The Brownsteins in the Land of Israel

Chapter 2:

Our First Days In Israel

(TEXT ONLY VERSION)

July 22, 2003

Dear Friends,

The Israeli phone company is called Bezeq -- very close to "Basic".  But dealing with them is anything but! So last week, July 18, 2003, to be exact, we contacted Bezeq to get a phone line and DSL.  We gave them the number of the previously residents and they said it would take no more than 48 hours to get the line up.  Not long after we picked up the phone and, sure enough, there was a dial tone.  But, unfortunately, every number we dialed gave us a CRAZY ring or nothing at all. 

So we called Bezeq on our rented cellphone over and over and over and over again telling them of our plight.  Sometimes they even returned our calls! Then, the coolest thing happened when they called us on the line to prove that it worked.  Nonetheless, we still could not dial out.  At first we thought it was our American (Japanese) phones, so we borrowed the very nice neighbor's phone.  No difference.  Bezeq had us call this test number and that test number.  It was really cool, and so were we. 

At one point, while speaking to them on one phone, we picked up another and, instead of hearing their voice, just heard another dial tone! Talk about patience, we were swimming in it, see!  Finally the Bezeq dude came out for a look.  He poked around for a minute or two. 

He checked in the power closet and guess what he found?  That's right: a phone system.  So he said, if you had just dialed "9" four days ago, you could already have called Bill Walton from your home line.  Oh well, I guess I should have expected a PBX in an Israeli closet. 

What's the moral?  There is none! But now we have a new phone number which is currently being shared with the Internet until DSL comes up in 10 days... we hope.  Anyway, the number from America is 011-972-2-6733-491.  Intuitive, huh? It spells B-O-R-E-D I-Z 1 -- just like we requested! Please note that we are currently 10 hours later than Hollywood.  If that is confessing to you, please do the math to find out if Batya and Yehuda are asleep.

Please stay tuned for Chapter 3: The Washing Machine That Refused To Be Replaced!

All the best,

The Brownsteins

011-972-2-6733-491

NOTE: No Animals were harmed in the photography of this reenactment.

All characters are purely fictional.

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Copyright (c) - Rich Brownstein 2003