Today has been a busy day. I woke up early to go to the Ministry of the Interior to become a full citizen. The process was pretty seamless. I came more prepared than necessary with all of the forms and papers and letters I needed. The biggest hitch was deciding how to spell my parents' English names in Hebrew for my file. The "th" sound in Seth just can't be made in Hebrew, and when spelling my mom's middle name, Elayne, there is an issue of looking like "Ellen" or "Ilan." Luckily "Claire" wasn't too hard (after eliminating what sounded like "Keller" and "clear"), and Sondra was easy: סנדרה.
After becoming a full citizen, I opened a bank account, got a voucher to pay for Ulpan, and set up my health insurance. The next logical thing for me to set up was a cell phone plan. I decided to shop around a bit and see what I could do. I started at one company and was able to sit and speak English and fully understand my options. When I went to another company, I expected the same scenario, but was surprised to find, upon inquiring, that nobody spoke English. Undeterred, I began my inquiry in Hebrew. I explained that I was a new citizen and that I wanted to open a bank account. It was so Israeli when the man I was speaking with broke out in not so broken English, that he knew a bit of the language and should be able to help me. After a nearly flawless conversation, I just had to laugh a bit to myself.
I am still without a cell phone plan, but I am learning a thing or two about persistence. I will now be taking my persistence in another direction: the job market! Let me know if you have any leads.
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