In December, I posted this blog after my last job ended. I wrote that while one door was closing, I saw several other doors on the verge of opening. The period has been both exciting and a bit scary – scary, because we don’t want to be (can’t afford to be) a single-income family, and exciting because, as I mentioned in Doors Opening blog, I am feeling very optimistic about some of the possibilities that I see in turning my recently-found passion for writing into a full-time career move.
I had also mentioned in that blog that I was toying with the idea of starting to work as a freelancer – I really enjoy the flexibility that it would allow and the extra time I would have with the kids. I have been exploring this possibility much more and I think that very soon I will officially declare “Self-Employed” status and working on some freelance projects.
I have a couple of possibilities that are on the horizon – in writing and in Sales and Marketing, although until anything is definite, I’d rather not go into details just yet. A lot of very encouraging feedback and suggestions will hopefully be going into play very soon.
I have also completed 4 of 6 meetings in a course to be a guide at Neot Kedumim – Israel’s biblical botanical nature reserve (check out the website here). Once the course is finished and I “tag along” a few times with some of the more experienced guides when they lead groups, I am very hopeful that this will start providing me with a wonderful freelance income – even just few hours each week.
But for all of the possibilities, the potentials, the hopefullys and the maybes looming on the near horizon, today I stepped through the first of many newly Open Doors in the next stage of my life. I have gone back to school to finish my Bachelor’s degree.
Quick background time: When I graduated high school, I did what was pretty much expected of all of my friends, and the kids that I knew and hung out with – I went to college. My grades in high school were consistently underwhelming, so it took the intervention of a family friend to help me be accepted to the University of Maryland, College Park. I had a wonderful time there – I majored in Hillel (the Jewish Student Center where I hung out) with a minor in late-night television and partying whenever I could.
It was the period of my life when I lived on my own for the first time, worked jobs not for spending money but for living expenses, was basically responsible for myself (not as successfully as I wish in retrospect that I had been). More importantly, I also met a number of very good friends with whom I am still very close to this day.
I wouldn’t trade my time at College Park for anything in the world, but the bottom line was that for all of the positive that came out of the experience, I really had no business being in college at the time. I had been an exceptionally mediocre student in high school when I had parents there to sit on my head to get some homework and studying done. Left to my own devices away at college, with my horrible study habits (or lack thereof), attending class simply wasn’t high on my list of priorities. It amazes me to this day that I even lasted the 2 and a half years that I did before being booted.
After my unsuccessful foray into higher education, I worked for a couple of more years in the States (Atlanta, Ga. to be exact) and then moved to Israel. I enjoyed 2 years of learning at a yeshiva (institute of Jewish study) which was great for me because the studies there for not for grades, or degrees, but rather for the sake of learning Jewish texts, laws and philosophy.
After serving for a year in IDF, and working before and after my army time, I decided that it was time to go back to university, and I was accepted to Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan (a suburb of Tel Aviv). My major was Land of Israel Studies, which primarily entails archaeology and Israeli history from Biblical through modern periods.
I was older at this point, and more ready to be a student. My study habits still weren’t great, but they weren’t so bad either. The biggest difficulty that I had was the language. My Hebrew was pretty fluent, but studying in it as a second language – listening to lectures, taking notes, reading academic articles and books, writing papers and taking exams – was a whole new proverbial ball game. To make it even more difficult on myself, I decided to write all papers and do all exams in Hebrew, unless the professor was a native English speaker. Over the first couple of years, my grades were decent, but not great. Then I started really getting the hang of things, and my grades started improving significantly.
After a couple of years, I got married, and started working full-time which allowed me the time just for a few classes each semester, so the degree was dragging along. When I started working in Incoming Tourism, my busy season was from about a month before exams started in June until a month after they finished in August. So I had to choose between doing what was needed to stay in school and supporting my family. Family was paramount, and in the spring of 2005 I simply stopped going to classes.
What made this especially hard for me was that I had discovered a love for the studies in the Bible department, which I had declared as my minor. I had even spent a couple of years teaching TaNaCH, which is the initials for the 24 books of the Jewish Bible – standing for Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (the Writings).
But I had to work, and tour operations – particularly for the American market, is not a “student-friendly” line of work.
Return to the present: over the past couple of months, while I have been looking for work, and especially aiming towards freelancing, Sharon and I realized that this may be the perfect time to look into getting back into school and finally finishing this damn degree which has been eluding me (as though I were the completely innocent victim) for nearly 30 years.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I went to Bar Ilan University, did what I had to to do to request returning to my studies and was told that I would have an answer within 2 weeks. I also determined how many classes I still need in order to graduate, and even looked into switching around my major and minor. In the office of the TaNaCH department, I sat down with the secretary and looked at which courses were available second semester of this year which would help me meet my requirements, and came up with 4 classes, all of which are offered on Thursdays.
The two weeks came and went without an answer, and second semester began this week. I went to the campus today in the hopes that I would be allowed to renew my studies, and I figured that even without having an answer yet, it would be good at least attend the 4 classes that I am hoping to take this semester. The first thing that I did this morning was to go to the office responsible for my request to be reinstated. The woman there told me that I have been approved and went through with me step-by-step what the necessary procedures are now for making it all official – paying tuition, getting my student ID card, etc. I’ll take care of that next week – today I need to get to class.
I have decided switch my major and minor, and the degree that I hope to have after 3 or 4 semesters will be in TaNaCH and my minor will be Land of Israel Studies. I have 4 classes to attend this semester, plus I am planning (hoping) to register for 2 additional courses of independent study. It is very possible that by the end of next year, I will have finished all of the requirements and be a college graduate.
Best if all, I really enjoyed the four lectures today.
Whether or not I ever actually use the degree is irrelevant. There is a good chance that I will, but at this point, who knows? I do know that just having the piece of paper will make job hunting a little bit easier, and I truly love the Bible Studies and would consider going back fro further degrees at some point.
What matters for right now is that what was expected of me and hoped for on my behalf – by family, friends, and most of all, myself – now has a fresh chance to actually happen. When something is really important, circumstances might delay it for a while, but there’s no such thing as too late in fulfilling the dream.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
I have been debating with myself for the last couple of hours whether or not to write this up and to post it. I think that I’ve decided to go ahead with it (if you’re reading this, then I guess that means we know what I decided).
I wanted to give Sharon a little surprise today by cleaning the windows in our living room and kitchen both inside and out. I got the outsides of the living room done before the rain started, and after washing the insides I went to the kitchen windows. Now came the tricky part. Our kitchen windows face behind the building, with a small service porch (about 2 feet wide) between the window and the rear wall of our building. It’s not really that serviceable (in spite of the fact that is called a service porch), and the only way to get onto it is by climbing through the window (originally it was where the clothes line was, and that has been out of use since long before we moved in to the apartment and the wires are all broken).
So I climbed through the window onto this service porch with my paper towels and window cleaner ready to attack the much accumulated dirt on the window and I closed the window in order to reach all of it.
BIG mistake. Huge! One for the all-time “Asher Screw-Up” record books.
Intellectually, I knew that the window clicks closed and has to be opened from the inside. I have known that since we moved into this apartment nearly 5 years ago. I’ve known it with other similar style windows in other apartments where I have lived.
Yet my brain conveniently forgot this little tidbit until after I had cleaned the windows (very nicely, I might add) and was ready to go back inside.
Out of the rain. Out of the cold. And to where there was food for me to grab before I had to pick up my 9 year-old daughter from school in 20 minutes.
In a word – Shit!
Of course, since I never would have thought that I'd need my cell phone for cleaning the windows, it was in the house (being nice and warm and probably laughing its apps off at me). So I couldn’t call Revital to tell her to take the bus home instead of waiting for me, so that she could let me in. I also couldn’t call any of our friends who live in the area, or call Sharon to have her call friends whose numbers she has that I don’t.
What I could, and did do, was try to tap on the kitchen window of our across-the-hall neighbor, whose kitchen window is adjacent to ours. Since he wasn’t home, I relied on my back-up plan of waiting and hoping that somebody would come around behind our building soon. While there are several parking spaces behind the building, they are not used as much as the ones in front of the building and very few people are usually hanging out behind the building. Occasionally some of the local kids do play back there, but today was a cold, rainy windy day. This weather is ideal for Israel, but not so great for enticing the kids to come outside and play and help a poor schlemiel get back into his apartment.
So I waited. And I got pretty well soaked. I watched the time that I was supposed to pick up Revital pass on my watch, and even though I couldn’t hear my phone ring from out on that porch, I had no doubt that it was ringing and that she was trying to reach me. I started to wonder if I would get out of there in time to pick up Limor an hour and a quarter later. Most of all, I passed the time trying to decide if I should be laughing or crying about this predicament. It certainly was unlike anything I have ever faced before, and while part of me was thinking about what a great blog this would make, another part of me was thinking that it was pretty damn embarrassing to be sharing with the world. As if people don’t already have an easy time of laughing at me, here I am giving them free ammo.
After about 35 minutes a car pulled up in the back. Thank God! Of course, as is often the case, especially when one has Murphy as a stalker, the woman waited about 5 minutes before getting out of her car. Once she did however, and I managed to explain what exactly I was doing out there on the service porch in this weather, and what exactly she could do to help me, she was only too happy to be my Saving Angel.
I got inside, and of course the phone was ringing, and of course it was Revital, whom I was supposed to have picked up 15 minutes earlier. Fortunately, she was asking if she could go home with a friend who lives a 5-minute walk from the school, and said that this friend’s mother would drive both girls to the birthday party that they were attending this afternoon. I was then able to shower, and thaw out a bit before going to pick up Limor.
I was also able to appreciate how much God, or luck depending on your point of view, was actually on my side through this entire episode. While it had been raining steadily on and off during the 40 minutes or so that I was outside, it was about 3 minutes after I came inside that the truly heavy torrential rain started. I was spared sitting outside during that.
Besides that, there were a some good things that came out of the whole experience. Even though I had to weigh whether or not I should post an account of this embarrassing day, it did help me break through a mini-writer’s block that I have had for the last week and a half. Plus, I was able to get the windows clean, and that really was what the day was all about.
Ultimately, I probably will share this story. As sheepish as I may feel over getting myself into such a ridiculous predicament, I have to also be honest with myself and recognize that intrinsically, it is funny as hell. And if I really want to turn my recently-found love of writing into a full-time thing, then how can I let an opportunity like this one get away? In retrospect it is simply too much fun to not have a record of it for years to come.
And I’ve learned that either somebody has to be home when I wash the kitchen windows, or those suckers just stay dirty.
I wanted to give Sharon a little surprise today by cleaning the windows in our living room and kitchen both inside and out. I got the outsides of the living room done before the rain started, and after washing the insides I went to the kitchen windows. Now came the tricky part. Our kitchen windows face behind the building, with a small service porch (about 2 feet wide) between the window and the rear wall of our building. It’s not really that serviceable (in spite of the fact that is called a service porch), and the only way to get onto it is by climbing through the window (originally it was where the clothes line was, and that has been out of use since long before we moved in to the apartment and the wires are all broken).
So I climbed through the window onto this service porch with my paper towels and window cleaner ready to attack the much accumulated dirt on the window and I closed the window in order to reach all of it.
BIG mistake. Huge! One for the all-time “Asher Screw-Up” record books.
Intellectually, I knew that the window clicks closed and has to be opened from the inside. I have known that since we moved into this apartment nearly 5 years ago. I’ve known it with other similar style windows in other apartments where I have lived.
Yet my brain conveniently forgot this little tidbit until after I had cleaned the windows (very nicely, I might add) and was ready to go back inside.
Out of the rain. Out of the cold. And to where there was food for me to grab before I had to pick up my 9 year-old daughter from school in 20 minutes.
In a word – Shit!
Of course, since I never would have thought that I'd need my cell phone for cleaning the windows, it was in the house (being nice and warm and probably laughing its apps off at me). So I couldn’t call Revital to tell her to take the bus home instead of waiting for me, so that she could let me in. I also couldn’t call any of our friends who live in the area, or call Sharon to have her call friends whose numbers she has that I don’t.
What I could, and did do, was try to tap on the kitchen window of our across-the-hall neighbor, whose kitchen window is adjacent to ours. Since he wasn’t home, I relied on my back-up plan of waiting and hoping that somebody would come around behind our building soon. While there are several parking spaces behind the building, they are not used as much as the ones in front of the building and very few people are usually hanging out behind the building. Occasionally some of the local kids do play back there, but today was a cold, rainy windy day. This weather is ideal for Israel, but not so great for enticing the kids to come outside and play and help a poor schlemiel get back into his apartment.
So I waited. And I got pretty well soaked. I watched the time that I was supposed to pick up Revital pass on my watch, and even though I couldn’t hear my phone ring from out on that porch, I had no doubt that it was ringing and that she was trying to reach me. I started to wonder if I would get out of there in time to pick up Limor an hour and a quarter later. Most of all, I passed the time trying to decide if I should be laughing or crying about this predicament. It certainly was unlike anything I have ever faced before, and while part of me was thinking about what a great blog this would make, another part of me was thinking that it was pretty damn embarrassing to be sharing with the world. As if people don’t already have an easy time of laughing at me, here I am giving them free ammo.
After about 35 minutes a car pulled up in the back. Thank God! Of course, as is often the case, especially when one has Murphy as a stalker, the woman waited about 5 minutes before getting out of her car. Once she did however, and I managed to explain what exactly I was doing out there on the service porch in this weather, and what exactly she could do to help me, she was only too happy to be my Saving Angel.
I got inside, and of course the phone was ringing, and of course it was Revital, whom I was supposed to have picked up 15 minutes earlier. Fortunately, she was asking if she could go home with a friend who lives a 5-minute walk from the school, and said that this friend’s mother would drive both girls to the birthday party that they were attending this afternoon. I was then able to shower, and thaw out a bit before going to pick up Limor.
I was also able to appreciate how much God, or luck depending on your point of view, was actually on my side through this entire episode. While it had been raining steadily on and off during the 40 minutes or so that I was outside, it was about 3 minutes after I came inside that the truly heavy torrential rain started. I was spared sitting outside during that.
Besides that, there were a some good things that came out of the whole experience. Even though I had to weigh whether or not I should post an account of this embarrassing day, it did help me break through a mini-writer’s block that I have had for the last week and a half. Plus, I was able to get the windows clean, and that really was what the day was all about.
Ultimately, I probably will share this story. As sheepish as I may feel over getting myself into such a ridiculous predicament, I have to also be honest with myself and recognize that intrinsically, it is funny as hell. And if I really want to turn my recently-found love of writing into a full-time thing, then how can I let an opportunity like this one get away? In retrospect it is simply too much fun to not have a record of it for years to come.
And I’ve learned that either somebody has to be home when I wash the kitchen windows, or those suckers just stay dirty.
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