Flounderng & Fire

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Lost in Jerusalem-February 1, 2017,

The garbage strike is over. We could tell by the men wearing kippot & hauling trash.

As I was eating delicious butternut squash soup for lunch, I thought about the lack of chicken soup on menus here. Of course, it would have to be in a meat restaurant. But even only one of the Shabbat carry out places has it, & it's tasteless. Since everyone here is sick, I thought that would be a thriving business.

We made a valiant effort to find the Museum on the Seam today. It's in an old house formerly owned by a Palestinian Arab & appropriated by Israel in 1948. It sits on what used to be the border with Jordan. The house had been fortified then converted into a museum in 1999.

When we got off the bus, my directional GPS failed, & we got turned around. Two men seemed to know exactly what we were looking for so we went where they told us. Nope! We walked into a large building & interrupted a lovely woman's desk lunch. She spoke English & Googled where we needed to go. Then she pointed out we were in a municipal building with a Bureau of Tourism. We headed for that office only to walk in the wrong door & be in a synagogue in the midst of an Orthodox prayer service.  Actually, it wasn't surprising. There are synagogues in office buildings in NYC. We did find the tourism office. It was closed for lunch.

We hit the streets again still following my errant internal GPS further confused by Google. Now it was 2pm & 40 degrees. Lunch became more important. To our surprise, we'd reached familiar territory. The Old City. We were really off track, but knew where to go for lunch. We opted for the aforementioned soup & pizza. Our server was chatty & wanted to know if she could help us find where we were going. In all the bonding , she forgot to put in our pizza order. We were actually satisfied with the huge bowls of soup & ate all the lovely rolls before we began our quest anew.

David had sorted out the Google info, the server's input, & we found the correct street. Some kind of police guy figured out which way the addresses ran & we were home free. It turned out not to be what we thought. It was not a museum of the socio-politically marginalized. It was a museum of socio-political contemporary art. We took in what we could. It was extremely interpretive. We spent most time watching three videos. One was about 9/11. Another was about an experiment with mock prisoners & guards in Russia. It documented how the guards who knew it was an experiment turned against the prisoners who were also clued in. It ended when the guards found their humanity, met with the prisoners as humans, & a halt was called to the charade.

The other video was about leadership & how an effective leader is similar whether business or political. What I took away was that people are looking for heroes. Heroes are the ones who come on the scene and do the unexpected & somewhat outrageous. Hello!

We were in new territory so had new transportation needs back to the apartment. We needed to take a train to a bus. It was frigid, & we had to figure out what side of the street on which to wait, but with help & persistence we got to our street. We really wanted pizza so went to a local carry out. When we got back to the apartment we set the oven on warm & popped the pizza, box & all, in until we were ready to eat. David smelled something funny, & when he opened the oven, we'd started a fire. The box had come in contact with the heating element. We grabbed it out, closed the oven, ran the flaming cover under water, & opened the window. At least the smoke alarm didn't go off if it even has batteries. The pizza was unscathed but average.

An observation in closing: Jewish hair. There have been plays written on the subject. It's long, curly, & bushy. Mine is the antithesis. It abounds here. If you know of an enterprising plumber, I'm sure there are career opportunities in Israel.


Tomorrow we're going to the LGBT Open House (community center) to meet with a woman to get a better sense of that community.

Toby 

Museum on the Seam

A Mall's a Mall

Horowitz Travel-Israel -Jerusalem -January 31, 2017

Most everyone at Stuart's party was sick or got sick afterwards except for Stuart, Terry, & Ron. Many use the same clinic we did & like it. Expectations change with time & exposure.

The "emet ( truth): It is a garbage strike. People were protesting the government's not cleaning the streets. Garbage overflowed onto the light rail tracks. Kindergartens were closed & schools were dismissed early.

Which brings me to Malha Mall. Where do kids go when school's out? Coincidentally, that was our destination today. It's three stories & sprawling. The food court is extensive. The food as unimpressive as our courts & in the middle is a two story cage enclosing a play area with everything a kid could want including a seating area for parents. Our table was right next to the webbing. It felt as if we were at a human zoo. We didn't stay long. I wanted to rest before Shaul & Tanya picked us up for dinner.

We know them from seminary days. He was dean & on faculty of Hebrew Union College (the seminary) in Jerusalem. She owned & ran a consignment shop. They're interesting people. She's from Uruguay, & they met in Israel when students. They have two biological children & one adopted Ethiopian son who came with the Operation Solomon Airlift. There are eleven grandchildren total. They're going on a family vacation this summer, but the Ethiopian family is too Orthodox to join them.

Time to plan tomorrow's activities.

Toby

Play Area at Mall

No Rest

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Israel Museum-January 30, 2017

I read in the paper that more people have a magnesium shortage than know it. It doesn't show up in blood tests, so it's diagnosed by symptoms. Leg cramps are a sign, & muscle twitching at night is another. I discussed this with my doctor & she suggested magnesium was the problem. I told her I'd increase my banana consumption. That helped. But the paper today said that spinach was the best source of natural magnesium. The next were chocolate & nuts. I'm going with chocolate. I bought a big dark chocolate candy bar. No guilt.

I forgot to tell you that we walked through the Tel Aviv shouk after lunch yesterday. It was more extensive than Machaneh Yehuda. It had foods as well as extensive supplies of things locals buy like clothing & household goods. We searched high and low for a hippo but struck out. When we returned to the Jerusalem bus station my eye was drawn to a kiosk with children's books. OMG! There was a primer on counting. "How many hippopotamus do you see? Four." I think Rylee will like the book & can read the Hebrew herself. She can even take it to school. So excited. If she wants to display it with her collection she can prop it open to the hippo page.

Today started with another trip to urgent care. This time it was for David. His eyes were oozing & gloppy, & I thought he might have conjunctivitis. We're washing towels & linens in case. While there he reported his other symptoms. They did take a medical history for him so did a cardiogram. All was fine. I've never seen a cardiogram set up like this one. It had a large halter with multiple leads extending from it. The halter wrapped around the entire chest but was held down by his arms. There were additional wrist & leg leads put on like bracelets. His heart is fine. This doctor prescribed eye drops saying they'd work if it was bacterial & wouldn't if it was viral. She also gave him a decongestant. I tried to convince her to give him an antibiotic based on my experience. She thought the Tylenol with codeine I was prescribed wasn't good for the "elderly" & probably caused me to faint. Meanwhile, that plus the Zpak has resulted in my symptoms improving.  They did a chest X-ray on David & that was ok too. She said we should go home & rest. "We're not 20 anymore."

To give you a better idea of why I didn't want to go there when I cut my head I've attached a picture of just one wall in the facility. There is always cleaning of glass & mopping going on. It's futile given the condition. There's no way to clean "falling apart."

The cab we called to take us there had a personable driver who said we could call him when we were finished at the clinic. We did, & he took us to the Israel Museum. Rest? We're tourists. His English was good enough to have a semi-political discussion. He thinks Trump is crazy. Basketball he didn't know about. We told him about Uber & how they tried to break the taxi strike at JFK. He has a friend who drives for Uber elsewhere & will tell him about that. I suggested his friend should drive for Lyft. Bottom line, the driver fears war either worldwide or regional. I told him we feared civil war in the U.S.

As we approached the museum, which is across from the Knessset, there were blocked streets. He said they were "cleaning" the streets for Netanyahu. I told them that the streets didn't look dirty. After translating in my head, I think he meant "clearing." 

We grabbed lunch at the museum before getting a free audio guide. The audio was very general. We agreed that the Bible Land Museum gave a superior & in depth narrative. The Israeli Museum is a sprawling campus of buildings linked by underground walkways, hallways, & steps. There's a lot of vast empty space &, even with a map, we never wrapped our heads around a pattern. Meanwhile, their collections are glorious. I've never seen as many artifacts displayed with such a completeness in reconstruction. Even the pre-Colombian collection was like nothing we'd seen in Mexico or S. America.

The Shrine of the Book is part of the museum & is where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed & portions displayed. We've seen it before, but it's still a thrill to realize the age of the document & how identical it is to what we read from our Bible today. There's also a collection of remnants of the 10^th century Aleppo Codex, written in Tiberias.

I noticed some women I thought were Amish & wondered about them. We're used to seeing them in our area, but here? Whoops! Orthodox Jewish. A kerchief is a kerchief. However, there seems to be an increased presence of police at the museum & our neighborhood. Odd seeing Uzis that look as if they're hanging from soldier's tzitzit (fringes on prayer shawls).

We're in for the night.

Toby

Black Mold at Clinic?

Rejoining the World

Horowitz Travel- Israel-Tel Aviv at last-January 29, 2017,

Good news. I didn't faint after my shower today. Bad news. I didn't take one. We didn't have hot water. The maintenance guy came while we were out. Hopefully, he's fixed it.

We just had to get to Tel Aviv today to bring Leah Sass the stuff her mother wanted us to deliver. We were on the way to the bus much earlier than we've been out before. It was so cold I could see my breath. I wore Under Armor top & bottom, layers on that, scarf, earmuffs. Had a half hour wait for the bus. At least there was sun to sit in while waiting.

Security going into the central bus station was "broken." Bags were piled up on the Xray conveyor belt & the belt wasn't working. Locals just grabbed their bags off the belt & walked on in. We followed suit. So much for security.

The place was hopping with military. Thursdays are when they go home for Shabbat, & Sunday is when they return to their units. The women soldiers might have been described as "attractive" with their ponytails swinging behind them. All were armed with Uzis. Some of the men were shorter than I by a lot. I'm sure any one of them could take me down. They all carried huge packs which they stowed in the luggage bay under the bus to Tel Aviv. The Uzis rode with them in the bus. There was a fracas near the driver. People were yelling & trying to board. We finally understood that the bus was full.

I think I scared several on that bus. I'd forgotten my water bottle. I got a coughing, gagging, eyes watering, gulping air fit that went on for quite a while. The man behind David wanted to know if I needed the Heimlich. Then he offered his water, which would have helped, but it was in his own personal bottle, so I wouldn't use it. Ultimately, the driver gave me his water in a commercial disposable bottle. David tried to pay him, but he declined.

We were turned down by two taxis at the bus station in Tel Aviv before one took us on. I think they didn't understand where we were going although we had a full address. Our driver spoke enough English to ask where we were from.

David: The United States
Driver: Where there?
David: Ohio
Driver: Near New York?
David: Near Cleveland. Cavaliers. LeBron James
Driver: Oh. You like basketball & David Blatt
Driver: You like Donald Trump?
David: Not Trump, but many Israelis like him.
Driver: Not all


Tel Aviv was 10 degrees warmer than Jerusalem. It's a very modern, artsy, progressive city. We had a delightful lunch with Leah & were impressed with her plans & ambition. I hope it warms up. Even though we spent yesterday indoors, I wore a hoodie with the hood up over my layered clothing. At one point David was wrapped in a quilt. Friends of ours emailed us that they were staying in an apartment here in February & had to move to a hotel.

We got a call from Shaul, someone we've known since seminary days. He & his wife, Tanya, have lived here 40+years. They've been trying to get together with us but have been sick. They went to their doctor with the same symptoms we had & were given the same treatment. A week later, they were sicker. They went back to the doc & convinced him to give them antibiotics. They've been taking them for almost a week & are marginally better. We decided neither couple would feel much improved before we left & finally made a date.

Oh, there's a government moratorium on municipal services including garbage pick-up.  Funding didn't come through from the national government. It looks like NYC when that happens & it's only day one. At least we were upright & could get out to see it.

Best burger yet was at Roza's for dinner. Thought it was a vegetarian place that served pizza. Nope. Upscale Italian serving meat.

Shopping revealed the same Imagine Vegetarian Chicken Broth I get at Mustard Seed at home as well as the Israeli version of bacon. Picture of latter being forwarded.

Toby

Israeli Bacon

Garbage Strike

Down & Out

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem- Erev Shabbat-January 27, 2017

How did we get so sick? Was it my taking a woman's picture with her phone then watching her take it back from me using the hand holding a snotty tissue? Was it the counter servers who don't glove & also handle cash? Or maybe the customers who sample foods without using toothpicks, utensils, gloves? Or perhaps the unwrapped challah? I'm sure we weren't the first to handle it. We handed it to the cashier. It was still not bagged when she put it on the conveyor belt. Maybe we're just wimps after living in a sanitized word.

David ran out in a two-hour window of clear skies to get the paper, Kleenex, cough drops, you know, essentials. It was early afternoon when he returned. I hadn't eaten breakfast, had taken the codeine, got into a steamy hot shower, got dizzy, got out, & fainted. Lovely day. I now have a cut next to the left eye which will probably bruise just as my right eye is clearing up. The only other time I fainted was in college when I'd taken a new-to-the-market cold medication on an empty stomach.

David made a whole can of tuna on challah then gave me a peanut butter sandwich. I felt better but have slept on and off all day.

It's going below freezing the next two nights. Our rental manager asked us to run water in one tap. There's no insulation in these buildings. It's raining like crazy now with high winds. Somehow, it's seeping through the mullions of our bathroom window. At least it's not in our bedroom.

We skipped services at Hebrew Union College & had a quiet Shabbat carry-out dinner tonight. We tried the other Shabbat food store & liked it a bit better than last week's. We bought carry-out quiche yesterday, & that will be lunch. We may not stick our noses out until dinner tomorrow. There's no place to go on Shabbat, anyhow. We really need down time.

Toby

Fighting the Crud

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Bible Land-January 26, 2017

We scurried around buying our weekend stash of food this afternoon trying to beat the predicted Shabbat rain. Actually, our scurrying started last night after dinner. My cough/cold hasn't gotten better after over a week, & I started to run a fever. Terry was on her way out anyway so took us to a 24-hour clinic. We'd take a cab home. She assured us that Israeli medicine was excellent & on the cutting edge. I knew that to be true & had full confidence. What I needed to know was whether or not I should start taking the antibiotics we travel with. I put our antibiotics in a bag along with a banana, dried fruit, & nuts. Never know how long it could take. David was getting sick too, so it would be twofer. We are becoming familiar with foreign medical care. We have since learned that many people at Stuart's birthday party have this crud. It's going around.

As for efficiency, we were in and out in an hour. As for aesthetics, it needs a face lift. Many there spoke English or a semblance thereof. When we checked in we were asked for our passports. I thought that would be a hurdle since we secure ours.  They accepted a copy. They assured us they'd take VISA, & we could collect from our insurance in the U.S. We knew that ahead of time. Cost:$206.

The good news is that my blood pressure was excellent! The triage person asked about symptoms & allergies & that was it. No interest in what meds I regularly take. The doctor was happy I hadn't started taking my antibiotics, listened to my chest, checked my throat, & decided on an X-ray & blood work to rule out pneumonia & an infection. The X-ray tech asked me to remove my bra. She said there was no need to remove my shirt. When I looked puzzled, she said she did it in the army all the time. I figured it out. The lab tech not only didn't wash his hands or glove, but he put the needle & glass tube on the paper on the examining table. He didn't change the paper when he was finished. I'm sure it hadn't been changed in a while. He used a latex glove (yes, he had them) as a tourniquet on my arm. All in all, it was an easy stick. I couldn't help notice a pile of casts balanced on top of the paper towel dispenser. The results of both were fine so I left with a prescription for Tylenol (325mg) with codeine (15mg) & two starter pills. The Tylenol was for fever & codeine for cough.  I added that to my bag of tricks of cough medicine & nasal spray. We carry both separately in our med stash so we knew what to do if David got worse.

We'd cancelled our date with Leah Sass & didn't set an alarm but didn't sleep well. But how could we waste a day here? My temp was down, so we dragged our bones to the pharmacy & got on a bus for the Israel Museum. When we arrived, it looked overwhelming. Across the street was the Bible Land Museum. I kid you not. It seemed more manageable. We envisioned a kitschy Disney-esque amusement venue with actors wearing costumes.

We were so wrong. It's an extensive archaeological collection from the Neolithic through Babylonia. We got the audio guide, went DOWN from the second to the third floor & stayed three hours. It was evident from the artifacts, timelines, maps, & narrative that civilizations have borrowed from each other since time began. Kosher slaughter was used by Sumarians; carvings of the Egyptian goddess Isis holding a child on her lap is echoed in the Madonna & child; the evolution of the alphabet, & multiple flood stories are a few examples. My favorite "creation" story was that the gods got tired of always fighting amongst themselves. They created mankind to fight in their stead. I think humanity has done an excellent job.
One thing I noticed was a mosaic with a hippo depicted in it. As most of you know, our ten year old granddaughter, Rylee collects hippos, & that's a major search every time we travel. As we continued there were artifacts made form hippo bone & mention of hippos as dangerous animals. There were no hippos in the gift shop, nor have I seen hippos in any stores. I stand corrected. There was a malachite hippo in the Old City shouk. It was $100 after bargaining.

For a country obsessed with security, there was none at the museum. Displays were in cases with temperature/humidity monitors, but they weren't alarmed. Many times, we touched the glass to point out an object of interest. I even spotted a few nose prints.
We've been going through a huge amount of Kleenex. Today I saw that the tissues that came with the apartment have a design of a bunny emerging from an egg. Really? Easter bunnies they have, but no hippos?

I'm looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow. We need a break. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep this place warm.

Toby 

Hippo in Mosaic

Examining Room at Clinic

New Places

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Ein Kerem- January 25, 2017

Today's agenda was to take Terry, Ron, Stuart, & Ellyn to lunch. Unfortunately, Ellyn was sick with a cold so stayed home. We went to Karma, a restaurant in Ein Kerem (meaning spring of vineyards) where we were able to view the golden domes of a multi-domed Russian church. The Spring of Mary is at the base of the hill where the church sits. It is said that Mary stopped to drink the water from the spring while visiting John the Baptist's parents. Today the water flows freely but is not potable. It's a popular pilgrimage site.

We are all great story tellers & shared anecdotes for a few hours. I had a feeling there was lots more to say, but Ron had an appointment so we broke it up. We asked to be dropped off at Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall where we attempted to walk yesterday. There are lots of jewelry & souvenir shops. It was cold & blustery, so we didn't linger. 

We walked back to the apartment & are exhausted. We have an early start tomorrow. We're going to Tel Aviv with a package for Leash Sass, a young woman from Akron who made Aliyah (moved to Israel permanently). We hope to see her brother, Ben, as well. He's in the army & we're not sure of his schedule.

We're going by bus. That means the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, a bus change, & taxi ride to the restaurant where we're meeting them.

Toby