A plate of lukewarm Israeli bureaucracy with a side of "Do-you-speak-English?"

Today was a bit of a roller-coaster. I'll just let you know up front that there is nothing historically interesting in this post, so feel free to wait until I go to a museum or something. 

For the past couple days I've been trying to track down the company that offers a cell-phone plane to HebrewU students. All the locals I asked about the address said it didn't exist. I finally found the place today, to be notified that my SIM card was delivered to the campus. Pretty cool, if they had let me know there were doing that during our email exchange. No big deal! I became familiar with another corner of the city. 

As I will be almost always using the bus system, I went to sign up for a student card. 33% off fare, and then when October rolls around I'll be able to get 50% off. Not bad. I get to the office at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, and take a number. Then I look up. So many Israelis waiting about. They were all gathered around the door as if they would be able to cut in front of each other, numbered or not. I didn't need to be on campus for a couple hours, so I was fine waiting. Pro-tip: If you want to be incognito in Israel, do not wear toe-shoes. I wore mine today, and people looked at my face only after looking at my feet. One girl took a picture of them because they're so unknown here. 

I finally got called. Well, more like I shoved my way through the crowd after my number was called.

Interestingly, none of the clerks could speak English well. So let's just say there was a lot of information lost in translation. This particular Rav-kav card, as it's called, allows you to pre-load money onto it. My clerk made it appear that I could load it on either the rail or bus. Off I go to the rail, to find the bus-line I need. Needless to say, the conductor kicked me off to find a payment kiosk. Well, I did that wrong and ended up with superfluous tickets (A Haredi man couldn't figure it out either, so I feel a bit better about that.). Regardless, I still can get on the train. I transfer to the bus-line that my school said that would get me to campus. Soon I realize- I am not heading towards the Mt. Scopus campus. A quick discussion with a helpful (English speaker, this time) bus-driver showed that I was heading towards the Givat-Ram campus. He let me off and pointed out another bus-line. Side note- I saw this poster. Seems legitimate, money back guarantee, too!

 Then I checked my clock: 4:00 p.m. Orientation (which was canceled for unknown reasons) was at 4:30 p.m. Two transfers later I finally arrived, though late. I checked with the Graduate's office, to find out from an assistant that everyone is gone for the day, and orientation did not happen. Oh, and I would need to come back tomorrow to get my SIM card. 

A wasted day flashed before my eyes. If you know me, I really, really, do not like having days where nothing of note is accomplished. I saw the "Graduate Community Coordinator(GCC)" walk by, and  ran after her to find out that, yes, Orientation is in fact happening, right now, on the bottom floor. 

Orientation was worth it for a few laughs. The speaker was attempting to tell everyone why you shouldn't (or in the case of Israeli citizens, cannot) go into the West Bank or Gaza, but in a politically-correct way. Which is impossible. The bias he had as an Israeli was clear and it showed. Understandable, but I don't like facades. After orientation, I tracked down my GCC again, and found out that my SIM card was in hand! So that's all set now. I can send and receive calls from the U.S. now, though not texts. I am on FB messenger and Voxer which works the same. If interested, dial 011-972, then my number which is 050-709-3870. 

The moral of the story: It all works out in the end, even if it's not the way you'd want it to. And work on your cardio, just in case. 

Until next time.