Another week...

Last week was crazy, Grandma is in hospital in NZ and last week I took my phone everywhere just in case Dad rang to say I needed to come home. It probably wasn't too serious, but there was an entire week where she had absolutely no complaints about anything, which did worry us.

On top of the Grandma stress my room leader has vanished off the face of the earth (the other explanation involves her having an incredibly bad back, but vanishing off the face of the earth sounds better). Plus both directors of my centre were away, 3 birthday parties to run and a grandparents day (each of those things is stressful on its own).

This week has begun with homesickness. Not of course for home because that would make a little too much sense, I am homesick for Israel. I'm not sure if it quite counts as homesickness, but it involves the same longings for the familiar, and a general desire to get on a plane. Yes...I finally made contact with Sapir, always a very dangerous thing to do!!

I also feel more like an Aussie by the day. Last week I looked in astonishment at the NZ weather and wondered how you all survive it, you're spring temperatures look like the middle of our winter. I have also begun to find some issue with this whole cup of tea/dinner=tea thing. My aunty text me to say she really wanted tea, I assumed she was talking about a cup of tea and was really confused when three hours later I received a text saying her tea was very nice. For some time I pondered text message delay times before I realised she was talking about dinner. I think it's time I left, soon I'll be able to tell you all about their version of football, and I'll have one of those bad accents.

The ten day ramble

Hmmm... I checked when I last wrote a blog and discovered ten rather crazy, fun days have passed since then. I think I remember most of them, so here's my meandering overview.

Tuesday: Long forgotten, I'm guessing work was crazy like usual for Tuesdays.

Wednesday: Also forgotten.

Thursday: This was my last day of the week. The morning I spent being room leader, as usual for Thursdays. Then the afternoon I spent training people to use a computer program. The most crusiest afternoon of my life!! Honestly, I was paid to sit in a chair and tell people what to do. Mel, Sari and I (the full time staff in my room) also went out for lunch, on work, that day. I recall being very chilled as I left work.

Friday: This day felt absolutely nothing like erev Shabbat!!! Rivkah and I managed to find the longest way possible to get to Shira's place. Actually I should say I found the longest way possible to get to Shira's house, the only condition of the trip was that full navigation responsibility was on my shoulders. No I didn't get us lost, we set out to take the short route and half way through opted for the scenic route, meaning we had to take a rather large detour. If you have seen the facebook pics then you already know the detour was completely worth it! We went to Apollo Bay planning to dip our feet and somehow managed to leave an hour later drenched from head to foot.

Finally we arrived at our destination, an hour before Shabbat, 5 hours after we were supposed to arrive.

Shabbat: Everyone who wasn't there you missed an amazing night, Hamayan style davening followed by a beautiful meal. The next day we rolled out of bed at some ridiculously late time, finally we headed off to daven shacharit and found a perfect place overlooking a lake. This was followed by another wonderful meal, and then my highlight.....ANIMALS. I got to see kangaroos, koala's, wallabies, alpaca's, a dingo and a wombat plus a selection of less exciting animals. I got to feed this gorgeous kangaroo and then when I returned to their enclosure one of them (I think the same one) came up and I started patting her neck, then she put her arms around me and stood there hugging me for ages while I patted her neck.

We were welcomed into one of the paddocks with a hongi, alpaca style. As we entered the paddock they came up and put their noses up to our noses. I must say I know which I prefer!!! Bring on the Alpaca version any day!!

Sunday: After Shabbat we made a bonfire, complete with musical instruments and poi (Hmmm this weekend is beginning to sound like NZ).

After a couple of hours sleep we went back into Melbs, as Rivkah had work that day. I arrived home and wasted time until finally I fell asleep. The rest of the day vanished with sleep.

Monday: Work in the morning, followed by canoeing on the Yarra in the afternoon. My canoeing skills leave a little to be desired, for some reason I chose the middle seat in the thing which is double the size of the other two. Meaning any time I lent one way or the other the canoe tended to tilt a little too far, rowing doesn't really work when you're trying to sit dead still on this huge seat. Well at least that is my excuse for not pulling my weight. After canoeing I schlepped back to work for a first aid course. From looking at the book we were given prior to the course I was expecting a very good course, but NZ definitely does it better.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: By now I think you and I are both sick of this day by day thing. So the last three days have passed mostly with me as room leader at work. Mel hasn't been well, and this week she only made it to work on Tuesday. I'm quite enjoying it, although it will be nice to hand the reigns back to Mel, I feel so bossy in charge!!! Tuesday I went out for Dasha's birthday, other than that I've done nothing in the evening thanks to work draining me of all energy.

Also since I'm assuming mostly kiwi's read my rambling I think this is the perfect forum to whinge about my accent. I rang up to order pizza the other day and this is what I got:

Me: "One Spanish pizza please."

Pizza place: "Shemesh?"

Me: "No Spanish."

Pizza place: "Yes Shemesh."

Me:"No, Spaaaaanish."

Pizza place: "Spenish?"

Me: "Spanish."

Pizza place: "What is Spenish?"

Me: "You know the pizza with this and this and this..."

Pizza place: "Ohhhh, SPANISH!!!"

Frustrated me (in my head): That's what I said!!!

Of course that doesn't drive me quite as crazy as the aussies who tell me I am saying words wrong in Hebrew. I agree with them, I am saying it wrong, however so are they. Since when did I have to learn how to speak Hebrew with an aussie accent?

Shopping for crocs...

All those times I walked past the croc stalls in NZ I never realised how much I would wish for one of those stalls here. Yet two malls and one random walk later I am still crocless. Anyone who knows anything about women, knows that managing to walk through two malls and inner-city Melbourne without purchasing a thing is an impossibility. So...despite the lack of crocs I managed to do a few other things on the list. Firstly, due to the impending 28 degree day (the impetus for the croc hunt) I took a big gulp and had my hair chopped. I'm not sure how many 'hair chops' I've had in the last year, but every single one feels like a very big deal. For the first time I actually found a hairdresser who listened to what I was saying, ignoring the look on my face after every cut. My new shoulder length cut is literally shoulder length, which means if you pull it straight it just reaches my shoulders. The majority goes into a ponytail, but there are actually bits that fall out. I think this is the shortest my hair has been since I was 16, and according to my roommate it should stay short.

I was very good and did only buy things actually on the list, however after a couple of teensy purchases I discovered a line of computer stores. You guessed it, this is being written on my new laptop. The old one is going to NZ in Dec to become my brothers new best friend, which means for two and a half months I have two computers, slightly excessive I know, but this was the plan all along!!! My old one is going to keep coming to work with me, while the new one will live at home. Anyone have encarta and office for me to load on? These are the only things I feel like I am missing on my new one.

KiaOra

Despite the years I have spent trying to pay as little attention as possible during Maori classes you will be surprised to hear I actually miss it. Suddenly I've opened my eyes and realised that in Australia the Maori culture is an element of my culture, and enjoying that does not mean being PC (since this is written for kiwi's I suddenly feel very PC) . This week we have been learning about rainbows with the children, this involves many songs about colours however I realised very quickly one song was missing. "Ma is white, whero is red, kakariki green..." I have since rectified the situation, making a point of randomly singing the song to the children in the hope they will actually join in one day. However since I opened the door to Maori songs I have discovered myself wandering around the house singing Oma Rappati, AEIOU, Piko and the NZ Anthem in Maori. In all my longing for NZ cultural songs only one English one has actually come to mind...Fish N Chips (of course pronounced Fush n Chups).

The weather is making a point of reminding me I'm not a Melbournite also. In Chch, on a sunny hot day it would be safe to say you could go for a half hour walk without getting wet, provided you don't walk through a river, this means you can safely wear a nice wee white summer dress. Of course in Melbourne you are an idiot if you assume it will not rain within the next five minutes, no matter what the weather looks like when you look out your window. You have now realised this lesson in Melbourne weather is really for my benefit, as I ended up walking for 20 minutes in what would be termed torrential rain by NZ standards, in a very light dress. I was dripping after about 5 minutes and by the time I got home every single layer of clothing was sopping wet. The weather here is pretty awesome at the moment, the children are learning that rain while it is hot is something to celebrate and we have begun a ritual of dancing around outside while the Melbournites wonder what an earth is so special about rain and warmth. We have also had some big thunder and lightening clouds, which is very exciting for me although the children are more scared than excited by it and would far rather hide inside than dance outside with me (which means watching storms can't really be classified as work).

While I am a kiwi, unfortunately I just discovered Kiwi's are treated as inter-staters when it comes to our licenses. This means I have to get my NZ license transferred to an Aussie one, and probably that means P plates (everyone my age has P's here anyway so it's not so bad). This will mean in the last few years I have managed to have 6 licenses issued to me. Considering I haven't lost a license I think this is a pretty good number. I'm interested to see what my motorbike license transfers over to, my friend has a 250 I can ride if it actually transfers over, so fingers crossed.

I've just realised I've managed to include work pretty much everywhere. I do actually have a life, I'm out most of the time. However, I've fallen in love with our children. I miss the children on the weekend and look forward to work on Monday morning. I really don't want to say goodbye to them all at the end of the year. I'm trying very hard to convince the parents that their children don't actually need to grow up and they can stay at Gilly's for the rest of their lives (or until I go to Israel) but they're just not buying it. We only have 2 months left with the children, so each day is becoming precious. Apart from saying goodbye to the children I think Early Childhood is pretty much the coolest job. Seriously, primary school teachers don't get to take their shoes off and build sand castles for an hour. They also don't get to ride motorbikes, go down slides, climb forts, build towers, read stories or do any of the other cool stuff we get to do. Nor do they get all the cuddles we get. Another benefit is when your skirt falls down at work the only people who see it are 2!!! (trying to take tights off in public isn't the wisest idea). Also you can talk about anything you want, you just spell certain words, although it is always a crack up to hear what the children tell the parents. Basically I love children!!!!!!!

Snippets of sukkot

This sukkot was epic!!! Over 3 days I managed to eat 6 big meals, attend shul and occasionally sleep. On Sunday I opted for somewhat less food and somewhat more drinking, as I enjoyed the best sukkah party in the world. There were plenty of musicians, bongo drums, cute children, cool sukkot to visit, and awesome people to chill with. The pictures are on facebook, if you feel like stalking me.

I had three days of work this week before it was time for more holidays. I danced like crazy on simchat torah, ate plenty of food, and killed my legs. I now have a very interesting hobble going.

I discovered a garden, a real garden with trees and plants and bees!!! Now I live in a concrete jungle the highlight of my life is finding a garden...I am tempted to set up a little house somewhere out the back and hope the owner doesn't notice.
In three weeks time I am spending a shabbat in the country which is another big highlight, I will actually be able to look somewhere without seeing a building!!!

I think that's about it for me, I'm not in much of a rambling mood tonight sorry guys.

The amazing pitot

I was going to tag this onto the end of my last blog but really I think my pitot deserve their own blog. If you've ever tried to make pita you will know how hard it is to get them to puff up like they are supposed to. Usually I have one truly successful one in an entire batch. Last night I was jumping, clapping and dancing....Every single one of my pitot rose BEAUTIFULLY. Up until now my lovely friend Sally was the pita making queen, but I definitely think I just won that title.

September ponderings

So I just realised that it is currently mid September and there are no Sep blogs. So either you're all eagerly awaiting my next blog assuming it must be really great with a couple of weeks of brewing...or...you've all forgotten I exist. I'm guessing the latter, particularly for all those kiwi's who've had their brains (and everything else) shaken around quite a bit recently.

I'm trying to wrack my brains for what has actually happened in the last couple of weeks. For starters it was Rosh HaShanna (Jewish New Year) this weekend. I got to leave half way through the day on Wed and had all of Thurs and Fri off work (all paid!!) From Wed night through to Saturday night I basically just rotated three fantastic activities; shul, eating and sleeping. Sunday I did important things like washing and grocery shopping. Today is Monday, Monday = work so you are now up to date on my last week.

The Sunday before Rosh HaShanna Sapir left. That was tough :( Something I've realised I dislike greatly about moving around is the number of people you have to miss. On one hand I want to be in NZ because of my family and friends there. On the other hand I want to be in Israel to be with my Israeli friends and at the same time I know that leaving here is going to mean leaving a lot of good friends behind.

I haven't been sick since I last posted, which is great except I now have a kg of organic honey which I bought based on the fact I was going through a container every couple of weeks. If I was in NZ this wouldn't be such a problem since NZ honey is awesome, but the aussie stuff has no flavour. It's just this syrup. (I suspect this is not true of all aussie honeys but so far I have not found any that wonderful).

Tomorrow night I'm going to a Shlomo Katz concert, VERY excited. Shabbat is Yom Kippur, again VERY excited! Then I have a half week of work before sukkot, which means piles and piles and piles and piles and piles of eating. Currently I'm trying to organise where I'm going for everything.

Mutterings

This past week has been a tad uneventful, I was sick all week. Not properly sick, just constantly exhausted and coughing all the time (literally). I spent Sunday in bed with a headache and then finally woke up on Monday with some energy. I even did a proper grocery shop, laundry and tidied my room. Of course I didn't really need to do my washing, I had enough clothes to hold out for at least another two or three weeks. However, the grocery shop and room tidy have made a huge improvement to my mood. As always my life revolves around food, and it is VERY good to be back to my weekly meal plan and weekly grocery shop. Last week I lived on challah, chummus, polenta and Special K. By the way I fully recommend boiling polenta in soy milk (I'm guessing normal milk works as well) adding some sugar and vanilla essence and eating for dessert. It tastes very similar to rice pudding but takes five minutes.

On another note my mummy has been in Sydney this week. She managed to leave a couple of children in NZ and she didn't give the one in Melbourne enough warning to come for a visit. Basically, she's on her own! Something she has not done since my little brother was a baby, he's now a teenager. An odd thing about growing up is realising parents are real people. However, it is even odder when they are living a similar life to you! The word mum is supposed to describe someone bogged down by running a taxi service, catering business and cleaning company. Not someone living a nice indepedent life in Sydney. It's left me pondering how far an apple can actually fall from the tree. If you remove the life situation, I don't feel all that different from my mum. Granted, I am more organised, more analytical in my approach to everything. However my mum is more giving of her time, more relaxed, less judgemental (Hmmm perhaps we are quite different now I think of it!!) Really though, if you put us both on a plane and sent us to China (place where we would be as lost as each other!!!) I think we'd go about our days in a very similar way. I might have a list, but Mum could actually remember what she was doing without that list. Neither of us would be able to get on the right train and if you gave us a car we'd both be sure to lose it in the first parking lot we found.
She is returning to NZ tomorrow and back to mum life. There's a good few years till Lizzy moves out of home, so thankfully I won't have to ponder our similarities for a while yet. I am glad my mum didn't get away so much when I was at home! I have a feeling if she'd known what non mum life was like she might have been a little less useful as chauffer, chef and cleaner.

Sick again :(

I have spent the entirety of the weekend in bed with a nasty little bug. Finally last night I felt like I could see some light coming and then what? I get conjunctivitis, I'd had an itchy eye since Thursday so I wasn't so surprised. Thanks to Dr. Google it looks like I have the viral version which means time is the only cure. I don't know if I'm allowed to go to work with conjunctivitis (guessing not) and on top of that I may have to go and see the doctor to prove to my bosses I have it, and also so he can tell me there's nothing he can to do about it. With my new attempt at a budget and saving I did not plan on this and I'm not impressed! I haven't worked long enough to have accrued much sick leave (although I am guessing at least part of this day must be paid) plus the last thing I want to do is pay for a doctor. Up until now my savings money has gone into my account and sat there, I'm liking the growing money and am becoming a tad scroogish with it! Plus I have plans for that money and it does not involve paying copious amounts of money to talk to a doctor for five minutes, after having waited for him for two hours.

On the bright side I tried out Mum's 'tea tree oil cures all' theory (somewhat similar to the windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding). I diluted the tea tree and then proceeded to put an undiluted drop of oil on my eye, it stung for a little while and then my eye felt a lot better. Since then I have proceeded with the endeavour, double checking the tea tree is actually diluted first. It does appear to be working, for example now I can actually see for long periods of time without getting a pussy layer covering my eye. Last night I was forever cleaning my glasses because of course they are the only possible reason for blurry vision.

I have discovered something very interesting this weekend as well. As you've probably noticed there are now ads on my blog. No I'm not trying to capitalise on whoever it is that actually reads this blog. I signed up to adsense because I was interested to see how many page views I was getting. I discovered that last week I got more than 100 views. Provided no one realised my research gathering mission, and decided to mess with me by opening my page 50 times, I'm feeling flattered! 100 views sounds like a reasonable audience for my life! In a week not only did I get more than 100 views I also got a few clicks on the ads. I was surprised to log in and discover my income is sitting at just over $8. So it's not exactly the hourly wage, but then I wasn't trying to actually earn money with this. If it keeps up then that is $400 a year for doing nothing. I now understand why people have websites! I am contemplating staring another one geared around making money. Any ideas?

Just before I sign out I thought I'd better make it clear, from the data adsense gathers I don't know who is reading my blog, where they come from or basically anything. All I know is how many people open the page in a day. The whole internet thing creeps me out, I like reading blogs however I don't necessarily want the author to know how many times I read their blog. Particularly howtobeisraeli.blogspot.com, if that woman knew how many times I read her blog she'd think I was obssessed with her! By the way, how to be Israeli is a hilarious blog spot however please don't all run over to it. Give my blog a year and it will be pretty much the same thing, so I don't want you all to get all knowledgeable on Israel before I get there. The idea is what I say is supposed to sound unique :)

Free clothes anyone?

I'm pretty sure when I get up in the morning I put on a normal amount of respectable looking, clean clothing prior to leaving the house. However, recent events have made me question whether perhaps I am actually just slapping on some pieces of news paper or some garbage bags.

Anyone who saw my clothing in New Zealand knows I had a LOT of clothes. There were clothes under the bed (in suction bag things), clothes in the wardrobe, clothes in the laundry hamper, clothes on the floor and yet there was still no room in my drawers. My aunt can attest to my usage of a wardrobe and 2 chests of draws, and that was after I'd got rid of 3/4's of my clothing!

So, here I did feel a little bereft when I realised I would have to wear the same top about once a week. However over the last few weeks my wardrobe has gone forth and multiplied. I have a theory that the community has got together and organised all this clothing for me to ensure I will stop wearing the less tznius newspaper and garbage bag options. Suddenly all these perfectly sized clothes are flying out of no where. Sapir found a recycling bag of clothing a wee while ago (here those sorts of things are up for grabs), then last week one of the mother's gave me a skirt as a present, then comes the weekend and Sapir announces there are more clothes. Basically in the space of a month I have gone from my meager suitcase of clothing (plus the extras Mum brought over) to a full wardrobe, suitcase and draws. I now cannot remember what clothes I have. Usually I decide my clothes before I get up in the morning, it's my motivation to get up :) However this morning I had to stand at the wardrobe and pull everything out to figure out what clothes I own. I am going to guess I now have about 30 or 40 skirts, and somewhere near 100 tops. The worst news is I can't actually keep them all. My wardrobe is going to have to be carefully sorted and many surrendered in about 6 months time. On the plus side if it continues to multiply I could open a second hand clothing shop in my bedroom.

Dreams are what make the stars sparkle and the moon shine :)

My roomate and I have a habit of exchanging gifts before Shabbat. This week she gave me a gorgeous, PINK notebook with the title of this blog on the front. For me I thought it was quite apt. My dream for the last few years was to go give it a go in Israel, moving to Australia was exciting until I got here and realised it wasn't the big move. The scary thing about being a grown up is that dreams aren't just dreams. I am not 15 sitting at Mum's imagining the kotel, I am 21 with the freedom to move there. In some ways the next move will be easier than here. I am being met at the airport, I have close friends who I don't feel bad to stay with. I won't be alone like I was when I got here etc. etc.

I have now set myself a budget and stuck to it, which means I am saving well. I have so far managed to rangle one extra hour of work, and I'm contemplating (as in hoping something will pop up in the Jewish news) getting some babysitting sometime soon to help me save. However I've realised tonight that this isn't quite enough. It will be great to arrive in Israel with some money to go shopping, and with my small grasp of Hebrew I could probably survive it. But I can only read the block Hebrew writing, and I will need cursive. Also my vocabulary is great if you want to talk about food, colours or numbers however beyond this you may as well speak chinese to me. So with an attempt to be a grown up and think ahead, I am going to begin concerted Hebrew learning! My focus: Vocabulary and cursive hebrew with some handy phrases thrown in for good measure. I think it is finally time to pull the flash cards out of my Hebrew book and use them!!!

I just have to figure out some sort of study programme that I will actually do. I'm contemplating beautiful sticker charts and perhaps employing roomates to help.

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month

One month left of winter!!! This morning I was skiting to my parents that it feels like spring already. It was true at that specific time it did feel like spring, it also felt like spring when i walked down to the laundromat. When I left the laundromat it still felt like spring but about 5 minutes into the walk home the wind turned, suddenly cafe umbrella's were rolling on the ground, random lose objects were flying around and anyone with some semblance of a brain had taken cover. Two minutes later the wind brought a new present RAIN! Lots of nice heavy rain! If you can imagine, I am walking down the street holding my laptop case under my poncho, my other hand is holding my skirt, my hair is out and flying in all directions and I am lugging a massive pack on my back. The rain quickly transformed into hail which managed to get down my back and in my shoes. It only lasted 5 minutes tops but I arrived home drenched from head to toe. Literally all three layers of clothing were soaked. Thankfully I took my waterproof pack and my laptop case is waterproof.

Israeli Culture Lesson 1 (or maybe lesson 1278)

Tonight it was decided that I would learn an Israeli game called Yaniv. We sat down to play the game and the rules were explained in detail for me. Like every good kiwi I took note of the rules, asked the appropriate questions and set out to play the game. It was relatively simple and I caught on quickly. However there was one thing I was not told....
As the game progressed I noticed a surprising amount of people knew each others cards. I assumed this was due to extreme attention being paid (the sort I can't be bothered giving to a card game). I naively continued to play and was surprised that people appeared to also know a large amount about my cards. Then as the game was coming to a close I noticed people were actually willingly showing each other their cards and there was no need for subtlety before looking at someones cards. I have never been the best at hiding my cards but I have this innocent expectation that people don't actually try and look at them. The entire game I avoided looking at other peoples cards meanwhile everyone else knew at the very least what the people on either side of them had. Finally after the points had been scored people started to share other information. Not only had everyone looked at each others cards, cards has also been slipped to one another and who knows what else!
I have learned a vital lesson for future card games, cheating is not only allowed but encouraged and if I want to lose every single card game I should continue to be honest. Oy the moral decay has begun! However, really I will hold onto my ideal of cards. It's really not the same when everyone cheats! No one truly wins which is a very disappointing end to the game.

Itchy feet

I have been here for three months, I am settled, I enjoy my work, my friends, my shul etc etc. I was concerned that I would reach this point and forget I was ever going to leave. Maybe it's my age or just me being me, but now I am bored of Melbourne and I'm ready to start planning my escape to Israel. To be fair this time last year I was also thinking about going to Israel, Kristi can vouch for that! I decided to go with logic and follow my Rabbi's advice. I made a small move and of course now the excitement of that move has passed I still want to make the big move.
The little terrified child inside of me wants to go and lie on mum's couch for the rest of my life. The adventurous, dominant version of myself would like to be in Israel already. Of course being a planner I am screaming "THIS WASN'T THE PLAN" but if I could be there already I would be.

I have also just discovered if I go with Korean Airlines I can fly there and back for around AUD$2000, about half the price of the others. I'm really not looking forward to the idea of flying that far, but it's a little shorter than 40 years so I guess I should be happy :) So there's my pondering for the night, whether it materialises into concrete plans remains to be seen but it certainly makes this world a little more interesting. Shabbat Shalom everyone!

Hello again

I currently have not spoken to any Israeli's since I woke up so I thought I should blog while I can still speak English.
I think the hardest thing about writing a blog is actually picking a title. You guys don't actually care because the only people reading this are those who care enough about me to want to know I am alive. So really I could just write yes I'm still alive every time and not write anything else. However, for some reason I have this need to sit and ponder the theme of my blog, and the theme of my last week, all just to write a title. Now that I have outlined my dilemma maybe I should actually write a blog :P
This week we have had tisha b'av, which is the day the temple in Yerushalayim was destroyed amidst other things. It's one of those days when I love living in a Jewish community. (I do all the time, but sometimes I REALLY do) We had the day off work and those of us that were going to be fasting were allowed to leave work early the day before. Unfortunately I was sick but had I been well there were various classes to go to and services everywhere. Even better than all of this though; when I walked to my friends to break the fast everyone in the neighbourhood was out and about buying food also. It's so nice to live in an area where every time of joy and every time of sorrow is celebrated communally.
I honestly feel sometimes like I live in a small town, I walk down the street and know most of the people. I know almost everyone in my apartment complex and have a couple of good friends in my apartment complex. I am always being invited everywhere and everyone is in my business. Also, if I am sick about 5 pots of chicken soup will somehow appear on my doorstep. On Shabbat you can walk down the road and greet everyone with Shabbat Shalom. At the time when meals usually finish on Friday night there will be Jew's EVERWHERE. It's a custom not to do washing during the 9 days leading up tisha b'av so suddenly this afternoon the washing lines will be full of everyones washing. On Friday when I go to buy challot the place is full, we have to take numbers and wait for our number to be called. Yet everyone is happy they are preparing for Shabbat. No one cares that they will be waiting for the next half an hour, everyone stands and chats.
I don't think I can convey the joy of living with people like me, people who understand my train of thought, or the problem I am trying to get around. When someone offers me a cup of tea here I don't have to try and figure out if it can be made kosherly, and when someone offers me a cake I can take it. I'm no longer the annoying person at work or uni who has to have specific days off. More importantly everyone know's why it matters. Torah isn't seen as some ancient outdated set of rules that we should give up because we are now 'modern.' I don't have to explain why I do what I do. Everyone understands the beauty of torah to one extent to or another. They intrinsically understand what it means to me, I am respected for the things I am ridiculed for in other groups.
Of course after all my rambling about being in a community I still want to be in Israel. It's great that we have these communities around the world, but it's time to move back to our country. Sapir's ima made my day yesterday and probably my whole week. She said I have a family in Israel and always a room in their house. :D Honestly anyone know a quick way to make money so I can say goodbye to my student loan and get on a plane to ISRAEL? I am currently contemplating becoming an author, however I think that is actually a slow way to make money and I don't actually know if I want to open myself up to so much ridicule. Also, there is cotton picking in summer here which I could always go and do. Sucks as a job and I would have to learn to deal with serious heat, however very very good money. Enough to pay off a reasonable amount of my student loan and go to Israel.

Sapir is HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
She came on Thursday night. Sadly my Hebrew had disappeared. I couldn't understand anything. Now I can but I really have to work to understand the conversation. I dreamt in Hebrew on Friday night which was very exciting, well in my dream I spoke Hebrew and everyone else spoke English but still I was speaking in full sentences. Also Shannon came earlier this week, so I have had a big friends week. Shannon has disappeared now but Sapir is here for another two weeks. Apparently according to my awful friends I now have a bit of an australian accent, and with Sapir here I have begun dropping my h. Which makes me want to keep typing ere instead of here.
I will write more later, it is rather difficult to write in english while communicating in Hebrew.

Home time :)

Today I accidentally went back to NZ. It cost me $3.80 for a return ticket and took approximately 15 minutes to get there. Yup I finally found a mall :) :) :)
I was expecting the mall to be a bit different from NZ. I must admit it did have a few more stories to it than the chch ones, and the train station at the bottom was a novelty. Beyond that, the shops were pretty much identical. There was even a NZ Natural stall!!!! I honestly felt like I was home. Aus is missing one important red shop...I had to go on a very big walk outside the mall to find an equivalent. Now I truly feel like I have found my feet!
Combined with this I had an amazing Friday! I ran the room in the afternoon, the children didn't get enough sleep and it was a short day...In other words everything should have fallen to pieces but IT DIDN'T! The children were calm and happy, everything got done on time, my mat session went well and they all went home smiling. I even got a hug from my boss at the end of the day!

The zoo aka work

My life is incredibly interesting, so interesting this blog is being devoted to work.

For the last two weeks work has been reasonably calm and relaxing. The two directors of the creche are like extreme balls of energy buzzing around the place. One of these balls is a tad more extreme than the other and she has been in the states for two weeks. Today she came buzzing back in. Suddenly everything needed to be cleaned, systems were changed, jobs were given out. On a normal day this would be ok, on parents visiting day it is insane! The children were late to bed because of their parents and they were so hyped up after all the visitors that each child was another bubbly little energy ball.
After sleep time things appeared calm until the director decided to clean the lizard cage. The poor lizard was left to ammuse itself on the floor. Unfortunately someone (called me) taught the children that you are supposed to scream when you see a lizard. From this point on there was a general chorus of children screaming, teacher's yelling at said children to go back to the table, and then the occasional adult scream as they realised there was a lizard under or near their feet.

Internet addiction

I realised tonight that had i enabled the internet on my phone then my mum's inability to bring the map would no longer be an issue. 4 hours have passed and i have downloaded ebuddy, set up fb, surfed and now i am blogging. At least my internet usage was limited by my laptop being off. Now my cellphone is lying by my bed whenever i want to use it. Meaning if i decide i just must email someone or google something i no longer have to move. So probably expect more blogs since i can now write them while i walk.

Update

I have some very good news this week. I am well! For those of you who have not heard my whinging I have had a cold for over two weeks, not bad enough to take time off work but not well enough to have a social life. It happens to have just abaited in time for me to start full time work, while this is great news for my work it is a tad frustrating for me.
Other than this I am contemplating moving, I think the guy down the hall may have some serious problems. I know I talk to myself but this guy really does take the cake, he starts at about 6 in the morning and talks about anything and everything for the entire day. He also manages to put approximately 10 wine bottles in the recycling a week which is a tad concerning, and he gets very angry (ammusingly so) when you raise the issue of anything he could do better, and since there are a lot of those it isn't the greatest living situation. I have put a complaint in to the housing people here, unfortunately my landlord can't just kick him out due to his 'rights.' However, I'm hoping my rights and the rights of the other tenant might trump his and I might not have to move.
Failing this I have a couple of friends wanting to move somewhere plus my roomate here, so we can at least fill a four bedroom place somewhere.

In love

Before I talk about my love interests I feel the need for a whinge. My mp3 players battery died, it takes about a half hour to recharge but so far I have not bothered to go hunting through my cords to find the one to charge it with, because of this everytime I go somewhere I am forced to listen to my cellphone radio. This is not so bad in the daytime except in the evenings the only decent radio I have found runs a love song dedications section. Last nights selection of dedications consisted of a guy who'd just got out of jail whinging about having to be separated from his girlfriend while he was in jail, a guy who bubbled about the "love of his life" for ten minutes and then said he only met her a week ago, followed by a woman who decided to recount the entire demise of her relationship on national radio.

I am also surrounded by a different type of 'love'. The guy down the hall has currently had a different girl over 7 nights in a row. I'm not exactly sure what to say to them when I'm introduced to them, tonight I really was tempted to comment about how I thought she had blonde hair or something of the like.

Anyway now that I'm finished with my whinges I'll tell you about my love. He is absolutely gorgeous, has dark brown hair, a really friendly selection of friends, and he's 2 and a half. In fact I'm in love with all of the children in my group they are all gorgeous. This one made my day on Monday, I'd just got to work, he got off his bed and came over. "Hello, hello. Moreh Margalit, I love you" I can't think of many other jobs when you get hugged just for walking in the door. I've had more hugs in the last two weeks than the rest of my life.

Rain, rain come over here!

I am officially living proof that anything familiar is nice when you don't have it. This morning I woke up and it looked like it was going to be a fully rainy day, I happily made myself a cup of coffee and sat down to read some news. Sadly half an hour later the first real rain I've seen in a month vanished and stole my illusion of a rainy day. I had temporarily forgotten that here rain lasts for 10 minutes and blue sky is the status quo. I feel sorry for all those people that don't know the joy of making hot drinks, turning the heater on and remaining indoors for a week. The poor Melbournians that don't know what it is to have a weeks laundry drying around the house, to spend a Sunday with a fire, a book and the lulling sound of rain on the roof.
On the other hand I am also aware that too much rain is a bit of an issue for my wee country that used to be across the ditch. I was informed this week that you have now been completely submerged and I am officially a refugee. While you are all developing the required gills, scales and fins I am about to begin enjoying the benefits of refugee status.
On another note, I love my work at the creche. The children are fantastic, the bosses are great and I even enjoy nappy changing time. I know most of you can't really see me in a creche environment but I am in my element. I think sleep time may have a little something to do with it, I am paid to sit in a dark room with classical music playing rubbing children's backs for an hour and a half. Of course none of the children understand what I'm saying, if I want to get them to go to their beds I have to say "Go to bad." If I say it properly they look at me like I have three heads and then proceed to ignore me completely.

Helllllloooooooo

So yes I am slack at blogging but I have an excuse. If you haven't noticed yet, with me there is always a reason and if there isn't there will be!!! Anyway up until now I haven't had internet, to get it I had to go to the library or use my flatmates. This was fine until I started work, at which point I didn't really have the spare time to sit online at the library for hours.



The news is I HAVE INTERNET!!!! My new best friend is a white plastic stick, it plugs into my computer and very nicely provides me a connection to the rest of the world. I think it is possible that I am addicted to the internet, the withdrawl symptoms were not nice and I was very quick to return to the habit, however I don't think it's too dangerous so I plan to keep my white stick friend for a very long time!



In other news, I ate the best pizza in the world tonight. I fully recommend Shemesh pizza's and if anyone wants to go out for one with me I will make myself available.

The wonderful world of bureaucracy

There appears to be no such thing as the phrase "She'll be right" in this land mass, especially when applying for a working with children's card. I take the form fill it out and bring it back with every piece of ID I possess. The first time they go through and re-write half of my words for me, then they send me away for proof of address (something it does not say I need in the book of instructions.) I come back with what they bank tells me is proof of address, but this piece of paper requires a stamp. Back to the bank, apparently it is against policy to stamp the statements. I explain exactly why I need it stamped and that if they cannot do this there must be something else they can do, at this point someone finally breaks policy (if only to get me out of the bank where I have been demanding help for the past half hour). I go back to the post office with what I think is everything I need. This time I am told that my proof of address and my eftpos card have to be from different Australian banks. The man then asks me why I can't just supply my visa (the visa I don't have because Kiwi's don't need them here). I go home to ring the helpline where I discover there has been a recent change in policy, I can now take a letter from the bank and eftpos card from the same bank in. Back to the post office, everything is finally going well until they discover my letter from the bank is not an acceptable proof of address. This time to the bank, where I learn there are many policies relating to getting hold of statement. I still don't have a working with children's card, I have one more trip to the bank and post office at least left. I don't understand what difference it makes where I live, if I put down the wrong address then they post to the wrong address. It has my name and photo on it, no one else can use the thing. The worst part about it all is that I am paying a ridiculous amount for a service which has already taken 4 hours of my time, plus until I have it I can't work.

The News

I feel like telling this news to someone but since I am in the library it's probably not appropriate to call Mum.
I now have a job at a beautiful creche. They loved me, I loved it so everything is nice. I begin full time in a months time and up until then they will give me part time. Finally I don't have to put unemployed on all the forms. Now I just have to brave all the paperwork and then I have a job!!!
In other news, the Indian girl is grumpy with me becuase the landlord gave me a new matress and she is now planning to move out!

Independence!!!! (I have some)

What a week!! I now have a home, and most probably a job :) I'm renting a room in an apartment block. I share a bathroom and kitchen with two other people. It's nice, tidy, clean and best of all there are no extra bills. The rent covers electricity, gas and water. There's in built heating, it's furnished and would you believe it is also cheap!!! Thanks to a string of 'coincidences' I now live right where I wanted to. Finally people are leaving that part of my life alone and everyone has stepped back from trying to organise my life. Of course, other people have stepped up. If they can't find me a job or a home then they'll find me a shidduch instead. My disinterest in going on blind dates has so far baffled every singe one of them, resulting in long interrogations regarding male friends, past relationships and basically any other invasive questions they would like to ask.
Once I've finished with all of those questions I get the joy of going home to my Indian neighbour. Apparently it is perfectly acceptable to bang on someones door, loudly and for approximately 5 minutes, at 7 in the morning. It is also acceptable to do the same thing while yelling at midnight. I did begin to think there might be something seriously wrong the first time, so I got up and opened the door. Not stopping to apologise, the girl walks in and begins to chat about nothing. She knew full well I had been up at 2 the night before, if she'd done some simple maths she would have discovered I had not had 8 hours sleep and would not yet be interested in chatting. Bearing in mind I have only known the girl for a day one would expect a certain level of privacy. For example if I tell you I am "Just going out" I am just going out. Where I am going, what time I will be home, the number of people there, the gender of the people there, the religion of the people there, the mode of transport I will be taking, the time this will take and the weather at the time I will be going are all none of your business. If they were some of your business then I would have deemed to answer these questions, as I did not the general response would be "Have a good time" followed by walking into your room and leaving me alone!!! We have had one break through in the last day, she did acknowledge I was indepenent. I am hoping this knowledge will soon transfer into an adjustment of communication. As of yet it has not, my unwillingness to eat her food has now been translated as anorexia. This is now of great concern, while I was sitting eating 2 sandwiches I needed to be questioned on my eating habits. Hello!! I am eating two sandwiches, you saw me cook tea and make breakfast, you also saw me have afternoon tea. All of these meals were larger than a normal persons portion, provided there is no unusual toilet stops and while I am not fat, the general assumption would be I don't have an eating condition. Now that I have finished my whinge I will add a disclaimer, she is a very nice girl living in another country from her family, she is lonely and I am one of the few people she see's outside of work hours. I can't imagine being in her situation, and it must be very hard. She is also learning quickly, she only banged on my door once last night (or morning) my light was still on and she was somewhat quieter in her approach. I am also learning, I told her we would talk in the morning and did not unlock the door.

Independence?

As of Friday my independence appears to have become a distant memory. Everyone I come into contact with decides it is their personal job to organise my life. I feel like a room that someone tidies, three minutes later someone else walks in and reorganises me, two minutes after that it is someone elses turn and so it goes.
So here is my list of everything everyone has done for me in the space of three days. One woman got me an interview for a job and another with the Beit Din, she decided to make these two appointments right after each other and decided that she would drive me to the second. Next, my friend organised the shul I was going to (something I actually did ask for). This followed by an invitation for the entire shabbat to a Rabbi's place. After this I was invited to a lecture, and a shiur today. At the shiur two women argued over the pros and cons of my social events on Tuesday. Following on from this I was invited back to one of these women's places for a meal, which was the perfect time for her to organise me a new place to live.
Now I am going to apparently a wonderful place for a week. Of course I was actually perfectly happy at my backpackers, and I was actually looking forward to my tea at the backpackers and more to the point I like being independent. I would be happy to live in a backpackers if I could just have the privilege of organising my own life!!

Day 2 and 3

I am about to go insane!! No one warned me how long it takes to apply for jobs!!I think I have applied to enough now, and I am really hoping they don't all give me interviews!!!
Yesterday I went on a mammoth search for a mall. I found a little underground thing with Mall written on it, (not a mall) and when I finally asked where the mall was I was told I was in it. Apparently Melbournians like to make-believe that streets packed full of black suits and lots of shops I don't want to go into, are malls. I did successfuly find a Target and I bought some very well priced fry-pans, which may actually survive. It still puzzles me why Australia can't use Eftpos more often, everyone pays with cash which means lines are very long, which makes grumpy business men even more grumpy.
After that somewhat successful trip which also involved a successful trip to the bank, I boarded the right train and got off at the right stop. I then walked in the right direction up the right street for approximately 20 minutes before deciding I was walking the wrong way. I then walked in the wrong direction on the right street for about 20 minutes, at which point I realised my mistake. Finally I walked in the right direction on the right street for half an hour bought my groceries and walked all the way back again.
Today I am about to venture out into the big wide world again, find myself some food and then off to the Museum. I haven't really adjusted to the small change in time yet, right now I feel like it should be 3 and my day should be almost gone but no it is only 1 and I have plenty of time left.
Penguins tonight :) Thanks for all the emails and comments on mediums other than this about my blog. I love that I can sit down and babble and people thank me for it!!!

Day 1

The first day in Melbourne was great. The plane ride was slightly cramped, the guy beside me slept leaning towards me while the woman in front pushed her seat back as far as it would go.

I survived the mission of getting my very heavy suitcase (it even got an orange label) heavy handbag, heavy laptop case and two coats from the airport to the tram, and then the tram to the back packers. They let me check in 2 hours early which I was very happy about and then I took off to the parade. The parade was awesome, everyone who I know was there almost, plus hundreds of people I don’t know. I was astounded with how many Jews there actually are, and I only saw a very small portion. After the parade we went to the carnival, I had a hamburger and then decided I was too exhausted and it was time to go to bed. Unfortunately I was also too tired to sus out the bus system so instead of sleeping I took myself on a full walking tour of the Jewish suburbs. I now know where almost everything is, and how to get to just about everywhere except my back-packers. The lessons I have learned so far are: Melbourne’s malls require googling to find, if I want to hear Hebrew and find meat Balaclava is the place to go, Melbourne is very big, if you turn left at McDonalds you will not find Coles (nor if you turn right, go straight ahead or anything else for that matter), Caulfield is a long way to walk from St Kilda and finally overseas call centre people get a little titchy when it is the third time you’ve rung them in the space of 20 minutes.

Aus=NZ?

When I first looked into moving to Australia I was astounded at how simple it appeared. Being an NZ citizen the moment you walk into Australia they issue you a visa, no forms, nothing! You can organise a bank account online and everything looks pretty much the same as NZ. Then I started to realise the obvious perks to Australia, mainly money and friends. However I have now decided Australia and New Zealand are vastly different, and not to my benefit right now! I have spent many hours scanning call plans, prepaid plans, finding out what words like flag fall mean etc etc. Everyone complains about the telephone services in NZ but the fact is they are easy and they make sense!! I don't understand why Aussie's can't take a leaf out of our book! When choosing a plan you must consider how long you ring for each time, because that will effect whether you pay a higher flag fall or cost per minute. The second thing is everything works out in 30 sec's and seems vastly more expensive than NZ. After considering the myriad of other elements to a phone service, right at the point when you think you have decided which service to go to, you then have a look at topping up. At this point you discover another difference, you might put $20 credit on but you'll get $150, however the catch is it only has a life of 30 days. Finally after reassessing the decision this kiwi decided to meander over to the world of call plans and make sure there was nothing I was missing. At this point I discover that it appears to cost the same amount (or more) to have a prepaid plan and in fact the plans with phones appear to be the same as those without.

Sooo, landline anyone?

This blogging thing....

Hi everyone,
Yes, I have jumped into the world of blogging.
I'm not a huge fan of this blogging concept. I have a theory that no one actually cares what I ate for breakfast or which tooth I brushed first this morning (or the thought process involved in my decision to blog). Buuut I pretty much suck at keeping in touch with people, so this is my solution.
This is my version of bulk emails, so no you will not receive those ginormous things in your inboxes (by the way if you do write me bulk emails, I love them, they are fantastic and I feel so privileged to receive them!) if you want to know what's going on in my life you'll find it here. Oh, I also like phone calls by the way.

Before I go any further, has anyone else noticed I somehow created three of these things? When I go to my profile there are three Megan's World things. I would really like to have only one of these, so if someone understands this blogger thing......???

As far as excitement goes in my life, I have nearly completed selling my life on trademe. I think I have spent more time replying to emails and stupid questions in the last two days than the rest of my life. My ticket is booked to Melbourne, I have to be at the airport at 4 in the morning!!! I'm guessing no sleep Saturday night, that's what you get for making up your mind a week before. However possibly it is the best time to fly, it is my first overseas move, it does deserve at least one sleepless night!

BTW, the plan is a movie/games/I don't really care what we do night, on the Saturday night. Feel free to come visit sometime after 8 and before 3 if you want to say goodbye and possibly leave with some trademe rejects. Send me a text or email if you want my address.

Next question: are you supposed to sign off on blogs? And what is the official ruling on appropriate ways to sign blogs?