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Published: April 11th 2007
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New Room
Look at that luscious bed!!
It's beautiful...and loud. So each day I start out with a list of things that I have to do that day, like most normal people do. Sometimes if I'm motivated, I'll even write it out but most of the time I just rely on my usually coherent mind to actually remember the stuff I need to do.
A lot of the things I need to do center around the basic needs of a human being...
1) food (always an adventure here in Israel)
2) shelter (a never ending battle to make my apartment look more homely)
3) hygiene (well....no one likes a dirty girl - unless you know ....wink wink)
Of course there are other "needs" such as education, people contact, and love. But let's go with the basics first.
In my next to last post, I talked about the things I love in Israel, both literally and sarcastically. Some of my family and friends keep asking me how I survive in this country without all the "conveniences" of the States.
Food- let me start off by saying that anyone who is naive enough to think that most of the things in Israel are in Hebrew
Nightstand
That baby was free....best kind there is! and English are horrible misinformed. True, a lot of things are, but in a grocery store, unless you can see the actual food product you're trying to consume, it's a game of "what am I about to stick into my mouth?"
They especially fool you when the container is colored and only has words on the package. Now that's helpful. On one hand, it forces me to actually try to read the Hebrew and figure it out, but on the other I could quite possibly end up with some part of an animal I would never ingest, such as the intestines (saw that the other day) or the hearts (one bad experience I wish never to repeat again).
I feel like a child when I'm sitting there staring at the same containers while people mill around me with their fluency in the language and keep staring at the weird blonde girl who is phonetically sounding out what's in the magical food containers. Let's all say it out loud "Hooked on Phonics".
And can I just say that I would kill for some Chex??? Seriously, in all of their cereal aisles,
NOWHERE can I find even an Israeli
Thick and Hawaiian
Thick and Hawaiian.
Get your minds out of the gutter! It's my mattress! version of the cereal. It's a square piece of cereal made of rice. It's my favorite cereal ever and I would gladly give up a piece of my finger for some. Ok...somewhat of an exaggeration, maybe a part of the body no one could see instead.
Also - don't try to make hot chocolate with cocoa powder, hot water and milk. It's gross. I learned that foul lesson the other night, and then walked 4 blocks at midnight just to buy some at the Coffee Bean. Where upon my state of tiredness, when he asked "ha shem?"
(Your name?) I said "yes" instead of "Jessi". A series of laughter followed upon which I apologized, said "ani rotsah lishon"
(I want sleep!) and he gave me a big smile and his phone number. Chocolatly goodness, sleep and a cute guys phone number. Not too bad.
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Shelter - I GOT MY MATTRESS!!!!!! How excited I am and how thankful my back, neck, head and every other part that sleeps is as well. Let me tell you, this baby is
thick. However, I will say it's quite loud. So much for wild, romps on the bed cause dear heaven,
Toilet room
When I think of the word "bathroom" I think of a toilet and shower together.
Not so here. Ignore the grossness which is our toilet. I roll over and the whole apartment knows it. Ok....again an exaggeration but it is loud. At least when Melissa gets back, she'll hear it when I move an inch. That's not a lie.
I cleaned the room. Somehow we had sand in the room. Don't ask me how the beach made it into our room, but it was there and I dutifully swept it up. Perhaps then my asthma will stop bothering me. Let's see. Doesn't help that we have slight dust storms...nothing you can actually see but it's in the air.
I also got a nighstand / shoe holder by default. Pesach is the time of cleaning and someone decided to throw away this wooden treasure, where I swiftly picked it up and brought it back to my room. By God, I do think my side of the room is starting to look like a room! The ingenuity of it! Enjoy the pictures...cause I'm kinda proud haha.
Also - another thing I miss from the States. Showers that have actual tubs or whatever to block the flow of water rushing off your body towards the floor and drain. We don't have that here, and a
Niagra Falls
Welcome to my Niagra Falls. I don't even want to describe what came out of the clogged drain. lot of apartments in Israel do not either. Not to say that there are no bathtubs or enclosed showers in Israel. There are. I myself have showered in some of them. But in my apartment or Eitan's? Nope. I kid you not. It's just a shower curtain holder, the shower head and the wall. Of course you have a drain, but unless you block the water somehow, it goes
everywhere.
The other day, I gave Niagra Falls a run for it's money. I get out of the shower, and walk out to find a river in my whole apartment. After an hour of squeegeeing (that just looks wrong - but nevermind) the apartment, I killed 2 birds with one stone and mopped the apartment clean as well!
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Hygiene - Doctors, pharmacies, and the condom debacle.
I love my Ob-Gyn. He's a jovial, Russian man named Sergio. I figure if a guy who is not my boyfriend is going to be inspecting me, I may as well be on a first name basis with them. It's only fair. They see where the sun usually does not shine and I know the basics about them.
He
Squeegee!
Meet my new friend. This is Bob. The squeegee. I get a little arm workout after showering. gave me a free month prescription of my birth control, which thankfully Israel carries. I was a bit worried that I'd have to go to the dreaded pill, but my fears are calmed and I can carry on with my nicotine-patch looking birth control. It's a wonderful thing. I can't remember to take a pill everyday, but to change my patch once a week? Perfect.
Anyways, I asked him which pharmacy carried the medicine and he said to go to the Clalit pharmacy. Which of course is the pharmacy of my kupat cholim
(health fund).
Right...another place in Ra'anana I have to find. I should just take up semi-permanent resident in my local clinic because I'm there so often. The one guy knows me by sight and says "Shalom Jessi!" every time I walk in. Still not sure if that's a good thing. But it's nice.
So...the search for my pharmacy will commence sometime in the next week. Speaking of pharmacies...I was on the search for a razor. You'd think that they would be in a pharmacy. Such as CVS or Walgreens back home. I mean hell...you can buy groceries in pharmacies back in the states. But find a razor? No. Oh you have the Nair bladeless razors, but for a stubbly girl like me, I tend to need a blade.
So where do I go? The grocery store...because apparently you can buy everything there. Including your daily dose of 40 oz of beer. So I'm looking alllllllllll over and nothing. I'm about to give up and I get into the checkout line when I see them. Right next to the candy bars and gum.
Right. How could I be so dumb? Of COURSE it would be by the candy aisle. I mean THAT
makes perfect sense! Not by the shampoo or shaving cream, but by the Kit Kats. So I got my razor and left. Now, I am clean shaven once again and the world can rejoice. Well...at least I am anyways.
Next up on the hygeine list is to find a dentist. Preferably an English speaking one so I don't end up with a root canal and false teeth. I also found a chiropractor, now if only he was there when he said his office was open, that'd be cool. I left a message and we'll see what happens.
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Oh, I got a promotion at work, am about to buy a bicycle really cheaply, love my bank, and about to head to work before the weekend commences.
I am immensely glad that Pesach is over because if I had to eat another piece of matzah I was going to go insane. Or my insides were going to come out. One or the other.
Busy weekend coming up. Hope yours is good!
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