You win some, you lose some

Okay.  If you know me, you know that I am ummm, directionally challenged?  Let me just say that on my last day in NJ, I actually got lost in my own town - again.  It felt fitting!  And that one year, many years ago, my hubby gave me a GPS for Mother's Day.  At the time, I thought it was the worst gift ever.  Now, I realize that he was a genius!  Well, today, I feel like I should win some sort of new oleh award.  I managed to take my three younger children to camp without my GPS WAZE! and to get myself back home without it either.  There was a dicey moment when I was sure that I was about to exit my town, but in the end, I had chosen the correct streets. Winner winner!!!

Now for the not as fun news.  We were just about to purchase a used car here in Israel.  We hired a broker to find the car and deal with the car dealer (because seriously, I am not going to deal with an Israeli car dealer), we saw the car, test drove it, and wired all of our money to Israel.  Then, we tried to get car insurance.  Well, let me give a word of warning.  You CANNOT get Israeli car insurance if you do not have an Israeli driver's license.  Sure, you can rent a car ad drive it for a year with your foreign license,  But you cannot insure a car you have purchased.  So, that put the brakes (punny) on our purchase.  That was Thursday.  Which meant I spent the rest of Thursday finding a driving instructor, calling hubby to come home a bit earlier because we needed an eye exam.  Then I had to brave the healthcare website in Hebrew.  I sort of clicked around and eventually made myself a doctor's appt.  Because steps 1-3 of the 27 part process to get a license require me to have an eye exam, see a doctor, and visit every office and post office that I see along the way.  Oh, and have driving lessons and take a road test.  Friday I saw the doctor, who told me that my heart beat is very nice.  Because well, I guess it is.  Who am I to argue with her?  I only had to pay her 106 shekels to tell me that! (and to sign my form)

Sunday, hubby takes off from work so that we can drive to Jerusalem to visit the DMV.  But first, a stop for blood work because my nice doctor told me to.  Getting blood work when the nurse speaks only a tiny bit of English and you do not know any medical terms in Hebrew yet, is actually hilariously fun.  And where else can I have the person taking blood tell me Mazal Tov on my aliyah and tell me that life is better here for the children?  Because everyone here understands the term Olim Chaashim (new immigrants) and as soon as you say that, they seem to calm down a bit and become more patient.  I might be imagining it, but let em have my dream please.

Back to Jerusalem.  We arrive there in record time, find parking in about  20 minutes, and hike to the DMV in the sweltering heat.  Whoever said it is cooler in Jerusalem lied yesterday.  Anyway, we arrive to the DMV, pass the security check, and are encountered with a long jostling line.  Apparently when you get to the front of line #1, there is a machine that can display all of your choices in both Hebrew and Arabic.  My Arabic from college has faded so hubby chose some Hebrew stuff and we said a little prayer that we pushed the correct choices.  We then sit for 45 minutes (not bad) in the chairs with everyone else until our number is called.  I will spare you the details, but hubby was able to get the paper he needed but I was not.  Because despite the fact that I brought all of my drivers licenses from age 16 and on, plus my eye exam form, MD form, and every other paper I own (why doesn't anyone want to see my old report cards?) I did not have the one paper that we are waiting for.  Our appointment for that paper is Wednesday.  Oh well.

Hike back to the car, which is parked in a mall parking lot.  Stop in the mall for coffee and get some beautiful coffee, as seen in this photo.  Guess my coffee was telling me, all you need is love (and also, I need a missing paper) That helped my mood.

We thought the day was over then.  Hubby was going to go into work to at least salvage a half day.  But nope.  We are getting calls from the car rental place asking when we are returning our car.  We are renting a small sedan that doesn't actually fit our family.  But the sedan costs a lot, so you can imagine what the 7 seater was costing.  So we try to get a better deal on a different sedan.  After hubby spoke to 7 agents at the car rental place, he gets the number for a "guy" who can get us a better deal.  So,we head back to the airport to switch cars.  Several phone calls, cups of water, and about an hour or so, we leave with a much cheaper, but even smaller sedan.  No joke, we are driving a tictac.  I am not a tall person and I feel like I need to fold myself to get in.  Now, we are getting to be more Israeli with our car size!  Just another day of living the dream!