More Evidence of the Quilled Bigfoot

Last weekend we wandered the back streets of a trendy neighbourhood called the German Colony, not far from our house. These days, the residents are dominated by loaded American immigrants and tourists, but once upon a time it was a community of German protestants called the Templars.

The Templars got hoofed out in WWII and sent to -of all places- Melbourne, but left behind the only peaked roofs in the city and lovely tree lined streets.

We made our way to the nature museum on one of the back streets, payed our 15 sheck and got buzzed in through an old wooden door with many layers of paint. Sadly the site appears to have once been a beautiful mansion that was donated/liberated in the previous generation and hasn't received a speck of funding since. Every single exhibit was 1970s vintage. The best part was what I found in the stuffed animals section. The plot thickens!

Abu Gosh

On Saturday we headed to Abu Gosh, a little town only 15 km or so from the city. We went with Max and Noa whom we know though our Ulpan classes. It seemed like the whole country was out having a picnic in the near by national forest reserve since the day was sunny and warm. Furthermore all the spring flowers are out making the hills look idylic with wee yellow dasies, red poppy-like flowers and purple flowers that I have only seen before in florists. We went for a small hike to work up an appetite for Abu Gosh's other main attraction: Hummus.

Abu Gosh totes itself as the Hummus capital of Israel. We had lunch at a restaurant that is supposed to be number one and should not be confused with the hummus restaurant next door with the same name and claiming that they instead are number one.
Out in the street, men are directing you to their restaurant in a rushed hurried way. "Come come, my friend! Best Hummus in Israel! Sit here. This table for you! "
When they aren't hassling passers by, they are hassling each other: taunting, making faces and even calling each other liars. I hear a rumour that this hummus rivalry has gotten serious in the past. One of the hummus places burnt down mysteriously not that long ago. I let the taunting wash over me in a wave of little understood Arabic and Hebrew and enjoyed our table piled with plates of three types of hummus, pita, salads, pickles, eggplant, french fries, stuffed grape leaves and stuffed peppers.

People come from all over to eat the Hummus of Abu Gosh, especially on a sunny Shabbat. The place was so packed that even at the odd hour of 3:30 pm, if you weren't chewing you got kicked out to make room for the next party. I think the picture sums up the whole scene nicely. People mulling outside waiting for a table. Man on left trying to entice people to HIS restaurant. Two restaurants next door to each other both claiming to be number 1. The only thing missing from the pic is the ten year old waiting tables like the was born with a plate of fresh pitas in his hand.

I ate so much that all I could do when I got home was curl up in a little ball and sleep. I didn't get hungry again until this morning.

Refreshed to Write Again

Last week, we got the first real rains of the winter which lasted three days nearly non stop. Since last winter wasn't wet enough and the land has just gone through six months straight of baking sun, it felt like the earth was singing with every drop. Little purple flowers have already popped up out of the mud in gratitude to the sky. Even the locals were not really grumbling about the rain, despite shivering in their damp apartments. And when the last day of rain came to an end, there was a wonderful sunset to be seen from the window next to the lab oven.

The rain unfortunately corresponded with Siu's trip. Which wasn't all that bad since it meant that it wasn't too hot to wander around all day and it gave him an excuse to spend a day napping and getting rest on his first vacation in a very long time. I had a great time visiting and exploring with him, and well, not writing blog posts. I know my dear, mostly-silent friends, I have been neglecting you. But have no fear, I am writing a heap of blog posts right now so there should be one every day for the next few days.

Lunch Spot

James and I have found a sweet new lunch spot. It is off the beaten path on the university campus and even the seasoned veterans of my group didn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned the lily pad pond. Sitting on this little wooden deck over here is the closest I am going to get to lunch on the dock at the cottage.
At least there are giant flowers, minnows, goldfish and horny dragonflies to entertain.

Blossoms and Birds

It is April and already we have had a day that reached 28 degreed. I am going to cook in July.

For those of you thinking about visiting, late March and early April are a good choice because everything is blooming now before The Great Wilting (a.k.a. summer) starts. I can't even begin to name the wild flowers we see everyday on our walk to work though the Valley of the Cross. Without even really looking, I would guess there are near a dozen different species that have bloomed this month. We have seen little daisies and big showy poppies, little red fellows and purple thistles, strings of bright bright yellow pompoms and fruit blossoms.
The only flower I can name with any certainty are the purple flowers on the Rosemary shrubs which is EVERYwhere along path edges, and I have decided it is stupid to continue buying it a the grocery store when I walk past fifty waist high plants every day.

Along with the flowers, there are all sorts of strange birds. One little blue fellow visits our pine tree each day. Somewhere between a hummingbird and a sparrow, he flashes his iridescent feathers, belts out a few surprisingly loud calls and then flies off to another tree to assert his territory with Napoleonic zeal. Almost every day on the walk to work we see a flash of a wood pecker, a lazy roosting jay (the fluffy guy in the pic), or a scuttling fowl.

We always see squawking magpies. The Middle Eastern variety are a dowdy black and grey. Poor James and his bright blue shirt must have offended the orthodox sensibilities of a local campus magpie last week. The magpie let his opinion of James' shirt be known with a fecal bomb. Luckily after a good washing the shirt survived but James' ego remains a little bruised.

Who are we kidding, this post was all about showing off my pics.

A rainy day in J-town

It has been rainy and gross here for two straight days. These pics are from the misty walk to work this morning. One of the Monastery of the Cross (this is the valley where trees grew for the cross) and the other is of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. I can count the number of rainy days since I got here on one hand and it doesn’t rain here at all in the summer, really. The earth is dry, very dry and the country is expecting a big drought this summer. Jerusalem is green only because it irrigates like mad with water from the Sea of Galilee (which is fresh). Even the cactus garden on campus gets irrigation lines. Even though I have had a bit of a chill lately, I have to say the rain is a good thing.

A little note about the election:

The Kadima party, headed up by the blond lady, Tzi-pi, eeked out one more seat than her rival, Bi-Bi (as in Benjamin Netanyahu). Think this is a victory and she gets to be Prime minister? WRONG!

Who gets to be PM is now based on who can form the biggest coalition. So, good ol’ BB may squeeze his way to PM again (reminds me of someone else who lost an election but still tried to scratch his way to the big seat. Oh yea, Dion!). And since BB, is more right wing, he will have an easier time getting the religious parties on his side.

According to one of my labmates, forming a large coalition is achieved by appeasing the smaller parties with funding for their agendas. This often means courting super religious parties with money for synagogues, yeshivas (basically theology school) and the like. The tiny parties have much more clout here than you would expect.

I guess there is a lesson for us Canadians. With the Canuck system of regional representation, smaller but significant voices like the Green Party get no say in the house. Which sucks. With the similar system here, but with proportional representation, it has lead to many smaller parties and as a consequence, the small voices are given a megaphone because of the need for coalitions every time there is an election. This sucks too.