That Time We Went To The Mall

Twas quite a low key day.

We returned to the Hebrew University campus to do some more work (they have internet, after all!). When the kids log in, they run a script that will automatically set things up in certain ways, like setting the classpath to the proper location.

Then, we went to the mall. When we walk down Al Zahara or Salah Ad-din streets, it feels like we're a world apart from the US. But at the Jerusalem Mall (or the Kanyon Malcha...) is just like a standard US shopping center translated to Hebrew.

We stopped by the food court first, with most of us getter either falafel or shawarma. Better get used to these words, because those two things and hummus make up the majority of our food intake here. Actually, I never properly described falafel. It's basically a pita pocket stuffed with falafel balls (chickpeas, parsley, and spices, formed into balls and fried), with salad, pickles, hummus, spicy sauce, and sometimes even fries or other ingredients. It's filling, tasty, and cheap. So there.

Because I'm sick, I went on a solo expedition in the mall for some kind of cough syrup and decongestant. En route to some sort of drug store, I discovered that this mall has two Burger Kings. Both are kosher, so don't count on getting a cheeseburger. But if you're on either the 2nd or the 3rd flood, BK is close to you!!! I also found that each gate is named (Jerusalem is big on naming gates, it seems), and had a lovely stained glass flower above it.

With enough exploration, I stumbled across a drug store comparable to a CVS or Walgreens. Except in the middle of the store, they had a make up center a la Clinique or other high end brands. 4 women were standing around chatting in Hebrew, and paid no attention to the little lost girl looking for medicine. I magically found the aisle with medicine, but much to my chagrin, all the labels were in Hebrew. Except for the condoms and Advil LiquidGels. I was also able to identify monostat and pregnancy tests, as well as some child's cough syrup... none of which I needed. Instead, I bought a 2 pack of toothbrushes for 10 shekels, and went on my merry way.

We met up outside the grocery store, where about half the group had done some communal shopping (we now have hummus galore!!). We had a 100 shekel buy-in, but I think they spent less than half of it.

Eventually, everyone made it back to the meeting spot. Kim had bought a guidebook to the area as well as a much needed map. Alice used it to find out where some of her relatives live, who she hasn't seen in many many years.

Back to the flat we went. I finished up the rest of my work (I'm DONE! (for now...)), and went on a much more successful mission to find cough syrup. I found a place on Salah Ad-din that looked promising, and the guy behind the counter spoke English and was very helpful. He pointed out some cough syrup / decongestant, which even looked pleasant because it has a flower and a honeycomb on the box. I'm not sure how effective it is yet, but these things take time.

Afterwards, I wandered around our neighborhood to get a better feel for it. I took some interesting pictures, including one of St. George's College, which apparently is a "Continuing Education Center of the Anglican Communion", has a biblical garden, and has "one of the finest collection of English books in Jerusalem." I also finally got a close up view of Yummy Yummy, a restaurant catering to tourist with their American style food and children's play place.

When I returned to our flat, I was in for an interesting experience. Our humble abode sits atop a Dentistry office. In fact, the stairs to our building's entrance require us to pass by a window of one of the examination rooms. Yesterday, I heard the sound of dentist-y things; today, the lighting was such that I was actually able to look into the room. An old doctor with a scruffy white beard worked on the patient, and two random guys stood looking on (or at the moment that I walked past, looking at me.) Crazy crazy.

After a little bit of time back home, I mentioned that it would be pretty awesome if we watched a movie on the projector. Mike's response was "SUPER TROOPERS!!!" And so it was. Of course, the only speakers we had were laptop built in speakers, and the movie was interrupted in the middle by the Muslim call to prayer (quite an improper overlap, I'd say), but it was funny nevertheless. Meow, where was I?

When the movie ended, I was about to put my camera's SD card into my computer, but if fell in between the couch's cushion and armrest. Yesterday, a cherry pit had suffered the same fate, never to be found again. Despite my searching, and flipping the couch over, and Mike's spelunking complete with headlamp, my SD card was not recovered. (For any MEET people reading this blog... you will receive my infinite love if you can retrieve it. But, it seems impossible.)

I'm a little sad, because I had several good pictures from this afternoon, but at least it wasn't anything important/historical/priceless. Hopefully I can pick up another one tomorrow morning and be on my merry picture-snapping way.

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