Sunday, December 27, 2009

Okay. Okay? Okay!

Another important lesson learned in the grand education of living in a country where the national language is not your native tongue.

When scheduling recording sessions with your client and the studio engineer, and the dialogue goes something like this:
SE: Sunday at 11am
Me: I'm available
Client: No, I have a problem.
SE: (Something in Hebrew.)
Client: Wait, let me call my office.

(SE & Me discuss other schedule possibilities for the following week while waiting)

Client (hanging up phone): Ze b'seder ("it's okay").
SE: B'seder?
Client: Ken, ken ("yes, yes").
make sure that the "b'seder" that has just been spoken refers to the appointment, and not to the "something in Hebrew" so that you don't shlep all the way to Tel Aviv for nothing.

Well, not for nothing. I gave tzedekah (charity) and bought an iced coffee, and got to watch half the IDF try to cram themselves onto a train for Be'er Sheva. Lama? Ein li musag.*

*Why? I have no idea.

This is a but a very small portion of the number of soldiers jamming the platform.
It looked like Black Friday at the IDF WalMart.

5 comments:

Alissa said...

Ugh. I just realized I had an iced coffee, and it's a fast day. :sigh:

Jess said...

Oooh, you went to the train station on a Sunday? When they're all going back to base? Silly. Sundays and Fridays (and sometimes Thursdays) are the worst travel days in terms of seating on the train.

Alissa said...

This morning on the bus to TA - yeah, no kidding, hey?! But coming back, it was noon already, so I figured not a problem, and nobody is ever going to Modi'in, anyway. I take the bus and train on Sunday mornings to/from TA all the time. But this was waaaay more than the normal "ehhhhhhh, it's Yom Rishon, I 'ave to get back to de base."

You really need to try the train from anywhere to Modi'in - it's niiiice ;)

Yaacov said...

I do speak the language. Even so, I generally always each time end any meeting-schedualing discussion with a reiteration of the entire shebang: OK, Friday the 13, 9:12 am, at Tal Bagels (or wherever...)

Unknown said...

Alas, apparently, even that doesn't always work. After confirming all around, this week, someone else forgot the seession :)