Blog/October 2007/October 12th

October 12th 2007 (See this week's devar torah)

Hey there!

This has been a bit of a slow week, as we were winding down from the holidays and ramping up to "real life" again.

Esther found out her doula classes begin next week, so she's pretty excited about that. Sarah started her classes again after a long hiatus due to the holidays; she wasn't too happy about that, but she seems to be having a better time than she was before.

We had to go to Jerusalem to get to a driving instructor for Esther - she's only been driving for 18 years, so she might need a pointer or two, you know? Anyway, the process is that she has to have one driving lesson, after which she can take the driving test (practical, not theory). That's what we thought, anyway. In fact, the process is:

1. Shlep to Jerusalem to meet the instructor. This is at least a one-hour trip for us. The instructor will "drive by" where we are when we get there.
2. Hand over the official paperwork we got from the gov't agency, to the instructor. He promises to make an appointment for the actual lesson and test, in "a few weeks".
3. Shlep back to Maale Adummim (total: 2 hrs trip for 1 min work)
4. Come back in several weeks, hand over a bunch of money for the lesson. Take the lesson.
5. Take papers to the post office, to pay the fee for the official exam.
6. Go take the exam, using the instructor's car (for which we also have to pay)
7. Assuming one passes the exam, take the paperwork to the post office again, and pay the license fee.

I think I didn't miss any steps...

Now, you might think that I would be put-out about having to take a two-hour excursion for a one minute transaction. Well, you'd be correct as it turns out, but that's not the point. The point I was going to make is that riding the bus - and especially the bus to or within Jerusalem - is a fascinating "people-watching" experience. Unlike the States, everyone takes the bus here. Even people who do have cars, will take the bus - especially to Jerusalem since parking there is so painful. So one gets to see all kinds of people, from every stratum of society.

Yesterday we finally found the local "makolet" (grocery store) about which our friends had told us. It turns out it's close to the shul I go to. The nice thing is that all the produce is from Otsar Haarets, which is a somewhat more acceptable (to us, anyway) way to deal with shmita. I guess a word or two is in order here ...

Buying food in Israel is complicated, as I think I mentioned in a prior post. There are a plethora of hechsherim (kosher certifications), and the differences can be important. Besides the hechsher issues, one must make sure produce has been properly tithed. But this year is a "shmita" year (at least according to the majority opinion), so fruits and vegetables must be purchased from reliable vendors (since it is forbidden to traffic in produce of the shmitta year). The rules are complex in the best of times; but now it is further complicated by two things; (1) there are a multitude of "systems" (some very questionable) for dealing with the strictures, and (2) purchasing from Arabs (which is permitted) quite likely leads to strengthening our enemies. So to make a long story short, we were happy to find a store close-by which has produce we are comfortable with.

Note: European clothes are tiny (or dirty). I know this because the washing machine we have is a representative European model. It can only hold a couple pairs of pants at a time. It also takes an hour and half to do a load. So it stands to reason that Europeans either:

1. Have tiny clothes which fit in these Lilliputian machines
2. Don't have more than two pairs of pants, or
3. Let their clothes become grotty.

On the other hand, our dryer is fantastic! It's green and leaves the clothes smelling fresh. We call it a "clothesline", and it works brilliantly (during the sunny months, anyway - we'll see how well it fares in the winter). The sunshine is so intense here, that a load of laundry (both pairs of pants) dries out before the cheesy European washer gets done with the next load. So it all works out, in the end.

We got Sarah a pair of prescription sunglasses, so now she looks very fashionable as she strolls to school in the morning. Pretty soon the modeling contracts will roll in and I will be able to retire... Speaking of which, I am still gainfully unemployed. The larger company NDS decided that someone else would be a better fit for the position for which they wanted me. The smaller company is still in play, probably I will hear yeah or nay next week from them. In the meantime, I am starting to get aggressive about scaring up work, as life in the Holy Land is not free.

Until next week...