I'm stuck in the house today, and tomorrow, and so I'm trying to keep myself busy. I have plenty to do, a long list actually, but absolutely no desire to do any of it. I think I would rather spend my time curled up on the couch watching the Food Network and the CNN coverage of the California wildfires. B"H tonight is yoga, at least I'll get some air and exercise before the day is done. It's terrible about the California wildfires too. I was just telling Buggy how I wanted to to San Diego because I'd heard it was just so beautiful. I just hope the fires stop soon, before more homes are demolished.
So, yesterday was quite a morning for me at Bank Hapoalim. I spent an hour and a half doing 3 little things. First of all, the guard told me to take a number when I walked in, and when I went to the machine I specified all three things I needed to do. And, sure enough, I got three different numbers. I waited on the A line first, cause that one was moving really quickly. When it was my turn, the woman looked at my stack of checks and yelled at me for being in the wrong line. I had dollar checks from the States and only 1 woman in the ENTIRE branch deals with that.
Well, guess what, that woman (Aviva was her name) was in the middle of opened up a new account for someone and I needed to wait until she was done. Did I mention that it was almost lunch time? After cooling my heels for 30 minutes, she was finally ready for me and started freaking out when she saw my checks. Apparently, you can't just deposit American checks at any branch of your bank in this country. No, you need to do it at YOUR branch. Well, she had to call over to the other branch to get permission and was she pissed. The woman could not and would not sit in her chair, she was stamping stuff and throwing papers around and at one point I thought she was going to toss the stapler at me too! Well, I just took the mute tactic and sat and stared at her. The problem was that the other branch wasn't answering the phone, so she couldn't do my transaction without them. She kept telling me they weren't answering and I just stared at her. She actually got through once but then got disgusted when they put her on hold so she threw the phone down and started again. Finally, she had enough, and since I wasn't budging she actually dialed the number and then handed me the phone and told me to wait until someone picked up. She left her desk and went about her business. I have to tell you, but if I was a bank manager, I would have fired her ass for that. I could have easily played around with the computer when she walked away, and her keys were right there in plain sight too, I could have gotten into her locked box and no one would have been the wiser.
Finally, somneone on the other line picked up and Aviva ripped them a new one for making her hold. She was also eating a puffed pastry of some sort while she was screaming, so I enjoyed a pleasant phyllo dough shower of spit laced crumbs. And still, I just stared at her while she did what she needed to do. Finally, she finished and was able to enter the checks into the system. I thanked her and then told her that I needed to change my address on my other bank account. Again, she got herself into a rage because apparently, you need to ask permission from the Tel Aviv branch before you decide to move out of the City and change your address. So, she handed me a pen, photocopyed my credit card and Teudat Zehut, and had me write a letter in Hebrew requesting an address change. I have no doubt that it will not work as my written Hebrew is pretty terrible and I'm pretty sure I forgot to include Jerusalem in the address.
Then, when I told Aviva I had to pick up our new credit cards, she looked like she wanted to strangle me. The branch at this point was closed for the day and she just wanted to finish her tea and get to her other work. She sent me to one woman, who spent 15 minutes looking through credit cards and yelling at other workers to leave her alone, before everyone realized that I had to go to a different department.
I walked over to the last woman I was to meet yesterday, and she yelled at me for not coming to her first as she could have taken care of ALL of my needs. Gotta love this Country. I left 2 hours after I had arrived and was pretty proud of my behavior, especially since I really was patient and calm while everyone else around me freaked out. I've discovered that if you're patient and calm, things go much smoother. No, if I was yelling at them nothing would have gone better and I would have just wasted my breath yelling.
I walked to the fruit and vegee place on Derech Beit Lechem and picked up some stuff for dinner and came home to start cooking. Buggy's old roommate was coming for dinner and staying for a bit to help Buggy with his homework assignment. I made them some fresh baked chicken cutlets, and a purple cabbage salad that was a little salty for my taste. We had some pineapple and passion fruit for dessert and, as we were digging into the slimy goo of the passion fruit, all hell broke out in the community center next door. They were holding some sort of meeting, not exactly sure what kind but we heard someone say "Ahavat Yisrael" so I'm guessing it was a political debate. I told Buggy all I wanted to do was pull up a chair on our balcony, pop some popcorn, and watch them go at it. I love a good boxing match! Too bad all the gloves were off..
After dinner, Buggy and his old roommate went to work and I started cleaning and washing dishes. It's amazing how much time I spend over the sink. My hands are starting to show signs of dishpan hands, so I think I'm going to invest in a pair of gloves. When the roommate left, Buggy and I watched a Law and Order he taped and then we fell into bed. With Tuesdays 6:45 a.m. wake up calls, I'm pretty wiped by the end of the day.
Today, we got to sleep in a little bit and then Buggy's Mom called to invite us to lunch on Shabbos. We said yes right away and then tried to get some more sleep before the alarm went off. Buggy had class this morning, so I quickly made him his brown bag breakfast and lunch, and then helped get him out the door before I went about my day. The locksmith was supposed to come at 10 but he never showed, and then the contractor came to fix the bathroom and I almost had a heart attack when I saw home much paint was littered on the floor. We threw all of the bathroom contents onto towels on our bed in the bedroom, and since this is a 2 day job, we'll have to move them someplace else tonight before we go to sleep.
Since I'm home, I'm going to spend the day organizing. I bought three pendaflex's and I'm going to start filing things away. One pendaflex will be Buggy's, one with be mine, and one will be ours. Those will include shared bills, wedding residuals, etc. Not too exciting, I know, but sometimes you have one of these days which turn out to be quick necessary.
Can't wait till yoga tonight! I wonder how much further I'll get on my headstand!
Till tomorrow
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