I'm tired! I got about 7 hours of interrupted sleep last night, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to get back to sleep after Pidgeon left for Tel Aviv early this morning. That, and my upstairs neighbor is running around on my head in her high heels again. Lord, I can't wait until they pack up and go back to Florida where they're from. I'm hoping that's going to be happening sooner rather than later!
So, yesterday post-fast was an extremely productive day for us! We got up fairly early and, after a quick breakfast, hiked over to Derech Beit Lechem to the framers. I had our Ketubah with me and Pidgeon took our wedding photos. We had agreed that, since this year is our paper anniversary, that it was time to frame our Ketubah as a joint gift to each other. In all honesty, I was going to also surprise Pidgeon with a comic book too. But, I have no idea which kinds he would want, so I decided to just tell him that we weren't going to exchange presents this year. Besides, we have a lot of fun activities planned to celebrate all our milestones within the coming few days that I didn't think we needed to spend money we don't have on gifts we probably don't really need.
Anyway, we got to the frame store only to discover that he's on vacation until the 19th. That's what's so interesting about this Country. Now, after Tisha B'av, a ton of tourists are heading out way for 2-3 week vacations before schools start in the States and abroad. But, most of the natives, have been heading out of town on vacation too! So, this place is packed but it's mostly with people who aren't around here. What's frustrating is that we now have to call all our local shops to make sure they're still open over the next few days. I was shocked when I called the manicurist I haven't seen since January and she told me that she was on vacation for another week! Here I wanted to finally treat myself to a manicure/pedicure and she took is out on vacation. I guess it's the Lord's way of telling me to just suck it up for a bit longer - or take a page out of Pidgeon's Aunt's book and just do it myself.
Well, Pidgeon didn't want to wait until the framer got back on the 19th (which is, BTW, our anniversary) and so he called his Mom and she told us about Micha's frame store in Katamon. So, we got into the car and headed over there. Fortunately, he was in and not on vacation (although, he too is heading off on vacation in a week!) and we were able to get everything framed. But, somehow, Pidgeon and I got our wires crossed and each thought the other took the tube that contained our Ketubah. We didn't realize, until 11:00 p.m. last night, that we had left it at the store! Unfortunately for us, the tube still contained our Tenaim that were signed by my cousin Daneel and Pidgeon's friend Yoni. Pidgeon has been calling the framer all morning to make sure he didn't throw it out and we're praying that it's still there. I'm going to be very upset if he tossed it!
But, we both spent the day blissfully unaware of this SNAFU and we continued after the framer to run some more errands. We both managed to do a bit of work, relaxed in front of the TV, and just enjoyed each others company. It's nice that we are still doing that too!
So, next week P"G is chock full of celebrations for us! First, August 17th will mark my 2nd year anniversary since making Aliyah. I couldn't fall asleep last night, so I went back to my old blog to read what I was doing around this time two years ago. It's so fascinating what I did before moving to Tel Aviv! I can still remember how scared I felt as I read through my blog posts. Then, I decided to read up on what I did exactly this time last year, and boy was I in a whirlwind before the wedding! August 19th, P"G, is our one year wedding anniversary and this year both flew and took its time. I've enjoyed every bit of it!
In celebration, we are planning on a movie date at the Cinema City in Herzliya. That place is the closest thing this Country has to a Loews movie theatre and we are hoping to check out Batman. Since I don't see movies during the 3 weeks, we've been counting down until we could go see it. We're also going to spend some time in Ashkelon, just hanging out at the pool and relaxing. I'm hoping the weather won't be too hot this time! Worse comes to worse, we'll just stay in doors and enjoy the sunrise and sunset over the water from our air conditioned room!
Pidgeon was up extra early this morning as he has another 3-hour lesson in Tel Aviv. I decided to get up with him and get my day going early. We're trying out a new cleaning lady this afternoon since I practically threw my back out trying to sponga the floor the other day. I'm looking forward to her coming here, I could really use the cleaning help! The floor is just getting too much for me to handle these days. My Zaydie A"H was right too. When we lived together, he used to complain that I had hair all over the place. He would clean the apartment every Friday and then show me, if I got home in time from work, all the hair balls he found in my room, in the bathroom and even in the hallway! The man was pretty much bald, so there was no way I could deny that the hair all over the place was mine. And, well, I guess I'm shedding in this place too and it's pretty gross!
Meanwhile, last night I had a dream that I was basically living in a bakery. It was such a nice dream, one of those sensory ones when I actually smelled the scent of cupcakes baking in the oven. I told Pidgeon about the wall of chocolate rugelach and he laughed at me. I blame him for my dream though; right before he went to sleep he told me that the news released some sort of study about calorie content of baked goods. He said the cheesecake and cream cakes were least caloric but brownie and dense cake type items were the biggest offenders. Well, no wonder I had a bakery dream! It was the last thing on my mind before I went to sleep! Of course, waking up with a brownie craving doesn't help my quest to keep my weight down.
Besides spending the morning writing, and the afternoon getting our new cleaning lady acclimated, I'm actually meeting with a lawyer from the AACI. I've been fighting with my health insurance company here (i.e. Kupat Cholim) about the fact that they basically stole 2970 shekel from me. When I moved here, I got a Teudat Zehut and declared Aliyah even though I didn't know it. When I went to sign up for health insurance, even though I had my Teudat Zehut, I got a foreign plan which was about 330 shekel a month. I pay less than 50 shekel a month now because every Israeli citizen is covered by the government for health insurance. When I realized I had made Aliyah and went to Bituach Leumi to sign up, they charge me back payments from when I had moved here. So basically, I paid double. I paid Bituach Leumi AND a foreign status at my Kupah. The Kupah, though, won't refund me my money even though their worker knew I was eligible for a lower rate plan and just took advantage of my ignorance. So, I decided to take this a step further and consult an attorney about my rights. 2970 shekel is a LOT of money for us, it was also a huge chunk of my Sal Klita money that went to pay health insurance for no reason. I'm hoping the attorney will be able to tell me if I've got a leg to stand on and whether or not it pays, for the amount of money I want back, to really hire someone to take this one step further.
Meanwhile, our friend Lana is moving back to the States tonight to start her internships at hospitals in New York. We're very sad to see her go, even though she will be back in January, and Pidgeon is going to drive over to say goodbye after his class ends. We're also going to be babysitting some of her stuff - namely an oil heater and her pillow and comforter - until she returns in January. I'm thrilled as I could use another comforter for when my parents P"G come in December. Last year, when they came, I only had one comforter and Pidgeon's single comforter to offer them. Somehow, my Mom got the short end of the stick and ended up with Pidgeon's single comforter and it just didn't work for her. I'm hoping Lana's will be exactly what I need for their 10 day visit! And, well, I'm just lazy and I love extra pillows. I already sleep with 4 and one more would just make my day. Pidgeon doesn't understand my love of the pillow, but I've managed to convince him to sleep on two these days and he's liking it. We'll see what happens when I've got another one to add to the bunch!
Finally, as soon as Pidgeon left the apartment this morning, the buzzer rang and I went to answer the intercom thinking Pidgeon wanted to tell me something. Some guy, claiming to be here to read the water meter, asked me to buzz him in. I refused. First of all, I wasn't dressed and I was not in any hurry to get dressed to accommodate him. Second, when I asked him how he usually read the meters before, he claimed it was his "first time" at our apartment and that someone always buzzes him in. I don't know who that someone was because I've never done it. So, I asked him very nicely to have someone over at his Company call me on the phone to verify that he is who he says he is. Well, I don't know if that just caused him to run away or if my neighbor just took the initiative and let him in. Either way, I don't care. I don't think it's unreasonable of me to ask that his Company verify his legitimacy before I buzz him into the building. When I was at my parents in the States, and the Con Edison man came to read the meters, he always showed me his badge and I always looked for his white truck before letting him in.
I don't care where I'm living, or what the crime situation is like. Jerusalem could be crime free for all I care, I'm still going to use my good common sense and not buzz just anyone who comes calling. If that makes me paranoid, fine. I just think that makes me cautious.
Well, I'm off to get my day going. My stomach is growling so I think it's time to feed the beast within!
Yom Tov from Baka!
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