I have mixed feelings about the hotel I’ve chosen. On the one hand, it is the closest hotel to
the archives I’m using, just a 20-minute walk away. On the other hand, the breakfast is pretty
weak compared to what I’m used to in Israeli hotels. Also, I had a few flying bugs in the bathroom
last night. So far, I haven’t seen any
this evening, so maybe it was a one-time thing.
Today was my first day using the archives. I’m not really sure how to search for what I
want, so I decided just to review all the files in order, calling up the ones I
thought might have something good. One
of the archivists helped me figure out what I should be doing, so I ordered
around 15 or so files and then went to lunch.
For old time’s sake I went to Sababa Pizza on Emeq Refaim. I hadn’t eaten there in 13 years and it
really hasn’t changed all that much. I
ordered an onion pizza and sat down to read the paper. Unfortunately, I slurred my words and instead
of getting pizza with onions (betzal),
I got pizza with hard boiled eggs (betzah). With or without the eggs, the pizza pretty
much sucked. It was like matzoh pizza,
but chewier. I won’t be going back.
The files I ordered arrived in the afternoon. Mostly files about educational policy from
the early 1950s. I was very happy to
find one in which the religious orthodox high schools identified all their
textbooks, by subject and grade.
As I was reading, I saw someone come up to me. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place his
name. He, of course, remembered mine and
that I was a student of David Myers. God
I wish I was better with names. He asked
what I was researching and, of course, he’s written several articles on this
subject (which, of course, I haven’t read).
I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants on this. I’m going to try to download his articles
tonight. He also pointed out that the Hebrew University
library at Mt. Scopus has an excellent collection of
Israeli textbooks. I thanked him and
made a mental note to visit
Mt. Scopus next week.
The archives close at 4 pm, so I headed back to Emeq Refaim
and ordered another large kafe hafukh at
Aroma. It’s a little on the pricey side,
so I’m going to make this a regular afternoon coffee break, I’m going to have
to find a cheaper café.
The weather was better today, not quite so hot and even
breezy in the afternoon. I headed back
to the industrial section of Talpiot (where I ate last night) to try a
different place. This time I had the
schnitzel, with pita, chips, and salad.
It also came with tehina and salat turki (a kind of mildly spicey tomato
sauce).
Once the sun set, it actually got cool. I may open the window tonight for some cool
air (the thermostat is permanently set at 23 C) as long as no more flying bugs
can get in.
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