I'll start with a brief recap of yesterday's events so everyone who is interested in keeping tabs on my adventures in Israel can still do so.
Because this entry is mostly about the luggage situation, I'll start by saying that I woke up yesterday wearing the same clothes I had been wearing since 3pm (EST) on Sunday afternoon and it was now Tuesday morning at 8am. You can either calculate the number of consecutive hours or just know that I literally wore the same pants until after midnight last night, which I calculated as 50 hours. The shirt is a bit of a different story.
I woke up to my cell phone alarm at 8am (why cell phone alarm? Because my travel alarm clock was in my...yes, you guessed it, suitcase!) and tried to snooze for a bit. First session was at 9am so I wanted to have enough time to have breakfast, collect my things in my bag and be ready for cousin Debbie to bring by a few things (including a Hebrew dictionary, bed sheets, and...drum roll please...a clean shirt! Hooray!) before showing up to the Young Judaea campus. I did a quick change in the bathroom there - so fresh and so clean clean! Ok maybe just fresh :) But I'm certainly not clean.
We discussed some security precautions and information about the program we are responsible for knowing, and then split up into apartments to do some shopping. We live a short walk from a local mall which is right across the street from a supermarket, so I will fortunately never be out of reach of necessities. Anyways, we made a communal list (sponges, dishsoap, papertowels, etc.) and we each bought some of our own essentials (for me: cereal, soy milk, yogurt, cheese, whole grain bread, and melafafonim, Hebrew for cucumbers - what a fun word!). We also grabbed lunch at the food court, so I went right for the good stuff - FELAFEL! Cheap and yummy! We returned to the classroom to attend a session on getting to know the neighborhoods in Jerusalem, played a fun game (that turned into quite a competition among the 4 teams that were created) that tested our memory of different neighborhoods we had just read about. Just pointing out that, at this point, I'm still wearing Debbie's shirt and my airplane sweatpants, I still haven't showered or washed my hair.
At the start of the next session, we met Mike, the director of the entire WUJS program, before heading out on a tour of the neighborhood, given to us by a lovely girl named Liyan, who is studying architecture at a school in Jerusalem and also gives tours. We made a few stops along our way, including some bus stops, cafes, stores, bars, and we ended on Emek Refaim, a popular street in Jerusalem with more Anglos (Americans/English speakers) than local Israelis! Emek Refaim has great restaurants and shops also, so it is very populated. I walked down the length of the street in search of a fairly quick sandwich to go, with Rachelle, another participant on the WUJS program. By this point, I'm so hot from the temperature, all the walking, and still being in these damn pants that I have tried rolling, folding, anything on these pants to try and stay a tiny bit cooler. Anyways, I bumped into my friend Aviva who is studying here at Pardes, and it was such a treat! I warned her about me being stinky, prior to the hug, as I thought that was appropriate. I'm so lucky she didn't care. She was so happy just to see me! And I was so happy to see her too! Rachelle and I continued to Cafe Cafe, where I knew I could get some good quality food. We walked and ate at the same time, because I knew cousin Josh would be picking me up around 8pm to FINALLY go to the airport and get my bags - HOORAY! We made it back with plenty of time to spare so Rachelle and I gave each other tours of our respective apartments (they are laid out a bit differently from one another). Josh calls at 8:26pm to say he's downstairs and I kick Rachelle out, say goodnight, and hop in the car! 45 minutes later, he's dropping me off at Ben Gurion. Finally, I will be rid of these sweatpants.
I walk into the exit of the arrivals level, so I can claim my baggage. I ask the first person I see where to go to pick up luggage from the strike yesterday, and she tells me to go to the Lost and Found. Man is it hard to find the Lost and Found! Ironic? Hmmmm. OK so I find the tiny little booth marked Lost and Found and there is no one in the booth and a phone on the counter. Some guy who walked up right before me picks up the phone and starts speaking Hebrew, so I think he's telling someone from the back that he is there to pick up an item. Well he hangs up the phone and leaves. Great. I choose to ask the young clerk in the store beside the Lost and Found how this all works. She explains that I have to look on the wall at the list of airlines, and call the number that corresponds to it. I'm game for this, here we go - I will get to speak to someone to sort this out! I pick up the phone and dial. There is an automated message indicating that to listen in English, you have to press 1. Easy enough, 1 pressed. "The Delta offices are open from 8am until 8pm. Our offices are now closed. Please come back tomorrow when the office will reopen." NO WAY! No freekin' way did I come this far to be turned away! OK I am not giving up; I am going to bother every single uniformed airport staff person until I get my damn bags.
I walk toward a huge sign that says "Do Not Enter" but there is another young woman sitting at a booth and I ask her in Hebrew if she speaks English: "Medaberet Anglit?" She nods, and I say, "Hi, I'm here to pick up luggage from the strike yesterday." A nice young man behind me says in his adorable Israeli accent, "Yeis miss, kam dees way." I turn around. "Passport?" I show it. He directs me through the so-called "Do Not Enter" doors (haha suckers) to a board and says, "You wait dare for a lady." The board indicates which flights have baggage where. I see Delta flight 268 listed for carousels 5-6. No lady. I look around for a lady. Still no lady. I try to sneak a peek down the middle of the 5-6 area to see if I see my flight listed on a sign. I wait some more. Still no lady. Aha, I see some uniformed staff. Why not go bug them? They are both busy but as I turn around I see another Lost and Found booth. I ask this other young lady again, "Medaberet Anglit?" "Yes." "Great, can I just go get my bags from the sign or do I need to wait for someone to walk me there?" By the way, I ask because, when it comes to Israelis and airports and security, you just don't mess with their system. She just tells me I can go get my bags and walk out! Who knew it was actually so easy. I go down aisle 5-6 and look for my flight number, and I see the sign! I see my duffel bag! I see my duffel bag! I actually see my duffel bag! So thankful; this is awesome. OK, where is my other suitcase? Oh my goodness, someone took my suitcase. Someone must have taken my freekin' suitcase! What the hell? Is this for real? OK, calm down, look around, take a deep breath. I walk a bit further back and see another sign for my flight and there is my suitcase!!! A huge smile comes across my face.
I walk out of customs, two bags in hand, straight out of the airport. YES!!!!!!!
It's 9:40pm; I walk to the area where people gather for a "nesher" or a shared cab. They pile up to 10 people in one minivan with all their luggage in the back, charge the same flat fee (55 shekels per person, about $15) to go any address in Jerusalem (45 minutes to an hour away, I think it's a pretty sweet deal). I tell the driver my address and hop in the car. I'm only the 3rd person so I know it'll be a while before we leave. I came prepared - I have a book. A man traveling by himself comes over, gets his luggage in the van, sits on the bench outside reading. Ok we're up to 4. Then we get 4 more in one shot (they are from Australia, I can hear the accents!). Wow, up to 8 already, fabulous. One more girl arrives. Only one more spot to fill! The driver tells that one girl after a few minutes to get in the other nesher. NOOOO! Now we have 2 spots to fill. What I didn't realize is that he asked her to leave the one seat so he could seat a couple in the last 2 spots. EXCELLENT - WE'RE LEAVING! 10:26 and we're on the road.
A nesher could easily have 10 different stops in Jerusalem, and the driver drops off passengers in the order that makes the most sense, not the order in which you stepped onto the van. I have a shot at being the first or last drop off, essentially. Because there was 1 couple on before I was on, there is a group of 4, and a second couple, there are actually only 5 stops. Well, as luck would turn out, I was...the last. Oy. Well I made it back at 11:37pm; thankfully 2 boys still awake on the bottom floor apartment generously just took my bags up to my apartment for me. "Thanks so much guys, I owe you each a beer, or...other beverage of your choice!" "Beer is good!" "OK, awesome, goodnight, sweet dreams, and see you in the morning." Home sweet home. With luggage. And clean clothes. And a towel. And shower stuff. Here we go. You'd think I'm finally in heaven, but of course there is one more twist in the evening's course of events.
I turn on the water, wait for it to heat up, and it reaches a nice temperature. So I pull on the knob to release the water from the spicket to the showerhead. My fingers slip right off. OK, 2nd try. Slips right off again. Hmm, ok, maybe it doesn't pull up, maybe it pushes down. I try pushing; all it does is leave an indent in my hand. Not happy. Let's try pulling it up again - third time's a charm. No success. Many attempts endure, including finding a piece that appears to be the cover to said knob that probably broke off at some point. I'm so frustrated I actually utter the words, "Is this for real???" With my sleeping roommate just down the short hallway, I try to keep my cool and keep my voice down. I eventually give up on the showerhead, but not the shower. I seriously smell bad. So, I did what any reasonably minded camp counselor would do - took a spicket shower. Shoulder leaning under the water, about a foot from the bottom of the tub. Hair flipped over so I can at least shampoo my hair. Splashing water so I can at least get it to reach my face. What a scene. Well, it was a pretty good equivalent to a shower, and after 3 days of basically the same clothes, it was a huge improvement.
When I told a lot of you about this blog being my way to share my Israel adventures, I didn't think it would actually be THIS adventurous! Let's hope for some more fun days ahead (including the hike tomorrow), but not as eventful as the last few!
Glad you found my suitcase that I lent to you.
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