The hunt is over!

When people say apartment hunting in Tel Aviv is horrible, it's an understatement. I don't understand how so many people in this city live in such crap. But, there are the rare gems to be found - and thanks to my good fortune, I will be moving into a beautiful and brand-new apartment on June 1! It's with two girls, one Israeli-American and the other Israeli-Belgian, who are very sweet and I think we'll have a lot of fun together. The apartment is 2 floors, completely renovated, full of sunlight and we each have our own bathroom. Not bad! :-) (that's a big smile on my face)
Apartment hunting, while at once stressful and depressing, also has its perks - I met some really nice girls along the way, a few of whom I'm becoming friendly with. Also, it presents an opportunity to really practice Hebrew. I visited at least a dozen apartments where the roommates spoke only Hebrew to me, which forced me to step up my comprehension level rather quickly. It's amazing how quickly the gap is widening between my comprehension skills and my speaking skills. I am understanding more and more each day, but when I open my mouth to speak, I sound like a retarded person who never graduated past kindergarten. It's embarassing and frustrating. But even in just three weeks I've learned so much. Last night I went to a Shabbat dinner in Herzliyah with some family friends and the entire evening was in Hebrew. I was exhausted by the end of it but proud of myself for how much I was able to understand and communicate. My success and confidence in speaking Hebrew is very interconnected with the attitude/behavior of the person I'm talking to. Some people are very patient and speak clear, slow Hebrew, and we are able to communicate - while others get too frustrated and immediately switch to English. So depending on who I'm talking to I have varying degrees of confidence, which impacts my verbal skills. But I know these things take time, and once I start the ulpan it will get better and better.
On a side note - I had a successful shopping spree on dizengoff street the other day, using my "olah chadasha" (new immigrant) status to get 100 shekels off the bill. I thought the salesman was being zionistic and generous. After I left the store and continued down the street, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and it was the salesman - he ran after me to ask for my phone number. Ah, Israelis. so persistent!