A Goodbye Israel Experience (28th July)

the day before the day before yesterday:

this day just sucked before it started. i was up at 6.45, and missed the first bus because i stood at the @!$%ing wrong bus stop. the bus ride took forever, as it was peak traffic time, and it was crowded and uncomfortable.
as i got off the bus, my mom called me to tell me that my father had died about an hour before, and after a quick (and not very
tear-filled) conversation i entered the student authority. although not upset, i was quite shaken - it put me into a weird state, and the already-high levels of tension for the day simply got a lot higher.

the student authority:

i had to wait for about half an hour, to be told that i didn't need to speak to anyone there. when you've begun by explaining that you're in a really shitty situation, it's not a pleasant experience. on the plus side, i spent the half an hour trying to get through to the relevant people from the army, and i finally managed to acquire the leave i needed.

i visited karnaf, dropped off a cd, had a quick cup of coffee, and he gave me a ride to the bus stop i needed. i took a minibus-taxi, and the ride was actually quite pleasant. i needed it to sort my head out a bit, but nothing could prepare me for the next phase of my day.

the bank:

i got taken around for about half an hour, and was lectured on the
impossibility of giving me dollars from my dollar account, on account (bleh) of it being a sunday. after the half an hour, they conceded that there's no conversion charge on dollars for dollars, so they finally agreed to let me take them.
by that stage the queue i needed to be in had lengthened dramatically, so i spent another 20 minutes (at least) hanging around waiting. fortunately, i managed to get through to the army again (after a LOT of effort and trauma - they don't answer their phones), and semi-sorted out my unit transfer.
i hope.
nothing more i can do about it now.

i then had to fight with some dude to keep my place in the queue, which resulted in a whole schpiel about "respecting your elders". it's a fucking QUEUE for chrissake - if we all gave up our places, we would never get to the teller.
mutha fucka. and he was only a couple of years older than me
anyhow.

getting the cash took two seconds. i hate all these slow people.

the post office:

i stood in the queue for about 20 minutes, which went nowhere as the two people in front were simply standing there. i'm not kidding. and there were about 6 or 7 of us waiting. then some russian woman
jumped the queue, and got served.
>@
i gave up, and moved to another section, where i had to fight with a few other people who thought i'd just let them sneak in front of me.
bastards.
dumb bastards.
dumb israeli bastards.
yes, especially the old women.

so, i get to the teller, holding american dollars. "i'd like to buy traveller's cheques, please."
she not-so-politely informs me that i can only buy dollar traveller's cheques with NIS (new israeli shekels).
"you're kidding, right?"
"no, i'm not. if you want to buy them, you need to trade your dollars for NIS, then use those to buy the cheques."
"you have GOT to be joking! do you have ANY idea what you've just
said?!"
a small argument ensued, which resulted in me simply walking out,
with my dollars as they were. i will NOT be double charged for a non-transaction. no - fucking - way.

i spent the 10 minute walk to campus cursing the sheer retardedness of the system, and the people in it, but it wasn't enough to calm
me down by the time i got there. SSSO (at least, that's what i *think* i nick'ed her before) got upset with me for being upset, so it took us a minute before everything was calmed down enough to talk.

she's helping me out, as usual, with everything - if nothing else it was nice to be able to really talk to someone about the day. it was also important to see her before i left: she's been my
caretaker for the last 4 years, and if it wasn't for her i never would have made it.

so, after saying goodbye, i walked home, picked up my surfboard and a crown she made for me, and walked to her place. by the time i got there i was dehydrated, exhausted, sweaty and hungry (i still hadn't had breakfast), and it took lunch and plenty of liquids before we could sit and sort out an email address for her. i hope she really understands how to use it :P

once i'd left, most of the pressure was off for the day. i spent the afternoon in the air-conditioner, chilling and eating instant meals. i finally cleared and did a basic clean of my room, and sammy was kind enough to give me a ride to the airport.

t'was a fun ride; we always have tons of crap to discuss. fortunately we had time for some coffee and a snack, and we said goodbye as i
began the security procedure. which was quite funny, as the one girl was in training, and even the experienced ones normally have difficulty keeping a straight face with me ^_^

i sat and meditated for a while, listening to k's choice and just contemplating all the issues of the day, the week, the year.
an old friend, who i haven't seen since LAST passover, sat down with me. it was entertaining company - he was accompanying his two little sisters, who were extremely cute (NOT in the sexy way), and we spent the hour or so talking and laughing, which i really needed.

i had Yet Another Israeli Experience - you can't buy from the duty-free without a passport and boarding pass. not even a box
of chewing gum.
now... HOW THE FUCK DID I GET IN THERE WITHOUT THOSE THINGS IN THE FIRST PLACE? HUH?
Yet Another Retarded Policy.

the beginning of the flight was quite funny. we tried to arrange a seat swap so that i could sit next to this friend of mine, and we ended up with a seriously comlex plan, that involved about ten people switching. this would've worked out alright, except that there was one too many demands for a window-seat (3 of 'em), and so although it was a switch that would've made most of us much happier, we had to stay in the same places.

disappointing.
but i still feel that my organizational skills have dramatically
improved :D

the day before yesterday:

the flight sucked ASS. i barely slept, although the steward/ess(e)s thought i was one of the security team, so i got preferential treatment. oh, and i watched starsky and hutch, which wasn't very funny, but it was another cute ben stiller flick.
oh, yeah. the food. not really food. so much as dehydrated just-add-water crap-inna-bucket. as if i didn't have enough problems, 'cause my stomache was already doing funny things from all the stress and bad eating from the previous days.

i was completely AMAZED in johannesburg. firstly, it was 3o, which is only about 30o colder than the day before. secondly, everything went so smoothly, than it felt like i basically slid from plane to plane. everyone was polite and efficient. not quite what i'm used to.

the second flight was a BAZILLION times better. the food was decent, the people were behaved, and it was far more comfortable.

i arrived in cape town, picked up my bag, and got a big hug from the mommy. it's taken me until this morning to register that i'm ACTUALLY in cape town - everything between landing and now has seemed like a sequence of too-beautiful photos (like the faked stuff from digitalblasphemy). we drove home, had a meeting with the rabbi about funeral protocol, showered, dressed, and drove to the funeral.

oh, yes. my brother and i aren't supposed to do anything fun for the next 11 months. yeah fucking right.

the funeral was a WEIRD experience, from start to finish. i haven't seen my younger sister in many years, and while she didn't look as bad as everyone described, she didn't look so good either. her profession's been catching up to her. i also met her mom, and i've never heard a good word about this woman, who was seriously overly-friendly.

there were a lot of well-wishing people, and a few friends came too. the first eulogy, from my uncle, was really good. he employed excellent doublespeak, and it was like listening to two completely different stories at the same time. we were all quite impressed.

the second was from the rabbi, and a lot of what he said just wasn't right. he really means well, but there are some things you just can't band-aid. it's like saying that joseph stalin really wasn't such a bad guy.

i realized, as we interred the body, that i don't really harbour ill-will towards his body. it's the controller that did a bum job. leaving was a bit complicated - everyone wants to say hi, and do the whole well-wishing thing. some of it was sweet, some was really uncomfortable, and some was just plain aweful. but we smiled the sad smile (at least i HOPE that's what it looked like), and after all was said and done, we went back to the house. the evening meal
was very simple, but pleasant nonetheless, but very soon we were all completely bombed and it was bedtime all around.

yesterday:

i got up around 8.30, and i have no idea why. i arbed around for a bit, had me a jungle-oats breakfast, and then went to my sister's for a long talk. i went to my visit my brother afterwards, and got there just in time to put a stop to a really aweful sequence of events - there were just a lot of unfortunate coincidences going around, and things were getting interesting (in a very bad sort of way).

not only did we sort everything out, but we also had a serious talk about stuff, which we really needed.

everyone came over, we had some interesting discussions, and then my sister and i gave an uncle a ride to the traffic station to recover his towed car. he was supposed to meet us outside when he was done, but forgot and drove straight home, so we sat for about half an hour there before we got fed-up and phoned him...
hmmph.

we went to clear stuff from the post office, and then moved on to woodstock, where i got my phone unblocked (for FAR cheaper than in
israel). by the time we'd done some shopping, and gotten home, it was 17.30, and we were meant to be in the synagogue by 17.45 - after i'd showered and gotten dressed, i made it there JUST in time to leave... whoops. my entrance was a TAD embarrassing.

the sunset was INCREDIBLE. the sky became a rainbow, with all the palm trees silhouetted against it, the water a deep blue dimming towards the horizon...

the evening was somewhat complicated, with lots of running around, but also very nice, with lots of interesting conversations and general togetherness - the funny part of all this is that we're supposed to be mourning my father: this is the first time the family's been all together, with everyone enjoying themselves, and it's mainly because he's not there to stuff it all up...

and the food was simply AMAZING. so much good stuff, i had to taste
a tiny bit of everything to make sure i got it all - AND there were serious leftovers, so when i got the munchies later there was plenty to choose from ^_^

my brother and i spent some time together after everyone left, which
was concluded by a drive to the ATM. that fscking car (my father's) is simply amazing.

this morning:

omfg - i finally got some internet time, and my mom's pc, and the internet in south africa in general, is rediculously outdated, clunky, and bizarre. this whole country needs some serious IT therapy.

omfg - i just had breakfast. a snackwich and coffee, standing on the balcony overlooking a scene so beautiful that my eyes hurt. and i thought last night's sunset was pretty...