Israel= balagan

A balagan is a mess. A big one. Nobody focuses here. The banks take forever because the tellers answer their cell phones and everyone talks to each other and asks questions and helps each other. (Which is fine, but it would just be easier if they learned how to do their jobs.) We met with the lawyer and the landlord today to sign the lease. Took 2 HOURS! It was freakin’ ridiculous. My futon was supposed to be delivered at 7pm today. I rushed home from the lawyer’s office to be there and waited. I understand that time isn’t something people worry about here, but at 7:15 when there was no sign of a truck or anything, I called. The first guy I talked to tried to tell me that it wasn’t supposed to get here until tomorrow. Luckily, I wasn’t speechless. In the store, we had a big discussion w/ the delivery guy about coming on Sunday or Monday. I knew it was Sunday and told him so. I talked another guy that said something about Shimon (the main delivery guy) and the hospital. I had no sympathy anymore. I just demanded to know why I wasn’t called. I don’t care what the country’s custom is. If you’re not going to make an appointment or delivery, say, what someone is planning on sleeping on that night, have some common decency and call the person that is waiting on you. Ok, I’ve said my piece.
I never wrote about Thursday or Friday. Thursday, Ali, Allie and I took a bus to Yaffo (just 10 min outside of TA, to the south). It’s a poor city and there are lots of shops there that you can bargain in and little market areas where people literally spread out their junk. We were searching for kitchen stuff (plates, cups, silverware, pots/pans, etc). We didn’t accept any first prices and we got almost everything, including some new things like our knife set for about $35 total!
We also met my friend Nati for lunch at Dr. Shakshuka. Shakshuka is a dish that is a tomato/onion-y mixture (like spaghetti sauce almost) w/ sunny side eggs on top. You can add different things. I put mushrooms in mine. It’s really good, even though it might sound weird.
Friday I spent the day at the beach with Allie, Mike, Raquefette and Evan. It was kinda cloudy, and it made laying out in the heat bearable. Every once in a while, we’d go into the ocean. I loved just floating in the water. It still amazes me that I can be in water up to my shoulders and still see my feet on the ground. I can’t wait to get a raft/float thing and hang out in the water all day or lay with it on the beach and not get super sandy! The weather is warm enough that I can go to the beach (in my bathing suit) through October, at least. I am going to love the weekends!