My nutritious dinner

This has been the week from Hell. Really. Actually... pretty much since the 3rd of December has been hell in my world on and off... and since it's work related, it's more on than off.

I mentioned the project being closed in another post. I don't know if I mentioned that out of the 200+ people on the project, I probably hired 2/3 of them myself. Some of them I consider friends. Some, I don't know at all.

And every day for the last 18 days, except for Fridays and Saturdays, I've had discussions with some of these people. They're sad. They're angry. They're terrified. And whether I like the people or not, I feel terrible for them.

And even up until a couple of days ago, it wasn't so bad.

Then, Tuesday, I got cursed out, and someone else left my office in tears, and it's gone steadily downhill since.

The cursing would have been funny, and might be one day in the future, if it wasn't about someone losing her job (and her marbles, apparently).

She was upset because I refused to schedule an interview for her, because she wasn't a suitable candidate for a position. She walked to the door, turned around, and said, "Thank you. I just want to say Happy Chanukah, and you can all go F--- yourselves."

I sat there in shock for a second and then immediately called the HR department to let them know what happened.

Not more than an hour later, another woman walked in... someone who is very sweet... and when I explained that the chances were pretty much nill that we would find another day job for her, she thanked me for my time and walked out crying. She had been looking for a job for months when we hired her only a few weeks ago, and now, during Chanukah, she's becoming aware that she's going to lose it.

I've been working 10- to 12-hour days pretty much since we were notified, doing what I can from my end to help these people.

I dream about work. Work is the first thing that enters my mind in the morning, and the last thing to fly through my head on my way to sleep. I had my first anxiety attack yesterday morning, and I'm thinking about actually calling a therapist. (I won't, of course... but I'm considering it, anyway.)

I almost forgot to light my chanukiah (candle holder for Chanukah) yesterday and the day before, because I was so exhausted when I got home.

This morning, I started crying when I got the list of people who had received notice that they were being let go. I actually cried three times, two in front of other people, because this whole situation is so bad.

So today, I decided that come hell or high water, I was leaving at 6.

But at 5:15, a young guy who isn't even on AOL walked into my office in tears. This is a 16-year-old boy/man who moved to Israel with his family when he was 13, and moved out onto his own when he was 14. He's had a hard life.

He not only got fired today, but then after he got fired, he found out his grandfather died.

It took every bit of my strength not to burst into tears as he was telling me. Instead, I hugged him, and sat with him while he cried for a little while.

I did not leave work at 6. I still made it out of work by 6:20, though.

Then, I decided that I needed exercise... so I walked home -- 50 minutes, mostly uphill.

During that walk, I had a lot of time to decide what I wanted for dinner... I decided on wine and sufganiot. Not the most nutritious of choices, but as I sit here sipping my second glass of wine, I believe it was a good decision.

The truth is a guideline

I don't remember the exact quote, but it's from Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl. It's something like, "They're not rules, really... more like guidelines."

That seems to be the case with Israeli journalism.

When I was studying journalism in the U.S. just a couple of years ago, it was pounded into our heads how important every detail was. Someone's age should be correct. The spelling of a person's name is sacred. Math in an article should be correct (ie, "four killed in accident" should not be followed with "the victims were two boys and a girl").

And facts and quotes? Don't mess 'em up, or not only do you risk losing your job and any future jobs, but you risk being sued.

It's much different here.

I never realized it until a friend of mine was featured in an Israeli newspaper article. He happens to be probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, person to ever enlist in a combat unit during peacetime.

The article included: completely posed pictures (not bad, in and of themselves), his age being wrong, his former job and salary being wrong, both he and his commander being misquoted, and more.

And when I questioned him, he said that his Israeli friends and family all told him that's normal.

Then, when my boss saw the article, and I explained about how wrong it was, he was utterly shocked that I might actually believe anything I ever read in a newspaper.

Wow.

Today, or in Friday's "real" paper (I'm not sure which), there was an article about my project closing. And not only was the copyediting horrid, but our CEO's name was mispelled, and a lot of the information was mostly false or conjecture.

Eeek.

So readers be warned... if you're reading The Jerusalem Post or Maariv, just know that they apparently don't care about the accuracy of the information they're spreading out.

Hmph.

Chanukah and stamps

Chanukah:

Tomorrow night's the first night of Chanukah. Thank G-d, people in Israel don't give gifts so much, because I'm writing this at 22:23 (10:23pm for the Americans amongst you), and I am still at work.

In all fairness, I came at 13:00 (1pm), but I still feel like I've been here for 12 hours.

Anyway... Chanukah...

I made latkes yesterday for tomorrow night's dinner. Saturday, we'll have sufganiot (donuts)... maybe for breakfast... maybe for dessert after lunch... maybe all day.

It's weird, though... because it's once again so clear to me how different Israel is from the U.S.

When I was back in the States for Thanksgiving, it was like an alien could have come down anywhere in the Detroit area, and he/she/it would have known it was some sort of festive holiday wherein people decorated trees, yards and stores with lots of shiny stuff and people dressed in red and/or green outfits. No doubt about it -- x-mas was coming.

Here, though, I walked through a small mall yesterday, and I wouldn't have known it was Chanukah except that I saw that the bakery had the sufganiot, and there were some chanukiot (Chanukah candle holders) for sale. No extra decorations at all.

So we're definitely not in Detroit anymore.

Stamps:

A woman goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Chanukah cards.

She says to the clerk, "May I have 50 Chanukah stamps?"

The clerk asks, "What denomination?"

The woman says, "Oh my G-d, has it come to this? Okay, give me 6 Orthodox, 12 Conservative, and 32 Reform."

(I got that from one of my mailing lists.)

Back in the real world... almost

I've been back in Israel now for four days. While some things have changed quite a bit since I left, others haven't changed a bit...

Changed: My boss is suddenly very nice. It could be that he's afraid of going from five recruiters to one, since there are only two of us left. Hmm. I mean, I know he likes me (afterall, who wouldn't?), but if he were just mean or just nice, life would be so much easier.

Not changed: The Haredim (ultra-orthodox Jews) are ticked off because El Al flew a flight (or some flights -- it's unclear) on Shabbat. This was due to the strike last week -- there were people stuck in Israel and other countries. El Al decided to fly.

Note: I have mixed feelings about this, as well. While El Al has said this was an unusual circumstance and they don't plan to make it a regular thing -- if there is no outcry, they might consider flying on Shabbat regularly. This would mean that El Al employees would be forced to work on the Sabbath, or, in the future, risk not being hired if they are Sabbath-observant.

Changed: There are two new women at work -- one in my department and one down the hall -- who I don't know at all.

Not changed: There are still rockets raining down in the southern part of Israel, and we're still under terror alerts in the rest of the country.

Changed: For 11 months (today), I've worked specifically with the AOL project at my company. For most of this time, I've done most of the interviewing and hiring. We found out yesterday that AOL is probably going to cancel our contract at the end of the year. We have more than 220 people who need jobs now. I was on hand when they were informed... and now I get to try to help them find new jobs. (It appears that AOL is going to close all of its call centers except for the one in India. We may keep a smaller staff, but we're not holding our breath.)

Not changed: I still have jetlag.

I think it's time for bed...

World AIDS Day

I almost forgot about it, until I went to Google something and saw it on the Google homepage. Go Google!

I remember when AIDS didn't exist.

I remember when it was considered the "gay plague."

I remember when AIDS in America was automatically a death sentence.

From Wikipedia:



"Globally, between 33.4 and 46 million people currently live with HIV. In 2005, between 3.4 and 6.2 million people were newly infected and between 2.4 and 3.3 million people with AIDS died, an increase from 2003 and the highest number since 1981."



More than half a million of those who died were children.



Also from Wikipedia:



"Sub-Saharan Africa remains by far the worst affected region, with an estimated 21.6 to 27.4 million people currently living with HIV. Two million [1.5–3.0 million] of them are children younger than 15 years of age. More than 64% of all people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, as are more than three quarters (76%) of all women living with HIV. In 2005, there were 12.0 million [10.6–13.6 million] AIDS orphans living in sub-Saharan Africa 2005"



(For more from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids)



Bono, and Bobby Shriver - chairman of DATA, founded (RED) - a way cool way of raising money and awareness.



http://www.joinred.com/

Basically, (RED) companies will donate part of the profit for some of their (RED)-designated products to help educate and treat HIV and AIDS.

I don't necessarily agree with all of their hype (as in, why not donate money directly instead of buying a $35 t-shirt?), but I definitely believe it'll increase awareness.



I learned about most of this stuff from my sibling when I was home last week. Thanks for the education, K!

Now, in honor of World AIDS Day, I'm gonna pop my RENT DVD in while I get ready for Shabbat. "Actual reality - act up, fight AIDS!"