We looked around for some shorts for her—she never wears them in Slovakia and wanted to try it out here, but apparently all Israelis are sticks and while she is very slender, none of the shorts would fit her. So we wandered down to the shuk and got another backpack-full of fruits and veggies. I went straight to my favorite vendor in the corner, and yay! the man in-line in front of me was deaf. :-) He is the third deaf person I have met randomly. I got to chat with him for a little bit, and then he went on his way and I paid for my groceries, explaining briefly to my grocer how I learned ISL. (I also saw a man and his daughter signing to each other later in the day, but as they looked like they were having quite an involved discussion, I didn’t meet them.)
My friend begged me to go around the shuk “this direction”, not that way, because last week one of the vendors had given her his phone number and she’d never called. Awkward. Well, we went the other direction and then after striking up a conversation with me regarding my wearing jeans in this heat, a vendor on this other side asked me for my number. Haha, but I don’t think it will stop me from returning to that side of the shuk, by any means. He just laughed when I said “Lo” and asked why (in English), to which I answered in a mixture of Evreet (Hebrew) and Spanish! to everyone’s great amusement. A smile and a shrug go a long way after mixing up languages. :-)
Out of the shuk, my friend wanted to find an Arabic dessert store she’d been to before to buy a present for her host family, but she wasn’t sure where it was. I remembered the one that another friend had taken me to a few weeks ago, so we walked over there (by now, I’m carrying a very full backpack and a bag with two big boxes in it: the pot and the water heater. I must have looked ridiculous, but it felt good to be productive). We made it successfully to the dessert place, she bought some to go, and I convinced her to sit in the air conditioning and share a dessert with me so we could cool down a bit before heading back outside. So I got one of the flower-tasting gel things with the orange syrup stuff poured over it. (Yes, that is its official name. ;-)) The dessert was satisfying and the air conditioning was delicious. Back to the streets to find a bus home.
We had planned to go our separate ways to unpack and change and then meet down at the beach, but she called me as I was getting ready to leave my apartment saying her host family is going to have painters come tomorrow so she wanted to help clean out the house. Well that seems fair enough! So, I put on my book-on-tape (“Justice Hall”) and used my newly bought kitchenware to make myself a late lunch.
My friend that just moved home also left me an extra mattress which I plan to keep in case anyone comes to visit, but in the meantime it is acting as my yoga mat, so I finally engaged some muscle groups again (I’ve felt like such a slug these last few days! But I don’t want to spend the money to get a gym membership. I’m planning to download some yoga videos from my DC roommate’s favorite site). So, after I ate and while I continued to listen to Mary and Sherlock figure out the jumble of facts surrounding Gabriel’s death, I woke up some peacefully slumbering muscles—which groaned in rebellion at first, but did enjoy the consequential blood, oxygen, and endorphin flow that followed. Got out the map of Haifa our madrichim gave us and found several hiking paths around the city I want to check out, and completed the shopping list I have for the supermarket (some things are not available at the shuk, so I will go get them tomorrow). My Slovakian friend gave me a rain-check for today’s beach trip, so I will run down to the supermarket in the morning tomorrow and meet up with her at the beach after the heat of the day.
At our pre-departure orientation for the Fulbright we talked about some of the struggles we encounter when abroad, and one of my suggestions was to “control what you can control” (Thank you to my undergraduate degree training!) so that the things beyond your control are more manageable, mentally and emotionally. And yet here I found myself, right when most of my new friends were leaving and the structure to my life was dissipating, without fruits and vegetables, slacking on my exercise, low on sleep, and skipping my quiet times. I did stay hydrated, I’m glad to say. And I only let it go briefly, but it is still funny—like Alice, “I give myself such good advice, but very seldom follow it.” Back up and at ‘em now. :-)
Now, as I upload a video of the wedding to my facebook (since it’s personal, I don’t want to put it up on this public blog, but you can go check it out there, if you know me. It has some ISL interpreting in it, that you might enjoy. ;-)), and download some yoga videos, I am finally getting to work on my data and paper.
Oh! Also, we went to a drugstore to get her some mouse for her hair, and I saw that they DO have my iron supplements here! I think I have enough for the year, but nice to know they’re available. :-) They look to be about the same cost, although of course every time you exchange currencies you lose some. But anyway, nice to see. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment