It's been a while since I've written. The world is spinning too fast and I can't get off.
The last 2 weeks at work have been total insanity. Problems, problems and more problems. And deadlines. I've been feeling so overwhelmed that I have only just been keeping a panic attack at bay. I leave work almost shaking with the strain of it.
The kids just had yesterday off school for Lag B'Omer. T came to work with me (surprise!) for the whole day. Savta I spent Shabbat with us so yesterday DH had to drive her back to Netanya. He took E and Y with him and they made an outing out of it.
My Mom had her gall bladder removed on Thursday and they finally let her go home today. She was vomiting a lot and had a high fever for a couple of days but I guess she's ok now or they wouldn't let her go.
DH found out that if we switch cell phone providers, I could get an iPhone for LESS than we're paying now for mine. He is green with envy and wants to try to get them to give us a good deal on one for him too but the iPhone he wants hasn't yet arrived in Israel. Frustrating!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Bitter-Sweet
So there's a store here that T likes to shop at. She's bought quite a bit of stuff there. They sell cheap jewelry, makeup, scarves, hair accessories, etc. On Sunday she went and bought a hoop bracelet there for 60 shekels (~$17). She wore it half a day and it broke. Snapped in two and she said she wasn't being unreasonably hard on it. It was on her arm. She still had the receipt and tried to take it back yesterday. They wouldn't give her her money back (not unusual for Israel - stores here do not have a money back policy) nor would they give her a credit slip.
So after work yesterday I went back with T. We had the receipt and the broken bracelet. There was a man and woman behind the counter. The woman was a real mailto:%21@#$%25, the guy was a bit softer but they both still refused. Accused T of breaking it on purpose. WHY would she do that? She WANTED that bracelet! Then I tried nasty. I screamed at them both, the woman was ready to climb over the counter and tackle me. I shouted at all the other customers not to buy because whatever they buy will break within a day and the shop owners won't make it right. The woman behind the counter called the police at that point - or at least pretended to. I don't know if she really dialed. I told them my daughter earned the money babysitting, money doesn't grow on trees and that they're taking advantage of the young girls who shop there. I told them my daughter would not be shopping there any more and she would be telling all her friends not to shop there any more. They didn't care. It was really nasty. I told the woman, "If YOU bought something - anything - and it broke within half a day, you'd scream too!" There is a new law that came out in December that says stores HAVE to give you your money back for most things if you return it within 14 days and if the value is over 50 shekels. I had a copy of this law with me and pulled it out to show them. They also had it posted up behind the counter. But it does say that you get your money back IF the item is unused/unopened. How on earth are you supposed to prove that a bracelet is "unused"?! It wasn't packaged in any way. And shouldn't you even MORE so get your money back if the item is defective?? I was PISSED. Still am. I feel like going back in the middle of the night and spray painting the shop windows with some warning to other customers or something! I feel like going back and saying to the man, "You know, I gave up my culture, my language, my family and friends for what? For this kind of crappy treatment?" I feel SO frustrated and helpless. It's just that here there is no such concept of "the customer is always right".
I have to say though that this sort of thing hasn't happened to me very often.
DH set up a yahoo group for our city. You subscribe to the message board for free and it's a good way to find out about stores that give exceptional customer service, you can post there and ask for recommendations say, if you need an electrician or plumber or whatever, or to find out about lectures, day trips, private people selling stuff, if you're hankering after a food item from the old country you can post and ask if anyone knows where to get it, etc. It's a really useful tool and keeps the Anglos here connected. Anyway, I posted the whole bracelet story to the list and asked people NOT to buy there. There is also a complaints forum in Hebrew that I found where you can post complaints about a particular business in a whole long list of categories so I did that too. To warn people not to buy there.....Nothing will change unless the owners of the store feel it where it hurts.
Today is Memorial Day which is followed immediately by Independence Day. When I first moved here it was SO hard to go from a day of such quiet, sober mourning where everyone is walking on eggshells and close to tears to such euphoric joy and elation on Independence Day. How do you make that emotional switch so abruptly?? But the longer I'm here, the more appropriate it seems. I mean, it's still really hard but it only drives home the fact that we wouldn't have the independence if our military personnel hadn't given their lives so we could have a country. It's almost 11 am here when all the air raid sirens in the country will sound for 2 minutes and the whole country will come to a halt as people stand to remember the fallen. You know, after that experience in the store yesterday I was just so disgusted and felt like throwing in the towel and whining "I wanna go hooooooome!" And yet, at times like this when the whole country is unified during the siren, it's one of those electrifying moments that remind me why I'm here and make me feel that I AM home. There was a siren for 1 minute at 8 pm last night as well with a torch lighting ceremony at the Western Wall with the top government officials, speeches, prayers, families of the fallen and military personnel. We had the TV on and when the siren went off we stood. Which is exactly when E decided to throw a tantrum in front of me because he wanted to watch Baby Einstein and I wasn't putting it on for him! Real hard to enter into the spirit of the day with a kid having a hissy fit in front of you! Geesh!
This past week at her school, T said she had a lot of pre-Memorial Day activities and ceremonies and skits and such. Here, boys are required to serve in the army for 3 years. Religious girls can, but aren't required to. There is another option for them called National Service where they volunteer their time for 2 years doing things like working in hospitals, old age homes, as teacher's helpers in schools, teaching new immigrants Hebrew, working with underprivileged youth, working with special needs kids, etc. That's just for starters. I'm not even up on what the possibilities for them are. So yesterday T tells me that she's decided she does want to serve in the army. Why? Because she wants to wear an army uniform! Talk about lump in the throat time. I don't blame her one bit. It remains to be seen whether that will still be her deicison when the time comes but if it is, I will support it.
I didn't have to serve in the army when I came because at 22 I was "too old". Ha!
So after work yesterday I went back with T. We had the receipt and the broken bracelet. There was a man and woman behind the counter. The woman was a real mailto:%21@#$%25, the guy was a bit softer but they both still refused. Accused T of breaking it on purpose. WHY would she do that? She WANTED that bracelet! Then I tried nasty. I screamed at them both, the woman was ready to climb over the counter and tackle me. I shouted at all the other customers not to buy because whatever they buy will break within a day and the shop owners won't make it right. The woman behind the counter called the police at that point - or at least pretended to. I don't know if she really dialed. I told them my daughter earned the money babysitting, money doesn't grow on trees and that they're taking advantage of the young girls who shop there. I told them my daughter would not be shopping there any more and she would be telling all her friends not to shop there any more. They didn't care. It was really nasty. I told the woman, "If YOU bought something - anything - and it broke within half a day, you'd scream too!" There is a new law that came out in December that says stores HAVE to give you your money back for most things if you return it within 14 days and if the value is over 50 shekels. I had a copy of this law with me and pulled it out to show them. They also had it posted up behind the counter. But it does say that you get your money back IF the item is unused/unopened. How on earth are you supposed to prove that a bracelet is "unused"?! It wasn't packaged in any way. And shouldn't you even MORE so get your money back if the item is defective?? I was PISSED. Still am. I feel like going back in the middle of the night and spray painting the shop windows with some warning to other customers or something! I feel like going back and saying to the man, "You know, I gave up my culture, my language, my family and friends for what? For this kind of crappy treatment?" I feel SO frustrated and helpless. It's just that here there is no such concept of "the customer is always right".
I have to say though that this sort of thing hasn't happened to me very often.
DH set up a yahoo group for our city. You subscribe to the message board for free and it's a good way to find out about stores that give exceptional customer service, you can post there and ask for recommendations say, if you need an electrician or plumber or whatever, or to find out about lectures, day trips, private people selling stuff, if you're hankering after a food item from the old country you can post and ask if anyone knows where to get it, etc. It's a really useful tool and keeps the Anglos here connected. Anyway, I posted the whole bracelet story to the list and asked people NOT to buy there. There is also a complaints forum in Hebrew that I found where you can post complaints about a particular business in a whole long list of categories so I did that too. To warn people not to buy there.....Nothing will change unless the owners of the store feel it where it hurts.
Today is Memorial Day which is followed immediately by Independence Day. When I first moved here it was SO hard to go from a day of such quiet, sober mourning where everyone is walking on eggshells and close to tears to such euphoric joy and elation on Independence Day. How do you make that emotional switch so abruptly?? But the longer I'm here, the more appropriate it seems. I mean, it's still really hard but it only drives home the fact that we wouldn't have the independence if our military personnel hadn't given their lives so we could have a country. It's almost 11 am here when all the air raid sirens in the country will sound for 2 minutes and the whole country will come to a halt as people stand to remember the fallen. You know, after that experience in the store yesterday I was just so disgusted and felt like throwing in the towel and whining "I wanna go hooooooome!" And yet, at times like this when the whole country is unified during the siren, it's one of those electrifying moments that remind me why I'm here and make me feel that I AM home. There was a siren for 1 minute at 8 pm last night as well with a torch lighting ceremony at the Western Wall with the top government officials, speeches, prayers, families of the fallen and military personnel. We had the TV on and when the siren went off we stood. Which is exactly when E decided to throw a tantrum in front of me because he wanted to watch Baby Einstein and I wasn't putting it on for him! Real hard to enter into the spirit of the day with a kid having a hissy fit in front of you! Geesh!
This past week at her school, T said she had a lot of pre-Memorial Day activities and ceremonies and skits and such. Here, boys are required to serve in the army for 3 years. Religious girls can, but aren't required to. There is another option for them called National Service where they volunteer their time for 2 years doing things like working in hospitals, old age homes, as teacher's helpers in schools, teaching new immigrants Hebrew, working with underprivileged youth, working with special needs kids, etc. That's just for starters. I'm not even up on what the possibilities for them are. So yesterday T tells me that she's decided she does want to serve in the army. Why? Because she wants to wear an army uniform! Talk about lump in the throat time. I don't blame her one bit. It remains to be seen whether that will still be her deicison when the time comes but if it is, I will support it.
I didn't have to serve in the army when I came because at 22 I was "too old". Ha!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
My Newest Hobby
A co-worker and friend of mine is an avid beader - she makes jewelry. Really nice stuff! She recently was asked to give a beading workshop to all of us employees one evening just for fun. As there are only 3 men who work here, it was a suitable girly activity for the majority of the employees.
Since the workshop she conducted, I have started making jewelry of my own. Some people would say it's tedious but apparently I like tedium! I find it extremely theraputic and I totally lose track of time when I'm beading. Someone could shout "FIRE!" and it wouldn't faze me, so engrossed do I become.
I am particularly fond of bracelets and earrings as they don't take as long nor do they require as many beads as a necklace so therefore the cost isn't as high. (UNfortunately for me, beading is NOT an inexpensive hobby.) I can whip up a nice bracelet in approximately 2 hours while I watch TV in the evening with DH. It's also fun to experiment with different sorts of beads and the effects of different stitching techniques.
I finally found a GREAT web site and blog on the subject that also includes excellent, easy-to-read beading patterns - some are free! Website: http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.com/ and blog: http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.blogspot.com/. Highly recommended!
And this just in.....THIS just made my day! I just had an email arrive to my inbox with a link to a pdf file which informs us that starting in July, Israel will be seriously ramping up its recycling campaign to include plastic, paper and cardboard, glass and metal whereas up until now we've only been able to recycle newspaper and plastics. This info and other interesting environment-related stuff can be found in English here: http://www.adamteva.org.il/?CategoryID=388. I didn't know this organization existed. It will be "soul food" for me to delve into this site further. I did notice during the .0000937 seconds that I had to glance at the site, I noticed THIS gem: http://www.adamteva.org.il/?CategoryID=408&ArticleID=1252, which combines my two "soap box subjects" - education and green living.
Since the workshop she conducted, I have started making jewelry of my own. Some people would say it's tedious but apparently I like tedium! I find it extremely theraputic and I totally lose track of time when I'm beading. Someone could shout "FIRE!" and it wouldn't faze me, so engrossed do I become.
I am particularly fond of bracelets and earrings as they don't take as long nor do they require as many beads as a necklace so therefore the cost isn't as high. (UNfortunately for me, beading is NOT an inexpensive hobby.) I can whip up a nice bracelet in approximately 2 hours while I watch TV in the evening with DH. It's also fun to experiment with different sorts of beads and the effects of different stitching techniques.
I finally found a GREAT web site and blog on the subject that also includes excellent, easy-to-read beading patterns - some are free! Website: http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.com/ and blog: http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.blogspot.com/. Highly recommended!
And this just in.....THIS just made my day! I just had an email arrive to my inbox with a link to a pdf file which informs us that starting in July, Israel will be seriously ramping up its recycling campaign to include plastic, paper and cardboard, glass and metal whereas up until now we've only been able to recycle newspaper and plastics. This info and other interesting environment-related stuff can be found in English here: http://www.adamteva.org.il/?CategoryID=388. I didn't know this organization existed. It will be "soul food" for me to delve into this site further. I did notice during the .0000937 seconds that I had to glance at the site, I noticed THIS gem: http://www.adamteva.org.il/?CategoryID=408&ArticleID=1252, which combines my two "soap box subjects" - education and green living.
Heat Wave
Well. We seem to have made it through Passover all in one piece. The kids were off school for 2 1/2 weeks, DH and I were both sick TWICE over the holiday but luckily each time it was a 24 hour thing and passed quickly. T came home from with bronchitis after spending a few days at the end of the vacation with her Dad. But she is on antibiotics now and back at school.
The weather during the holiday was quite cool to cold and since then has been fluctuating every few days between cool and oppressive heat wave - what's called a "chamsin" here. Today it's 88F which actually doesn't sound THAT hot to me but trust me. You do NOT want to be outside today if you can help it. As an amusing footnote to our heat wave today, I phoned up the restaurant downstairs to order my lunch today and asked if they have soup. The restaurant's employee said, "Are you JOKING!? It's a chamseen out there today?" (Or the equivalent in Hebrew......) I said, "Well, I'm COLD in the office!" Humph.
Thankfully, I have not had evenings this week that were full of running errands so every night this week so far, as soon as I got off work, I ran home, packed up the kids and threw some food in a bag with a bottle of water and we headed to the park for a few hours until it got dark. As long as the kids aren't whining that they're bored, I'll stay. Anything that keeps them active and away from the TV is ok by me. E is now to the point where I can say he's proficient on all of the slides and ladders and I don't have to stand under/behind him to make sure he doesn't fall. I can sit on a bench with my book and keep an eye on them from a distance. Happiness!
We got some sad news 2 days ago that Stephen's cousin in Australia was killed when her car ran over her. She and her husband had come home from doing the shopping. They parked the car in the driveway, he went into the house and she went round the back of the car to get the shopping out and........no one knows what happened. Their 3 kids ages 2, 4 and 6 were apparently still strapped in their seats so couldn't have knocked the car out of gear. The car has been taken by the police to be inspected. Stephen's uncle was on a cruise at the time but returned to Australia yesterday. Apparently the family was able to reach him before he returned to tell him the news. It is really shocking and perplexing as to how it happened and all I can keep thinking about are those three little kids. How do you explain to a 2 year old or 4 year old where mommy is? Stephen called his uncle today to offer condolences. He said the 2 year old is ok, the 4 year old wants his mommy and the 6 year old is very serious.
E's new word is "pongkong" (popcorn). LOL. And Y keeps asking when T is going to get married. Saturday morning she asked us if she can help look for someone for T to marry!! She's dying to be a flower girl, you see. She is reaaaally too much, that girl! Funny.
The weather during the holiday was quite cool to cold and since then has been fluctuating every few days between cool and oppressive heat wave - what's called a "chamsin" here. Today it's 88F which actually doesn't sound THAT hot to me but trust me. You do NOT want to be outside today if you can help it. As an amusing footnote to our heat wave today, I phoned up the restaurant downstairs to order my lunch today and asked if they have soup. The restaurant's employee said, "Are you JOKING!? It's a chamseen out there today?" (Or the equivalent in Hebrew......) I said, "Well, I'm COLD in the office!" Humph.
Thankfully, I have not had evenings this week that were full of running errands so every night this week so far, as soon as I got off work, I ran home, packed up the kids and threw some food in a bag with a bottle of water and we headed to the park for a few hours until it got dark. As long as the kids aren't whining that they're bored, I'll stay. Anything that keeps them active and away from the TV is ok by me. E is now to the point where I can say he's proficient on all of the slides and ladders and I don't have to stand under/behind him to make sure he doesn't fall. I can sit on a bench with my book and keep an eye on them from a distance. Happiness!
We got some sad news 2 days ago that Stephen's cousin in Australia was killed when her car ran over her. She and her husband had come home from doing the shopping. They parked the car in the driveway, he went into the house and she went round the back of the car to get the shopping out and........no one knows what happened. Their 3 kids ages 2, 4 and 6 were apparently still strapped in their seats so couldn't have knocked the car out of gear. The car has been taken by the police to be inspected. Stephen's uncle was on a cruise at the time but returned to Australia yesterday. Apparently the family was able to reach him before he returned to tell him the news. It is really shocking and perplexing as to how it happened and all I can keep thinking about are those three little kids. How do you explain to a 2 year old or 4 year old where mommy is? Stephen called his uncle today to offer condolences. He said the 2 year old is ok, the 4 year old wants his mommy and the 6 year old is very serious.
E's new word is "pongkong" (popcorn). LOL. And Y keeps asking when T is going to get married. Saturday morning she asked us if she can help look for someone for T to marry!! She's dying to be a flower girl, you see. She is reaaaally too much, that girl! Funny.
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