The work fiasco continues.  I finally told my boss in economics that I cannot deal with the stupidity on the third floor.  If she can’t straighten it out, I’ll quit.

Abe and I are getting out on our own, thanks to relatives babysitting.  We usually go to a French film and then out to dinner, which costs a fifth of my monthly salary.  Money doesn’t go far here.  Everything is expensive, except at a falafel stand.  Yum!

Abe and I piled into the ambulance with Ben and were taken to the hospital.  The siren was blaring, but in Israel no one gets out of the way for an ambulance.  It’s always me first, especially when driving.

But something very interesting happened to us.  We visited the Aaronsohn house, which was the center of the Nili spy ring.

The good thing about Israel historically is that everywhere you turn, there are ruins.  This Saturday we walked only three blocks to where they were excavating a Philistine temple.

It’s sort of weird, splashing in the water, while fighter jets zoom above us.  This time the action was against terrorists in Lebanon.  But there’s always some terrorist incursion happening somewhere, and we live right near an air base.

Meanwhile, the food.  All I can say is Oy!  Since everything is kosher, what passes for beef here is inedible—for all of us except Abe.  He has no trouble eating it.  I stick to chicken or frozen cod.  If I get the chicken, I have to have someone clean it, as the head, the feet and some of the feathers remain.  You will not find this woman plucking a chicken.

I have a maid!  It’s the first time in my life I’ve had a maid.  Her name is Mima, and she’s Moroccan.  She also works for Golda Meir.  This is my only claim to fame.

Our first shock.  Being in a time warp what with traveling with two small children, a canceled flight, transferring airports, we had no idea what was happening at the Munich Olympics, where the Israeli athletes were slaughtered.

I (have) discovered letters and postcards I had sent to my parents from our sabbatical year in Israel, 1972-1973.  For some reason my mother saved them all.