After the thrilling conclusion of snatching an apartment on Friday, today was a bit anticlimactic. All of the kids are off to school, so it was quiet enough this morning to start my first solid day of telecommuting. In the afternoon Rafi needed the computer so I had to stop working and Galila took me to a shopping center in the Hareidi (ultra-orthodox) area. As a generalization, but not necesarrily a rule, the Haredi world lives in relative poverty, a consequence of large families and men who spend their days studying Torah instead of working. What this boils down to is that you can find some very good deals if you know where to look. Unfortunately, no discounts on furniture though.
For planning out my new place, I'm thinking along the lines of starting out with folding chairs and tables, and getting an inflatable air mattress. The rationale being that I have no car, and none of my friends have very big cars, so I won't be able to bring anything in without paying movers and arm and a leg. Past experience has shown that I tend to collect furniture from various donors who are only too happy to get rid of it and help out a young guy just getting started out in life. So I'll just get the portable stuff that can fit into my friend Moshe's Toyota Corolla until I can figure something else out.
In the mean time I'm beginning to research different internet services in Israel, as I need to have a connection up and running when I move in on the tenth. Since I don't have international phones set up yet I'm trying to figure out if international calling cards are available in Israel, as I need to be able to at least call the office from time to time for design issues and coordination.
I'm still getting set up here, but at least I feel I can relax a little bit as I don't have to worry about a place any more.
4 comments:
Nope! There's a post coming on the anglo community here very soon.
EmahS,
Nope, I don't think you're being rude. You're just "adjusting." :) If I didn't want to answer the question I simply wouldn't have answered it.
Mia,
Actually, I managed to find a cheap phone card and just got through testing it out. Unfortunately I can't use internet phone services yet since I'm on my cousin's computer and don't want to install anything or mess with it in any way. However, I Just found a calling card and tested it out. It seems to work, uh, okay. I'm looking forward to getting completely up and running. Just a week or so from now.
Germanshepard1234,
Sorry, but you'll have to wait another day. I'm really beat right now.
:) As long as we keep it civil, I don't particularly mind negative comments about myself or arguments. Drives up my hit count.
danielle,
for all olim and future olim who read the booklets prepared by the jewish agency in order to ready ourselves for absorption into israeli society, one of the things that we are made aware of is just how culturally different we, particularly american olim, are from israelis born and bred in israel.
one of the major cultural differences cited that we are told that we should prepare ourselves for is the extreme forwardness of israelis as compared to the way americans tend to be more indirect and discreet, especially pertaining to matters that most americans would consider to be private. so when emah s. wrote "to be totally israeli" and then began to ask about rent and the specifics of the apartment, she was neither being nosy (in israeli culture)nor was she being tactless. however, to an american or non-israeli, or person unfamiliar with israeli cultural norms, that statement might have been found offensive. rather it is not at all offensive if taken in the correct cultural context.
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