Today, I was very productive. I got up, had a shower, ate breaky and headed for the lab. When my boss told me that his students work Friday mornings, what he really meant was that he wished his students worked Friday mornings. The place was dead. So I went to the mall.
This may seem like a minor achievement, but finding the right bus and making it there with no hassle or mistakes with no help was a big deal for me. I managed to buy a cell phone (at the office depot), buy a SIM card (at the Orange cell phone provider) and buy a prepaid card (at a booth). Of course, this was complicated because I wanted the cheapest possible deal. Frugalness is part of my genome. Plus, really, what do I need a contract and a big plan for? Who am I going to call?
I also found these awesome stickers for my keyboard which have the Hebrew letters on them. I have spent the afternoon working on memorizing my numbers.
One, Two, Three
E-had, Shnime, Shlo-sha
אהד שנימ שלושה
Handy trick, eh? Although, I haven’t yet figured out where the comma goes when I change to the Hebrew keyboard. Baby steps. Baby steps.
My favorite number is five, ha-mi-sha. The “ha” is super throaty and it is really fun to say. Ha-mi-sha may be second only to shi-sha, six. Can’t you just see six old Arab men sitting around with those big colorful pipes smoking shi-sha?
Today, I also managed to avoid being scammed by a cabbie. My butt, his meter was broken. 40 shekles to Rehavia from the mall? You must be kidding! You think I am a sucker 'cause I am German? (They all think I am German for some reason. I thought the freckles were more telling.) I got back out of the cab and got in another, who’s driver asked me why I switched. When I said “lo mon-eh” (no meter), Mohammed, my new driver, drove up and gave the guy a piece of his mind. It turns out it is illegal for taxi drivers to not use their meters and the ones who play by the book apparently really hate the ones who don’t. There was a lot of honking and yelling in a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic involved.
Just so you know, it turns out it was just over 30 shekles to Rehavia.
It is dusk on Friday night, so Shabbat has started. The boss has just called to invite me to dinner and tomorrow I am going to a labmate’s house for lunch. Besides getting to know people, I am looking forward to eating something besides the lonely stale pita and hummus I have in my hotel room fridge.
Shabbat Shalom!
12 years ago
6 comments:
Hey Janet! Love the blog! Thanks for the updates! Keep it up!
Janet - nice work with the phone. So did you get the apartment you talked about in the last post?
High "ha-mi-sha", Janet ;) Is there a local lingo like this by the way?
Maya can count to 15 - the race is on!
Bring it on Maya. I can't be beaten by someone who is also working on toilet training!
As for the apartment, I have a little meeting with the landlord tomorrow. They want five months rent up front (two for a security deposit, and then rent three months at a time). I asked the labmates and they say that isn't too uncommon. I am hopefully going to convince him that post dated cheques are the way to go. Five months rent straight up will have me eating only stale pitas and kill the Oh-my-God-I-have-to-fly-home-now fund.
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