As many (some...a few...) of you know, the past couple of weeks I have been in a bit of a limbo. The dates for data collection for my research project fell on the same dates as my trip to the US. There was a pretty good chance I would have to postpone my trip stateside to go to Germany and be part of the field team. A dialogue between my professor, another student on the team, and myself led to a big question mark. The professor said we would talk about it once he was back in town. (He was in Germany, Spain, and around Israel for over two weeks). As two weeks of waiting dragged on, I got emails saying it was really essential that I come to Germany, that there was a team of German students who could do the data collection, and that it would be helpful but not essential if I could go to oversee data collection--for this, it was noted, German language skills would be helpful. As it stood, I wasn't needed in Germany, and pending a final word from the professor, I was planning on keeping my stateside trip.
Monday morning, as I was waiting for the bus, I heard someone call my name. It was Ran, my professor. It was so Israeli when I hitched a ride ("tremped") with him to the lab. It was his first day back in the lab. He was on his way to work after dropping off his daughter at school, and I was in desperate need of an appointment with him. It couldn't have been more perfect. We caught up on the past few weeks, discussed my research proposal, agreed that I wouldn't need to go to Germany, and talked about my experience in Israel thus far. Since that morning meeting, he has been busy in this, that, or the other meeting, and at lunch yesterday, during a discussion amongst my lab-mates about Ran's return, it was agreed that I probably got the most undivided attention from him than anyone would get the whole week. All in all, it was a much much much better option than riding the bus!
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