waffles

... well I had some Belgian waffles today, in a hole in a wall on a little alley in Jerusalem. And they were AMAZING...

I went to the shuk with one of my roommates and the girl who used to live in my room today, which is always a good time. We went later in the afternoon, when all the vendors were just trying to get rid of all their stuff, so that was fun. Our last stop was this little shop, and as I was paying, this youngish American guy comes in, asks for the price on something, and then starts asking (loudly, and in English) why it is so expensive. I wanted to smack him, and I really hoped no one realized that I was American, too. Without thinking I turned to my roommate and spoke to her in Hebrew. She burst out laughing as we left, and gave me a hard time the whole way home about how vee're not Amereecans anymore, iz zis eet? Well, until we realized that walking home with 12,000 pounds of groceries in 1,000 degree heat majorly sucks. We had to stop and take a rest on the way home (it's about a 7 minute walk from our house to the shuk, usually). My arms were shaking by the time we arrived. I think my roommate could feed all of Ireland with the number of potatoes she bought.

Today was Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), a celebration of the outcome of the 6-day war in 1967, when Jerusalem was made whole again under Israeli occupation of the formerly-Palestinian half of the city. There was a parade and everything, I think. I don't know, I didn't see it. It was kind of funny (in an awkward, uncomfortable way) when my teacher at Ulpan was explaining the holiday, since more than half of the class are Arab students. So obviously they wouldn't think that Jewish occupation of Palestinian parts of the city is something to celebrate. It was all I could do not to start laughing when I could read on my teacher's face that she realized what she was saying.... better to laugh than to cry, right? oh the joys of living in the most complicated city in the world..........