On Tuesday I got my student card! You may be wondering...but isn't she done being a student? YES YES YES, I'm done. But, then, why does she have a student card? Well, because there really isn't a better category in which to put a visiting research fellow (or postdoc). And, this is good for me because it opens up a world of discounts (the bus, the museums, etc). A student card is helpful for getting through security at the gates of the university and pretty much critical to doing anything else. Other things you might want to do: get a bus pass, get a library card, get VPN access, get a gym membership, and get paid.
How to get a bus pass? This was epic. First, we went online to the bus company (Egged) website. There's a great site in English that explains the many options for student bus passes - known as the RavKav. Like the UPass, the RavKav gives you a giant discount on bus travel (in the city and in the country on Egged's other lines) and it works on the tram (a standard bus transfer in Jerusalem doesn't work on the tram, I have no idea why not). But, unlike the UPass at UBC-Vancouver, at Hebrew U you don't automatically get a bus pass from which you need to opt-out; everyone has to sign up and choose their pass option. (This is an administrative nightmare of colossal proportions. People cannot speak of how bad it was last year without shuddering.) But, the form is only in Hebrew and needs to be filled out in Hebrew. Awesome. Thanks for explaining that in English. This won't be a problem, though, we have a colleague, Elka (who grew up in Toronto) who is perfectly bilingual and happy to help out her illiterate new friends. She starts to fill out the online RavKav form for Theresa. It's all going swimmingly until Elka gets to the part on the form where she needs to put in the number of the RavKav pass. But, we don't have RavKav passes. And there are no instructions on how to get a RavKav pass (in English or Hebrew). So, Elka suggests the only way to deal with this is to go in person to the Egged depot on campus...at the end of the long dark tunnel the buses enter campus through. (A common solution to administrative problems in Israel is to go in person. A phone number may be given, but really, it's not likely to be answered. This, finally, explains all the fun I had with the consulate in Toronto!)
We made our first
Thursday morning, Theresa and I made our second trip to the Egged depot, arriving at about ten to 9. There's a line up already. Gratefully, we learn there is a waitlist where you put your name down in order of arrival (I assume this is because the concept of queuing is not well established here; without a list it would be a mob). We are no. 18 and no. 19. About forty minutes pass and we end up chatting to folks in line. At least two of them try to tell us this is the wrong line: if we don't have a receipt (the one you would get if you could actually fill out the online form, the one that needs you to have a RavKav card number) we should go to the other line (what other line?). But, we are close to the front of the line, no. 16 is in the office of the ONE WOMAN who is processing all these people. The waiting list is up near 40 now, but this is nothing. Apparently at Central Station in the city centre there are 400 people waiting. So, we wait. We get in to the office and within 5 minutes...OMG...we have our pictures taken and we get RavKav cards. Yay!! Step one is completed!! The Egged lady tells us that we need to come back to her once we've been online and filled out the form. Then we'll have to have the card "charged" with the credit in the "other" line.
We make the long tunnel walk back to the main building, head to the office to find Elka, hoping she can fill out our forms. Elka's not in. So, we find a secretary instead. We get the forms filled out, printed out and we are ready for trip three. (I should note that for some reason my Canadian credit cards are not accepted for any online transactions here. They work in the stores, and I can buy things online that are hosted by Canadian or US institutions, but for some reason they won't work online here - i.e. for buying credit for my RavKav. I could use my Israeli account debit card, but it hasn't been delivered. My name isn't on the mailbox at the house I live in so my bank card is in Tel Aviv...upshot here is that Theresa has become my banker. It's appropriate that she is Swiss. She charges, I go to the bank and wait in line to see a teller (because I don't have a card) to get cash to pay Theresa. My bank card should be back in Jerusalem at my bank branch early this week. I look forward to waiting in line to get it.) Before our next trip to Egged, we get our library cards, actually quite easy to do once you have a student card - the librarian we dealt with was a paragon of efficiency. And, although it took about fifteen redials (the line was busy), I got through to the VPN people and got set up.
By trip three to the Egged depot, I adopted a slightly more Israeli approach. We headed to the front of the (pretty short line) to find out if we were in the right place. The Egged lady waved us in, validated our cards and then her colleague (where was he earlier?) escorted us over to the "other" line to get the cards charged. And, now we have RavKav cards. Which is why we ended up spending Thursday night drinking wine and eating burgers.
Now, for a gym membership...and to get paid.
That is an AWESOME story.
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