Mild Adventures in Jerusalem

The last few days have been full of little adventures. Yesterday I went with a friend to the Islamic Art Museum, which had a great deal of Islamic Art, mezuzahs on the doors, and a very snazzy exhibit of watches and clocks in the basement. There was an audio guide only for that last exhibit, in Great Detail- I wish that detail had been available for the rest of the museum instead, but I am not a watch enthusiast. The other excitement of yesterday was baking hamentaschen with another friend and having some good hang-out time with her. They were date-and-chocolate hamentaschen, so that's some excitement...

Today started out with what got described as "hippy minyan day" at Pardes- i.e. we sat in a circle and did a bunch of singing. There were a few instruments, but unlike Schechter's attempt at the same concept, these were used well. There are days where it would drive me batty, but they started early enough to have time for it, and it was actually quite nice. I then had a morning at home relaxing and helping outofnapkins prepare props and costumes for her 10 minute play this evening, before I headed out to meet a friend and her new baby (age 3 weeks, totally adorable, and slept pretty nearly the whole time I was visiting). The last time we'd hung out we were both sort of distracted and the timing wasn't so good, so having some time to sit and talk about recent changes in our lives was quite nice.

Then I went to the shuk, and the bookstore, and realized that at that point it made no sense to go home before outofnapkins's play at 8, so I grabbed a bagel, and decided to walk from the center of town to where the play was, carrying all my groceries, books, and other miscellaneous purchases (including both a thing of fuzzy yarn and another of shiny string, because it's nifty, and just what I was looking for), because I needed some exercise, having taken the bus on the way into town. This was indeed good exercise, but somewhat unintelligent, because all the relevant stuff was quite heavy. I also turned down the wrong street and had a few moments of mild anxiety because I couldn't find the turn that I knew was supposed to be there in order to get where I was going. However, eventually I realized what I had done, and then got where I was going just fine, found that I did in fact know a few of the other audience members (I'd invited a friend to join me, but he wasn't available). outofnapkins's play (the event was a set of 6 10-minute plays, all written and rehearsed within the last 48 hours) was very well done and quite hilarious. Afterward, a few of us went out for "coffee"- in which none of us drank coffee, and have now come home. The other person with us seems to need a place to stay for a couple of days after outofnapkins leaves, so I think I may have another house-guest for a few days...