As I finally finish my 5 papers from last semester I am able to live a bit again. Last weekend I did some serious adventuring. Thursday night I was not feeling so well and all of a sudden this black and blue puffy spot popped up on my face. Just to be cautious I headed to the “clinic” It was quite the experience in more ways than one. I was seen rather quickly by a nurse who was perplexed by my symptoms. I was then brought to a room to wait for the doctor. In the mini waiting room there were many people, all with very different backgrounds. One who was particularly interesting was this older religious man who was on a machine which prevented him from talking but he was still desparately looking for a prayer book. Unfortunately no one could find one. What a scene to watch. The doctor turned out to be a nice Jewish doctor from Montreal, Jerusalem really is an international city. They ran some tests and with little conclusions and worries they sent me on my way. A week later its finally starting to go away on my face, many people have asked who hit me but that will all end soon.
My boyfriend Idan happened to be over and after that crazy night we decided to make the most of that Friday. We left my apartment at 6:30 in the morning to head to the Old City. The Jewish quarter was very quiet and the stores were just starting to open up. We headed towards the Kotel and you wouldn’t even know it was 7:30 in the morning, plenty of people were up and praying. We walked out through the Arab quarter which was very quiet as well. Barely any stores were open but we walked by this open door way. I peeked in and noticed it was a bakery that was practically underground. They were baking all of the breads and sweets that are sold at the gates of the Old City, it was actually kind of nice to know they make those on site.
Afterwards we headed to Machane Yehuda, the famous shuk in Jerusalem. Friday is the busiest time at the market but it was pretty quiet at 9 in the morning. We grabbed some odds and ends and explored the market. I was looking forward to making shakshukah (a tomato, egg dish that is delicious) that weekend so we made sure to get the ingredients. I also took a bunch of pictures of the different fruit, vegetables, pastries, nuts and fish while there. Some of the shots came out well. After we headed to Tel Aviv…
Saturday we went to the port of Tel Aviv and walked around a bit. We stumbled upon this trendy new food market that is open on Shabbat, I bought some dried mango in honor of Cheryl’s love for it. Pretty delicious. As soon as Shabbat ended I headed to Ikea with a few friends to get some picture frames for my new pictures and get some additions for my apartment, then we enjoyed the best shakshukah ever. I’ll share the recipe if you would like.
Sunday I met up with Matt Jevotovsky (who is studying abroad here) and Alon and Amir (who went to camp this year). We went for a nice 8 km hike outside of Jerusalem. It was a beautiful day for a hike. Afterwards we drove to Abu Gosh for some delicious Arabic food, 10 different salads and lamb kabob.
Tuesday I went to a wedding with Idan, a friend of his from the army was getting married. Weddings in Israel are much different from Jewish American weddings. First, they are during the week. The chupa (ceremony) was in the same room as the party, not at a synagogue, the ceremony was informal – no seats, people were standing around, talking, watching, drinking, enjoying themselves. I do not think it was longer than 10 minutes. Afterwards immediately started some fun American music and dancing on the dance floor. No havah negilla, but they did dance in chair to random Israeli and American music. No big wedding cake, no wedding party, no speeches. Lots of food and music and dancing.
More to come.....
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