I have been back in Israel just a few days, but they have been busy ones. Within the first 24 hours of my arrival, I collected all of my bags, took a two hour sheirt ride home, unpacked and organized my room, saw a friend, slept a decent night's sleep, more-or-less adjusted to the time change, grocery shopped, and went back to work.
When I got to work, after being greeted with warm welcomes and demands for chocolate (lab policy: anyone who leaves the country must return with chocolate from the place they visited), I unlocked the door to my office and was met with four boxes bursting with feather samples. I knew that most of my samples were being collected and shipped while I was away, but I guess I just never wrapped my head around it. Although I am still waiting for another couple of boxes (sent later than these), these have arrived safe and sound. That usually doesn't happen with the Israeli Post. (I've been waiting almost two months for a package and have be battling with the Post Office—so Israeli. More on that next time, though.) And sending feathers across borders may or may not be frowned upon. In my case, though, a note to FedEx that was simply taped on the box seemed to clear it up. As I started looking through the boxes of feathers, I was surprised when I saw what the notice actually said, "CONTENTS: Office/work material (feathers). This package contains non-hazardous material from scientific collections that do not risk public health. No commercial value (declared value = 1 euro)." It was so Israeli when (or maybe more aptly, only in Israel would) a box containing biological samples (feathers) was shipped internationally and arrived unscathed within days, even with the questionable contents declared for all to see. Needless to say I am quite glad because some of my peers have not been as lucky with shipments.
Now that I have my feathers, the fun part starts: hours upon hours of lab work. I know most of the procedures that I will be using; now I just need to perfect them and fine tune the for this sample set. I'm sure I will still lead a very Israeli life, but it is about to get busy with lab work and an upcoming ulpan. But there are never a shortage of stories and crazy experiences here, and I couldn't be happier.
כל כיף לקרוא את הבלוג שלך, את לא יודעת!
ReplyDeleteשירי.