So this month i'm changing up the format and those of you who generally read these will notice...
College is going great! I'm in a race against time this semester b/c i'm trying to finish my BA as fast as i can!! to the tune of "Under pressure...." But really- experimental psych is the worst!
For the past 2 tests i've had to go to Ramat Gan to take them. The test takes me less than an hour but the travel time is almost 4 ... so basically i have to get up at 7:00 in the morning to get to the bus station on time to catch the bus at 9:50 to get to the testing place by 11:30 to take the test at 12:00 and then i don't get home until 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. So basically test days are just that- test DAYS.... even my afternoon is only spent recovering :|
So for all of you who are interested this is the way it goes at Pearson Professional Testing Center-
When you reach the office you are already 4 and a half hours into your day. You have: taken a shower, gotten dressed, put on makeup, Davened, Eaten breakfast, taken your vitamins, packed a lunch, Taken precautions against rain, walked to the central bus station of Jerusalem, and spent 2 hours on a nauseating bus ride with a maniac driver.
In the Pearson Professional Testing Center's office:
Step 1 to receiving your test)
An elderly South-African lady shows you to a seat in the waiting room and tells you to take a rule pamphlet and read it over. The pamphlet is only as long as one of those cartoon scrolls that just keeps going and going in the Disney movies. and it all says "bla, bla, bla"... or at least that's all i can remember of it.
Step 2 to receiving your test) you raise your hand to signal that you are finished reading it.
Step 3 to receiving your test) The old lady gives you a key and tells you to put everything you have with you in a locker... although the rule book says that they are not responsible if things get stolen from it. lol
Step 4 to receiving your test) The lady sends you back to the locker to put in all your jewelry and hair clips which she has just instructed you to remove and put away. Lest you are a rich computer genious who can access information off a computer chip strategically placed into the metal holding piece in your earring. :)
don't worry it gets better.
Step 5 to receiving your test) The lady sends you back to the locker to get your passport which she conveniently forgot [memory is going or s/t] to tell you to leave out.
Step 6 to receiving your test) The lady cannot identify you by your passport picture since it's a mugshot and doesn't look like you. So she sends you back to your locker to get an alternate form of picture ID
Step 7 to receiving your test) You return with your medical insurance card, driving license, student ID, and Bus Card- b/c your confident that you don't look like yourself in any of them.
Of course she looks skeptically at each one of them, and when you explain that you're just not photogenic she just peers at you suspiciously over her granny glasses. Luckily, she believes you. "Whew... now i can cheat and take someone else's test!" big sarcastic smile :D
Step 8 to receiving your test) "WHEN AM I GOING TO TAKE THE TEST ALREADY?!" don't worry though b/c they only have to palm print you for safety 5 times on each hand.
Step 9 to receiving your test) They ask you to sit down so they can take a picture of you for identification- so that if you walk off after cheating they can hunt you down.
Step 10 to receiving your test) On the 10th try the camera still doesn't accept the picture as valid... "I told you- i'm just not photogenic"- unlike the old lady, the computer doesn't accept this answer.
Step 11 to receiving your test) The lady then grudgingly explains to you that they are actually secretly pupil printing you [what the heck does that mean?] and so this time, when you look at the camera, go really close and open your eyes really wide.
Step 12 to receiving your test) You do it and your picture looks like a fish... speaking of not being photogenic. At this point you are ready to just submit to the handcuffs and let them take you away... jail seems so much easier.
Step 13 to receiving your test) You are given your passport and other Identification cards back and asked to proceed to the testing area.
Step 14 to receiving your test) The new elderly South-African lady at the next desk takes your passport and asks you to palm print... just in case you switched with someone in the four feet between the two desks.
Step 15 to receiving your test) lady #2 checks your picture and stifles a laugh. "thank you... i'm sure that's very funny isn't it- can i please just take my test now?"
Step 16 to receiving your test) Lady #2 now graciously reexplains all the rules to you again. She's probably afraid that all you saw in the pamphlet was 'bla, bla, bla' :}
Step 17 to receiving your test) You are shown into the testing room and set up by a computer with the picture of yourself as a fish on the screen.
Breathe in breathe out.... and you take your test. But don't worry you can't leave when you are finished without being *escorted* out. You take your things out of the locker and palm print one last time to receive your grade. B"H! you passed!!!! whew... now i can go home and take a shower and go to sleep!!
College is a depressing topic... lets to to more pleasant things :)
Shabbos! first shabbos of the month i stayed in the dorm with P'ninim which is my preferred way to spend it.
The second shabbos I stayed in and ate at a friend and my teacher for a dif meal.
The third shabbos I made a girl shabbos with a friend who's parents are in America. They left her and her sister for a month so we made food and invited friends. I made shnitzel and bought doughnuts for dessert. :)
Shabbos Chanukah I went to RBS to a roommate b/c originally we planed to have a roommate shabbos with all 6 of us, but it fell through. So i went anyways with another girl in chedvas.
All of these shabbosim were really nice and beautiful. :)
A special thank you to Esti who i see almost every shabbos :}
This month I really went all out and had fun- wel... its chanukah month! I went to Katzefet with Esti and out to dinner with Mitch, and to the Aish Cumzitz with my roommate, and treated myself to lunch on the way back from my tests in Maffe Ne'eman, and ate like one hundred doughnuts in all [i'm probably exaggerating... but not by much :}] We also had a pre-chanukah cumzitz in class with two very talented musicians who came with 2 guitars and a flute. We cut the lights and lit candles all around the room. They led songs and we sang while they wove the story of Chanukah and its lessons into the music... It was a really an inspiring and powerful experience.
On the Friday that i made shnitzels i also met Adam in the Shuk... I got to show him a bit of Yafo and we walked around the shuk for about an hour. It was really nice seeing someone from the family- it reminds me of home. The birthright tour was playing a game that each kid was assigned another kid to buy things for and "admire", so we found a toystore so Adam could buy his assignee a present. So here's a shout out to Adam- Thanx for visiting!
last but not least, cause it just happened- dadada da! CHANUKAH!
The first night of chanukah we had our school chagiga. We had an elaborate meal followed by a chanukah video spoof that some really talented chedvasers made. I was in it as one of the maccabeats. lol- they asked me to be in a video a few weeks before and i just said yes, i didn't really know what they were going to do with it. They gave me and 2 other girls a twist on the maccabeats story and asked us to act it out while they filmed. So we all put on big purple sweatshirts, baseball caps, and sunglasses (outside in the dark).... We took metal ladels and serving trays as our swords and sheilds and acted it out.
The outcome was quite different than we had imagined. lol- the video was a half hour long drama with special effects. :) It ended off with a spoof song by a different group of chedvas girls about doughnuts. The girls liked it so much that they played it 3 times in a row! I have to admit that i was also crying from laughing so hard.
I'll try to figure out a way to send it home so e/o can see it. bl"n
We also had an auction and a chocolate fountain. :) that was the really yummy part. Almost better than doughnuts.
The third night I went out to dinner with Michal G, as mentioned above. We got pizza and it was cool. Then that night i went to the Aish Cumzitz with 2 friends and we bought ice cream and shivered together by the light of the old city golden menorah... well- it wasn't literally lit, but we certainly shivered.
The 7th night of Chanukah I went to the Neve Hachnosos Kalla Chanukah Chagiga, where all the Neve schools perform choirs and dances and some really talented individuals did solo acts. Some of the acts were really really good. Like the Midreshet Tehilla Dance and 2 songs were performed solo by the girls who wrote them. Also the Bnos Chava girls did a great job on their dances and Neve did a really nice ballet.
8th day of chanukah i took my second test at the Pearson Professional Center... which was today. :/ and so this is what i'm doing with my recovery time. :P
Hopefully tonight i'll be able to skype the family during lighting time. Looking forward!
Love you all!!!!
email me!! xoxo
