I went home and packed a small bag, then walked to the mall/main bus terminal and caught the next bus to Jerusalem, which left at 3:30 pm. When I got in, I walked straight to the shook and bought some baked treats as a thank you, some more dried fruit, some grapes because they looked so wonderful and I was thirsty and craving sugar, and some rolls. Things were beginning to close for shabbat so it was the craziest I have ever seen the place and the vendors were yelling about their end-of-the-day discounts from every direction. I am lucky to have emerged in tact.
I walked a bit further to see if any other shops were open, but no such luck, so I turned around and headed back. According to my instructions, I was to take the #5 city bus to the last stop on Moshe Kol street, which is just past Mara street, where Debby's apartment is located. I was nervous that I was waiting for the one going the wrong direction, a fear assuaged when I discovered it only went in one direction. My next worry, that the last bus of that number had already been by, took a few more minutes to quell, but at least I was sitting down in partial shade as I worried. Rehovot is hot, and humid, and while Jerusalem isn't the latter, it has improved upon the former. The dry heat was astounding. I finished the water I had brought and broke into the grapes, and I hadn't even walked that much.
In a little while the bus came and I got on, discovering as I did so that the driver spoke absolutely no english, which was interesting because I had no idea where I was going and was hoping for some help. So we drove, and eventually got onto Moshe Kol street, which was a good sign. Debby had warned me to get off before going down the big hill, which of course I failed to do because apparently I pushed the "I want to get off" button too late. Rather than calling Debby to "come fetch me," as she put it, I trekked back up to the sign I had seen for Mara street, then called her. She emerged from a building about 10 meters away!
We hugged and she congratulated me on the feat of finding my way to her door, which, as I pointed out, wasn't so much my doing as her direction. We went inside and she gave me the grand tour, then we sat and talked until we were both hungry, while she meanwhile heated some things up that she had cooked earlier. She apologized for the culinary "adventure" upon which we were about to embark, which turned out to be delicious: chicken stuffed with a mix of sauteed mushrooms, peas cooked with mint, salad, corn on the cob, and pasta with more mushrooms on top. It was really good, and not at all what I had expected when she told me that since I hadn't given her much notice we'd be having an odd mixture of dishes.
Afterwards we had tea and the baked thingies which I had brought, and chatted more. She was hilarious! She talked my ear off, and would get onto these ridiculous tangents which I struggled but was usually able to reconnect to the main conversational thread. Example:
Weather in D.C./Maryland
Weather in Jerusalem
Her daughter in Jerusalem
Her grandchild
Bob the Builder
Olivia
The possibility of eating lunch on Saturday at a place which serves bacon hamburgers
So it was a great night. After a bit of news on TV, Debby went to bed, I watched some of the Turkey/Croatia game, then an episode of Crossing Jordan before going to bed myself.
And now, what you've all been waiting for...more pictures! *applause*
Dried fruit at the market
Since it was close to closing time for shabbat,
vendors were cleaning up their stalls
Spices in colorful plastic bags
Olives (assortment)
1 comment:
I think I would like this somewhat-relative of yours. What an interesting combination of conversation topics!
<3
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