Tel Aviv Diary - December 8-12, 2013 - Karen Alkalay-Gut
December 8, 2013 Please pay attention to this notice Tamar sent me:
"Seeking volunteers to teach basic English in a West Bank Palestinian village on Friday mornings for 1.5 hours. The university-level students are thirsty to learn and prize the help. A fellow volunteer drives the volunteer teacher(s) round-trip from Tel Aviv. Please contact Tamar at micabear2@yahoo.com or at 052 3387 904."
December 9, 2013 As the weather becomes cool, and darkness falls upon us by half past four, we get ready to stay home and read the newspapers. If you read Haaretz this is hard, especially in Hebrew. In English they tend to overlook some of the disgusting things that happen in the West Bank, although today the story about Palestinian photographer Muammer Awad being strip-searched and then refused entry to the National Bible contest made it today. Its true we don't always know the whole story from the papers, and it is clear that the source of this story is the photographer himself, but it's disgusting anyway. Especially when you try to think of what you can do about it, and you realize how impotent you are. There's also the story of who is going to Nelson Mandela's funeral - Netanyahu's got too many guards to pay, Peres has the flu - who can help pay the respect Mandela deserves from this country?
December 10, 2013 We've got two more weeks of autumn before winter comes, but the big storm is heading our way = batten down the hatches. There are a few plants we left outside but i'm shivering for them even in my air-conditioned-warm apartment. Just the thought of bad weather in these short days is enough to make me shiver. Don't tell me Bibi didn't go to Mandela's funeral because of the expense - he's been lighting scented candles in his honor for months. Witness the 2000 shekel a month item on his expense account.<, p>December 11, 2013 And to contrast The speech of Barak Obama at Mandela's funeral Just amazing I put this link on facebook, but very few of my friends liked it. The problem is that they believe his good will, even his great will, may still endanger the entire Middle East. December 12, 2013 It started last night - a drip from the upstairs apartment. The plumber came today but wanted to check out our apartment and we had gone out. So he came back tonight. Drip drip drip. He's going to have to open the floor of the upstairs neighbor to find out which pipe burst. But tomorrow is Friday... and it's not really an emergency, right? And then is Shabbat... So Sunday. In the mean time I've missed Sharon Moldavi's concert tonight. But who wants to go out in this freezing weather. Even though a visitor told, "This is October in Boston!" all I want to do is wrap myself in the duvet and wait in bed until spring. We've got a pan under the drip from the ceiling but somehow it adds to the sense of br-r-r-r. So to make sure I don't have to spend any more time outside than I have to I ordered groceries online. Tuesday evening. Usually it takes until the morning around 10, but this time - because of the weather - i was warned the groceries will arrive only tonight, Thursday, after 9 p.m. From past experience I know that around midnight some guy will show up with soggy boxes and broken eggs. When will the next heat wave come?