Karen Alkalay-Gut
March 29, 2019
Once again we have managed to shut out reality. After a visit to the pharmacy, where I was given some amazing syrup that absolutely worked to my great surprise, I was able to join the family and Kucki for dinner at a hungarian restaurant called Tulip. iit was okay - some things were really good - like the nokerle and the goulash. the kids loved the bolognese even though the parents believed that italian food in a hungarian restaurant was absurd.
All right, here's the back story. Even though the most busy day at the pharnacy is usually crowded on a FRiday morning before Shabbat, it was raining and there was no one there. So when i saw that the re were no customers between me and Ahbed. So I greeted him with an enormous gesture of welcome. He never usually reacts, but this time i thought i got a little smile. Still, he continued to try to be completely professional and arranged all my prescriptions before he addressed the issue i was complaining about throughout the visit. my constant cough, my fever, etc. then he whipped out this syrup and said it will be the solution to all my woes. And it was.
March 31, 2019
Because our entire street is being 'upgraded' and is shut down to traffic all day, we usually park a few blocks away. We've gotten used to that in the past few months, but today the electricity was shut off for the day and it really threw me for a loop. How could I catch up with you without internet? If it was only me i probably would have gone to my office to pretend to work, but Ezi too was totally at a loss - all of our activities were centered around electrical equipment. So we went to Ikea - ostensibly to get lighting for my mirror so i can stop putting too much make-up on, but really to just get away from thinking. The horrible weather we've been having could be forgotten there and there is always something stupid to see. When we couldn't even find a parking space i realized everyone was buying new dishes for passover and it was a big mistake but although we complained to each other of our stupidity, we were already there. Never mind, by the time we came home, the electricity was on and i could get ready for some guests.
Yesterday we had one of those long days that included cleaning out a cupboard that suddenly filled up with moths, a strange little bar mitzvah in the afternoon, and a lovely little dinner at Suzanna in Neve Tsedek. But Ikea and the little evening with Zeev and Yudit has left me too tired to explain about much but my favorite food in Suzanna.
All right, I'll tell you - it's dried fruit stuffed with lamb. Why would anyone go anywhere else.
Apeil 1, 2019
What can you do in 15 seconds? that's the maximum time between the siren and the rocket falling, and there are some teenagers doing a little campaign of films of what can be done. I tried it and managed to find my slippers. Not actually put them on.. and there were sirens yesterday in the south. would you manage to fall asleep at night if you knew you might be wakened at any moment?
We had a wonderful dinner at Claro this evening. it is rare that i enjoy snobby restaurants but this one wasn't pretentious, and the food was good, but not terribly expensive, and the company was lovely. i will be back. After I have digested the wonderful steak that gave me enough protein for a week.
April 2, 2019
As we get closer and closer to the elections the situation gets more and more confusing. Sinuar promises to bomb Tel Aviv and we worry about pedophiles who get to our 10 year old kids through the cellular phones we've given them. The ultra-right is getting votes because Feglin promises to legalize pot from the people who should be voting ultra-left.
i could go on forever but i'm too tired. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 this morning. In the old days the IV itself took 3 hours after the blood test results and the antihistamines, but today it is given as a subcutaneous shot and takes a minute. But the red tape is now much more complicated and the whole thing took exactly the same amount of time. So even though we didn't sit in a big room full of patients, but in a beautiful private nook with a view of the city, we were going out of our minds wondering what was going on. There were no rude nurses running around the room. There was one polite nurse who took blood and disappeared for a few hours, came back and presented Ezi with some pills - he guessed at their identity - and disappeared for another few hours, came back, and gave him a shot. "Can I go?" "Yes." We went home, had lunch and Ezi went to sleep for the day. Did we know this might happen? no? it didn't happen before. but he didn't have unidentified pills before either.
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