Arduous and Short-Lived August

Summertime in Israel – My Arduous and Short-Lived August

Where did August go?  The most awaited month of the year flew me by like a rapid that finds its way to a waterfall and dies off in a pond. Here is why...

Housing Nightmare and Awakening

I remind my readers that I ended my previous blog by announcing my move to my very first home in Israel, a new studio unit in Beer Yaakov, a township adjacent to the big city of Rishon Letzion.

When I saw the unit for the first time, I fell in love with it – the distribution of space, tasteful décor, furniture, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, storage room, etc.  The suite spoke to me as if we were “a match made in Heaven.”  Given my urgent need for personal space, I did not hesitate to move in quickly, and in doing so I overlooked important factors, such as transportation to and from Ulpan, and access to entertainment, shopping and social life.

Things became even more complex when, to my dismay, immediately after I moved-in my mobile displayed a "no service" sign. In addition, Internet via Wi-Fi was not available as the landlord considered it unhealthy for his family for its radioactivity. He stated that connectivity was available through Ethernet, meaning that my MacBook Pro, a laptop intended to be portable and wireless, now needed to be connected full time to the wall. But how? The landlord certainly did not offer to provide the proper cable he would need himself. I was left out in the cold and with obvious limitations; I bravely stepped up to sort these problems on my own. I decided to bus to the Apple Store (in Israel called iDigital), where I got both an HDMI cable and an original Apple adaptor that cost me nearly $100 Canadian. To solve the mobile connectivity issue, after much inquiry I had no choice but get a landline in the home provided by “Bezek” (Israel’s main telephone company) in order to have my calls call forwarded. I took me two weeks to sort out this mess, at the expense of valuables time, money and effort, and all this happened days before I was starting Ulpan, which means that my settling down time was totally compromised, which caused me angst.

I was not happy with the landlord and his wife for their failure to inform me of these challenges, and I made that point clear to them. While he was more receptive and amicable, his wife's attitude was off putting. I quickly realized that she was the one wearing the pants in the family and he was caught between a rock and a hard place in his obvious efforts to help me out. For example, when he offered to pay for the landline, the wife simultaneously uttered a blatant "no" contradicting her husband. She also made some unconstructive remarks, such as blaming me for wasting valuable time in their professional lives, and, it not their fault that I owned an Apple computer that complicated connectivity to the Ethernet outlet.

Feeling overwhelmed and angry at these unexpected inconveniences and attitude from the landlords, I made a move that cost me. After signing the contract, I realized that the sum of money they required as security deposit was, at the time, beyond my means, and I tried to renegotiate it. This was the item that broke the camel's back. At the end of a hostile set of circumstances, they accused me of breaching the contract, and without hesitation presented me a termination letter, giving me two short weeks to move out. 

Can you imagine how I felt? I felt mistreated, cornered and rejected. I shed a few tears of desperation imagining myself homeless.  Believe me, the thought of coming home to Canada came up during my sleepless nights. I came to realize that beyond my fear of oncoming homelessness, lied a deeper pain – the awareness that my Israeli brethren were capable of treating me like sh...  How could they?  Don't they know I came home to Israel to build bridges and live my dream?  Can they not see me, look into my eyes, figure out my character and trust me?  It took me time to come to terms with this “slap in the face” as I felt personally insulted.

I certainly learned a lot about the complexities of apartment rental in Israel, due to frequent tenant abuse of rental property, which forces landlords to create several layers of legal hoops for renters. My wishful thinking was that they would take a look at who I am and figure out that there was little to worry about, but this certainly did not happen.  Only in Israel, I thought!

The weeks that followed were draining. I started attending my Ulpan and one day I broke into tears talking to my teacher who was inquiring about my residence. I shared with her my housing dilemma and she was very receptive and invited my classmates to share information about housing.

During this crisis, God sent me four angels. The first was and is my daughter Carol, who concerned about me, suggested that I request advice from our Vancouver friends Shuli and Avi, whom I trust blindly. They, in turn, sent my way Kfir, Avi’s son, who lives in Israel. Kfir made himself available one afternoon to take me to see several apartments, none of which were suitable. However, Kfir’s mission was to delve into the problem with objectivity and wisdom. At the end of our futile search, he suggested that I speak to the landlord to request an extension. He said that the pressure of finding a suitable place was uncalled for, and I ran high risk of choosing something unsuitable again. While I was reluctant to face the landlord for obvious reasons, the opportunity presented itself before me. When Kfir and I entered the home, the landlord was walking towards us, and he greeted me with a friendly hello. My intuition repeatedly told me that he was feeling really bad about what had transpired. In seconds, I asked to speak to him and he agreed to come down to my suite. Kfir took over the conversation from here, and did an amazing job explaining his role, my situation, his perspective showing empathy for both sides, and the key question: a request for an extension. What came out is this unexpected and serendipitous encounter was some sort of miracle.  First, the landlord offered to extend my stay until the end of the month (two additional weeks), making it clear that he would not ever allow himself to leave me "on the street."  Next, came his offer to talk to his wife to explore the renewal of our agreement. A week later, he confirmed that they were agreeable to my staying, provided a new agreement was reached. At this point, Kfir's suggestion was that I request a meeting with the couple. The meeting went very well. I made the point of taking responsibility for my mistake, and stated the importance of establishing amicability and peace amongst us, and we all seemed to be in the same page. After I signed an appendix to the original contract, a weight was lifted off my body and my mind. I am forever grateful to the angels that came my way to help me get out of a narrow place.  Carol, Shuli, Avi and Kfir:  Thank YOU!

TAU – Central Bus Station Experience

One afternoon in early August I made my way to Tel Aviv University to join a Nefesh b’Nefesh visit of Beit Hatsfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish People that I had already visited twice.  This time, NBN had arranged for a special presentation, which I very much enjoyed. During the tour, I ran into several individuals, and happened to chat with a man from the US, who appeared interesting. 

At the end of the event, as I was leaving the University, it was getting late (9:00 pm), I saw this man heading for his car, and did not hesitate to ask him if he could drop me off at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station where I could catch a bus to Yehud.  He agreed pleasantly and after walking for 40 minutes in the immense parking lot we finally found his car.  He got disoriented, and was glad to have my company.

I told him I was headed to the main bus station and he said it was fine. As we shared good conversation I saw him heading north, nearing Natanya... Oh my!  The guy was going the opposite way.  I felt so bad, as he was close to his home, yet offered to drive me to the right place.  He then entered into his Waze application the bus terminal location and off we went.  This drive again was taking a very long time. After 45 minutes I found myself in a bus depo, where public access was restricted.  Thanks to my survival Hebrew I asked the few men gathered outside smoking about the bus station and they laughed realizing how off the track we were.  At this point, I thought that my friend had done enough and offered to let him go.  Can you believe it?  He left me at 11:00pm on the street, in the middle of nowhere. I thought little of him at this point, as after all, it was his entire fault!  Had he done the right thing he would have deliveredme to my bus stop in 15 minutes at the most. Well, I took a deep breath, and walked to the nearest bus stop. Fortunately, I made my way by bus to the bus station to catch Bus #137 that would take me home.  Wait...

When I got to the bus station, and needed a washroom urgently.  The central bus station in TA is a very rough place, and at this time of the night it looked deserted.  I looked for a washroom, but most of them were closed off to the public.  I suddenly spotted one by the staircase, and ran up to enter.  As I entered the stall, I saw that there was no paper and when I turned my back there was a man heading towards me. He was young, tall and scary looking. His eyes looked glazy and his movements were clumsy and slow. He touched me slightly, as he tried to corner me and I yelled and managed to run out of the washroom, up the stairs.  I think this man was either drunk or on drugs.  Lucky for me that I could get away.  This was a very scary experience!

I then found the bus’ gate and waited, together with a crowd of 20+ for bus #137.  The wait was one hour long, as the scheduled bus never came. My relief was seeing me surrounded by decent looking people, who looked as frustrated and tired as me. The last bus of the night finally drove into the boarding stall.  I arrived home that night at 1:30am.  God was watching over me that night!

Berlitz Training (Aug 7-11)

On a very positive note, I attended a five-day training at the Berlitz School in Ramat Gan.  To my benefit, the train station was at the entrance of the building tower, which made my transportation smooth.  I very much enjoyed the experience, leaning about the Berlitz method, and meeting and interacting with peers, as well as practicing in front of them. This training officially completed my hiring process, which gave me great satisfaction.  My first job in Israel was in the air!  Quickly after the training I was offered my first group of students, class to start on September 19. 

August was gone, and September knocked at the door unannounced, promising new beginnings: a new home, a new Ulpan, and a new job in Berlitz Israel.

Thank God August is over!

What I Learned...

Through all these ordeal, this is what I have learned:

• ·      I am not in Canada. For G-d’s sake, I am in the Middle East!
• ·      I cannot have expectations from anyone, including my own keen.
• ·      My landlord is not my friend. He is just another human selling me space and his only focus is his personal benefit.
• ·      I am able to take responsibility for my mistakes, and try to learn from them. I see this as a sign of strength, not weakness.
• ·      The average Israeli does not take good care of rental property, in as much as they don’t take care of their own back yards.
• ·      No matter what, things ultimately work themselves out, especially if we prevail. 
• ·      Friends that show up when you are in crisis are true.
• ·      I never lose hope and trust that Divine protection will take care of me. A common saying in Hebrew that best expresses this thought is :  Ihiye Beseder!  ! בסדר יהייה
• ·      Nothing is to be taken for granted, and gratitude is the best way to get through hardship.
• ·      Angels come in disguise.  We need to recognize them and let them do their jobs.
• ·      Missing home is a good thing.

The end!