Swirling Thoughts #63 – getting used to the system...or just delirious from the heat

A new twist on an old experiment
The khamsin (scorching hot desert wind, remember?) brought with it zvuvim (flies). Zvuvim seeking refuge in my ulpan class. I tried holding my water bottle in front of my face thinking they would maybe see their reflection in it and be scared as my teacher explained how it is ‘lo normali’ for it to be so hot this time of year. Not normal, yes, I agree.

Zvuvim and also mosquitoes
In our family Bob and Asher heroically take all the mosquito bites. Maybe the rest of us get one or two but the boys really bear the brunt of it – ten to twelve bites at a time each in high mosquito season. Last night with the hot winds blowing tiny mosquitoes in through the screen and Bob nowhere to be found, they feasted on me. And Barbara. I guess they got lost on the way to Asher’s room. Or maybe they, too, were delirious.

You listening, O?
I went to the Kupat Cholim to do my blood work. It was just before 1pm. Seems blood can only be drawn between 7:30 and 9:30am (the two nurses who draw the blood were there but were no longer able to draw blood since it was past blood drawing hours). And, of course, I need the referral/scrip for the blood work re-written by my Kupat doctor. So I walked in to the office where the Kupat doctor was sitting and asked if she wouldn’t mind re-writing the scrip on Kupat paper. She gave me an earful about how her workday was finished (now it was 1pm) and how did I not make an appointment to come get this scrip re-written? Thankfully, she wrote it anyway. I went back to the nurses to make sure I didn’t need an appointment for the morning. They said no – I’ll just have to wait on line. Yes, that sounds about right.

Prayers ARE answered quicker here
Just yesterday I was saying how at this point I’d pay any price for hot lunch availability at my kids’ school. I don’t know if I can handle much more pre-dawn preparation of fishsticks, noodles, and pancakes. And I can’t exactly picture Bob handling it once the baby is born…And so what do you know – one of the four emails that came through in Hebrew this morning was then re-sent to me in English (no Google translator necessary!) and it read like an answer to my prayer:

In recent days we have received several price estimates for hot meals. In the beginning of [this] week, we will choose the best supplier in terms of quality, kashrut and price and will publicize the menu and costs later in the week.

Woo hoo! I can’t wait.