Blog/November 2007/November 9th

November 9th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi there!

It's been a pretty busy week, each of us in his own way kept out of trouble. I already had to change a tire on the car (fortunately fixing the flat tire only cost 30 NIS, which is much much cheaper than replacing the tire). Esther has been going to classes of varying kinds all week, including a new 'ulpan' (Hebrew class) which is on a very high level. Sarah has been running between school and outside classes, and spent Thursday night with Daniela in Jerusalem. So it's been busy.

According to her math tutor, Sarah has a real aptitude for math (which I knew already, but Sarah used to deny). She's also been "getting" Hebrew a lot more. One night this week we watched "Finding Nemo" in Hebrew with Hebrew subtitles, and she noticed that the subtitles did not track the speech very closely.

The pizza struggles continue. This week we ordered a pizza again, from the same shop as before. I ordered "two toppings, olives and onions". When we got the pizza, it indeed had two toppings: two slices olives, and another two onions. The rest of the pizza was plain. I thought I was speaking clear Hebrew, but perhaps there's a special lingo for ordering pizzas. <sigh>

Both Esther and I visited our 'sick funds' this week. She needed to see a dermatologist to check something out, and I had to do a 'follow up' and renew prescriptions. Apparently, the dermatologist sees patients every five minutes. So if you want to have a meaningful conversation, forget it. I guess given the sunny climate, dermatologists are quite busy. On the other hand, I could have sat with my doctor as long as I wanted. What is interesting is the difference in approach between here and the US. There, my doctor wanted me to come in for a follow-up (with lab tests) every three months. Here, I don't have to go in but every six months, and I can renew my prescription over the phone. Much more convenient, and cheaper as well.

We have winner! For the second year in a row, Prime Minister Olmert was chosen as the most corrupt politician in Israel. It almost makes me want to cry.

More rental joys. Our landlords, coupled with the neighbors downstairs, are making us really anxious to move to a different place. The electricity company called this week, as they were sending a technician to cut off our power. Apparently, the bill hasn't been paid for four months, though we were assured (by the landlords) that it was "taken care of". So I paid the bill and managed to get the electric company off our back. But now I have to collect from the neighbors, who have shown no willingness to pay their share of anything. If they don't pay, I'll just debit the amount from the rent to the landlords, but that makes them testy, don't you know? This is not a good situation to be in, and I highly recommend anyone who is looking to rent a place here to make sure one has a separate bill for electricity etc.

Savlanut! סבלנות - it means "patience", and it's a word one hears a lot around here. It means, "just hang in there", and "what can you expect?", and "don't get upset at the inefficiency", and lots of other things. Well, this week savlanut paid off: after almost three and a half months, the city finally did pay us the rebate on property tax we are owed. Now, the fact that we went to City Hall five times in order to make it happen seems like a petty thing to recall, since we have the money in the bank...

The other night I was glad my Mom wasn't staying with us. She would have located a shotgun and used it. I don't know exactly where the sound was emanating from, but somewhere nearby the stereo system was so loud, I thought there was an outdoor dance party (maybe there was). With doors and windows closed, I could hear the music as if I had a stereo on in my own place. At least they didn't go on past 10:30 at night. You can do anything in Israel! - especially if someone else is inconvenienced!

'till next week, shabbat shalom!