A Day in Jerusalem

First, An Important Announcement

Happy Birthday munchkinqueen54!!! Thank you for giving birth to me!!! I think that was super awesome!!! I love you!!!

Well then…

So today I had a Yom Siddurim which I used to go take care of some things in Jerusalem (which is where I have all of my accounts, my Tik Aliyah (my immigration file), etc. I also really happen to enjoy getting to go to Jerusalem so I’ve never found cause enough to move my things elsewhere (…I also know that the moment I ask for anything to be moved, all paperwork will immediately be lost and I will pop out of existence…so it serves as a survival strategy, in a way).

I took the 08:10 bus out of Ashkelon which meant I was up and out the door only an hour later than I usually am. I met up with Shirah (stoicdaydreamer) and a friend of hers who just finished Taglit-Birthright Israel (I don’t recall his name at the moment…he was very quiet because he just finished a whirlwind trip in Israel and was shell-shocked).

After a quick bite to eat we made our way to our first stop…

Bank Leumi

The banking system in Israel was actually designed by…actually, that’s a lie…there is very little architecture to the banking system in Israel…it’s more like a three year old was given paint and a piece of paper, told to do as he see fits…someone walked by a few hours later, took three shots of whiskey, tilted his head left and said “hey, this can work.” This ‘system’ was later improved upon by the Knesset (who are the only group of people on Earth who can possibly do something worse than anything the Republicans and Democrats can come up with when they choose to work together).

This eventually was worked on once again by sadists who attempted to pick up where the Knesset left off. However, after seeing the bang up job that the Knesset did they decided to just add a little bit more paperwork and call it a day.

Speculation still exists as to whether or not the sadists were actually sadists, or if they were really our grandmothers masquerading as sadists creating more paperwork in an attempt to create a situation that would further prolong our conversations at the bank – and by which – increase the opportunity for them to show complete strangers pictures of their grandchildren.

Suffice it to say after completing what I needed to complete there in five minutes – and only having to sign two forms – I should have known something was up. I came home to find that none of the codes or passwords they gave me worked (since in Israel you don’t get to create your own pin code…the bank goes to great lengths to protect you from yourself).

This means that I am still (or maybe once again) locked out of my account.

I did contact Bank Leumi to see if they’d like to comment on the issue and the only spokesperson I could reach was quoted as saying “your call is very important to us…please continue to hold…” over, and over, and over again – I like to think that it means he’s from Shas.

I get to go back next month and try again (this time, however, I’ll be bringing my laptop and wireless internet connection with me to check on the spot what the story is).

The Kotel

After I ‘finished’ at the bank, Shirah, her friend (who’s name I can’t quite recall) and I started the trek down to the Kotel…stopping for a slice of Pizza on the way. I love the Old City of Jerusalem. I love the markets, the stone, the smells of spices and even the crisp air in the winter.

At the Kotel I went to wash my hands (there’s a special way to ritually wash them before prayer) and started to make my way down to the Kotel itself. I put on my beret, since I was in uniform and didn’t have my kippa on me (it’s currently in my hiking bag).

On my way down one person working at the Chabad booth called me over to wrap tefillin. As he was wrapping it on my arm I asked him the same question I ask any Chabadnik which is “Do you know Rabbi Gurary” to which they go “Rabbi Avraham Gurary from Buffalo!?” and I go “Yes!” and they go “OF COURSE I KNOW RABBI AVRAHAM GURARY FROM BUFFALO!” so after we finished the .0002 seconds of playing Jewish Geography I prayed and then finished and handed back the tefillin. He then asked me (in an incredibly thick, Brooklyn-Chabad accent) “SO WHEN ARE YOU COMING OVER FOR SHABBAT DINNER!?!” to which I said “the next time I can…” my Shabbats are filling up man…I still owe Heritage House one but it’s been a busy couple of months and I end the week sleep deprived and exhausted.

Anyway, I have his name and number…and a pamphlet on wrapping tefillin. From there I finally approached the wall to pray. For those who haven’t been, it’s an incredibly solitary experience (for me, anyway). You’re surrounded by droves of people but it’s just you and the big guy. After I prayed I placed a few notes in the wall (some people asked me to place notes for them, some people I place notes in for every time I go, some notes were for me).

After we all finished we made our way out of the Old City and headed to Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus to have coffee and lunch with Shirah’s Mother who was kind enough to feed us.

Teaching in Israel

Shirah’s Mom is a teacher. This is incredibly important because I’m currently in the research phase of operation “GET MY TEACHING LICENSE.” As it turns out it’s going to take at least seven courses (held in the evenings) over the period of a year (if all things go as they should…I know…I started laughing too). In theory, I won’t have to pay for these courses (I know…I started laughing too).

However, before operation “GET MY TEACHING LICENSE” is operation “GET OUT OF DEBT INCURRED BY SERVING IN THE ARMY.”

ariehzimmerman mentioned the possibility of working/renting on Kibbutz Zikim (which is something I’ve had in my backup plan for awhile). Other hopes are getting employed immediately in my field somewhere in Israel the day after I finish my army service. This is not totally impossible, just highly improbable, which means it is likely to occur almost immediately after I leave the army.

The Shuk

After we got off the bus at the top of Ben-Yehuda Street we made our way to the shuk. I was happy to see that the produce was ridiculously good looking:

(Taken by nomadmatan on 2010-01-04 at Shuk Mahne Yehuda in Jerusalem)

I picked up two kilos (well, a little over two kilos) of popcorn seeds and two kilos of oatmeal (it’s cheaper to buy in the shuk, and it’s much cheaper to buy in bulk). Next month I’m doing my bean and spice shopping.

I also picked up some halva for Shula and ariehzimmerman.

Graduate School

Since teaching is combined with my entrance to graduate school both become intertwined with my finances.

Fortunately, I’m happy with the decisions I’ve made. I’m happy with how things are going. I’m happy with where I am (if I wasn’t happy, I wouldn’t be here). However, I refuse to do another eight to ten years of higher education (masters and doctoral degrees) while I’m poor. Right now my primary concern after the army is working to pay rent at the lowest possible rate, feed myself with the most nutritionally healthy items for the lowest possible rate, and save the most amount of money that I can.

I’m completely okay with entering a Ph.D. program at the age of 35 (which is when I promised my mentor, Scott Paauw, that I would start graduate school at the latest…he knows me too well). Working at Kibbutz Zikim (providing the pay rate is at or higher than minimum wage and the rent is cheap enough that it lets me pay my rent, pay off my debt, and then start to accumulate savings) is certainly a viable option. It will certainly also let me work while continuing to study both Hebrew and Arabic (not to mention other areas of Linguistics that I’ve wanted to do self study in for awhile before entering graduate school).

I also think that parlaying my sewing skills into some kind of legitimate side business will have life-long, long term benefits (asides from de-stressing myself it has a large ratio between how much it costs me to get supplies and how much I can sell a finished product for…and that’s with my prices at reasonable rates).

To that end I’m in the process of making my little black book of fabric stores, bead stores, ribbon and lace stores, etc. throughout Israel so I can start networking (which reminds me, I need to send an email to pats_animation about business cards) and getting this thing (whatever it’s going to morph into) off the ground.

While we were in Jerusalem today, Shirah pointed out some of the craft stores she knows (and I made mental notes throughout the day of all the fabric stores I saw). I’m excited. If Scott Paauw could open and run a Deli/Internet Café while he was doing his language work in Indonesia I can do my language studies and be a tailor in Israel.