Karen Alkalay-Gut
February 12, 2019
don't listen to the polls. almost everyone i know has no idea who they are going to vote for. most seems to know only who they are voting against. for me, it's not only bibi, it's gallant too. i have a grudge against gideon saar but that wouldn't stop me from voting for him if he was running. and even though i'm in the labor party officially i may not vote labor. depends on whether labor comes out with a peace plan or not. Gantz - i love his strategy and i love his eyes but still until i hear from him i can't be sure. i
February 14, 2019
yes yes it's valentines day but we went to the launch of a book - the boulevard - jerusalem avenue in jaffa. the book goes through each house on the boulevard and the people who lived there. we went because Ezi's grandfather had built some of the houses on that avenue and we had a guest from Denmark who we though would find it interesting. But it turned out that there was a program. and it was long an a big skewed towards bulgarians. and Ezi's grandfather didn't get mentioned - even though the book has a dozen pages about him. the thing about the bulgarians in Jaffa is that they were the only jews who were protected by their government from the Nazis and survived as a community. so after the war they came as a community to israel and were settled en masse. so they continued their customs and lives in jaffa. and remain a community today. the evening also had a representation of a few Arabs who grew up in the neighborhood, but it seemed to me that there was more to that story. in any case we took our guest (who probably had been bored but was exceedingly polite) to Haj Khahil afterward. i still contest that Haj Khahil has the best food in Tel Aviv, but the volume of the music make conversation impossible. so we didn't make up for the long speeches.
February 16, 2019
It has been a week of cooking and friends and family. it has been a week of no proper work done. and lots of fun.
Since today was stormy, i knew there would be few people in the pool, even though it is a covered pool. it was perfect. few children and many athletes in the places where i wouldn't take the kids. There was only one place where it was clear that i didn't belong. there were eight tatooed young men in the sauna and me. they probably didn't notice me, or if they did they presented i was invisible. that was good because i don't speak russian. then i went back to the kids and the showers. now i remember the first time i was in the showers in Israel. All these women walking around naked - all ages, all bodies, all stages of life. i was probably 20 and i had never seen a woman completely naked before. now they are all over the internet. but they are all fixed up. and in life they are far more interesting. my six year old is already used to seeing naked women and doesn't stare or register any emotion, but i am still overwhelmed. it's probably not unusual for anyone else in this country but i love the publicness of bodies. so i enjoyed the russian men in the sauna and the women in the showers.
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