Meanwhile, we continue to overeat and visit our way across the country. We went up to Jerusalem yesterday and as is customary left a note in the Kotel (aka Western/Wailing Wall). It was warm and sunny, but as Jerusalem is on the hills, there is a breeze. We also wound our way through the shouk. Arab men sit on stools outside little shops and are variously pushy or pleasant. They sell everything from coffee sets and Judaica items (candlesticks for Shabbat, kiddush cups, etc) to skirts to belly-dancing outfits and galabias to spices and tea. We bought a silver-colored coffee set, spices, and tea, which I hope make it through customs without a problem. The challenge for me is that one is supposed to bargain in the shouk, and I am not used to or skilled in the art -- and it is an art. I did fairly well yesterday but only because I knew not to be too eager to buy, and because we had a better offer from a neighboring store. I then pretended to ignore several men hawking skirts and jewelry. It's funny -- the pushier they were, the less I was interested; they intimidated me. I was also amused that one called me a little girl. I know I look younger than I am, but still...on the other hand, I was very pleased that everyone addressed us in Hebrew, meaning they did not think we were tourists. Yay! I like blending in.
We also ate one of the items on my list of Things to Eat before we leave: megulgal! It's a word meaning "rolled up." Basically, one takes a fried pastry-dough bread called malawach, puts tomato sauce and cheeses and a hard-boiled egg inside, and rolls it up (assuming you want the pizza variety -- the addition of humus is a nice touch, I discovered yesterday. It comes piping hot and we went back and forth eating with our hands and with fork and knife. Yum...now where can I find my statin?
Speaking of medicine, I have been shamefully lazy this vacation. I read at best ten pages of Harrisons. But I did find myself trying to explain cholelithiasis to a friend of Husband's family whose daughter is miserable from attacks and wanted to understand a bit of the pathophysiology. It was a struggle in my second language but I hope I helped -- I'm not sure. We also had to take Husband's grandmother to the hospital with a very painful, enlarged, thrombosed hemorrhoid. They opened it and she is thankfully much improved. She's had a rough few months. Husband's grandfather died in December and she is terribly lonesome for him. They married when she was only seventeen, so they were together nearly all their lives. At least our presence helps.
Anyway, this very random and rambling post needs to end as we are off to meet a friend for lunch, after which Husband is going to visit his former workplace and I will sit in a coffeeshop and maybe work on my novel. Happy almost Friday!
