December 5, 2003

Alison on Aliyah:  VCR Trouble

            A significant part of my first few months here in Israel has involved a large-scale and comprehensive search for appliances.  The running debate among new immigrants here, as well as prospective immigrants still in the states, regards whether to buy appliances here or there.  Because of the difference in electrical current (Israeli appliances run on 220 volts while American products are all on 110 volts), it makes very little sense to bring most normal American appliances over here.  However, there are a few stores scattered around the east coast that sell American-made products that run on 220 volts.  They are generally more expensive than the 110-volt versions (a 25-inch television, for instance, is around $600 rather than $300 or less), but they are quite a bit less expensive than the same appliance in Israel, and are better made.

            I have spent a great deal of time researching each type of appliance and comparing costs in both places.  Although I know people who shipped every single 220-volt appliance that they could even fathom needing from America, and saved quite a bit of money, I decided to go the moderate route and buy only a few things in the states.  This means that much of my time lately has been spent scouring Jerusalem for the best deals on the appliances that I need to buy here.  I have purchased a microwave and toaster oven, and I bought a television at the duty-free store in the airport (perhaps the least well-known appliance haven among immigrants).  I am currently in the throws of decision-making about a washer and dryer.  It took me two months to find a reasonably priced and reputable VCR, but I finally bought one last week.  I was overjoyed to finally make this purchase, because I am a bona-fide videotape-holic.

            So I proudly brought my new VCR (or “video,” as they are called here) home, expecting to be watching in a matter of minutes some of the precious tapes I brought from the states.  I plugged it in, connected it to the TV, and… nothing.  Well, the clock was on, and once I put in the video it looked like it was playing, but it wasn’t on any channel I could find.  So I tried connecting the cable to the VCR and the VCR to the TV… nothing.  After an hour of searching for the channel on which the video was playing, I finally found a semblance of a picture on channel 44.  44?!?  I had no idea why.  It was only then that I tried reading the manual, which was no help.  So I sat down and tried to think the whole thing through.  Then I got angry.  Then I cried a little.  Finally I called the people from whom I bought the VCR and yelled a lot.  Nothing came of that either.  I went to bed that night furious and frustrated.

            Why did such a little thing arouse such emotion, you ask?  It wasn’t just the VCR, and it wasn’t just that I was worried I had just wasted the equivalent of $125 (there is no store in all of Israel that will give money back for a returned purchase – only store credit).  It was that buying a VCR, connecting it properly, and being able to watch a video immediately is a rather simple process in America.  In Israel, it was infinitely more complicated, and I was stupefied as to why that was.  I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person, and I am generally able to do most electronic and other minor tasks myself.  But for the life of me, I couldn’t fathom why my VCR was playing only a staticky version of my favorite video on channel 44!?!

            The next day I bought a different type of connecting cord, which only succeeded in making the TV unable to receive the cable signal.  The day after that I bought a splitter so that I could connect both the cable and the VCR directly to the TV, which did nothing.  I went to bed angry for the fourth day in a row.  The next day I decided to try a different tactic.  Shocking, I know, and generally unheard of for me – I decided to ask for help.

I called a few friends, I stopped by and asked a few of my helpful neighbors, and I even visited a few of the shopkeepers in the market with whom I have become friendly.  One of the shopkeepers called four of his friends, all of whom came directly to the store to talk through the problem with me and advise me accordingly.  One of my neighbors called a friend of his who works with electronics, and he stopped by my place to take a look at the problem as soon as he got out of work.  I also went to an electronics store, explained the entire problem (in broken Hebrew, no less), and got an assurance that the connector I finally bought would work – and if not, the owner would personally come to my house and fix it for good.  Within three hours of my first request for advice, my problem was solved.