Executing exact money in shuk

I'm pleased to report that I can process verbal numbers well enough to either give the exact amount or know that what I'm giving is as close as I can do with the change in my pocket.  Yeah!  So now, I really know how much my produce costs.  The last couple of trips I did the cowardly thing of just making sure I gave the vendors more than it could cost.  Actually, that lengthy wait in the post office did a lot of my listening comprehension, because I was listening for my queue number.

 

A good report

My second functional visit to the Post Office was very smooth.  I had, indeed, saved the queue slip from the last trip, so I knew which queue to enter.  Surprisingly, it was easier to recognize it from the Hebrew than English.  I must be getting better at this.  I needed to pay ~$32 in excise tax, which didn't surprise me because this is my box of gifts from Kansas City (UMKC and Wizard of Oz things) to give my colleagues and hosts.  So, they're not wrapped like birthday gifts, and there are redundant quantities (like 10 yellow UMKC kangaroos).  The customs slip categorized it as "souvenirs," which is correct.  I'm so glad this box is here - I don't want to be a boor.  Only one casualty in the box - a Scarecrow statuette broke, but if I can find some Superglue, it's an easy fix.  All that remains now is the bag of books.  When that comes, I'll probably have to take a cab back from the post office.  It's heavy.  But, who knows when that will arrive?

A little progress in the grocery store, too.  I found the express check-out lines (10 items or less).  Used it today.  Good to know.  And I stumbled through a little conversation with a Russian immigrant woman, who spoke only Russian and Hebrew, so I feel just a little better about my listening and spoken ability.  And you might be vaguely interested to know that whole-wheat pita is about $3/bag, but white pita is about $0.50.  But whole-wheat is better for my waistline.

And, if I needed more evidence to support the decision not to drive here (the cost, the parking, the traffic (which moves very quickly - a great entreprenuerial idea would be to open a chain of brake shops.  These people are all about jackrabbit stops and starts.  But they don't seem to run red lights, like we do.), the repairs), when I saw a really odd thing.  (Phew, long sentence)  A small car like a Cooper mini hopped the sidewalk, and drove slowly across the grass.  There was a truck unloading, and I thought the truck was blocking a curb cut, but there was no curb cut.  The little car moved down a paved ramp, but it was a pedestrian ramp, with a bollard in the middle, which the car negotiated around, and came out in the back of the store to the parking.  My, my.  No, I'm not driving.  I sure didn't like driving in Boston, and this is worse.

A new phone, at last

What an ordeal.  Buying a phone is difficult.  Not only do you need an Israeli national id #, but I guess you have to use an Israeli financial instrument, too.  Who would've thought that American Express would be denied as a payment source to a place like Amazon.com!  But my friend, Beni, bought it for me, and I will pay him back in shekels.  Ugh.  Of course, it's been shipped to his apartment in the Jerusalem area. But the end is near and I'll have an Android smartphone with all the apps that will be very useful.  There are apps for the train schedule, bus schedules, currency conversion, and of course, there's the GPS.  Pretty amazing talk from such a slow adopter of technology innovations.  Guilty as charged.

Nice addition to my little kitchen

I found the store in the Negev mall that has small appliances.  My  apartment came with a full-size refrigerator, a decent size microwave, a one-burner hot plate, and hot water kettle.  I really wanted to find a toaster oven, so that I could do oven-type things, and so I bought same today.  Getting home on the bus was dicey, not that it was heavy, but the bus was full of old people with their groceries, so I eventually gave up my seat and put my big box on the floor.  Grey hair, but still young.  Since I actually exited safely at my bus stop, I have no complaints.  Now that my landlord has okayed it, I can heat some burekas or do a little light cooking.  Yeah!

And I also found the Naaman housewares shop, and they had small quantities of stainless silverware available (as well as big sets).  Yeah.  I really didn't need many, so that was perfect.  "Isn't it great when a plan comes together" (source:  A-Team)?  I'm happy to buy mismatched things, and pretty cheap things that are serviceable, but decent silverware will be appreciated.

Today's musings

Here's just a bunch of odd bits:

• Our Chabad friend Ze'ev said Beer Sheva is "a G-d-less city."  But on Shabbat it's pretty quiet.  I live near a big, busy street, like Metcalf or Broadway in NYC, and the traffic is <5% of normal on Shabbat.  The sidewalks mostly have families out for walks.  It's not ~100% like Jerusalem or Tsafat, but much more observant than I would have thought from Ze'ev's comment.
• Laundry-drying takes 36-48 hours.  That's not too bad, since I'm not hanging them outside.  The quick-dry clothes I invested in are working out well.
• One odd observation from the big shuk, is that they sell brassieres!  That is one item I don't want to purchase there.  It seems especially odd because most of the Bedouin women are orthodox.
• And, I know that Jaffa oranges are really famous, but I haven't looked for them yet.  Oranges are year-round here.  I bought navel oranges at the shuk for a good price:  they're pinker on the inside than US oranges.  Not quite as pink as pink grapefruit.  Slightly different taste from US, but definitely an orange.
  
• And I really like my Kindle.  It's so nice that it is self-illuminated.  I've already read 3 books!  I usually only get to read in airports.  So maybe all the books I loaded on the Kindle will be read!
• I found the mysterious location of the Structural Engineering department.  It's in the old campus, in the downtown business district.  I will post photos later.  It was a rather Sherlock Holmesian search for that location, because the faculty on the main campus couldn't have been more vague about where the structural faculty were located.  It's actually really close to my grocery store.

Palmach Negev Brigade Memorial

I thought I would wander over to the Palmach Negev Brigade memorial today for my Shabbat walk - it's a little further than a stroll. But I had water, it was nice and I walked there and back.

As you can see, it's also designated as a scenic overlook.  Most of Beer Sheva is flat, and this is up on quite a rise, so I was looking forward to the vantage point, as well.

Smart people drive there, but I'm still up for a good walk.  It has a typical uphill, rocky approach, reminiscent of many sites on tours in Israel and Turkey (isn't everything uphill in Israel?).

This next photo up on the site shows Beer Sheva in the background.

Well, the view is spectacular.  I think you can see Jordan in the distance (what other mountains are east of Beer Sheva?).

The photos were just with my phone.  Next time, I'll take my camera and take proper pictures.  Anyway, it was a good Vitamin D day - got a little sun.

Scouting the Negev mall

I thought this morning would be a good time to do a walk-through of the big Negev mall.  Not so different from US malls, which I don't usually go to.  But I found a store a lot like Crate & Barrel, which I'm fond of frequenting.  So I bought some blue (dairy for me) ceramic coffee mugs at Fox Home.  There's another housewares place like that called Naaman, which also has a separate small outlet store on a different floor.  The mall has a food court, like home, and had a little shuk on the first floor.  I don't know if the shuk's an everyday thing or not, but it was odd to see fresh cilantro for sale in the mall.

Finding a place for my laundry to drip dry is a bit of a topological challenge.  Thank goodness my bathroom has a tile floor, so the drips are fine.

Shabbat shalom.