Day One

6:30 a.m. — Today, I wake up early because I volunteer in the local high school teaching English to ninth grade. E. usually take the car to work, but since I am volunteering, I drop E. off at the bus stop and then continue to the high school. I eat my granola and yogurt (that we make at home) in the car before heading into the school.

9:30 a.m. – I arrive at my Faculty and go straight to a meeting. After the meeting I continue working on a major project my lab is working on.

12:35 p.m. — Super hungry, and I realize I only have 20 min to eat before I have to attend a seminar. I quickly heat up leftovers (we make food over the weekend so that we have for the entire week)  and I eat before heading to the seminar. At the seminar there are many sweets, but I don’t eat any because I am trying to only eat healthy food items.

4 p.m. — E. calls and wants to know when I will be done at work. I answer him that I don’t think it will be soon and perhaps he can find a ride home or wait for me to come pick him up.

5:30 p.m. — I message E. that I can probably leave soon to come get him, but just as the message sends my boss walks in and wants to discuss my work. Send E. a message to find a ride home, I don’t think I can come get him very soon.

7 p.m. — Finally leave work, was hoping to go to the gym, but I am too tired and hungry, I will try to go tomorrow. I arrive home and E. is heating up food from the fridge, we eat and then do some dishes. I start to organize the apartment for Shabbat since we are lending it to friends and I want it to be tidy.

11 p.m. – I watch some videos for a class that I have tomorrow. In the meantime E. is researching end of years sales, as we want to purchase a dryer. We then sit down to watch an episode of Sherlock Holmes.

Daily Total: ₪0

DAY TWO

8:30 a.m. – I wake up and get ready to go to class. I grab yogurt and granola to go and eat it on the way to class. Bituach Leumi calls me back to discuss an ongoing claim I opened a few days ago, what a great way to start the morning! ;)

9:20 a.m. – I take the University’s free shuttle to class. This is my usual mode of transportation to and from my Faculty. It runs in the mornings and evenings and it is very convenient.

11:30 a.m. – I arrive at my Faculty and plan with my colleague to eat in the next hour.

12:30 p.m. – We sit down to eat, I eat a quinoa salad I made last night and some other leftovers from our weekend cooking.

2:00 pm – It has been raining all day and suddenly a beautiful rainbow appears in the sky. The entire office starts taking pictures from the window.

3:30 p.m. – Everyone has gone home to start the weekend, I am still at the office working on the major project, but at least it’s nice and quiet.

5:45 p.m. – E. picks me up to go to the grocery store and then bouldering. We do our bi-weekly shopping. Usually we order groceries online, but since we were going out anyway we decided to go to the supermarket. At Shufersol Deal we buy produce (meat, fish, and dairy items), eggs, lox, nuts, vegetables, fruit, bread, household essentials, olive oil, beer, coffee capsules for our espresso machine, tehini, spices…
₪733

8:00 p.m. – We snack on some of the nuts and then go bouldering.
₪66

10:30 p.m. – I put up Moroccan fish that we will be bringing to my in-laws house for Shabbat. I bought extra fish so we would have for the week as well.

Daily Total: ₪799

DAY THREE

7:00 a.m. – It’s Friday! My favorite day of the week (after Shabbat). We wake up early to go see a pack of flamingo that have migrated to some pools near the beach, for the winter. We have been wanting to go for a while, but the past few Fridays it has rained…

8:15 a.m. – We prepare lox and cream cheese sandwiches (we bought the ingredients last night at the supermarket) and some cut up veggies for our picnic at the beach. We take along coffee in thermoses and of course the camera, then we get in the car to drive to the beach.

9:15 a.m. – We arrive at our destination, and find the flamingos. After taking some photos we head to the beach to find a nice area to eat our breakfast. The weather is beautiful, I love Israel in the winter (when it isn’t raining) – the sun is just the right temperature to warm you.

11:30 a.m. – As it is a short Friday, we start to head back to Haifa. We still want to visit friends who just had twins before we have to get ready for Shabbat. We pick up Shwarma on our way over.
₪74

2:00 p.m. – After spending some time with friends we go home to start packing and showering for Shabbat.

3:30 p.m. – We leave our apartment to head to my in-laws. They live in a suburb of Haifa. We will spend Shabbat there.

5:00 p.m. – After Beit Knesset we arrive back at my in-laws for a very delicious meal, my mother-in-law is a great cook! We celebrate my brother-in-law’s birthday with a cake and games.

Daily Total: ₪74

DAY FOUR

9:00 a.m. – We wake up early to go to Beit Knesset. When we return (10:30 am) we eat an early lunch.

1:00 p.m. – A much needed nap is in order, since we usually have guests for lunch we don’t have the opportunity to nap when Shabbat is so short, so we take advantage of the opportunity now.

4:00 p.m. – We walk over to my husband’s childhood friends who moved back to the neighborhood as adults with families. We hang out there until Shabbat is over.

8:00 p.m. – After watching some of the football (soccer) game with my brother-in-laws, we head back to Haifa. E. orders a “switcher” which is a device to program your “dud” (water heater – since we need to heat our water electrically in the winter months) from your smartphone which means you can heat water when you are out of the house! Brilliant!
₪240

Daily Total: ₪240

DAY FIVE

6:30 a.m. – I wake up for my tennis class (it is through the university, and it is free), but the court is wet so the class is canceled, I go running in the gym instead.

8:30 a.m. – After the gym, I go home to take a shower, make breakfast, pack lunch and head to class. I eat some granola and yogurt for breakfast. I pack leftovers that I defrosted the night before for lunch.

9:30 a.m. – I leave for class, I wanted to take the shuttle, but I missed it so instead I walk. It is always good to get some fresh air. Probably because of the exercise I did in the morning, I am hungry during class, good thing I packed some nuts to snack on until lunch.

12:30 p.m. – Class is over so I head to my Faculty. I eat corn beef and rice (E. made rice the night before so I would have a side dish) with my colleagues.  

1:00 p.m. – I have back to back meetings, after which I make some progress on the project I am working on. I also find out there will be more delays with the project, as we are missing some crucial data.

3:00 p.m. – Keep working, and working..

5:30 p.m. – E. calls and says he is leaving the office and wants to know if I want a ride. As I am still working on a presentation for the following day, I decide to take the shuttle home instead.

7:00 p.m.– I take the shuttle home and we make omelets, a vegetable salad and quinoa salad for dinner.

9:00 p.m.– As it is Sunday, we talk to my family (that still lives in the US). So we chill on the  couch and video chat with my sisters while drinking tea.

Daily Total: ₪0

DAY SIX

8:00 a.m. – I wake up to get ready for work. I get dressed, pack lunch and breakfast (again granola and yogurt).

9:00 a.m.– I take the shuttle to my Faculty. I need to finish preparing for a meeting in an hour with my advisor and the lab manager regarding the project.  

10:00 a.m. – Take a trip to the secretary to discuss my upcoming travel plans for a conference.  In order to get reimbursed for travel expenses there is a lot of paperwork to fill out before the trip.

12:45 p.m. – I sit down with another lab from the floor, to eat chicken breast, rice, and leftover salads from the night before. At 1pm we have a faculty seminar, so everyone leaves to the seminar. I decide to sit this one out and take advantage of the quiet office to get more work done.

3:30 p.m.– The delivery man calls me to tell me he is here with the “switcher” we bought a few days ago (that was fast!). I go downstairs to meet him and sign for the package.

4:30 p.m. – I plan some meetings for tomorrow and finish e-mailing some work for the project that I had discussed in the morning with my advisor.

6:45 p.m. – E. picks me up, we head home. I tell him about my morning meeting. We do some exercise at home (squats and lunges). While I type up this diary E. grills some tuna on the frying pan with tomatoes and garlic. I cut up some veggies instead of making a salad.  

8:00 p.m. – After debating about which hotel to take for the conference, I decide it is worth it to spend the extra 7$ a day on a hotel with a gym. I call the hotel to book a room for the conference. This is a work expense and I will get reimbursed.

9:30 p.m. – I send some messages to family in the States about the upcoming trip to Canada/US. They are all on Christmas break so it’s nice to be able to communicate during the day (for them).

11:00 p.m. – E. and I sit down to discuss our financial plan for 2019. Each year we make a budget and try to estimate our expenses throughout the year. We also divide each year into months and have separate categories such as supermarket, shopping, recreation, trips etc. So far we have been doing this for two+ years and it’s a great way to keep track of one’s spending and savings.

12:30 a.m. – Finally it’s bedtime zzzz

Daily Total: ₪0

DAY SEVEN

8:00 a.m. – I wake up to get ready for work. I get dressed, pack lunch and breakfast (again granola and yogurt).

9:30 a.m. – I was scheduled to have a meeting with one of my bosses, but when I arrive I go to speak with him and we decide it is best if we wait until tomorrow to meet. I have not made enough progress on the project to meet today, so it makes more sense to push it off.

11:00 a.m. – I should probably be working on the meeting for tomorrow, but my other boss is under a lot of pressure and wants me to work on the major project I am working on… so I continue working on that. I also arrange a meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday which means I will take the train (and get reimbursed). We are having a small breakfast at work on Sunday, and I send out a reminder to everyone regarding the time and place.  

12:45 p.m. – Since we are thinking of vacationing in Iceland this summer, I decide to eat lunch with someone from another floor who was there last summer. We eat lunch, again I have corn beef, rice, and salad (all leftovers). She tells me about their trip to Iceland, where they visited and how much they spent.. It sounds a bit pricier than the budget we have for the trip. I am starting to think we might need to reconsider, or look into ways to save money on expenses while there..

2:30 p.m. – I finally start working on the meeting for tomorrow. I am supposed to present a summary of my findings and go over some new analysis. It takes me about 2 hours to finish the summary.

5:00 p.m. – I start working on the analysis, and unfortunately do not come up with any new results, this is not good news…

6:45 p.m. – I finish up at work and E. picks me up.

7:00 p.m.– We drive to the shopping center to look at the dryers that E. researched last week.  

9:00 p.m.– After going to ~ 5 different stores and comparing prices we think we have decided which dryer to buy. We have also asked friends which dryers they have and if they have any recommendations.. We are a bit rushed to get home, because I go to a Shiur once a week at 21:00, but we haven’t eaten supper yet, and I am pretty hungry. E. quickly makes an omelet and I cut up veggies.  While I am at the Shiur, E. watches the football game, he is a big fan of Macabi TA.

11:00 p.m.– When I get back from the Shiur (which is in the building complex) I finish up with the dishes, shower, and it’s time for bed. :)  

Daily Total: ₪0