I had a very unlucky day on Thursday with a trip to the ER for some stitches on my upper lip after tripping over big time over a corner of a ledge. Fortunately, I was rescued by two cute Israeli students- I almost wanted to ask them for the number in response to their "Are you okay? Oh my, you need stitches...." question. They stayed with me until I was taken to the hospital by the campus security. It was kind of scary and lonely in the ER- I wished I had someone with me. I tried calling two of my good friends but they didn't pick up their cell phones. So I just called the Bachs and it was just good to have their voices reassuring me that things will be okay and I could do this. They asked to speak with the doctor after he took care of me. In a way, I felt ike I should've called the Ravids.... but I didn't... oops. Anyway, got the stitches (I think that was way more painful than when I had them done near my eye when I was little) and got the perscription for medication.
I stayed in on Thursday night with a dinner with my roommates and some friends. I made some apple crisp over the stove- definitely delicious- for the group. The dinner was just stirfry. I was sooooo exhausted that I just went to be a bit early... since I had such an ordeal.
Since I couldn't go to the beach on the account of the gashes on my lips and nose, I chose to seize the day by going out to Ramat Aviv to visit the Eretz Israel museum. I took a cab there- I got ripped off as I forgot how much closer this museum was to the bus/train station than to the Diaspora Museum- probably only by 5 sheklim anyway. I basically had the place all to myself! Some cool things I found:
1) Coin exhibit- When under a military seige, a new currency would be created to circle around the surrounded camp/town. So there were a number of currencies from WWI and various wars, including the emergency money from Israeli wars. Also, even though I'm a walking Holocaust encyclopedia, I'm always learning something new... so I learned that the ghettos (Terzin, Lodz, and Warsaw) actually had their own currency! The Jews would exchange their national money for the new ghetto currency created by the Germans. That was the highlight of my day there.
2) History of Postal Service- Even though I understood how post office works from the museum in DC, I never really understood how a country actually creates a postal service. So I learned about different postal services in Israel before 1948 and then how Israel started changing over to the State of Israel postal service several weeks prior to Ben-Gurion's proclamation of Israel as a State. There were a lot of military postal envoys during this period.
There were exhibits on ceramics, glass, bronze, and weaponry. Interestingly, these were more global than the rest of the Museum. The museum's name is rather bit misleading as I thought the museum would tell the story of Israel but it didn't really. There wasn't anything on the agricultural practices or technology or the IDF or even the culture. They also had an exhibit on folklore which was basically Jewish traditions. They brought over and restored a bimah from Italy and showed the process of conversation. Overall, they charged me right for my experience because I was actually kind of disappointed in its contents. I thought it'd be more like Museum of American History and Natural History together to tell the story of Israel in terms of society, culture, and land. I wouldn't recommend this as the first museum to visit in Israel.... but I think that my cousins would enjoy this since it's very visual. They also had a reconsstruction of olive oil and flour mills.
Afterwards, I decided to head downtown to Tel Aviv as it's been a long time since I've really been in the city. So I walked down a new street for me- Ha'Melech George. I liked this street a lot, probably more than Shenkin. Lots of cute boutiques and the Dizgenoff Center/Mall was on it. I shopped a bit at Castro's for some new earrings, a necklace, and a pretty top. I really felt like I should be going on a shopping spree to dress more like an Israeli but had to resist the urge as I have a month to go before I go back to the States where the clothes might out of place. Ugh!!!! Besides, the next time I'd most likely go back to Israel would be in January anyway. The mall was pretty packed- people wanted air-conditioning on a 105 degree day. I was definitely glad not to be on the beach otherwise I'd be in the water all day! I browsed through a few more stores then walked through Ha'Carmel market. I think I'll go shopping here on my last day if I don't find anything in Jerusalem's craft market on Friday. I picked up some laffa with yogurt, some Zatar spices, and a bit of olive oil for a snack. Finally, I walked down Allenby and found a DVD store with a big sale of 3 DVDs for 99 sheklim ($24.99). Cheap!!!!!! I found the DVDs that I wanted- Walk on Water (Lekvot beMamim), The Policeman (a truly bad movie but funny), and Sweet Mud, which I haven't seen yet but is part of the Israeli film festivals in North America this summer. I was so excited even though I had to pay another 20 sheklim for the last one since it was so new and not really part of the deal.
When I got back to Jerusalem, I decided to see how late the shuk would be open... considering that the city's pretty observant and it was beginning of Shabbat for the buses..... Surprisely, the shuk was at full speed!!! Every merchant was trying to get rid of everything and to prepare for Shabbat. I just bought some more hummus and burekas since I had already gone shuk shopping with Rebecca and Meredith a few days before. It was amazing and I loved it! I could feel the real thrill at this hour at this place... thrill of cutting close.
Even though I made myself a light dinner, I was dragged into a 10 PM Shabbat dinner with Meredith K, Natan, Elana, Aly, and Laura to several guys' apartment. It was pretty nice to be around a big group and I had a nice time getting to know Laura since she goes to Cornell and we knew people in common. And Meredith K bought the chocolate rugalechim from Marizpan... oh badddd idea since they're like Reese's Peanut Butter cups for me- once I eat one, I can't stop! I had never made so many kiddushim in one night- one for myself when Shabbat began, one with Meredith K and her friends when they prepared dinner, and the last one at the big dinner.
Oh, that reminds me now, I need to get more matches and Shabbat candles at the shuk.
Saturday, I did my usual Shabbat- running in the morning, studying, reading, and talking to Grandma and Zev.... I stayed in on Saturday night with Meredith M. We have so much in common- especially skiing! She invited me to visit her in Utah for some skiing this winter. I'd love to- we'll see what happens!
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