22/08/03

this is done, more or less, in a hurry. i still have other stuff to do, like sleeping. and using this computer is a bitch.

*** 19th ***

as i left the apartment, with my heavy, wonky handluggage in one hand, dragging along my suitcase (17kg's) in the other, the handle of said suitcase broke. so i was forced to actually carry the damn thing.
not that i don't need the exercise...

at the ra'anana bus station (which isn't really in ra'anana), some german guy was struggling to explain himself to the bus driver, and he turned to me to translate. fortunately, he didn't use any big words, but i found it cute that my hebrew is finally at a level where SOMEONE thinks i can speak. even if it is just a tourist.
go on, laugh. i don't care.

i don't remember that bus ride ever taking so long. and it was horribly squished, with many unpleasant looking people.

i'd placed a lock on my bag. i thought this was a good idea. especially considering the fact that all my important documents were in it.
but unlocking/locking one's handluggage everytime one wants something is not easy. it was a mission just to check if i hadn't managed somehow to misplace my tickets (standard paranoia), or to get my book out, or put it back...

the security check wasn't too bad. there's always a little stumble whenever they try to figure out which language to speak to me in. my first few words out, in hebrew, are normally good enough for them to begin speaking in a totally different language.
once we settled on english, this woman began firing off all sorts of questions and explanations so quickly, that i had to ask her to slow down and repeat them. i felt a bit stupid.

the guy checking the suitcase was kind enough to remove the useless remaining bits of plastic, and everything from then on was smooth.

while attempting to go through to the gates, i was blocked by a woman mumbling something completely unintelligable and frantically gesturing to me and my trolley
it took me a while to realize that she was struggling with the english word "trolley"...

NIS 23 (R30) for a small, nay, tiny sandwich, and NIS 8.50 (R12) for a can of coke. now, i'm terribly sorry, but this is altogether too much.
i settled for an average chocolate brownie and filter coffee. which was still expensive. i wrote the following in my real-life journal (which i never use):
i'm really happy that i'm going home. i just got upset about paying more than R30 for filter coffee (not very good) and a small brownie (not fantastic). what's more upsetting is that i just remembered that it's a fair price for this country.

some old guy was trying to understand the vending machine, so i began reading the instructions in english and translating them to hebrew for him (neither of us had seen the hebrew instructions attached carelessly to the bottom...). the instructions include waiting for sixty seconds before opening the can.
so i waited ten seconds, aimed at him, and said "i think the sixty seconds are up!". it didn't explode all over the place, but i wonder who got away with sueing a vending machine company!

the 767 is AMAZING! i can keep my legs straight for the entire duration of the flight! there was a group of kids (i'm guessing sixteen-year-olds) who were flying for the first time. the kid in the seat next to mine had no clue, and every time i gave him advice or answered a question, i heard a small echo pass through their seats, which was cute.
two of the girls were REALLY good-looking, and one of them was wearing a fairly skimpy outfit, and stood next to me for about half the flight, leaning over me to talk to her friends. the paedophile signal was going off in my head, but i knew that if i said anything it would be perceived as hitting on her, so i just curled up and tried to ignore her.

supper was an okay-ish turkey sandwich. thank you, el-al! just before supper, the kid in the seat next to me was given one ferrero roche chocolate by a friend of his. he wasn't in the mood, so he offered it to me, and of COURSE i accepted! i did tell him, as soon as i took it, that in the morning he'd regret giving it to me. when he told me that he was already regretting it... i ate it. i've become totally mean lately.

*** 20th ***

breakfast was a cheese blintz with raisins. yuck.

having been warned of the current temperatures in south africa, and hearing that the ground-temperature in johannesburg was one degree celcius, i put on all my winter clothes, including my beanie. i was cold on the plane anyway, and it seemed like a good idea.
soon after i put it all on, some woman started commenting that i was correct and (blah blah blah), and i very soon felt silly and self-conscious, i removed the beanie.
getting out of the plane wasn't so bad. not nearly as cold as i'd expected.

i HATED waiting for my suitcase. i was feeling ill, listening to pantera, all sorts of annoying people pushing and shoving around me, and my bag happened to be one of the last off the plane...
unfortunately, moonflake's tao was proved wrong, as the first piece of luggage was claimed about a quarter of the way around.

customs: not knowing one's home address always seems dodgy. i had to find someone with a pen to help me, and we basically spent two minutes going through the entry form, making scratches and doodling, until eventually even he gave up and sent me through without checking me.

mr paranoid walked again through the jo'burg airport. those people are just SO creepy.

as i got to the service counter for nationwide airlines, some guy walked off cursing them for their shitty service.
turned out that the flight he'd been on had been cancelled, and they couldn't give him a ticket for said flight. some people are just brilliant.
i found them to be really pleasant and helpful. what bothered me, however, was them giving me my ticket sans asking for id.

check-in was smooth, and pleasant. the person i spoke to was not only polite, but outright friendly.
still no id checking.

if i had been any male, knowing my name, i could have taken my ticket from the service counter and gotten myself to cape town. does anyone else find this worrying?!
at least, unlike in israel, i didn't have to argue my way into getting a tray for my metal items (for the x-ray).
some things in life simply amaze me.

i only realized that i didn't have my jersey after about ten minutes. fortunately, after a slightly wobbly walk (a bit tired), i found the security office and retrieved it. i'm always surprised when things go my way.
breakfast consisted of simba salt and vinegar, lemon twist, and much later some filter coffee from the w-cafe (wimpy? coffee??)

after getting on the plane, i found my seat with someone else in it. after some initial confusion, as she didn't know that it wasn't hers, she found out where she was meant to be, and i moved there.
i had a brief conversation with the woman sitting next to me, and just before take-off, because she knew that i wanted to sleep, she moved to a seat further back and left me with three seats to myself!! i was most grateful, and as soon as we hit the skies i lay down and passed out.
waking up for the beverage and meal trolleys, of course.

i hate airplane toilets. i hate airport toilets even more.

i had to try not to cry when we got off the plane. everything here is so incredibly beautiful...
the luggage took ages to arrive, but mine was one of the first this time, so i walked out fairly soon. the drive home was breathtaking.

my mom's new apartment is really nice. it has great views, and wall-to-wall carpeting.

obviously, the first thing i did was put my sim card in my shiny new phone. the woman at orange GUARANTEED me that the phone would work outside of israel, but i turned it on and received a "phone restricted" message.
scaly, incompetent BITCH.

i went shopping with my mommy, at a supermarket that i haven't been to in years - i didn't even know that it still existed!

after shopping was done, i went off with my niece to visit the magic dragon. he's a very small, yet extremely powerful dragon.

dirk diggler came by, and we chilled and talked kak for a while before we moved over to my place, for some more of the same.
after he left, i had a nice hot shower (would have been better if it didn't take so #@$!ing long for the hot water to get to the shower...). my bed - is - AMAZING. and warm, and fluffy.

*** yesterday ***

i slept like a baby, huddled in my huge duvet / blanket combination. and woke up to a cold-footed cup of coffee while staring at the most beautiful scenery in all the world. how can one stay upset in a place such as this?!

i took a black taxi (i'll probably describe these someday, under mental masturbation) to town, and then a train to rosebank. i went on the jam-packed jammie-taxi-thingy to campus, got directions to the nescafe cafe cafe cafe, and after saying hi to some old friends, i made my way there.

the new CLAWs are depressing. they're just a handful of intraverted, boring, serious people. no fun at all. no sense of humour either, apparently, as i made an "inspection" and got no response. nada. just blank looks. this group is shameful, and in a way they don't DESERVE the CLAWroom that was so evilly taken away from us.

there is no more CLAWroom! it's only just sunk in today, and it's crap!

so moonflake and david (i'm NOT typing in 1337-script) each showed me where there offices are, and we ran into campey (read the elephants entry in my post-hoc journal), and we all had a bit of a chat. or a few chats. we talked for a while, really.

i had a steers burger for lunch. that was nice. and cheap, too - it's so nice to compare costs when i'm here (but so shitty to do when in israel).

we walked from campus to moonflake's (and sandman's) new place, which is quite fine (read VERY nice, aside from the couches being pink. but they are comfy...), and moonflake made a mean stew (hah, almost wrote stu).

after supper we were off, in moonflake's shiny kadett, to shadowslight's. a few of the old CLAWmembers came, and we watched desperado and se7en.
there is no way to make fun of the movie se7en.

what was disturbing, though, was getting a call from my mother on his landline, when i hadn't told her where i was going. hmm...
creepy.

*** today ***

i had a half a cigarette this morning with my coffee. i'm so glad i quit - it tasted kak and i'm still feeling a little woozy. i went shopping with my other mom, she bought me a hake & chips gatsby for breakfast, and now i'm off somewhere with dirk diggler for a surf somewhere.

it's too cold for me to type properly. my fingers are constantly numb.