Day 180 (Moving II)

Huh, it's been half a year. I think "Moving II" is an appropriate celebration.
I finally got through to our internet provider today. (In Israel, you need two separate companies to get internet: one for the infrastructure and one for the internet. Whatever that means.) Yesterday, the infrastructure guy from Bezeq came (bless him for rearranging his schedule for me) and hooked up some wires. When he was done, he told me very clearly that I now had infrastructure, but no internet: I had to call my internet provider (Smile012) to make that happen.

I couldn't get through to Smile012 until today, and when I did, they told me that was crazy-talk: the technician should have provided me with a modem/router, and as soon as I hooked into that, I just had to enter my 012 username and ID, and I'd be good to go. But the modem/router comes from Bezeq, not 012. So I called Bezeq (siiiiiiiigh) and totally stumped the initial service representative I talked to. He transferred me to a nice Russian lady who confirmed that all I needed was a Bezeq modem/router. Would I like that shipped to me, or would I rather pick it up from their store near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station?

(In between all of these desperate calls and pressing the wrong button in the automated menu and so having the automated system hang up on me, 9:15 rolled around and BSM put his foot down. "Bye," he told me. "Bye. Bye! BYE!" Poor kid was wondering why he was still cooped up in the house 45 minutes after we should have walked over to daycare, so I took him in the stroller and finished my calls while walking.)

Husbinator absolutely had to be able to work by Tuesday afternoon, and ideally by Monday evening, so I took BSM and off we went to the Bezeq store. Since I don't like driving when I don't know my way around or when parking is tricky, we took the bus. (Though before that, I made a very quick call to the electric company and set up our account. That, thank G-d, took less than five minutes.) I'm also happy that I now know how to get to Jerusalem via public transit. This is useful. I found the store without incident and got the router. Rather than have tuna-on-rye (with cucumber!) for lunch, I popped into the central bus station and BSM and I shared a nice falafel pita.

As long as I was in Yerushalayim, I would have liked to wander around, but I didn't want to be exhausted by the time Husbinator showed up with our van full of stuff, so I headed back. This time, I paid close attention to the bus route. Behind the central bus station, Yirmiyahu, Bar Ilan, Ramat Eshkol, Pisgat Ze'ev, Towna. That's where the bus goes. (I wonder where it goes after the point where I got off. I should check Egged's site.) I also saw the mini-mart in my little town, so now I know where that is. Not quite walking distance, but still important to locate.

Husbinator and the guy from the kibbutz showed up with all of our stuff in the back of a van. Bless the kibbutz guy. Bless him, bless him, bless him. He made things so much easier. Wow. It took less than half an hour for the three of us to unload the van.

Later, Husbinator took BSM out for a nice long walk/visit to our friends here, giving me a glorious break. After a day and a half alone with BSM, a staircase, and no baby gate, I needed some time alone.

While Husbinator davened Mincha at the shul next door, I figured I'd keep working with BSM on the location of his nose. (On the bus to Jerusalem, I took the opportunity to work on his English by asking about 10 times where his nose was, and showing him each time. He didn't seem to mind, but didn't really seem into it, either, so I got bored.) "Where's your nose?" I started off. And BSM touched his nose. Just like that. Who's my clever baby? Who's so clever? BSM! Yay! He seemed pleasantly surprised by how excited I was.

I asked him a few more times, to gauge how likely it was that BSM would totally fail to react if I tried to show off for Husbinator. BSM touched his nose each time, so when Husbinator came home, we showed off for him. Husbinator was just as impressed as I was. Yay. Then, Husbinator asked, "Where's Abba's nose?" Tricky, no? BSM did pretty well, though: he touched my nose. We corrected that I'm Ema, not Abba, but BSM definitely knows the difference between "Ema/Abba" and "BSM/you." Ah, this kiddie! I am so proud of him :D