Laundromat.

Today during class we all got a chance to say in Hebrew what we hated about our jobs. And I said in Hebrew that I hated my job because the people are mean and that they think I left all my family behind, dropped out of school, and left everything I knew behind in order to come to Israel to fold towels. My teacher told me in Hebrew that it won't be so bad and that sometime during the next five months I would get used to it. And for the first time in my life, i didn't have to think about speaking Hebrew. All of the sudden, I burst out in Hebrew, "But I don't WANT to get used to it! What kind of life is that, folding towels all day???" It was pretty exciting....

Another boy who works in the laundry room (not in my room, but in the room where they wash the clothing) came up to me after class and told me that he was being mistreated by his people too. He said that his boss was mean to him and sat on her ass all day while he worked. He also complained that she just didn't have basically friendliness towards him, and then he ended it by saying, "I just want to tell that woman, 'You know, you work in a fucking laundromat.' "

Which is true. What does that woman have to be smug about. She works in a fucking laundromat.




Today I tried to talk to the head of the ulpan. He showed me into his office, offered me a seat. We settled down in silence, and finally I took in a deep breath. Then I said in the most polite, calm tone I could manage, "I absolutely hate to complain, but is there ANY way we could look into switching my job?"

And the head of the ulpan said simply, "No."

That was it. Just "No." I have to fold laundry for five months. With bitches who hate me and talk about me as if I'm not there. Just "No."

I kind of just stared at the guy in shock. I don't know. Most people would at least say, "I'm sorry you're having trouble with your job, but we can't switch jobs." Most people might even add, "But tell me what's bothering you and maybe we can fix it without changing jobs." But this guy just said "No." When he saw that I was looking at him in shock, he motioned that I was free to leave his office. So I just slowly gathered my stuff up and walked out of the room...

Thanks to my agreement with my parents that I wouldn't come to this country with citizenship immediately, I cannot leave the ulpan. if I leave the ulpan, I have no way of supporting myself because I cannot legally get a job in this country yet. So basically I have to stay here until I get my citizenship. Which could be a few months. So fuck.

Oh well. Other than my shit job, I'm making some nice friends here. And tomorrow when I'm folding towels and the Women of the Wash bitch about me, in my head I'll just keep telling them, "You know, you work in a fucking laundromat."