Back to School!

I slept in today and so it's 10:00 a.m. and I'm still lounging in bed. That's a good thing, cause after yesterday's exhausting day I could use some more rest.

So, before I continue with my mundane post, a number of my readers (i.e. Cousin Neil and friends) have requested that I censor some of the topics on this blog. Primarily, they would like all references to bodily functions and Mikvah never, ever to appear again. I asked Yonatan at school yesterday what he thought, and he just said he can also just pass over anything that doesn't really interest him. Regardless, I'll keep this blog clean moving forward.

Well, yesterday was an incredibly busy day. Buggy had a do-over project due at school from last semester and I had to get to late registration at Bar Ilan. It took me forever on the 400 bus to get to school as traffic once we hit the Tel Aviv area was a nightmare. And, they stripped away the bus stop that used to be beneath the Geha gate and so now, they drop me off at least 10 minutes away from the gate. And it's this huge ramp that you have to walk up, and then a bunch of steps you need to walk down, in order to get to the right side of the campus. I was not expecting that, but good thing I was wearing good walking shoes.

Oh, and did I mention that yesterday was like the hottest day of the year? I sweated clear through my t-shirt and it was not pretty. So, first I had to go to the Feldman building to get my print out of my bill since the University never, ever sent me a bill. And, the woman behind the counter told me that she had a problem with my bill and I had to go to the Masters department office to sort something out. I had no idea what she was talking about because all I needed to do was get the bill and pay it. Plus, she spoke in Hebrew and didn't speak any English and I had no idea what she was saying. Oh, and did I mentioned that I had already waited for an hour on the line to see her when this whole thing happened?

Fortunately, Yonatan and Tamara were on campus registering and Tamara was done so they come to help me. The people at the Masters department office, though, are really really obnoxious. No one was manning the door so I walked and and went around to find someone to speak with. The woman got really rude when I just asked her to explain the words that they told me at Feldman and told me to wait outside online with everyone else. She said it in such a disgusting tone that I yelled back that I didn't understand Hebrew and she got surprised. What is wrong with these people? Does she think that she can talked to me and be rude and I'm not going to fight back? Fortunately, Yonatan and Tamara arrived just in time and, we waited online, and then Yonatan came in to be my translator.

Well, as soon as the woman saw me bring a man to help, she completely sofetned and explained the situation to him and made it seem like I yelled at her for no reason at all. Whatever. Yonatan told her I was sorry - I wasn't - and then she looked me up in the computer and told me that nothing was wrong. So, we had to go back to Feldman and this time, I wasn't waiting on any line. There was a different man behind the counter and he spoke English and when he typed in my number he said: "I don't understand the problem, you have to pay 3200 shekel!"

I said - I know - can I just get the print out? The lady was so incompetent, had she plugged in my number correctly the first time, I wouldn't have had to deal with any aggrevation. Well, the rest of the registration process went completely fine. I paid at the bank, went to the administration office to get my form, went to the English department to get it filled in, went to the computer lab to get it registered into the computer and the print out and I was done.

So, my schedule for this year is class on Tuesdays, from 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. That's it. I have an independent study that will meet a couple of times a year, but I'm hoping it will meet on Tuesdays so I only have to be at school one morning all year. I'm pretty happy with my schedule and am looking forward to really working on my thesis.

After a quick lunch, I got back on the bus and went home to Jerusalem. Buggy, who passed his project (hurray!) was running his own errands and so he picked me up and we made a pit stop by his folks and then I drove us to get the car washed at the Mall. Buggy was just like my Mom when I drive, clenching the entire way. Fortunately, I got us there without any problems and we went inside to take out money and get some frozen yogurt treats. At this point, folks, I am falling off of my face. The weather at school was so hot and I sweated through my entire outfit, that I was pretty dehydrated. We got back to the house and Buggy made himself some lunch and I took a nap on the couch.

The rest of the evening was really quiet. Instead of forcing leftovers on us again, we decided to order some sushi for dinner, and then I was in bed by 10:30 p.m. Today is going to be another day full of errands. Buggy and I are going to take down the rest of our Succah once he comes back from giving in his car to be fixed (couple of dings and power steering issues). Then, we're going to go to the Supermarket and buy some food for the week, and then to the other side of Derech Beit Lechem for some fruit and vegetables.

I'm also hoping to finish up on my thank you cards as I have about 60 more to go! Phew! I can't wait till that's over!

Heatwave

Check out my office, with my new cordless phone! Before I bought this phone, I had to sit in that chair when on the phone with the States. Now, I am able to roam around the apartment with the phone! It's a beautiful thing to be mobile people, a really beautiful thing. So, you might ask, what made me buy the new phone? Well, when I got back from Jerusalem on Sunday, I discovered the green light on my VOIP box blinking. Now, that's not a good sign as the green light needs to be steady. When I picked up the phone, I was greeted by a fast busy signal. Also, not a good sign. Fortuitously, Mom called on my Israeli cellphone and I told her the problem. I then gave her the number of my VOIP company and asked her to call them and tell them what was wrong. Within MINUTES, Mom was back on the phone with an answer. Turns out, my phone wasn't hanging up properly, and hence the need for the new phone. And with the new phone, everything works great!

Folks, I have never had experienced such great customer service and on a SUNDAY no less! If you're planning on moving to Israel, and want VOIP, I urge you to use US Voicelink. Besides the great system (blei ayin harah!) do it for the customer service alone. Just knowing that you can contact anyone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no matter what time or what time zone, is such a god send! And, they know their stuff people! And you want to be with a company that knows what they're doing - especially from 6,000 miles away in Israel.

Anyway, the heatwave is coming and it is going to be a scorcher! I am really happy that the student strike is on tomorrow, because I need to do my laundry before the heat comes in. At first, Weather Underground called for Thursday's highs at 104 degrees F. Now, that number absolutely freaked me out and I called Buggy and told him that I'm moving if that's a realistic number. But then, today, the website dropped the number down to the mid 90's. Still hot, but not a scary number. I can feel the heat coming, it's giving me a big headache, and I'm really happy that I have plenty of Mei Eden water in my apartment. I'm gonna drink like I'm a camel!

Today, I did something that I really not too proud of. I crossed picket lines and went to class. I felt terrible, and kept thinking about the men in front of the big rat who strike in the City. I was pretty scared going to school today, half expecting students with clipboards and bullhorns and bright red shirts and buttons to be patrolling the campus. Then Josh in my class freaked me out by saying that the Union was patrolling the school to make sure classes weren't in session. When someone accidentally opened the door to the class, my heart skipped a beat. Fortunately, it wasn't a Union member.

Today was my turn on the hot seat as the class critiqued my story. I was nervous about the piece, I wasn't really confident when I sent it out to the class, but the feedback was pretty helpful and mostly positive. I'm actually looking forward to the rewrite, but that is going to have to wait as I have my second story due in 3 weeks! Yikes! My mind is a big ol' blank and I need to find some good materials.

Michal Govrin, an Israeli award winning author, came to our class this afternoon and talked about her work. She read from her award winning novel called The Name and answered a multitude of questions in the class. What resonated with me, when she responded to a question about material, was that stories attach themselves to her like a dybbuk. And, unless she is all consumed by the story, she cannot sit down and write. I actually really get what she's saying. There are some mornings when I wake up and just have to sit down at my computer and write. Those mornings are great because the material just flows. Otherwise, I sit down and force myself to write and then I end up spewing out pages and pages of junk that's really useless. Oh well, art is hard work. Ya just have to keep at it!

I'm a bit jealous of Buggy. He has a great package with HOT cable and gets an MTV channel that plays the music I love. Whenever I'm at his apartment, I basically ignore him and watch MTV, for the new music of course! Anyway, I managed to find a lot of great stuff online and am working on yet another mix for the Bugster. If you haven't heard, Arctic Monkeys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Kaiser Chiefs AND Kings of Leon all have new CD's out there. Plus, The White Stripes are back with a vengence! Songs I highly recommend include:

Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
Weapon of Choice - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
On Call - Kings of Leon
Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
Time Won't Let me Go - The Bravery

When I'm done with the mix, I'm going to upload it to iTunes and post that link here so you can buy the music if you're interested!

OK, it's late and I'm off to bed. I have mounds of laundry to do tomorrow, and tons of papers to read before I get started on the rewrite.

Good night!