Move In Day

Last night, we went to a bar on the beach (literally sitting in the sand!) and were planning on not being out so late, just having a few beers. Mark and Nili (a 2nd year student) joined us and we got wrapped up in conversation and stuff going on around us. We got home at 4:30 am. Needless to say, we slept until noon.

(Allie, me, Ali)

Packing didn’t take nearly as long as we had anticipated and soon went out to eat lunch. Our landlords weren’t going to be ready for us to move in until the afternoon. We tried calling them and got no answer. So, we went back for our last group rest time in the hostel. They finally called around 4:15 pm and tried to get us to move in on Monday because they haven’t had a chance to clean and some things were still not ready, renovation-wise. Allie told them that we had to move out of the hostel (and we did, just not until 10am Sunday), so they let us come. We lugged all of our stuff down to the lobby, where it took up quite a lot of space. I had 2 suitcases and 3 carry-on sized bags, Ali and Allie each had about 3 suitcases and a few other bags. In addition, we had 7 Ikea bags and about 5 smaller bags from the market in Yaffo, where we bargained for kitchen supplies (we only spent about $35 total). It was pretty ridiculous. The front desk called for 2 taxis, but refused to take us when they got there, saying that they are taxis not trucks and they carry people. It took a while to get a hold of some drivers that would take us and all our stuff to our apt, which is only a 5 min. drive away. The guys that came were really nice and didn’t charge us nearly as much as we thought it would. We are technically on the 3rd floor, but in reality, it’s like the 7th. After every 10 steps is a landing with an apt, but they alternate with the back and front of the building. We stationed ourselves a few landings apart and relayed the bags so we didn’t all have to keep walking up and down the whole way. We were still dripping with sweat when it was all over, though. Good thing our AC works well! My friend Alona, from camp, came over to visit for a bit and when she left, we each attempted showers without a curtain. Luckily we have a handheld shower head, so we just sat in the tub and showered sitting down.

Oh yeah, and we have no internal doors, just a white mesh curtain where the bathroom door should be. Fun! Some of Ali’s friends came over to visit for a bit also. It was nice to hear other ooh and aah over the place. We were going to meet them at a bar later, but first had to eat and get cash. After stealing some internet from the corner coffee kiosk, we headed out, walking toward the bars, looking for cash. There are banks all over this town, but somehow, not any on the street we were walking on. We got to Dizengoff Center (about 20 min. away) before we found an ATM (caspomat in Heb.) and then just ate at the mall. We met Leeba at a bar on the boardwalk (tayelet) because Ali’s friends didn’t know what we were doing. The waitress was really annoyed because all we got was water and made us get it in bottles. Leeba and her roommate, Becky, had had a long day as well and we all called it a night relatively early. The next task is to try to get the 1st Texas football game on the internet. Go Horns!