So I’m not entirely sure that I’m happy with Flickr, being that I will use up all of my monthly space very quickly and I don’t want to pay for more (as I already pay for webspace). I don’t want to use Facebook because *gasp* there are people who are not on Facebook. I think.

So, for now, if you want to see my photos that are not being posted publicly, you can visit spiffywafer.com/robin/2006/israel06/ , which is the directory where the files are stored.

Yesterday: Class, lunch, class, pizza, talk talk talk sleep.

Pizza Panini is an awesome pizza place that is only a few blocks from my house. I think it’s a chain and they have this crazy pizza man in front of the door:

I have seen that pizza man at other pizza places, which is what leads me to believe that it is a chain. And, of course, you can’t have a crazy pizza man like that without a crazy pizza man pose:

Rawr! [Left to right: Steph, Max, Crazy Pizza Man, Me, Peter]

The pizza was very delicious, of course. We stayed up talking and playing board games until around midnight, then I came home and hung out with my roommates until 3:30am. AND I did my laundry. I forgot to take a picture of it drying on the line, because that is a pretty novel experience for me. I just … hang my clothes up and they are dry and still clean? Whaaaa?

Today we went to the Shuk to buy some stuff for Shabbat. The Shuk is a pretty cool experience and I will probably go once a week at least. Although, my main mission there was to find limes, but apparently they don’t exist in Israel right now because they are out of season. I guess I am so used to, in America, being able to buy fruit/veggies out of season all the time that it didn’t occur to me that something simply would not be sold when it doesn’t grow. Duh.

That is the first thing I saw when I walked in. So for people who don’t really know about the Shuk, it’s basically a market place in a covered alley/street. Well, there are a few side streets, but most of it is on this one (or two? we couldn’t find the other one) street. It’s pretty huge. A lot of the places sold the same stuff, but you could shop around and find things for cheaper at different stores. It was so crowded that you were touching people at all times, which is kind of gross but whatever - part of the experience.

Some things are very cheap but other things are expensive because they know they can get away with it. Like my friend bought something for 10 shekels that really cost 7.5 shekels (the sign said 7.5 and the guy told her 10 and she paid it!). So bargaining is a must. And one great thing is that you can always round down to the nearest shekel if you have exact change for the rounded down price. Like, if something cost 5.3 shekels and you give them 5, they’ll be like eh whatev. I think I may have saved like 10 shekels that way.

Oh and I forgot to mention that we went to this place where they were almost indiscriminately (or so it seemed) deep-frying.. stuff. And we saw a place that was selling fish that were still breathing. Crazay!

My mom suggested a landscape photo, since I haven’t been posting any of those. Well, let me begin by explaining that since I spend 8-9 hours a day in school, it does make it difficult for me to do real sight-seeing and go to any places with cool views. However, I do have a decent view from two blocks away from my apartment:

It’s hard to really get a good shot because the view gradually gets better the farther you walk on this path, but since I am tired and also need to nap and get ready for Shabbat I did not go very far. Sorry!

Okay, that is a pretty good summary of what’s been up lately.  Tonight is dinner with my roommate, Steph, Max, and Peter.  But in order to not be grumpy, I must nap.

Shabbat Shalom!