You Pay Now!

Yesterday was take your husband to school day and so Pidgeon woke up bright and early, got dressed, packing a snack and his sketch pad, and we hit the road. We were really lucky that the traffic towards Bar Ilan from Jerusalem wasn't that bad, and we made it just in time for class! We spent the entire day focused on Emerson's Self-Reliance and the conversation about individualism and conformity was pretty interesting. Class went by pretty fast and Pidgeon really liked the topic. Plus, he got in some solid sketch time, which worked well for both of us.

After class, we went over to Schar Limmud to find out where the check was. To backtrack a bit, I am a Minhal Hastudentim student, which means that they pay for my tuition. Last year, by the time I finished up with Minhal Hastudentim, I was owed the full tuition I paid back since the agency now covered me. As soon as I put in my paperwork, I got a check a couple weeks later. This year, with the strike and everything, I paid the initial bill and then worked everything out with Minhal Hastudentim. I had to show them my transcript but one Professor, who taught two of my classes, hadn't gotten around to giving me a grade until November. Nevertheless, about 6 weeks ago, I went to Schar Limmud with the paperwork and we have been checking the mailbox ever since. 

We waited patiently in line and then went inside to meet with the kindest worker Bar Ilan has on staff. I told him that Pidgeon was my Hebrew and we started out meeting. That's when it got all comical. He told me there was a problem with my paperwork. He said that, Minhal Hastudentim last year covered me 111% out of 200% that they can cover for a second degree. He said that the percentage is determined based on hours on campus. Now, since I am only taking 2 courses this year, I am only up to 89% and Minhal Hastudentim were only covering me for 50% and so I actually owe them more money. I was very confused and first started on the percentage issue. He said that 4% is from the Jewish studies requirement. I told him that I was exempt from the second Jewish studies requirement because of my seminary year 12 years ago. He them said that while I am academically not required to take the second Jewish studies course, I still am financially required to. So I was surprised that they would going to charge me to pay for credits on a course that I was told I didn't have to take. That, to me, seemed really lousy for a University to do. Make me pay for not having taken the course? I might as well take the course then if I have to pay for it. It seemed a bit ridiculous to have me pay for something they told me I didn't have to take. So then the nice man told us we had to go to Talam on campus and ask them if I am financially required to pay for something I was academically not required to do. But, I countered, and said that I am 100% covered by Minhal Hastudentim, so should that we covered by them regardless? He told me that the computer showed that I was only covered 50% but he would double check. He walked back with a big folder with the paperwork and took 5 minutes to find my name. And, voila, there it was in black and white. I was covered by them this year 100%. OK great, we said, when can we expect our check. Well, the nice man met with a few of his superiors in the office and came back all smiles and said that of course he has to pay us our money, etc. I was happy that Pidgeon was there to translate because the whole situation was confusing and really made no sense. He checked his computer, frowned, and then told me that there was another small problem. They hadn't charged me for the Shmirah for the year. Basically, each Bar Ilan student has to pay 240 shekel (add 4 shekel to that for bank processing fees) a year for campus security. So, Pidgeon asked if I paid last year, and the man said that I had. I am more than happy to pay the security fee, especially since I think it's a necessary service, so we asked him what we do next. He printed out a 240 shekel bill, told me that I had to pay it by Friday, and then said that the check would be in the mail around March 20th. Believe me, we will be checking, as we can really use that cash back. Now, I decided not to be a pain about this, but if Minhal Hastudentim are covering me 100% this year, and I'm only in school for 89% of the 100%, what happens to the remaining 11%? I'm sure that's more than 240 shekels, couldn't they have deducted that fee from the money the Minhal Hastudentim were giving them? Again, they are giving the school 100% of the money, even though I'm only using 89% of it. When it comes to security though, I decided to just pay it. But, I think someone in the Bar Ilan administration is pocketing my 11%. I hope they buy themselves something pretty with my money.

Side point, but had we not gone and asked about the money status, we never would have known there was a problem. I hate that they do that, and I honestly believe the University does it on purpose. When it comes to money, they will not run to return a cent even if it's not legally there's. Had I not been hyper-vigilant about this, I never would have know about the problem and we would still be waiting for the check that was supposed to be "in the mail" weeks ago! I lost a lot of respect for the Bar Ilan administration yesterday and didn't ask him why no one bothered to tell me about the issue in the first place because, as I've experience dealing with money issues in Israel before,  I know I wouldn't have gotten a satisfactory answer. 

To celebrate sorting out this issue, we decided to grab some lunch at the Aroma off campus. We sat in the outdoor area and had tuna salads and tuna sandwiches and enjoyed the nice Spring like weather. In a few weeks, it will be just so swealtering that I doubt I'll be able to sit outside like that. I'm not looking forward to the really hot weather, although it will be nice to shlep less stuff during the day. After lunch, we decided not to do our Tel Aviv errands, and came back to Jerusalem.

I was supposed to start my Mishloach Manot baking yesterday but, since I woke up at 6:00 a.m., was too wiped to start. Instead, we spent the rest of the afternoon watching some TV, and then when Pidgeon went for a haircut, I made dinner. We had a really nice, relaxing, dinner and then I decided to try to fix my shaytels before Shabbos. With it being Parshat Zachor this weekend, I have not choice but have to get myself to shul on Shabbos day. I like to have options to wear a wig, in case I don't want to wear a hat, so I needed to make sure they were both in decent condition. It was not easy wielding a hot iron and working on my wigs, but it was worth it and they both look really great. I was pleased that I saved a lot of money! It would have cost me 140 shekel each to have someone in Har Nof wash and blow dry my wigs, this way I was able to do it at home for free!

We went to bed fairly early and I was up at 9:00 to call the Dr. I've been dealing with blood test after blood test for the past few months regarding a potential blood clotting issue. I found Dr. Varon, who is apparently "the best" hematologist in Jerusalem, and have been waiting for my test results so I can follow up with him. The results take a month to get and when we finally picked them up on the 9th, I immediately called to speak with him. He told us to fax over the results and then asked me to call him this morning to discuss. At 9:00 am on the dot, I called him and he basically told me that These results cannot be discussed over the telephone, you must come in and meet with me. Not something I wanted to hear, and so I've basically been in a panic all morning. He told us to call him after 3:00 p.m. so he could let us know if he can squeeze us into his schedule. 

Well, I certainly hope he can see us today because now I'm pretty frantic. What could this mean? 

Anyway, I'm going to go and bake a batch of chocolate cakes for Purim now and hope that will easy the tension a bit.  If not, I'm sure the gym later today will make me feel better. 

Yom Tov from Baka!

Falling Apart

I finally fell apart tonight. It's basically the way I function when dealing with something upsetting - I repress for a bit- and then I just finally take it all in. On Thursday night, after we spent a few hours watching the news about the Piguah, I didn't really let the news soak in. I decided instead to stay focused on our weekend company, so I just focused. 

On Friday, as the funerals were taking place at Mercaz HaRav and throughout the Country, I peeled potatoes, put up the Chulent, grilled the chicken, make coleslaw, made the beds, sauteed the onions and fennel and beef, cut the fruit, made the salads and put out the candles for our guests. I kept busy the entire day until our guests arrived and then I spent Shabbos just trying not to think about what's going on in the world. I wouldn't let our guests help, and so I waited on them hand and foot, and served and cleared, washed dishes and reset the table Friday night. I helped with the baby and then, this afternoon when everyone was exhausted from an early day, I sent them all to bed and I cleaned up. I washed all the dishes and silverware, the numerous serving bowls and utensils, I put the plates away, I folded and shook out the tablecloth, I dried the silverware so there were no water spots, I put away the food. I did all this almost on auto-pilot, without a thought in my mind. After the Shabbos nap, I took a long walk with our guests and we enjoyed the break in hot weather. The breeze was finally starting to blow and we just walked around and tried to enjoy Shabbos coming to a close. Our guests stayed for a while after Shabbos so they could experience our new Wii, and then I helped bathe the baby and get them out of the house. 

As soon as they were gone, I felt myself completely unravel. Pidgeon pitched in to help me finish cleaning up, and faced with nothing else that really needed to be done, I finally let the thoughts and emotions I've been surpressing since Thursday to soak in. I thought I had done a good job not looking at the newspaper pictures from the Yeshiva,  but when you go online it's a completely different story. So, I went into the refridgerator, and I first started to just eat some leftover salads. But, the food just help numb the feelings, so I didn't want to stop after the salads. I put 2 pieces of corn kugel and 2 spoonfuls of Chulent in a bowl and nuked it. That just numbed the emotions further. And then, while Pidgeon watching a movie in the other room, I took out my Aunt's apple pie and a fork, and just started working my way around the half moon circle of pastry that was still left. I finally put the fork down after eating about a 1/3 of the pie, and I picked through the leftover pieces of whole wheat Challah we got from Pe'er. Finally, I was numb once again, and able to read through the news reports and look through the pictures from the funeral.

I have to admit, when we were watching the news on Thursday night, my first thought was that we were dealing with a "disgruntled" Yeshiva student. I immediately had flashes to Columbine. But not even second went by  before Pidgeon remarked that it was an act of terrorist and that a second terrorist could have been on the loose. I was so shocked at myself and I realized that I must adjust my thinking if I want to exist in this Country. I have to realize the realities of living in Israel, the when I hear about a situation, it's almost always going to be terrorism. That reality is really, really lousy. What kind of situation will I P"G be bringing children into? How do you raise children in this type of environment, when you cannot guarantee their safety? It's something I just can't think about.

Well, I decided not to beat myself up about the food binge. It's something I'm not proud of, and I probably would have been better off just talking about it with Pidgeon, but I just can't really verbalize how I'm feeling these past two days. So, I decided that tomorrow morning, we'll P"G wake up and face the new day together. I hope the sun is shining too.

Yeshiva Student - Survivor Report

A Yeshiva student is on TV right now and telling how he was in the Bais Medrish on top of the Library when he heard the shots. He grabbed his rifle and climbed onto the roof of the Bais Medrish and looked down into the library, where he saw the gunman. He waited until he could get a better shot at the gunman, but he disappeared.

The gunman was using a Kalishnikov automatic rifle. The Yeshiva student blamed Peres and Olmert for providing these guns to the terrorists.

He said "Kol Hakovod" for providing terrorists with the weapons they just used to murder innocent Yeshiva students learning. 

The library was filled with Hesder students, Yeshiva students from other Yeshivot and other frum students learning and studying.

More to come

Attack - Live Blog

We got  home a few minutes ago from a lovely evening at the gym and Pidgeon turned on the TV to see the latest news. Two terrorists entered Mercaz HaRav, a Yeshiva at the entrance to the City of Jerusalem, and we watch as they tally up the dead. Right now, there are at least 8 fatalities in and around the Yeshiva. Some students managed to make their way to the Miklat (sealed room) to avoid the terrorists, others were not as lucky. There are more than 36 injured at this point and the ambulances are idling as they wait for what the Journalists are reporting will be more fatalities and not injuries. 

Apparently, they managed to kill one of the terrorists but reports are sketchy as to what's the status with the second terrorist. It seems to me that the second terrorist is at large in the Jerusalem area. 

Parents are lining up around the Yeshiva in droves, some we see are anxiously trying to get their child on the cell phone. The situation right now is that we don't know what the age group of the fatalities are as there are two Yeshivot back to back. There is a Yeshiva for Hezder students - those who learn and do army - and then there is the High School. We're talking about boys ranging in age from 13 - 35. 

We are appalled and upset and angry by the situation. We have been discussing how terrible it is that it's Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet and there will be at least 8 sets of parents sitting Shiva when they should be the most joyous this year. 

The police and Army are still trying to clear each and every room of the Yeshiva. They don't know what is worse - finding the second terrorist - or discovering more bodies. 

We watch and wait, and daven for those who lost their lives and the families who love them.

Will update more as more news becomes available. Obviously, I'm glues to the TV set and cooking for Shabbos has been completely abandoned.

This is the scariest thing I've encountered since moving to Israel and we fear that this is g-d forbid, just the beginning. 

Its What's For Dinner

We are entertaining this Shabbos and as my chicken's roast, I decided to take a quick break. Yesterday, Pidgeon and I went food shopping so I can cook for the weekend. Well, I have no idea how this happened, but we spent over 1,000 shekel! I was shocked when I saw the check out screen and was just so surprised that we overspent. I didn't think switching my Aloe Vera brand of toilet paper for the SuperSol brand would have made a difference, but apparently I was really wrong.

So, when we got back to our apartment, I looked through my menu and realized the reason the bill was so high. We bought a ridiculous amount of meat and poultry. I'm making a grilled steak salad, so we picked up 2 steaks (frozen). I'm making a macaroni and meat for Shabbos lunch so I had to buy a kilo of ground beef (also frozen) and then I'm making sweet and sour meatballs for Friday night so I had to buy 2 addition kilos of ground beef. Add to that chicken and shnitzel to feed 6 adults and 3 children, and some of the other ingredients needed for the weekend, and you've got a heavy bill. I have no idea how we're going to pay for all this food, but I really believe that when it comes to spending on food for Shabbos, G-d somehow makes sure we have enough to spend. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

Pidgeon is in the middle of his last exam and I'm halfway through my food cooking. I already made the cauliflower and corn kugels, the asian 5-spice chicken and the cinnamon chicken is in the oven, and I'm just waiting a bit more for my beef to defrost so I can get started on both the macaroni and meat and the meatballs. Our cleaning lady is on her way too, so I'm hoping to finish up in the kitchen so she can get in there and do a thorough cleaning. I really want to go to the gym with Pidgeon tonight, so I'm hoping to get enough done today so I don't have to spend the entire day tomorrow in the kitchen. 

Meanwhile, we're gearing up for the Sharaf/Heatwave that's expected to his this Country over the weekend. The news is reporting temperatures on Shabbos to be around 25C, which is approximately really freaking hot for March in Farenheit. And, of course, we have no air conditioning because it's part of the heating unit that has been busted for 7 weeks now. Well, we called our weekend company and gave them an out if they didn't want to come for the weekend. But, since they don't have AC in their apartment all year round, were more than happy to still come for Shabbos. That was nice to hear, how I'm going to deal with the heat will be a completely different story :)

I've been focusing on Pesach and I keep sending my Mom lists of food and provision she needs to stock up on before we come back to the States. The more I think about it, the more excited I am about the trip! I can't wait to see my family and friends, and I'm really looking forward to just being back in my parents house. 

Meanwhile, we have a wonderful cleaning woman who does such an incredible job. She is the most thorough cleaner I've ever had, and I've gone through 3 cleaning people since I moved to Israel. But, here is the problem, she wears my slip on New Balance sneakers when she cleans. When she first asked me if she could wear them, I said yes, because I was surprised by the request and because I thought she was wearing socks. But, then I noticed the other day that she takes off her socks. Which basically means that she sweats inside my sneakers and it really drives me crazy. At this point, I want to just give her the sneakers because I don't plan on wearing them every again. I think I'm going to buy myself another pair when I'm in the States and will give her these sneakers as a gift. This way, I don't have to share. I should have just said no to begin with but I have problems saying no to people. I need to work on that.

Well, I'm off to make the sweet and sour meatballs. 

Yom Tov from Jerusalem!

Whee and Wii

It is so nice to be home, I haven't been this excited in a long time! We spent the past 12 days house sitting for Pidgeon's parents, who were on a family ski trip in Europe. It was nice house sitting, I got to take the dog out for a walk a lot and we raided their pantry supplies, but there's just something about being in our own apartment. I missed my bed, my TV, my VOIP phone and most of all, my kitchen.  I ended up getting hit with a bout of insomnia last night - I blame it on the pepper spray incident - and when my alarm rang 30 minutes after I finally passed out there was just no way I was rallying awake. So, I switched the alarm off and turned around and went back to sleep. A few hours later, I woke up and realized I missed class, and Pidgeon spent 45 minutes making me feel a lot better about it.

We packed up our room, tidied up in the bathroom and then went downstairs to say hello to his parents and daven. Before Pidgeon could put on his Tefillim, we were given presents from abroad. I got a really nice burgandy scarf (although, with this incredible springlike weather I doubt I'll be using it anytime soon!) and Pidgeon got a really nice dress shirt and a pair of swim shorts. And then, the gave us the new Nintendo Wii and we were clueless as to what it even was! I pride myself on being "in the know" but I have no idea about Nintendo. Truth be told, I just am not a big gaming person. Pidgeon felt the same way, but we both thanked them profusely for the extremely generous and kind gift, and then brought it home with us this afternoon. 

By the time we got back to our apartment, it was past 2:00 p.m. and we still hadn't eaten breakfast! So, we decided to enjoy the warm weather and treat ourselves to an affordable lunch at New Deli on Emek. I had the New Deli salad with Pastrami and Corn Beef and a side of Hot Dog (no bun) while Pidgeon feasted on my hot dog bun and a grilled chicken sandwich. It was just what the Dr. ordered and we really enjoyed a nice, relaxing lunch. We then trekked back to Derech Beit Lechem to run some errands, stopped off at the post office to pick up Pidgeon's bi-weekly supply of comic books, and came back home to settle down.

After unpacking and putting up a much needed load of laundry, we decided to see what this whole Wii thing is all about. The instructions were pretty simple and we set everything up, until we got to the part where we have to unplug the TV from the cable box in order to plug into the Wii. Well, since we are such TV junkies, the thought of unplugging the cable box from the TV just didn't appeal to us. So, we hooked everything else up, set the Wii next to the TV, and just put on the TV and watched a Tivoed episode of CSI: New York. It was a perfect afternoon!

I've been working on a story for my thesis which is part of the reason why I didn't sleep last night. This is the evolution of a story I had written for class last year, but after getting feedback that it was reminiscent of American Pie, I just knew something had to be done! When Pidgeon woke up this morning, I told him the new premise and he agreed that it was much better than the old one. I wrote about a page of the new story this evening and I'm hoping to get the bulk written tomorrow. 

We have a huge food shopping to do tomorrow and I sat down this afternoon to write my list. I decided the menu for Shabbos is as follows:

Friday Night

First course: grilled steak salad and homemade techina

Main course: sweet and sour meatballs, white rice, asian 5 spice chicken, carmelized onion and fennel stir fry, cauliflower kugel

Dessert course: chocolate cake (courtesy of our guests) and fruit

Shabbos

First course: Israeli salad, purple cabbage salad, homemade coleslaw, techina, olives and pickles

Second course: chulent soup

Main course: corn kugel, grilled and fried schnitzel, macaroni and meat, leftover cauliflower kugel

Dessert: apple pie and fruit

I'm hoping to start cooking sometime on Thursday morning and after our cleaning lady leaves on Thursday night. Friday, I'd like to take it a bit easy, and hope to spend most of the time just getting the apartment ready for our sleep over guests. I'm hoping we won't need the heaters as the apartment should be full of kids! I'm really looking forward to that and have my Hebrew version of Eric Carlysle's Caterpillar book all ready to go!

Well, I'm off to start on dinner before Pidgeon has to run an errand. 

Erev Tov from Baka!

Fundamentally Stupid

This headline describes what I did to myself today and no, I'm not being self deprecating. I Pepper Sprayed myself this morning. (Cousin Neil, stop laughing, I can hear you 6,000 miles away!) It was, obviously, a complete accident but I still somehow managed to do it. Here's the order of events:

I woke up at 9:30 a.m. and did some writing in bed until 10:20 a.m. I got out of bed, got dressed, davened and ate breakfast until 11:15 a..m. At 11:20, Pidgeon returned from the office and we went upstairs to get ready to go back to our apartment. I went to pack up my bag and, since I have a hand bag and a school bag, realized that I had some items in my school bag that needed to come with me. I took my school bag out of the closet and rooted around for my keys. I found the keys and then my hand closed around my Pepper Spray (which, Pidgeon bought for me after a friend of mine got mugged two blocks away from our apartment in Baka). I figured, why not, and pulled the pepper spray out of the bag and dropped it into my purse. 

At 11:30 a.m. I decided to put my contact lenses in, without washing my hands. Using the same hand that I used to pull the pepper spray out of my bag, I put in both contacts. Almost immediately, my eyes began to burn and water. I tried to ignore it but, as the seconds ticked by, it just got worse and worse until I couldn't see anything! I went to the bathroom and took out the lenses, put in eye drops, and watched as my eyes kept tearing. It was hard to see through the blurred vision. The redness turned my green eyes blue (I kid you not) and I could barely keep the lids open. Pidgeon decided I should call the eye Dr. ASAP, and I just assumed I was having an allergic reaction to the season. 

We left the house and thankfully Pidgeon drove us to Emek Refaim, where he stopped off to look for a school book for me. He went to pick up some coffees at Aroma while I got my eye Dr.'s office on the phone. I told her I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something and that I needed the Dr. to call me back ASAP. When we hung up, I opened my purse looking for a tissue to blot my eyes, when I noticed my pepper spray. Open. Moist. 

Crap. It was then that I realized that I had gotten the pepper spray on my fingers and then, without washing my hands, accidentally transfered it to the contact lenses that I inserted into my eyes.

So fundamentally stupid! Lesson learned. ALWAYS wash hands before putting in contact lenses! What's ironic is that I'm usually so anal about washing my hands. I walk around with bottles of Purelle everywhere and I'm usually so careful. A harsh lesson in laziness was learnt today, and I really hope it never happens again.

Moving on. My Mother called this morning to alert me to this article in New York Times about proving you're a Jew? It brought back some very miserable memories when I went through the same thing with the Jerusalem Rabbinate. A copy of my parents Ketubah and a letter from my American Orthodox Jewish Rabbi saying that both myself and my Mother are Jewish were not enough. I mean, how could they rely on my American letter when they never heard of my American Orthodox Jewish Rabbi (which is ridiculous, since he's actually in the news a lot and is well known). It wasn't until we got to Beit Din, and I stood there and listed all of the Yeshivot I attended did they finally believe me. B"H I went to Michlalah, as saying the name of Rabbi Cooperman was exactly what I  needed to do to prove I'm a Jew. I was so close to telling them I was a descendent of the Rabbi of Munkatz and listing all the other great Chassidim I'm related to, but fortunately I was spared that extra step. I feel for all the Anglos going through this process and my only advice is to take a deep breath and try to get through it. Once they approve you, it's just another notch in the Israeli bureacratic belt that has to be bored until you can move on.

Since I'm having eye issues, we're spending the day close to home so I can relax. Last night, we hit the gym and had a great workout. I did mostly legs and Pidgeon had to hoist me out of the rowing machine since my leg muscles turned to jello. Oh yeah, and I was on the machine for only 10 minutes. I'm am so out of shape, it's not normal. 

We're expecting some unseasonably warm weather this weekend and we're entertaining! Pidgeon's best friend, his wife and their 1 year old baby will P"G sleeping over this Shabbos. I'm excited and, of course, have been thinking about a menu ever since. I figure Wednesday and Thursday will be my shopping and cooking day, which leaves Friday to just get the house ready. We also invite Pidgeon's cousins and their kids, and I'm really looking forward to this house being full of little ones. I hope I make the right foods for them!

Well, I'm off to rest my eyes and wait for the Dr. to call me back. Hope everyone is having a great day! Tomorrow, I'll write about the situation in Gaza, Sderot and Ashkelon. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the latest situation and hope to have something coherent to write about manyana.

In the meantime, Mazal Tov to Daniel and Daniela on their wedding yesterday! I'm so sad we missed it but look forward to the pictures! May you both enjoy marriage as much as we are loving it!