tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29408129.post115625355919234899..comments2023-08-16T14:33:35.249+03:00Comments on Азовская русалка: Извините, вы не знаете где почта?Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13861740265127758977noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29408129.post-1156329608425165302006-08-23T14:40:00.000+04:002006-08-23T14:40:00.000+04:00Leslie my dear,I've had SO many similar experience...Leslie my dear,<BR/><BR/>I've had SO many similar experiences here in Jerusalem where the smallest, simplest-seeming practicalities become huge messes. I can totally relate to that story -- you know, I kept blaming Israel and its slow bureaucracy at first, but then a wise woman told me, "It's not being in Israel that makes your life difficult, it's being a foreigner." I thought about that a lot, and I agree that it's true. I still think there are some things particular to Israeli life that are super-tough to get used to: e.g., bus drivers who drive away while your foot is still on the step without giving you an extra 10 seconds to decide whether to get on or not ... because even if you fall and you sue them, it will cost you loads in lawyer's fees and it's super unlikely that you'll win ... e.g. no one being able to give me directions ANYWHERE since all the streets in Jerusalem are winding around and around the mountains upon which it was built and there's no way to say go straight and turn left most of the time ... so they just say "yashar yashar" (straight, straight) and if you were meant to go left, so they say "yashar smolah" (keep going straight on to the left ..." amusing to tell these stories to friends back home, but infuriating to live through them!<BR/><BR/>I could go on and on, but really I think that being a foreigner in any country is just TOUGH. You don't know how the systems work, you don't know the language fluently, you don't know where things are, and to top it off, the people around you who are supposed to know these things either don't or act like they don't -- so unhelpfulness abounds.<BR/><BR/>But from experience it IS possible to get your bearings eventually ... you just need lots of patience. Any idea where to buy some? I sure could use it too. :-)<BR/><BR/>Tseluyu tebya, immeninitsa!<BR/>DianaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29408129.post-1156303076627623932006-08-23T07:17:00.000+04:002006-08-23T07:17:00.000+04:00Happy 22nd Birthday, Leslie!! Karen, Steve, Andre...Happy 22nd Birthday, Leslie!! <BR/><BR/>Karen, Steve, Andrew and MollyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29408129.post-1156293439429013022006-08-23T04:37:00.000+04:002006-08-23T04:37:00.000+04:00Wow. Just ... wow. And I thought I had an issue wi...Wow. Just ... wow. And I thought I had an issue with the Air Force Academy postal facility letting Travis's box (with all his important electronic stuff in it) sit buried in a pile in the corner for 10 days!<BR/><BR/>On the other hand ... Russians can get pension payments at the post office. Hmmm ... If this happened in the U.S., the post offices in places such as Norwalk would be totally swamped by little old ladies driving Buicks uptown and jockeying for the six parking places on Whittlesey. Kind of boggles the mind, doesn't it?<BR/><BR/>Didn't a single kind Russian point out that you were too young for the pension-payments line?<BR/><BR/>And, I take it that the Russians could use a few lessons from Cedar Point on how to fun lines effectively. Clearly, if they had 15 roller-coasters people paid big-rubles to ride, they'd know how to do lines.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, I see security guards the world over are cut from the same cloth ...<BR/><BR/>MCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com