Gossip Girl

XOXO

I'm obsessed with Josh Schwartz's Gossip Girl and thank g-d that iTunes has all of the episodes, cause it's such a wonderful guilty pleasure! I'm up to episode 4 and can't wait to carve out another hour today for another episode.

So, yesterday was another annoying day dealing with Israeli beaurocracy. We went to Misrad Hapnim, the Ministry of Interior, to change our Teudat Zehuts and passports. Thinking that all we needed was the Rabanut paper, we were completely blindsided when they told us that it couldn't be done because when I went to get my Teudat Zehut in Tel Aviv, I was supposed to bring them a letter saying that I was Jewish. Yeah, I had that letter for months, but all of my friends here told me that they didn't really need it. That the woman at the Misrad Hapnim in Tel Aviv didn't know what she was talking about. Blah blah blah. And, like a completely idiot, I listened to my friends who made Aliyah before me and supposedly knew what they were talking about.

Yeah, they didn't and so Buggy and I were screwed because I no longer had that letter. The Rabanut took the letter when they decided that I was in fact Jewish and ruled that way in our marriage case. So, we had to go back to the Rabanut to get the papers from our file. I know, why didn't I make a copy. I had meant to but then the case at the Rabanut came up and when they took it I was too shy to ask to make a copy.

I will never make that mistake ever again!

So, we had to go back to the Rabanut and sit, and wait, until they would deal with us. And folks, the Rabanut is an evil place full will very unhappy people who are waiting to get divorced. Tensions are high and no one really lkes anyone there. When we finally managed to get the documents, I told Buggy that I never, ever want to go back to that building again!

Well, then Buggy dropped me off at home and I ran some errands. Little things like picking up packages from the post office and food shopping. We purchased a moldy 5% cheese cake for Kiddush on Shabbos from the Cafe Neeman at the gas station on Pierre Koenig street and I felt terrible becaue Buggy really, really wanted it. So, I bought the ingredients and made him a cheese cake from the Kosher by Design: Short on Time cookbook. Besides my Mom's cookbook, it's really the only one that I have so I'm slowly weeding my way through it.

Then, Buggy returned and we went to Chile Street to the Macabi center so I could have hearing tests. It lasted about an hour, and that was because the computer wasn't working well, but B"H my hearing is fine. The audiologist gave me a letter to give to the ENT and then it's off to another follow up appointment. I'm just hoping these marathon Dr. visits will end and I can get on with my life. It's starting to really become a strain for us both, running from Dr. to Dr. And, while we were there, we were able to get the results of our genetic testing. B"H, it looks like everything except maybe for one, turned out completely normal. There was one thing that I had 2 strands of on my DNA, and so we're waiting for the official letter to see if Buggy needs to go and have that tested. But, B"H, for all other 11 Ashkenazi genetic diseases I was clean. Phew. That was such an amazing relief.

Well, Buggy dropped me back off at home so he could get back to the office to work and I did some baking. Then, I figured out what we were having for dinner and I just relaxed. It was nice to just chill out for a while, especially since I'm hoping to be really busy today. Aside from finishing up a project for a client, I have to do a big bank run and this time I will be doing it sans Buggy. I woke him this morning at 6:45 a.m. for his 8:00 a.m. class. Buggy needs some TLC in the morning, so I made him a breakfast sandwhich and added it to the breakfast bag I started last night. I also made him a lunch bag, and made sure he didn't forget that on his way out the door this morning. P"G, so far Buggy has lost 4 pounds since Yom Tov ended and I'd like to think it's because I am preparing his meals for him and we are trying to get more active. My weight loss, of course, it an entirely different matter. But for now, I'm pleased that at least one of us is doing well on our diets!

After the bank, I am going to do some more fruit and vegetable shopping and then I have to cook dinner as Buggy's old roomate is joining us. He is going to help Buggy with some assignment so I figured the least I could do was feed the man in appreciation.

And, as far as school is concerned, last I heard the Professors weren't even negotiating. I was really bummed that this looks like it won't end any time soon and I asked Buggy if he thought I should just completely drop out of the program. He encourages me to do whatever I want, and he will support me. But, I know that I'm going to just see it through till the end. If it's one thing my parents taught me, it's to never be a quitter. No matter how unhappy I may be.

Oh well, one more year of school won't kill me. And, at this rate, it won't even happen so I think I'll be able to tough it out.

Hope everyone is having a good day!

XOXO

Ignorance is Bliss

It's Tisha B'av morning and I'm still in bed. Buggy won't be around much today, he's going to be in shul, classes, with his Father going to holy places in Jerusalem, and chances are he won't come around until end of fast. It's a good thing, I'm absolutely miserable. Before last night, I was anxious about my exam on Thursday but excited about the wedding.

And then, in the car on the way to Eicha, Buggy was listening to the news and we heard about a pending strike of the Histadrut. They are threatening to close the airports as part of the strike. And that means I will be stranded here in Israel. Three weeks before the wedding. When every single hour that I'm supposed to be back in the States has been carefully planned so that I'm ready for the wedding.

I've already started crying. Forget concentrating on the exam this week. I'm trying but it's really not easy memorizing Rambam's proofs of Creation and proofs for the existence of God (in case you're wondering, Rambam doesn't give us a definitive answer for the proof of creation but does for the existence of God). All I want to do is curl up into a ball and cry, cry, cry. Cry about the fact that I won't be able to get on a plane on Saturday night. Cry about the fact that I won't make it to my fitting at Kleinfeld's and so I won't have a gown that actually fits my body at the wedding. Cry because lord knows how long this is going to take and that means that I might have to get married here, in Israel, without any of my friends or family around.

This is even worse that my worst nightmare because it was something I just never, ever, thought about. I told Buggy I'm going to swin to Cyprus if I have to, I would cross the boarder into Egypt to get on a plane at this point! If there is a strike and it lasts for a significant amount of time, well, I will miss my bachelorette party, my wedding shower, my hair appointments (I need my highlights done before the wedding!), my make up trial, getting a marriage license!

All the things I have to think about is overwhelming. I think I'm just going to turn over, and try to go back to sleep. I'm going to spend the day in bed, crying. And hopefully, at some point, I'll realize there is nothing crying will do about my situation and so I'm just going to have to suck it up, study for my exam, and put the fate of my wedding in the Lord's hands.

Have an easy fast.

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!

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!