Day 10 – eeer, Vood you like ze special???

The buses here are great but I had to order a taxi this morning to make sure I got to the doctor on time.  They don’t call them taxis, or “munit” or anything normal though.  Nope – my friend informed me they are called a “special”.  Yep, you have to call up some strange man and order a special.  I’m not sure about you but the image that springs to mind is dodgy Israeli taxi driver coming round to give some sort of tantric massage.  I felt like a right tit doing that, but he showed up quickly saying he had waited so long that he had time to grab a sandwich (!).  Unlike the rest of the country, they don’t try to screw you here.  Very refreshing.

The tipat chalav nurse (nurse who checks on you during and post-pregnancy, and also on new baby) was lovely but very brisk, saying that one normally has to have an appointment to spend time with her.  I did explain that the Doctor had asked me to have standard tests and it was nothing to do with me, but anyhow.  She made me a “Proper” appointment for one month from now.  I told her that going on my last pregnancy there is a good chance that the baby might not hold out ‘til then but she’s going on holiday, and apparently there is no other nurse in the entire town I can see.  Let’s hope Baby 2 doesn’t rock up early then, or require any special attention, as they have hardly any details on me.   But at least they don’t treat you like a medical case just because you have a small person growing inside you, which I rather like.

We traipse round in the heat for 3 hours looking for a place to live.  No luck, every place has something we don’t like.  Still, have to start somewhere and at least we have an idea of what things cost.  Jojo makes lots of friends with Israeli kids but the problem is, they are not used to seeing kids like him with his blonde cherubic looks.  They sort of don’t realise he is a person.  Several times the sellers have had to reprimand their well-meaning (but slightly over-enthusiastic) children that he is not a “buba” (doll). One of them stole his shoes off his feet and hid them in his toy cupboard.  But he seems to be holding his own, he just stares at them and backs away if they get violent.  Good approach to crazy people in life, in my opinion.

Went on a girls’ night out to local restaurant and met some lovely people.  It’s interesting the type of person the North attracts.  I have met many cultured and educated people here.  So far, we are the only (young) Brits.