Still Waiting
It has now been about eleven weeks since we shipped our first boxes of books to ourselves and none of the four boxes have yet to arrive. We’re told that the war caused a delay – as the nation’s port is at Haifa, well within the range of the Hizbullah rockets that were fired upon Israel, and thus an impacted city by all accounts.
We’ve heard that new immigrants, who usually arrive in the summer, have had to go without their prized possessions that they’ve shipped from North America or other places they emigrated from. They only brought with them the things they’d need for a few weeks here, hoping for their crate of supplies to arrive soon after their arrival (as the immigrants ship their items well before they leave in order to meet their furniture, baby carriages, books, toys, etc. near their arrival time). I feel awful for the new olim (immigrants) and hope that the port is working feverishly to get the crates to the olim. Because, perhaps once that’s done, our books will be unloaded, too.
Because of our lack of books, we’ve had to do more book shopping than we’d anticipated. We’re also starting to book swap with friends – especially in the fiction arena. The English language modern fiction opportunities are rather limited but there are a handful of small used book shops around town that we frequent. These used book (or the few books that are new) are very expensive; obviously, the shipping cost is added in and the supply vs. demand principle must be in full effect.
Our Hebrew teacher tells us she’s used Amazon before but it can take up to a few months for books to arrive. I asked some rabbinical student friends if they had a copy of a particularly important book on Judaism and while they both had a copy of the book back in California, it wasn’t here. Just yesterday, I received a fantastic call from one friend who found the book in a used book shop. He wanted to know if I wanted him to buy it and I said, “Please!” At least I’ll have that book in the near future, even if my four boxes don’t arrive.
We’ve heard that new immigrants, who usually arrive in the summer, have had to go without their prized possessions that they’ve shipped from North America or other places they emigrated from. They only brought with them the things they’d need for a few weeks here, hoping for their crate of supplies to arrive soon after their arrival (as the immigrants ship their items well before they leave in order to meet their furniture, baby carriages, books, toys, etc. near their arrival time). I feel awful for the new olim (immigrants) and hope that the port is working feverishly to get the crates to the olim. Because, perhaps once that’s done, our books will be unloaded, too.
Because of our lack of books, we’ve had to do more book shopping than we’d anticipated. We’re also starting to book swap with friends – especially in the fiction arena. The English language modern fiction opportunities are rather limited but there are a handful of small used book shops around town that we frequent. These used book (or the few books that are new) are very expensive; obviously, the shipping cost is added in and the supply vs. demand principle must be in full effect.
Our Hebrew teacher tells us she’s used Amazon before but it can take up to a few months for books to arrive. I asked some rabbinical student friends if they had a copy of a particularly important book on Judaism and while they both had a copy of the book back in California, it wasn’t here. Just yesterday, I received a fantastic call from one friend who found the book in a used book shop. He wanted to know if I wanted him to buy it and I said, “Please!” At least I’ll have that book in the near future, even if my four boxes don’t arrive.
posted by Matt | 7:40 AM
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