Drilled, Scraped and Polished

Today, I went to the dental hygienist in Jerusalem. It was my first time in this Country doing anything with my teeth, really, and I was a bit nervous. Since I take the Clexane shots, my body is prone to bleeding and it take a bit longer to clot. So, I was afraid that she was going to take a hacksaw to my gums and leave me all bloody. She didn't disappoint. After calling me in and chatting me up about my family (i.e. my new married into family) she got to work. At some point, I think there were 6 types of tools in my mouth at one time. She was really digging through my gums to get all the crap out. Fortunately, she used this numbing cream so that I wouldn't feel anything. Yeah, right. I still felt it. How can you not, when there's a hook digging down deep into your gums! I kept my eyes closed for most of the procedure and trying to sooth the fetus who was kicking the crap out of me the entire time! I'm thinking "Hot Dog" (more on this later) wasn't pleased with all this pain. And, the most disconcerting part of the whole appointment was when I finally looked at her and I saw bloody streaks on her white face mask. Yeah, that was my blood all over her mask. Gross. I was happy when it was all over, and I guess it was worth it because my teeth look much cleaner. I avoided eating for a few hours though, I was a bit nauseated by the entire experience. 

So, I know that I've been blog neglectful this week, but for good reason. We finally bought a new car! It was a tremendous ordeal, and we went back and forth with a number of dealerships. Since Pidgeon has himself a convertible, which barely fits even me at this point, we decided it was time to trade in and up. So, we visited Toyota, Mazda, Peugot, Chrystler and Chevrolet in and around Jerusalem. With a trade in, we got the best deal from Chevrolet. In fact, after Pidgeon's trade in and my rights as an Olah Chadasha, the car was extremely affordable. But, Pidgeon enlisted the help of his Dad, who decided to get us a better price in Rishon LeZiyon, which is a big City about 40 minutes away from Jerusalem. The Chevrolet dealership there managed to knock almost 3,000 more shekel off the price of the car, and it was a deal we couldn't refuse. So, on Thursday, we drove out there expecting to seal the deal. We brought all the information we thought we needed and after waiting for hours which the Rishon LeZiyon dealership argued with the Jerusalem dealership, the deal was done. And then, they told us that I needed a lot of documents I hadn't brought with me. Namely, my passport, American drivers license and Olah booklet. The car couldn't be ordered until all that was in their possession, and since I really didn't want to buy a new car during the 3 weeks, we decided to drive back there on Friday to finish everything.

It actually worked out well for us, as we went to Ashkelon for the weekend. We've been needing a beach weekend for a while, and we both were looking forward to cooling off at the pool in the neighborhood. Plus, we thought a change of scenery would do us good, so we coordinated with Pidgeon's parents and made plans to all go out there for Shabbos. Friday morning came, and we packed quickly and went to get the car checked before the deal could be made. Once the report came back clean, or at least as "clean" as a third hand car can be, we were off to Rishon. The dealership closes on Friday's at 1:00 p.m. and it was getting dangerously close to quitting time. We made it with 15 minutes to spare and the document passing began. But then Chaim, our dealer, told me that he had to take all my originals. I was under the impression that he was just going to make photocopies. Oh no, he was taking my passport, my Olah booklet, both my Israeli and American drivers license and that was enough to send me into a panic. I have NEVER been without my passport in my entire life. It's a Holocaust thing that I don't want to go into now, but after a few minutes to hyperventilating and the dealer promising me that he does this "all the time", I let the documents go. Good thing I'm not the driver in this family, how the heck was I supposed to get around now? The dealer promised me that I could just show a cop my photocopied drivers license and explain I was buying a new car in case I got pulled over. Whatever, I'm just counting down until we get the car, so I can get my documents back.

We got onto the road and headed to Ashkelon and straight to the Marina for some lunch. I needed some comfort food so I went with the fish and chips, excellent choice although the fish wasn't as fresh as I like it. Pidgeon had a pizza and his folks split a salad and eggplant drenched in garlicky techina. We went back to the apartment, unpacked, got into our swimsuits and went to the building next door to invade their pool. It was delicious to take a dip! Unfortunately, we were only there for 30 minutes before the pool closed for Shabbos. Bummer. I was really enjoying the water. Oh well, next time we'll just have to go out earlier so we can spend some more time. The pool in Pidgeon's parents building is almost done, with some water already being added to test the new pool. I'm praying that by the time we go out there in August, everything will be good to go! I'd love to spend some serious time in the pool.

I'm in end of the year countdown and it's really exciting! I can't believe I have 3 weeks left until the end of the program! In terms of work, that means 7 short stories to go! 6 of those are for my thesis and 1 is for my Assimilation in American Literature course. I already handed in my paper for my Holocaust Literature class at our last meeting last Tuesday. It felt great to get that off my plate. And, I continue to pray that I passed my philosophy exam so I can dump all my study materials and just move on. I will be pretty devastated if I failed the course. That would suck.

Pidgeon's brother and nephew are coming on Tuesday night for a few days and I can't wait! He's bringing me some American hot dogs that I've been craving! We've nicknamed the fetus "Hot Dog" because that's ALL I want to eat. I've explained this in an earlier post, but unfortunately my cravings haven't changed at all. I'm still all about tearing into flesh. Speaking of which, I think I'm going to defrost some chicken legs now. Hopefully, that will satisfy the teeny, tiny beast within. 

Happy Sunday from Baka!