Israel - the first week
I've been here almost a week now (hard to believe), and here is a bit of a rundown of what's happened so far. When I arrived, I had the usual long wait at security. I was the lucky one picked out of the line on the tarmac between the airplane and the shuttle to the terminal. The first of what I expect to be many interviews with security.
the Israeli passport check is notorious, and for a reason. it takes a long time. they ask a lot of questions, and then they ask them again. It doesn't really matter what you say, they still ask a lot of questions. They seem well trained in doing that.
when I arrived at Sede Boqer, the fun started. My first trip was to see someone about housing. That was much more difficult than it needed to be. I had arranged by e-mail to have one of the new apartments. They decided that since I was going to be gone around New Years, I needed an old apartment, or at least a different one. After several trips back and forth between administrators, and putting a whole lot of BS in writing, I got the original apartment.
The new apartments are nice, though they do resemble a very affluent tomb at certain times of the day. they are all in stone (or stone composite of some sort), and have been carefully arranged to minimize some sort of sun exposure, or maximize something or other. they have very substantial metal rolling covers on all windows to keep out the sun during the day. the one I'm in is a two-story, single bedroom unit on the end of a row. (if I can figure out how to post photos on this thing, I will show you what it is like.). the downstairs has a studio living room/dining area/kitchen with a bathroom. Upstairs is the bedroom area, which is just big enough for a single bed, a built-in closet and room to walk to the balcony. On the landing of the stairs is a desk (with a nice, high-speed internet connection). Unfortunately, I am on the edge of the community, so my balcony view is of the construction of the new residential neighborhood.
The place is absolutely new - they had to bring some of the furniture in while I waited - and I'm the first to live here, which is nice. Actually, I quite like the place, though cooking with only a 2-burner hot plate (and a single pot, which I hope will change soon) will take some getting used to. The place is terminally dusty, which I suppose should not surprise me. There is an ever-present afternoon wind here, and because I'm on the edge of the neighborhood, I get the brunt of it. The windows are good, but the dust is fine enough that it gets in everywhere. I just hope it doesn't kill my computer.
So, on day 2 I went to Beer Sheva to arrange several things. I should mention that there is only a small grocery store in Sede Boqer and it is pretty expensive. There is also one little cafe, a post office that is only open a couple hours a day for about 4 days. In Beer Sheva, I wanted to set up a bank account, which isn't all that easy when you don't speak the language. There were 4 people behind desks that seemed like the place to set up an account. After waiting in each line in turn, I finally got to one person who could open an account and spoke a few words of english. she printed off about 35 pages of contracts in hebrew which I was supposed to sign. I have no idea what I signed. I probably pledged my life and a bazillion shekels to her first born. This process took about two hours, at the end of which I was allowed to deposit my first paycheck, but I was told that it would be 3 days before I could get (1) a checkbook, (2) a debit card, (3) any cash. I'm still waiting for those things.
If you haven't taken a public bus in Israel, you may have a skewed view of what it is like. They are usually full of soldiers. Apparently, there is not enough money in the government coffers to pay to transport troops back and forth across the country, so they take busses. They have priority on the busses. And they carry their weapons with them. That is one thing that still makes me do a double-take - seeing an average youngster carrying a military weapon around while, for example, getting an ice cream at the grocery store.
The next several days were pretty slow. It has been a bit of a challenge getting things going here because most of the people I will be working with are away until the end of next week. Makes for a slow start. I'm hoping to make some progress on writing and setting up some animal cages.
the Israeli passport check is notorious, and for a reason. it takes a long time. they ask a lot of questions, and then they ask them again. It doesn't really matter what you say, they still ask a lot of questions. They seem well trained in doing that.
when I arrived at Sede Boqer, the fun started. My first trip was to see someone about housing. That was much more difficult than it needed to be. I had arranged by e-mail to have one of the new apartments. They decided that since I was going to be gone around New Years, I needed an old apartment, or at least a different one. After several trips back and forth between administrators, and putting a whole lot of BS in writing, I got the original apartment.
The new apartments are nice, though they do resemble a very affluent tomb at certain times of the day. they are all in stone (or stone composite of some sort), and have been carefully arranged to minimize some sort of sun exposure, or maximize something or other. they have very substantial metal rolling covers on all windows to keep out the sun during the day. the one I'm in is a two-story, single bedroom unit on the end of a row. (if I can figure out how to post photos on this thing, I will show you what it is like.). the downstairs has a studio living room/dining area/kitchen with a bathroom. Upstairs is the bedroom area, which is just big enough for a single bed, a built-in closet and room to walk to the balcony. On the landing of the stairs is a desk (with a nice, high-speed internet connection). Unfortunately, I am on the edge of the community, so my balcony view is of the construction of the new residential neighborhood.
The place is absolutely new - they had to bring some of the furniture in while I waited - and I'm the first to live here, which is nice. Actually, I quite like the place, though cooking with only a 2-burner hot plate (and a single pot, which I hope will change soon) will take some getting used to. The place is terminally dusty, which I suppose should not surprise me. There is an ever-present afternoon wind here, and because I'm on the edge of the neighborhood, I get the brunt of it. The windows are good, but the dust is fine enough that it gets in everywhere. I just hope it doesn't kill my computer.
So, on day 2 I went to Beer Sheva to arrange several things. I should mention that there is only a small grocery store in Sede Boqer and it is pretty expensive. There is also one little cafe, a post office that is only open a couple hours a day for about 4 days. In Beer Sheva, I wanted to set up a bank account, which isn't all that easy when you don't speak the language. There were 4 people behind desks that seemed like the place to set up an account. After waiting in each line in turn, I finally got to one person who could open an account and spoke a few words of english. she printed off about 35 pages of contracts in hebrew which I was supposed to sign. I have no idea what I signed. I probably pledged my life and a bazillion shekels to her first born. This process took about two hours, at the end of which I was allowed to deposit my first paycheck, but I was told that it would be 3 days before I could get (1) a checkbook, (2) a debit card, (3) any cash. I'm still waiting for those things.
If you haven't taken a public bus in Israel, you may have a skewed view of what it is like. They are usually full of soldiers. Apparently, there is not enough money in the government coffers to pay to transport troops back and forth across the country, so they take busses. They have priority on the busses. And they carry their weapons with them. That is one thing that still makes me do a double-take - seeing an average youngster carrying a military weapon around while, for example, getting an ice cream at the grocery store.
The next several days were pretty slow. It has been a bit of a challenge getting things going here because most of the people I will be working with are away until the end of next week. Makes for a slow start. I'm hoping to make some progress on writing and setting up some animal cages.
1 Comments:
HI Crees - yay - a new blog for me to read!!! You write beautifully. Hope week number two is a bit more productive for you. Read you soon XOXOXO
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