Patience

Back by popular demand!

This actually happened last week, but since I have been a bit sick and generally stressed out tying up a lot of loose ends...I am only writing it now, but I feel it is story worthy enough to get its 15 mins.

I drove into the hospital that I work at in Jerusalem. My last day. As you enter there is a boom gate - one leading to the lower car park that is straight ahead, another to the left that passes by the front of the hospital. A car drove in before me, and just stopped, halfway inbetween the two of them so I could not get passed. The Israeli in me - tooted my horn - the car inched a little forward but not enough for me to pass. I looked at the security guard with a "what does this guy think he is doing?" face, and believe me, you can read exactly what I am thinking from my face. He just shrugged.

Next thing you know, the driver is out of his car, walking around to mine, tapping on the window and the following conversation ensued...in Hebrew...
Random guy who won't move his car: Why are you honking?
Me: Because you are just standing there and not moving
Random guy: Do you know that you are on Hospital property?
Me: Yes
Random guy: Do you know that I am the head of the hospital? Who are you?
Me: I work here
Head of the Hospital: What is your name?
Me: Gila, but I am leaving tomorrow...
Head of the Hospital: I am glad.

That my friends is how you leave a job that you have worked in for 5 years!

Modem Again

This post was meant for yesterday...
So I was on my way to work and then I got a reminder text message that the Bezeq people were coming to deliver my new modem at work, 2nd time lucky.
However, just like last Sunday I had forgotten the old modem at home. So a mere 5 minutes away from work, I turned around my car, drove for 20 mins home, picked up the old modem, drove a half an hour back in traffic and there you go, I was all ready for the delivery guy.
The delivery guy calls me and he is outside my office waiting for me. I go to meet him and he is on the phone.  He completely ignores me, and continues his conversation as if I don't exist.
Hello?!!?! I am at work!!! So I move around his motorcycle to the other side, and I am like..."HEllo!!!!"
So he motions that he is on the phone...Yeah I get that...but I just left my office where I was in the middle of sorting out through a whole lotta statistics, so gimme my new modem which I didn't ask for!!

Apparently he is talented enough to give me the piece of paper to sign and hand over the darn thing whilst involved in a conversation. Great.

I get home, and of course I have to configure the whole thing. Which of course is annoying, and I didn't ask for the trouble of dealing with configuring a modem. An hour later on the phone to Bezeq, I had to ask to speak to the "service" woman's advisor before getting anywhere...but here you go, I am on the internet and all connected up again...

What is the lesson in all of this?

A week has gone by and my memory hasn't improved...neither has my patience.

Piece of Paper

I don't know where that piece of paper is...the one with all the important information that you need for today...phone numbers and address....ugh!

Jewellery and Make-up

This morning I forgot my Jewellery at Susie's house...I was all a fluster post car issues, and stressed that 1) I would not have a car to drive up North with tomorrow for my good-bye trip with Yona...so sad that she is leaving, one of those things you have to deal with having Anglo friends in Israel...and 2) that it was going to cost me an arm and a leg to fix...after watching it being towed away into the sunset yesterday...

The benefit of having a car in Israel is that I can go on mini-breaks, stay tuned. The negative is that it costs a lot, from insurance to petrol to fixing it up. So I get this call from the car dude. that there is all this damage and I need to call the insurance ppl...and I am like no way, not from such a little bump, there was damage already to the front, I just wanna know why it doesn't start...an hour and a half later of stressing...it was just some electric thing that came undone in the bump..that will be...all in all...because I recently had the car checked and I got a voucher for the next visit...50 shekels...man oh man...best possible outcome, but why did I need to go through all of that?

No wonder, I left behind my moisturiser and foundation make-up at work, as I got ready to go to my new job's 'fun day' at the blind/deaf centre in tel aviv where we made clay food in the dark as team building...as I was on my way to pick up the jewellery I left behind I of course had to forget something in it's place just so I could be complete with this affliction...

Brake

Today I forgot to Brake. Thanks Susie for inspiring this blog. My car has now been towed and I have a headache.

Research

Today I forgot to bring to work the research that I went all the way to Haifa to get yesterday. This means that instead of being effective and entering the data in today, I am being less effective at work. This is frustrating. The most frustrating thing about forgetting things, is that everyday I leave the house and think that I have everything. Today I even congratulated myself on remembering that I have a job interview this afternoon and I am going to need copies of all my degrees and certificates, I dug these all out and brought them with me, yet I managed to forget to bring the research with me that I needed in order to do my work for today.

I thought that maybe it is because I have too much to do in the morning that I forget things, so last night I especially made my lunch. Apparently that didn't help. I thought maybe it's because I drink alcohol the night before and so in the morning I am a bit hungover. Last night I chilled, went to my pilates class and then took it easy so I could be on top of my game. Doesn't help. So tonight, it's back to going out. I'm gonna kick this disease, somehow.

Also last night, on my way to pilates, I was about to get on the sherut (minibus) when I realised that I had left my yoga mat at home. I then missed the bus, went home, got the mat, got another bus and arrived 10 mins late. Although this incident was at night and not in the morning, it expresses how deeply this disease effects my behaviour and the consequences that this maladie has on my life.

Hair Mousse

I didn't wash my hair last night even though it was all sweaty after soccer as I was rushing to go over to Ben's house for mojitos. As a consequence this morning I washed my hair and I usually then put in my hair mousse but today's process was disrupted.

Why was today different from other days? I guess it is appropriate that I forgot something that starts with the letter 'H' because today I went to Haifa. Rather I thought I was going to go to Haifa to pick up some research but I needed to confirm with this woman first that it was ok for me to come. Yesterday she wasn't contactable, so I was hoping today in the morning I would be able to get a hold of her.

Getting ready in the morning has it's standard rituals and today I guess it all got a bit interrupted as I didn't know what I was doing, the woman wasn't answering and it was all a bit frustrating but eventually she answered and then I had to get into gear to go to Haifa.

I loaded my iPhone with podcasts, checked the train timetable (of course I missed the first train I wanted to take) and I was on my way.

On the hospital website there was some drawing of some sort of transportation that goes up the mountain there and has a stop near the hospital. I set about finding this whatever it is, thinking it was some sort of above ground skyline contraption on the side of the mountain and preparing myself for amazing views of Haifa, even though I had never heard about Haifa having such an invention. As it turns out Haifa has an underground train instead... Who woulda thought? It's actually pretty cool and feels a bit European for some reason, maybe because the first station is called 'Paris Square' i.e. 'Kikar Paris'. Remembering when last I was on something similar by Como in Italy with Kate last year. 

So I'm in the station snapping photographs like a tourist. I get onto the train, sit down and I am the end of the carriage. I am opposite a door that has a mirror on it and for the first time after leaving my house that morning I see myself and notice my hair as being straight, messy and a bit straw like. I realized that since the morning routine was disrupted trying to phone this woman and then rushing to get the train, I skipped the hair mousse step. I tried to make the best of the situation and ruffled my hands through the rough to try and calm it all down.

I got to the place just in time before the woman went home at 1230, because that's a normal time to finish work. Then I wandered back down the mountain in my wondrous transportation discovery. I'm always surprised when  transportation actually works and gets you to where you actually need to go.

It would have been so much prettier to have had a funicular go up parallel to the Baha'i gardens, why didn't anyone think of that? I was however grateful for the efficiency of the whole set up. Thanks Haifa.

 I meandered back to the train station via sushi  the Haifa musuem of art, old 1926 apartments, street art and some random school of design which had their end of year projects on display. I was pleasantly surprised to find life, culture and a bit of art in Haifa.

One of the projects on display was a theoretical platform for the world to interact with Israelis via chat rooms to get to know Israelis better and accept them as they are... To familiarize them with the cultural norms and behavior and I guess tolerate it? One of the campaigns slogans was ' u say hutzpah - we say sassy'. It's gonna be the next big thing, I'm sure about it.

Modem

I thought that today I remembered everything. I resolved that next time I forget something I will start a blog so here it is. Like any writing of mine, I guess it's meant to be some type of therapy. I thought that if I itemise every day what I forget then eventually I will end up with a list of things to check off.

As a researcher, I am interested to see if there are any patterns so maybe I could make a graph or a table with colours. That appears to be some sort of area of expertise of mine.

There must be a reason behind it all. I'd like to philosophise about it, I would like to think I am stressed, but this is after all just a first world problem.

Today I forgot my modem. I had to bring it to work, because I work, so the tech support guy, could not come to my house between the hours of 10am - 2pm to bring me a new modem, because I work. So they will come to your place of work, if you bring with you the old modem with you. I sort of laughed at them when they said that, because as if they will be able to find my building....I work on a large hospital campus where no one can find anything. The whole thing is just ridiculous.

This whole thing started because I wanted to upgrade my internet speed, after upgrading my interenet speed, this entitled me to a new modem. I didn't ask for it. Then they start sending you text messages bugging me to call to arrange a time for them to come. I didn't reply. Eventually someone called me, and after explaining to them that I work, and that I can not be waiting at home at the most inconvenient times ever for them to come whenever they feel to give me somethign that I didn't ask for, she said that they can bring it to my work.

After a weekend away up North, relaxing, drinking wine, and generally forgetting about life, I left my apartment this morning and started congratulating myself on remembering everything. Needless to say, I was surprised to receive the call from the Bezeq dude asking me "Tell me exactly where your building is at the hospital?", because how could he miss the new map of the campus, which has on it, everything except the main building and also because I forgot my old modem.

He told me he's going to report this to the main centre, and that they will call me again toa rrange another time. I couldn't do that with him.

Let's see what happens tomorrow.