..the two clerks--in two different rooms--got in a fight and...

So the past couple of weeks have flown by.  Since my flood, I made a visit to Tel Aviv--it is already beach season here!!  I went to the art fair and had a lazy day with some friends.  It was a nice vacation, even just for the weekend.  And it was really cool to be in Tel Aviv because it is so different from Jerusalem.  There are all different types of people, and the city is a lot more European.  But there is also the religious aspect too.  After spending the day walking around on the beach, shopping a bit in town, and sitting in a park-y thing (a rather larger strip of grass and sidewalk between the lanes or traffic on a main road) listening to a really good band, we had a nice shabbat.  We went a shul near my friend's apartment and there was a cool mix of young, religious people from all over the world.

Back to real life in Jerusalem, I took my big mid-term exam at ulpan.  It went really well, but it is frustrating to know that despite my high score, I still can't function in Hebrew.  I had the hardest time getting my haircut.  I like it, and I managed, but I'm sure I sounded ridiculous.  The only thing I could say was "just a little at the end."  The hairdresser told me that he was going to make me beautiful and give me layers and all that jazz.  I am not overly attached to my hair so we made a deal.  He could cut layers as long as it was "just a little at the end."  That was the start of my "spring break."  I have mostly been running errands and getting babysitting.  I got my hair cut, I applied for a temporary passport, I had a nice Wine and Cheese Party to celebrate vacation (some of my friends brought really nice cheeses, which was a nice treat!), and I have just been having a lot of fun seeing friends and enjoying the weather.

My apartment before the Wine & Cheese Party
Quite a Classy Occasion

Not only do I have a hair dresser, now, but I also found a doctor I like.  In order to get my American driver's license converted, I needed to have my eyes checked and have a physical.  The eye check was an experience.  The guy didn't speak any English, and by the time I processed and understood what he was asking of me, he usually got frustrated and told me it wasn't important.  In the end, I think we only did 75% of the checks on the form, but he wrote that I passed them all.  The doctor was another experience.  Doctors here are currently striking in hopes of getting more money (last I heard the continuation of the strike has been postponed until after Pesach), so I wasn't sure if I would be able to get an appointment.  I called though, and had no problems.  I was able to get in to the doctor I wanted the same day.  Apparently the strike is currently only affecting doctors in hospitals.  Anyhow, the doctor was originally from England, and he participated in the same ulpan program as I am in now.  We chatted a bit about the ulpan and the best way to learn the language.  I asked him about the Medical Ulpan which teaches Hebrew but focuses on medical terms.  He gave me some good advice and told me to feel free to contact him if I had any questions both medically related and absorption related.  He also suggested the name of a driving instructor for me.

In order to begin driving lessons and schedule a test (yes, even with an American license, I have to go through some ridiculous process that costs a ton of money), I had to bring the form that the eye guy and the doctor stamped to the Licensing Office.  It was quite an adventure.  The first time I went, I waited an hour to find out I didn't have to wait because there was a special place to go for license conversions.  The clerk told me this in Hebrew and in English and then pointed to an unknown location.  I wandered around a bit, went back to her, and finally figured out where I needed to be.  When I sat down to speak to the next clerk, I was told that despite the website I checked, I didn't need my Israeli ID; I needed the special ID saying I was a new immigrant.  The fact that the two aren't linked with my ID number in some master system was mind boggling, but alas, what could I do.  Today I returned to the office and went straight to the special clerk for license converting and she said that today she wasn't doing it because there weren't enough other clerks in the office. She sent me to "Yana."  I couldn't figure out if "Yana" was a person or a place so I walked around a bit, asked a lady if she could help me with the conversion, was told "no!", and then went back to ask the clerk again.  She told me "Yana" was  a person.  I returned to the office where Yana was (in a different room from the first clerk).   It turns out that Yana was the lady who had told me "no!" just a few seconds ago.  I told her I was sent to her and she said that she was doing other things and that I should go back to the other room.  I told this to the first clerk and she told me to tell Yana that Ruti (or someone like that) told the first clerk that Yana had to deal with me.  It went back and forth for a bit this way, and finally Yana just told me to sit down.  A couple minutes later she called me up, yelled at me because she was mad at the other people in the other room, and then told me she would try to help me but she didn't think she could.  It was so Israeli when she looked at my paper work, stamped my form, said Happy Holidays, and sent me on my way, all within a minute and a half of me sitting down.  I'm glad I learned to be a bit pushy, and my Hebrew served me well this time too!  Now is the hard part of passing the test in which Americans are purposely failed...