Week 1 Summary

Here are the implications of my first week at Google:

My shoulders hurt and my back is almost broken from carrying my new laptop to and from work.

I have some blisters that refuse to heal from walking to and from work, 30 minutes every direction.

My arms are full with bruises as I bump into so many people on rush hours in the crowded city of Dublin.

My ass hurts from sitting for 3 hours at the Immigration police waiting to get a Certificate of Registration card that looks exactly like an ID card, but says at the back: This is not an Identity Card. And they got my details wrong: they changed my name and made me 2 years older. what the hell will happen if a policeman will check my certificate and see I'm supposed to be 30 according to it? He might think it's a fake one!
Ohhh, and almost an hour at the social security offices.

I have a cold from walking in the rain. With umbrella. No jacket.

Lack of sleep. It just feels that way. Now that I'm working again, I feel like I need to sleep more than I used to when I was unemployed. Besides, I don't feel like my back is healing as well, because of the lousy mattress we have in our apartment. In Israel I had my own wonder mattress. Now we have the cheapest mattress the owner could find. which probably wasn't that cheap. After all he paid in Euros.

And of course, I'm broke.
But somehow there's always money a pint or 2 everytime we are going to the pub.
Some of my last month expenses:
British Airways' (expensive) ticket to Dublin (which will be reimbursed);
New shoes for work, paid 100 (!!) Euros for the above-mentioned certificate (which will be reimbursed);
A new mobile. I know I cannot allow myself luxuries, but I'm an Israeli, I cannot function without a mobile. In spite of the fact that I don't really use it, I must grant people the opportunity to reach me all day. Doesn't matter if I'm broke;
New pants. In order to justify this purchase I will state that it was for work as well.

I'll get my first paycheck and the reimbursements on the 25th of August! I'll have to use the Israeli bank account for everything, and the money in it is about to evaporate by the 2nd of August.
Or maybe just ask Dan for some money... Haven't asked someone for money for over 10 years...
Isn't life wonderful as a poor girl?

So as you probably already figured out, Israelis like to complain. A lot.

But I, contrary to other Israelis, can also distinguish some positive aspects of the situation:

I start working on Mondays. I always thought that working on Sundays is useless. And at last someone actually agrees. (And for the moment, lets drop the fact I also work Fridays, OK?)

It is so nice to see the smiling face of the man who hands out the morning papers at the same street corner, and greets me every morning and wishes me a wonderful day.

I met so many interesting people, from at least 15 different nationalities!

I become even more eco-friendly than before.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of free beer in the canteen (Where we have breakfast and lunch everyday) on each Friday's TGIF. And after drinking some, we go to the pub to drink some more.

Playing X-BOX, Foosball (Still learning), Pool (trying to, anyway), and the possibility to choose any other game, such as SP2 (t, Table-Tennis, and more (the rumor says there is or are PS3 somewhere).
If I don't feel like playing I can always sit on cushion seat (pouffe). Or on the massage sofa.

And....
I do have a google.com account, which is priceless!

What is Home?

Is it the place where I grew up?
Is it the apartment where I live?

Is it the apartment I rent or the one my parents paid mortgage for?

And what happens if I feel like a guest at my parent's place, and my place feels like home, but not quite yet?
And what about a situation where my childhood home is sold and I haven't been at my parents' new place yet? Should I consider it home? It doesn't feel that way.

Either way, how can home be called home when I practically packed it all into 2 not-so-big suitcases??... And close the door behind me the same way as I used to when I went to work or just out, knowing I'll be back within few hours?

And is it normal to just enter a new place and all of a sudden feel like that's the home I was searching for over the last few years?

Because it feels like I found home, at last.

News Flash

Yes, I submitted my resignation letter a month ago, and I'm not working there since last Thursday. It feels wonderful to be unemployed! Even though I wake up at around 7:30 every morning for a different doctor, meeting at the bank or breakfast with friends.

Yeah, I'm busy! If you want to meet me (in addition to all the 20 doctors I met), you must schedule. But I'm afraid it's too late, my time here is almost up... Well, by HERE I mean Israel.

I'm leaving in 6 days, for as long as possible!

On Monday I'll be heading to Dublin, Ireland. I'll be working and living there, and of course I'll be joining Dan, at last!

Right now my apartment is one big mess. Suitcases, bags and cloths that need to be washed are thrown on the floor, along with some dust and a bit more dust... And few pairs of shoes. I have so many papers on every table, and every time I need to look for my mobile phone, I must call it from my land line...

So of course I'm all excitements and stressed at the same time (WIll I be able to pack everything in the 2 suitcases? Will I be able to meet everybody by monday? etc...), and can't wait till monday comes!

How to Make Yourself Feel Good (By Helping Others)

Today's tip is totally non-selfish one. Satisfaction is guarantied!

My mom was moving to another apartment few weeks ago and all the junk I stored at her place found its way to mine...
Unfortunately I don't have such a big apartment, so I had to do something with all that stuff. So I took all my NatGeo and traveller Magazines to work and asked people to take as many as they want. It was all gone within less than an hour!

Now for the big stuff, all my books. Since I don't want to store too many of them and not able to take too many of them to Ireland (Read more about Ireland in my next post), I decided to donate to the Library where I used to spend hours since I was at 3rd grade. So I went there with 2 bags full with books, some are completely new and I never read them, and even those I read looks quite new.
The women in the library were so thrilled and excited that they called the manager so she can meet the nice girl that decided to donate so many nice books to the library.

I always used to think people donate old, non-wanted books to libraries. Apparently it doesn't happen a lot.

when I was on the way home, I decided to go over the books I decided to keep and donate some more to the library.

Whoever reads this: please do not throw away books! forward it to others or libraries.

What a way to end up the consultation month.
Hope it was useful!