I know that we've been here only a week and I know I can't expect things to be easy but I feel like I have managed pretty well in a place I don't know the written or spoken language.
Monday after, I'd gotten our internet started, I wanted to get our Vonage set up asap. We had Vonage in DC and it worked great. I set it up without any problem so I didn't expect it to be a problem here. I spent hours trying to get it set up. The entire time the kids were napping, I was working on it - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I was obsessed. I had the directions from my set up in DC and I followed them over and over. Finally I picked up our landline and call Vonage in the US. The representative was nice but not very helpful. I spent maybe 5 minutes on the phone with him and he basically told me that I had done everything right (I knew that) and that I should call Bezeq - our internet company here in Jerusalem. That didn't sound right to me since my internet was working fine but I did it. The Bezeq guy didn't have much to say and said to call Vonage (you see where this is going). Finally I spoke with a Vonage "advanced" technical support representative who figured out that my Vonage box had a loose connection and that I needed a new one. Although I didn't have my Vonage connection, it was nice to have an answer. I'm expecting that with my new Vonage box, when it arrives, that setup with be a breeze. I've got the directions memorized.
The day continued to be bad. I decided to have meatloaf for dinner from foodnetwork.com. I had made it before and since my cookbooks aren't here, I'm finding recipes that are simple on the internet. I knew meat was expensive but I didn't realize how expensive. Wow!!! This was going to be a $40 meatloaf!!!! I can't read the labels and signs so it is hard to figure out how expensive things are and I have to do conversions from shekels to dollars and kilos to pounds. I asked the man at the deli counter who was able to speak a little English and then I tried converting the price in my head. Needless to say, I think I bought 2 kilos of ground beef for $35-40. When I got home, I started to make the recipe and realized that I needed a food processor. oops. My food processor is not here yet. I briefly thought about trying to chop all the vegetables myself in place of the food processor but I gave up. I had Brian pickup food on the way home. I'll save my 2 kilos of ground beef for some tasty cheeseburgers when our grill arrives.
Yesterday was a very good day. We met Armi - our new babysitter. She has worked for another consulate family and came over to meet us. Julia had no problem with her and didn't seem to care much when I left to walk Bob or go grocery shopping by myself. It felt good to get out on my own and I've asked Armi to come for 10 hours/week for now. Hopefully I'll start exercising again and will get all the shopping done without the kids. She's going to come over this weekend - tonight and tomorrow night to watch the kids while Brian and I go out.
I also made a trip to the US Consulate to get my picture taken for my ID badge, etc. It's a beautiful building which I'd love to show you but I don't know if I can take pictures inside of it.
I was able to stop at the park for Julia on the way home, make dinner, get the kids bathed and do it all before Brian was home. I joked with Brian that he got a "Don Draper" reception when he got home (a Mad Men reference for those of you who haven't watched it - we're watching the 1st season now).
And lastly, for those of you who are following Julia's potty adventures - she decided after one day of potty training that she'd rather use diapers. We had one good day and now there isn't anymore interest. Aargh!!
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