This week was mainly characterized by work, studies and things to-do. Monday was the first day in which I started to feel like a routine is coming, with me working on the lectures to be given later in the week, listening to last.fm and generally "working". Routine is usually an underestimated concept. People find themselves trying to escape routine, go on vacations, travel to distant parts of the world, and, sometimes, even leave to another country to seek a new life. And what is this "new life" if not yet another "routine"? On the other hand, when your life gets into turmoil as ours have been in the last few months, routine is just the medicine the doctor prescribes. However, this week proved to be as far from routine as possible.
On Tuesday the remnants of the blessed routine were still here. However, on Wednesday school started, and both of us found ourselves trying to keep up with the pace of things. Bear in mind that we had to move to our new apartment, which, aside from the kitchen, was completely empty. We spent most of the evenings this week shopping for the new apartment in (vain) attempt of transforming it from an apartment to a home. We went to Kroger on Tuesday evening, spent most of Thursday evening in Wal-Mart, and around 4 hours at IKEA on Saturday. We also visited our first ever garage sale and purchased a used chest of drawers for $25. Totally we spent around $1000, most of them on IKEA products, and, as you know, IKEA products require assembly. So, we spent most of what was left of Saturday building the things we brought home (up to 25Kgs a piece), and most of Sunday morning building the things we requested delivery for (two pieces at around 40Kgs each). Now at least we have a cupboard in the walk-in closet instead of the two shelves and hangers' rack it came equipped with.
Another notable thing is service in America. We, Israelis, tend to think of America as a place where good service is defined. This is true, but also, surprisingly, untrue, at the same time. We met a few examples of good service, mainly at the bank, the post, and the Original Mattress Factory from which we purchased our bed. All of them promised and delivered on time, and if they made a mistake, they corrected it without giving us any problem, and free of charge. However, service people here are so s-l-o-w. To say that they are slow is even to picture them as being quick to respond and resourceful. They are neither. I already told you about the power outages last week. Here are two examples for their lack of ability: they haven't even registered me into the university systems, and the Roadrunner / Warner Brothers cable company have not installed our cable yet, more than a week after we registered for their service. By the way, these things are not just frustrating; the former also means that I don't have a key to my office, a login for the systems, and most probably I will not be paid at the beginning of next month.
Road Runner service people, in addition, demonstrated the most unbelievable amount of inaptitude: first, they scheduled our installation to Saturday. Then, they called on Wednesday to tell us that they will be coming, "as planned" (so was the message they left in the voicemail), on Thursday. Then, they called on Thursday, after the time slot for their arrival had already started, to say that they are not allowed to dispatch a technician for the installation, because there are still internet outages in the area as a result of the storm and power outages from the week before. They rescheduled to next Saturday! This may mean (I'm not sure as I am not certain that I fully follow their obscure logic) that they are still working on the outages until that time. Therefore, there are probably people who are stuck without internet connection for over two weeks (first the power outage and now the cable outage).
We met another bizarre thing at IKEA. It appears that Americans are unable to say negative things. For example, if they have sold out a product, they will not say: "sorry, we currently don't have this product in stock". The product tag reads: "Sorry, this product is oversold". Meaning, we're selling this product so well that temporarily we have oversold it. We're so good at selling it, that it's not our fault that you – customers – are buying more than we can replenish.
Work was a bit of a rollercoaster as well last week. As I mentioned earlier, this was the first week of school. As a result I lectured my two classes twice this week. The outcome of the four lectures I gave is not as satisfactory as I want it to be. I feel that I have too many problems with my oral English skills. I stutter too much, I use the incorrect terms or tenses, and generally I do not deliver the material as well as I expect myself to. It brings me down. And it stresses me out, which means that by the next time I will make even more mistakes. I can't seem to find a way of breaking this magic circle. If it doesn't get better really soon I'll have to reconsider this job arrangement here. On another note I finally had my talk with Kelly. It seems that he expects me to be his right-hand in founding a new laboratory and raising new projects. If it wasn't clear enough he even mentioned that I should become the lab's "system engineer", and this is exactly what Eli told me would happen. Kudos, Eli. On one hand, this is something that I know; on the other, did I come here to repeat what I have done back home? If so, I think I prefer doing it while working with my friends and having my family nearby. And that's another blue note: I have basically no one to talk to and absolutely no friends here and I can't see how this may improve in the near future. As someone who is a "faculty", but not a doctor, and a Ph.D. student with no time for classes, I have absolutely no peers. None. Zilch. Therefore the chances of transforming a peer into a friend are not slim to none. They are ZERO.
And by the way, for those of you who survived so far, SHANA TOVA!!!
Summary:
· 1 week.
· 3 shops.
· Dozens of products.
· Circa $1000 less.
· 1 apartment yet to become a home.
· 6 days to a new internet connection (until further notice).
· American service people are stupid.
· IKEA cannot admit a failure.
· 4 lectures down, too many to go.
· Self assessment of my performance so far: 50%.
· New friends: 0.
· Chances of making a new friend: 0.0%.
· Gloom-o-meter (AKA mood-o-meter, but with high score when gloomy): 75%.
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