I attended today's meeting about various installation considerations for the kibbutz's PV system. Disclaimer: I only understood about half of what was said. Disclaimer's disclaimer: I generally understand closer to 70%-90% of what's said (depending on the conversation); this outlier was due to mumbling, excessively fast talking, multiple people talking at once, and jargon. However, even with the language barrier, my mind was blown. I know that Israelis are often aggressive, especially in negotiations. Very, very aggressive. By American standards, Israelis are downright rude (but I strongly maintain that that is silly: you can't judge one culture by another culture's norms). Nevertheless, I somehow thought that a professional meeting would be, well, professional. By American standards. Or at least somewhat professional.
As you may have guessed by now, the meeting did not remotely resemble an American business meeting. Somehow, I wasn't tipped off by the casual invitation of one of the five participants that I just sit in on a decision-making meeting where the fates of hundreds of thousands of shekalim are being decided. I still wasn't prepared for how different this would be when two of the participants called five minutes after the meeting was to have started and mentioned they'd be 20 minutes late. It wasn't until they showed up 35 minutes later and all hell broke loose that I realized that Israelis are Israelis, both in the bazaar and in the business meeting.
The yelling! The passion! The guy walking out in the middle of yelling as the other guy was getting ready to respond! The fact that no one was upset that the guy was walking out: they just wanted to know why he wasn't offering to bring anyone else a glass of water. The fact that the guy he kept accusing of "being on the wrong side" nonchalantly asked for a cup of water, and the first guy nonchalantly brought it, just to resume yelling at him less than a minute later. The fact that with all the yelling, they were using endearing nicknames for each other. The complete lack of indication that a conclusion had been reached for any of the myriad of points they were yelling about before moving on to the next topic. The fact that everyone seemed to feel that it had been an incredibly productive meeting, and let's sign the contract by Sunday. The, "Wait, Sunday's Purim. Let's say next Wednesday, then." Mind. Blown.
After the meeting, I thanked Eitan for inviting me and asked when I could start working with the electricians. He said it's not up to him, it's up to a guy named Zev. This didn't come as the complete shock that it could have, because John told me a few days ago that while Eitan is the top kibbtuznik electrician, there's someone named Zev who comes in 2-3 days per week who is the actual Head Electrician. Still, less than cool, and I didn't have time to pursue it because I had to run to take BSM to the appointment I scheduled yesterday.
Unfortunately, my mind was so blown by the PV meeting which started half an hour late that I missed BSM's medical checkup again. Granted, we had set it for "this afternoon" and I was there by 3:30, but the clinic does close at 4 on Tuesdays, not 5 like I had thought. I feel terrible for standing up Devorah twice now. Luckily, I met her at the daycare as I was picking up BSM, so I could apologize profusely in person. I also told her that he last had shots at 6 months old, and she said that's fine then, because he's not due for more until he's a year old. She'd still like to weigh him and have a look at him, though. We'll be in touch next week. Siiiiiigh... I still had a productive day yesterday, and even today, but it really bums me out that I missed an appointment with Devorah twice, now.
At dinner, Tamara asked how my Work Quest is going, so I told her. I hope she works some of her magic and tells me to go somewhere and suddenly it will All be Worked Out. I like it when that happens. If not, I'll keep harassing Eitan, and maybe find the person in charge of doling out work assignments, too.
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