I really use up the space in my work room to help me with the plots and characters of my stories.



Since I need permission from my landlord before I put anything up on the walls, I decided to use yellow post it notes to flesh out my stories. This morning, I worked on character development of Lazy-eyed Lansky, a man who is not related to Meyer Lansky but is fascinated with the Jewish mob. I also started on character development of Esther Karney, a mythological being who has lived on the Upper West Side but hasn't been seen in years. She is 300+ pounds and had to have a limb/fingers amputated because of an unfortunate accident.

Where this will lead - lord knows - but I'm hoping it will be a fun ride for me.

As far as the wedding is concerned, I made another list. I am drowning in To Do lists. I have to call and make a fitting appointment, a makeup trial, select a band, call a new florist, e-mail my friend Aura about our monogram, get the wording done on the invitation, etc. I'm just going to have to take each item on the list one by one and get it all done.

On Friday night, Buggy's parents had guests for dinner. I spoke to Portia, a lovely woman from San Antonio, about marital advice. She has been happily married for 38 years and told me advice that he mother gave her when she got married. She said that never, ever, when fighting with your spouse use terms of words like leaving you, divorce or we should separate because once you go there, your relationship will never be the same. The other advice she gave us was never to fight about money. They have never fought about money because, as soon as they got married, they pooled all they owned and there was never a question of his or her money. It is all their money.

Interesting advice. I really liked what she said about using certain terms, it makes tremendous sense to me.

Buggy and I were supposed to have an engagement party on Thursday night here in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, the Gabbai of my shul decided to have HIS engagement party on the same day and at the same time. So, Buggy and I are going to have to change our plans eventhough we made the plans first. The argument being that the Gabbai of the shul has lived him for a number of years and I've only been here for 6, and so I should be the one to change my plans.

That's, quite frankly, complete garbage but I'm going to do it because Buggy and I deserve to have a good showing at our party. We're going to B"H change it for Saturday night here in Tel Aviv and hope that our friends and family will come out even though they have work the next day.

Back to Purim yesterday in Jerusalem. I have to say, I don't remember the last time I enjoyed Purim like I did yesterday. It was a lot of fun. The party on Sunday night at Buggy's cousin was great! Cousin Neil came over after a date and we sat in the corner of the apartment and shared drinks (well, Buggy and I shared a drink and Cousin Neil, as usual, abstained) and surveyed the landscape of singles. At one point, Buggy and I tried to convince Cousin Neil to mingle but he wasn't feeling it. I think it was because he wasn't feeling well, and he later discovered that he was running on 101 fever. Poor guy, he was very out of it at the seudah yesterday.

Buggy and I were at megillah reading at Chovivei, which was great fun for the kids. They string balloons across the balconey of the women's section and give the kids long sticks with nails at the end to pop the balloons every time we got to Haman. Buggy's nephew popped a few with a big smile on his face, it was very cute. Somehow, miracle of miracles, we managed to get up in time for the 8:00 a.m. Megillah reading and then it was off to town to pick up the last of the items we needed for Shaloch Manot. We went back to Buggy's apartment where we had our own little assembly line. I opened the boxes and put in the cakes, Buggy took one of each chocolate item we purchased and put it into the box, then picked out the cards with the cholocate quotes on them (all individuallized for maximum effect!) and then I closed the box, tied the orange bow and labeled them for easy delivery. Buggy was impressed with my efficiency, but I had to explain to him the years of delivering Shaloch Manot with my Dad in Kew Gardens Hills. We had to section off the neighborhood (based on which side of Main Street) and make a list of who lived where, so that we went in order. I guess Buggy isn't used to delivering Shaloch Manot like that, but he was more than happy to comply. And, of course, I made sure we had a spare just in case someone gave to us who wasn't on our list. We got 2 surprised Shaloch Manot, one from his Aunt in Efrat and the other from a friend of his in the neighborhood.

Anyway, I'm off to run an errand. Mom just called and we caught up, so now I can leave the apartment for a bit. It will be a good thing for me too as the drilling is driving me a bit crazy. I hope this will all be over soon!

Purim Sameach!

Buggy and I finally decided on a costume for Purim - we're going as Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo of The Raveonettes. And, since we are no longer losers and have been invited to a Purim party tomorrow night, we're excited about our original costume. Now, granted, my hair naturally is supposed to look like the one pictured above but brunette not blonde. Oh well, we'll just have to find me a blonde wig that's comprable.

The past few days have been a bit of a blur. Thursday was Taanit Esther and I spent the fast really busy. I did my laundry and got picked up by a really old Ethipoian man. That was interesting. After I got rid of him, I ran back home and started baking again. I decided I also wanted to ice my cakes, so after making 7 additional chocolate cakes, I whipped up a batch of mocha frosting. Then, I had to cook for the break fast as Buggy was heading over to break the fast with me. I put up the potatoes to roast and made Quinoa for the first time ever! It turned out really, really great and I'll be sending along the recipe to my family soon so they can try it out themselves. By the time Buggy got to my apartment, I was exhausted! Before I went to sleep though, I remembered my brother in law's birthday and called to wish him a Happy Birthday. But, in case he didn't get the message the first time, here is it again!

Happy Birthday Alan!!!

Shabbat was really, really nice. Buggy's parents made a kiddush for our engagement at their shul and my head is swimming from all the names while my hand is cramping from shaking all those hands! The highlight was that Aunt Amy shlepped all the way from the German Colony with the kids to be there and that was absolutely amazing!

I'll update more later, especially about a certain personal issue that I have with Israel (and these issues are very few and far between) but something that needs to be addressed nonetheless.

For all my friends and family celebrating Purim today and tomorrow, and are ourside of Jerusalem, Chag Sameach!

Be smart, be safe, don't drink and drive!