Finally...

So, the last stumbling block I was encountering with my apartment was getting my arnona (the bi-monthly tax) and my water bill in my name.  I haven't gotten either of these bills since I moved into my apartment. The first, second and third time I went to deal with this back in November, there was some problem with my landlords not filing their inheritance paper work correctly.  In January, they said it was all fixed.  Three more tries then and no luck.  Two attempts in February, no luck.  So in the six attempts during March and April, I also had no luck.  However 3 of those times I was nearly there, then the lines got long and the person who was helping magically stopped speaking English!  So, today I brought a "gun to this knife fight", as my friend Mark put it.  I brought Einat, and thanks to her I have paid the 6 months of past due bills and now have my name on the bills so I will actually receive them! All it took was a Hebrew speaker and the two of us complimenting her dog! It was a cute dog, so the compliment wasn't false.  What a relief that this is finally done and over with!  All before I even left for the states.  I did not want to come back to an eviction notice and/or no water in the apartment.  Gotta love this kind of success and all before 10 in the morning!

Also, I learned an interesting fact about Israeli weather yesterday.  When the sky is brown all day, that is due to sand being blown in from Africa.  When the sky is brown and it is incredibly humid, it rains mud!  I use the term rain lightly here, it more sporadically spits little droplets of mud from the sky.  I wish I had taken a picture of my sunglasses after walking in it for 5 minutes, it was funny to see all the mud spatter on them, but I forgot to and then cleaned them. Oh well!