ok, as usual, i'm really behind on this thing.. but i thought i'd tell a couple of stories that have happened in the past week..

so last friday, i had my first cockroach!  it was a blast.. really enjoyed the whole experience.  i must admit that for about 5 very intense minutes, i had a sudden and irrepressible urge to go back to the states.  but luckily that passed.  i am not a big fan of bugs, rats, snakes, etc.. so i was not pleased to hear from most of my israeli friends that this cockroach will most certainly not be my last.  of course, all sava wanted to do was bat it around and play with it.  i screamed for about 10 minutes, called everyone i knew within a 100-mile radius, and sat and prayed that it would just decide to walk out on its own.  of course, that did not occur.  so i put a glass over it, breaking one of its very long antennae in the process (i think it screamed also at that point).  my intention at that point was to leave it there for at least the night, or until someone could come over and deal with it for me.  i must admit that it wasn't easy to work on the computer with this damn thing pacing around under its glass right at my feet.  and of course, sava kept pawing at the glass, trying to knock it over.  it was at that precise moment that my mom called.. i whined that i was ready to go home.. she laughed.. i laughed.. then i realized the problem hadn't taken care of itself.

meanwhile, i was IMing with a few friends who were trying to help me.. one was telling me to stop being such a pussy and just flush it, another was emailing me helpful links to news articles discussing people who had swallowed cockroaches.  all suggestions were quite helpful.. and i found myself wondering how i could have found such good and witty friends! :)  anyway, i still left it under glass for a while and just left the room with sava for a few hours.. when i came back, the damn thing was scritching and scratching at the glass and i knew there was no way i was going to be able to sleep in the same room with the thing.  so finally i screwed up my courage, stuck a folder under the glass, raced it to the bathroom, STAT!, and flushed it.  it was so big, it almost caught a foothold on the side of the bowl.. but the 8 flushes i promptly initiated were just too much of a tidal wave for the guy.. and he waved goodbye, screaming the whole way.  it's been a week now, and i STILL can't put my tush on the potty without checking to make sure the guy isn't sitting there in the bowl, waiting to exact his revenge.  haven't seen him yet...

what else.. oh, so on monday, i went to meet a woman who wanted me to do some babysitting for her.  there's a great listserv here, called Janglo (jerusalem anglo protexia) where lots of people send in emails requesting information, work, help, etc.. about all kinds of things.  so i answered her request for someone to look after her daughter for a couple of days a week, and i thought it would be great because the daughter is in first grade and of course only speaks hebrew.. so it's a great way for me to learn.. although it's hard to communicate with her so far, so i was continually hoping that she wasn't requesting permission to set the house on fire and i wasn't saying "yes, yes" with no clue what she was saying.  anyway, i told the woman i would walk over to the daughter's school to meet them both there, to get acquainted and all.. and when i looked on the map, it looked like a pretty simple 25-minute walk.  and for the first 10 minutes, it was indeed quite nice.  i brought sava with me because i figured it would be nice exercise for her and i'd already left her alone a lot that day.  so we walked along this very busy street.. sava was a little freaked, but we were making our way.

then, all of a sudden, the damn street turned into a highway!  cars going 90 mph, the sidewalk vanished.. suddenly it was just cars, pavement, bushes, and me and sava.  it was a nightmare.  i had to wait for a group of cars to pass before i would make a break for it and run into the street to make a little progress before the next batch of cars came.  i picked up sava, of course, because she was paralyzed with fear.. and i couldn't see an end to the madness.  needless to say, it took a bit longer to get there, and by the time we did, we were both frazzled and exhausted.  i guess i won't take that route again.  so we went back to the woman's house, which was another 20 minutes away by bus, and i was wishing to god that i hadn't brought sava.. it's happened frequently that i take her with me thinking it will be a nice little walk/adventure/what have you.. but then i get stuck far away from home, it gets busy and overwhelming for her, she freaks out, and then i know i've added another traumatic experience to her book.  blech, i feel terrible.  so when we finally left the woman's house, i was unwilling to get back on a bus with her (which freaked her out all the more), and i didn't want to spend the money on a cab.. so i just pulled out my trusty map and we started a'walkin'.  i made sure to take back streets this time, but it took us almost an hour to get home.. and by the time we got to my street, she was dragging her feet and so tired she clearly just wanted to lay down right there.  at least she slept that night! :)  needless to say, i imagine i won't take this babysitting job.

ok, i have to go clean my apartment, i'll write more probably tomorrow...